Velvet awoke hours later, once it was morning already, the rest of her dream being the usual thing, with nothing else to show.

She felt quite well rested, all things considered. And, since the day was going to be turbulent, she was taking that rest as absolutely deserved.

Who was Dianthus, anyway? She didn’t have any business with someone called that, and didn’t even know that name.

For real.

As someone who wasn’t interested in meddling on whatever the archmage who kidnapped Dianthus planned to do, Velvet focused on her present matters.

That’s to say, today was the day when the Pioneer Three disembarked on the Mergifari, and the day when she had to infiltrate the Traversa’s family pocket dimension, under Tristan's petition.

So, Velvet went to ready herself, like she did everyday.

She took a shower, dressed up, had breakfast, made sure to leave something for the new fairy, made some charms and checked her material stash.

Once she was satisfied with everything, she took a deep breath and went out, into the woods, and towards the Mergifari.

…

She arrived at the First Tower a while later, the one where the pocket dimensions for all families were maintained.

Maintaining a pocket dimension stabilized, and anchored to the Mergifari took a lot of power and magic, so it made sense that the mages moved them all to a single location, where any problem that arose could be dealt with in an instant.

After all, these pocket dimensions weren’t like the ones used to contain beasts and artifacts that Velvet and other mages used, which were relatively small, easy to break and easy to take and put stuff.

No, instead, like the pocket dimension where the Opening took place, those were several square kilometers, with their own fauna, flora, and a residence big enough to hold all the mages that lived inside.

Like a miniature world, everything inside was made to be self-sustainable, working like a whole individual ecosystem.

And, the fact that the pocket dimensions were so self sustainable meant that some mages could live there without going out for decades, centuries even.

Now, Velvet didn’t know how some mages increased their lifespan, but the fact that there was a way was evident. She had seen some exaggerated raisins walking around.

And some less like raisins and more like inhuman mages.

Like Alrai and Siberina’s ‘father’, Siberiald, with his long legs, long arms, long everything and slender complexity, whose ribs looked like an accordion when he laughed.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

… It was almost like one could try to guess a mage’s age by either the wrinkles or the uncanniness. Of course, some mages were uncanny consequence of eating demons.

Or just because their Paradigms worked like that.

Anyway, she didn’t see the archmage holding Dianthus captive, so she wasn’t sure if they were in the raisin or the uncanny category.

Not that she wanted to see them, anyway. She might be a knowledge mage, but even she knew that pursuing that information was suicide.

Anyway, she was at the First Tower now, searching for Tristan, who was supposed to give her the artifacts that had to be delivered, before the woman left to receive the Pioneer’s Three arrival.

That was Tristan’s own alibi, and the reason why she ‘dumped’ her delivery work on Velvet today of all days.

And, it was also the reason they met today on the First Tower, and not the Archives.

Hm? That she told Merrs “See you tomorrow?”?

That was a lie, of course!

Merrs could wait to jump at her for the whooole day, pouncing at every mage that entered the Archives, and stalking the entry door like a hawk-cat, that Velvet wasn’t going to show up.

Nope, she had other plans. Even when she had told Merrs the opposite absolutely on purpose.

But hey, if she was such a petty silly cat that waited for her the whole day, Velvet would make sure to mock the hell out of her the next time they met.

Looking at the counter where Murrs was working, Velvet observed her.

The three (that she knew of) catgirls looked exactly the same, down to the last detail. Only the necktie each one of them wore with the gray suit had a different color.

Blue for Murrs, red for Mirrs and green for Merrs.

So, if there was a Marrs and a Morrs, they probably wore orange and purple neckties. Not that Velvet had seen any.

Maybe there were only those three, since they were experiments and all that.

Clearing her throat, Velvet left the catgirls' matters aside, walking to Tristan, who was just coming down the staircase that went to the elevators, which at the same time connected to the entrances of the pocket dimensions.

Tristan was a bit late, but it was according to Velvet’s calculations.

The woman walked down the stairs, cradling something in her arms. Something wrapped in red cloth, big like a baby, which Velvet hoped it wasn’t.

It obviously wasn’t, but the demon baby as a formation core was a thing that happened, so she was naming all the possibilities.

Maybe it was a mechanical diabolical baby, anyway.

“Good morning!” Velvet said, extending her arms to grab the not a baby lump.

She was curious, after all.

“Hm. Hey.” Tristan groaned, bothered by being taken out of her job, and being made to welcome a ship.

Velvet guessed that by how she was dressed. Tristan's usual dress, full of trinkets and pockets had been replaced by a red, elegant dress, complementing her hair.

She still wore some tall, brown leather boots that reached her tights, and Velvet saw some metallical things hidden between the dress folds. Also, Tristan wore some kind of strange collar, made of golden threads shaped like gears, almost drawn into her skin.

Giving her the lump, which also was baby weighed, Tristan continued speaking. “The rest of the artifacts are in my home, on the entrance. Do not snoop around. Murrs already knows you have free entry.”

“I like the sound of free things.”

Not laughing at her joke, Tristan unwrinkled her dress, now free from carrying the lump. “Do not mess anything up, we will see each other in a few hours.”

“Of course!”

Giving her a single nod, Tristan left, leaving Velvet behind, who held the lump like a baby.

Velvet looked at her disappear, before moving her arms up and down slightly, trying to see if the lump reacted in some way.

When it didn’t, she sighed, walking to Murrs’ counter.

“Hello! I have a delivery for Ernon Maschei.” She told her, smiling. “Tell him if I can get an entry.”

“Of course.” Murrs said, also making a customer service smile. “Would you also like to get the Archives access card with it?”

Velvet smile froze, and she quickly did a double take.

“You three don't swap jobs, right..?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Recovering her own customer service smile, Velvet spoke. “Only asking the Ernons for entry is enough, thanks!”

Both of them smiled at the other, while Murrs pressed some stuff under her desk, the seconds passing.

Velvet forced herself not to sweat, the idea of Murrs being Merrs and jumping at her from the counter not that impossible for comfort.

After less than a minute, Murrs spoke again. “They agreed, you can enter!”

Maintaining the smile competition, Velvet took her time to say goodbye to Murrs, strolling to the stairs with calm.

Even when she wasn’t that calm. Damned cat.