Early in the morning, before the sun could be seen peeking above the horizon, Theodore could be found sitting in the living room with Peter on his lap. With one hand caressing the small creature, Theodore stared into the ceiling in contemplation. The tired look in his eyes suggested that he might not have slept a wink throughout the night.

Theodore sat in silence, with no sound accompanying him aside from the noise in the kitchen, of Fiana preparing breakfast.

Before long, the ruckus in the kitchen ceased and footsteps could be heard approaching the living room. Theodore could hear them coming, but his mind was occupied with putting the minute details of his plans together and did not budge.

It was only moments later did he turn his head around, finding Fiana standing there in the dark, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Since he had arrived, Fiana had done everything to make things comfortable for Theodore and treated him like the child he was in day-to-day life. Feeling the distance between them now, Theodore could not help but be in a gloomy mood.

"Breakfast is ready," Fiana said with a forced smile upon meeting Theodore's gaze.

Theodore merely nodded, not knowing what else to say in this situation. All he understood was that he no longer has any friends in this place.

***

The morning came and went, and Theodore spent the entirety of it in idleness. Even the daily lessons he used to have had been skipped. It didn't seem like Fiana thought that the Demon Lord had much to learn from her. Perhaps she was under the impression that Theodore had only been pretending to be interested in her lessons.

"Well, no use crying over spilled milk," Theodore uttered to himself. On this day, he had more important things to worry about.

Staring out of the window, Theodore waited for the all-too-familiar chime of the rear entrance doorbell. He did not have to wait long before his guest arrived as always, right around the same time as usual. Theodore couldn't help but wonder if such punctuality was part of her job as a courier.

As per usual, Theodore invited Albatross into the building, though on this day, instead of his bedroom, Theodore led her into the living room.

"I have a few things to discuss with you today," said Theodore as he sat Albatross down.

"Don't you always? This was supposed to be a place used to avoid work, but every time I come here these days, there is always something going on. I'm starting to get stressed out here."

"You can take it as a sign of my diligence."

"Well, I suppose it's impressive that you can get so much done while stuck here."

"It's thanks to you that I can do as much as I was able to."

Sensing something off about Theodore on this day, Albatross reflexively formed deep wrinkles in the middle of her forehead.

"You're acting weird today. Just cut the crap and tell me what you want."

Faced with Albatross's impatience, Theodore let out a sigh. Yet, one would suppose that beating around the bush wasn't going to help anyone.

"Well, this is going to be sudden, but we believe that we've figured out what your curse is about."

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For a moment there, a cautious excitement blossomed within Albatross when she heard those words. However, as she quickly calmed down and thought about what Theodore had said, she realized an unsettling implication.

"We?"

"We debated for quite a while about the nature of the curse, and then we debated some more in regards to what to do about you. After all that trouble, I certainly hope that it's going to be worth it." From behind Albatross came a voice, one that belonged to an old man.

With alarm bells ringing in her head, Albatross leaped from where she sat and landed atop the tea table, spinning around in the process. There, behind where she once sat, stood Kalman, a kindly-looking old man with bushy eyebrows and eerily sharp eyes.

"I don't believe you've met, but this is Elder Kalman," Theodore introduced. "I'll be working with him from here on out."

"So? You're saying that you're done with me, is that it?"

Realizing that she had been caught in a pincer from both sides, Albatross began to lower her posture, her hand ever-so-discreetly reaching for the knife in her boot. She had long decided that if she's going down, she's taking one of these blasted mages with her.

"No," Theodore said calmly despite having a good idea what Albatross was going to try. "Today, I'm thinking that we should renew our deal. We can undo your curse, in exchange, you'll help us in our schemes. What say you?"

Unexpectedly, despite being surrounded by a Demon Lord and an Elder of the Mage Tower, the other side was the one trying to negotiate. Finding herself in this confounding situation, Albatross struggled to think straight.

"What do you mean?' Albatross asked a vague question, trying to buy time for herself to fully grasp the situation.

"Well, strictly speaking, the removal of the curse should be thought of as payment for helping me with the heist," Theodore clarified. "However, there's no guarantee that you won't betray us the moment you got your curse removed. Which is why we need your cooperation to implicate you fully to our little group so that you'll be just as screwed as we are if we're found out."

"So just like before then?"

"Right, except this time, it is a far bigger deal. A Demon Lord Larva is one thing, as they could easily be many others around, but for certain factions, a chance to get rid of an elder cannot be missed. Perhaps it'll be worth overlooking a few transgressions even.

Before, you could only betray me if you were caught and interrogated, your curse removed for the interrogation. However, this time, with your curse removed by our hands, your lips would be free and be able to tell on us whenever you want. Surely, the service of a courier that could also act as a spy is valuable enough to place you under the protection of whoever you decide to sell us to.

To prevent such things from happening, we ask you to involve yourself with us further, enough so that if you ever do betray us, the other party would never be able to trust you fully and would rather dispose of you than risk you betraying them when the time comes. Mages are a paranoid bunch, after all."

After hearing Theodore out, Albatross finally relaxed her guard and let out a huge sigh.

"You speak a lot of fancy words, but the gist of it is that you want us to work closely enough together that we seem like friends, right? 'And who would trust someone that would betray their own friends,' that's what you're trying to get at, right?"

"That's the long and short of it, yes."

"Whatever!" Albatross leaped from the tea table and went right up to Theodore. "Either way, so long as this curse is still in me, I can't leave and so far, you're the only one offering to lift it. So fine! I'll join your little circle of friends. Not that I have much of a choice; you'll just get rid of me to keep your secret club safe if I refuse, right?"

"Alternatively," Kalman chimed in, "we could always just not lift your curse, ensuring that you can't talk without triggering it. Of course, that is assuming the Circle of Mages doesn't decide to interrogate you, which shouldn't happen unless we've messed up somewhere down the line and bring suspicion to ourselves and those around us, you included. Though, when that happens, there are better people to interrogate, Fiana for one, would be much more suspicious."

"So? Can I consider this alliance formed?" asked Theodore as he gauged the room.

"I said I'm joining, didn't I?" said Albatross.

"Frankly, I don't trust this girl, but I do believe there is merit in having her work with us. Let us see if this gambit will be worth it in the long run," Kalman answered.

"So it is done then? Good." Theodore nodded to himself. Things had been going smoothly thus far.

Without wasting time, Theodore then began to move on to the next topic at hand.

"Now, let us talk about the curse."

***

End of Chapter 76

***