Deep into the night, in the bedroom of the extended building to the side of Kalman's workshop, in this very bedroom that had been unoccupied since the night before, something was crawling out from under the bed.
Had anyone been sleeping in this room, this would have been quite a horror, a nightmare come true for most children.
As the figure crawled out from under the bed, covered in sweat and dirt, the door to the bedroom flew open. Standing in the doorway were a young woman and an old man.
The young woman shone a brightstone lamp into the room, casting away the darkness and revealing the true form of the being that emerged from underneath the bed.
It was Theodore.
He was wearing his regular clothes and his robe was left in a box placed within the tunnel he had dug. His hair was dirty and messy and his eyes expressed fatigue. One look and anyone could tell that he has had a rough night, two rough nights, to be exact.
"Ah, finally returned," said Kalman, speaking as if Theodore had just returned from a field trip of some sort. "Found anything interesting?"
"Plenty," Theodore replied. "But first, some food would be nice. Speaking of, I'd like some asparagus added to my diet from now on. Maybe broccolis and cabbages too."
Though he had escaped Felicie and her Corpse Eater, Theodore was confident that Silica would not die so easily. The creature had already taken a whiff of his scent and as such, Theodore needed to deploy countermeasures so that it won't recognize him if he were to ever run into them again.
"I'll go make something right away," said Fiana as she rushed off into the kitchen.
With the food being prepared, Theodore went to clean himself. Using a pump in the back of the building, Theodore filled up a wooden tub. Once filled, he stripped himself of the filthy clothes and began to rinse his body with a bucket.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The water was cold and Theodore wished that he had taken the time to heat it with his magic, but at the same time, he was tired and couldn't be bothered. Like so, while splashing cold water onto himself, Theodore scrubbed his body clean.
After cleaning up, Theodore brewed himself a pot of tea and enjoyed the sensation of hot water hitting his empty stomach as he waited for the meal to be prepared.
Soon enough, the food was served and Theodore had his fill. With his stomach full, a sense of drowsiness came upon Theodore and Kalman suggested that he go to sleep for the night. They can speak of his discoveries the following day.
Theodore, eager for some well-earned rest, agreed wholeheartedly.
***
"Still kicking, I see."
That was the first thing Albatross said upon seeing Theodore after a day of absence. Theodore simply laughed it off. Such was the nature of their relationship. Constantly, Theodore had to remind himself that they were not friends, merely collaborators so that he won't get too comfortable.
With Albatross's arrival, the meeting commenced.
The first order of business was about Felicie and Silica and the whole ordeal Theodore had while dealing with them.
Upon speaking the young lady's name, Albatross expressed a mix of emotions on her face, none of which were positive in the slightest.
As it turned out, Albatross knew about Felicie. Her full name was Felicie Gaspard and she was that young noble lady that liked to set her owl on apprentices-in-name, letting it peck and scratch them for fun. The resulting injuries were by no means light, but due to them being something that could easily be healed by magic and her being a person of high status, such incidents were overlooked entirely.
Thinking about what he encountered last night, Theodore thought that being pecked and scratched could be considered lucky if that very same owl was Silica, the Corpse Eater.
After requesting Albatross to keep an eye on this young lady, they moved on to the next topic.
In the end, Theodore never did tell the others what he thought of the young lady other than that she was a threat. With a Corpse Eater by her side, Theodore suspected her of being a Demon Lord Larva. After all, the Corpse Eaters were a creation of one Professor Cato, a former servant of the later Demon Lord. It was possible that he had found himself a new Demon Lord to pledge his service to. Either that or the Gaspard house had somehow become the sponsor of his research.
Regardless, it was safer to assume that she was a Demon Lord than not at the moment. Theodore was quite sure that they would never be friends. And with that Corpse Eater by her side, one of these days, she might just become a threat that he can't afford to ignore.
***
End of Chapter 99
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