[ The House of Mistresses - Unseen Corridor ]

“So we’ll split into five groups of three and cycle through the rooms just as we’ve already demonstrated.

“We’ll go through five rooms each. And after we’re done, we’ll return to the theater room and wait for everyone else to finish so that we can report our findings.

“The purpose of exploring the rooms is to look for any clue that might tell us why the House of Mistresses is currently in the state that it’s in, potential means of escape, and of course, a way to contact Lady Lucianna.

“You can take as much time as you like, but ideally, you shouldn’t spend more than five minutes in each room.”

Standing in the darkened hallway, a group of black-haired and red-eyed angels, one gold-haired little girl, and one black-furred dog quietly listens to the words of First Sister Roxxi as she briefly goes through everything we need to keep in mind before we start our exploration.

With it being the third time all of us come out here, the shadows that cloak this ominous space certainly lose a lot of their initial dread and mystery. And thanks to Little Eden, our plan of action from this point on has become quite clear.

—But there’s still one more thing our little gaggle of goslings going to find mother goose still haven’t decided on yet.

“Um, so how exactly are we splitting up?”

From my right, I hear the voice of Sixth Sister Nana. She’s raising her hand slightly with a subtle frown.

“We can draw lots? Oh! A few rounds of rock paper scissors would be fine too,” from my left, Second Sister Rinne, ever so lightheartedly, says.

“Eeeeh? But I want to be with Miwari.” Immediately, Frul jumps to grab my arms and complains.

“Hmmm… “

First Sister Roxxi touches her chin with a thoughtful look. Standing under the scarlet lamps, the profile of her face half-hidden by the light is somewhat striking.

Eventually, she turns to Eden to ask for her opinion.

“Little Eden, what do you think?”

The golden-haired little girl looks around a bit while still holding onto Bery the Cerberus. After briefly meeting my eyes, she says:

“Eden also wants to be… with Miwari.”

“Hnnnggg~.”

“...”

Slowly, everyone turns to me, their scarlet eyes narrowing mysteriously.

“Good for you. Miwari.” Fifth Sister Kitsuha says with a smile.

“Good for you, Miwari.” Ninth Sister Miho also says with a smile.

“Good for you...” Even Kanna.

“...”

—What is this passive-aggressiveness?

I sigh. These silly acts of my sisters, I can’t say that I’m not used to it.

Well, in order not to let this get any more sidetrack, I should probably bring everyone’s attention back to the topic.

“Why not just rank by seniority then?”

““Hmmm~...””

Simultaneously, a look of interest flashes by, and a thoughtful expression appears on all of my sister’s faces.

As the scarlet flames contained within the lamps sway, there is a moment of complete and utter silence.

But after a few seconds…

“That does sound like a good idea,” First Sister Roxxi finally says.

So, with all of us in complete agreement, after some discussion, we quickly proceed to separate ourselves into groups.

In the first group, we have Roxxi, Kitsuha, and Miho.

In the second group, we have Rinne, Nana, and Tsukiyo.

In the third group, we have Yue, Linlin, and Hyong-ran.

In the fourth group, we have Xue, Minjee, and Kanna.

And finally our fifth group, Eden, me, and Frul… and Bery the stupid Cerberus, I guess?

The combination ends up looking a little weird because since the older sisters are generally more reliable we decided that it would be best to mix the order by one over.

As for our group. Well, I can’t really let Little Eden be with any of my sisters without me and Frul… really won’t let go of my arm. So this arrangement will have to do.

“Alright, it seems like we’re ready.”

With a light clap that resounds a little louder than it should within the dim and narrow corridor, First Sister Roxxi raises her head and walks in front of the door two doors to the left of the one directly opposite the theater room.

“We'll take this door.” First Sister Roxxi says.

"And we'll take this one~," Second Sister Rinne says as she walks over to the door to the right of First Sister Roxxi.

One by one, the four groups of my sisters line up in front of the four doors on the other side of the theater room’s door.

—Then that means…

I look to the fifth door in the line. Somewhat unsurprisingly, Little Eden is already standing there waiting for me and Frul, along with Bery the Cerberus.

I take a deep breath—and step forward.

“See you all in about half an hour.”

With those words spoken by First Sister Roxxi, all 5 groups grab the door handles, slide them open…

And step inside.

—————……….

The first room I, Eden, Frul, and Bery the Cerberus find ourselves in turns out to be yet another guest room.

Well, it’s not surprising. Since it’s what the majority of the rooms within the House of Mistresses are. But I at least expected to stumble upon a larger one on the higher floor, or maybe one of the themed VIP rooms or something.

“The rules for the changings of the rooms… seem to be correct.”

As Frul and I are searching the room, opening every cabinet and flipping over every blanket and decoration, Little Eden who’s standing in the middle with Bery the Cerberus mutters something.

“So far, it looks like that. But still, you figured all of it out really fast. Little Eden, have you seen something like this before?”

Frul says while moving the vase of Red Arachne flowers away from the circular sill and pushing on the window to see if it would budge.

—It doesn’t.

“Huh? Eden doesn’t… think so.” The golden-haired little girl tilts her head slightly, hugging Bery a little tighter around her waist. “But maybe… in a dream?”

“Weird...”

I whisper to myself, placing down the rolled-up ink scroll painting onto the nearby table.

“Miw, what is it?” Frul looks over to me and asks.

“This just feels wrong. The entire situation. Because even among the 14 of us, there’s no one who has enough authority to control the House of Mistresses and the Undercity Domain to create this space.”

I turn to look around the room again. The chair, the folding screens, the tables, the beds. Everything seems so ordinary underneath the red light of the lamps.

“But for the life of me, I can’t think of a reason why she would do something like this. Unless…” I narrow my eyes and quietly whisper. “We’re not currently inside the domain of Lady Lucianna at all.”

Frul widens her eyes a little at me. Little Eden and Bery the Cerberus also seem to have their ears perked up.

Both of them seem to realize that if what I’m saying has even a degree of truth, it would change everything about our current situation.

But eventually, Fruls chuckles. A lighthearted and genuinely pleasant laugh echoes within the room.

“Do you want to test it out?” Frul looks at me and says.

“...?”

In response to my inquiring gaze, my older sister by one generation jumps onto the bed in the middle of this guest room.

On the bed, Frul crosses her legs and starts to say with a silly smile.

“It’s almost impossible to kill an angel tied to the creator of the domain inside their own domain. So if we injure ourselves seriously enough, we can test out that possibility.”

Then she turns to Eden, stretches out her both hands to form two telephone signs, and twists them past each other across her neck.

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“Even if our heads are cut off, as long as we can still get it reattached to our bodies later, we would still be fine.”

I squint my eyebrows perplexingly. There’s definitely some merit to definitively knowing the answer to that.

But…

“So how would we test it?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Without any prior warning, Frul immediately stretches her left arm out, digs the tip of her black-painted thumbnail into the upper arm right under her shoulder—and instantly drags outward without any hesitation.

Shhh—!

Right before my eyes, the wound heals so fast, not even a single drop of blood even had a chance to drip out. And all I’m left with is the sound of skin tearing apart reverberating in my ears.

“...”

—What would you do if it didn’t heal though?

Unconcerned with my concerns, Frul simply smiles.

“So that’s that, we’re still inside.”

Then, Frul jumps off the bed and back onto her feet, as if what she’s just done was entirely nothing more than a simple prank.

“The only possibility for why this is happening has to be because of Lady Lucianna.”

“But why? For what reason?”

—I still can’t see any sense in it.

Frul looks up, propping her chin with one finger, before turning toward me with it still raised.

“Maybe she’s just trying to pull a prank on all of us?”

“...Maybe.”

—Considering Lady Lucianna’s personality, that’s not entirely out of the option… unfortunately.

“Anyways, it looks like there’s not really anything interesting in this room.”

Frul walks a couple of steps from the bed and stretches a little.

“Should we move on to the next one?”

I look around the room one more time just to be sure, and it doesn’t seem like there’s really anything else here.

Eventually, Little Eden speaks up, still holding that stupid Cerberus, of course.

“Which one of us… will go out first?”

“It shouldn’t matter that much, right?” I shrug.

Although we don’t actually know if there’s a possibility of danger or not in the corridor or inside any of the rooms, If there’s a really long gap where we couldn’t find each other again, we’d agree to return to the theater room and reset.

“If so then…”

Eden looks up at me, her golden irises visible slightly through her bangs.

“Can you let Eden… do it?”

…..

The second room we find ourselves in ends up being another guest room.

After looking around a bit and realizing there’s nothing useful inside, I take a turn to be the one who cycles through the room.

In the third room, there isn’t anything interesting to be found either.

This time, Frul goes out to cycle.

So far, the exploration of the House of Mistresses has been entirely uneventful. We’ve found neither clues of what’s happening, nor any hints of an exit.

I’m starting to think that there’s nothing waiting for us out here at all.

—That is, until something strange happens when Frul and I go out into the corridor for the fourth time.

“Quietly… come inside.”

After Frul and I stood waiting in the corridor a little longer than usual, Eden’s soft voice rang out, and the door before us slid open.

Little Eden’s peeking from the tiny crack between the doors, with one finger on her lips and another arm holding the Cerberus.

Frul and I look at each other curiously, wondering why Eden’s acting like this, before following her inside.

It’s a normal guest room, just like we’ve seen before, except for the fact that it’s vastly more spacious. If my memories serve me right, it should mean that this room is from one of the higher floors.

But that’s not the surprising thing to notice as I come into the room at all.

“It was already like this… when Eden first… got here.”

For a moment, I can’t even say a single thing, nor take my eyes away from the scene in front of me.

I can’t move a finger, I can’t even take in a deep breath, because what’s painted inside the room is….

—Blood.

So much blood. Splattered all over the floors, against the wall and on the ceiling. Even the folding screens are cut in halves, covered in streaks of red.

Underneath the dim red lamps, the pool of liquid that reflects their lights almost seems to be burning.

More importantly, in the middle of the guest room, on the red-colored king-sized bed with its sheet soaked in blood.

“A knife?”

A kitchen knife, bright red, stabbed deep into the middle of the bed like a tombstone.

“Heeeeeh~? What happened here~?” Frul walks into the room, eyes sparkling.

“These are definitely… signs of fighting.”

—Very violent fighting, too.

But… how? Who? More importantly when?

It has to be before we start cycling through the rooms.

Perhaps, these traces were here before this whole situation even started.

—————……….

[ Undercity - The Golden Catfish Restaurant ]

Clank!

With the sounds of clashing glasses, the festivities inside the Golden Catfish Restaurant continued to bubble— each second nearer to the boiling point.

From the entrance to the opening into the exact middle of the floating restaurant. A man leaning against the wall with a bored look, a bottle of beer in his hand. A white-faced girl arguing with a serving boy about the spilled curry. A half-naked dancing monkey, catching fire on his waist-tied robes, laughing maniacally as the crowd clapped their hands to the beat of the drums.

Right at the heart of the Golden Catfish, a place that connects every room and every floor together is a performance area with a grand stage. Rows and rows of tables flanked by musicians and their instruments. The view above was a vertical slice of the entire building, from the first floor to the forth, the dancing, the drinking, the playing—the singing and the fights. The bright orange lanterns illuminated them all.

And on the second floor, by the interior balcony that provided a full view of the large crowded area below and the filling chaos above...

—Boss, Bell, and Kevin walk up to a bar.

“So… busy day today, eh? Mister Handler.”

Immediately upon arriving at the drinking station monitored by an older gentleman in a bartender uniform, the red-haired woman who goes by the name of ‘Boss’ placed her elbow on the bar and leaned in while greeting the bartender with a cheeky smile.

“Boss girl…”

With a slight glance, the bearded bartender acknowledged Boss’s existence without showing much emotion.

“Just when I thought you would miss out on everything,” he continued to say, looking back down at the shaker he was currently meticulously brushing clean with a paper towel in his hands.

“Well, we did come in at the last second. The “pretty angel” we brought was just taken away.”

“The four of you actually managed to get someone to participate? How did that happen?” The bartender asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, you know…” Boss narrowed her eyes slightly and started playing with her nails. “Talent.”

Standing behind her, Kevin and Bell pressed their lips together uncomfortably.

—Neither of them said anything.

Boss briefly glanced down past the railings of the indoor balcony. This was the busiest this place had ever been. How many people were there? Every seat, every floor. Several hundred? A thousand?

But even here. To their right, a man fell asleep holding a pack of cards. To their left, a woman lying unconscious on a bronze phoenix statue. Completely unaware of everything going on around them.

“Anyways, got any gossip you want to share, perhaps?” Boss paused, waiting for the bearded bartender to speak up first, and only continuing when she realized that he wasn’t going to. “What’s up with all those people passing out drunk on the floor anyway?”

Boss pointed her thumb to a table full of sleeping people on her left. The old bartender glanced to where she was pointing using the corners of his eyes.

“They passed out after drinking too much, what else is there to be said?”

“Yeah, but there’s so many of them though. Have you seen the scene outside?” Kevin asked

“Outside, huh.” The bartender chuckled. “I haven’t left this place since the party started.”

“And when exactly was that?” Bell asked.

“A couple of days ago, maybe? It’s been difficult to keep track of the time.” A small sigh came from the bearded man. “Truthfully, I just want the main show to start and be over with. I’m getting tired of all the noise.”

Of course, he was referring to the beauty pageant, the main show of tonight’s event.

“Do you know when it will start?” Boss asked.

“When the betting table is closed, I’m guessing.”

The bartender nudged slightly to his left.

Following his gesture, the trio of adventurers eventually land their eyes on a gigantic vertical monitor hung over several floors of the Golden Catfish Restaurant, falling from the fourth floor all the way down to the stage area at the bottom like a massive piece of ornate tapestry—the wirings almost looked as if they were loose threads.

On the gigantic monitor, repeated at an interval that can be read by anyone on any floor, a list of names and faces, along with the amount of money associated with them.

“Some people are still trying to bet money to get more money to bet on the real thing.”

Upon hearing the bartender’s words...

—The three adventurers’ eyes lit up.

“Bell, Kevin!”

““Yeah!””

Immediately, they ran off from the bar, leaving the bearded bartender with his sentence unfinished. He sighed, before flipping the cleaned-shaker in his hand, catching it, and turning his attention to a new customer.

Boss, Bell, and Kevin eventually arrived on the other side of the indoor balcony where the monitor was more visible.

But as they weaved through the crowd all the way to the front, a figure in a butler uniform approached the trio.

“Want something to drink? Apparently, it’s all paid for.”

“Aaaah!”

An uncharacteristic yelp came from Boss. The other two immediately turned around and recognized Altarin with a tray of drinks in his hand.

“You fit in quite well, white-haired big brother,” Kevin said with a little bit of admiration.

“Well, my uniform is vaguely appropriate. And everyone is very drunk.”

Altarin briefly explained away his appearance inside the Golden Catfish, omitting most of the details—especially the part where one of the chefs who was smoking by the balcony noticed him entering the kitchen, gave him a thumbs-up, and just never said anything.

—It was very strange. But he assumed that was just the Undercity.

“Anyways, big brother, do you have some money?”

“???” Altarin threw Bell an eyebrow. “What are you trying to do?”

Boss pointed to the large monitor.

“There’s a gambling table opened for the competition that’s coming up.”

“We’re betting hard on the white-haired big sister winning.”

Like kids in a candy store, the excitement could be seen sparkling in their eyes.

…That’s actually not a bad id—

[Don’t even think about it.]

“Aren’t we here to figure out what’s going on with all the sleeping people? How do you three even think about money? Seriously,” Altarin said with all the sternness he could muster.

Just then, the light went out, and someone among the gathering crowd yelled out in excitement.

“OOoh! It’s finally starting.”

“Aaaah—! Damn it! We’re too late!”

Bell pressed forward through the crowd to grab onto the railings and looked down. Altarin and the other two people also walked up beside him.

Below, on the large stage, a sharply dressed presenter wearing a strange, mechanical rabbit helmet began to speak in a bellowing, distorted voice.

“Ladies and gentlemen~! It’s finally time~!

“The moment we’ve all been waiting for.

“The competition to truly decide who’s the most worthy of the title of the prettiest angel in Anorlon.”

Lined up from one end of the stage to another were around 20 beautiful ladies, all in various dresses and costumes. If anyone from upper Anorlon were to inspect the current lineup, they would probably recognize some of them.

—A kind-looking receptionist angel, a pretty housewife of a popular restaurant angel, and, of course, a certain white-haired maid, standing there elegantly, facing the crowd.

Additionally, on the stage where all the participants are, a giant wheel can be seen.

“With the wheel deciding, 5 rounds of competition that will test our 25 participants' character, skill, and beauty.”

“At the end of each round, we’ll tally up all the votes of the audience and from the primary judges. This guy, that guy, and of course, our deep pocket guest of honor watching over us from the President Suite—Master Casandro Casanova.”

—Altarin’s ears twitched.

“Those who don’t get enough points will be eliminated, and those that do will move on to the next round.”

With the rising tension of the crowd all across every floor accumulating, the presenter bowed.

“Now then…

“Let's begin~!”

—————…….….