—What a tragedy...—Apolo murmured, but he quickly noticed that Zoe's eyes were less sparkling than usual, so he added with a bit more enthusiasm:

—Anyway, it was an excellent party!

—But everyone died!—Zoe exclaimed, seemingly concerned about the matter but unwilling to express it sincerely.

—That's precisely why it was an excellent farewell party: No one escapes from my house, Zoe... no one...—Apolo said with a colder tone than usual—Now my cousin, my former butler, and all his loyal servants will sleep for eternity in the lands of my beautiful mansion! Everything went according to plan in my master plan!

—So, was it also your plan to leave your cane in the room of the Pink Gururis?—Zoe asked with a slight gleam in her eyes, apparently happier with the idea that it wasn't her fault and that it was actually an elaborate conspiracy by her master.

—Oh...—Apolo murmured unconsciously, remembering that he had indeed left his cane in the Pink Gururis' room before the party started. So, the creatures had never teleported; they had simply escaped due to his incompetence and lack of caution—Yes... it was a very delicate plan to show you how wicked those two little devils were.

—And was it also your plan to play loud music and make the temperature crystals malfunction?—Zoe asked even more excitedly.

—Of course... everything was part of my plan, Zoe.—Apolo replied, trying to act in accordance with his words, but he wasn't very good at improvising—You did a great job executing your part correctly, my dear butler.

—Thank you, Master!—Zoe exclaimed with some fluid coming out of her mouth, similar to saliva.

—Furthermore, take care of hiring new servants and bring all the corpses to the mansion's entrance so we can bury them somewhere on my estate—Apolo ordered. But before leaving the room, he remembered that he was still missing something important—By the way, where is my cane?

—Here!—Zoe said, bending down and making the cane appear out of nowhere.

Apolo saw the cane floating in the air in front of him with astonishment, wondering why Zoe hadn't just taken the cane from the Pink Gururis using this magic trick. But if he asked the question, the old Gururi would feel guilty, and it would cast doubt on the fact that all of this was part of a grand plan. So, Apolo simply took the floating cane carefully, reminding himself never to lose it again; to these Gururis, the large cane had become the crown of a king, and a king should not be without his crown in front of his servants. Seeing that Zoe had disappeared to start carrying out the orders, Apolo, without feeling a shred of remorse for his recently murdered servants, took two empty alcohol barrels from the floor and brought them to the table full of leftover food. Breaking the barrel lids using his hands, the young man proceeded to put the leftover food from the party into the barrels.

After a few minutes, both barrels were filled with a rather disgusting mixture of food to look at, given that Apolo had taken no care at all in storing the food properly. Not caring about the unpleasant appearance, the young man proceeded to close the barrels again with their lids and carried them on his shoulders towards the room where the two Pink Gururis were supposed to be locked up, although Apolo didn't exactly know where he had locked them up, thanks to Zoe.

Upon reaching the door to the room where the Pink Gururis lived, Apolo noticed that it was locked, dispelling his initial doubts. The young nobleman proceeded to remove the hidden key from his cane to unlock the door, also checking that, fortunately, the Pink Gururis hadn't lost the metal plate that identified him as a magician during their "nighttime adventure".

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Upon entering the room, Apolo observed that it was incredibly tidy. The two Pink Gururis had taken it upon themselves to rearrange the furniture in this room as they pleased and had apparently taken the opportunity of their escape to bring some furniture from other rooms and pile it up with their other "treasures" in this room.

—Master!—The two Pink Gururis shouted in unison with friendly smiles as they emerged from their hiding places and ran to the door.

—How was your night? Zoe told me you escaped—Apolo said with an unusually broad smile.

—We noticed you had left the great cane behind, and we wanted to return it to you, but unfortunately, the doors to the grand hall were locked—The two Pink Gururis replied in unison, a little intimidating Apolo. They didn't seem to be lying, which was bad; the last thing Apolo wanted was to live with two great liars—Unfortunately, Zoe found out that we had the cane in our possession, and she obviously tried to steal it from us. We tried to protect the cane from Zoe's greedy hands, but the evil creature managed to trick us with her strange magic. But apparently, you were able to snatch the cane from evil Zoe, Master.

—Yes, Zoe gave it to me...—Apolo murmured, wondering if he should force these two to lie and see how far they could go—Zoe told me you gave her the cane without a fight. I'm glad you finally understood the lesson and learned to live with her.

—We would never give the Master's cane to that vile creature! We fought with all our might, but we lost to her magic! She wanted to keep both canes under her control: that way, she would be invincible! The traitor lied to you, Master! Of course, we didn't give it to her peacefully: she's dangerous and is using strange magic to seduce you! She probably wants to gain your trust to steal your furniture: our furniture! Surely, when she realized you were looking for your cane, Zoe gave it back to you peacefully to deceive you and hide her true intentions—The two Pink Gururis exclaimed in unison, putting their little hands on their teeth and trembling a little, with a level of coordination that would scare anyone.

—...—Apolo pondered for a while why the Pink Gururis hadn't lied to him this time, but they had in the previous instance. Initially, these two Pink Gururis were as expressive as any normal human being. Therefore, it was unlikely that they were lying and that it wasn't noticeable, especially considering that these two creatures had the mentality and maturity of young children.

—Is something wrong, Master? I see you're somewhat worried—Nicolás inquired, his concern greatly exaggerated considering that the person in front of him had been delivering a substantial number of beatings every day. However, the truth was that Apolo's training method was more complex than simply grinding their minds with beatings. The stark reality was that Apolo was applying the same age-old training method his family had used for centuries to train young ones in the art of war: the initial sessions would vividly showcase the torture methods of the Greek gods, making the young ones understand what would happen if they lost a real battle. In the more advanced sessions, they would begin to receive small rewards as they made progress in their learning. For Apolo, this was quite normal. After all, in his mind, no 6-year-old would take the task of lifting a sword seriously unless they could see the consequences of not knowing how to use it against the wrong enemy. And since in his family, a 6-year-old could be healed using trees, there wasn't much mercy to be had.

—So, did you two really not lock the door to the party room?—Apolo asked, looking at the expressions of the two Pink Gururis.

—No, they were locked when we arrived...—Nicolás replied, showing no signs of lying.

—Well...—Apolo commented, even more worried. These "children" were really deceiving him— I brought you gifts for not killing Zoe.

After saying that, Apolo uncovered the two barrels, revealing the pile of leftover food to the two Pink Gururis. The two creatures didn't hide the saliva dripping from their mouths but patiently waited for Apolo to give them permission to eat the food.

—You can eat, but afterward, you'll have to tell me in more detail what happened last night—Apolo said, moving away from the barrels filled with food, predicting the impending disaster, and sitting on the floor, leaning his back against one of the room's walls.