Norbert looked between the two of them, sighing as he spoke, “How much trouble am I in now?”

Count von Count draped his arm over Norbert’s shoulder. "You're not in trouble; I just want to know who told you about it.”

“Only if you tell me where it's located.” Norbert retorted back, taking Count von Count's arm and dropping it from around Norbert’s shoulder.

Count von Count nodded. “Swear on a vampire.” At the same time, making an x on his heart.

“Does that work?”

Count von Count shrugging: “It does if it makes you feel better.”

“So I will take that as a no, then,” Norbert said, conforming to the vampire, who nodded his head in confirmation.

“Can you please stop this tryst?” Vivienne flicks her finger from Norbert to Count von Count. “And just tell us who told you about Swallowed Tower.”

“The traveller person who took me around wanted to deliver a letter to someone there,” Norbert said, patting his pouch again.

Vivienne continued to stare at Norbert. “And the name of the person?”

“I don’t see how knowing the name would help me locate this place,” Norbert crossing his arms in front of him.

Vivienne looked at Count von Count, the vampire scratching the back of his head, giving a slight shrug. Turning to Norbert Count von Count, Count speaks, “Head to Grimm. Then, just ask for the place. You might need to exercise, but keep moving, and you will make it. Or don’t. I’m sure the little goddess watching over you will steer you in the right direction.”

Norbert nodded his head, looking up at the ceiling. He shouted, “You hear that, Luck. It looks like someone is on your tail.”

“You don’t need to shout when I’m right here.” Luck spoke from behind his shoulder.

He spun around, opening his arms wide as he hugged the goddess. Feeling the woman’s arms wrap around his body, Norbert stayed there momentarily. Feeling a set of eyes drilling into his back, Norbert slowly let go of the goddess. He turned around and saw Vivienne wholly frozen.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” Lady Luck asked Vivienne, taking a step toward the woman and seemingly phasing to the other side of the table.

Vivienne’s mouth slowly opened as she nodded.

“And will you do it again?” Lady Luck asked the witch.

Vivienne shook her head, slowly making the woman’s face smaller and paler.

Luck beamed back at Vivienne as she walked around. “Now, is there anything else you want to ask?”

Norbert just shrugged. “Nah, it's all good for me. Thanks for dropping by unannounced. It's always good to see you. Maybe we should have some tea next time?”

Lady Luck smiled, “A tea sounds wonderful.” Fading away into a stream of motes of light, a hint of floral tea filled his nose.

Norbert breathed in the last vestiges before they disappeared from his nose. Then, turning around to Vivienne, the movement unfreezed the witch. “What was that about?”

“Nothing to concern you with.” Vivienne grumbled to Norbert.

Turning to Count von Count, only to not see him. The sound of the door opening grabbed his attention as Norbert saw the vampire with the sack in tow leaving the room.

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“That’s it?” Norbert asked.

“No other reason to stay, and she will need some time to recover.”

Norbert turns to Vivienne. “Recover from what?”

“Irking a god. Now I better be off. I have a blood orb to make good use of, so toodaloo,” said Count von Count, closing the door to the main room behind him.

Norbert turned to Obsius. “What was all that about?”

The bird tweeted to Norbert, jumping up and landing

“You’ll be ok?” Norbert asked Vivienne, watching as she just mindlessly gazed ahead, not registering Norbert's words.

Norbert, not seeing what else he could do, picked up Obsius and placed the bird on his head, heading towards the door, his hand hovering over the handle, hoping someone would swing them open.

Holding his breath for a moment in hope, Norbert gripped the door and flung it open, quickly stepping through as the door slammed back on him. Breathing out in relief, the butler stood at the main doors and walked towards Norbert.

“Vivienne might need some assistance,” Norbert suggested to the butler. The servant increased his step even faster, stepped past Norbert, and opened the doors, watching Vivienne as she hadn’t moved at all.

“What happened to her?” The butler asked himself.

“Irking a goddess with her past actions?” Norbert suggested to the butler.

The butler turned to Norbert, “Thank you for the assistance, but we can take it from here.” The doors creaked shut without anyone’s assistance. The two pieces slammed shut, and the snakes on the door handle hissed slightly when clicking into place.

Standing there, Norbert wondered what to do as Obsius pecked at his forehead. Looking down at his body, seeing the holes in his clothes, Norbert resided, knowing he would need to replace these with a new set before he went outside again.

Quickly making his way up the stairs, he passed by the mirror as he looked the other way, making sure not to look at his reflection. Heading into his room, Norbert quickly got changed, and Obsius fluttered around and looked out the window.

Once he was dressed again, he patted himself down; he confirmed his clothes weren’t caught on anything, and none of them were ruffled. Attaching his daggers to his body once more, Norbert reached out to place a sword on his belt, his hand grasping nothing. Connecting the two pieces of the helmet together, he found little comfort in the weight on his head.

Looking in the chest, he found nothing to weigh that side down. Norbert closed the lid, feeling the coins in his pouch had enough for what he intended to do.

“Heading out for some food, want to come?” Norbert asked the bird, seeing if it would fly in through the window and land on Norbert’s head, eager to go outside. Patting the bird, Norbert exited the room, closing the door as he listened, not hearing any other sounds from around the mansion.

He made his way down the stairs, hand hovering above the handrail, and quickly exited out of the mansion's main doors. Closing them behind him, Norbert skipped to the iron gate, hearing it squeak as he opened it. He looked up at the sky to check the time, only the cavern above his head.

Turning his way around, trying to remember where the street stands for food was as he looked about, he saw a mote of light appear in the sky. Following the lane closer toward the Colosseum, Norbert headed in that direction.

Obsius chirped, “Yes, we will get you some food, but first, we need to make a stop.”

***

With a sack full of food, Norbert banged on the scarred and damaged door, tapping his foot on the ground as he waited. He felt people staring at him, whispers flowing off his back.

Obsius is twittering in his ear.

“It's more annoying that they are trying to be stealthy about it rather than coming out and saying it to my face,” Norbert grunted to the bird. The whisperings behind him died down, having heard Norbert’s conversation with the friend on his shoulder.

Banging on the door once again, Norbert whistled as he continued to tap. Looking around the corner at the street vendors, he saw the damaged roof on the other side of the street still had a hole in it.

Smiling slightly at that, Norbert knocked on the door again, still not hearing a response from those inside. Taking the handle, Norbert twisted it open, letting the small amount of trash that had accumulated in front of the door be swept to the side.

Stepping inside, Norbert gave a slight wave to the onlookers as he closed the door. Hearing steps move upstairs, he saw Enid stare up at him, ball in hand. “Your back!” she shouted to him, dropping the ball in shock.

Norbert smiled, removing the helmet and placing it on the table. Placing the sack of food next to it, Norbert looked at the cabinets, opened them up, and noticed the cutlery, plates, and a small amount of food. He took what he assumed to be a vegetable out, sniffed it, and slightly squished it, the rigidity of the vegetable gone, turning to mush.

They heard rustling behind him, looked around and saw Enid’s cheeks stuffed with food and frozen as she looked, tensing up, ready to react to Norbert.

Smiling, Norbert went to the table, taking a chair out as he sat. “It’s yours to have. And your fathers.”

Enid nodded her head as she took another piece out of the sack. Obsius hopped down from him, walked towards the sack and going inside. Norbert sat back as he spun his helmet towards him, looking into its empty eyes.