At six o'clock in the evening, Rosen felt the familiar tremor in his mind as streams of information flashed through his head.

"New spell created successfully: Wizard's Firearm."

"Spell power rating: Low rank lower."

"The spell has been successfully added to Rosen's Spellbook and can be activated at any time."

Rosen heaved a quiet sigh of relief. His tense mind and body relaxed at once: "I guessed right, how wonderful!"

A single low rank spell was of course not enough to completely reverse the caged canary's fate. But it did give him a fighting chance when faced with mortal danger.

With this spell up his sleeve, he could act docile and play the fool with more poise, without needing to be anxiously on edge at all times.

Feeling somewhat fatigued, he lay down to rest on the rug by the fireplace.

About an hour later, familiar footsteps approached from outside the door, sounding a little sluggish and weak.

The door gently creaked open, and after a few seconds, Rosen caught a faint whiff of blood in the air. His heart gave a little lurch.

'She's injured?'

He remained lying on the floor with eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.

The door clicked shut again. Lilith's soft voice called from the doorway, "Rosen...Rosen..."

Rosen did not respond. His body stayed still, breathing light and slow, feigning deep sleep.

The calling stopped. Footsteps entered, circling past Rosen's feet and heading straight for the bathroom behind the screen.

The bloody smell in the air grew stronger.

The sound of a ladle scooping water came from behind the screen. Lilith seemed to be washing herself.

Just then, Rosen's ears pressed to the floor picked up another set of footsteps, extremely light, barely audible unless one's ear was flush against the floorboards.

The last step was the soft click of a door opening, from the adjacent room next door.

Rosen immediately turned his head slightly and opened his eyes, gazing into the mirror on the opposite wall. He focused his mind to summon his Adventure Log, peering closely at the situation in the room across.

Due to the angle, he could not see the full room at first, only glimpses of shifting light and shadow.

But soon he saw Celeus enter near the wooden table, carrying his luggage trunk. He placed the trunk atop the table.

Rosen watched clearly as Celeus took out a palm-sized, flat, black metal box from his coat. He stroked the intricate patterns on the box gently, with a tenderness as if caressing a lover's skin.

Rosen also saw thick joy and barely suppressed ardor in his gaunt face and murky eyes.

After stroking the box for a while, Celeus opened the bottom drawer of the luggage trunk, took out a few books inside, then tucked the black metal box in all the way at the back.

He returned the books one by one, leaving only a spellbook out. Finally he locked the drawer.

Having done all this, Celeus dusted his hands contentedly and picked up the spellbook, engrossing himself in studious reading.

From his nonchalant air, it was as if he had been in the room the entire afternoon.

Rosen still had no idea what had transpired, but it surely boded no good.

Not daring to observe further, he closed his eyes again and continued feigning sleep on the floor.

Some time later, the splashing sounds from behind the screen ceased. An uneasy silence descended in the room.

After a prolonged pause, a muffled groan of pain suddenly emitted from behind the screen, as if in terrible agony.

"What's happened?" Rosen grew even more alarmed, but did not dare investigate on his own initiative.

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The groaning continued for a while, then abruptly stopped. Right after, a heavy thud sounded, as if something heavy had smashed against the wooden boards.

Then there was no further stir from behind the screen, only the reek of blood growing ever stronger in the air.

"How bizarre," Rosen muttered. Gritting his teeth, he got up from the floor and called towards the screen, "Miss Lilith? Miss Lilith? Is that you in there?"

No response. Dead silence from behind the screen.

Rosen steeled himself and continued forward, clutching a painting knife smeared with paint tightly in his hand.

Step by step, until he circled past the screen.

Behind the screen sat a bath tub, half filled with a mixture of water and what seemed to be blood. And in this bloody water lay a monster!

The monster had Lilith's head, but its skin was bluish-black and covered in chitinous, insect-like scales.

Its arms were misshapen into two sharp, barbed blades, studded all over with backward-pointing spikes. Its body resembled a human's but was also encrusted with dense, overlapping scales. Below that was obscured by the bloody water.

Although Rosen had seen all sorts of movie monsters in his past life, witnessing one in the flesh still left him somewhat overwhelmed, with a strong urge to turn and flee.

But ultimately he stood his ground, not because he did not want to run, but because he did not know where to run to.

He suppressed the alarm in his heart and picked up the brush by the tub, using the handle to gently poke the monster's arm. He called out softly.

"Miss Lilith? Miss Lilith? Is that you? Are you alright?"

He called gently for a while. The monster's body stirred and its drooping eyelids blinked slightly open, revealing a thin slit.

Within were human eyes, identical to Lilith's. This put Rosen more at ease.

"Ah!" Lilith caught sight of Rosen and let out a cry, immediately shrinking down into the bloody water. But that seemed to aggravate her wounds, drawing another uncontrolled groan of pain from her as her body shuddered violently.

Witnessing her reaction, Rosen became calmer instead.

Though monstrous in appearance, she had not lost her humanity or capacity for reason.

He asked gently, "Miss Lilith, is that you?"

"Get out! Go back behind the screen!"

"Ah, don't look at me! Don't look at me! I'm hideous."

Lilith cried out feebly, waving her spike-filled arms ineffectually.

Such a response thoroughly reassured Rosen.

He dared not overly stimulate her, immediately retreating behind the screen. "Miss Lilith, is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Nothing to do! Say nothing at all! Just stay put obediently!"

"Alright."

Rosen slowly backed away to lie down again on the rug by the fireplace.

More sounds came from behind the screen.

"Go back to sleep. If you get hungry, find Jos at the hall and he'll prepare dinner for you. But remember, speak nothing of me or what happened here!"

"I understand, Miss Lilith," Rosen answered.

After such startling events, he had no appetite left for sleep. But his stomach rumbled insistently, reminding him to replenish himself with food.

'Can't feel safe sharing a room with a monster like that. I'd best go downstairs for dinner.'

At this thought, Rosen rolled up and said, "Miss Lilith, I'm going downstairs for a bite."

"Go on, but absolutely do not tell anyone about me. Understand?!"

Her tone grew severely stern at the end.

Rosen replied earnestly, "I won't, I swear on my life I won't. No matter what Miss Lilith looks like, she's a wonderful person and I'd never do her harm."

"Wonderful? Hah! Foolish boy," came the murmured response from behind the screen.

Rosen lingered no further. He promptly left the room and jogged downstairs to the first floor hall.

"Jos, I'd like a potato and meat stew, plus four meat pies."

"No problem, take any free seat and it'll be right up."

By now it was close to eight at night. The hall held only a sparse scattering of guests, most drinking vacantly with bleary eyes.

In contrast, the three Nightingales in the corner looked bright and alert, barely even blinking.

Rosen took an inconspicuous corner and sat down.

Soon Jos brought out the food. Rosen's stomach gnawed fiercely with hunger, so he dug in without further thought.

Bang! The inn door burst open, letting in a gust of frigid air and snowflakes that stirred cursing from the drinkers near the entrance.

Rosen was chewing on a pie. At the commotion he instinctively glanced up.

He saw a man draped in a black bear fur cloak standing at the doorway, with a large nose, eyes and mouth, and a hedgehog-like beard of bristles.

Not very tall, about one meter sixty at most. But fat and burly, especially that big paunch, even larger than a six-seven month pregnant woman's.

Rosen murmured inwardly, "Quite the big black bear!"

But next he noticed the three Nightingales' faces drastically blanch at the sight of the newcomer. One even seemed on the verge of screaming aloud.

But she did not get to scream.

Not that she didn't want to, but couldn't.

Because the 'big black bear' abruptly strode forward in a few huge steps, as if teleporting through the five-six meter distance to arrive at the screaming Nightingale's side. One hand was already clasped over her neck, forcibly choking the budding scream back down her throat.

The series of actions seemed slow yet lightning-quick, belying the fat bulky build with agile speed.

More bizarrely, his footsteps made no sound at all. None of the drinkers or even Jos busy tallying accounts behind the counter noticed anything amiss.

Except for Rosen, no one saw the anomalous events unfolding in the corner.

'A master!' Rosen dared not stare directly. He kept his head low, pretending to concentrate on his pie while watching from the corner of his eye.

He saw the stocky man smile faintly. Then, swift as lightning, both hands darted out to gently tap the sides of the three Nightingales' necks.

Their bodies went limp and collapsed backward. But as the wall was right behind them, they did not fall but merely slumped against it, looking as if asleep and propped up by each other.

Rosen was aghast. 'So vicious? Killed them all?'

'No, wait, they're still breathing, just knocked out.'

Rosen's mind eased slightly, but his heart still beat a nervous tattoo.

The 'big black bear' nonchalantly approached the counter after disabling the three Nightingales. "A room please, I'd like to stay the night," he said, smiling.

"Certainly." Jos beamed back.

Soon the stocky man headed upstairs, room key in hand, towards the inn's second floor.

In the hall, Rosen kept his head lowered over his meal. But a disturbing thought dominated his mind: 'Ten to one, Celeus stole from someone, and the victim's come seeking retribution!'