Sylara appeared in the bathroom a moment later. “An orc.” She drew her blade and leaned down for a slash. As her arm descended, it was caught by a hand.

“Hold on,” said Lilith. “He’s one of mine.”

The two stared at each other for a few moments before Sylara relented and backed away, stowing her weapon.

“Um, is he dead?” asked Liam.

“No, he’s just unconscious.” Lilith lowered herself to inspect the orc more closely. “I need to question him. If he’s here because my father sent him, then we need to keep him alive.”

“Your father?”

“Hm. Yes. My father is the spymaster.”

“And if your father didn’t send him?” asked Sylara.

“Then we can totally kill him.”

“Nope!” Liam objected. “No killing unconscious people in the house!”

“Also,” Lilith continued, “if my father sent him to kill me, then we can kill him.”

“Well, get on with it then,” said Sylara. “I detected a nuclear launch right before I paused.”

“Okay, you can question him,” Liam allowed, “but no killing him. If he’s guilty or whatever then turn him over through the invisible door.”

“I’m good at cleaning up blood…”

“No!”

“Fine,” Lilith relented. “We need to tie him up. Do you have anything?”

“I, uh, I think I have some rope somewhere. Let me go look. Oh, and no using the rope for other purposes.”

“Other purposes?” Sylara tilted her head.

Liam imagined one or both them tying him down with rope while he slept or something equally ridiculous. “Just give me the rope back once you’re done with it.”

Lilith agreed and stayed to supervise the intruder while Liam went searching the house for rope. Eventually, he returned with a fistful of thick twine. “Is this good enough?”

“Let me see it.” Lilith grabbed the end and pulled a segment apart with her hands. It separated with a loud snap. “Normally this wouldn’t be good enough, but with the two of us here, it’s fine.” Lilith started to tie up the unconscious orc, but Sylara intervened.

“Here, let me. I’m obviously better at this.”

“True. I don’t get much practice. There’s not much point in tying someone up after they’re dead.”

Liam covered his ears with his hands. “I haven’t heard a word, hahaha.” He left the room to take his mind off of matters.

----------------------------------------

Gat awoke with a massive headache. “What happened…?” He looked up and saw Lilith peering down at him. “Mistress Mallow!”

“Answer my questions, Gat.”

“Of course!” Gat wore clothing similar to Lilith’s—dark and tight-fitting although somehow a bit less revealing of his physique than hers was. That clothing was covered by many coils of twine. He squirmed a few times, trying to assess the nature of his bindings.

“Why did you come through the invisible door?”

“Because you didn’t return! I feared the worst!”

Lilith took a step closer, lifted her foot, and pressed it against Gat’s shoulder. With a thrust, she rolled him onto his back. “I told you not to follow me, no matter what.”

“I know, but when you didn’t return, I thought you might be in trouble!” he shouted as he tilted his head from his restrained posture to address her.

“Gat, people I can’t trust are worth more to me dead than alive.”

“W–Wait, be careful! There’s someone else here! They ambushed me as I came through the invisible door!”

“Can you blame them?” Lilith asked.

“Huh?” Gat relaxed his neck and allowed his head to rest on the bathroom floor. “Anyway, whoever they are, they’re able to reduce their presence to nothing. Even you can’t lower your guard! They could be right beside us!”

Lilith rolled her eyes. “Damn amateur.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“What?”

“The only reason he snuck up on you,” she explained, “was because you were relying too much on sensing his mana. He doesn’t have any mana. You could have sensed him any number of other ways.”

“No mana?” Gat repeated back. “Wait, if you know all this, then you’ve already neutralized the threat? Good!”

“He’s not the tallest tree in the forest,” Sylara said as she walked into the bathroom.

“An elf! Watch out!”

Lilith buried her face in her right hand.

“So we can kill him?” Sylara asked Lilith.

“Sure.”

“No!” Liam lunged into the bathroom behind Sylara. “No killing!”

“Human!” Gat became enraged. “Are you the coward who struck me from behind!?”

“Says the wannabe ass-stabber who came up through my toilet with an exposed dagger! What if I had been using the toilet!?”

“What?” The orc’s puzzled look morphed multiple times. “Wait, why can I understand you?”

Liam turned to Lilith. “Are all orcs this slow on the uptake?”

“No, just this one. He’s actually fairly skilled but has his… shortcomings.”

“Mistress Mallow, why do you fraternize with these enemies?”

Lilith pointed at Liam. “He’s not an enemy. Don’t be so quick to judge.” She redirected her arm to point at Sylara. “Technically, she’s an enemy, but we’re practice partners in a fun game so it would be a shame for us to kill each other. Deal with it.”

“I don’t understand…”

“You’ve made that abundantly clear,” said Liam in exasperation. “Pay attention. One, if you come through the invisible door you gain the ability to speak with me and anyone else on this side of the door. Two, I’m the hero but I haven’t chosen a side in your eternal conflict. Three, Lilith and Sylara here have both agreed that this is a no-violence home. We’re working together to see if we can negotiate a pact of non-aggression between your peoples. Do you have any questions?”

“If this is no-violence home, then why did you smash something into my head!?”

“Because! I assumed, unlike Lilith, you were too dumb to realize attacking me was the wrong move. You had your dagger out so I knocked you unconscious.”

“D–Don’t be so casual when referring to the Mistress! She’s Mistress Mallow to you!”

Liam turned to Lilith. “Your name is Lilith Mallow?”

“Actually, it’s Lilith Mauve Mallow, but yes,” she replied. “And obviously you can keep calling me Lilith.”

Liam turned back to Gat. “She said to call her Lilith.”

Gat opened his mouth but no words came out.

Lilith stepped close again and leaned her face up against Gat’s ear. “Gat, you are interfering with my operation. Just what should I do?”

“I–I will abide by your judgment, Mistress!”

“The only reason why I’m not killing you, Gat, is because Liam the Hero has asked me not to. What do you have to say about that?”

“The Hero is wise, just this once!”

Lilith groaned. “Did my father or anyone else contact you after we separated?”

“No.”

“Gat.” Lilith brought her hands to his neck. “You needed to stay where you were so anyone who showed up could get a report from you about what’s transpired. Now that you’re not there…” She squeezed, tightening her grip around Gat’s neck. “It could have disastrous consequences for far more people than just you or me.”

Gat struggled to breath, unable to free himself since his arms were bound.

“You may have undermined everything I’m trying to accomplish here…”

Gat’s green hue was becoming bluer.

“Stop!” Liam bear-hugged Lilith from behind, causing her to relax her grip.

“Oh, fine.” Lilith released Gat entirely and stood back up. “I’ll need to bring this fool back. I’m amazed he even made it here on his own. His primary job isn’t to sneak into places like this, normally. He’s an adequate follower when properly supervised.”

“You’ll need my help,” Sylara added. “I should be able to get you out of the palace undetected.”

“If your kingdom learns that an orc and I both snuck in here, they’ll further tighten security around the invisible door.”

Sylara nodded. “Liam, I’m bringing them out, but I’ll return later. I need to get the dog. Also, save my game I left behind, please.”

“I need my dog too!” Lilith added. “Oh, and save my game as well.”

“You know, the two of you probably won’t be able to communicate anymore when you cross over to the other side,” said Liam.

“True. We’ll have to rely on other forms of communication besides words.”

“I agree with Lilith.”

Liam decided to trust Lilith and Sylara that they’d be able to manage. “Hey, I have an idea. Wait a moment.” Liam ran out of the room and returned a few moments later.

“What’s that?” asked Sylara, pointing to the fist-sized robotic object.

“A drone. It may be able to let us see what’s on the other side of the invisible door.”

“How?”

“Watch.” Liam placed the drone on the floor, unfolded the arms, and booted up the hand-held controller. A few moments later, the drone was flying around the room. “Look here.”

Lilith and Sylara were both dazzled, but they understood exactly what point Liam was making when he showed them the video feed on his controller.

“Let me test something.” Liam instructed the drone to hover a few millimeters off the floor, then lowered the antenna of his controller into the toilet until its entire length had vanished to the other world. As he expected, he got an error message that the controller had lost contact with the drone. “I figured as much.” He pulled the antenna back out and took control of the drone again. “Sylara, can you cross over for a minute and let them know I’m dropping a toy through the invisible door?”

Sylara nodded and jumped into the toilet. She climbed back out a few moments later. “They know.”

“Here we go!” Liam piloted the drone until it was hovering right over the toilet.

“Just what are you doing, Hero?”

Liam ignored the orc and beckoned Sylara and Lilith to stand on either side of the toilet so they could also see the screen as he lowered the antenna through the invisible door again. Then he commanded a descent.

As soon as the drone passed through the portal, Liam’s screen showed the summoning chamber. “Is this the summoning chamber!?” he asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Sylara confirmed.

Liam saw several people in the room, including a magus girl similar to Beth, a couple of men in armor, and a man in robes he didn’t recognize. Rotating the drone around, he noticed several more people rushing into the room, likely coming in response to Sylara’s report that the Hero was taking action. Everyone stared and pointed at the drone with eyes wide, although there was no audio feed so Liam couldn’t hear them.

“We can check the status of the summoning chamber with this from now on.” Liam commanded the drone to advance, flying it through the chamber. The people in its path panicked and jumped out of the way like they were diving from the path of a runaway bus. “Let me see how well the signal makes it through the walls.”

He sent the drone up the stairs, bypassing a couple of surprised people as it went. Even after it rose to the next level, the signal was still strong enough to proceed. He needed to decide if he should explore more of the castle or do the mature thing and return the drone to the summoning chamber.