"Everyone, get ready to head into town."

  From the morning, the kids were bustling around. Today, they pnned to spend the whole day shopping for ingredients in town.

  "But Rumi, what money are we going to use to buy ingredients?"

  Niel asked, holding her luggage with both hands, her face overly worried.

  “...”

  Rumi’s brain froze at the question. She had no real answer.

  “Now that I think about it, we’re totally broke...”

  Just then, Medina appeared, looking as arrogant as ever, as if she had been waiting for this moment. She crossed her arms and tilted her head without saying a word.

  “What’s with you?”

  “Praise me!”

  Medina suddenly shouted in a haughty voice.

  “...?”

  Niel looked at Medina as if she were crazy.

  “Praise and worship me, and I shall grant you generous rewards from my vault. I am kind.”

  “What? A vault?!”

  At that moment, Eve, who had been in the bathroom, rushed into the room.

  Medina, seeing Eve, continued with her head held high.

  “Quickly, praise me! Then even your fallen family shall receive money.”

  Rumi immediately caught on to what was happening.

  “Oh, our generous Lady Medina. Please bestow your generous rewards upon us.”

  Rumi fttered Medina and shot a gnce at Niel and Eve.

  Eve, despite her humiliated expression, followed Rumi's lead in pleading with the generous Medina.

  "La-Lady Medina. We would be grateful if you could bestow rewards from your vault."

  It was Niel’s turn. But Niel just stared at the three of them as if they were all crazy.

  “What are you all doing? Why are you acting so scary?”

  Medina sighed deeply, closing her eyes.

  “Niel, just forget it. Everyone, follow me.”

  Medina flew up to the upper railing and pointed to a rope hanging from the ceiling.

  “Pull this rope.”

  Rumi pulled the rope, and a staircase descended from the ceiling. It seemed to lead to an attic.

  Eve’s eyes widened.

  The kids followed Medina up to the attic.

  The attic was as messy and dirty as the rest of the house. But in one corner, a golden vault stood out, gleaming all by itself.

  Eve’s eyes lit up again.

  Medina called Rumi over, whispered the vault’s combination, and had her open it. Out poured various bottles of the highest-grade sacred oils.

  “Whoa, you... you’re really rich.”

  “Of course. What kind of family do you think we are? It’s a shame I died before I could use all of this...”

  “Medina, you’re such a great friend!”

  Niel chimed in from the side.

  “With this money, we could buy a whole store, let alone go shopping!”

  Eve, excited, added from behind.

  “Alright, let’s head to the city right away!”

  “Yeah!”

  Rumi shouted, and Niel responded, but Eve suddenly went quiet.

  “You’re coming too, right, Eve?”

  “...”

  Eve struggled to answer, just groaning to herself.

  “If you don’t come, you’ll be left here alone...”

  Rumi leaned in close to Eve and whispered in her ear.

  “You were trying to steal from this vault yesterday, weren’t you?”

  Eve’s eyes widened.

  “Th-that’s not true...”

  Eve muttered in the smallest voice she had used so far.

  Rumi couldn’t help but smile. Catching Eve’s weakness was deeply satisfying.

  “Hey... Medina, yesterday Eve was trying to—”

  "Ah... wait, I'll come along!"

  Medina gave Rumi and Eve a suspicious look but soon nodded as if it were no big deal.

  “Then take the money and go to the vilge on your own. There was a doll that went missing yesterday, and it seems a spirit possessed it and tried to steal something! But we haven’t caught it yet... These damn things dare to try stealing from my sacred home! If I catch them, I’ll kill them and corrupt them!”

  Medina’s eyes twitched madly as she shouted.

  “Uh...”

  Eve’s pupils shook as she looked at Medina.

  Meanwhile, Rumi thought it was a good thing she hadn’t mentioned that someone had touched Medina’s doll st night. If she had, the already crazy Medina might have gone completely insane.

  Anyway, that day, the kids—except for Medina—left the house and took the vilge bus, which ran twice a day, to go shopping in the city.

  Rumi hadn’t been to the city square since the day before school started. The square was the busiest pce in the vilge, lined with old buildings and shops. It had everything you could need: stores, restaurants, bookshops, hotels, and more.

  The kids first went into the “Kind Witch’s Apothecary” and browsed the vast array of medicinal ingredients. Among them was a peculiar herb called “Glowing Baby Root.”

  “Baby Roots are a type of monster. But they’re one of the rare monsters that are actually beneficial.”

  Eve automatically started expining.

  “When boiled or juiced, they produce an elixir that preserves and protect the body. They’re used in dangerous or side-effect-prone medicines, so they’re incredibly valuable.”

  "You know all sorts of things, huh?"

  “This is common knowledge in our fami... No, I mean, you're just the only one who doesn't know...”

  Eve threw shade at Rumi.

  “What? Do you know, Niel?”

  "Isn't it obvious? Of course I know all about this."

  Niel smiled confidently and crossed her arms.

  Rumi was slightly taken aback by Niel’s sudden assertiveness.

  “Hey! Niel, your personality’s been weird tely... Are you okay?”

  Meanwhile, Eve was picking out Baby Roots.

  "Sir, I'll take six of these, these, and these."

  “Oh, you’re buying a lot of expensive ingredients. Don’t you need anything else?”

  "Um... just a moment. Rumi, what ingredients do we need?"

  "Dried centipede, dried dawn grass, mild tree snake venom, manuka oil... and the red water from Hotel Hylence."

  Rumi and the kids finished their shopping surprisingly quickly and returned to the center of the square. Naturally, they started looking for something to eat.

  Just then, they spotted the vilge’s only candy store, “Marley's Rotten Tooth.”

  Rumi had always wanted to visit but had never gotten the chance, always distracted by other things.

  “Want to go in there? I’ve never been there.”

  “Marley's Rotten Tooth? Sure.”

  For some reason, Eve blushed and nodded.

  “If you are smiling It must be good, hehe...”

  Rumi didn’t even ask for Niel’s opinion and ran straight to the candy store.

  “Rumi, I want a proper meal, not candy!”

  Niel shouted from behind, chasing after Rumi.

  Eve, carrying her bags, followed Rumi too.

  The kids entered the store and slowly looked around. From the decor to the types of candy, everything looked eerie.

  Given the world was overrun with ghosts, it wasn’t surprising that even in the middle of summer, the pce had a Halloween vibe.

  The dispy cases held eyeball jelly, spider-shaped cookies, pumpkin candy, mint-fvored caramel...? Ugh, and more. All over the store, haunted finger jellies crawled around like worms.

  “Kids, here for some candy?”

  A kind-looking dy came out from the kitchen.

  "Yes, what's the most delicious thing here?"

  "Why, that would be our pumpkin honey waffle ice cream. The newly developed eyeball jellies are good too. As you melt the outer candy shell, only the white eyeball remains, and when you bite into it, sweet blood-fvored juice bursts out."

  “Oh... okay...”

  Rumi now realized that the eyeball jelly Eve had given her before must have come from this store.

  Even though she hadn’t eaten that jelly, there was no reason not to try the pumpkin honey waffle ice cream, which was supposedly the best.

  “By the way, are you first-years at Saint Angelicus’ School?”

  “Yes.”

  “I see! Do you happen to know Raoul?”

  “...?”

  “Yes! How do you know Raoul?”

  Rumi’s face lit up as soon as she heard Raoul’s name.

  “Oh, really? Do you know where this pce is?”

  “Uh... isn’t it Marley's Rotten Tooth?”

  “This is Raoul’s home.”

  “What? Really? Is Raoul here then?”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Well, Raoul said he was going home to see his family during this break. So, can we see him now?”

  “Oh, I see... Well, the thing is... Raoul’s a bit sick, so I don’t think you can see him right now.”

  Mrs. Kruger’s face turned awkward.

  “What, he’s sick? Maybe seeing me will help him feel better.”

  “...?”

  “No, it’s just... he went to see a doctor and should be back in a couple of days.”

  “Oh, I see...”

  Rumi hadn’t expected Raoul to be sick. But what bothered her more was the thought of not seeing Raoul all summer.

  “Hoho, in the meantime, feel free to take as much candy as you want. Since you’re Raoul’s friends, it’s on the house.”

  “Wow, thank you.”

  “Um, then can I have some eyeball jelly and mint caramel, Mrs. Kruger?”

  “...?”

  Rumi looked at Eve with disdain.

  “What...?”

  “Mint is toothpaste!”

  “Then, can I have the most steak-like dessert? Something like a meat pie.”

  Meanwhile, Niel was requesting a dessert that wasn’t on the menu.

  “Haha, let’s just ignore Niel and get us three pumpkin honey waffle ice creams, Mrs. Kruger”

  “But I still want the mint...”

  In the end, the three kids left Marley's Rotten Tooth, each holding the famous pumpkin honey waffle ice cream.

  The wide waffle cone held pumpkin ice cream, topped with crushed pumpkin candy and a thick waffle.

  “Mmm, this is good.”

  Niel was tearing into the waffle, forgetting that she had wanted a proper meal.

  Eve, before eating the ice cream, finally ate the mint caramel she had managed to get.

  Rumi also dipped waffle pieces into the ice cream, and it was delicious. The pumpkin and honey fvors blended perfectly. But soon, Rumi became lost in thought.

  Suddenly, strange things about Raoul started popping into her mind.

  If this was Raoul’s home, it was quite far from Mr. Pellman’s house. How had Raoul ended up at Rumi’s house on the first day of school?

  Honestly, the sudden illness and the doctor visit were suspicious, and then Back in Medina’s mansion, there was that ghost who looked strangely like Raoul...

  “Rumi, we only have one more ingredient to get, right?”

  Eve asked cheerfully.

  “Yeah, just the red water from Hotel Hylence.”

  “Hotel Hylence? You mean...?”

  Niel turned her head and looked at the tallest, most majestic building in the vilge square.

  “That hotel is Hotel Hylence, right?”

  “What, you know about it?”

  Rumi asked, surprised by Niel’s unexpected knowledge.

  "Yeah, of course..."

  Niel smiled smugly.

  “That’s right. That hotel is Hotel Hylence. The biggest and oldest hotel in the vilge.”

  Eve added.

  Rumi had obviously seen the rge, impressive building every time she came to the square, but she hadn’t known it was a hotel.

  “So, we just need to go there and get the red water?”

  “I guess so... From what I remember, the red water should be easy to get...”

  Eve hesitated, as if thinking.

  Rumi also paused, looking at Eve.

  “We’re not just going to get the water and leave, are we?”

  “...”

  “We’ve got plenty of money left...”

  Rumi showed the bag full of high-grade sacred oils.

  The kids all fell silent at the sight of the overflowing money.

  “Oh, right... It’s too te to go back today, isn’t it...?”

  Niel gnced at the sun high up in the sky and smiled slyly.

  Rumi also nodded subtly, smiling.

  Then the two of them looked at Eve at the same time.

  Eve’s eyes widened slightly, and her face turned red as she spoke.

  “I came here once when I was little... It’s a clean and nice pce to stay overnight...”

  “Hmm...”

  Rumi nodded, and the three of them naturally headed toward the hotel.

  As they approached Hotel Hylence, they realized just how grand the building was.

  The exterior looked like a massive, sturdy fortress, and it was so rge and luxurious that it seemed out of pce in the vilge.

  Rumi and the kids entered the hotel lobby.

  As soon as they stepped inside, they felt a slight humidity, as if they had entered a swimming pool, and the air was incredibly cool. From the back, the sound of a massive waterfall echoed loudly.

  Whoosh...

  The smell wasn’t that of a hotel lobby but more like a swimming pool.

  As they went further inside, the hotel’s interior structure became visible.

  The center of the hotel was open from top to bottom, so all the floors going up and down were visible.

  And on either side of this open space, blood-red water cascaded down like a waterfall from a height of at least 80 meters.

  It was clear as soon as they entered what the “red water” referred to.

  As Eve had said, getting the water would be easy.

  “Welcome to Hotel Hylence.”

  A staff member greeted them from the front desk between the waterfalls.

  “Hotel Hylence was built with magic through exchanges with the magical kingdom of Hylence in the eastern Rocky Mountains.

  The hotel itself is significant as the first magically constructed building in the vilge, and it ter became even more famous as the foundation for the Chrysos Dam.

  Although it’s been over 200 years since our exchanges with the magical kingdom ended, we’re still operating normally.”

  “Oh, really? The magical kingdom of Hylence?”

  Honestly, Rumi liked the vibe of this hotel. The architecture truly matched the word “magic.”

  Especially inside, the atmosphere was completely different from anywhere else in the vilge, giving off a fantastical feeling, like being in a magical amusement park.

  “So, how much is it to stay in the most expensive room for one night?”