After having a good meal, which YuJu spent mostly drinking rinea, the four were about to head to bed for some rest when Anput started pawing at his legs

"Anything the matter little one?"

"Wu wu, wu wu"

She ran toward the door, wagging her tail as if she caught onto the trail of something

YuJu followed closely behind while Ellis and the parasite came along curiously

The hound led them past the halls and into the maids' living quarters, then I to a particular room whose doors were open

Going in the trio noticed that the shadow maid was standing there in wait

"Awu wuwuwu!"

Anput hurried her excitedly promoting the maid to pick up a decorative stone and place it into the standing lamp, this caused energy to seep from the still object into the wall which opened up without a sound, revealing a shelf hidden in the wall

"They interfered so much that they even built things inside the mansion? Gen is becoming blind with age"

Thankfully he was the one controlling the puppets in the mansion now, though there was yet another spy he has yet to root it wasn't too much of a problem, not with the person conveying the information killed on the sixth floor

Walking forward he checked for the items on the shelf, there were a few seeds, two disks he recognized to be explosives, and the remaining items were all bottles filled to the brim with different kinds of liquids, the most prominent of them being three wooden bottles that exuded a sleep inducing smell, one that made one almost want to give in to a long, endless slumber

"Oh? Looks like they even prepared gifts, how well mannered"

Picking up one of these three wooden bottles he gave a smirk, one that made Ellis excuse herself quickly

"Not so quickly there, since they sent us these gifts then we must pay a visit no?"

"...As Master wishes"

Indeed, there was no escape for her, she knew that the second this master of hers held poison, there was never a time where he didn't inject it into her one way or another

"You two stay here"

He told the parasite and Anput, the former quickly agreeing as it needed some rest after the eventful journey while the latter pawed at him pitifully, not wanting to separate the instant he got back

"I guess there is no harm of you coming, you need to wear these however"

He took off the bracers from the maid and brought the other two bracers planning to have her replace the gold one's she's been wearing ever since their trip to the mall

The reaction he received was unbelievable as Anput quickly flinched back, shaking her head in refusal

"? I made these for you so you could hide your undead energy"

"Wu wu...."

She shook her head once more, refusing to wear them over her gold bracers

"Then you'll have to stay here?"

She was reluctant, torn on how to answer, it didn't seem she intended to wear anything other than the gold one's however and merely wanted to find a way to come along without them

"Then you can't come little one, and I guess these bracers will go to your shadows instead"

He had the maid and the Drenneonate he had her call wear them, even so she didn't seem to care much, satisfied with the one's she was wearing

"Hmm"

Honestly, he didn't get it, what's so special about those bracers anyway? Was there something he didn't know?

He tried asking but to no avail, all he could do was sigh and exit with Ellis, leaving behind a pitiful teary eyed Anput

"Why can't we bring her along Master?"

Ellis asked on her comrade's behalf

"Cause I can't hide her blatant energy without something to restrict it, how many times do you think we got chased because of her leaking energy"

"....One too many"

"Exactly"

Now the redhead couldn't feel sorry for the hound, her legs wouldn't let her as they recalled all the panicked running she did

As they were exiting the mansion YuJu took a hold of Ellis's hand, surprising her by the intimate action

"Master?"

She asked only to realize what he was up to when a rapidly changing energy swept over her body, covering her from head to toe

"Don't make a sound"

He instructed and the two jumped over the gate

Even with his camouflaging energy he kept shifting their route to avoid as many drones as possible, hiding living beings was much harder than coating things with intensive energy

Still, he was able to get them to the wall of this floor without being spotted, though Ellis could feel sweat pouring from his hands, a testimony to how much he'd exerted himself to achieve such a seemingly simple job

Once they were by the wall he placed his bony fingers on it, closing his eyes as he channeled even more energy than before for quite some time

Ellis kept quiet throughout this process, looking at their intertwined fingers with a conflicted expression, somehow this was far more embarrassing than standing bare before him

After what seemed like eternity YuJu finally heaved a tired sigh, then sunk his hand into the wall, dragging the shocked Ellis into it as well

Passing the once solid wall they stood in a dark tunnel system that only YuJu had vision in due to his vampire blood

"Whew, let's take a break"

He finally let her hand loose, certain no eyes would be present in this long forgotten passage

"What is this place?"

Unable to see Ellis could only ask

"A secret passage that connects all the floors of Hortus together, it was mostly used for emergencies back when the Fae ruled this land"

"The Fae?"

"They would be the original residents of this world"

"What happened to them?"

"Their arrogance lead to extinction"

"Oh"

That wasn't too surprising, this world was too dangerous for one to be conceited

YuJu took a quick break to regain the spent energy before getting up and taking Ellis once more by the hand, this time to guide her in the darkness

After an uphill walk for what felt like hours they arrived before another wall which YuJu pressed his finger into once more, only taking about a minute before going through it, the visual of the eighth floor now in sight

"Is going out much easier tha-" "Shhh"

YuJu quickly hushed her but it was too late, three gazes were already locked onto their general location forcing him to exert as much energy as he could to keep his camouflage perfect as the sharp gazes swept through the place

One gaze was quick to retract, another withdrawing soon after, only one lingered for about an hour, lurking in wait for anything to give a sign of what exactly made this sudden sound

After an hour of constant watching the creature started to bore, keeping watch still but with much less attention than before

This was YuJu's chance to evacuate the area, if the other party wasn't putting their all into keeping guard then the small mistakes that might occur when moving wouldn't be noticeable anyway

Crossing the floor they arrived at the white arced building, home of the serpent Ellis hoped not to see

It was at this point that he finally let go of her hand, disabling his camouflage and waiting by the door

The owners didn't keep them waiting, opening the door within seconds of their appearance as the snakelike vine ushered them to come inside

Entering the circular room which led to the bathes they received a bow from the black and red spotted snake before she opened the middle door, inviting them to go in and meet the lady

Next to the blood pool YuJu started undressing before going further, something Ellis couldn't help but comment at

"Master, I believe I can ward the mist from us now, Why the need to undress?"

"Then why didn't you ward the mist off the last time we came?"

"I wasn't as strong as I was before"

"Exactly"

"?"

She didn't get it, neither did he clue her in on what he meant, just waiting for fo her to get it, or undress and follow

"...! She would guess that something is off if I suddenly switch my methods"

"Yes, keep in mind these beings lived far longer than you and I, their attention to details is outstanding"

"I see...do I need to undress and follow you in?"

"...."

Guess staying here was out of the question, she could only follow behind with slumped, unclothed shoulders

Opening the passageway he led her in, going through the pink mist like it was nothing and arriving at the cave, once more greeted with that honeyed female voice

"My my~ if it isn't my dear forgotten friend, I started to feel forgotten myself with how absent you have been"