There were no questions left after Lock explained his plan, only a remark from Tia. “You seem fairly certain that they will rush to complete their mission today.”

Lock nodded, and started talking, not letting his mind direct his words. He did not per say know exactly why he thought this. But if he simply ran his mouth, his subconsciousness would probably reveal the reason. “At first I thought that they would be too tired, but then I remembered how Mia herself needed remedies for her fatigue in the dungeon, and how I was able to provide them. I'm sure that the Castouts have the necessary potions at hand, if they've been planning this all along. They also have a healer, who, while he might be incapable of working on open wounds, should be capable of casting a simple fatigue relieving spell.” A spell that Lock was fairly sure existed, and that he was sure a hemophobic Healer would prioritise learning over most others, since it would let him be useful to a party despite his affliction.

“It makes sense.” Mia said tiredly, before she giggled. “I wonder if they're going to massage each other.

Lock turned away so as to not let her see his grin. Imagining the Castouts giving each other a massage, the entire thing would probably end up being delayed due to the awkwardness.

Tia meanwhile seemed to be stuck on the part where Lock had given Mia a massage. “We're twins, if he's seen touched your body he's touched mine.” She complained quietly to her sister, who simply shrugged her off.

“It was necessary, what was I supposed to do? Quickly leave the dungeon and ask for permission?” She said, before laying down in bed again.

“Still...” Tia muttered.

“I'm going to go get the last of the supplies that we need, we only have about five more hours.” Lock said and left towards home, finding the current topic to be too uninteresting to stick around for.

He contemplated for a few short seconds if he should exit from the window, like the twins had seemingly done, before he decided against it, not willing to mess with something that worked.

Leaving through the door he noted that Dog Breath had been replaced in his position of standing guard by Light. A well-built teen dressed in simple clothing that clashed horribly with his red hair, who despite the clash, managed to exude the aura of competence. The only detraction from that, and from his looks, was the fact that he looked very tired, and the knowledge of his misdemeanor, which his crime had been classified as.

Lock gave him a worried glance as he passed, feigning pity for the obviously exhausted young man. His efforts were rewarded by a penetrating look stabbing him right between the shoulderblades until he eventually left the alley.

They’d switched out guards because Light had ran out of mana due to them repeating the ritual two times, Dog Breath probably had enough, even as a pure Warrior from what Lock knew, for at least one repetition. Well that was his assumption at least.

Lock went over the plan several more times as he entered the house he shared with his father, and that felt dreadfully empty now that it only housed two people. He resolutely walked into the basement, refusing to look anywhere that might trigger a memory of something that, should, not, matter, anymore.

The basement was as always stacked with potions. They would be brought away tomorrow morning, once the middlemen that his father employed arrived. Lock didn't need much, the Castouts didn't warrant it. All that he took were some high grade healing potions, that he couldn't have made himself, and a bit of blood essence. A fluid that would expand to more than a hundred times its volume once removed from the vial, and that smelled so strongly of blood, that it would attract sharks from several dozen miles away if it were to be opened on a sea shore.

He'd already known beforehand what he'd need, but he stood there for a few minutes despite that, trying to think of anything that he might have forgotten. He already had his own stink bomb and paralysing agent, not that his father bothered creating the former. Eventually he also decided to take some potions that helped with stamina, mana, and one that put people into a state of wakefulness. Better safe than sorry, and he did have teammates this time.

Leaving, he swung back around the leather worker he'd left the golden fleece with, only to be told that no, it still wasn't ready. Walking around aimlessly, he eventually found a place that sold cheap wine, bought some and splashed it onto himself to have a handy excuse of why he'd left for Light. After a bit more stumbling and a few detours. Nobody would begrudge him veering off into a back-alley with a nice lady who'd beckoned him for a few dozen minutes of fun, right? He eventually returned to Ms. Richards house, which he entered under no harassment, for an upturned nose from Light.

Closing the door to his room behind him, he was amused to find Tia playing with Friedrich the mouse, she must have found his cage while she'd been looking around his room.

Not like it had been well-hidden, it had just been stuck under the bed.

Amateur move though, the fact that she openly displayed something that would have needed looking around to find. She'd revealed that she'd been sniffing around his room. Which was to be expected of course, which was why he'd left nothing incriminating here.

Tia sniffed her nose at him once he'd entered, returning Friedrich to his cage. “You smell like... sex.”

Lock raised an eyebrow at her. “And how do you recognize that particular smell?” At which Tia flushed and sputtered.

“The Underground also runs some brothels if you must know.” She muttered.

Lock almost choked. He hadn't known that. Thank Kruto that he didn't use brothels, preferring self-employed women who worked from home, or the Underground might actually recognize him from the description that the twins would inevitably bring back.

“What a pleasant family to grow up in.” Lock mocked as he sat down to pick up the horn and give the Castouts a short listen. “And yes, I did fuck while I was out. Wasn't able to for the last two weeks since the Castouts have kept me busy. Good to do it before a mission if you ask me, it relaxes the mind to not have that permanent cry for reproduction coming from the body.” He said.

“Good of you to not assume our role as subordinates stretches that far, if that's how you spend your free time.” Tia shot back, eliciting a snort from Lock.

“Sleeping with unwilling women. No thanks. You'll also come to realize in the future, if you continue in your line of work that is, that fucking between teammates is one of the stupidest things you could do.” Lock said, catching Mia shifting in his bed as he did so.

“The people you kill are also unwilling you know.” Tia said, at which Lock snorted again, and shooed her off towards the bed. “Go get some sleep with your sister. You still have two hours and you should try to be as well rested as possible.”

Tia did as she was told. Turning in for an hour and a half while Lock sat watch over the ritual.

Nothing interesting happened, which allowed him to lay out the different things that he'd bought and brought on his trip a while ago. He was planning on waking the girls right as the ritual stopped. The time it would take them to prepare being enough for the Castouts to do the same and maybe even enter the dungeon, start fighting the boss.

Lock started putting on his adventurer gear once the ritual was about ten minutes from conclusion. Finished, but leaving the helmet and the gauntlets for later, he walked over to the bed, identified Mia by the colour of her hairband and gently rocked her shoulder until her eyes fluttered open to stare at him. A sleepy smile spread itself across her face as they locked eyes, before it was washed away by the deluge of wakefulness and she scrambled out of bed. The action awakening her sister as well. Tia stared at his gear for a moment from under the blanket, before shaking her head and standing up.

Lock listened in on the ritual while the sisters mentally prepared themselves. It ended. He heard the distinct noise of heavy plate armour clinking.

Unless they were moving around Light's armour for fun, the Castouts were preparing to head out.

“I have some potions for you to take.” Lock said as he turned to the twins. Mia nodded. Tia did so as well after seeing her sister do it.

“First of all.” Lock began as he rummaged through his supply. “A wakefulness potion. It should keep the two of you on your feet for at least at least five hours, but you'll crash afterwards.” He handed over the potions, Mia chugging it down immediately, sister following shortly after. “A stamina potion, same warning, it will provide you with energy now, but don't expect to feel too good after a few hours.” The scene repeated itself. “A health potion.” Again, they drank, making a disgusted face all the while. Yeah, the healing potion was one of the worst when considering taste. “And last but not least, a mana potion.” Mia send him a grateful glance after she'd drank hers, causing him to chuckle.

The mana potion tasted like slightly blue snow, it was a great palate cleanser, it's why he'd kept it for last.

“Is there anything we should know about the potions?” Mia asked.

Ah yes, he hadn't explained anything regarding those had he. Lock had just assumed they would know. Foolish of him. He was... nervous? “The wakefulness potion is self-explanatory. So is the stamina one, it accelerates your bodies production of the stuff that it needs to function physically. It will deplete your reserves if you push yourselves too hard, meaning that you'll be very hungry and tired once it has run its course. The healing potion, well, you should know enough to have thrown away the common misconception that a healing potion is like a healing spell. It isn't instant, The one I gave you is fairly high tier, so you don't have to be too afraid of getting wounded though. It will accelerate your healing to the point where the wound, if not lethal, will close itself within the half an hour. The bleeding, no matter how bad, will stop within thirty seconds. The mana potion fulfils two functions, first, it accelerates your mana regeneration by at least a factor of three, if your Mana regeneration stat is somewhere in the realm of 20 as I'm assuming. It also provides you with a temporary secondary mana reserve. It should be as big as the mana reserve of someone who has his Mana stat at 30.” Lock said, explanation finished.

What he'd forgone mentioning since it was obvious, was that potions did not work instantly. Which was why you made people swallow them before the got wounded, or started throwing around lots of magic, not after. That manner of thinking was slightly expensive for those who could not make the potions themselves however, since they might not end up needing the effects after having already consumed the potions.

“Sounds expensive.” Tia commented, at which Lock shrugged.

“I am an Alchemist, you know.”

“Fair.”

Lock pulled out one last vial for the two, and handed it over. “The paralysing agent for your ninjatos.” He said, and went back to listening in on the Castouts as the twins applied the poison to their weapons. Mia pulling out a few hidden kunai from somewhere, also coating them in the poison, to the displeased look of her sister.

Apparently Lock was not supposed to know about their hidden weapons.

Whatever.

After half an hour of waiting, the soft chattering that he had been able to hear from the Castouts suddenly disappeared, without any indication of where it went, which meant that they'd entered the Gate.

Lock waited a few more seconds. He scooped out Friedrich the mouse from his cage, and secured him to his neck in his little carry pouch.

“Do you want to wear masks? I bought some while out.” Lock asked, pointing at the two cotton face-masks that he'd spread out on the floor. It wouldn't matter too much, since the Castouts, and with them the knowledge of those that had killed them, would disappear from the world before the night was over. But Lock would have a helmet obscuring his face for at least half the fight, so he thought he should offer them the same courtesy.

“There's no point, they will be dead anyway, also, if they know our faces, we have a stake even beyond our deal in making sure that they don't leave the dungeon alive.” Mia answered. Lock inwardly whistled. Such loyalty. He hadn't even thought of that.

Tia meanwhile, pulled back her hand that had been stretched out towards one of the masks, giving her sister a hurt look. After all, if they saw Mia, it would not matter, them having the same face and all. Lock tilted his head at the interaction.

A rift was growing. Interesting.

“Well, the Castouts have entered the dungeon so let's not dawdle anymore. We have a mission to complete.”