"Now what should I do with you guys?" Scarlet pondered out loud.

We were led up the stairs by Florence who walked right behind Scarlet.

As we reached the top, Scarlet and Rachel's face both froze at the same time upon seeing the person who was waiting at the door. For Scarlet, she was only shocked for a second before resuming her previous expression while Rachel stayed pale as if she had just met her archenemy.

*cough

Scarlet cleared her throat, "F*c... I mean, Henry really wasn't jokin' huh."

"Rose, as the master of the tower, you made a promise so you need to keep it." Florence calmly reminded her while pushing up her glasses. Strange, I could have sworn she didn't have glasses on before.

Scarlet sighed, "how does that count? I was drunk, man. Ah, f— I don't have time for this business."

Not waiting for us to get to the top, the person jumped down the stairs and confronted us.

Instead of a normal greeting, she kneeled down. "Disciple greets master!!!" Her shout turned into an echo as it resonated throughout the staircase.

'What sort of unique greeting was this? Seriously? Wasn't she a princess?' That's right, the person in question was a certain blonde haired heterochromatic girl. One might even ask what she was doing at the entrance of a basement. One thing was for sure though: she was not princess-like in any way. I had a pretty short episode with her so I may or may not have forgotten her name. One thing I would never forget were her pair of devilish eyes. Others can go on about how cute they looked, but as a cultured man, I knew they were the eyes of an assassin, waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Ah frick." Scarlet stroked her forehead with her right hand.

After a bit of time had passed, she sighed yet again. "Look, I can't actually accept you as my disciple because that would cause a lot of problems politically." She said looking at the still kneeling princess.

At this point she stopped kneeling and looked at Scarlet with puppy eyes. I had to say that she captured the exact essence found in those kawaii anime girls that some of my old roommates obsessed over. Well it looks like she knew how to manipulate people's feelings too huh? Of course she did.

Though I easily saw through it, I couldn't say the same for the two adults because they seemed to have been swayed by her act. Rachel also looked like she could tell it was all an act because she was unable to hide the visible disgust in her face.

Scarlet looked to the side but I could see that she was blushing like an embarrassed old man who didn't know how to respond to "love." Florence stayed the same for the most part, but I could see her pupils escaping into the corner, showing that she had averted her attention as well.

Scarlet closed her eyes for a second or two and then opened them as if reconfirming her decision before facing the puppy.

"Alright, fine. You win." She wiped her forehead with a handkerchief.

The barbaric princess immediately jumped up with her arms in the air as if she just finished speed running Dark Souls. She didn't seem to notice me and Rachel who were hidden behind Florence.

"But," She continued, "You can't tell others about it. If anyone asks, tell them you are an intern since you're a teenag—I mean almost an adult."

"Yes, master!" The girl saluted.

"Don't call me master. Scarlet will do." She said, and looked back at us two in the back.

"Since it will be a hassle to monitor the two of you. Do you guys also want to learn real magic?"

Rachel grasped for the opportunity immediately with a yes which I thought was surprising. Wasn't she only interested in physical strength?

"And you?"

Since Rachel said yes, it would be weird to not accept the invitation as well.

"Sure." I said simply.

Hearing the voices of me and Rachel, the princess made her way past Scarlet and Florence only to frown upon seeing Rachel. Rachel returned a smirk which clearly displeased the princess. The princess then looked over at me and she showed a moment of surprise as if she knew me somehow. It was a very brief moment but she returned a smile after her initial surprise showing that she was only being hostile to Rachel.

'Since when did the two stir up some beef? More importantly, why did she show a surprised expression when she saw me? I could have sworn that she did not know I was the one dressed up as Hiro.' Well, I wouldn't know unless I asked her and that wasn't going to happen.

Instead of striking up a conversation with Rachel, she started introducing herself to me.

"Hi, I'm Melissa Lize of the Kingdom of Wizardry. You can call me Melissa."

"I'm Daniel." I gave a lackluster response which should have indirectly told her to stop pestering me but she continued the conversation that I did not want to commit to.

"Daniel? What a nice name. What's your favorite food?"

"Don't have one." I said.

'I did, but I wasn't sure if it existed here.'

"How about your magic affinity?"

"Fire and Darkness." I said.

"Oh, that's pretty cool. I can harness all the elements."

'Don't care.' I remarked in my head as we were led out the door of the basement.

"Do you have anyone you like?" She suddenly asked.

'It was a stupid question. Did she think she could catch me off guard?' Instead of me reacting, it was Rachel who flinched.

"No." I said while sneaking a glance at Melissa.

As I had expected, she was smirking at Rachel who was returning a glare at her. She probably only struck up a conversation with me to mess with Rachel or something. Not sure why she thought interacting with me would disturb Rachel but it was what it was. I could never come to understand what girls thought without being one myself.

After that last question, she had finally stopped the one-sided conversation and was now preoccupied with Rachel. I didn't want to get involved so the only thing I could say about the situation was that a staring contest had just started between a serpent and Rachel.