Chereads / Diaries of Nero the Halloween Cat / Chapter 55 - Chapter 53 - Night 55

Chapter 55 - Chapter 53 - Night 55

Ahhh~ Good evening. I slept well. It's great to be back. I missed this feeling. The warmth of a bed. It's a shame that tonight is my shipment night. If I could put it off just one more night, I totally would. I would prefer to have more time to spend making clothes more naturally, but I suppose that this time; I'll just be forced into doing it with Candy. Strange. It seems as though every single week, I'm always eating Candy in order to make up for the shipment. Whose bright idea was it to start a business out of a gacha type ability, anyways?! This is far too much effort!

I suppose that I'll just go ahead and get dressed now. Looking at my Candy while I did so, I started to count the new total. After around 10 minutes of getting dressed, I had came to the conclusion that I now owned 45 Candy buckets. Only 38 of them are actually full. I also have 7 full jars of Candy, with one additional jar only being a third full. I have a total 24 glass jars. I would like to get rid of them, or give them to someone. I suppose that I can try giving them to the Goblin Hooch Distillery? On account of the jar size, I doubt that they would be given to customers. Normally, the Goblin Hooch Distillery serves its goods in bottles made from some type of substance... Potentially clay. I think. Sometimes, there are actually glass bottles... But they're rare.

I wonder how they even made the clay bottles. There must be a kiln of sorts somewhere within the Goblin Village. Strange. I wonder where it might be. I also can't help but wonder where the clay was even procured. I suppose that it's probably just some creeks in the nearby lands. It would make sense. Moving along~ I decided to bring the 8 jars of Candy into the Throne Room. I needed to make several trips back and forth. They aren't heavy, they're just large. I'm but a child, after all. After finishing with carrying the jars, I began to create new clothes while aiming for level 15 pieces. I was able to create 33 pieces before I needed to start eating Candy. By the time that I had finished eating the Candy from the jars and converting the MP into clothes… I had already spent a considerable amount of time. Probably an hour. By the time that it was over, my new count was up to 136 pieces of clothes.

I need to go back to the Chasms to fetch the remaining clothes. I left a decent portion in the tunnel as well as in the Harpy Village. Sadly, Candy does not seem to grant me any FP. I'm still hungry. I've put off my meal long enough. It's time to eat! Let's go~ Making my way into the Foyer, the smell of cooked Fish filled my airways. The sound of loud chatter could be heard from within the Dining Hall. Dinner hath been served. I can feel it! Entering the Dining Hall, I was proven correct. They're all here. Well, most of them are. It's nice to see everyone while not feeling utterly stressed about Lily.

"Good evening, everyone~" [Nero] greeted as he procured himself a few Fish from the platter and made his way to his seat.

"Where have you been?" [Ben the Bear] grumbled.

"WE were off on an important mission." [Cetilla] sneered.

"Haaah?!" [Goblin Funk & Budget Dragon]

"Sssstealing our thunder, huh?" [Lora the Lamia] sssshot back sssslowly. To which, Cetilla only giggled.

"Cetilla was there first." [Cyclozard] refuted the Lamia.

"Tsssskuh." [Boris the Lamia] shot back dramatically, as he put extra emphasis on the end of his line while raising his head to meet Cyclozard's gaze. To which, Cyclozard shuddered.

"Cetilla~ Now that you're back, are you going to have time to play cards with me?" [Vana] chimed in with a smile.

"Ugh!~ I totally would… But tonight, I should probably just go visit my parents." [Cetilla] groaned. To which Vana slumped down.

"But… Hugo always beats me, and I need the practice! You promised!" [Vana] clamored insistently.

"I'm just better." [Hugo the Flutterfairy] proclaimed while puffing out his chest.

"Wait... If Cetilla's going to visit her parents, then is tonight another shipment?" [Wilson the Wolfenrine] asked.

"Indeed." [Nero] replied with a serious expression on his face after swallowing a bite of Fish. To which, Mr and Mrs Scarecrow perked up instantly.

"...But you just got back…" [Goddin Village Neith Sama] muttered.

"Sorr-" [Nero] began to apologize before being brutally interrupted.

"I want a new song." [Wendel the Weeping Angel] proclaimed suddenly.

"Eeehhh?" [Nero]

"Oh! Me too! Pick me!" [White Beef Lady] yelled as she jumped out of her chair. To which, Nero simply sighed before resuming to eat his Fish.

Well, they continued to have a conversation; but I'm more worried about picking new songs for Wendel and White Beef Lady. It's not just them, there are several of the Bandsmen who deserve or desire new songs to be paw picked by yours truly. Honestly, Conrad (the Crowli) and Betty (the Banshee) definitely deserve some new songs on account of them working so hard to find the Forsaken Isles. I miss having Conrad around. He's a good guy. Avoiding Lily with the help of Conrad would probably have been much easier. Cetilla's fine, but she really didn't help much at all aside from keeping me company. Conrad could have literally flown me if I got too tired. Well, he would have been limited due to our little escape from her occurring during the day… But still!

I wonder if MP potions even exist for regular people, or if Candy would genuinely be the only option for Halloween Clansmen had they not been being led by me. Sadly, I have absolutely no way of figuring out the answer to that question. None of my Clansmen seem to have been capable of procuring Candy for themselves before having met me. It's a real shame. Oh well~ I was thinking such things as I was getting dressed. Wait! What about Blood?! Blood is apparently option 'B' for Halloween. Candy is just option 'C'. Option 'A' is Time Magic. Clearly.

After finishing my meal, I went off on my way towards the Chasms. I wasn't consuming my MP as I flew. I know that I'll need a [Hallowed Gate] after I arrive, so I have little choice in the matter. Reaching the Chasms was uneventful, and it took me around 17 minutes before I had finally arrived in our favorite tunnel. I decided to be lazy, and just throw all of the clothes from the tunnel down into the depths of the Chasms. It's fine. I feel as though I probably saved a lot of time by allowing gravity to work for me. Well~ After descending to the bottom of the Chasms, I conjured a new [Hallowed Gate] as I raised my Lantern into the sky before beginning to command my Clansmen.

"Scarecrows! Come one, come all! Lend me your aide in procuring all of these clothes and carrying them back into my Throne Room!" [Nero] beckoned as he held his Lantern high.

Moments later, a familiar orange light emit from my Lantern and spread out before me… Before fading to reveal my Clansmen. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Yep. Everyone is present and accounted for. Great. I decided to give Mr and Mrs Scarecrow their own set of special orders. They're aiming for clothes currently placed around the Harpy Matriarch's fireplace. It's a much further distance, so it's a task best left to the strong. Measly Tier 1 and 2 Scarecrows could never. Finishing with gathering all of the clothes ended up taking us around 10 minutes. After we had finished, I made my way through the Hallowed Gate and remembered about the supplies for starting a farm. They're all just kind of sitting out here. Well, the Iron Nails are actually in a jar that Vigi lent me. He asked for it back, unlike the Koalakin Candy Man. I have a feeling that I genuinely did pay for those Candy jars. Jeez.

After returning to the Throne Room, I thanked my Clansmen and let them off to go do whatever they had desired. I'm meow calling on Wendel, the Weeping Angel. This is a task that she alone can handle. Only a statue could dare block the entrance into the Throne Room, protecting my purity. It must be an Angel statue, nonetheless. Only the most pure of all Halloween Clansmen could ever hope to keep my indecency hidden from the Wailing Keep residents. I was thinking such things as I was beginning to test out the clothes. One by one. This is probably the most tedious of all my tasks. Actually, handling one of Clive's shipments with one carriage was quite tedious as well. I can't decide which one is worse. I know what you're thinking. The original waterfall Fishing hack was excessively tedious. Be that as it may, usually… I would do other things while also fulfilling that hack. I would often times be creating clothes, forcing two of my Clansmen to join me while I listened or even joined in on their conversations. Sometimes, I even counted the pebbles in the riverbed. I had things to do. This is just wholeheartedly tedious. There's nothing to keep me preoccupied other than remembering which pile is which.

Maybe I should try counting all of the sets of armor in the Wailing Keep? I feel like I'll probably finish counting before I'm finished with testing clothes, but it's worth a shot. Turns out, there are 666 of them. There are 333 of them on each side of the room, so nyah. I'm starting to understand why this Throne Room is so excessively long. Why did Wailing Keep Sama need to leave like... A whole damn metre of space in between each statue?! This room is far too long! Throne Room? Nah, this is my Throne Hall. Yes. The actual width of the Throne Room is probably about… 50 metres wide. That's my best guess. If I'm right about there being a whole metre in between each of the sets of armor, then that's like… Over 16000 square metres of space in this one room's floor. The actual height of the ceiling is like 50 metres alone. I'm not crazy when I say that this place is massive. This is not an over exaggeration, okay?!

Finally finished with my task, I slowly made my way into the Dining Hall to find that Cetilla had indeed began to play the Safari Card Game with Vana. Yikes. I'm absolutely heartbroken to tear the two of you apart right now, but things must be done. There is stuff to do! This is an important night, and I won't allow Vana being a sore loser ruin it. She's just going to need to learn how to bluff her hand when playing against Hugo. As I offered my arm to Cetilla after riding up on my Broom, Vana began to sob miserably. But, Cetilla still took my arm; so we're off. It's happening. We're doing this. We're flying back to the Throne Room in order to count Coins. We need 150 of them. Yeah. We're still taking three carriages, so help me Hunky Beefcake.

I have a plan. It's risky... It's bold... But it's a plan. It's my one, most surefire way of not getting caught by any rogue TempCats. It's also my most conspicuous possible course of action. I have very little choice in the matter. I'm going to get the carriages from Roy, open a [Hallowed Gate] literally outside of the Vellisroi Estate, and move all of the carriages back into Halloween as soon as possible. At this point, I'll request that Cetilla wait inside of the Vellisroi Estate. While I, on the other hand will return to the Wailing Keep and close the gate. I'll take some time to order around my Clansmen, trying to fit the entire shipment into the three carriages. After I finish doing that, I'll fly back to Reygid myself, alongside Goblin Funk; on account of him seeming excited to visit Reygid once more. Budget Dragon also wanted to come, but I really have no actual need for either of them. Don't ask me why. They shouldn't want to come back, but they still do. I should have them sign a waiver, or something. I guess I should just bring Budget Dragon along the very first time, and have him stay with Cetilla at the Vellisroi Estate. After Goblin Funk and I arrive at Clive's, we'll just open another [Hallowed Gate] and manually pull the carriages from Halloween back into Reygid. I'll close the gate promptly, hopefully... With no more than 200 witnesses. No one said that this would be easy.

Look. This plan? It's going to make the King fully realize our connections with the Vellisroi family as well as with Clive's establishment… If he doesn't know already. This is a statement. A total power play, on my part. He probably knows about the connection with the Vellisroi family, at the very least... Considering the fact that he originally thought Cetilla had been the one behind the disappearance of the Scarecrows. He might even still believe that, considering that Cetilla ended up being the main attacker against TempCat when we had our encounter. Even so, he can't continue to ignore the fact that Cetilla did not do it alone. Cetilla can't just be expected to have convinced a squadron of varying Halloween Clansmen into storming his Castle in attempts at rescuing her companion. There's only so much that a Christmas Catkin can do by herself.

I was thinking such things as we finished counting the 150 Coins into two empty Candy buckets. We then went off to inform Goblin Funk and Budget Dragon of the changes to tonight's schedule. We told them that Budget Dragon would be expected to be waiting in the Throne Room around 10 or so minutes after we had departed… If he still desired to come along for the journey. We told Goblin Funk to make sure that he arrived after around 13 or so minutes. They both still want to join us. I definitely need to have them sign waivers. I need to encounter someone that crafts paper. Maybe I can just borrow some from Clive. He's so helpful, that guy. Love him. If the King really bothers with trying to mess up my business, I'll just stop selling my products in Reygid. It's not the end of the world for me, but it's certainly not helping his Kingdom's adventurers if they're incapable of attaining suitable clothing for their classes. Even if I'm currently taking a whole lot of Reygid's commerce away from their Kingdom, I'm still giving them something that they want. Otherwise, the products simply would not be selling as consistently as they are.

Flying to Reygid was seriously boring. I wanted to save MP in the event that we DID happen to run into TempCat. Last time, he might have been quite capable of breaking through my clothes considering that he broke through Milton's astronaut costume in an instant. This time, I have an additional piece of clothing to support me. The eye-catching level 352 knitted purple fleece armband, which grants a whopping 352 M./P. DEF. If I have this bad boy helping to keep my [Barrier] sturdy, then I might be fine? Let's hope so, anyways.

Arriving to the Vellisroi Estate, we knocked on the door and were met with a very familiar maid. It's Celine. She knowingly guided us to Roy without even saying a word. We've been through this before. She knows what to do. It's business, as usual. Roy and Veronica happened to be in their Study together, this time around. They're both reading different books, while talking to each other about what they're learning. What is this, a study group preparing for an exam?! Ay-ay-ay~ These two are strange. Just like Cetilla. Also, heavily different from Cetilla. It's like Cetilla is eternally on the Christmas naughty list while Veronica and Roy are eternal do-gooders. They're probably all Christmas Catkin, considering how similar they look. If I didn't know any better, I would assume that Veronica and Roy were half siblings. Or, just siblings in which one of them happened to be born existentially different from the other. Veronica looks Human, while Roy looks Catkin. Cetilla mostly takes after Veronica, but their personalities may still be entirely off the mark.

Roy happily accepted my Silver, and Celine continued off to guide me back to the carriages. Honestly? I appreciate it. This house isn't too confusing, but I feel like I could still quite easily go the wrong way and end up leaving the house from a different side of the building. Just a minor hassle, is all. I would like to thank her for the consideration… But considering that Celine is technically a slave maid, she might not have had the choice to refuse the request from Roy regardless. She's just doing her job, I suppose. Her slave job. UGH! Why does Roy need to go about and enslave people? Can he not afford to properly pay his staff? I mean, the guy's a noble. Come on! If he really needs the financial support, I'm more than willing to help pay his people. Would it be impolite of me to impose upon the matter and offer it? Would it make me appear to be snarky and egotistical or something? I don't know, anymore guys. I just don't know what the proper course of action is to resolve this issue!

I was thinking such things as Celine led me to the carriages. After she had left, I hastily began to pull each of the carriages one by one towards the road in front of the Estate. It took me around 3 or so minutes, on account of the Estate being so large. Roy can definitely afford to pay his slaves?! I'm almost certain of it. This Farm is like… Over 20 times the average size of a Farm within the Beastkin Kingdom. Are you really going to tell me that regular Farmers can make a living but require slaves in order to do so… Yet Roy who has an absurd plot of land can make a living and STILL can't afford to not use slaves in order to do so? Come on! This is serious! Lives matter, okay?! All of them! How can you possibly live in such luxury while forcing your followers to wear chains like that?! Maybe Roy actually isn't on the nice list. They're all naughty Christmas Catkin. Naughty doesn't really begin to cover it, though. It's just flat out, dreadful.

"[Hallowed Gate]" [Nero] commanded while raising his Lantern after having secured the three carriages off to the side of the Vellisroi property.

Moments later, my beautiful, dependable Hallowed Gate appeared. I don't think that I'll ever get tired of seeing such an extraneously complex ability. According to my latest theory, the [Hallowed Gate] ability is a compilation of [Barrier], Creation Magic, and Space Magic. Most of my other abilities seem to enjoy showing off as well. They like to look cool, while they do cool things. [Time Slip], [Language Comprehension], [Claw Fishing], [Recovery by Sleep], [Enhanced Meditation] and [Bonus Mana] may be the only exceptions. I haven't tried [War Meow] yet, but it also might be an exception. Even my [Barrier], which is actually like a totally normal Witch ability happens to come in a color befitting to me. It's always the same color as my eyes. The same goes for [Flying Broom], [Soul Merge], [Clansmen Capture], and [Shapeshift]. They all like to feature the colors 'orange' or 'purple'. The [Pumpkin Bomb] also likes to show off. The flames that it emits are probably not even very hot, but the fella sure enjoys overloading the scene with them. Quickly. [Daily Candy] decides to come in a rather fashionable container consisting of plastic which also happens to be extremely durable. The plastic container is shaped like an orange jack-o-lantern pumpkin bucket. [Disguise] seems to enjoy sometimes creating orange or purple sets of costumes which one might otherwise find extremely unlikely to be locatable within a 21st century Halloween Costume store. There are a whole lot of unnecessary flares for the dramatic, among my abilities. Don't get me started on Wailing Keep Sama. We don't want to go there. I was thinking such things as I hauled the carriages into Halloween, one by one. After doing so, I continued on my way into the Throne Room before closing the [Hallowed Gate].

"[Hallowed Gate]! Scarecrows~ Please help me arrange these piles of clothing into the three carriages within Halloween! Please put these level 3 pieces into the front left of the first carriage. Please put these level 4 pieces into the front right of the first carriage. These level 5 pieces should go in the back left, while these level 6 pieces should go in the back right. For our second carriage, I would like these level 7 pieces in the front left, these level 8 pieces in the front right, these level 9 pieces in the back left, and these level 10 pieces in the back right. For the third and final carriage, I would like these level 11 pieces in the front left, these level 12 pieces in the front right, these level 13 pieces in the back left, and those level 14 pieces in the back right. Thank you!" [Nero] commanded the 6 Scarecrows while gesturing to each pile.

Ahh~ Budget Dragon is currently beside me, and shortly; Goblin Funk shall arrive as well. I honestly should have just let Budget Dragon head on to the Vellisroi Estate before I closed it, but I think he was late to arrive. He's just going to need to wait until I can go back to the Vellisroi Estate. It's okay~ As I had expected, Goblin Funk arrived before the Scarecrows had even finished. It ended up taking them around 10 minutes to load the carriages. We spent our time talking about the bonus bathing within Reygid. They seem quite excited. I suppose that water fights are one of the only recreational activities for the residents of the Wailing Keep. It's a shame. We should make something more enjoyable. Water fights are fine, but it gets ruined quite easily as soon as one person starts using Magic. The Safari Card Game is great, don't get me wrong. But it can only hold 2 players at a time. There's a whole bunch of people living in the Wailing Keep or Halloween now. We need something else.

Flying back to Reygid with Goblin Funk, I had a chance to see several Deer running through the Lost Kingdom. Things sure are peaceful around here. The flight back took us around 10 minutes. My first stop was the Vellisroi Estate, on account of the late Budget Dragon. After summoning the Gate once more, he appeared moments later and happily began skipping towards the mansion-like house owned by the Vellisroi family. Cancelling the gate, we're meow on our way to Clive's establishment. I'm almost certain that Celine will recognize the friendly Drake. I mean… Who could forget a creature which behaves like that, anyways?!

When we had finally reached Clive's, Goblin Funk began to spend time with his companions among Clive's staff. Yes, he's still wearing the same costume as last time. Yes, that means that we are once again not giving new grades of inventory. Oi! When did the staff pick up on that?! They also immediately picked up on the fact that we didn't bring carriages. No, we actually are dropping off a shipment. [Hallowed Gate]... Tada~ Goblin Funk ended up helping me pull the carriages back out into the streets of Reygid before I closed the Hallowed Gate once more. The staff were more than just a little spooked, as were nearby civilians for a considerable distance, but it couldn't be helped. Blame your disrespectful King. He should have been thanking us for getting rid of his Crow issue, as well as wiping the stain of mass slavery clean from his Kingdom. We did a public service, okay?!

Clive handed me the stack of papers, and even informed me that there was some additional Candy awaiting me upstairs. Huh?! Did I not pay for the jars after all?! Was it a friendly bonus to make up for not actually handling the entire order himself?! The Koalakin totally went and purchased Candy from another Candy Man in the Human Kingdom. But, did he pay for the jars out of pocket? Oh well... Looking over the ledgers, it would appear as though we just got a record breaking sales-week. Fun. Let's get right down into details.

Of the 25 level 1 pieces in stock from last week, 19 of them sold; earning a total of 570 Silver Coins. Of the 28 level 2 pieces, 23 of them sold; earning a total of 1380 Silver Coins. For level 3 pieces, 36 of the 45 supplied sold… Earning us a nice 3240 Silver Coins. The level 4 pieces sold 21 of the 29 pieces in stock. That's 2520 Silver Coins. The level 5 pieces sold 24 of the 33 pieces in supply… Earning a great number of 3600 Silver Coins. Level 5 really did it for us this week. Of the level 23 level 6 pieces, 15 of them sold; making for a total of 2700 Silver Coins. Of the 16 level 7 pieces in stock from last week, 10 of them sold for a quick 2100 Silver Coins. There were 19 level 8 pieces, and 13 of them sold for a total of 3120 Silver Coins. We had supplied 20 total level 9 pieces, but only 9 of them sold to earn us 2430 Silver Coins. There were 21 total level 10 pieces, and 15 of them sold; making our highest earnings per piece level of the week. They earned us a whopping 4500 Silver Coins. That's like… The price of my Broom, I think?! We only had 2 pieces of level 11, 13, and 14 clothes on account of me not supplying any last week. There was 3 pieces of level 12 clothes. They all sold out, earning a total of 3360 Silver Coins. All in all, we earned 29520 Silver Coins. Subtracting the worker's fees and dividing it all by two, leaves me with a nice total of 13710 Silver Coins. Not bad. Not bad, whatsoever.

"This week, I am happy to announce that we have unexpectedly broken our previous record of 26580 Silver Coins by a total of 2940 Silver Coins. I'm impressed, and so this week; we will be declaring that forevermore… We will be having the current rate of payment which was previously dubbed a bonus for the employees of this fine establishment… Made permanent. You no longer need to worry about suddenly getting half the pay that you're now used to. You're insured. Additionally, I would like to make a small bonus for each of the workers specially for this week. This week, you will all be being paid a total of 300 Silver Coins." [Nero] proclaimed to the nearby staff currently avidly awaiting him. To which, a roar of joy was heard from within the Cheetahkin's Establishment.

Clive ended up rushing me upstairs afterwards to ensure that I got my Candy, and so that he could recalculate the Coins. I walked back down the stairs alongside Cosmo and Wanda. We were given a total of 17 and three quarters of jars filled with Candy. It's all my favorite kinds of Candy, too. The small ones. I was also given 13 Gold Coins and 710 Silver Coins. The Silver Coins are kind of in one of Clive's bags because I neglected to bring mine. Sorry! I'll return it, I swear! His bag surprisingly isn't as nice as the Koalakin's one. It's rough on the paws, and claws. I kind of enjoy scratching it, though. I feel like I might be filing my claws due to it. He had probably been expecting me to keep it, so he gave me a cheap one. We needed to make four whole trips to Halloween in order to pull it all off. Yep, I summoned my Hallowed Gate again. It's no big deal. Nearly anyone who's anyone in this Kingdom has probably witnessed it by meow. At least once.

Returning to the Vellisroi Estate was child's play for yours truly. I had my Broom. Just try and stop me, non Witch class Beastkin! Mwuahahahaha~ I'm so high up right now. I love it. They all look like nothing more than ants from up here. I mean no offense. I'm a good Cat, I swear! I totally did not just debate jumping from up here in order to pounce on one of the ants on a whim to see if I might actually hit my mark when I landed...I mean Beastkin. Turning around, it appears as though Goblin Funk is enjoying the trip for another reason. He gets to see the Ocean from here. It's a rare sight for Goblins. He's probably like a local legend by now for getting to tell tales of seeing it up close and personal. To even swim in it. It's probably like that. We all have different goals. Some, more daring than others. Some want to swim in open water, while others want to free fall jump over 1000 feet in attempts at landing on another individual. And to see if their legs would give out. Apparently I have 9 lives, so I'm optimistic that even if my legs did give out; I might have another chance. Or WAIT! Maybe, the 9 lives rule only works when jumping from high distances?! Is it a secret hidden passive that only lasts a certain number of times?! I know for a fact that I've jumped from high distances twice in my life so far, so I should have 7 chances left… Right!? It's probably too risky to try. Better not.

I was thinking such things as we flew to the Vellisroi Estate. When we actually got to knocking on the door, I found that both Cetilla AND Budget Dragon were absolutely smashed. They're already so far gone, I have high doubts that I'll ever catch up. We'll run out of Alcohol far before that happens. I can see it now. Me… Soberly, and desperately carrying the others to the Beach via Broom, Conrad, Mr and Mrs Scarecrow. You know what?! We're calling tonight short, people! I'm getting my two buckets and we're going straight to the Beach, right this instant. I won't have Goblin Funk magically surpass me in a state of drunkenness, causing me to handle the safety of everyone by myself. We need to be on even levels, preferably not as wasted as those two... Or at least two of us need to have cognitive strength. That's how it is, sir. We're going to the Beach, right this instant. Right after I get my two empty Candy buckets back from Roy. I can't go losing any more of those. As is, I probably can't even fill all of my buckets with the Candy in those jars that I obtained earlier. This is unacceptable! Preposterous!

Making my way through the home while being guided by a stumbling Cetilla, we ended up finding Roy and Veronica a whopping FORTY FIVE Minutes later. I'm at my wits end. Roy and Veronica have a surprise guest. It's Rudou. He's also completely lost his wits. Veronica appears to be the most sober one of them all. Veronica and Celine, that is. The other maids seem to hide whenever we come over. I rarely see them. I can't help but wonder if Veronica and Roy drink nightly, or if this is just a weekly occurrence in order to welcome us? I'll lose if I think about it. Let's do it anyways. They probably spend a fair bit of Coin on these nights. Maybe not as much as I would be, if I were throwing festivals weekly; but still a fair amount. I'll give them that much. They're quite welcoming, and clearly going out of their way to cater to us. Either that, or they're absolute drunks which eat luxuriously every single night. I find it strange how so many Beastkin seem to live nocturnally, as we do. The Goblins weren't originally like this. I did this to them. It cost me a lot of Fish to change their ways, but I did it. Even now, many of the Goblin Villagers appear to be awake during the night. I could probably convince Rita to stay up every night too, if I started feeding her Goldfish. But then again, do I really want Rita there every single night?

Rita's kind of a lot to handle. I feel like Lillian or Kendra would be pretty enjoyable to have around more often, though. Can we replace them with Ben, Boris, and Lora? I would be down with that. I thought I would like Lora on account of her purple scales that I paw picked from the bunch… But her enunciation on 'S' words is kind of annoying. I could live without. Rustle can stay on the day crew. I don't really care what Cloaked Monk does. I like him, he's a good guy; but I've never really been that close to him. We just don't click, the way that the others do. I was thinking such things as I accidentally sat down, and drank a rather huge bottle of Alcohol. They dared me. No, they emasculated me for not wanting to drink. It was a chugging contest, seeing who could drink theirs the fastest, or at least the most of it. Veronica, or me. Veronica lost, but not really. I'm the one who truly lost here, as I'm now intoxicated when I didn't want to be. She cheated. She faked it. She didn't drink, and just held the bottle up to her mouth and pretended to drink! She was like… Sipping. If anything! I take it all back! Veronica and Roy were never on the nice list! They've always been naughty! Through and through. With or without slaves in the mix, they're on the naughty list.

To make matters worse, as they always seem to be for me... Goblin Funk is even more wasted than I am! How did I see this coming and STILL wind up having it happen to me?! Did I trigger a flag or something?! I was thinking such things as I decided to cast [Hallowed Gate] and to have us just all go swimming at the Delhn Lake. It's too risky. We were far too conspicuous earlier to just… Go on the same exact road that we were caught on last time. I won't be having any more friends die. Not for a while, thanks. Let's go!

They were a little upset, but they understood my thoughts. It's the safest way to go swimming while drunk, okay?! And so, we happily made our way to the Delhn Lake. The others were jealous because we walked past them while drunk, but like… Do you guys even care about the temperature of the water?! I'm pretty sure that it's just Cetilla and I. Wait a second! If Cetilla's a Christmas Catkin… Why is she delicate to cold water?! I don't understand! Is it because she's on the eternal naughty list that she's incapable of handling the cold?! Oh… I see… Yesh… It's all starting to make sensh, meow…

I was carried by Mr Scarecrow all the way to the Delhn Lake. He's a champ. Mrs Scarecrow reluctantly carried Cetilla. Budget Dragon was carried by a rare Conrad, choosing to play hookie on his mission. I'll let it slide. Just this once. Oh. Goblin Funk? He's being dragged by Mr Scarecrow. It's okay. I made sure to kidnap Goddin Village Neith Sama so that Goblin Funk can't die. What? You expected me to share Mr Scarecrow's shoulders? With a Hunk of that size?! Mr Scarecrow probably can't even lift us both! No offense, Mr Scarecrow. You're made of grass, or something. Strengthened grass or not… The dude still only has like 160 STR. It's not that much, these nights. I'm probably more capable of doing this than him, but like… Where are you gonna sit on the child's shoulders? I'm not about to transform for this. I don't want to walk. You can't make me. And so, Goddin Village Neith Sama is occupying Mr Scarecrow's other shoulder. He didn't want to come, but Cetilla cast Sleep Magic on him. I mean, she kind of just hit him with a tornado punch in the gut... And that was that. It's been handled, I'm almost certain that Goddin Village Neith Sama can revive nearby Goblins even while unconscious. I can cast Time Magic while sleeping, so he can probably cast Resurrection Magic while sleeping. It would only make sense.

Surprisingly, Goblin Funk survived the entire journey. He didn't die a single time. I'm proud. We should let him go kill more Prairie Slime monsters or something, to really show him our good faith. He's the weakest of the current Cat Crew(o)men. I'm almost certain. The water was nice. It was cool, but not too cool. Just right. Yes, I'm aware that I'm simply too inebriated to fully understand the concept of heat. I'm far too aware. It's horrid. I wish that I could just… Bathe like this every night. Why doesn't Wailing Keep Sama learn how to have bathtubs in every room, or something?! Hot water, please. I'm a sub Fire Elemental or something. I'm pretty sure that I can handle it.

You know, before you get into the whole 'Candy' thing… Halloween Cats can definitely be thought of as a purely evil existence. Even just… Look at my Elements. Dark, and freaking Fire?! That's like a devil's description! Come on, bro?! It's almost as if Halloween Cats are all just one small step away from being too far gone to help. Most of our abilities are a whole lot of 'nope', mixed with JUST a slight dash of 'okay, maybe they're not that bad.' It's like that. A very slippery slope, in which if a Halloween Cat were to have missed even just one ability, or grabbed one ability too many… It could probably very easily turn into a disaster. Or two. I wonder if all Holiday Clan Leaders had the choice to become one? Did we all get 5000 ability points? 5000 doesn't sound like a lot, but I was able to turn mine into a pretty deadly combination through the titles in which they eventually gave. I think? Being a Witch of War might have just been a fluke, that any dangerous Witch worth their Broom could have become. Witches are supposed to be, either good natured or bad natured. I wonder if there's an in between? Can I still unlock the good natured paths if I'm already on a bad natured one? Yikes. Would it have been better to start off good and then go bad, falling from good graces?! Am I irredeemable already?! This Witch is whack?!

I was thinking such things, as I utterly failed in the water fight. I couldn't get my mind off of it, and I distractedly lost. I'm sopping wet, but at least I'm clean. Kind of. I really would like an equivalent to shampoo, or something. I wonder where I might attain one? I haven't the slightest clue on how to make shampoo myself. I'm not THAT well rounded. Give me a break. Jeez. My Clansmen participated in the splash fight, though. I enjoyed having a chance to have most of them here, considering that usually we need to leave several of them back at the Wailing Keep, or now in Halloween so that the show can go on. There's no show right meow, so we're all together. Even Benji, and Robert showed up at some point. Wendel didn't, though. She would probably have been amazing at splashing others though, what; with her arms being so heavy. Or, maybe she wouldn't actually splash very well because she has a low AGI and can't move her heavy arms fast enough in the water to make splashes? Hrmmm...

After we had finished in the water, we sat on the sand to dry before getting dressed. We sat around and talked for a decent while, about honestly… Meaningless stuff. Goblin Funk really wanted to visit the opposite side of the continent to see the other beaches. Honey, there might not even be any. The Dragon Mountains were intense. They might not have a very nice beach. The Lizardmen Tribes or Fae Forest might… But who knows?! Cetilla want's to have the Safari Card Game Tournament tomorrow. Budget Dragon is also quite involved with that endeavor. They both like playing cards, I suppose. Fine! We'll do it! Who shall be the next Safari Card King?! Near the end of our conversations; dawn was approaching. Close call. [Daily Candy]. [Hallowed Gate]. Let's go to sleep. We sloppily made our way back to the Throne Room while singing the Monster M*sh. It caught on in a flash, as always. Monster M*sh... That guy. He always knows how to read the mood.

I ended up walking the others half way to the basement. I ditched them before the staircase leading down. I'm not doing that. Not like this. I'm sure that you'll survive. I flew back to the Treasure Room at top speed to ensure that no rogue tornadoes found my way, while laughing hysterically as I dodged them. As I did so, I discovered that Wailing Keep Sama's resistances are truly top notch. All of the items that were swept away by the strong gusts of Cetilla's wrath almost immediately returned to their original positions after the winds had passed them by. None of the windows or walls seemed to be in trouble either, for that matter. Truly, top notch interior defenses. Unless you count the kill switch in my freaking bedroom. Also, Wailing Keep Sama totally did nothing to protect me from Cetilla. He clearly only cares about himself! I was pouting about such things as I got undressed and into my bed. Good morning...