"Good bye Miss Fortuneteller! Thanks for the guts!," the girl called back to the wagon as she carried a basket filled with the guts of a tiger, a bear and a fox.
"And the stingers!," the boy added as he secured the small bag of hornet stingers to his belt. He would have placed them in his backpack, but it was filled with toad skins and crab shells. "I'm still not sure why she gave it to us," he mumbled to his friend.
After having their fortunes read three times, and preparing a very strange yet good tasting stew, the boy and girl were invited to spend the evening with the old fortuneteller in her wagon. When the morning came, the two friend thanked the old woman for her kindness before making their way back to the old hermit.
The two friends' journey back to the hermit's hut was surprisingly uneventful and relatively quick. However, just as the two were in eyesight of the hut, the boy suddenly stopped walking.
The girl noticed after a few steps forward, but she could feel the doubt radiating off of her closest friend. She slowly walked back, and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
The boy looked at his shoes for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, before doing so.
"Are we...making the right choice?"
"Huh?"
_________________________________________________
Zhen Liu watched on as the deadpan maid proceeded to take the iron bars and shove them into the mouths of a pair of boar heads that were mounted on the wall opposite of her.
'What the...'
When he heard an audible clicking sound as the maid twisted the poles around, something clicked in his own head.
'Oh. Secret door, duh."
Once both bars were locked in place, the maid stepped away from the mantle until she was directly in-between the two.
Zhen Liu couldn't sense anything, but he could see the maid make use of her "anima" again, judging by how she clapped her hands together once before pushing outward at the bars. The bars began to move outward, turning something in the boars' mouth and causing the painting in front of her to slowly open like a double door.
With the doors fully opened, the maid proceeded to use her powers to lift the box through the door, following soon after at a leisurely pace. The door was slowly closing onto itself once she had stopped focusing her anima on the bars, but it didn't matter because she was already pass the doors and in the passageway. Once she had fully crossed the threshold and the doors almost closed behind her, the bars of iron suddenly removed themselves from the boars' mouth and returned to their resting place. When they were firmly in place, the door closed completely.
Zhen Liu waited a few minutes before running out to the mantle place. He wanted the maid to be further down whatever passageway she was walking through as of this moment before making a move, for he didn't want her to hear his footsteps.
Once he felt enough time had passed, Zhen Liu ran out into the hallway.
'Alright, all I need to do now is-' "You?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
At the exact time Zhen Liu exited into the hallway, an old guy entered from the room that was on the other end of the hallway. What made this old man stand out however, was the strange looking shamisan strapped to his back.
Zhen Liu immediately recognized him as the old man who had attacked Jin Fang and Alicia earlier that day. Having identified him and using the element of surprise, Zhen Liu used his arm to pin the old man to the wall opposite of the mantle.
"Ay! Hey man, let me go!," the old man hissed. He was about to hiss and complain more, but Zhen Liu has ordered the Razor Maiden to move to his shoulders and point a few claws at the old man's neck. This caused him to shut up real fast.
"Oh dear gods-"
"What am I doing here?! I'm like eighty percent sure you're the reason why I am here. If you hadn't attacked my friends in the streets, I wouldn't have to come here right now!"
"Huh? What? I have no idea what you mea-ah!," the old man said trying to feign ignorance. However, he was soon stopped by the Razor Maiden's threatening gesture.
"Oh don't you give me that shit. I saw you walking around this manor earlier from across the courtyard. Now so help me, if you don't tell me who you are, why you're here now and why the Marquis is actively trying to take my friends, I will have her cut your nuts off," Zhen Liu threatened.
Evidently, the other kaijin had their own opinions.
[Milord there's no need for a mess...just have me scorch the old bastard into cinders!]
[No need...for...such...heat. Freeze...and break...slow...but...painless...]
"Wait a minute, 'her'?"
Hiss!
"Ah."
The Razor Maiden made another threatening poke towards the old man, providing some context on who the "her" refereed to.
The old man gulped for a moment at the blade pointed at him, regaining a bit of composure before he answered.
"Alright, alright. My name is Draigo, I don't know why the Marquis took your friends, but I am here for the sake of a friend too," the old man explained.
Zhen Liu had a look of disbelief plain on his face.
"Oh really?"
"Yes,I am. I don't know how but the Marquis has something of hers that wa-is, very important to her. I just want it back..."
A resolute look appeared on Draigo's face when he said those words, not that Zhen Liu. He was all set to just throw this dude through a wall or knock him out or something, until a certain voice popped in with a different idea in mind.
'Huh?'
As the core began condensing in his left hand, Zhen Liu noticed that it was somehow growing heavier at a rate that wasn't normal and somehow felt more...solid.
'It feels... rock solid...the hell kinda desire is getting condensed?'
As if to add to the weirdness...it felt metallic.
'Why does it have texture?!'
_________________________________________________
As the Razor Maiden kept a claw pointed at the old man, something deep within the depths of [her/its] being began to stir.
{Her? Razor Maiden is not "the" or "it", Razor Maiden is...a her?}
The Razor|She didn't know why, but something about that word caused her chest to feel...heavy yet...filled.
{Razor Maiden is a...her. Razor Maiden is...she. Razor Maiden is...lady....}
{Razor Mai...I...am...is...]
[...I am a lady.]