"Welcome to the Manor de Howlite," the maid said in a flat, deadpan voice as she opened the front door. "Please make sure to wipe your feet before entering the manor."
'What the actual fuck...,' Zhen Liu thought to himself as he and his group made their way into the manor's interior.
While the manor itself wasn't as big as the Zhen Clan family compound, it felt bigger from the sheer lack of people inside. There were some decorative furnishings that filled up the empty spaces, but it just added to the overall creepiness of the place. Especially all of the taxidermied aether beast trophies with holes in their chests. Zhen Liu was about to make a comment about the decor, but his mother beat him to the punch.
"The Marquis has rather... interesting tastes in decor," Daria commented as she stared at the stuffed form of a Four-Arm Cyclone Ape with a massive hole in its chest. When she took a closer look at said hole, she found that the inner part of it was covered in a thin layer of glass. This allowed her and any other viewers to see the internals of the taxidermied creature.
"That's very kind of you to say," the maid responded in the same deadpan voice, "My master hunted and stuffed all of these beasts himself."
"Really? He must be quite powerful."
"Indeed."
'Of course he hunted these things himself. Bet he also fucking ate their hearts and livers with some lima beans and a nice wine,' Zhen Liu mentally quipped as he counted at least a dozen or so trophies. He wasn't sure if the vicious taxidermied bear monsters freaked him out more or the unusually pretty taxidermied peacock beasts freaked him out more, all he knew for certain was that the holes in their chests were incredibly unnecessary.
"I think there's a theme in the Marquis' decor," Zhen Hai commented as he eyed a Six-Eyed Frog Fiend with a hole in it's chest. Zhen Liu was about to quip back, but held his tongue for fear of jinxing himself.
'Yeah, I think the rules of three are in effect right now...'
"This way now," the maid instructed, "the Marquis will receive you in the parlor room."
'Of course there's a parlor room. Probably have cursed paintings lining the walls too.'
If one were to look at the Manor from a bird's eye view, they would find that the place would look like a rectangle with a big ole courtyard in the center. This meant that while the party was being led to the parlor by the maid, they could get a constant view of the inner courtyard from various angles...and all of the statues with holes in their chest that decorated it.
'Not exactly rule of three since it's just a continuation of...wait a minute...'
As Zhen Liu stared at the inner courtyard, making sure to keep pace with his family, he noticed movement across the way. In the other hallway, an elderly man with a instrument case on his back was being led by a manservant.
'What the hell is that guy doing here?,' Zhen Liu thought to himself as he kept walking. The old musician and servant soon disappeared from Zhen Liu's sights, as the two parties turned their respective corners.
'Never did get that Greed core from that guy...,' Zhen Liu recalled. After that musician sliced off Alicia's and Harriet's hair, the symbol on his left hand had abruptly stopped in it's core creation.
'Wonder if that hair business had anything to do with this place...'
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As the boy and girl looked to see what could be making such a racket, they came across an unusual sight.
"Is that..."
"A toad?"
"Itchy, itchy!"
Standing before the children was a strange bipedal toad creature that was about the size of a fully grown man, scratching his back against a large mangrove tree with gnarly roots.
"Gah! I'm so itchy," the toad complained while vigorously rubbing his back against the roots, "I knew turning human would involve removing my old skin, I just didn't think the process would be so itchy! And worst of all, it just seems to grow back!"
The kids watched as flake after flake of skin was ripped away from the toad's back, only for new skin to suddenly and rapidly grow in its place.
"Gah! Why haven't I shed all of this skin yet?!," the toad croaked.
"Huh...I think that toad man needs to remove all of his skin at once," the boy observed "otherwise it'll just keep healing like that."
"That sounds about ri...wait," the girl began to say before stopping in thought. "Toad...land...water... that's it!"
"What's it?," the boy asked.
But before he could get a clear cut answer, the girl got up from their hiding spot and walked straight towards the toad.
"Sir toad! I think we can help you out!," the girl called out.
"Huh? Who are you?"
"My name is..."
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"The Marquis will be with you all shortly. Please help yourself to the refreshments," the deadpan maid said as she opened the door to the parlor room.
'And there's the rule of three!,' Zhen Liu mentally screamed as his group entered the parlor.
A parlor, to those unfamiliar with the term, was basically a type room that served the same functions as a living room, but was used to exclusively entertain guests.
Parlors usually consisted of comfy chairs for guests to rest upon, small tables for drinks and small snacks, an instrument of some kind in the corner for people to ply their craft with, occasionally bookshelves and a fireplace for the winter months.
Such rooms also tended to be decorated with pieces of art and maybe clocks, though Zhen Liu wasn't sure if clocks were a thing in this world.
The Marquis' parlor wasn't any different from this norm, having literally everything described above including a small cookie tin, but...the decor was...questionable.
Decorating the walls were about eight or so oil painting portraits of what appeared to be young women in varying styles of dress ranging from Radiant Feather style to Dozing Salamander style, with no faces and prominent holes in their chests. For a bit of added levity, the holes weren't circular.
'Clubs, spades, diamonds...and no hearts. Well that's a red flag,' Zhen Liu observed.
The rest of his group decided to take up seats, admire paintings or partake of refreshments, which allowed Zhen Liu to ask the deadpan maid a question before she left.
"Uh, pardon me...but is the Marquis by any chance a painter?"
"Yes. My master painted every portrait in this room."
"Of course he did..."