"Young lady, what is…?"
Ace furrowed his brows, trying to find what had drawn the gold-haired girl's attention to that degree. Just like Melinda, he went completely silent upon locating it.
A creature resembling a floating head hovered at the entrance to the tunnel, which was burrowing deep into one of the mountains surrounding the Kobold's quarry.
The monster looked a bit like a wooden sculpture, with its bark-like face that looked as if it had been roughly carved by a beginner artist who had yet to grasp the proportions of a human face.
Although it was somehow fitting.
It carried the general feel of a gentle old man with the cracks in the bark appearing as wrinkles around its closed eyes.
The monster's face was surrounded by thick branches sprouting lush leaves of various shapes. Some branches had flowers, and some carried colorful fruits.
"...Deep-Dusk Silva Head…!?"
"...!?"
To Melinda's great surprise, the one calling out the monster's name in disbelief wasn't Zane but Ace Adonis instead.
"!"
Upon being noticed, Silva Head flinched and backed off into the tunnel, soon disappearing within the darkness, leaving the surrounding stones covered with yellowish pollen that spread from it with every move.
"..."
"..."
Zane and Melinda looked at each other slightly awkwardly, but in the end, they nodded and turned towards the tunnel.
"Adi, Your Highness, make sure that our friends get out in the open. Their mines are clearly not safe after all."
The gold-haired girl spoke up before walking off together with the monstrous white-haired man.
"Umm, your… umm… A… Ace. Let's go."
"Shouldn't we…? Hah… sure."
The maid fidgeted as she tried to decide on the way to address the green-haired young man who followed her after a brief moment of hesitation.
"It looks like the playboy is involved in freeing the Deep-Dusk Heads, huh?"
Zane glanced over his shoulder at the pair hurrying in the other direction while pointing out.
"Oh? Am I not being suspected? This developement makes me feel all fuzzy inside~"
Melinda glanced up at him and chuckled teasingly.
"Well, I was suspecting that checking out on Kobolds wasn't your only reason to get here."
The white-haired man rolled his eyes and shook his head with a scoff.
"If you were behind it, you wouldn't have to come look for Silva Head because you wouldn't let it slip away in the first place. Could it be Sapiena? But wouldn't that be too early for their questline?"
He added, glaring towards the tunnel entrance with a frown.
"Ah…! That reminds me. I've had an encounter with Sapiena and ended up blowing up the fifth isle, so even if the questline started, it would go nowhere."
"..."
Melinda perked up as her eyes widened in realization and she revealed to the silent Zane.
"...you… What…?"
The white-haired man ended up stopping and inquiring while blinking repeatedly.
The revelation clearly wasn't sinking in well with him.
"Anihilated the fifth isle of Rubia Archipelago. I even had a brief conversation with Gore and kind of made a truce. Although I thought that he would literally withdraw his demon-crowned, after seeing that Roc, I've concluded that even if he is willing to cooperate, he just shut off his connection and left the possessed to their own devices. Kind of an asshole move, I'm not going to lie, but, oh well."
Melinda nodded her head and casually shrugged her shoulders.
"You blew up the fifth isle?!"
"Together with Sapiena. Yes. I guess the news doesn't travel as fast as I expected… Tee-hee?"
Zane closed his mouth for a moment before clarifying in disbelief and witnessed the gold-haired girl nodding with a slightly apologetic smile and sticking out her tongue a little bit.
"We… we will not have to deal with Sapiena's traps, debuffs, and curses…?"
"That was a major part of my decision~"
The white-haired man let out a short, awestruck gasp, which made Melinda's smile turn into a proud grin.
"Still, it makes you wonder whether Sapiena wanted to use the Deep-Dusk Dullahan as a general menace or for distraction to do something else."
"Oh. I get what you mean. If they put some plan into motion, it could proceed without them and turn into something completely unpredictable."
Melinda's mood dampened quite a bit and she tilted her head while admitting, which made Zane flinch and nod in understanding.
"First things first. Getting Silva Head out of there."
The gold-haired girl used the chance and held the monstrous man's hand, leaning onto his shoulder for the rest of the way to the tunnel entrance.
"Ugh… the debuff pollen… might even be the mind-control one… how are your resistances?"
With the yellowish dust thickly covering the rock around, Zane winced and asked.
"I haven't checked. They were slightly above average last time I did, though. Not like I'll need them now."
The gold-haired girl let go of his hand and pointed out.
"...am I going in by my lonesome…?"
The white-haired man leaned slightly forward, lowering his head to get a better look at her face, and grumbled.
"Hmhm~! Of course not~ I just have an idea about how to get rid of all the pollen and maybe concuss whatever monster Silva Head has inside~"
Melinda perked up, not even trying to hide how much she liked Zane's reaction, before hopping toward him like a small bird and nuzzling against his side like a spoiled feline.
"How exactly~?"
The white-haired young man played along and asked after patting the girl's head, tracing the side of her face with his palm, and finally lifting her chin so she would look up at him…
"~!"
…which made her body tremble with excitement…
"...by… by letting the phessure handle everythfying…"
Melinda mumbled, biting her lips and slurring her words while her eyes wandered from Zane's sharp triangular teeth to his distorted, venomously green irises and back.
"Look."
"...!"
She added, picking up the surprised young man and moving him to the side of the entrance with such ease as if he was merely a paper cutout.
"..."
Before actually going on with her idea, Melinda leaned to the side to check whether the maid and Ace got the Kobolds out of the other mine in case the tunnels were connected, and after confirming that, she leaned back and readied her palm for a slap.