Chapter 49 - Night 51

Nnnngghh~ I feel terrible. I don't remember ending my night, but I'm definitely in my bed. I'm alone, so that's a good sign. I'd probably keel over and die if I weren't. I was thinking such things as I got dressed, until about half way through; I realized it. While intoxicated, I appear to have emptied the jars of Candy into Candy buckets. I say that, but there are still 7 and a third jars currently untouched. Counting my buckets, it appears as though I now have 41 buckets filled with Candy. Yosh! I wonder what else I did while inebriated.

After finishing getting dressed, I stepped outside of the Treasure Room and entered the Throne Room. Taking one look at Rei and Milton's corpses, I gained a sick feeling in my stomach. If I helped catch Rei's time spent dead up to Milton's while intoxicated, I have no way of knowing. This is terrible for I, who is a very calculating person. Wait a second! There's this thing called 'age'. As a Halloween Cat, I somehow fail to be capable of comprehending something as trivial as 'age', among other things... But it doesn't mean that everyone is like that! Maybe Goblin Funk can ascertain age with his [Appraisal] ability! Kay~ I'm going to ask him. Oh, that reminds me. I also need to ask Goddin Village Neith Sama how he managed to teach Goblin Funk [Appraisal] considering he is not his Master. Maybe I should just ask Goddin Village Neith Sama instead of Goblin Funk. I can hit two birds with one stone!

Goddin Village Neith Sama was originally my first and best friend in this world. I'm starting to think that Goblin Funk has been taking up that mantle as of late. It's mainly because Goddin Village Neith Sama and I are such busy people. He feels ridiculously obligated to stay in the Village or Wailing Keep no matter what the cost. I'm often times out and about taking care of my own business. It's not really easy to find time to spend with Goddin Village Neith Sama any longer. It's depressing. Thinking along those lines, I decided to spend the night with my good ol' pal, the Goblin Village Chief. We need some time to hang out, you know?! It's been a minute!

I was thinking such things as I made my way through the Throne Room and into the Foyer. While doing so, I found that Rustle, Boris, Lora, and Budget Dragon were preparing the nightly meet and feast's feast. Fun. Boris and Lora are handling stove tops, Budget Dragon is handling ovens, and Rustle is handling Fish cutting. Once again, I can't handle watching Budget Dragon perform daily tasks; and so I'm leaving. It's too much. Exiting the Wailing Keep, thankfully; I encountered a certain Goblin Shaman. He's currently sitting out by the fire alongside Wilson, White Beef Lady, Conrad, Ben, Cloaked Hunk, his partner, and Kendra. It's a nice event to see Cloaked Hunk and Kendra as well. Lately, they've been conscious during the day time. I guess that the festival threw off their sleeping schedules.

"Good evening, everyone~" [Nero] called with a smile as he approached the fireplace.

"Be quiet… My head hurts." [Ben the Bear] growled.

"Can't hold your rum?" [Wilson the Wolfenrine] laughed at the Bear.

"It's nice to see you, Nero." [Kendra the Kitsune] greeted with a happy tone of voice.

"Master, I would like to request the night off from searching for the Forsaken Isles." [Conrad the Crowli] asked while taking a knee and bowing his head.

"Eh? Yeah, sure." [Nero] replied while tilting his head.

"Thank you. I'll search tirelessly for it tomorrow." [Conrad] declared as he got up to his feet and started off towards the Wailing Keep.

"It's been awhile, Nero." [Cloaked Hunk] greeted while waving his hand.

"Mhm~ I've actually been wondering about something. Your partner here, has she decided that she would like to become a resident of the Wailing Keep?" [Nero] nodded before approaching and asking the question.

"..." [Goblina] appeared shocked as she had both eyes wide. Shocked, nervous, or terrified.

"...If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would she be able to stay as a resident in my room?" [Cloaked Hunk] hesitatingly asked.

"Of course~ I must ask one thing of you, though. Please go training against prairie Slimes alongside Cloaked Hunk and Goblin Funk. I would like for you to reach Tier 3, but please do not feel rushed whatsoever. It is not a requirement to be a Tier 3 monster in order to live within the Wailing Keep. It's just heavily recommended. The Wailing Keep is like a massive target, and any who choose to reside within it may find themselves also carrying a target. It's for the best if you learn how to protect yourself, even if you don't intend to protect the Kingdom. I'll be working to create clothes for you to wear and feel more safe, but I need some time. If you could handle this in the meanwhile, I would be appreciative." [Nero] explained to the Goblina with a smile.

"Uh… Okay!" [Goblina] seemed overwhelmed before she regained her composure and declared to try her best with a face brimming with courage.

"Don't worry, I'll keep you safe." [Cloaked Monk] reassured her while patting her back with one hand and leaning in to kiss her. To which, Nero caught another glimpse of Cloaked Monk's love life before he fled to Goddin Village Neith Sama who was only sitting a few metres away.

"Nero~ How are you?" [Goddin Village Neith Sama] greeted with a smile while in the middle of a conversation with Wilson and White Beef Lady.

"I'm good, and you? I happened to have a question for you, actually." [Nero] replied happily before confessing.

"Well, I'm great. What did you wish to know?" [Goddin Village Neith Sama] laughed before asking, interests considerably piqued.

"It's about you teaching [Appraisal] to Goblin Funk and Cloaked Monk without actually becoming a Master." [Nero] explained.

"Ahh~ Yes, well... I have a title called [Goblin King]. With it, came three abilities. One was [Goblin Enlightenment], another was [Call Goblins], while the third was [King's Recommendation]. [Goblin Enlightenment] is an ability allowing me to teach another Goblin any of my abilities, so long as they are abilities unrelated to the [Goblin King] title, and so long as they are also capable of being learned by the specified Goblin. [Call Goblins] allows me to grant a path to any nearby Goblins, leading directly towards me. [King's Recommendation] is only usable whenever a Goblin within a certain distance of me becomes capable of Evolving. It allows me to suggest a certain Evolution to the Goblin." [Goddin Village Neith Sama] explained calculatingly.

Woah! What?! Wait a second! That's a total Ruler class title! It's not like… Game breaking or anything, but it's still a pretty intense title. It's wholeheartedly committed to Goblins, but perhaps this is why most races tend to live on their own when they lack a Holiday Clan Leader? It's just… More viable? Perhaps if our beloved Goblin King here were to actually have a higher Tier, then his Ruler class title might even be a whole lot better. I mean… This guy can teach an entire race how to use potentially high spec abilities that would not be possible for their actual current Tiers by himself. Screw getting all of the Goblins to a higher level of power, literally all we need is this guy. He can lift the entire team on his own. The absolute carry. Why did he neglect to inform me about this sooner?! Seriously! This is important stuff here! Then again, he's technically a Goblin Shaman class. He can't just teach Goblin Warriors or Goblin Casters how to resurrect their fallen comrades. It's all on him in that department. He might be hilariously limited on the number of abilities that he can teach alternate classes of Goblins. Moreover, each Goblin likely has their own proficiency and recommended Class... So, he can't just suggest that they all go down the Shaman path.

"...Are you able to ascertain age with [Appraisal]?" [Nero] asked after a long moment of silence while tilting his head.

"Yeah, age is fine. Why?" [Goddin Village Neith Sama] confirmed his capabilities before asking.

"...How old am I?" [Nero] asked while still tilting his head.

"...You're 51 nights old... Child." [Goddin Village Neith Sama] declared before adding with a smug grin.

"Haaah~ Okay, come with me." [Nero] sighed before offering an arm to the Goblin King and gesturing for him to jump on his Broom.

"...We're not leaving the Village, right?" [Goddin Village Neith Sama] asked while squinting his eyes.

"Eh? No, we're just going to the Throne Room." [Nero] confessed. To which, the Goblin King took his arm and got on top of the Broom.

After we had reached Rei and Milton's bodies, I descended from my Broom and asked Goddin Village Neith Sama to figure out their current ages. Apparently, Rei has been dead for 78 hours while Milton has been dead for 92 hours. There's still 14 hours of distance between their deaths. Thanking the Goblin King for his aide, I skipped another 5 hours of time for Rei. There should be a total of 9 hours separating them meow. They're starting to smell. I decided to move them into the middle of the nonsensically large Throne Room. Yosh! Maybe I should get coffins for them. Do coffins count as burying if you don't actually bury the coffins? I'd ask Betty, the Banshee… But I'm afraid that she wouldn't know the answer due to having been too poor in life to afford a coffin for herself in death. Hmmmm… It's probably for the best to just let things continue as they are. If my Throne Room becomes a smelly mess that I need to avoid every evening, so be it. It's the price that I'll pay for Rei and Milton's returns. I must be brave. Unyielding. Relentless, even; if I truly hope to make the Halloween Clan a Clan worth mentioning. Easter? We don't see 'er. Christmas? Could have easily missed this. Valentine? It's... bannin' time? Halloween is the one you should be followeeng, okay?! That's my point~

I say that, but Halloween just might have been the Clan at fault for the Demon Kingdom's assault against the continent… Eventually causing the current state of the Lost Kingdom. I personally don't think that I was capable of claiming the Demons as Clansmen, but they might have just needed a specific Evolution or something. Or, maybe I wasn't even looking at Demons and was instead looking at lesser races who just so happen to reside within the Demon Kingdom. Knowing the possibility that it might have been Halloween at fault just makes me feel even more determined to see this thing through to the end. I need to make sure that this Lost Kingdom is a fine place to inhabit by the time that I'm through. I need to make up for the past potential wrongdoings of the Halloween Clan. We might have messed this whole damn place up. Look. I can't speak on behalf of the Halloween Cat from that night and age, if it truly were a Halloween Cat; I guess… But I can say for myself that choosing to go for Blood rather than Candy is just ridiculous. (S)he must have been some seriously desperate Halloween Cat to go to such lengths. I also can't ignore the fact that Halloween might not be the only one willing to accept Blood for power.

Similar to Goblin King, there could have been a Bat King or something. It might not have even been a Holiday Clan Leader at fault, seeing as how Racial Leaders can also exist. Even then, if it were a Bat King for example… That still kind of falls under the Halloween Clan category. It's still kind of our fault, but it's not the Halloween Cat's name itself being dragged through the mud. Thinking back, the Weeping Angels were prominent in the fight against the Demon Kingdom. They're a Halloween Clan race, which leads me to believe that the war was indeed brought about by a Racial Leader or a different Clan rather than a Halloween Cat. My race might be innocent, but my Clan as a total might not be. Even if my race weren't innocent though, it's not really like I feel that I should be held accountable for something that a complete stranger did. It's just that I'll be thrown under the bus by the rest of the world, more than likely; considering I may be the first Halloween Cat to emerge since. It's a touchy subject.

After finishing with my analysis of the information that Goddin Village Neith Sama so kindly gave to me earlier, we made our way back to the Dining Hall for breakfast. It had been served while we were in the Throne Room. We only knew because around halfway through, a certain Rabbit came to excitedly inform us. After taking our seats, I noticed that there was a clear distinction going on with the seating arrangement at this table. I didn't notice at first, until I realized that Goddin Village Neith Sama purposely did not sit with me. To my left, I have Cetilla. To my right, I have an empty chair. Thinking back, the only individual who has ever sat in that chair was the Tier 7 Leshi, Lillian. Originally, we never actually sat in this seating arrangement. It only started after I took my master seat for the first time. On Cetilla's side, Rei was normally seated and Milton had followed. That has since changed due to their untimely demises.

Now, sitting beside Cetilla is the Tier 6 Weeping Angel, Wendel. Sitting beside her, is the Tier 6 Crowli, Conrad. Sitting across from Wendel, is the Tier 6 Lamia, Lora. Sitting across from Conrad, is the Tier 6 Lamia, Boris. Sitting beside Boris, is the Tier 6 Kitsune, Kendra. Sitting across from Kendra, is Mrs Scarecrow; the Tier 5 Scarecrow. Beside her, is Mr Scarecrow, the other Tier 5 Scarecrow. Across from Mr Scarecrow is the Tier 5 Drake, Budget Dragon. Beside Budget Dragon is the Tier 5 One Eyed Lizard, Cyclozard. It goes on, and on... With a very clear regard for Tiers separating the seating arrangement. Aside from one thing. The Tier 4 White Beef Lady is sitting across from the Tier 6 Wolfenrine, Wilson... They're seated around Tier 5 individuals, so I guess that they're meeting each other halfway. Romantic, but I still can't believe that I didn't notice it until now. It's because after the nightly meet and feast, anyone who spends time in here recreationally does it in random seats. What I'm most concerned about, by far… Is the fact that Cetilla has taken the seat across from the Tier 7 Leshi, implying that Cetilla herself is a Tier 6, Tier 7, or even greater individual. Terrifying. Either that, or she's making use of her nobility and completely ignoring the seating arrangement. That would make sense as to why Rei and Milton both used to sit beside her, which also helped me to not realize the obvious setup for the seating plan going on here.

I decided to eat my meal without mentioning it at all. I'm too afraid that Cetilla can actually kill me on her own. I don't need to know that. I really don't need to know that the Sorceress who calls on literal tornados during times of distress and lives in my home is Tier 7 or above. No, thank you. I'm only Tier 6. I can't handle the shock of that yet, thanks. I spent my time listening in on the conversations around me. I don't know why, but I just don't feel capable of joining in on them very much right now. I actually wanted to spend my night with the Goblin King, but I don't really think that I'm ready to begin socializing again. I should probably just go scour the Oceans for Forsaken Isles instead, or something. Oh~ I have a clothing shipment coming up with Clive that I haven't really prepared for yet. It's not really soon, but it's in 4 more nights. So, I guess I could start that? I don't really have much MP to spare right now though, on account of just feeding Rei's soul more time. Jeez. I have a ton of Candy, but do I really want to be spending obnoxious amounts of Candy on clothes so that I can gain obnoxious amounts of Coins to spend on more Candy? It's like an endless loop, where if I don't take the time to spend my own natural MP, it just won't feel as profitable.

Even with [Enhanced Meditating +3] boosting my MP recovery while I sit, I'm still not really even gaining 1 MP every second. It's like 1 MP every 30 seconds. Self recovery abilities in this world seem excessively low rate. I guess it's actually kind of amazing that it allows me to regenerate at all, considering that most people wouldn't recover any MP by sitting down for like… A week, at least. Even then, apparently some races simply lack the capability to recover MP through time at all. I'm a lucky one. I was thinking such things as I finished my meal and made my way out to the waterfall to go set up a new [Hallowed Gate]. After summoning it, I kindly asked Cosmo and Wanda (Tier 1 Scarecrows) to watch over it for me. I decided to fly back to the Wailing Keep. I just felt like it.

Flying overhead of the Wailing Keep, I was able to catch a glimpse of a strange group of individuals currently outside by our fireplace. Huh? They weren't there before the meet and feast?! Oh well~ I guess that I'll just go and see them or whatever. They're all wearing robes, and I would have assumed that they were Goblins if they didn't all happen to be tall. And, well… Most Goblins at this point are wearing over two visible pieces of the Cat's Costumery Clothing Brand. These guys have none of that. Their robes aren't even poorly made or ragged. They're pretty well dressed, even if they're trying to be inconspicuous and failing at it horribly. Around these parts, if you want to blend in; you need to be stylish. A trend setter.

"Hello~ Who are you?" [Nero] greeted before asking the strangers as he descended to their level from his Broom.

"We have come on behalf of the Elven Council." [Cloaked Elf #1] said as he lowered his hood to reveal his blonde hair, blue eyes, and long ears. He appeared somewhat on the younger side, but he was not either of the Elves that Nero had previously met.

"Very well, where is Lemmispire?" [Nero] asked while tilting his head.

"...I must apologize, but the Prince is no longer handling tasks as an Envoy on behalf of the Council." [Cloaked Elf #1] apologized.

"That's probably for the best, though I did hope to see him. What is it that you came for?" [Nero] admit casually before asking.

"Ahem… You have been summoned to the City of Vanheim and are to speak with the Elven Council." [Cloaked Elf #1] proclaimed while puffing out his chest after clearing his throat.

"...Under what reasoning, might I ask?" [Nero] asked hesitantly.

"To be questioned in regards to the attack against Reygid's Castle City." [Cloaked Elf #1] declared brazenly.

"...Refused." [Nero] shot back flatly.

"Haaaah?!" [Cloaked Elf #2 & 3] let out before Nero could finish his sentence.

"Once again, if your Elven Councilmen or women wish to talk with me… They will need to come to me, and they will need to do it during the night." [Nero] restated his opinion that might have been known had Lemmispire been the one to have taken on this task of being an Envoy, finally having a chance to finish his sentence.

"...To refuse a summon from the Elven Council is impertinent." [Cloaked Elf #4] spat.

"To expect someone to pay respect to a foreign group of individuals of which they have never properly met is also impertinent. Now~ Before you get any funny ideas, I'd like to inform you that you are in my domain. Do you sense any weakness around you? I'll have the lot of you killed before you can even coagulate a shred of remorse should you attempt to harm a single individual here. Now, do as you're supposed to as an Envoy; and run along to tell your so called 'Council' what I told you. They come here, or they don't learn the answers to their questions." [Nero] shot back mercilessly as he assumed his largest form in the middle of the declaration. When doing so, his clothes magically disappeared, as if seeping into his fur. While making his statement, several of the Elves fell to their knees while making faces filled with horror. One of them even began to draw out a sword. After finishing his statement, the ensemble of Elves began to flee; as the ones who had fallen, scrambled to their feet in order to not be left behind.

Jeez. What happened in Reygid happened on account of a messenger like him, deciding that he held the power to try and summon me to his King. Absolute idiocy. TempCat definitely held the power to ask me to come see his King, and he may have even been powerful enough to get through a considerable portion of my Barrier had it been up, but TempCat wouldn't have been capable of stopping me in this current situation. When I'm surrounded by allies and tons of Candy is just moments away? Nah. Most likely, not even for him. He would have died. Many of my companions could have also died, though. It's not like we would have been unscathed, but I'm most certain that we would have defeated him eventually. Especially if I decided to cast [This is Halloween]. I would definitely not like to cast it, though. On top of that, these Elves are most likely much weaker than TempCat. TempCat is like... Needlessly strong. To think that it might have even happened a second time around had I not adequately warned them to just run along. If what happened to Rei and Milton happened a second time to one of the Wailing Keep residents currently out here at the fire, not even a week later... I think that might just ruin my entire year. Especially considering that I've so far been utterly failing to locate the Forsaken Isles. I need that Lich!

After they had left, I decided to go off to the Treasure Room and grab some buckets of Candy. I'm giving in. I'm going to make new high level clothes with my Candy. I just can't contain myself. I have so much damn Candy, you know?! I grabbed 6 buckets. It's not too much, but it's still not shabby. It should give me a fairly decent pile! I'm going to try and force myself to spend time with the others while I make new pieces of clothes aiming at level 30. It's good to be sociable, right? Each piece of level 30 clothes should cost me 120 MP. My current maximum MP, is 1830; negating the Wailing Keep's relentless theft, leaves me with 1464 MP at maximum. My MP still isn't fully recovered yet from feeding Rei with [Time Skip] earlier, but it's currently at 477 MP... So, I should be able to manage almost 4 pieces immediately. Surely enough, upon trying; I was capable of returning to my Human Form directly from my 'Halloween Cat M (Four-Tailed)' form. My clothes were capable of remaining on. Maybe White Beef Lady's secret is that the form she's transforming into is larger than her human form, and so the clothes magically stay on? Is that it? Even so, I didn't gain this capability until I had become a Tier 6 monster. She's lucky.

Joining the others, I took my seat and began to create new pieces as I slowly consumed the 6 buckets worth of Candy. I was taking my time. By the end of the night, I had created around 40 pieces of clothing or accessories. I didn't really participate too much in the conversations going around the fire, but I tried to enjoy them. Even if Goblin Funk and Budget Dragon were able to talk me into participating in the festival, I still don't feel completely back to normal. This will probably last until Rei and Milton happily return. As dawn was approaching, I called out to my nearby Clansmen and requested that they help me with moving the clothes back into the Throne Room. After we had finished, I cast [Daily Candy] before returning to my bed and getting undressed. Returning to my smallest form, I began to fall asleep.