Gift Giving 2 - Mystery of the Vials - Door to the Basement

"Here's a Swiss Knife"

Justine reached the Swiss Knife towards Kyouko and she grabbed it gently as she focused on calming her arms

"Huh? What does Kyouko-san need the Swiss Knife for?"

Natsume couldn't help to asked

"Well, don't you need an everyday item to help you in various predicaments? Isn't that right, Kyouko-chan?"

Justine nudged her elbow at Kyouko, even though she was far

"Uh huh!"

Kyouko could only nod while smiling wryly. She was in disbelief that Justine even thought of giving her a gift. Not to mention, it was a multi-purpose knife. Kyouko was getting all tingling and excited

Philip only looked at her with worried and wary eyes. He felt bad for the girl. He didn't understand how Kyouko became the way she is

"Next present belong to... Camille"

Justine took out the ring and gave it to Camille. Camille took the ring and inspected it upon closer look, she then looked at Justine with a confused look

"I don't know what that ring does, but it aas tons of Cursed Energy within it. Maybe the ring has a curse of its own and seeing the Blood Ruby attached to it... Maybe the curse deals with blood?"

Justine tried to explain to Camille what she understood about the ring. The ring had a curse but Camille did not see this as a bad thing

Curses are a bad thing, they can never be a good thing, but Camille didn't believed that. Sure, there are curses that are bad, but there should be curses that are good

Just like a child could be called as a Cursed Child after showing incredible power laying dormant inside of them in movies. There are also a saying that having too much intelligence can be a curse and a blessing at the same time

So, Camille believed that the curse on the ring was a blessing in disguise

Camille immediately wore the ring, hoping for the curse to take effect and reduce her suffering

The three spiky protrusions under the ring scraped against Camille's rinf finger and blood flowed out. Camille ignored this and pushed the ring further

As the ring was further into her finger, the spiky protrusions stabbed into his finger and the Blood Ruby on the ring glowed. It exuded a red mist that flowed into the ring and wrapped around her finger

The laceration on her ring finger did not heal. Blood flowed out profusely that it dripped in the floor. Even though it seemed like Camille will suffer from blood loss, she was very happy to see blood flowing out of her finger and the redness of her blood. There was no clot at all that blocks the passageway of her blood vessels

Camille could almost cry but it was not the right time

Alucard went toward Camille and marked a small cut on his finger. He let a single drop of blood fall on Camille's ring finger and it healed instantly, even with the effect of the ring

"So, have you found out what curse the ring had?"

Justine asked

"Unfortunately no, I still need to experiment with it further"

"It's the Curse of Bleeding"

Philip chimed in. Justine, Camille, and the rest looked at him with bewilderment

"How do you know?"

Natsume asked the important question

"Uh, logic?"

Philip answer indirectly

"Please explain"

Justine let Philip continue

"Well, you said the the red gem on the ring is a Blood Ruby so it could mean that the curse would deal with blood. Then, when Camille wore the ring, it is intentionally designed to lacerate the wearer's finger to set up the stage for the curse. It is also to check the effectivity of the curse. After Camille wore the ring, the spikes stabbed into her finger, trying to access her blood vessels and inject the Cursed Energy onto her bloodstream. This in turn let the blood keep flowing from the lacerations on her finger"

Philip gave a long explanation. He won't mention that it was because Camille's blood did not clot due to the Curse of Clotting. No one in the household told him about her curse so he did not mention it

"I see"

"Curse of Bleeding, huh?"

The rest of them nodded in agreeemnt from Philip's logic. It all made sense in their minds

"You're smart!"

Natsume gave a thumbs up at Philip while her cheeks was tinged red

At this point, Vanessa became bored and she was lying down behind Philip. Her body was sideways, facing the rest of them, and she flopped like a tired cat

Philip didn't mind this and sat back as he made Vanessa's stomach as a soft pillow. He could also feel her large chest on her right arm so it's a win for him

The rest could only look at him incredulously

"Alrighty then, moving to the next one is... Bea! Yours is special!"

Justine exclaimed as she picked something next to her like she was holding something. To everyone's eyes, it was as if she was holding an invisible object

It's because she is

She manipulated the vector of light and revealed the gift. The gift was the dry aged brown leather book that only had one page. She lent it towards Bea

Bea's eyes became wide upon seeing the book. It was very rare for her to see this kind of book since it only has one page

She opened the book and tried to read it

"Can you read it at all, Bea?"

"..."

Justine asked in curiosity and Bea looked at her with the same uninterested eyes

"No"

Bea replied with her cute small voice. It was quite rare for her speak with her uninterested and empty look

"Aaahh! So cute!'

Natsume was surprised when she heard Bea's voice. She jumped towards Bea and hugged her as she rubbed her cheeks on Bea's cheek

Bea only looked in the distance with empty eyes as a creature was rubbing her right cheek

Bea then closed the book and placed it behind her since it was almost bigger than her

"Okay then, maybe you can decipher it later. Tell me if you deciphered it because I'm also very interested in the book"

Justine asked a favor and Bea nodded in agreement. Bea knew about Justine's overflowing curiosty and she made sure to call Justine when she deciphered the book

"Alright, moving on! Next gift is for Jude"

Justine reached out towards the thin quiver on her side that had a long object kept inside. Justine opened the quiver and pulled a peculiar shaped long titanium green rod out

The ends of the cylindrical rod had small sized semi circles that points outwards. The middle of the stem, across the body, is empty, like an elongated hole was punctured through. The rod was colored with dark mossy green that gave the rod an extremely heavy feel, as if it will break the ground when it fell

Jude looked at the peculiar rod and walked closer to Justine. Justine was sitting with her legs crossed above the sofa. She was sitting like a gangster or a sloppy teenager

"This is the Ton Rod, it will help you on your Reverse Sword condition"

Jude audibly gasped and knelt down as Justine is going to give the rod. Jude extended his open hands, as if he was a knight receiving his sword

Justine went along with it and gave placed the rod horizontally on Jude's hands

"Thank you very much Justine-sama"

Jude held the rod and swung it around his body. He quickly walked away and kept holding the rod on his side. He closed his eyes and tried to feel the rod as an extension of himself and how it will help on his Reverse Sword condition

Philip's ears perked up when he heard of Jude's strange condition

Reverse Sword?

Philip took a mental note in his mind and he'll ask Jude in his free time when he visits him to ask him about the sword

He also looked at the rod that Jude was holding. The design was odd but somehow, Philip understood the concept behind the design and it was pleasing to his eyes

"Alright, time for the last gift. Well, this is not really a gift... I just found it somewhere else and I wanted for Vanessa to study it"

"It's because you're curious?"

Vanessa asked behind Philip while wrapping her arms around his stomach as she was lying down

"Yes, mostly"

In reality, Justine was afraid of the vials that she took from the ruined man-made island. The energy that was circulating around the the liquid in the vials are definitely very chaotic. The transfer of energy is also over the place and she hasn't felt this in any liquids or substance that she has seen, even solids or gas

So, this vials are definitely something mysterious, perhaps it was under research for at least several years

"So, where's the so called gift?"

"Here"

Justine reached on the inside pockets of her backpack, where the vials are wrapped in soft cloth. She lent it towards Vanessa to which Philip grabbed it and gave it to Vanessa

Vanessa unwrapped the cloth and saw the vials. The vials had the green and violet liquid sloshing around inside

She then picked one vial and took a look closer. After a few seconds, Vanessa pushed herself up and poised herself properly

"Alright, I'll take a closer look"

"What do you think so far?"

Justine asked in curiosity

"I actually don't know... I'll examine it more carefully in my alchemy room..."

Upon Vanessa's words, a few of them was surprised. They were surprised because Vanessa did not know what the liquid was or the composition of it

Usually, Vannesa would immediately know the molecular composition of every substance and solids that she sees. Granted that the liquid in the vial was mysterious, but usually Vanessa was never bothered by that and she would know after looking at the substances for quite a while

But the liquid in the vial, on her first look, it was like she was looking straight into the black hole and she forgot everything that she knew

It wasn't because the transfer of knowledge and emmories were reversed last night, it was because it was just that. The liquid in the vial was extremely strange

"Alright, I'll leave you to it..."

Justine left the vials to Vanessa and Vanessa nodded. It was her work anyway as the alchemist of the mansion

"That's all the gifts so far! You all can resume what you all were doing earlier! You guys have a long day to go. I also need to talk to Philip alone"

"Okay Justine nee-san!"

Natsume stood up and ran towards the backyard, Natsuki followed her excitedly. Mei'er also stood up and ran back to her room at the garden while carrying the Celestial Nebular Twinkler around her arms. The flower seemed to dancing in the presence of Mei'er and the twinkling particles were showering over her

Bea also immediately left and headed to the library while Mathilda was still playing with the cowering puppy

"I'll take my leave then"

Jude bowed slightly and went outside to the front yard to test the Ton Rod that he just received. Camille stood up left back to her room as she kept looking at the ring while smiling like a pure child

Kyouko immediately stood up and left with quick feet. She instantly fled the room and back to her own room. She locked her doors instantly

"What are you two still doing here?"

Justine asked Alucard and Vanessa

"Well, I also need to talk to Philip"

Vanessa said as she sat on the wooden chair where Kyouko was sitting

Meanwhile, Alucard also sat down at the opposite side of the sofa from Justine. He rested his head on his left fist as he conjured blood from the air on his right hand and played with it

He was showing that he was interested in the conversation and he wanted to listen from the side

"Alright, you go first"

Justine said towards Vanessa

"What? You first, I'm going to talk about something important to Philip"

"Really? But I needed him to come with me since I have a gift for him"

Philip's widened from Justine's words. He wondered what gift she had for him. He was looking forward to the gift that he wanted to listen to Vanessa's later about what she wanted to talk about

Alucard turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Justine. He seemed to have an idea what gift Justine will be giving to Philip

"Oh, is that so? Then I'll talk to Philip later in the day"

"Oh? Is your talk that secretive?"

Justine tried to pry about what Vanessa wanted to talk about

"Yes"

Justine was slightly surprised at Vanessa's direct answer that had no hesitation or whatsoever

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'll examine the vials. I'll be in my room if anyone needs me"

Vanessa stood up and left the Lounge Area

"Alright, follow me Philip. I'll show you something"

Justine stood up and signalled for Philip to follow her. Philip looked at Alucard and he only nodded. Alucard stayed behind while he looked outside the window

~~~

Justine walked towards the back side of the left wing, where there was a door to the left next to the double doors that lead to the backyard. Philip followed just directly behind her

"Where are we going?"

Philip asked in curiosity with an expectant eyes

"Towards the place why this mansion is special and why I am called the owner of the land where the mansion was built and the reason the title of the owner of the mansion was transferred to you"

Justine twisted the door knob and opened the door. It revealed a staircase that lead downwards