Misdirection And Schemes

"Alright, bring her here. Just… give me a couple of minutes. I've put a teleportation node next to you, so take her with you to the 'Training Courtyard' node when I give the signal."

Bowing slightly, Titania nodded respectfully.

"As you wish, master."

When she once again faced her sister, she was greeted by the sight of a startled flower who was scrutinizing everything around her in a futile effort to locate the one who had just spoken. Gone was the pity in Gugalanna's eyes with which she had gazed upon her elder sister before - it had been replaced by copious amounts of anxiety.

"W-Where is he?! Why can't I find him anywhere?!!"

Sighing helplessly, but also in understanding, Titania tried to calm her down by explaining what was going on. Sentient beings often feared the unknown, so by shining a light upon what they thought of as an indecipherable mystery, most of the dread would dissipate.

"You can't find my master because he isn't here. He hasn't even stepped foot into this place, into Knossos. By using magic, he can observe a mind-bogglingly large area. Shaping the airflow in a way which allows him to emulate his voice is how he was talking to us. He's been making use of both of these techniques to command everyone who is raiding this place from the rear."

Little did she expect that these words of hers almost gave her considerably smart little sister a heart attack. Sometimes, when one finally glimpses at the inner workings of something which had remained an enigma up until that moment, the sheer, 'unsurpassable' gap between oneself and whatever one observed could leave one in even more despair than before.

-----

Putting the book that he had been reading into his inventory, Isaac glanced at the rooster who was lazing around next to him.

"I'm off to meet with Titania's little sister. Do you want to come with me?"

With a yawn, Averin sat up straight, but then he tilted his head in confusion.

"Wait…! Since when does she have a little sister? What did I miss?"

Not waiting for his master's response, the green-feathered rooster jumped and landed atop Isaac's right shoulder. For some reason, Averin found this spot to be quite comfortable - however, because he had doubled in size the last time that his Level had increased, he was secretly worried that he might have to bid farewell to his favourite seat once he reached Level 3.

"In short, the Demi Spirit on Knossos' 8th floor, Gugalanna, was born from a Jewel Fetus that spent a lot of time with Titania when she was still in the form of a Jewel Fetus as well. Because of that, she sees Titania, who was born a year earlier than she was, as her big sister."

Casually strolling towards the most central building on the Twilight Manor's grounds, Isaac gave the fluffy rooster a quick overview of the situation. As they were getting closer and closer to the manor's side entrance, Averin finally noticed something amiss.

"Master, shouldn't we be going to one of the training courtyards? Titania's little sister shouldn't be much smaller than her because she's also a Demi Spirit, so… she can't really fit in the manor. Am I mistaken about this?"

Smiling mysteriously, Isaac put his hand on the door handle and focused more of his mind on his imminent surroundings, which he had, of course, also covered in mana. His Eyes of Hermes notified him of the exact location of four armoured Pallums that were observing the Twilight Manor's grounds from the outside, as well as a host of other spies. There were tens of pairs of eyes on the Loki Familia, but these four stood out in particular - all of them were Level 5's.

"You are not. I'm just putting on a show for the audience. It's amusing to mess with them and throw their intel into disarray."

Thinking about a certain grey-haired goddess slash waitress being misled in her deductions due to what her people had seen here today, an almost inaudible chuckle escaped his lips. After their first meeting, he had noticed Freya watching him once, but she had instantly ceased to do so the moment that he let her know that she wasn't fooling anyone - by winking mischievously in her direction. Her method of observation had utilized some of her Divine Energy in a remotely similar way to the one in which he operated his mana whilst employing his Eyes of Hermes - due to his experience in this particular field, he had easily caught the sudden change in his environment back then. Ever since, perhaps due to the assumption that he was extremely sensitive to Divine Energy, she had exclusively relied on her children to stare at him from afar.

Once he had closed the door behind him, Isaac blurred his own as well as Averin's existence and left through one of the windows that one of the housekeepers of the familia had opened to let in some fresh air.

-----

Timidly, the young plant sized up the empty training courtyard that she suddenly found herself in. Her big sister had told her that she should keep her body low and stay out of sight, so that nobody outside of the place that they would be going to would notice her. Therefore, she was obediently doing as she was told. Isaac's sudden words had spooked her far more than she would like to admit, so her guard was raised to the absolute maximum. Defying a being of such power simply wasn't a smart move.

A few seconds after she had successfully taken in her surroundings, her ears picked up the sound of relaxed footsteps walking up to the two of them from one of the courtyard's corners.

'But when I looked at that place, there was nobody there!'

Whirling around in barely concealed panic, her shaking eyes took in the image of a small human male who had a green rooster sitting on his shoulder - truly an unusual combination. It wasn't that he was actually small, mind you, but that her own body was so large that she always classified all humanoid beings that resembled the man in front of her in physical shape as 'small' in her mind.

Her image of Titania's master had been a muscular mountain of a man with an oppressive, ferocious and bloodthirsty aura floating about him. What other kind of being could possibly subdue her beloved sister? Due to this misconception, when she saw an extremely good-looking young man who emanated an unperturbed tranquility as well as a warm, approachable air, she felt certain that she had to be looking at someone who she didn't know of yet. Was this a servant of the master, by any chance? And what was up with that rooster that had an arrogant glint in its eyes?!

"Umm, excuse me. Are you here to lead me to my big sister's master?"

Attempting to be courteous and make a good impression even to a mere member of the master's entourage, Gugalanna put on a friendly smile and calmed her erratically beating heart.

She soon saw the man who had just walked up to the Demi Spirit sisters raise his eyebrow and smirk in clear mirth. Before she could fully realize what was happening, her sister hastily hurried to her side, 'knelt' down and bowed courteously.

"Forgive her ignorance, master. She hasn't met you before, after all."

Titania's words caused Gugalanna's panic to return with a vengeance and she almost shat herself. Luckily, she hadn't actually eaten anything aside from magic stones for the past few years, so she couldn't have done so even if she had wanted to.

"No worries at all, I understand. I don't look particularly threatening right now, do I?"

Grinning a little at the sight of Gugalanna's shaking knees, Isaac shook his head and heaved a sigh, then he motioned to Titania. Realizing his intentions, she moved the monster part of her body to form his favourite sofa and let him take a seat. Her little sister, who had just had her mind blown, almost had her golden eyeballs pop out of their sockets.

"... eh? Wha…? Huh? Why is he… sitting on you?"

Stammering out her words in between her bewilderment, Gugalanna felt as if the world was spinning. Her breathing had turned laborious and the bull part of her body began to sway.

"She looks as if she's about to keel over. Please assist her in sitting down safely, Titania."

Reaching out her leaf-tipped tentacles at her lord's command, the trusty plant carefully stabilized her sister's posture and guided her until her lower body sat securely on the ground. During this process, perhaps due to having been directly touched by her beloved big sister, Gugalanna regained some of her collectedness and showed an awkward smile.

"My apologies, Mr. Blackshaw. From my sister's explanations, I thought you to be a lot more terrifying than you actually appear to be."

Pleasantly surprised at her honesty, the enigmatic deity raised an eyebrow once more, then he nodded with a soft smile on his lips.

"It's all water under the bridge. It's nice to meet you, Gugalanna. You're Titania's family, so feel free to call me Isaac - it's not like we're strangers, after all."

Chiming in as if he had smelled his opportunity, the haughty rooster made himself known as well. Puffing out his chest in an effort to show off, he raised his head to the sky with a smug look on his face.

"And this glorious Lord Bird is the great and mighty Averin. Behold my incandescent brilliance, young plant, and be careful not to get blinded by it."

Staring blankly at Averin's entirely unexpected, weird behaviour, Gugalanna blinked a few times, before muttering a few words.

"Uh, yeah. Nice to meet you too, bird."

'Birds can talk? Since when?!'

Pushing aside yet another mystery for now, she refocused on Isaac, who was the one that she had come here to meet in the first place. She proceeded to completely ignore Averin, whose eyes widened in shock and discontent at the blatant disrespect.

"I will take you up on that offer and call you 'Isaac', then. Excuse my rudeness, but… why are you sitting on my sister?!"

Even though she had tried to control herself, her voice still shuddered in indignation. It didn't matter to her how powerful this being in front of her was anymore - the scene of him using Titania's back as if she was a mere piece of furniture was simply too degrading!

Picking up on the anger in her gaze with ease, Isaac sighed and scratched his cheek with his left hand. Usually, he would have preferred to use his right one to do so, but Averin was currently occupying that side's shoulder, so…

"Giving you a satisfactory answer isn't that simple and will require a fair bit of explanation, so forgive me for responding to you with a question of my own: If someone tried to kill your big sister, what would you do to them?"

Despite being taken aback by his sudden inquiry, Gugalanna followed his instructions and thought about it for a while, before eventually replying. She could have sworn that the damn rooster had shot her a few glares full of animosity in the meantime, but after Isaac had whispered something to him, he had stopped doing so and began to sulk in silence.

"I would kill them. At worst, I would let them have a taste of the most painful kinds of torture imaginable before ending their life."

His overall bearing exuding a ray of holiness and a calm smile spreading on his lips, Isaac nodded.

"See? So wouldn't you say that I've treated Titania, who tried to kill my beloved wife-to-be, very generously? I didn't kill her and merely requested her servitude. In fact, she has also gained plenty of benefits from this arrangement - most of which she isn't even aware of yet, if I had to bet."

Suddenly tongue-tied, Gugalanna stammered wordlessly. This man was simply too mean! He had led her right into this trap, and yet she had been too preoccupied with other, distracting thoughts to see it coming. How stupid of her! By the way, what did he mean by that last part of what he just said?

"... you're not wrong. But it still doesn't sit right with me! Why would you sit on her like that?! Also, what are those benefits that you mentioned?"

His smile turning a little bit awkward, Isaac explained himself before any misunderstandings could arise.

"What can I say? Her back is very comfortable. My weight also doesn't impact her much, if at all. With that in mind, what's the big issue? Don't I treat her very well, all things considered? As for what Titania has gained from all of this, amongst that extremely long list, there is one thing that you might desire for yourself as well: Getting freed from the influence of the entity who implanted those instructions in your mind long before you were born."

The sofa's eyes shook in astonishment as she heard this. She had never really noticed it before, because she hadn't paid any attention to it in recent days, but that oppressive feeling of losing control over her own mind… it was gone. She could still clearly recall the intent to 'devour Aria' itself, but she could easily ignore it, or even forget about it now. That had never been the case up until she had met her lord.

Despite knowing that he was just trying to steer the conversation in the direction that he desired, Gugalanna couldn't help but anticipate something. However, she wasn't foolish enough to take his words for the indubitable truth. Desiring to validate his claims, she questioned Titania, her voice shivering from excitement.

"Big sister, i-is that true?"

Seeing her nod, the little flower closed her eyes and forced herself to return to a semblance of calm. She prided herself on being quite intelligent for her age, so she already realized that her sister's master was trying to tempt her into following him as well. It was the classic 'the carrot and the stick' approach. In this case, the stick was his unfathomable power, while the carrot was the resolution of the issue that had plagued her ever since her consciousness had come to be. But if he expected her to fall for this, then he was clearly underestimating her!

With resolution shimmering in her eyes, she stared directly at Isaac, before finally addressing what he had said.

"Alright, I'll believe you. I also can't find a reasonable way to chastise you regarding practically enslaving my big sister. But that doesn't mean that I'm fine with this state of affairs!"

As if he was particularly amused by what she had just said, Isaac's smile turned into a somewhat mocking grin. Well, to be fair, it didn't change at all - it simply felt different to her now.

"So what? You can't change it. There is nothing that you can do."

Grinding her teeth at his smug response, Gugalanna clenched her fists and took a few deep breaths. If she hadn't forced down her violent urges, then she would have walked up to him and punched him. Fortunately, she managed to rein in her emotional outburst in time.

"I know, you don't need to rub it in! Anyway, you anticipate me begging you to free me from those cursed instructions and following in big sister's footsteps, right? Well, in that case, that's too bad! Because I won't do it!!"

Sticking her tongue out and glaring at him rebelliously, Gugalanna rejoiced in her small victory and expected Isaac to show a troubled reaction of some sort. After all, hadn't she figured out exactly what he was planning?

As if he was aiming to deliberately crush the pride that she had in her reasonable deduction, he blinked in confusion, before finally showing a wide, sympathetic smile.

"I see, I see. So that's what you think of me. I suppose my words and actions so far could have evoked such a suspicion within you. Let me apologize for that. My plan has always been to rid you of that burden for free, without any strings attached. You're the precious family of one of my people, after all. Now that we've met, helping you a bit is only par for the course."

The claim that Gugalanna was her 'precious family' left Titania bewildered, but she chose to remain silent. Not only would needlessly clarifying that she didn't actually think too highly of the young plant - because she didn't really know her much - hurt Gugalanna, but it might also throw her lord's schemes into disarray. That expression of his… for some reason, despite his apparent goodwill, it looked a bit shady to her. Of course, this was merely a gut feeling.

Having her interpretation of Isaac's character once more subverted significantly, the little flower became speechless. Of course, she suspected that he was simply lying to her, that he was trying to give her hope only to crush it into fine dust afterwards… but what if? What if he truly brought her salvation?

"W-Will you really lend me a hand… for free?"

In response to her cautious question, Isaac slowly rose to his feet, doing his best not to frighten her. He raised his arms to show that he was unarmed and meant no harm, then he nodded and hopped down from his sofa.

"Yes, I can do it right now, actually. The only thing that I'll need to do is to touch you for a brief moment. It won't hurt, I promise. Feel free to attack me if any of what I just said turns out to have been a lie, okay? What do you say? Do we have a deal?"

Highly sceptical of his claims, Gugalanna shot a questioning gaze at her big sister, who gave her a reassuring thumbs up - a gesture which she had picked up from the rest of Isaac's motley crew. But was it just Gugalanna's imagination, or was Titania also not entirely sure about this? Perhaps it was just her mind playing tricks on her? It all sounded too good to be true…

Taking a deep breath, the young plant decided to take the plunge. There was no need for this unfathomable being to scam her, because she had no way to resist him anyway. Therefore, if what Isaac had said really turned out to be the truth, then she would only profit. And in the case that he was messing with her, wouldn't the worst outcome be some mere humiliation? If he had any intention to harm her, he would have already done so, after all.

"Deal."

Eyeing him vigilantly, she saw him walk closer and place his right palm on the left shoulder of her monster part. A second or two later, he nodded and removed his hand… but she didn't even notice any of these actions any longer.

The reason for this was simple. Almost instantly after he had touched her… that oppressive feeling that had always been at the back of her head, encroaching upon her conscious mind like a malignant tumor… it had quietly disappeared, as if it had never been there at all. The burden that had forced her to stay on her toes ever since even before her birth, that had made her give her all every single day in a desperate attempt to distract herself from it, or to somehow accumulate enough strength to break free from this all-consuming influence… it was gone.

Tears uncontrollably streamed down her cheeks before she knew it and despite being in the presence of someone who she didn't trust much at all - as well as that of a weird bird - she began to choke up and weep like the young child she was. At some point, her big sister enveloped her into a hug and patted her back, only further fueling the waterworks.

[ It has been detected that two entities have varying degrees of control over the Demi Spirit Gugalanna. Do you want to sever these connections?

Warning! One of them is divine in nature, so the act of severing it would be noticed. Cost of preventing this: 1,000 AP ]

This time, Isaac had ignored the option to pay AP. After all, the one who the little flower was connected to was currently already aware of the fact that Knossos was being raided - therefore, it wasn't out of the question for someone to kill this Demi Spirit of his. There was no need at all to hide any longer. It wasn't as if Isaac's own involvement in the undoing of this connection would come to light immediately - but even if it did, so what? He was ready and waiting.

With the smile that adorned his lips turning considerably scary as he thought about the poor fool who had ended up on his chopping block, he gave his trusty sofa some whispered advice. If he hadn't done so, then she would have just stood there and watched the pitiful child bawl her eyes out, after all. Although he was aware that she didn't currently feel anything for her little sister, perhaps a familial bond would form one day. In that case, Titania would surely regret having treated Gugalanna so distantly in the past.

By the time the sniffling plant finally wiped away the tears plus snot and returned to being clear-headed again, Isaac's expression was back to normal - a warm and caring, genuine smile. It wasn't as unnatural as when he faced his enemies, but rather actually felt 'real' to almost any and all observers.

After hesitating for a bit, Gugalanna finally gathered up the courage to speak, her mind still a little bit of a mess. However, she had already figured out how to continue from here on out. For now, she decided to drop the complaints about her big sister's situation. She would give this man the benefit of the doubt.

"I'm very, very grateful for your help. Honestly, thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it."

His serene and modest reply raised her evaluation of him a little. But considering that she didn't think particularly highly of him in the first place, that didn't mean too much. Glancing at Titania, Gugalanna eventually chose her path.

"Would it be okay for me to live with my sister? I don't want to impose on you, so I can help out sometimes, but… I really won't do as my sister has done. That's too much of a commitment for me."

She didn't even try to talk him into letting her big sister go, because she knew that it wouldn't work. Maybe there was a possibility, but she had not yet garnered enough of his goodwill to request such a thing. At this point, she could only set this as a long-term goal to work towards.

Reading her obvious intentions, the corners of Isaac's mouth rose a bit more and he nodded, before motioning for Titania to revert into sofa mode once again. As he was taking a seat, he grew quite solemn and listed a few things that Gugalanna had to be aware of.

"Very well. Just keep in mind that Demi Spirits are not yet accepted by the public. Therefore, please do not cause a disturbance and follow alongside your sister obediently. This will only be a temporary arrangement that should last for a couple of weeks. Afterwards, you both should have far less restrictions to worry about. By the way, I'm telling you this for your own good, Gugalanna. There are many adventurers in this city who would rush to claim your life if you ever appeared in public - and a fair number of them could actually kill you because they're stronger than you."

While he was busy explaining what her life would be like during this period of time that she would have to lie low together with her big sister, Isaac whistled happily on the inside. His plans for making this girl swear her absolute loyalty to him were progressing smoothly. Yes, he could have simply intimidated her into doing so, but then her Loyalty stat would have been extremely low. It also would have reflected poorly upon him and could have possibly caused the rest of his people to look down on him. Therefore, he obviously wouldn't do it. Instead, he would let her see just how sweet the fruits of Titania's perks were. She would grow closer to him over time as well, and when she finally realized just how thoroughly her big sister was leaving her in the dust - nevermind Titania's now technically infinite lifespan - Gugalanna would come to him to request being in his service herself.

'Her monster part makes her particularly useful as a beast of burden. She would also excel at pulling a cart or a chariot of some kind. Titania could do so as well, but her body really isn't optimized for it.'

Of course, all of these were just excuses that Isaac told himself, which had influenced his decision slightly. The real reason as to why he had decided to treat this young plant so favourably was that Titania was already one of 'the kids' - and he wouldn't mistreat the family of his people, ever. Well, as long as there was no bad blood between them, that is. It's not as if he would ever actually admit any of this to himself, though.

Amidst the casual conversation with the Demi Spirit sisters, the Knossos raid finally progressed to the next stage.

'Looks like Ais' and Ray's parties just finished dealing with the troops that Evilus dispatched to combat us. It's time to have them unite with the other parties to clean up all of the monsters on the 17th floor, then it'll be time for the final spurt.'