"Yo Evanna, I really don't want to be the devil's advocate here or anything of that sort, but I said this once and I'll say this again," Victoria said in an exasperated tone as she leaned from the vehicle's backseat towards the front passenger seat, "we are wasting our time."

I really couldn't blame Victoria for saying this, since we've been parked in front of a large mansion on a beautiful Saturday morning for the last hour trying to stalk what Evanna said is a werewolf that we encountered last Tuesday. Gino gave us an ultimatum that we should figure out our gameplan before he wakes up from his nap, lest he'd, and I quote, "take matters into his own hands," end quote. Good news, it doesn't look like he's going to wake up anytime soon after I laced his morning toast with cough medicine as a prank. Bad news, an hour has already passed since he napped and we girls still haven't gotten further into our plan on how to approach the werewolf.

"No, we are definitely not wasting our time," Evanna insisted. "An encounter with a werewolf needs careful planning since they can be unpredictable. Not only do I know this because I am a werewolf myself, but you already know that this is how we deal with other Exceeds we haven't encountered before. It's standard operating procedure."

"Excuse me and my potty mouth, but standard operating procedure my foot," I snidely commented. "It's been an hour of us discussing things with no progress, and Gino could wake up at any moment. Honestly, I'd like to see how Gino deals with this."

"No way!" Evanna exclaimed. "We can't. You know how Gino always makes it a spectacle when he deals with predicaments like this. We can't have him potentially injure, or worse, kill whoever is inside."

"And what do you plan on doing once that werewolf finds out that we're the ones that blocked his way out of Laguna the other day, hmm?" Victoria questioned her. "Seriously, you had one job, Evanna, and that was to wipe his memory of us meeting him back then. It would have been a lot easier if you just stuck with wiping his memory."

"Hey, I'm not saying that I completely agree with wiping some bloke's memory, especially that I honestly think it gives them brain cancer, but I would be lying if I said I'd rather be here than at home playing Fate/Grand Order," I inserted.

Evanna scoffed. "For the last time, Amy, wiping someone's memory does not, I repeat, does not give anyone brain cancer. And Victoria, utang na loob! I can't just wipe an Exceed's memory clean right after I... I..."

"Right after you find another werewolf after years of thinking you're the only one in the vicinity, Evanna? Yes, I understand completely."

We all turned to the driver's seat to see that Gino is already awake.

"Aww look, you woke Gino from his nap," I squeaked. "Now we have to watch Gino deal with the werewolf himself."

"No, you didn't wake me up," Gino told us, cracking his knuckles. "I woke up from my nap by myself. And you don't have to worry about anything when it comes to me dealing with that werewolf, Evanna. He wouldn't even know we were here."

Gino then reached for the dashboard compartment and took out what looked like a radar gun.

"Gino, what is that?" I questioned him, for I know for a fact that it actually isn't a radar gun.

"That, Amy, is a radar gun I modified to work as a magical energy scanner," Evanna answered for him. "That device can tell us how much power someone or something is just by pointing it at them. I also happen to add a a function where it shows how hostile a creature is."

"In a nutshell, we're going to find out if we could talk to the werewolf inside, or worst case scenario, we would try to capture him and bring him to the Imperial Force," Victoria explained.

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Gino drawled as he pointed the magical energy scanner towards the mansion. "I met the man myself the other day, and I bet we'll just leave this place without talking to him. I can tell that his magical energy isn't high enough to be -"

*ssskkrrrtttt-BOOF!*

Right before our very eyes, the so-called magical energy scanner emitted a sound that was like it was being short-circuited followed by a small explosion that filled the inside of Gino's Everest with gray smoke. It will sound alarming for just about anyone, knowing that a scanner such as the one he used just now exploded without any warning, but speaking as an Exceed, what just happened poses something far more sinister, as far as I know.

"Gino," Victoria shuddered as the smoke slowly dissipated from inside the vehicle as we were left to stare at the now sooty remains of the magical energy scanner Gino was still pointing at the mansion's direction, "I'm assuming this never happened before. Did this happen before?"

Gino glared at the magical energy scanner for another few seconds before he growled, "No, this has never happened before, though I can theorize what made this happen."

"Whatever is in there must exude so much magical energy that the measurements went off the charts," Evanna spoke grimly. "Does this mean that the werewolf we are trying to track down is far stronger than I initially assumed?"

"No, Evanna," Gino disagreed. "No werewolf, or any of the higher Exceed classes can exude this much magical energy at any given time without exhausting themselves. I can just tell that the production of magical energy is perfectly sustained, something that's impossible even for Exceeds that have Divinity."

I gulped. "So, are you saying..."

"Yes, Amy, there are two possibilities," Gino confirmed, then paused to think. "Three if you count the impossible odds that an angel is inside that mansion. If not, we're either dealing with a succubus or an incubus here."

Everyone was silent for a full minute, the stink of the smoke that came from the broken magical energy scanner still lingering, albeit faintly. The prospect of four ordinary Exceeds (though highly trained in martial arts and magic, I must add) facing the strongest of demons clearly sent us chills.

"You know what guys, let's just leave," I muttered, crossing my arms. "You can say that I'm scared or irresponsible all you want, but I want to live to the day I finally summon Sessyoin Kiara as my Servant."

"Amy, pwede ba? This is no time to think about gacha games," Victoria snapped at me.

"You can't blame her, Victoria, she's the youngest out of all of us," Evanna reasoned with her. "But you're right, this isn't exactly the right time for that."

"Given that we survive this encounter, I'll go treat you to thirty of those Saint Quartz for that game of yours," Gino assured me, "but for now, I need you and your crossbow to work your best performance, especially now that we could be facing the highest among demon classes."

"About that, Gino," Evanna began, "we weren't able to tell if that being inside is actually hostile. I'm not necessarily saying that there's no need for us to be on our guard, but -"

"- There's also no need for us to be on the offensive, yes I know, Evanna," Gino cut through her. "Which is exactly what I am saying: be on your guard at all times. Best case scenario, we'll leave this place with new allies, but let's not get too optimistic."

Everyone else agreed, but I, for some reason, am still apprehensive. "Guys, wouldn't it be better if we just, you know, leave them alone? Look, this isn't me wanting to go home to play mobile games since I could totally do it right here right now, but think about it: they aren't exactly doing any harm to anyone or anything. Wouldn't it be better to just let them mind their own business? We'll avoid disturbing them, and in turn, we'll save energy we could use to catch bandits, instead."

Gino looked at his watch and heaved a sigh. "We don't have enough time for me to explain the Code of Reilaph to you, Amelia, but in a nutshell, if it turns out that it wasn't a demon that is in there, anyone expending that amount of magical energy risks destroying the Fabric, which in turn, will deplete Earth of all its other forms of energy, including its electricity."

I could only stare at Gino because of his short but loaded explanation, so he added, "In a gamer's terms, hindi ka makakalaro ng FGO."

"What!?" I blurted out in shock. "Okay, we're doin' this, 'cause no one messes with me when it comes to my husbandos and waifus. Here's what we're gonna do: we'll tell them that we're from the Foundation for the Unity of Charity and Knowledge and we're here to ask for donations for the upcoming Tournament of Mercy as a rite of passage for orphans who are about to turn 18. We'll then take the opportunity to snoop around and see what we could find."

Victoria shook her head. "Amy that's..." but did a double take for a couple of seconds before muttering, "...that's actually a pretty good idea."

"My, my, Amelia, we knew you always have it in you, but this is impressive," Evanna commended. "One minute, you want us to leave these persons of interest alone, and now you're already busting out a plan of action for us."

"You'll have to give Gino some credit for that," Victoria commented. "He does have a way with words. Though, can we just appreciate the fact that the Foundation for the Unity of Charity and Knowledge spells out 'fuck' when you take the initials?"

"Alright, so we're going to pretend that we are members of a company that doesn't exist and we're asking for donations for an event that doesn't take place in months. That's established," Gino summed up, staring at the mansion before turning to us. "But we can't possibly give them our identities."

"That's why we have to make up new ones," I answered. "Victoria, you'll be Illiyasviel von Einzbern, Evanna will be Olga Marie Animusphere, Gino will be Waver Velvet, while I'm going to be Ophelia Phamrsolone. Now all you guys have to do is follow my lead while I leave the important job to you."

"Doesn't seem like a tall order, but Illiyasviel von what?" Victoria questioned me in disbelief.

"Einzbern, Victoria," I clarified. "Illiyasviel von Einzbern."

"While Waver Velvet seems to be an okay name for an alias, don't you think the rest of us have... you know, obviously made-up names? I mean, how many people in the world have Animusphere and Phamrsolone as surnames?" Evanna asked, her face inked with concern.

Gino snorted. "If anything, that's how most Laputans' surnames sound like, so we're going to blend in just fine."

"Let's just hope that whoever's in there, they're not as big of a fan of the Fate series as I am," I said before motioning everyone to get out of the vehicle to set my plan into motion.

All of us walked from the Ford Everest to the front of the mansion gate across where we were parked. I merely disregarded the fact that all of us were in our hunting clothes (which are basically black tops and jeans) and that could have been a fatal mistake on our part if it weren't for the fact that there was almost no one in the neighborhood at this time. Granted, every single gate in this neighborhood seemed to be installed with galvanized iron, preventing anyone from looking through, including the mansion in question, so that's one less worry for us. I took that chance to ring the doorbell as soon as possible, lest we attract attention to others who shouldn't be involved in what we are doing right now.

"Remember, we are members of the Foundation for the Unity of Charity and Knowledge," I reminded everyone while we waited for someone to answer the gate.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember," Victoria shushed, as we heard some light footsteps coming from inside the mansion. "And my name is Illiyasviel von Einzbern."

I had no time to make a retort for the gate finally opened with a clang and a woman in who looked like she is in her early thirties emerged from inside. She was wearing a large straw hat that is almost as wide as my armspan and a pair of long cloth gloves that covered up her elbows, but those are the only things I found out of the ordinary... well, aside from her bloodred eyes, that is. Other than those, she's wearing ordinary house clothes and a curious expression on her fair face.

"Hello, good morning," I greeted her. "My name is Ophelia Phamrsolone, and we are from the Foundation for the Unity of Charity and Knowledge. These are my companions Olga Marie Animusphere, Waver Velvet, and - "

"Serafina?"

I suddenly turned my head towards Victoria when she spoke the name. Before I could even process what was going on, I then heard the woman from the gate utter a single word.

"Victoria?"

I was only able to look at them back and forth for a couple of seconds or two before they started screaming shrilly, only manananggals would be able to hear them soon, and rushed towards each other for a hug, all the while jumping up and down the sidewalk like two teenagers reuniting after months of separation.

"Well, so much for Illyasviel von Einzbern," Evanna muttered as the three of us watched the two play around for another minute before they finally settled down and faced us.

"So, I take it that you two already know each other?" Gino inquired the two of them.

"Yeah, we do," Victoria admitted, straightening herself after the racket they did just now. "Everyone, this is Serafina Pecson. We've been longtime friends until we got separated - "

" - a long time ago," the woman named Serafina cut through her. "I honestly thought Victoria here already died, but today, I found out that's she's - "

"- still alive and kicking," Victoria finished for Serafina, then turned to her. "I noticed that I stopped aging when I was thirty-four, then found out I'm actually an Exceed two years later when I met my companions now."

"That's really nice," Evanna commented, "but we are sort of in a somewhat official business here and, well..."

"Oh yeah, right," I blurted out before clearing my throat. "As I was saying, we are from the Foundation for the Unity of Charity and Knowledge, and we are here to ask for donations for the upcoming Tournament of Mercy. There are a lot of orphans who will be coming of age this year, and they are in need of, uh, assistance for the said tournament, so we were wondering if you could spare some finances for them. You could also donate in kind, if you prefer."

"Ooh, talk about dedication," Serafina commented. "The Tournament of Mercy doesn't start in months, but you guys are already prepping for it. Then again, anything for the kids. I'll just go invite all of you inside and we'll see what we can donate. Perfect timing, too. We planned on doing some cleaning tomorrow, and it wouldn't hurt to get a headstart today. So whataya say?"

"Absolutely," Gino, of all people, agreed to Serafina's request, prompting everyone to go inside the gate one by one.

I then felt Gino's hand on my shoulder and realized that he was holding both me and Evanna before I saw him mouth the words, "She's clear."

Nodding, we entered the gate to see a small front yard carpeted with bermuda grass, only split in the middle by the cobbled pathway we are walking on. The house itself was a bit of a contrast to the pristine surroundings: a mansion which design looks like it was built in the American era stood high in the middle of their property, almost looming towards us.

While we walked, I could hear Serafina speak to Victoria about her plans of cleaning the following day. "I was supposed to clean up my closet today, but maybe we can make changes to our plans and do the storage rooms first. My closet is mostly filled with makeup I don't use anymore and I doubt we're going to find anything of use for the orphans. Besides, there are lots more we can find in the storage area, I'm certain of it."

"Hey, maybe you can give me some of your makeup?" Victoria requested, becoming visibly more excited. "You know how expensive Laura Mercier is."

"Ew, no! I'm not going to give you expired makeup!" Serafina retorted. "Who knows what could happen to your skin when you try to put them on?"

"Hey, does anyone smell something burning?" Evanna questioned out of the blue.

Before I could even try to take a whiff of the surrounding air, Serafina replied nonchalantly, "Ah yeah, we recently had a new neighbor who is a pretty big smoker. Well, I'd take that over the smell of liquor that used to reek the entire place until the old neighbor kicked the bucket."

After noticing a faint smell of tobacco, I looked at Evanna to see what she thought. As it turns out, she dismissed the idea as a mundane fact because she merely shrugged as we arrived at the front door.

We entered the house and I have to say that it's a sight for sore eyes. We are greeted by the sight of a small atrium that is lined with marble tiles. A metal chandelier hung in the middle of it all and emitted an off-white light that was easy on the eyes. On the left side, a staircase to the upper floors on the mansion stood majestically, a brown patterned carpet ran through the wooden steps. In the middle is an archway which probably led to the other areas of the ground floor, while on the right side is the living room, complete with furniture upholstered with beige leather.

"Hey Raffy, did you notice Gus acting strange..."

We all turned to where the deep voice came from to see a large man with dirty blond hair, bright yellow eyes, and is wearing baby blue pajamas. He oddly looked like that guy in a Land Rover we met the other day before chasing that stupid mambabarang down, but I can't be too sure.

I only confirmed that he was indeed the man we saw the other day when I noticed Evanna staring intently at him. I turned back to see the man wordlessly staring back, looking like the two of them are communicating telepathically.

"Yo, you can't just go hitting on someone immediately just because your fuck buddy finally found a girlfriend," I heard Serafina call to him.

A few moments later, Evanna broke eye contact and whispered to us, "We should tell them why we're here."

I straightened up and started speaking. "Oh, um, yeah, we're here to ask for -"

"No, I mean why we're really here," Evanna cut through me. "If we were to gain their trust, we must be as truthful as we can to them."

"I suppose you are here because I have piqued your interest somehow?" I heard the man's deep voice once again.

"You supposed correctly," Gino answered him. "Evanna here, at least. I believe someone else is living here with the two of you. Someone with enough magical energy to destroy this gauge within seconds."

Gino then took out the burnt-up magical energy scanner and showed it to everyone.

"So, you aren't here to ask for donations? And there are no orphans?" Serafina questioned us.

"Yeah, sorry for lying," I apologized.

A couple of seconds passed before Serafina beamed at Victoria and chimed, "Well, that means we can go work on my closet after all. I'll go check if I still have my Laura Mercer products in there."

"Oh my gods, you have Laura Mercer?" Victoria squealed.

And the two proceeded to scream shrilly like they did outside once again as Serafina led Victoria up the staircase, so much so that the large man had to pick his ear as if it hurt a lot.

"If you want to see Gus, I could show you to his room," the man told us, walking towards the staircase. "Mind you, he started acting strange just a little while ago, so I must say he is in no condition to entertain guests as of the moment."

"Hmm, I think it's safe to say that he's acting strange because of us," Gino replied, motioning all of us to follow the man up the staircase. "I can only guess what kind of entity he is to immediately know of our presence."

"Rather than telling you, I would rather just show you, or if you are lucky, have him tell you himself," the man replied as we reached the upstairs hallway. "By the way, I believe I still have not introduced myself. Just call me Fred. Everyone does."

"It's certainly nice to meet you, Fred," Evanna spoke. "I'm Evanna, and these are..."

"Gino," Gino introduced himself. "Gino Palanca.

"And I'm..." I began, but thought twice about telling someone my name.

"...not Ophelia Phamrsolone, I am certain," the man named Fred continued for me. "I heard you introduce yourselves from the gate, and judging by these two's change in names, I am led to believe you have a real name, too."

"Yeah, I do," I answered grudgingly. "Amelia. Nice to meet you, too."

Fred then stopped by a door and turned to me. "Your distrust is justified, Amelia. One should not give away names as easily as I did. However, Evanna here is right. If I were to earn your trust, I must be as truthful as I can to you."

Without waiting for any of us to answer, Fred knocked on the door and called, "Gus, we have visitors who want to talk to you."

We then heard a muffled voice of a male teenager from inside the room. "I c-can't. I'm sick." He then let out a few coughs which sounded obviously fake.

Out of nowhere, another door opened behind us and I heard Serafina bark, "Boo, ya whore!"

I just turned my head in time to see the door close behind me, which I then concluded to be Serafina's room, where she's with Victoria, currently.

This time, it was Gino who knocked at the door. "My name is Gino Palanca and I may be able to help with your, hmm, affliction. I am the head of the Palanca Family, and if you let me have a quick look at you, you'll be up and running in no time."

Impressed with Gino riding on with whatever this teenage boy is playing at, I waited for a response from the boy, but there was none.

"Well, silence means yes," Fred then grunted, opening the door to the boy's room.

We were all about to enter the room when the boy then cried, "No! Only the doctor can come in! This is very contagious!"

Rolling his eyes, Fred turned around and said, "You heard the man."

Gino closed the door behind us as soon as all of us stepped back out into the hallway.

Without batting an eye, Fred knocked on Serafina's door this time and called out, "I shall be making tarts from the mangoes Kap'analig gave us in the kitchen, so come on down if you two want some."

I then heard Victoria and Serafina chorus, "'Kaaaaaaayy!"

While Evanna and I followed Fred back to the staircase, I then jokingly remarked, "Alam niyo, I'm starting to think that whatever Gus' illness is, it really is contagious. It's making me feel like I should be back at home playing FGO."

Fred let out a soft chuckle. "Trust me, we all get that feeling sometimes."

All of us stayed silent for the remainder of the trip to the kitchen, which if I were to describe it, it would be a chef's dream come true. I mean, it already has everything a chef could wish for: a large fridge that's probably full of produce, pantries with every single ingredient and condiment you can think of, a conventional oven, a four-stove burner, and many other appliances which I might be able to enumerate if I'm not overwhelmed with the sheer completeness of the kitchen. To top it all off, the countertop is beautifully made with white formica that made the place brighter than it already is.

I was just done admiring the entire kitchen when I saw Fred, already wearing a pink frilly apron over his pajamas, laying out what looked like baking ingredients on the countertop.

"Wait, are you seriously making puff pastry?" I questioned.

"Yes, I am seriously making puff pastry," Fred repeated as he started mixing the dry ingredients. "Of course, one can always buy pre-made puff pastry at the grocery store, but nothing compares to homemade tarts, especially when you made sure of each ingredient's quality, since you made it yourself."

Fred just finished mixing in the wet ingredients and is now kneading the dough when Evanna spoke. "I just want to apologize for barging in to your home like this, moreso for following you all the way from Laguna. Call it an act of impulse, but you have no idea how it feels to find out that you are not alone... that you are not the only werewolf around."

Honest to goodness, I expected Fred's face to turn grim after what Evanna told him. Surprisingly, Fred kept kneading the dough with a wide grin.

"First of all, to get this out of the way, apology accepted," said Fred. "I would have done the same thing if I found another werewolf, or even an Exceed after a long time of not encountering one. I think I would have been more straightforward about it, though. I would not have involved the Tournament of Mercy in this, especially that I have started supporting Agartha for the last two decades."

I let out an uncomfortable laugh when Fred turned to me, but I'm actually relieved that he is just laughing it off like this.

"Yeah, sorry about that," I apologized. "This whole Tournament of Mercy thing is my idea and the others just sort of went with it. But I hope we can put that behind us, so lemme introduce myself properly: Hello, I'm Amelia Palanca... not from Laputa. We're actually from Quezon City. Nice to meet you."

If it was possible, Fred grinned even wider. "My hands are covered in flour right now so I cannot exactly shake hands, but it is nice to meet you too, Amelia. My name is Friedrich Wulfheard, from San Carlos City, Pangasinan."

"And I'm Evanna," Evanna said, straightening herself. "Evanna Palanca, werewolf. But you already know that, Fred."

"Aye," Fred replied, now flattening the dough with a rolling pin. "And the other two are..?"

"Ah, the one with Serafina is Victoria, and the one with... Gus, is it? Yes, the one with him is Gino," Evanna filled him in. "We are the Palanca Family and we're a humble band of vigilantes who hunt down evil entities roaming the land."

"So that was why you were after that... what was it again?" Fred questioned.

"A stupid mambabarang," I snorted. "That particular one is notorious for his powerful spells and enchantments, pero I have no idea na kaskasero pala siya."

"Yes, I saw how Gino was ran over that day," Fred commented. "So that was the guy. What happened to him now?"

"Well, we managed to catch him before he can deal more damage and turned him in to the authorities," Evanna narrated. "Apparently, he had a huge bounty on his head, so once we collected it, we thought of dropping by here before we take on our next target."

"Hmm, so you guys are bounty hunters, just like the three of us?" Fred inquired with fascination. "Our only difference is that you guys do it for a living, while we three do it for fun."

"For fun?" Evanna and I chorused.

"I already have my shipping company in Batangas, Raffy is already enjoying her job as a fitness instructor at a gym, and Gus is popping in his YouTube channel as a gamer. We already have stable jobs, so we can only fight crime in our free time," Fred explained as he started cutting circles out of the dough with a cookie cutter.

"Wow, it's fascinating to know that you guys have day jobs which make you blend in perfectly with the Withins and I'd like to ask you about them sometime, but right now, I want to ask you something, since this is the reason why Gino is talking to Gus right now: what is the Code of Reilaph?"

Fred eyed me for several seconds as he started placing the dough circles in tart tins. "You asking that question tells me you have become an Exceed only recently. Am I correct to make that assumption?"

"Yes, she is currently 87 years old and she stopped aging when she was 23," Evanna answered for me.

"Way to reveal my personal information, Evanna!" I snapped at her.

"And you have met with your group when, exactly?" Fred questioned.

"Forty-five years ago," I replied. "Give or take a few months. But what does my age has to do with the Code of Reilaph?"

"Well, it bothers me that you have spent quite a long time with other Exceeds without anyone bothering to talk to you about the Code of Reilaph... not that it is really worth talking about anymore," Fred drawled.

We were then bathed in silence as Fred wordlessly put spoonfuls of mango preserve on the tarts.

After Fred finally put the entire batch of tarts in the oven, he turned to me and asked, "Just to make sure we are on the same page, what do you know about the Four Sacred Blades?"

"Four Sacred Blades?" I repeated, confused. "Aren't there only supposed to be three now? The God of Fate, Sacha; the Lady of Victory, Altanis; and Haeliel, the King of Strength."

"Well, four, if you include Reilaph, the Lord of Law. It's been said that thousands of years ago, many people have been overusing magic here in our planet," Evanna narrated. "Earth's supply of magic is, unfortunately, only finite. If all magic and other forms of evergy were to be used up by people and other creatures, the bonds that hold this planet together would break and Earth would implode on itself."

"So that's why Gino said no FGO for me," I remarked.

"That was why the Lord of Law, Reilaph devised a plan in order to prevent this from happening... emphasis on the 'was,'" Fred narrated further, wiping off the excess flour from his hands with a kitchen towel. "He formulated the Code of Reilaph, stating that the use of magic must be brought to a minimum in order to prevent the destruction of the world we live in. But in order to make sure that magic won't still be overused, a form of detecting magical use would have to be used."

"And this is where Reilaph turns himself into the so-called Fabric, which is a mesh made of... I dunno, aether, and basically regulates the consumption of energy around the world," I babbled, trying to gather everything I've picked up from Gini earlier and from what Evanna and Fred told me just now. "Did I get that right?"

"Yes, except for the aether part," Fred corrected me. "Haeliel is the one who is an aether elemental. Reilaph's element is of metal."

"So are you saying there is literally a metal mesh surrounding the planet which detects and regulates magic and energy consumption? I mean, what happened to the Law of Conservation of Energy? Are we just gonna throw that entire thing out of the window?" I ranted.

"Was," Fred corrected me again.

"Wait, 'was?'" Evanna questioned.

"Yes, Ms. Palanca, 'was,'" Fred confirmed, staring directly at Evanna for a few moments before turning to me. "And it is funny that you should ask about the Law of Conservation of Energy at this point in the conversation, Amelia, because in reality -"

Out of nowhere, the soft tinkle of a kitchen timer rang from the top of the oven toaster. Fred then turned towards the oven to take out the tarts.

"Aw, come on, Fred, you can't just leave us hanging like that!" I complained at him. "We're also just getting to the - oh my gods, that smells so good!"

A sweet smell of caramelized mangoes wafted around the kitchen when Fred took out the tray of tarts from the oven and placed them on the countertop, making me forget the last topic we were just talking about. I'm not normally into sweets, but I'm gonna have to make an exception with Fred's tarts, basing solely from how good they smell.

I was about to ask Fred if I can already take one when I noticed that he looked like he was somewhat discontented with the tarts.

"Mhh, these did not quite turn out as good as I would like," he muttered. "I think I made the mango preserves far too runny. Next time, I would not add too much of the wet ingredients."

"Well, what actually matters is the taste, right?" Evanna said. "From the smell alone, I daresay these are the best."

Crossing his arms, Fred continued, "I would not normally serve subpar treats like this to guests, but in the first place, I would never serve anything without trying it first."

Fred took one of the tarts from the tray, blew on it to try and cool it down, and took a bite. Ultimately, he smiled and told us, "I can tell you, this batch tastes better than it looks. Be careful, though. The filling is still too hot and is far too runny."

Evanna and I took one tart each, and as I held them close to my mouth, I realized that it was indeed still too hot because I can see faint wisps of steam rise from the gooey filling. Not wanting to burn my taste buds off, I blew on it like Fred did before taking a bite. It was indeed too hot for me, but I can say that there was an explosion of mango flavor in my mouth with that very first bite. The filling was runny, but if this, as Fred says, turned out as good as he liked, I can already say that I will never ask for other desserts again.

"Wow, this is even better than Don Napoleon's tarts," Evanna commented.

"Don't let him hear you say that, Evanna," I giggled, taking another bite. "Though you're right, this does rival Don Napoleon's cooking. Hang on, I'll go call the others. They need to try these, too."

I popped the remainder of my tart in my mouth. I was about to exit the kitchen when I met Victoria and Serafina, each of them wearing what I can only describe as crazy, bright-colored, full-coverage makeup looks. Victoria had eyeshadow colors of what looks like the flag of Atlantis, while Serafina's eye look looked like it was inspired from Van Gogh's De Sterrennacht.

"Oh, we came just in time," Victoria chimed in. "May we have some?"

"By all means," Fred agreed. "I have to warn you, though, I accidentally made the filling too runny."

"Eh, it'll be fine," Serafina assured him. "We used some strong setting spray on our makeup, so this will last all day."

Just then, I heard more footsteps come from outside the kitchen. Expecting Gino and Gus, I spun around to meet them. It was certainly them, but their clothes have been torn in places, and in Gus' case, blood has seeped through the front of his shirt.

"What happened to you two?" Evanna questioned them.

"Waver Velvet, I think it's better if you told them," the teenage boy named Gus spoke nonchalantly. "Ooh, tarts!"

"My name is not Waver Velvet!" Gino muttered. "But you're right. What we did was so unbelievable, they would think we're lying if you told them."

"Did what, exactly?" I demanded.

Gino limped towards a seat by the tray of tarts and growled, "We temporarily defeated the Lich of Cordillera. May I have a glass of water?"