Chapter 25 : Morning
"So why exactly do you want to make the dungeon bigger?" asked Fiona as she and Kianna followed Anton up the stairs that led out from the dungeon and back up to the rest of the house "You plan on hanging stuff up down there?"
"Something like that." mumbled Anton with a grin "That space is going to become our new classroom. And we'll need the extra room for magical training."
"Oh really!?" exclaimed Fiona as a broad, excited smile spread across her face "Okay! Hell yeah!"
"Master?" questioned Kianna as she nervously glanced back over her shoulder in the direction that she knew the homunculus was in "What is Mr. Earlivi's "containment" like?"
"Ah, yes, honestly, I have no idea what he's even talking about with that. You see, he has offered to put people in his containment before but I've never been brave enough to actually let him do it. I don't have a actual dungeon at the house, and as far as I know he doesn't either. So I have no clue where he would put them, or what he's even talking about. I could just ask him of course... but sometimes when it comes to Earlivi its just better not to ask too many questions..." explained Anton as a thoughtful expression spread across his face "One thing is for sure though. Wherever, or whatever, this containment is, I can't imagine that its a place that anybody would ever want to find themselves in..."
The dark elves both glanced at each other as their eyes tightened in unease.
"How do you even live with that psycho!?" questioned Fiona as she shivered and twitched her ears up and down "The fucking air around him just feels evil!"
"It's surprisingly easy. Well, it is now. There was an adjustment period of course. Things were a bit intense there for a little while. But once I gave him his own room and told him he could do whatever he wanted in there, Earlivi's entire demeanor towards me changed. I'm guessing he appreciates the gesture as well as having a little privacy. After that things between us have been much more friendly, and he's become a very diligent servant and home guard. Though, he does still keep to himself for the most part... In fact, the only real signs of personality that I've ever seen out of him is when I've caught him watching TV, which with him its always some kind of game show, reality show or survivalist show..." mused Anton as he stepped out of the dungeons stairwell and into the house proper "He seems to really like the ones where people are left alone on islands... Anyways, I do know what you mean about the evil feeling in the air around him. Luckily, you do get used to that over time."
"Yeah, sure, if you say so..." muttered Fiona as she rubbed her upper arms and grimaced "I can see why you'd put him in that crystal thing now. Best feature he has!"
"I didn't do that. I'd never do that to him." stated Anton "No, that was due to a burglary that took place at my house."
"...Wha? A burglary!" exclaimed Kianna "You were robbed!?"
"Yes, I was..." mumbled Anton "And whoever did it definitely knew what they were doing. You see, rather than trying to break my wards and barriers. They waited until I was gone and just demanafied my entire house. Which is something I had no idea you could even do! I don't know how they did it... And honestly I would be impressed if I wasn't so angry about being the one targeted! Anyways, when they did that, Earlivi ended up getting demanaed as well. And that's why he was in his crystal form. I would have awoken him earlier, but I had no idea how damaged he might be. So I figured I should talk to Fillola first. She's the one who recommended I give him a few days of rest, but otherwise she said he should be fine. And thankfully, he is."
"Damn! So what did they steal from you!?" asked Fiona.
"That is actually what has me the most puzzled. They took mostly random research items. Which, although these things would still be somewhat valuable, its still a little odd. This seems like such a targeted move that its surprises me that they would only take what they took..." explained Anton "I have things that would be worth much more than the items they did take. And yet they didn't even touch these things... This whole mess just feels off to me, and I want to get to the bottom of it! Unfortunately, at this point, I've done all I can really do. I have some people that are already looking out for my items and as soon as they find something I can go from there on tracking down the thieves. But until something pops up, I just have to wait..."
"Huh! Well that sucks for you!" smiled Fiona.
"Yes, it does..." agreed Anton "Luckily though! I've now got two new little pets to give me something to do and keep me entertained while I'm waiting!"
Fiona blinked and began to grumble under her breath as she pointed her ears straight back behind her head.
"So is that all we're gonna do for now then?" asked Kianna as she pulled the door to the stairwell closed "Are we just gonna wait till something happens? And until Mr. Earlivi is done down there?"
"Yes, for the most part. Though we should still try not to let the time go to waste." smiled Anton as he stepped out of the alcove that hid the entrance to the dungeon and made his way towards the stairway that led to the second story "So to that end, we'll be utilizing the rest of today for your evaluations!"
"...Evaluations!?" mumbled Fiona as she creased her brow and followed Anton up the stairs "And what exactly does that mean!?"
"It means that I'm going to assess you both as students." explained Anton as he stepped onto the second story landing and turned left in the opposite direction of the master bedroom "That way I can have an idea of what to expect out of you two."
"...Uh huh, and how are you gonna do that again!?" asked Fiona as she and her sister both followed him down the hallway to a room near the far end of the building.
"With research!" smiled Anton as he opened the door and stepped into the room.
The room was filled from floor to ceiling with a odd assortment of boxes that were stacked on top of each other.
"I'm guessing that when you turned the basement into a dungeon, this is where you put everything that was being stored down there?" questioned Anton as he flicked on the rooms central light.
"Yeah." said Fiona as Kianna nodded in agreement.
"And I'm also going to assume that somewhere among all of these boxes is a box that has all of your school records as well as your old report cards?" smiled Anton as he looked over the rows of stacked boxes "...Right?"
"...Uh." drawled Fiona as she stiffened "...Yeah!"
"There's a lot more than just that." said Kianna as she pointed at a stack of boxes midway down a center row "Nanny Ma had it set up with Bridgemont to keep everything that was going to be discarded at the end of the year. So instead of it all being thrown away, it all got sent home with us whenever we came to visit."
"Really!?" exclaimed Anton as his smile broadened "So then all of the paper assignments and book reports and busywork that you did throughout the years is all here as well!?"
"Uh huh." nodded Kianna "It's all in those boxes with the blue stripes on them."
"Well, how wonderfully convenient!" laughed Anton "And here I thought I'd get just a glimpse into your academic history, but instead I'm getting a whole written record!"
"Wait, are you seriously going to go through all that shit!?" exclaimed Fiona as she gave him an exasperated look "Like seriously, seriously!?"
"Of course! How else would I be able to determine just what kinds of students you two really are?" explained Anton as he turned back and gave them both a sinister looking smile "Now, I'm not going to be disappointed in anything that I find... Am I!?"
The dark elves were both still for a moment before they looked at each other and grimaced.
"...Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" chuckled Anton as he turned away from them and began to make his way straight towards the boxes with the blue stripes "I'm going to really enjoy this!"
Fiona was slowly grinding her teeth in frustration as she watched Anton begin to shake his head in mock disappointment.
She and her sister were both sitting together on the opposite side of the large dining table from Anton. After having gathered over twenty of the boxes from Bridgemont together, they had then carried them all down to the dining room before separating them out by sister and then by year.
"They were being very generous when they graded this a "C-"... I don't even see a "D" here..." sighed Anton as he frowned at the single page book report in his hands "I'll need to see this one redone as well..."
"Are you serious!?" snarled Fiona as she watched Anton drop the paper onto a stack that was slowly growing larger in front of her "Why!?"
"Yes, I'm serious." declared Anton as he narrowed his eyes at the fuming dark elf "And as for the "why" it's simple. This isn't even a completed report! For the summary you wrote "Emily Sang talked to a "Parrat" "To the clues" she needed to "Sove" the "Mystory" It was "Exsiting" I really liked it" and then you just repeated this, along with the same misspellings, for your final thoughts. So of course you're going to need to redo this..."
"I was 9!" growled Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back in anger "I didn't know what to write!"
"Well now you're 23, so it should be much easier for you." said Anton as he pointed his finger at her "And if it isn't, then that is going to be very disappointing!"
Kianna flattened her ears submissively behind her head and grimaced at her own stack of papers while her sister continued to groan in frustration.
"Why are you even doing this!?" exclaimed Fiona as she glared at her stack of papers "What does this even have to do with anything!?"
"Well I'm not going to lie to you Fiona. I'm mostly doing this because it's fun for me." said Anton as he bent over to his side and tossed a now empty box away before pulling an unopened one in close to his chair "But this busywork will also help you to get back into the mindset of a student though, so it's not like it's a complete waste of time..."
"Forcing me read a kids book is absolutely a waste of time!" snared Fiona "This whole thing is just a waste of time!"
"First of all, let's not pretend like your time is precious, Fiona. No one's life is going to be at stake because you're suddenly busy. Thankfully!" mumbled Anton as he paused his efforts to open the new box and looked up at the dark elf "And secondly, "forcing you"? Don't pretend like you aren't happy for the excuse to reread "Emily Sang Breaks the Dead Mans Curse" you did say that you liked it after all."
The dark elf blinked before clenching her jaw in anger.
"Are you serious!?" she growled as she balled her hands into fists "It's a book for fucking preteens!"
