Her vision was still shrouded in darkness, but from what she could tell, she was in a corridor-like space. She advanced slowly, her hand tracing along the ice-cold wall. There seemed to be several rooms along the corridor.

“Is anyone there?” she asked hesitantly.

No one answered her, of course.

Carefully, she pushed open the door to the room in front of her, the creaking of the old wood ringing like a shriek in her ears. The inside was even darker, and the smell of burnt incense permeated the air. Her hand still on the wall, she walked in, caught on something, and nearly fell.

“Ow! What’s this?” Liz felt the object, which seemed to be some sort of coarse staff.

Various other items seemed to be strewn haphazardly through the room. Maybe this was a storeroom? She proceeded with caution until she reached the back wall. Something was on it, like the frame of a picture. Upon further inspection, it felt like a painting, but it was far too dark to tell what it depicted.

Liz hesitated quietly for a moment before deciding to take the painting with her. It might’ve been a portrait of the mastermind; knowing her enemy’s face in advance could be advantageous. Since it was too dark to see anything, Liz left the room, heading toward the stairs with the painting in search of light.

“Wait, it’s not a portrait?” Her vision was blurry from the sudden brightness, but she could still tell that the painting didn’t seem to be of one person. Rather, there were multiple figures. It looked very old, with several parts faded, and it was unclear if one of them could be the mastermind. Her gaze drifted to the right edge of the painting, which showed a languid, beautiful woman in black.

“Hands off,” echoed a chilling, unsettling voice from behind her.

“Huh?” Liz turned around and a white silhouette brushed past the edge of her vision. “Who’s there?!” Was it the woman Gaion had spotted on the second floor?

She set down the painting and chased after the figure as it glided into a room at the end of the corridor. Liz stepped in moments later, but it was pitch-black inside. The figure had just gone in, yet there were no signs of anyone’s presence.

“Come on! What’s happening?!” she cried out as if psyching herself up against the icy darkness.

Drip.

“Huh?”

A sound. Drip. Drip.

A sense of foreboding rose within her as the sound echoed in the air. “N-No way,” she stammered. She didn’t want to look, but she had to see for herself. With trepidation, she hesitantly raised her gaze to the ceiling.

And there it was. In the everlasting darkness, an upside down face, pale as death, peeked out from the ceiling. From the corner of its mouth, a red liquid dripped down to the floor. Drip. Drip.

Suddenly, its eyes snapped open. “I...will...never...forgive...yoooooou!”

“Eeeyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

***

Meanwhile, Lily and Zenos, who had met up on his way back, were both hurrying toward the clinic.

“So, what’s the condition of the patient Lynga brought in?” Zenos asked.

“She’s a young woman. I conducted a simple examination, just like you taught me. Her breathing and pulse seemed okay, and her pupil reflexes were fine too.”

“And she still won’t wake up?”

“No,” Lily murmured with an anxious nod.

Zenos patted the elf’s shoulder. “I’ll have a look at her, then. The clinic is just ahead.”

Finally, they arrived at their destination and pushed open the door.

“She’s right here,” Lily said as she walked in, with Zenos following after.

A purple-haired woman was lying on the bed in the examination room. Her long bangs covered her face, but the whites of her eyes were visible in between the strands of hair.

“Huh?” Lily tilted her head. “Was she rolling her eyes back like that before?”

Zenos rolled up his sleeves. He checked her pulse, her breathing, and cast Diagnosis.

“She’s...”

“What? Is it serious?” Lily asked worriedly.

Zenos shook his head and replied calmly, “No, she’s just fainted.”

***

“Auuugh!”

After seemingly dreaming about a talking severed head, Liz jumped up from the bed. Breathing heavily, she looked around to see the room’s old-fashioned, yet calming, interior design. It was apparently nighttime, given the darkness enveloping the view outside the window.

“Wait, what?” she mumbled, her memories hazy. She took a moment to catch her breath and organize her thoughts.

She remembered plotting to manipulate the ruler of the slums for control over the surface. And then, as she recalled, she’d pretended to be unconscious in order to infiltrate the man’s lair, at which point she’d been thoroughly examined by an elven torturer, who had then left her alone to fetch “the doctor.”

Then...what else? She couldn’t find the entrance to the underground, and... Trying to remember anything else gave her a throbbing headache.

“Oh! You’re awake!” said a voice coming from the kitchen.

Liz turned her head to see the young elf girl, peeking at her with a pleased expression. “Th-The torturer!” she yelped.

“Torturer?” the girl echoed in confusion.

“Er, um...”

The young elf called out to someone in the back, “Zenos! The unconscious lady’s awake!”

“Oh, is she?” came a reply. Shortly after, someone walked in from the room with a dining table.

“A man!!!” Liz exclaimed loudly.

“Huh?” the man replied.

“Uh, no, nothing.”

A man! A man had come! Finally, the man she’d been waiting for! At long last, a potential pawn!