Zoemi and Alan climbed up all the way to the top of the spiral staircase and found themselves in front of a shockingly plain door.

*knock* *knock*

The black-haired man raised his fist and tapped on the wood, announcing their presence to the being inside.

"Fuck off!"

"!!!"

An annoyed growl came through in response to the knocking, causing Alan to flinch in shock.

"Don't worry, it's just how she is. She claims it's connected to her species and I have no way of disproving it."

Zoemi smiled reassuringly at the worried young man and pushed the door open, entering the chamber in the most casual manner.

"I told you to fu...! Oh! Well, look who the dragon dragged in!"

The owner of the voice spotted the black-haired man and their demeanor changed completely from an utter annoyance into amusement.

Alan stayed right behind Zoemi for safety, but could not stop himself and peeked over from behind his protector and held back a gasp.

The room was filled with cute and girly decorations that were all pure white, and in the very center of the whole area stood a queen-sized bed with four columns and draperies at the top of it.

On the said bed lay the beautiful girl so stunning that anyone who looked at her could not turn their gaze away.

Alabaster-like skin without a single blemish, slim but womanly figure covered only by the minimal amount of white lace, long blond hair cascading onto the fluffy pillows, almond-shaped blue eyes that sparkled with the beauty and might of the ocean...

...and a pair of long knife-like ears that perked up from excitement...

Simply said – an elf.

"I see that you could not stay angry at me for long, which let's be fucking honest, was not unexpected at all. After all, fucking look at me. I'm fucking gorgeous! Who could resist me? No one, that's who!"

Still, the unearthly beauty opened her mouth again and the foul words brought down her charm enough so that Alan could shake his head and back off to cool down.

"Red star."

*WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

"!!!"

While Alan was doing his best to remain calm and not do anything stupid, Zoemi simply put his hand to the side and unleashed a fiery attack that melted right through the wall and disappeared into the distance.

"Who told you I am not angry anymore? I only agreed to come here because Nexivroh said that you want to talk about the repugnant filth lurking underground and infecting monsters."

The black-haired man scoffed and glared at the unearthly beauty, not affected by her looks in the slightest.

"...fucking hell, dragonewts barely finished the renovations after the last fucking time..."

The elven woman murmured, lowering the arms that she raised by reflex to protect herself.

"Is it really worth getting so worked up? You even brought a new girl with you this time! Mode – Kopia!"

Seeing that the black-haired man is done taking aggressive actions, the princess of the white tower scoffed, forgetting to curse, and waved her hands and chanted the ability's name.

"HUH!?"

A spell that transformed her body into that of Alan... or rather Alice.

"...this one has bigger tits, that's for sure, but is hiding them for some reason... Do you prefer petite girls and made her hide those puppies?"

While the elf's body transformed, her clothes did not, which resulted in a rather steamy sight – which she didn't hold to herself at all.

"..."

Alan lowered his head and looked to the side, slouching and crossing his arms to hide as much of his body as possible.

He wasn't embarrassed, instead, he felt as if someone punched him in the stomach.

"As you can see, this particular princess possesses the unique ability to copy the physical appearance of whatever and whoever she wants, without the need to even see the person. Last time I almost cut off her head because she dared to impersonate my Miriette."

Zoemi turned to Alan and explained without the slightest change to his indifferent expression.

"I apologize for not warning you about that unbelievably annoying ability, but I foolishly believed that she had learned her lesson already."

He added as his hand opened and closed as if it had a mind on its own and was yearning to crush something into a paste.

"...fucking hell, comedy is dead..."

The elven woman sighed, trying to act indifferent as she deactivate her ability and returned to her own shape – but despite her best efforts, she could not stop herself from glancing at Zoemi's hand with fearful eyes.

"Now that you decided to stop insulting me and my MALE friend, let's start talking about the reason you summoned me. Cherro."

Zoemi breathed out, relaxing his arms, and declared with no intention of explaining things further.

"You too."

The elf raised her brow and smirked cheekily, trying to lighten the mood she soured herself with a joke.

"When the so-called evil energy that burrowed itself underground was still in a human form, his name was Cherro. A piece of shit darkness magician who believed himself to be a hero. I thought I killed him and erased every trace of him, but as it turns out I must have missed a piece that now regenerated enough to start causing trouble."

The black-haired man continued without as much as batting an eye at the attempt at comedy.

"Since his original target is no longer in this plane of existence, it seems that he just wants to take revenge on me – which you and your dragons must have already realized with the infected monsters attempting to say my name in a creepy manner."

"...wow... I have asked Nexivroh to bring you here because I wanted you to help me learn what exactly we are dealing with, I did not expect you to be actually connected with the issue... That whole Cherro... the fucker was a magician, so he should run on mana, right? That would explain the monsters getting empowered by magic but... why the hell didn't that fucker reappear in the land of mana? Wouldn't that be an obvious choice?"

The elven woman actually became serious after listening to the black-haired man's explanation and furrowed her brows in concern.

"That I don't know. Not for sure, at least, but maybe it has something to do with how deep underground he burrowed himself – Nexivroh said that not even earth dragon could get to him, which honestly, should not be possible either."

Zoemi shrugged his shoulders before pointing out.