“Open the back door! The disgusting guy has the key."

I pulled my paw away and told her to open the door.

"What? No, wait, why can you speak?"

She obeyed my orders, but she still couldn't stop her curiosity.

She is a necromancer and fears fighting... But this is the Blackhole... a refuge for criminals...

I was a little appalled that the first person I talked to in the Blackhole was a coward. Sure, as a necromancer, she is not a hand-to-hand fighter, but I expected more from the residents of the Blackhole.

The door creaked open, and I watched the woman immediately run out to run away. Her life was more important to her than my answer, which was admittedly understandable.

There was a dull sound from the other side of the door, so I pushed the door open. Ishina was standing outside, and the necromancer fell back to the ground.

"You took way too long."

“Yeah yeah… tell this to my informant. Everything has been prepared, so we can go immediately."

Ishina laughed when she answered me.

Before the necromancer could stand up, Ishina knocked her out with a quick slash. She pushed the necromancer into the cage and locked the cage. Afterward, she grabbed the cart and pulled it away. On the other hand, I flew high onto a surrounding roof and followed Ishina through the streets unnoticed.

She opened the Schwerterei’s back door and pulled the cart inside. She left the door open for me, but I waited a moment to see if she was being followed. I waited a few minutes and observed all the surrounding movements.

"I think it's safe."

I talked to myself and then flew down to the back door. I slipped through the door and closed it.

“So this is a necromancer? Somehow... puny."

Ishina stood in front of the unconscious necromancer and looked down at her.

"I thought the same!"

I agreed with Ishina's comment.

She let a ball of water appear over her hand and tossed it into the necromancer's face.

“Pffa. Wh-what's going on here? Where am I?"

She wiped the water from her face and looked around.

"Welcome to your new home."

Ishina greeted her in a dark voice. I saw how Ishina dropped something from her hand. That black lump shimmered purple, and it formed shackles of pure magic when it hit the ground. The shackles tied themselves around the necromancer's legs.

"Demon Magic!"

She tried to shake the shackles off, but I saw electric shocks being sent through the shackles. She winced and stopped trying to break free.

"I think we should go over a few details."

Ishina sat down on the floor across from her, and I sat down to the right of Ishina.

"Ishina, she already told me something interesting."

Ishina glanced at me briefly and turned back to the woman.

"So necromancer."

“Micca, just Micca. What do you want from me?"

"All right, Micca, the bunny says you already told her something interesting. What was that?"

Ishina pointed to me with her left hand. And I hit her with my paw when she called me bunny.

“I told the rabbit everything I know. There was this weird guy, he was definitely not a necromancer, but he still wanted to learn from me how to put the slave glyph on someone or something. I turned him down, but... you can guess, right?"

She told part of the story she told me.

"That's not all."

I added my comment.

“So what? What makes this guy special isn't what he wanted to learn, but that he talked about a place where magic abounded. And the creatures that live there could be easily controlled.

I thought he was a weirdo who believes in such a place of power, where even an unskilled man can subjugate the creatures with the glyph."

Ishina thought for a long moment.

“There's a lot more to it than that. That couldn't have been an amateur."

My note went under when Ishina began to speak.

"Describe him!"

I don't know where from, but Ishina suddenly had a charcoal pencil in her hand and a piece of parchment.

...

I watched in silence as Ishina made an image of the man from Micca's description.

"That's him?"

Ishina raised the parchment and showed the picture to Micca.

"Yes, that's exactly what he looked like!"

"Well."

Ishina spread the picture out in front of me.

"Do you want to search on your own?"

"Yes, please!"

I looked closely at the picture again before putting the rolled parchment in my mouth. Slowly I walked to the exit, and Ishina followed me to open the door for me.

"Hey, what about me?"

Micca shouted for us, but Ishina only scowled at her.

"You're not done yet."

Those were the last words I could hear before the door slammed and I was standing alone outside the back door.

I think I know where to start!

I flew up and looked at my current position, wanting to make sure I could find my way back.

The huge palace was close to my current position, with the Elven Quarter also not so far away.

The tree would be my best chance.

I flew higher and headed to the Elven Quarter. The distance wasn't that far, and I could see the tree shortly afterward. Like a light mist lay around him, which made it impossible for me to see anything on the ground surrounding the tree.

Without further ado, I decided to land on the treetop.

"Oops?"

I could hear the tree make a startling sound.

"Did you miss me?"

I called down the tree as I wasn't sure where the tree had its ears.

"OH! Last night's rabbit. Hohoho."

The tree laughed heartily, but the annoyed tone of an Ent didn't stay away for long.

"Hey, bunny, what are you doing here?"

The Ent came out of the treetop and looked at me.

"We couldn't finish our conversation."

I tossed him the piece of parchment. He opened it and looked at the picture.

“Hmm, the face doesn't tell me anything. And our tree here can't see anything. If you had a little rest mana from the person, he could have told you something."

The designer tossed the parchment back at me. I snapped it in my paw and kept looking over at him.

“Then you found a suspicious man? It has to do with slave glyphs."

“*Ahem* You know this is the Blackhole, just because the races have an orderly structure doesn't mean they are not criminals! As well as everyone here is suspect!"

“What he's saying is that we can't help you. The number of people would simply be too large."

I dropped my gaze.

"Wait! Do you at least know elves who have to do with necromancy?"

The Ent ran his hand over his chin.

“An elf with necromancy? Sounds unusual, but I think we had someone there."

The tree sounded thoughtful.

"I remember! This one woman, but I haven't seen her in a long time. I'm not even sure if she still lives here."

“It's not a lot, but something! Can you describe the woman to me?"

He looked at me as if I said something stupid.

"Hand me the parchment."

I threw the parchment back at him. He rolled it up and turned it on its back, then put his finger on the paper. Tendrils climbed the parchment like ivy, and I could see through the parchment that it took the shape of a head.

“I think this will work. Maybe, it can help you find this woman, but this information is already several weeks or even months old. So hope for nothing."

"Thanks."

He tossed the parchment back, and I caught it. I cocked my wings and flew back to Ishina.