The world was not kind to one's like me.

Ignored like a pebble on the ground. Looked at with eyes filled of disgust, as if they were seeing a dirty thing. Or merely finding myself at the painful end of someone's brutality. There was no shortage of suffering to be had in this life.

All i wanted was to eat. To sleep with a full belly. A simple humble wish, yet i would constantly be denied even that much.

At the time, it merely frustrated me. Now, i look back at that period of my existence with anger flaring in my eyes.

How dare they. Treating me like trash, just because i stole small portions of food, as they stuffed themselves full.

I wasn't alone however. There were others like me, who hurt like me, and who like me used each other as much as they could. I cared naught for their lives or woes and neither they did mine, it was simply advantegeous to act alongside them. That was enough camaraderie for me.

Strangely enough, i still felt an ever so slightly bit of attachment to them, even now. I assume they're all gone already, but this doesn't make me sad.

Thats just the way of the world.

One day, one fateful day, everything would change. I would gain power i didn't even knew i could dream of, become aware of ambitions i didn't even knew i had, not merely know more but become aware of knowledge itself.

I would ascend from a mere filthy creature subsisting on the streets to someone with power. Someone with skill. Someone that could be ignored no longer.

That day i would be reborn.

Thanks to a certain hand that reached out to me.

XXX

A certain office in an underground lab. A woman held her chin as if deep in thought, gesture that filled with refinement and elegance. Her hair, adorned with a large pointy hat, let out a subtle hue in dark shades of green.

A teapot floated in front of the girl sitting across this woman, pouring its contents into the teacup she held in her thin hands. It was followed by a spoonful of sugar, then some stirring. The witch proceeded to do the same for herself afterwards.

It was a similar display to the one Dailah had watched yesterday night, yet this one was done with far more leisure and grace. Natural, considering the person in front of her was of much higher rank and had far more experience than Mimi.

Mariane finally spoke up after some silence.

"A witch controlling the mice like marionettes.... was it?"

Holding the teacup with her fingers, she slowly took a sip, her eyes closed as if savoring it. Then continued.

"Impossible."

"...."

Dailah expected to have her idea shut down in some way. A witch controlling the rats as if they were puppets? It did sound too far-fetched.

It was one thing to control forks and the wooden arms of dolls, but a living being? A pigeon would never let some outsider's magical string flap its wings for them, not without a struggle at least.

Still, she had to ask, if only to get second opinions.

"However..." - the woman followed through with her thoughts, looking at an empty spot to her side - "There are witches capable of manipulating and controling animals through their minds. A form of hypnosis or charm magic to put it simply."

"Then....!"

"Still, very unlikely."

".........."

Mariane explained after taking another sip.

"It is a difficult type of magic to practice. Very few witches can do it skillfully. The few that were able to reach greater heights in that area can only control a handful of small animals at most, or a couple of larger ones. With some caveats.

"Do you understand what i am trying to say?"

Mariane glanced towards Dailah's cup, as if urging her to taste the tea inside. Relenting under the gaze, Dailah picked it up and took a sip. It was lemongrass flavored.

"If this theory is correct, if there truly is someone charming and controlling the rodents behind the scenes...

"We would not only be dealing with a unprecedentedly talented witch, but also one whose existence remained unheard of until now. Hiding right under our noses.

"That would be a far more concerning issue than the rat problem, if i may be honest." - Mariane concluded.

"...wouldn't that make confirming this theory even more important?"

The woman crossed her arms, staring at the ceiling as she considered her next words.

"Its not a simple matter. Its difficult for large organizations like ours to make big moves while moving harmoniously.

"No one would be willing to entertain a wild theory such as this, you would probably be asked to search for proof yourself first and foremost.... either way, we should try speaking to a-"

Suddenly the door to the office was opened. Without any niceties nor cerimony, the one responsible tucked her upper body inside.

"Mariane, that tool you were making that can suppress small quantities of ethereal mana. How usable is it at the moment?"

"Daniela...."

Raising an eyebrow, the woman, Daniela, walked into the room.

"Is it a bad moment now?"

Daniela was the head of Magic Countermeasures, by extension the pest control department. Dailah's highest superior below only the Association council itself.

The woman had a red hair with a bob cut. She wore a thick wool gray shirt that exposed her collarbone, her shoulders covered by a black robe and a witch hat adorning her head. Those, along with a pleated dress a darker shade of gray than the shirt, and black leather boots, were evidence of the woman's care for her appearance.

A stark contrast to Mariane who prefered wearing simple clothes. Like her, she was also a high-ranked witch who shared the Stone birthplace name.

The woman turned her sharp gaze towards Dailah, making her shiver. The girl had seen her before but only from a distance. They never interacted with each other.

"I felt the presence of a low-rank here... but to think it was that crowley girl huh."

The advisors from her gun classes had mixed opinions on this woman. Some like her hands-on approach while others complained she had too much of an overbearing attidude.

Apparently she had a great talent for detecting magic and mana signatures, to the point it was impossible for any common witch to hide from her if she were close by.

Honestly, deep down Dailah hoped she would never have to deal with this person.

The presence she emmited far was too much for the girl to handle. Not to mention her position in the Association, or the simple fact she was a high-rank witch. Sure, the same could be said about Mariane, but the two had know each other for years at this point so it didn't matter as much.

Still.... crowley girl?

"Yes, its useable now, although it comes with a few drawbacks. More importantly, seeing as you're here, there is something Dailah wishes to discuss regarding the rat attacks that have been happening."

Can you not just throw her at me like that! - that crowley girl wanted to scream.

"The rodent problem... was it?" - Daniela murmured, not moving her eyes from the girl. Dailah could feel cold sweat pouring down her back.

As she remained undecided on whether to face forwards or look the woman in the eyes, Daniela approached a nearby chair to sit.

"Can you also serve me some tea, Mariane?"

Without saying a word a new teacup and the teapot floated in the air, starting the dance again. Seems this teapot was able to keep its contents warm for a long time. Once, when the girl inquired about it in the past, she discovered it was able to do that without any magic surprisingly enough.

"Thank you." - Daniela murmured as she received the cup.

Technically it should've been possible for a witch of Mariane's caliber to re-heat a warm beverage whenever she wanted with her magic. Its just she choose not to as, apparently, tea that has gone cold once will always taste worse - or so the former teacher ranted on one occasion. Keeping it warm with powers all the time was certainly bothersome too.

"So, Ms. Dailah was it? Can you please tell me what you have to say?"

It appears Dailah will not be able to escape from reality anymore.

Suppresing her nervouness, and avoiding looking the superior directly into her eyes, Dailah repeated what she had told Mariane, as well as what had been explained to her.

The girl understood Mariane passing on this hot potato to her was just her form of tough love. There would be countless more situations in the future where she'd have to directly deal with this woman, or other strong witches and powerful people - Start getting used it!

In her prejudiced mind, she expected laughs of derison or cold dismissals. Yet, once she was finished, Daniela merely laid back on the chair, as if deep in thought and consideration, staring into empty space.

"...there's something about this case that has been bothering me." - she finally began sharing her thoughts - "The rats gather and pounce on mana stones, glowstones, any potential source for magic contamination en masse. Yet..."

She took a sip of the tea in her hands.

"Why aren't the number of contaminated rodents increasing? We should have been seeing plenty of them acting up at this point.

"At first i thought their activity was just mixed with those of the abnormal non-contaminated ones. But no matter how many samples we get our hands on the results don't change. Most of the rats remain, for all intents and purposes, common ones.

"Just where are all those fragments of mana rocks going to?"

Concluding her reasoning, Daniela turned to Dailah, fixing her eyes on hers.

"What do you think Ms. Dailah?"

Nervouness assoiled the girl, as if the Great Mother herself waited to pass on her judgment. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to understand where Daniela's line of though led to.

"...if there really is a witch behind this, are you suggesting she's using the rats to steal pieces of mana stones?"

Daniela nodded.

"Its one possibility, but there remains some protruding points in that theory.

"Lets ignore the methods and their viability for a moment. Lets assume there truly is a woman behind this incident manipulating the rats to her will.

"What exactly are her motives? For what reasons she'd be wielding a dangerous army of mice to steal mere scraps of solid mana? If she wanted resources, for mad experiments or whatever other devilish use, there'd be much better alternative targets with such a force at her command.

"What she is getting now doesn't differ much from what is acquireable through more normal means. Its worthless for a witch of this supposed caliber."

Yes. If she wanted resources, why settle for these civilian use mana stones or even weaker glowstones? Why not raid a research institution like the one she had been at yesterday? Its definitely harder and would require some planning, but it would yield much better results than destroying lampposts or attacking generators. Even if the raid failed, she would at worse just lose a bunch of rodents.

It would certainly raise alarms within the Association, but her current actions are not much better in this regard.

"There's another theory i can conceive with this hypothesis." - Daniela continued - "What if she isn't after resources? What if she truly aims to demonify the rats, untraceably? And is now either saving the pieces of mana stone for this use later, or perhaps hiding the contaminated rat army itself."

As soon as she said this, Dailah paled, her limbs went cold. This 'hypothesis' sounded familiar, eerily familiar. Some shadowy figure intentionally contaminating animals for obscure purposes, not caring what happens or who gets sacrificed along the way.

This woman... she steered the discussion towards this conclusion from the beginning. Dailah felt she had to object, even if she herself started this.

"...we still need to assume we're dealing with a person capable of-"

"Ms. Dailah." - Daniela interrupted, shutting the girl up.

The woman finished her tea and got up the chair. She approached Dailah in slow steps.

"Its good you wish your thoughts to stay grounded, to remain rational and keep yourself to the established facts. You should never forget the things you were taught, either by others or by life.

"However..."

The witch stared at Dailah with eyes as sharp as before, yet there was now a subtle and strange gentleness in them, as if she was about to impart a young child with a valuable lesson.

"Do not shackle your feet to the floor. The world is a big place, no matter how small our knowledge or logic may make it appear to be."

Without waiting for an answer, Daniela turned towards Mariane.

"Whathever type of person we're dealing with here, we must drag her out. The thing i asked about when i came in, does it work well enough already? I drew up a plan earlier and this tool could further improve it."

...so, like Dailah, it seems this woman already thought of the possibility of a witch being involved.

Its not strange when you think about it. Whenever unnusual things happen the first two possible responsibles that come to mind are either magical creatures - or witches. All that was needed here was someone bold enough to push the idea further, past its incongruities.

The girl didn't know if she should feel helpless about the pointlessness of her actions, or angry she wasted a day off and dealt with a superior for nothing.

"Dailah. You may be low-ranked, but even then this job shouldn't be difficult for you to do."

As the two witches were discussing the details of the mentioned tool, Daniela suddenly spoke to Dailah again, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Normally i wouldn't have put you up to it since you only joined the association recently. But since you demonstrate such interest in this case, i'm willing include you. Do you wish to participate in this operation? Both you and the nameless witch."

...nameless witch? Was she refering to Scariot?

But now wasn't the proper moment to ponder about it. This time it wasn't just a feeling, Daniela truly was judging Dailah, the girl could tell.

She didn't felt nervous however, the answer was obvious.

Not because Dailah was particularly mindful of Daniela's personal evaluation of her - she was though, if only for work-related motives - nor out of any sense of witchily duty - which she certainly had, but she knew some other more experienced person would just take over her role in case she refused.

Looking at the woman who peered into her soul, Dailah nodded.

She wished to see this through the end.

XXX

When she first heard of the plan, Dailah was confused. It was a simple trap, childish even.

The idea was to use a larger, purer mana stone, refined in one of the labs of the Association to attract the rodents. It would be put inside a container that couldn't be opened or broken easily by the teeth of the rats or any other of their antics.

Of course, the container wouldn't block the mana energy from seeping out. That way, whichever method was being used to locate and indetify the stones should still work.

Whatever perpetrator was behind this should make a move if they truly sought mana stones. As the rats alone wouldn't be enough to break through the container.

And there would be witches hidden close by, armed. Dailah and Scariot more specifically. Their mana signatures and energy would be blocked by the device Daniela had asked Mariane about, making it harder for them to be detected.

There's no chance this would work! - were Dailah's first thoughts. It was an incredibly ridiculous and clumsy trap. Deviously so.

Daniela even suggested scattering some food around it to increase the chance of attracting rodents. What else was she planning to include? A sign written "With love"? As they say, nothing more wretched than the love of a witch, truly.

But Dailah underestimated the wickedness of this trap.

Yes, it was indeed an obvious, on the nose, snare. That was the point.

Were they dealing with a witch? A person with intelligence and common sense rather than mindless beasts? That was the current suspicion they wished to corroborate.

Asinine rodents would merely try to swarm the stone as they did to the others, fruitlessly nibble the container or look for holes that didn't exist. What would an actual person do on the other hand? Ignore the obvious trap? Come up with some scheme to trick the witches?

That would confirm they were dealing with a thinking being, just as they wanted.

What if she realized their true intentions? The worst outcome would be if she kept throwing her rats at the trap, praying these foolish actions would convince the witches there were only beasts to be found at the end of the rope.

In which case the hidden Dailah and Scariot would keep exterminating the pests until they stopped coming.

No one would complain of a city with less rats, aside perhaps from the cats who'd have trouble finding fresh midnight snacks. And of course, it still wouldn't be enough to clear suspicions of a witch being involved either way.

This was no simple trap, their enemy will have already lost the moment they put this into action. Even if they're completely off the mark with their theories, it should still let them learn something about this incident in the end.

There was no real problem in the losing this mana stone sample either, in scenarios where Dailah and Scariot aren't able to deal with the hypothetical witch - if she were to come. Sure, it was a very pure one, but it wasn't enough to be volatile or particularly dangerous in the wrong hands. It had its monetary worth too, but the information they'd get in exchange would still be worth more.

The only problem would be the rats getting contaminated by the sample in case there's no witch to be found, but the two women could deal with a pack of rodents without much issue, especially considering they'd be prepared. Besides, the stone was enclosed, properly protected from those nasty paws.

Naturally, there may be loose ends they're missing out, possibilities they were overlooking. It wasn't a perfect plan.

But what plan is really?

They're taking action along the necessary precautions, thats all they can do. Centuries of experience have taught them that facing problematic witches and beasts with inaction can only lead to greater tragedies.

And face them they will.

Even as Dailah's mind weighted down with misgivings.

Would this truly work? Are they really prepared? She couldn't help but feel nervous.

"It'll be fine" - the red-eyed witch walking besides her spoke - "Its your first large scale operation... but you'll find most of the time those never amount to anything too exciting. Even if all this movements and preparations make them seem like a big deal."

It had been a couple of days since she visited Mariane in the lab and spoke with Daniela. They gave her another day off as they prepared the ambush. Naturally the girl was unable to rest properly through all that time.

Scariot also had some suspicions of a witch being involved, but she lacked any proper evidence and couldn't come up with good conjectures to present. So when Dailah asked, the woman said she was glad their superiors were taking proper action.

Right now they were in the research institution south of stone city, to take away the sample that had been prepared. The one who received them was Ms. Athgas.

"I was quite surprised when i heard about this operation." - the researcher spoke, still looking as disheveled as when they first met - "To lure a witch out with resources of only this level? I think preparing some liquid mana would've been more enticing."

"We also need to take safety into consideration. We cannot expose liquid mana in such a manner." - Scariot answered.

While the details of the operation had to be given out, many of its 'true purposes' weren't explained to the parties involved in the preparations, aside from Dailah, Scariot and Mariane that is.

It did sound like a questionable plan, but Daniela's competency was well spreadt through the Association. Even the ones who didn't like her had no choice but to recognize the woman's abilities and contributions.

Though those certainly would have no problem criticizing her if the plan went off the rails.

"Incidentally, what is that smell?" - Athgas asked, looking at the two witches with a bewildered expression. Dailah was the one to answer.

"...its cheese."

"Huh?"

"As Dailah said, its just cheese." - Scariot pointed to a paper bag Dailah was carrying.

As the plan dictated, they would also be using some food to attract rodents to the container. Nothing better than some smelly cheese procured directly from the grocery store for that. Financed by the association of course.

On a side note, the bag was slightly lighter than when they initially bought it. Mr. Crowley had charged his transport tax, though interestingly enough he didn't insist on more after taking just one wedge. Perhaps it wasn't up to his palate's standards.

Even then, Dailah choose to not leave the two of them alone with one another. If only to be safe.

With a mistified look on her face, Athgas put the matter aside and opened a double door.

The place looked like a mix between a lab and a metal workshop to Dailah. In fact, it reminded her to some extent of the place her mother worked back in her home, stocked full of large metal cauldrons, mysterious substances and strange machinery.

This one however was much larger, the machines with much complexer visages, the substances probably more dangerous.

"Its that one." - Athgas pointed to some cubicle placed over a metal pushcart - "The sample itself isn't all that heavy... but we decided to use an extra strong container, meant for long distance and sea transportation. We also added a few more layers of protection, to make sure the rats cannot reach it.

"Of course, we always kept in mind the fact you still wanted energy to leak."

The cubicle wasn't quite made of metal. It was some strange black material that looked part rock, part iron. Probably some type of alloy, Dailah concluded.

She tried lifting it up, partly curiosity and partly an act of idiosyncrasy. The girl found that if she put a lot of force into it she could move it a bit, without applying magic to herself that is. There apparently would be no risk of the rats carrying this away.

"If that is all, time you two got going. We wasted enough time in this." - the researcher said in a fed-up tone.

Still rude, Dailah thought. She didn't mind as much though, as the girl herself also wanted finish this venture soon. Her anxiety slowly turned into a form of eagerness, her desire to just get everything over with growing.

Pushing the cart, the two women left the building, en route towards their final destination.

XXX

To take the container with them, all they had to do was tie it to the crowley's saddle with a rope. Naturally it was necessary to be mindful of speed and the unevenness of the road, but the place they planned to go wasn't too far from there.

It was a sewer entrance. There were multiple of them scatered through the city but that was the closest one to the research institution, it also happened to be quite isolated as it neared the forest. It was a place with no people around, and where rats often came out from.

The closer the two approached, the older, abandoned, more poorly maintaned the area became, until vegetation and human buildings started to mix. The devoidness of human life from this place wasn't just due to the stench either.

Dig through the land and you will invite disaster.

On the day of purification, all fissures spawning across Terra will bleed demons.

Among them, a Succubi may appear and reclaim the surface.

Those were common sayings spread through the population. Caves, deep holes, anything that led underground were places to be feared in the eyes of the people.

Even necessities like water wells were usually dug far away from the houses. Basements in smaller villages and towns were also an uncommon sight, only existing to fullfil absolutely necessary purposes.

Or maybe discard undesired things, hoping they would never come out again.

Those fears... were not completely unfounded. Caves can be the doorway of dungeons, digging holes can lead you to reaching one. The dangers involved with living near a dungeon's entrance do not need to be pointed out, building settlements away from deep cavities was indeed sound advice.

Advice that was thoroughly ignored by the founders of Stone City of course.

Cyrus cared naught for such trepidations, she saw dungeons as something to be conquered. Even if she wasn't the first to delve into them, she was the first to do so in a highly systematic way, leading to the city Dailah sees today, Its true core far below, away from mere guests eyes.

"Darn it, the fog is getting thicker..."

The fact this was close to a forest made the location even more empty. Needless to say forests were also the source of countless dangers of terrors.

"Do you think we should postpone the operation...? - Dailah asked.

"Only if it becomes genuinely bad... we can still see."

The area was a complete slum... no, it looked more like an impromptu settlement. The houses - if they can be even called that - were made of rocks and scraps. They would probably crumble during the first storm that afflicted the region, some already did.

No one seemed to be living in them, which gave Daliah an eerie feeling. They were already fairly close to the woods, overgrown vegetation covering everywhere she looked.

Peering into one of the partially broken buildings, she realized there was nothing inside them.

Nothing.

No appliances, no tables, no chairs. They were utterly empty.

Just what is this place? With what purpose were these houses built if no one is living in them? And considering how some are still relatively unimpaired despite being so poorly constructed, it means they shouldn't be too old.

And why Dailah couldn't shake off the feeling they were being watched?

"If you're wondering about the buildings, many people temporarely settle here during hunting seasons. They erect these houses and don't bother tearing them down, as they can be used for later dates.

"No one wants to live here anyway so they're mostly left alone. They're also rebuilt when the time comes again, in case the weather didn't treat them nicely during the interval.

"Of course, scavengers often come here, looking for personal items left behind. Perhaps some loiters on occasion too, in search for an isolated place to hang out or to abuse substances unperturbed. Anything you forget here is guaranteed to disappear, so hold on tight to your things."

"...what about these owls?"

The girl could see a few owls scattered through the area, perched up on the delapidated buildings, watching their every move. Occasionally Mr. Crowley would even stare back defiantly, as if daring them to come - Wanna be my snack ya goon?

"Maybe they're here for the same reason as us."

"They're also hunting a witch?"

"Heh." - Scariot snorted at the witty answer - "I mean the rats, this place must be a feast to them."

Eventually they reached the entrace to the sewers, closed by a gate. The metal bars wouldn't stop rats from going in and out, but it would definitely work against people. All superstition aside, it was true wandering around these underground tunnels wasn't safe.

As a matter of fact, Dailah heard they had put slimes inside there, taken from the dungeons, to eat the dejects of the city.

They were rather simple creatures. Big blobs of jelly who wandered around absorving everything they touched and dissolving it within their bodies. They could grow indefinitely, but most of the time would just divide into multiple ones once they reached a certain size.

While slimes normally didn't represent much danger, its true they would ingest each and every thing they saw, people included. It was easy to run from them, or kill them with the proper tools and spells. But what about an unsuspecting child, carelessly approaching the curious-looking thing? What if they fattened too much without ever splitting, then deciding the tunnels grew small for them?

As such, curbing down these creatures from the sewers was a periodic operation the Association had to perform, make sure they never increased too much in numbers or that a giant one wasn't being groomed. Naturally, the place was completely off-limits for people who had no business in it.

Untying the cart from the saddle, they moved the cubicle to somewhere near the entrance, though still bits away. They should force the perpetrators to expose themselves as much as possible.

The slow running water coming out from the tunnel stank, a mix of a mangrove's sulphuric stink and rotten matter. It was still tolerable, but that alongside the rats and potential slimes that could come out of the hole, made Dailah understand how this place wouldn't be a good one to live, no matter how desperate one's situation was. There certainly were better alternatives at least.

Perhaps only if one really really enjoyed the solitude.

Because of the fog, they had to put the container closer to the place they intended to oversee it from. Not only it would likely get thicker, but once night came it would be even more difficult to see it.

Yes, there was a chance they'd have to spend the night here. Multiple nights in fact. They would pick one of the empty dwellings and watch the cubicle from there. Even foodstuff and bedsheets were prepared.

They settled for a small house made of bricks. Its state was good enough to protect them from the weather, not to mention it had enough walls to hide them from sight.

Scariot stuck her hand in the bag hanging from the crowley, the one that carried their provisions, and pulled out a peculiar looking lantern.

It was a tool capable of suppressing the subtle mana signatures emmited by witches. Whatever they were dealing with here was capable of detecting magical energy in the air after all.

The lantern, once lit, leaked out a strange orangish light. Its hue could remain bright for a week, and that was one of their time limiters for this operation. It would remain close to them inside the house.

Seems the drawback Mariane spoke of were related to the difficulty of producing them. At the moment, this single one was all they could carry out of the lab.

Once they took out everything they needed, Scariot began scattering the cheap cheese around the protected mana stone while Dailah led Mr. Crowley away from the place. There still was the possibility of a confrontation breaking out and a crowley has no place in a battlefield, no matter how small that battlefield might be. Of course, she intended to bring feed to him periodically.

Once she came back, Scariot was already making herself confortable in the small home.

How can she be so relaxed?

"You're the one who's too nervous Dailah. Unless you've been cursed at birth, nothing special is bound to happen."

"You truly think so...?"

"It'll just be a pleasant picnic for a few days, maybe ending with some fun rodent extermination. Nothing more."

Dailah peered outside of the house, through the still opened creaky wooden door.

The thick fog darkened the place even as the sun hadn't set. She could hear the subtle rustling of leaves coming from the forest, singing an uncanny orchestra as it used the cry of insects for percussion. Multiple owls gathered around the two women for unclear reasons, gawking at them with their wide round globes.

No, they were eyeing the cheese by the container.

"Isn't that bad...?"

"There's more, once these birds get their fill i'll just put the spare ones. Besides, this isn't strictly necessary to the plan either correct? Just an extra."

"Won't they scare off the rats?"

"If they insist on staying, we can just shoo them away ourselves" - Scariot shrugged.

Dailah closed the door behind her, to stop the cold from pervading their temporary settlement too much.

The place had a subtle smell of staleness, but Scariot made sure to bring a few strong herbs to refresh the air. It would also help with hiding the smell of their own food.

She placed the special lantern - glowing in its surreal orange hue that looked nothing like that of a normal fire - in the middle of the house. It did little to illuminate the place, but they didn't want brigth lights announcing their position either.

Dailah sat down in a corner, wondering how this 'pleasant picnic' would play out for the two.

"Ah... they're really going for it." - Scariot murmured.

In a cacophony of coos, owls began attacking the cheese that didn't belong to them without shame. Naturally their great plan didn't account for fat birds hanging out in the area.

All while the fog grew thicker.

This whole endeavour, she had a bad feeling about it.