...and with that, today's training concluded on a rather... mild note. Jyuzou and the newly met Rejire ended up sitting around the next hour without really talking or answering the thousand questions Jyuzou had, courtesy of Zack's test.

When they came out, there he was again, holding a thick stack of papers in his hand and noting something down, while the few other Demonears talked about the other dangerous animals they encountered, mentioning something about Zack's army, which made Jyuzou focus and shake a little for a while longer.

A few more glimpses stared Jyuzou down, but the only words that ended this part of the day were a simple "Good job, everyone!". So, nothing except for some fear, and a few conversations of traditions present.

Training like this took place two times a week, and the four were unfortunate enough to not have a day's rest before being thrown into the fire again. That's what Chyuuichi argued when meeting up with Jyuzou afterwards, to explain their inabilities, while focusing on just how weak Atomu was today and yesterday and in general over this period of time.

The Morian seemed more focused on the other things, so the two didn't chat for too much, as the ebb of time had other things in mind.

All in all, the minimal paperwork, cleaning everything up afterwards or counting the damages took everyone until the sun started setting. From there on, life in the towers continued as if it was nothing but a leisure-free town for the Demonears and others.

Dinner was given out at a time frame afterwards, which meant that the weaklings got their share this time, and the four reconciled near a table.

"Morio. What's with the hair?" Jyuzou asked, slowly taking a bite of a vegetable-rich salad.

Morio chewed down a chop of meat, likewise with Chyuuichi, who seemed too enveloped in his food to even care to listen in. "Oh, this?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Jyuzou slapped him.

"You asked me the question, idiot!" Morio answered, quickly swallowing afterwards. "Got puffed up because of my lightning."

"That never happened earlier, though." Atomu shook his head.

"Exactly!" Morio took another bite. "It's proof I'm getting stronger."

Jyuzou inched closer. "How?"

"Ekhem. Top secret." he put his hand over his lips, making a strange expression.

"What?!" Jyuzou whispered. "You can tell us."

"Top secret," he repeated the same notion, forcing the Morian to roll his eyes and glance at his salad again.

Atomu took a quick bite out of his assortment of neatly laid meats while glancing at Chyuuichi who was finished with his plate and pondered asking for seconds.

Something about the woman serving near the kitchen made him a little nervous, and her glances at the two seemed to suggest something.

Jyuzou, in turn, stretched around, before spotting a familiar figure moving around the tables that made the wooden basement, slowly wandering towards the exit.

"Oh, Rejire!" Jyuzou raised his hand.

"Hm?" the Fishman turned. "Hi."

Atomu and Morio furrowed their brows.

"You wanna introduce us to your friend?" Morio asked.

"Are those fins?"

"Ah." Jyuzou stood awkwardly, shuffling around for a few seconds, before putting his hand on his shoulder. "Excuse their behaviour, they don't know anything about the culture here..."

"Culture? You left your salad unattended, and the other Morian's-"

Jyuzou slapped Morio's face, as the other tumbled. Atomu stared in shock, Chyuuichi, in disbelief.

"B-Brutal." Rejire blinked, smiling. "Anyways, you wanna talk it out upstairs then?"

"Talk what out?" Chyuuichi whispered.

"Jyuzou's already made a friend. We're easily replaceable." Morio put his hands over his hurt face.

The Morian rolled his eyes, before smiling lightly. "Y-Yes. Thank you."

With those words, the two quickly wandered away, leaving Morio to sit up again and think for a few seconds.

The insides resembled a typical inn, despite the rest of the building being its own thing. However, people didn't run around handing beer, and a lot of the food there was prepared with the hands of those who were about to eat. Anything that landed on their plates was free for the time being, with a sign informing them that seconds cost Silver.

Either way, it felt different too. Morio seemed full after only one meal and decided to lean against the chair, breathing out.

"Anyways." Morio cleared his throat. "How's your day been, then?"

"Saving Atomu's ass," Chyuuichi answered.

"I'm telling you that I don't know what's happening!" the Paladian raised his voice.

"Ya just need to be in a better space with yer thoughts, I'm telling ya! Replace those measly pieces of meat with bigger chunks and ya'd feel better!"

"Chyuuichi's right." Morio pointed. "I know you're a..." he whispered.

"Don't say that." Atomu pointed.

"Demon." Chyuuichi smiled, while a few heads turned.

"...s are bad!" Atomu finished his notion, smiling awkwardly.

"Yeah, I can drink to that." a Paladian muttered, turning back, and Atomu sighed, shaking his head.

"You usually do eat a lot." Morio pointed.

"F-For pleasure," Atomu whispered, glancing at the candle in the middle of the table. "I know I can survive without it, but it does give me strength."

"Which means you want to eat too, right?" Morio added.

"Such a beautiful thing to happen to such a heartless creature." Chyuuichi wiped a tear. "Food's the best!"

"Thank you!" one person in the kitchen yelled.

"I g-guess so?" Atomu asked. "...but that feeling kind of... faded away lately."

"So yer weak because ya don't eat as much, eh?" Chyuuichi asked. "Problem solved."

"Why, though? It hasn't been any different, since..." Atomu scratched his neck. "Damn it. I can't recall."

Chyuuichi squinted his eyes, before an idea popped into his head, which Morio noticed, because he raised his finger accordingly.

"The guy we were supposed to ask!" Chyuuichi whispered. "Atomu, come!"

"Ah." The Paladian stood up, dragged by Chyuuichi's hand elsewhere. "B-Bye Morio!"

"Bye, y'all!" Morio waved, breathing out, before taking one last bite, clapping his hands and standing up.

Taking the empty, paper tray and a few strangely uncharacteristic cutlery (that Chyuuichi didn't use), he took the first step towards the kitchen.

Out of the blue, something pierced through, before Morio felt an immense pain in his forehead.

So sharp in fact, that it made him tumble, as the items flailed forth and the Morian landed on the harsh wooden ground.

Conversations faded away. One person playing the sitar stopped their tune, turning to the situation at hand.

"I-Is everything okay?" one girl asked, with her mom signalling something.

Morio quickly flipped over, breathing out. The muffled conversations turned into quiet ringing, that disappeared, likewise with the ache, within the next few seconds.

He took a deep breath, before turning over to the girl, smiling in his direction and reaching her hand out.

"Yeah, thanks," Morio added. "The training really took a toll on me today!"

***

Wandering, Jyuzou and Rejire ended up taking a few seats in the hallway of the first floor, while a few people passed here and there, moving towards their bedrooms or the few other rooms, reserved for the library he already visited, bathrooms, washrooms or other, various activities.

The wooden roads split into two, and when the last person waved at the Fishman, Jyuzou glanced over.

"What do you wanna start with?" Rejire put his hands out.

"Shin, toughest question in ages." the Morian shook his head, fixing his glasses. "I have too many."

"A rule that the master of this tower always spouts about is seeing things for yourself and learning with time. That, however, applies to Demonears, but with how things have been here lately, I'm starting to see it extend towards almost anything we do."

"Really?"

Rejire put his hands behind his head. "A lot of people just don't ask questions, because they think they know, or they're too used to the rule. Curious people are the best, then, and you seem like the type to learn for the sake of learning."

Jyuzou nodded, grinning. "Okay, then. First off... what are Fishmen?"

"The word speaks for itself." he chuckled. "Fish men. Although women exist too, so it kind of doesn't make sense. Another word you probably heard of is Melodians."

"Ahh!" Jyuzou slapped his knee in the spree of knowledge. "People from the Melody Lake! Thought that was a witchtale, though!"

"Am I a witch? Am I a tale?" Rejire asked, much to Jyuzou's confusion. "You see the thing for yourself."

"Raiders of the Melody was the book, and Poets and Clans mentioned it a couple of times as well!" Jyuzou put his fists together, excitedly. "Although nothing in the Paladin."

"You base all your knowledge off of fantasy?" he chuckled.

"Fantasy reflects the real world! Melodians can breathe both water and air and eat kelp for sustenance!"

Most of the information about Fishmen was strangely confidential. They weren't some type of secret tribe or race that everyone skimmed over, rather, they lived in such a niche bubble of their own that many simply forgot about their existence.

It was only places like these or the very outskirts of Eldham where one would have some awe in their discovery. Melodians was also the more common name, even though Fishmen existed outside of the Mainland as well, although deep below the waters.

As for food, Jyuzou was right on the money. Rejire rolled his eyes, stuffing a helping of dried kelp back into his pocket. "Question answered. Anything else?"

The books didn't lie.

"Ah, right." Jyuzou blinked, straightening up again. "I wanted to ask about Mr Zack, i-if you know anything."

"Same as the average dork of his group." he shrugged. "Guy runs the place as if this was still the second war, saying something about preparing for the worst. He treats animals the same, although without the pain I assume. The klefsenders that circle the towers? Yeah, they're under his command. The forest is one of the many places where he reigns with his level-headed ideologies. Any animal there works in tandem."

"Sabeline too, I assume."

Rejire scratched his head, closing his eyes and yawning. "Dark deformities are a different case in general. He always spouts about it, otherwise. Every squirrel there has a name, and every bird sings the songs he dictates, but Sabeline seems different. I can't tell you much because I genuinely don't know."

"...but there must be a reason why it stays in that forest, right?" Jyuzou asked, staring forth, as the mentioned Ainan figure strolled through the distant hallways.

Standing against the checkered, sliding paper door, he glanced at Jyuzou and Rejire, again, noting something down, before taking the leave.

The Morian adjusted his position, focusing.

"Work your way through and maybe he'll tell you," Rejire answered. "You have my fins here."

Jyuzou chuckled. "Thanks. Just to kill some curiosity, I guess."

***

"Hello, hello?" Chyuuichi asked, putting the seashell next to his ear. Atomu sighed, laying next to him, sliding over his bedsheets and pushing his face into the pillow.

"I thought you were talking about a real person here."

"Like the seashell isn't real!" Chyuuichi raised his voice. "Oh, oh! Yes, hi!"

Atomu shook his head, seemingly hopeless.

"Do ya know what Atomu's ring is?" the Mirillian sat up, pointing over at the Paladian, who now laid on his back in mild disappointment. Chyuuichi put down the seashell for a moment, before whispering. "He asks what type of ring this is."

"Oh my, I don't know! Black with chains around the exterior and it hurts to wear." he shook his head.

The Mirillian put the seashell against his ear and waited for a bit. "Mhm." he nodded. "Okay, I'll tell him to lay off the attitude."

Atomu opened his mouth in shock.

"Ekhem." Chyuuichi cleared his throat. "Check the library." he smiled. "They apparently have it."

"Like that would be anything easy," Atomu muttered. "What book am I searching for?"

Chyuuichi slowly moved the seashell again, listening. "You'll have to figure that out, Atomu." he relayed.

The Paladian sighed, straightening up. "That was my first notion." he waddled to the door. "I'm still not sure if the seashell lets the clear thoughts come to your mind and show me that you're not that stupid."

"Make no mistake, Atomu! We're both idiots!" Chyuuichi pointed. "...idiots with a bit of luck and fortune to their side!"

"I never agreed to be lumped with your words."

"Rowan said that once, I think." he smiled. "Off you go, though!" Chyuuichi pointed, and the Paladian sighed.

He stared at the door, before heading downstairs and through the same corridors.

It was rather late at this point. Conversations moved towards activity rooms, and a few people still begged for a share of the food in the kitchen, but the library was rather quiet, as one would expect it to be.

Atomu slid the door closed, standing in front of a couple of shelves stretching to the windows. Without his bag and matches to light up a candle, he took the Glyph Vial out of his pocket.

Shaking it around revealed nothing in particular. A couple of scratch marks, dents in pages, curved spines or stains on windows that someone ought to have cleaned earlier.

However, he turned to the ring he discovered. The same purple light cast on the floor, illuminating a path towards a shelf out of view. It stretched towards the third row, and Atomu scanned until he found a spine coated in the same purple glory.

Quickly hiding the vial, he reached out for the contents, scanning the cover.

Opening it, the first pages didn't speak of anything else either. It was all written down in the Old Manjuno, which he couldn't decipher, and asking for Jyuzou's help would make the things he wanted to be easy much more complicated.

With a shuffle, he closed it, and the sound echoed across the room.

He turned to the right, seeing as a warm, orange light started making quiet haste towards him. Taking a step back, he gulped, before a silhouette came to reveal itself from beneath the shadow.

"M-Master Quanzi?" Atomu blinked, asking unsurely.

"I didn't think I'd find anyone at the library at this hour. Mainly, because we as Ainans have a general rule of not reading anything when the sun sets. Only the most natural of light can shine the truth through the words, don't you think?"

"Y-Yeah." Atomu smiled, putting the book down on the small extension of the lower shelf. Quanzi glanced over, taking the next few steps.

"You don't seem like much of a reader." he chuckled. "Especially with this being in Old Manjuno. Any reason for this book in particular as your night lecture?"

"I'm sorry." Atomu bowed. "I was searching for an answer to something my friend suggested. Picked out a book at r-random since I didn't even know where to start."

"Random?" Quanzi asked, giggling. "You picked out a fine tune to start with." he scanned the few pages. "Is it perhaps connected to something?"

"Random." he nodded. "Completely random."

Quanzi nodded, with a light beam, turning away and staring at the bookshelf.

"Not even with that ring?" he inquired.

Atomu blinked a couple of times, before gulping.