Chapter 25 : Morning

“So why exactly do you want to make the dungeon bigger?” asked Fiona as she and Kianna followed Anton up the stairs that led out from the dungeon and back up to the rest of the house “You plan on hanging stuff up down there?”

“Something like that.” mumbled Anton with a grin “That space is going to become our new classroom. And we’ll need the extra room for magical training.”

“Oh really!?” exclaimed Fiona as a broad, excited smile spread across her face “Okay! Hell yeah!”

“Master?” questioned Kianna as she nervously glanced back over her shoulder in the direction that she knew the homunculus was in “What is Mr. Earlivi’s “containment” like?”

“Ah, yes, honestly, I have no idea what he’s even talking about with that. You see, he has offered to put people in his containment before but I’ve never been brave enough to actually let him do it. I don’t have a actual dungeon at the house, and as far as I know he doesn’t either. So I have no clue where he would put them, or what he’s even talking about. I could just ask him of course ... but sometimes when it comes to Earlivi its just better not to ask too many questions...” explained Anton as a thoughtful expression spread across his face “One thing is for sure though. Wherever, or whatever, this containment is, I can’t imagine that its a place that anybody would ever want to find themselves in...”

The dark elves both glanced at each other as their eyes tightened in unease.

“How do you even live with that psycho!?” questioned Fiona as she shivered and twitched her ears up and down “The fucking air around him just feels evil!”

“It’s surprisingly easy. Well, it is now. There was an adjustment period of course. Things were a bit intense there for a little while. But once I gave him his own room and told him he could do whatever he wanted in there, Earlivi’s entire demeanor towards me changed. I’m guessing he appreciates the gesture as well as having a little privacy. After that things between us have been much more friendly, and he’s become a very diligent servant and home guard. Though, he does still keep to himself for the most part ... In fact, the only real signs of personality that I’ve ever seen out of him is when I’ve caught him watching TV, which with him its always some kind of game show, reality show or survivalist show...” mused Anton as he stepped out of the dungeons stairwell and into the house proper “He seems to really like the ones where people are left alone on islands ... Anyways, I do know what you mean about the evil feeling in the air around him. Luckily, you do get used to that over time.”

“Yeah, sure, if you say so...” muttered Fiona as she rubbed her upper arms and grimaced “I can see why you’d put him in that crystal thing now. Best feature he has!”

“I didn’t do that. I’d never do that to him.” stated Anton “No, that was due to a burglary that took place at my house.”

“ ... Wha? A burglary!” exclaimed Kianna “You were robbed!?”

“Yes, I was...” mumbled Anton “And whoever did it definitely knew what they were doing. You see, rather than trying to break my wards and barriers. They waited until I was gone and just demanafied my entire house. Which is something I had no idea you could even do! I don’t know how they did it ... And honestly I would be impressed if I wasn’t so angry about being the one targeted! Anyways, when they did that, Earlivi ended up getting demanaed as well. And that’s why he was in his crystal form. I would have awoken him earlier, but I had no idea how damaged he might be. So I figured I should talk to Fillola first. She’s the one who recommended I give him a few days of rest, but otherwise she said he should be fine. And thankfully, he is.”

“Damn! So what did they steal from you!?” asked Fiona.

“That is actually what has me the most puzzled. They took mostly random research items. Which, although these things would still be somewhat valuable, its still a little odd. This seems like such a targeted move that its surprises me that they would only take what they took...” explained Anton “I have things that would be worth much more than the items they did take. And yet they didn’t even touch these things ... This whole mess just feels off to me, and I want to get to the bottom of it! Unfortunately, at this point, I’ve done all I can really do. I have some people that are already looking out for my items and as soon as they find something I can go from there on tracking down the thieves. But until something pops up, I just have to wait...”

“Huh! Well that sucks for you!” smiled Fiona.

“Yes, it does...” agreed Anton “Luckily though! I’ve now got two new little pets to give me something to do and keep me entertained while I’m waiting!”

Fiona blinked and began to grumble under her breath as she pointed her ears straight back behind her head.

“So is that all we’re gonna do for now then?” asked Kianna as she pulled the door to the stairwell closed “Are we just gonna wait till something happens? And until Mr. Earlivi is done down there?”

“Yes, for the most part. Though we should still try not to let the time go to waste.” smiled Anton as he stepped out of the alcove that hid the entrance to the dungeon and made his way towards the stairway that led to the second story “So to that end, we’ll be utilizing the rest of today for your evaluations!”

“ ... Evaluations!?” mumbled Fiona as she creased her brow and followed Anton up the stairs “And what exactly does that mean!?”

“It means that I’m going to assess you both as students.” explained Anton as he stepped onto the second story landing and turned left in the opposite direction of the master bedroom “That way I can have an idea of what to expect out of you two.”

“ ... Uh huh, and how are you gonna do that again!?” asked Fiona as she and her sister both followed him down the hallway to a room near the far end of the building.

“With research!” smiled Anton as he opened the door and stepped into the room.

The room was filled from floor to ceiling with a odd assortment of boxes that were stacked on top of each other.

“I’m guessing that when you turned the basement into a dungeon, this is where you put everything that was being stored down there?” questioned Anton as he flicked on the rooms central light.

“Yeah.” said Fiona as Kianna nodded in agreement.

“And I’m also going to assume that somewhere among all of these boxes is a box that has all of your school records as well as your old report cards?” smiled Anton as he looked over the rows of stacked boxes “ ... Right?”

“ ... Uh.” drawled Fiona as she stiffened “ ... Yeah!”

“There’s a lot more than just that.” said Kianna as she pointed at a stack of boxes midway down a center row “Nanny Ma had it set up with Bridgemont to keep everything that was going to be discarded at the end of the year. So instead of it all being thrown away, it all got sent home with us whenever we came to visit.”

“Really!?” exclaimed Anton as his smile broadened “So then all of the paper assignments and book reports and busywork that you did throughout the years is all here as well!?”

“Uh huh.” nodded Kianna “It’s all in those boxes with the blue stripes on them.”

“Well, how wonderfully convenient!” laughed Anton “And here I thought I’d get just a glimpse into your academic history, but instead I’m getting a whole written record!”

“Wait, are you seriously going to go through all that shit!?” exclaimed Fiona as she gave him an exasperated look “Like seriously, seriously!?”

“Of course! How else would I be able to determine just what kinds of students you two really are?” explained Anton as he turned back and gave them both a sinister looking smile “Now, I’m not going to be disappointed in anything that I find ... Am I!?”

The dark elves were both still for a moment before they looked at each other and grimaced.

“ ... Oh, this is going to be so much fun!” chuckled Anton as he turned away from them and began to make his way straight towards the boxes with the blue stripes “I’m going to really enjoy this!”

Fiona was slowly grinding her teeth in frustration as she watched Anton begin to shake his head in mock disappointment.

She and her sister were both sitting together on the opposite side of the large dining table from Anton. After having gathered over twenty of the boxes from Bridgemont together, they had then carried them all down to the dining room before separating them out by sister and then by year.

“They were being very generous when they graded this a “C-” ... I don’t even see a “D” here...” sighed Anton as he frowned at the single page book report in his hands “I’ll need to see this one redone as well...”

“Are you serious!?” snarled Fiona as she watched Anton drop the paper onto a stack that was slowly growing larger in front of her “Why!?”

“Yes, I’m serious.” declared Anton as he narrowed his eyes at the fuming dark elf “And as for the “why” it’s simple. This isn’t even a completed report! For the summary you wrote “Emily Sang talked to a “Parrat” “To the clues” she needed to “Sove” the “Mystory” It was “Exsiting” I really liked it” and then you just repeated this, along with the same misspellings, for your final thoughts. So of course you’re going to need to redo this...”

“I was 9!” growled Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back in anger “I didn’t know what to write!”

“Well now you’re 23, so it should be much easier for you.” said Anton as he pointed his finger at her “And if it isn’t, then that is going to be very disappointing!”

Kianna flattened her ears submissively behind her head and grimaced at her own stack of papers while her sister continued to groan in frustration.

“Why are you even doing this!?” exclaimed Fiona as she glared at her stack of papers “What does this even have to do with anything!?”

“Well I’m not going to lie to you Fiona. I’m mostly doing this because it’s fun for me.” said Anton as he bent over to his side and tossed a now empty box away before pulling an unopened one in close to his chair “But this busywork will also help you to get back into the mindset of a student though, so it’s not like it’s a complete waste of time...”

“Forcing me read a kids book is absolutely a waste of time!” snared Fiona “This whole thing is just a waste of time!”

“First of all, let’s not pretend like your time is precious, Fiona. No one’s life is going to be at stake because you’re suddenly busy. Thankfully!” mumbled Anton as he paused his efforts to open the new box and looked up at the dark elf “And secondly, “forcing you”? Don’t pretend like you aren’t happy for the excuse to reread “Emily Sang Breaks the Dead Mans Curse” you did say that you liked it after all.”

The dark elf blinked before clenching her jaw in anger.

“Are you serious!?” she growled as she balled her hands into fists “It’s a book for fucking preteens!”

“ ... So? Are you saying you’re not excited to read it?” asked Anton as he cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Of course I’m not!” started Fiona as she threw her hands in the air “It’s a kids book! Why in the world would I ever want to read it again!”

“Because you own it.” stated Anton as he gave her a tired look “Along with the rest of the series. They take up a whole shelf on one of the bookcases in your room.”

“ ... That’s! That’s just cause of me having them from when I was at school!” explained Fiona as she glanced at her sister “They’re just nostalgic! That’s all! I would never actually read any of them again! I ... seriously, I don’t-!”

“Fiona.” interrupted Anton as he narrowed his eyes at her “Will you please stop trying to lie to me. Now, the truth! Are you looking forward to reading “Emily Sang Breaks the Dead Mans Curse” or not!?”

The dark elf froze mid speech and held herself completely still as she stared at Anton. After a long moment of silence she shifted her eyes to her sister and then quickly looked away from them both.

“Argh, I hate you!” she mumbled as she folded her hands down onto her lap “So fucking much!”

“That’s what I thought...” muttered Anton as he turned his attention back to the box he was in the process of opening.

Kianna couldn’t help but to cock an eyebrow in surprise as she glanced at her still fuming sister.

“Well now! What’s this!?” exclaimed Anton as he stared down into the box he had just opened “ ... Now what do we have in here!?”

Both of the dark elves immediately turned to him as he began to excitedly rummage around in the box. The stinging smell of mothballs suddenly struck their noses as he lifted a blouse and skirt ensemble out of the box and laid them out across the table.

“ ... Are these your old school uniforms!?” asked Anton as looked over the bright white blouse and navy blue and green plaid skirt.

“Oh, yeah.” mumbled Fiona as she gave the uniform a disinterested look “I think those were our junior high ones.”

“They are, they’re the ones we had to wear while in class.” explained Kianna as she looked over the blouse “There’s also a red skirt and a different kind of blouse that we could wear on our off time.”

“ ... I see.” said Anton as he carefully gathered up the uniform and bent down to set it back into the box “Well, we’ll just have to set these aside for now ... Might just get a little more mileage out of them pretty soon!”

“Uh, what!? Yeah, no! No we’re not!” declared Fiona as she crossed her arms over her chest “Sorry to shatter your sick schoolgirl dreams, Master! But those are definitely not gonna fit us anymore!”

“Oh, my dear Fiona! Such a lack of faith!” quipped Anton as he smiled at her “Where there’s a will, there will always be a way!”

“Yeah, no!” snapped Fiona as she pointed her ears straight back “That shit’ll never fit and even if it does it’ll be so fucking tight that it’ll barely even be on us at all!”

Anton was silent as he stared back at her for a moment.

“ ... You do realize that you’re not helping yourself with that statement, Fiona.” he said as his smile broadened “At all!”

“Argh, Kianna! Will you please say something!” snarled Fiona as she turned to her sister “Please!”

Kianna sat completely still with her eyes wide and the tips of her ears pointed straight upwards as she stared down at the table towards the spot where she knew the box of uniforms was sitting out of her sight on the floor. Without a word her eyes darted to Anton before returning to the empty spot on the table.

“ ... Oh for fuck’s sake!” growled Fiona through her teeth as she seethed at her sister “Kianna!”

“Huh!? What!?” exclaimed Kianna as she turned to her sister and was immediately taken aback by the sight of her “What!? What’s your deal now!?”

“My “deal”! Is that my slutty sister clearly has no issue with being paraded around like a barely dressed stripper doll!” snapped Fiona as she glared in frustration “And all for the twisted amusement of some jackas- uh! Box! Guy! Fucking, thing! And that’s ... it’s pissing me off!”

Kianna stared at her sister for a moment before a tired expression marred her face.

“You do realize that you’ll get to see me wear it too, right? ... You might even get to do more than just look.” she said nonchalantly as she folded her arms over her chest “And don’t you try to act like that won’t be worth it for you!”

Fiona pointed her finger and went to speak but stopped short with her mouth hanging open.

“ ... Yeah, that’s what I thought!” mumbled Kianna as a small smirk spread across her face “So, if you be a good girl, Fiona, and help me give our Master a little, “amusement” ... I’ll make sure I take care of you too!”

Fiona remained still and silent as she merely stared back.

“ ... Oh, no! I’ve been such a bad, bad girl! Showing everybody my panties and disrupting the whole class!” whined Kianna as she playfully lowered her ears and began to pout “And now my teacher, miss Vale! Says she’s gonna have to give me some lessons on how to behave myself! And I’m super worried about it because I don’t know what that might mean! It could mean I have to do whatever she wants me to! And that’s super scary, because I think she might want me to strip for her! And if I don’t do it, I just know she’ll spank me! Really, really, really hard!”

Fiona’s eyes began to glow with an ominous red light as Kianna folded her arms down across her front to mash her breasts together and began to shift back and forth in her seat while feigning nervousness.

Folding her still pointing finger away, Fiona’s hand began to make creasing sounds as she tightened it into a fist.

“Oh, your damn right she will!” she breathed as the glow in her eyes intensified “You naughty little bitch! I’ll teach you all right! I’m gonna give you so many lessons! Really, really, really, really hard lessons!”

Kianna blinked as the fake nervousness in her eyes suddenly became real.

“So! Fucking! Hard!” growled Fiona as she leaned forward and loomed over her sister while a wide maniacal smile slowly spread across her face.

Lowering her ears even further, Kianna hunched down into her shoulders and swallowed a lump in her throat as her sister’s smile grew wide enough for her short fangs to come into view.

“ ... You two are so wonderfully delightful.” chuckled Anton “You really are just the best!”

Both of the dark elves immediately turned to the sound of his voice and found him casually watching them as he sat with his elbows on the table and his cheek resting against the closed fist of his left hand.

“I’m so happy that I decided to enslave you two.” he said around a smile “You’re both just so endlessly entertaining.”

Fiona’s smile instantly morphed into a vicious looking scowl as Kianna began to grin sheepishly.

“Yes, you are ... But anyways!” said Anton as he turned away from them and glanced about at the short stacks of unopened boxes still piled around him “Let’s get back to it. We’ve still got quite a few of these boxes to go through before the day is done.”

The dark elves were still for a moment before with a groan they both settled back into their seats.

Later that evening, after a quick early dinner consisting of reheated leftovers, Anton stepped through a double door wide archway and into a front sitting room that was positioned right off of the foyer of the house’s main entrance.

An extra long couch sat along the back wall of this room, while the wall to the left when entering the room was taken up by a second normal sized couch. A short round table sat in the corner of the room between the two couches and this held a tall, thin lamp. A large bay window complete with a sun seat bench took up the entirety of the wall to the right and overlooked the front walk and driveway. Dozens of potted plants were dotted throughout the room and these were all clearly thriving as they took advantage of the bright, ambient light that the bay window offered the room throughout the day.

This room would be just to your right as you walked into the house from the front door, and was set up as a sort of quiet getaway spot that was a perfect place for reading.

Anton stopped short in surprise as he entered the room and realized it was already occupied.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” he exclaimed as Fiona dropped her book down from where it had been covering her face “I didn’t know anybody was in here.”

With her head resting on it’s cushioned arm, the dark elf was comfortably laid out across the couch that sat along the left wall of the room and was already two chapters into her Emily Sang book. She said nothing as she expressionlessly stared up at Anton.

“ ... Mind if I join you?” asked Anton as he lifted his arm and indicated his book on dark elves.

Fiona’s eyes darted to his book and hung there for a moment before she shrugged and went back to reading her own book.

With a nod, Anton continued into the room and made his way to the end of the larger couch that was closest to the window and took a seat.

For some time the two sat in silence as they read through their respective books. After nearly two hours had passed Anton glanced over at Fiona as he turned to the next page in his book.

“This is nice.” he said softly “I like this.”

Fiona was still for a moment before she gently rolled her head to the side and looked over at him with a single one of her large, ruby-colored eyes.

Anton stayed silent as he gave her a genuine grin.

Her eye tightening ever so slightly in annoyance, the dark elf said nothing as she turned her eyes back to her book. Shifted her shoulders back and forth against the armrest she was resting on until apparently comfortable again, she twitched her ears in a seemingly dismissive manner and made a show of going back to reading her book.

Shaking his head with a shrug, Anton continued to grin as he went back to reading his own book.

A short time later Fiona glanced back over at him, and finding him now intensely focused on what he was reading she reached down to the back pocket of her jean shorts and pulled out a packet of gum.

Anton’s head shot up in surprise as a sharp snapping sound suddenly rang out through the room.

“What was that?!” he cried as he immediately turned to Fiona.

The dark elf said nothing as she smiled up at her book and began to blatantly chew her gum.

“ ... Oh. Really?” mumbled Anton as he watched her blow a small bubble and then pull it into her mouth to make another popping sound “Very funny!”

Still smiling, Fiona continued to say nothing as she absently flipped to the next page in her book.

Shaking his head, Anton sighed and went back to his own book as well. After a few minutes he had once again become focused on what he was reading when another sharp pop rang out.

“C’mon now, Fiona!” he mumbled as he looked over at her “It’s been so peaceful in here. Why are you doing this?”

The dark elf clenched her jaw and remained silent.

“Please stop it.” said Anton as he narrowed his eyes at her “Seriously, that’s enough.”

Her eyes creasing into a glare, Fiona tilted her head to the side and looked over at him as she blew another small bubble and pulled it into her mouth to pop it.

“ ... Why are you doing this?” asked Anton as he shook his head “I don’t get it?”

“If you don’t like it! Then do something about it!” mumbled Fiona as she looked away from him “Either make me leave, or just leave yourself!”

Anton stared at her for a moment before closing his book with a sigh.

“Alright then...” he grumbled as he got to his feet “I guess I will...”

Fiona smiled up at her book as he began to cross the room. Her smile faded immediately however as he stopped and stood right next to her. Dropping her book down she stared straight up at him as he gazed back down at her.

“Wha, what are you doing!?” she questioned as she blinked up at him.

“Something about it.” stated Anton as he reached down to grab her.

“Where is he Molly!? Where is he!?” cried Kianna as she quickly followed behind the small dog that was moving frantically towards the sitting room “C’mon girl! Find Master, find him!”

The little pomeranian bolted through the archway and raced across the room before leaping up onto the couch and jumping onto Anton’s lap.

“Hey, girl!” smiled Anton as he rubbed her head with his whole hand “Did you find me!?”

Anton once again was sitting at the end of the couch near the window. Unlike before however he was no longer simply sitting with his legs bent over the edge of his seat but was now lounging with his legs propped up in the air and his ankles resting in the groove at the small of Fiona’s back.