“Are we done, my lady?” I asked, leaning on the door frame of her room. She was rummaging her old closet that held most of her unused clothes and probably other toys that interested her as a kid. She was searching for a mask, one that would help me hide my face today, but I had told her I didn’t need one. Letitia rarely listened to anyone once she made her decision, which resulted in a disarrayed room, with old pink frocks and clothes sprawled erratically in the room, along with some wood-carved figures modified with [Umbra].

“Can’t you be more patient, Rudolf?!” She glared at me before turning back to her closet.

“I have to clean this mess later, my lady,” I sighed. “And you know how much I detest housework.”

“I will reward you with kisses,” she said, not without embarrassment, “so you can work hard.”

“Sure, sure. That only discourages me more,” I said, crossing my arms against my chest. I had gotten used to having a bracelet around my right arm, but somehow, it never failed to remind me of a leash. I was one easygoing undead, so I didn’t mind much about the nitty-gritty of the situation. The important takeaway was that my lady was bound to me, which meant I had succeeded in my maneuvers.

Letitia threw a hard wooden sphere at me with her lips pursed, and I caught it with a grin. She gruffed and resumed her rummage until she pulled out a mask from her stash.

“This!” she showed me the cloth mask with white bulged cheeks, a round red nose, and two holes just below the forehead decked in varied colors, ranging from yellow to green. A clown mask, no doubt, and my lady was taking revenge for yesterday’s antics. “Wear this and keep the vixens at bay!”

“No, I won’t,” I shook my head in disapproval.

“Then kiss me. You are not leaving otherwise,” she glared at me.

I sighed and sauntered toward her, avoiding the sprawled items that would later need much work. She held the mask before me in amusement, and her other hand rested on her waist. I held her chin with my fingers and lifted it up slightly, forcing her to meet my eyes. She dropped the mask in surprise, and her uneasy eyes wandered over my face. I pecked her hair that made her legs wobbly, and blood rushed to her face. Nevertheless, her face bloomed, and it was a dazzling smile for any mortal.

“Can I leave now?” I asked, kicking the mask away. Even the undead didn’t like wearing clown masks.

“On my lips, mongrel.” She bit her lower lip restlessly, her hands gripping her single-piece white nightgown. I saw her curled toes, eyes blinking with uneasiness, and suppressed my laugh.

“Well, this is the most I can do, my lady. I just didn’t want to wear the clown mask,” I shrugged, helping her stand up.

“How dare you deceive me?!” “

I didn’t trick you, my lady,” I laughed. “A peck is no different."

Letitia let me go with a smile, and a stern warning. Of course, I wasn’t interested in staring at mortals. Meaty or not, tortures were the same on all mortals.

When I walked in the night, streets were scarcely populated, and even market plaza had a fair share of desolation on this evening. It was almost dark, and the black clouds of the sky only made the evenfall more apparent. The noble girls wouldn’t tag along to work with some brawny mercenaries for obvious reasons, so we had to manage the job. It was my first time preparing for a festival since I considered it an absolute waste of time. Décor? I had better things to do. But today, well, I agreed for my lady. She had entertained this undead after all.

A hooded silhouette wasn’t uncommon in the streets of the capital, particularly in the winter, so I didn’t garner any suspicious gazes. At least most of the high-ranked mages indulged in this much propriety after all.

When I reached the Academy gates, a group of more than fifteen men had assembled close to the gates, scattered erratically as if they were commuters. Dressed in dingy robes, one worse than the other, and baggy pants made it apparent that they weren’t the Academians. Garlan had already opened the gates of the Academy slightly, so I didn’t miss the idle commuters rushing inside discreetly.

I waited until the streets had cleared and followed them inside. Garlan was already dividing the gang, and once his eyes landed on me, he whispered something to Cair and walked in my direction. The merchants weren’t here yet, and many tents were sprawled intermittently in the pavement before the Academy building. I didn’t know how they had managed to get so many booths without earning any suspicion, but I guessed the merchant guild had played their part. A few mercenaries had even started assembling the booths with much expertise.

“Tables?” I asked.

“Tables,” he replied, flashing a bunch of keys.

Carrying around thirty tables was hardly an issue with the [Weightless] spell, and only the two of us indulged in the idle chore. There were no raucous shouts of the mercenaries that would have attracted the bystanders, but instead, everyone worked in absolute secrecy. Even the mana lampposts of the vicinity weren’t turned on, and Garlan had broken the ones outside the gate.

We worked all through the night, the chill of the winter forcing us to cast fire multiple times. I didn’t have to blow everyone up with [Explosion] since there were plenty of fire mages to maintain the hearth. Cair barked order from one end, silently if that made any sense, while Garlan from another and the three funny guys from yesterday weren’t far off. My bread lad had paid back their money from Maluich’s funds, so the men had agreed to a ceasefire. How long it would last was something I didn’t know and didn’t care about.

I created a platform on the way to the Academy by materializing multiple [Boulder] spells completely, followed by [Umbra] to make it smooth and shiny. I was discreet in my casting, for I didn’t want the mercenaries to recognize my rank, and Garlan helped. The merchants had started pooling in as the second batch of mercenaries busied themselves with decorating the campus with bunters and obelisks. They had worked in the dark till now, but merchants had handheld lamps with them, so the decoration squad had enough illumination.

A couple of guards had dropped by to ask about the fair, and Garlan had chased them away with the permit. I settled down to eat bread and watched the mercenaries work throughout the night. By the time the sky had brightened, the campus was festooned with the ambiance of the fair, and dreary people had started resting to rejuvenate before the crowd of commuters dropped by to pool more work on them.

I recognized my lady’s writing at the entrance. Bold and cursive letters, large enough to read the words from a distance. A couple of booths had been erected right beside the gates, and merchants displayed the fair share of dry edibles on them. I didn’t recognize the merchants, but Garlan was conversing with them, quirkiness his forte, as he stole a couple of buns for himself and explained the logistic. I cast [Devil eye] and waved at him, which he returned gleefully.

I buried myself inside the campus and rested under the nameless tree as commuters started filling in. The first one held a pamphlet in his hands, but the second and third groups sniffed the excitement and followed. It didn’t long for swarming commuters to occupy the campus, and a few mages from the Congregation dropped by to witness the havoc. Strange performers decked the stage, shouting raucously instead of singing, but the crowd enjoyed everything with much enthusiasm. Fights followed, drunken brawls, as more people started filing in, and the fair had just become a riot closer to the stage.

The stalls were busy, and my [Devil eye] paced around aimlessly, watching the nobles trying their best to avoid mingling among commoners. They had their prestige to maintain, so they couldn’t afford to horde among the sweaty bodies of commoners that attracted much of their hate. Thus, the carriages passed by the entrance without taking a turn inside the gates.

Garlan sent the mages from the Congregation packing with the official document, and I considered Beth’s mission accomplished. If we earned some good money from the fair, it was a huge bonus.

A couple of kids stumbled close to my nameless tree. They held wooden swords in their hands and adorned tattered clothes with enough splotches of last night’s meal. Or perhaps, days before.

“Demon, Kairo! We are the holy knights of the kingdom! Surrender yourself, you stoic-faced demon! Or face us to perish into eternal darkness,” the stouter boy said, his budging tummy reminding me of Garlan’s younger self. Was this kid his brother? I smiled at the thought, and the lean guy hiding behind the boy watched me vigilantly.

I was wearing my blood mask, but a demon? I wasn’t grotesque enough to qualify.

“Let’s go, Gamo,” he peeked at me as I removed my mask, “he looks angry.”

“Demons are always angry, Kairo!” The stout boy puffed his chest. He hardly reached my knee, but his girth might force my abdomen to retch up last night’s bread.

That reminds me, I hadn’t had breakfast yet. Should I bake these kids?

“Gwar,” I shouted lazily with a smile. “I’ll eat you.”

That did it. The frail boy started crying and ran away with snot dripping from his face. On the other hand, the stout boy stood rooted with his shivering legs and sword and stared at me with his frightened scrutiny. I sighed. Was my smile really terrifying?

I removed a knife from my coat and stared at the stout boy who had collapsed on his legs.

“How should I eat you, now?” I stood up and leisurely walked toward him as he dragged his butt. “Do you have any spices?”

“No, no,” the boy waved his head. “I’m not tasty. I haven’t had a bath in almost a week. See,” he lifted his tunic in tears, “this is last week’s curry. Your tummy might get upset.”

“I eat unclean kids,” I said with another broad smile. Garlan had appeared in the vicinity with the frail boy. Guess he didn’t abandon his mate after all.

“Let’s scare these kids together, Garlan,” I smiled at him and earned a smack on my head.

“Do some work, bastard! The kids are already scared of cannibal monster rumors in the city, and you are not helping. Are you trying to implicate me?” Garlan snickered.

“Gwar,” I clawed at the boys again, and they ran away with tears. I turned to Garlan and raised my eye, “How much did he pay you?”

“Fifty shins,” Garlan grinned and passed me twenty. “That’s two loaves of bread for scaring kids, Rudolf.”

“Just on time,” I stared at the coins in my hand. “I’m hungry for a change.”

“Do you wanna bet?” Garlan locked my neck in his arms. “Let’s earn a few hundred shins from this fifty and have a bread party after the fair.”

“Can you manage with your twenty-five?” I sighed. “I’m really craving for some bread, Garlan.”

“Then, Garlan, the undead, will show you his true craftiness today,” he said and pulled me along.