she then exhaled deeply, clutching her staff with a serious expression.

"if we do this the wrong way, we'll only waste time and falin's just gonna meet her doom. not to mention the impending danger that [name] might be facing right now too."

turning to them, marcille whips out her magic book guide and grins, reading off what was written down.

"so here's how we'll do this! first, we need one well-trained dog and a leash."

chilchuck raised a brow, genuinely confused.

"a dog?"

"connect the dog to the mandrake with a leash, and then call the dog from a safe distance. the dog will come to you and pull the mandrake out."

"okay but... what happens to the dog?"

this made marcille gasp, and she frowned a bit.

"it dies.."

"that's horrible. and where are we supposed to find a well-trained dog in the first place?"

"u-uh..."

"wouldn't you say this plan is not only cruel but utterly inefficient?"

as chilchuck pressed on further, marcille flips through her book with a troubled expression.

"but that's what i was taught!"

"hmm, can't we just use a really long piece of rope?"

laios suggested, a hand cupping his chin in thought.

"what?"

"if we just use a rope and pull from a far distance where we won't hear the screams much, won't it work as well?"

"there's a reason why it won't work... something about not getting the right angle when you pull or something... uhmm..."

the elf girl paused as she watched senshi kneel on the ground with his knife in hand, before holding the leaves of the mandrake as if he's about to pull it out without a warning.

a loud, shrill scream broke through the dungeon floor as they covered their ears, before it faded out.

"that was scary..."

"that was marcille."

laios and chilchuck shared the same expression as they glanced at the girl who was literally shaking in her sandals, watching senshi casually chop off the mandrake's head before pulling it out.

"if you just cut their heads off first, they won't start screaming."

marcille snaps out of her turmoil before waving her arms in disagreement.

"but that's not how you do it!"

"i've been harvesting it like this for years now, though."

"it's dangerous! it's not as simple as harvesting a carrot or something!"

"senshi has experience though. and speaking of which, have you ever tried to do this just like how your book is telling you?"

chilchuck asked, being the little hater that he is (nah he doesn't mean harm he just a little mean :p) as he crossed his arms.

the elf girl faltered, looking away in shame.

'no, i feel sorry for the dog! so this is why [name] doesn't follow any of the rules in the books...?! noooo!'

"well, we don't have time to waste trying that method."

chilchuck says as he rubs his head, and laios agreed with him.

"sorry marcille, but we're doing it in senshi's way."

marcille was devastated, not only because she felt useless but also by her new discoveries. like what do you mean you didn't have to sacrifice the poor doggies to harvest mandrakes???

now she knows why [name] oh-so nonchalantly drowns the mandrake with her potions before harvesting it rather than following the guide on the book.

'but if such an easy method were to be used, it would've been taught in the book! what was i thinking? trying to get them to do something in the book when i haven't even tried it myself...'

she sulks as she watches the boys harvest the mandrakes below her.

marcille suddenly tensed up as she realised something.

'that's right, i haven't tried it yet. i'm gonna show them that the book's method is the right way to do it! then they'll see...'

she smirked menacingly, imagining the boys crawling back to her while begging for her forgiveness for doubting her.

"now, what can i use other than dogs..."

she looks around as she grabs a rope, and she perked up at a sudden idea popping up in her head.

"that's right, monsters! this floor is chock-full of big bats. they should all be sleeping in their nests now."

and so marcille snuck off from the party with her rope in hand, tying one of the ends of the rope to a mandrake before climbing up a tower and looking around for a big bat's nest around the area.

'i hope this works... the book doesn't say anything about how much strength it takes to yank these out.'

marcille panted and tried to catch her breath as she held herself up with her staff, scouting the area.

when she found her target, she sighed at the thought of walking down the tower once again to make her way to the nest to set up the trap.

"you'll know it's a big bat's nest by all the dung."

marcille finished setting up the rope trap as laios' words echoed in her head.

'i can't believe laios' trivia would actually come in handy...'

"now, i just need to go back to the tower so i won't hear the scream."

going back to the tower where she previously climbed, marcille prepares herself to initiate her plan.

"i can hit it from here easily!"

starting her spell, the elf girl raised her staff up.

"aire faum orbis!"

fire shot out of the girl's staff and hit right against the tree or rather the nest of the big bats, and it took a fee seconds before glowing red eyes blinked open one by one inside.

all of a sudden, multiple bats began flying out of the nest while squeaking, and one of them was fortunately caught in the trap and had began pulling the rope as it flew high.

"yes! it worked!"

marcille cheered as the mandrake was pulled out of the ground and started screaming, but her celebration soon turns into pure, genuine horror when she realised that the giant bat was heading straight to the tower where she was at.

"ow, what the hell was that?"

chilchuck winced as he covered one of his ears, and the other two looked up at the sudden scream.

"marcille..."

laios muttered, the cog in his brain slowly turning as he registered what was happening.

'you know, experience is important. for example... now i know that using a big bat instead of a dog is a stupid idea.'

marcille gasped, feeling like her world is in slow motion as the bat crashed into the tower.

"marcille!"

the guys ran to the tower immediately, reaching the floor where marcille was at.

"is she dead?"

they looked around before quickly spotting marcille sat on the ground, hugging her knees close with her eyes unfocused and her ears twitching.

"oh, hey there."

the elf girl didn't respond to laios as she continues to remain unfocused, seemingly too out of it to even hear them.

honestly, she looks like that one fish meme.

"so you really did it, huh? and used a big bat of all things? that's stupid"

chilchuck picks up the mandrake that had stopped screaming, glancing at the spaced out marcille with a click of his tongue like a disappointed father. (haha get it?)

marcille lowers her head in her arms, and the two approach her in concern.

"hey, can you hear me? you okay there?"

both chilchuck and laios jumped when she suddenly looked up, her eyes not really looking at them. seriously, she looked like she smoked something.

"yeah, i can now feel better."

she said, talking with a lisp from how out of it she was.

"yeah, right."

chilchuck furrowed his brows with a scoff, and laios placed a hand on his shoulder.

"she heard the scream. let's keep talking to her and she'll eventually snap out of it."

leaning down, laios decided to keep the conversation going by asking her one of the most important questions.

"why did you do that?"

"well, i heard my party call me a burden, and i freaked out."

chilchuck gasped and covered his mouth in realisation, thinking to himself 'holy shit, that was me who said it' and ultimately regretting it.

"i do what i did to get back at them and make them grovel at my foot."

okay nevermind, he didn't feel that bad.

"why, you rotten—!"

"ah! calm down, chilchuck!"

"i feel like i'm in the way and not helpful, it makes me real sad."

marcille says as she hugs herself, still looking like a fish out of water.

the two glanced at each other with a small knowing frown, before laios spoke.

"the deeper and further we go in the dungeon, the tougher the monsters. we need your magic to keep us all safe. i don't want you wasting your magic when we're just three floors down."

laios smiled, while senshi hangs the bat up by its feet in the background.

"we all have our strength and weaknesses. and when things get crazy, i'm gonna need you to be ready for it. till then, we can take care of everything else. we like to feel useful too."

marcille keeps staring at the air, but she seems to be listening more intently this time as laios nudged chilchuck forward.

"c'mon chilchuck, tell her."

the half-foot groaned with red cheeks, crossing his arms in embarrassment.

"i was wrong to say you were a burden. you've been a big help since day one."

chilchuck looks back at marcille and was surprised when she was back to looking normal, gazing up at him with a thoughtful look before she pouts and looks away.

"say it more sincerely, shorty."

"i see you got your lousy attitude back, you little—!!"

after the group had settled down from the previous events, they look at their fresh caught harvest.

"this is nice, we've got a fat big bat and a plenty of mandrake harvest. what do you guys say we make some omelette?"

marcille held one of the basilisk egg in hand, poking the softness with a hesitant frown.

"are we 100% sure this thing's an egg? it looks nothing like any eggs i've ever seen."

"that's what a snake egg looks like."

laios chirps in, carrying the mandrake's in his arms.

"but the tail is the only snake part of it! all the chicken-y parts are the body."

"uh-huh. the chicken-y part's the tail."

marcille gasped in horror at the revelation, struggling to believe that the real body is the snake.

senshi suddenly spoke, pausing from peeling the mandrakes.

"hmm, this one is a different colour than the others."

"oh, you're right. that's the one marcille caught, it still has a head."

senshi studies the mandrake for a moment, comparing the two in his hands before nodding to himself.

"first, you chop the mandrakes up and stir-fry 'em for a bit. crack one egg open and mix 'em together in the pan, flip it around until it's nicely cooked."

as senshi finished cooking the omelette, he presented it to the party proudly.

"it's ready."

"compared to a chicken egg, this is yellower..."

chilchuck observed as he pokes one of  the two omelettes senshi made with his own spoon.

"this one has the mandrakes we harvested, and this one has the mandrake the elf girl picked using the big bat method."

senshi points to the left one first then the other.

"sure, keep rubbing it in, don't ya'?"

marcille groans from where she sat with her own omelette, looking out the window in complete irritation.

"mm, the one that has marcille's mandrake is less bitter and more velvety than the other one."

"yeah, it is good."

chilchuck and laios hums in delight, surprised by the flavour of the omelette.

"i guess it loses whatever toxins it has when it screams."

senshi comments as he closed his eyes in deep thought.

"the basic rule to cooking is the more effort you put in, the better the taste. i was so hell-bent on being efficient that i forgot that fact."

senshi then turned to the elf girl who was currently blushing, still pouting from what happened earlier but was clearly less tense now.

"my apologies, marcille. you and that cook book of yours were right."

"hey, this is not a cook book!"

"as thanks for pointing out my mistake, i've saved the tastiest parts for you."

marcille's jaw fell to the ground as senshi placed down fried heads of the mandrakes on her plate with his chopsticks, looking absolutely nightmare fuel with their permanent screaming face that looked like they stubbed their toe on something.

"i don't want itttt!!"

marcille shrieked out, literally crying tears of despair.

"i don't wanna keep eating these monsterssss!"

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"what?! you forgot to eat again??"

"i didn't forget."

looking back at my life in the academia, i was always scolded by marcille.

for not eating. for not bathing. for not studying.

for everything. even something as simple as not sleeping.

but it's not because i forgot. i simply just... don't care.

"geez, you always worry me you know?"

[name] had always been a strange girl. she doesn't care about classes, she skips all of them despite being offered the chance to do so by the head mage herself.

she doesn't eat, doesn't sleep, or even do anything in general unless you force her to.

just stand in front of her cauldron, creating her own magic that no one else could even replicate.

for someone who was only a chore girl around the campus, you'd think she'd jump at the opportunity of getting into a real class since she seems to have a deep passion for magic alchemy.

but no, she's just so... different. i can't find a proper word to describe her.

"marcille?"

i snapped out of my thoughts as i looked up and met gaze with those (e/c) hues that looks so... lifeless, to me.

"ah, sorry. was just thinking of something..."

"you can think about it later. i'll teach you how to make cloaking potions."

"right..."

i wonder, [name]... what do you dream of?

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—i just realised it takes me 2-3 days to update, sorry about that guys! >⁠.⁠< i usually get my inspo to write at night around 12 to 3am so it's pretty hard for me to finish this even if the whole day...

but i finished it! yay! :D

i think i'm just really in love with laios rn, i can't describe it i'm gonna cry i love this man sm

dw, [name] is gonna be here in the next chapters mweheheheheh >:3

also, i love chilchuck. idk how to describe it, i just love him and his fatherly side??? i love his daughters too, meijack gotta be my fav<3

i also *tried* to draw laios and marcille in digital art but i suck at it and prefer traditional so here's how they look ;-;

*p.s: i probably will never finish these bcs i never finish any of my art lol

i literal don't know what i'm doing so i'm sorry if it's bad ;-; i just recently got into digi art even tho my dream is to become an animator lol

anyways, that's all for now!! see you guys on the next update! here's your meme of the day!