Being the only one from her group staying with the hero's party, Elicia felt a wave of boredom hit like a charging bull. But sleep wasn't for her that night. She'd been warned by her master to keep watch while everyone else slept. Thankfully for her, the rest were just as restless and couldn't get a wink of sleep. Anxiously rolling around on the many beds inside the single room, the hero and his companions struggled to put their thoughts to rest.

At times, one of them would get up and walk around by the foot of the beds. The sound of their footsteps disturbed the guests further, until eventually every one of them was sitting on the bed with nothing but their thoughts to entertain them.

Every moment of the night, punctuated by the sound of crickets and emphasised by the loud click of the clock, dragged on at a snail's pace. Slow, steady, but far from consistent, as the more the group paid attention to time, the slower it crawled than otherwise. Only kept sane by the reminder of their meeting with the sage, everyone had their back against the wall and their eyes boring in on nothing at all.

Who could've thought that even the Tower Grand could be so quiet? Thought those who knew what kind of place this was. Freya, Roxanne, and even Charlotte weren't too fond of staying in this place, while the rest were simply restless, and it was only Elicia who realized that each room was warped in a silence spell. Not a word said could bleed out, and not a noise from the outside could creep in. A perfect sanctuary for the noble students and their servants. Unless, of course, someone decides to knock.

"Who's that?" Elicia murmured, having just heard a knock on the door.

All eyes quickly turned towards it, but as nothing came after the first knock, they left it to the succubus to check it out herself. Walking with a pretense of confidence, Elicia opened the door, and to her surprise, beyond it was Glyea. Visibly tired, she'd dropped in to check on the group after a hard-won excuse from Cill's room.

"How's everyone?" She asked, scanning the room beyond the succubus.

Everything seemed okay at a glance, but the tension within her could taste it on her tongue. She herself wasn't free of that burden either, after all, dealing with Cill was worse than what anyone from her group had experienced thus far.

"Seems okay, I will go check on the rest…" Lowering her eyes to Elicia, Glyea her mouth to mask a yawn. "You… If you need anything, just come find me, alright?"

'What was that about?' Gone as quickly as she'd arrived, Glyea disappeared down the hall. Elicia was visibly confused by the sudden visit, but once she closed the door, the succubus in her could not bear to simply sit around in the awkward silence.

"Are you two really dating each other now?" Eyeing the hero and fox-girl, she kept a smirk curtained behind a concerned look. Taking a step closer to the bed being shared by the two, she felt many a hasty eye turn to her. "Being siblings, even if you do not share parents, isn't it quite the scandal? Shouldn't you avoid a taboo in your relationship?"

Despite being an outsider trying to jump into their business, Freya couldn't help but agree, and as her head turned to Rudy, she was nodding her head at the priestess's words without realizing it. Audrey had just lifted her off the wall when the attention turned to them, but before she could say a word, even Roxanne decided to jump in.

"I do think it's a little strange…" She said with a partially suppressed grimace.

"Leave them be," Charlotte retorted, lightly punching the healer on the side.

"She's right! It is weird!" Freya exclaimed, her head wildly waving between the two beds where the back and forth was taking place. Stuck in the middle, she couldn't help but speak her mind now that someone else had finally addressed the elephant. "You grew up as siblings, and now you want to date each other, it's bizarre! People will mock you forever, and in case–in the unfortunate case–you ever have kids?! I can't imagine what they will have to go through!"

"Exactly!" Elicia exclaimed, adding further fuel to the fire.

"SHUT UP!" Growling at them all, Audrey wore her rage as red as pepper.

"C-can we not talk about this?" Placing a hand on her shoulder, Rudy tried to calm the situation, but Audrey brushed his hand off her shoulder. Looking at him with just as fierce a gaze, she appeared as though she was ready to claw his face. "Sorry…"

"You always back down so easily, say something!" She demanded, but Rudy looked over at his mother, and the rest, words quickly escaped him.

Taking advantage of the situation, Elicia blew at the embers with her lips.

"He isn't the only one with such problems, is he?" Shifting his gaze to Freya, Elicia smirked. "I overheard your quarrel about you and Custer being secret lovers, Freya. Sleeping with a boy your son's age, maybe he did learn such perversion from you."

"Wha-" Being suddenly called out, the words got stuck in Freya's throat. Too stunned to speak, she stared at the priestess and tried to come up with some lousy excuse to get out of the situation. But before she could stumble on anything, Audrey jumped on the chance and began insulting her.

Soon enough, the entire group had something to say, and the once quiet room turned into a chamber of cacophony. Relishing in the chaos, Elicia smiled to herself and kept adding fuel to the fire.

"Charlotte, as if you're one to speak, weren't you after your own nephew and now going after the merchant boy?"

"H-how do you…" Revealing secrets left and right, Elicia spent the rest of the night making life hell for everyone around her. And though she may have turned into an enemy of everyone inside that room, what mattered to her in the end was being a nuisance and enjoying every second of it.

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