Chapter 212 - Fault

"Mom! Over here!" Von shouted to Venedette who was still busy inspecting the hallways.

"What is it?" she said while giving instructions to the guards.

"I found something glowing over here!" Von said and urged Venedette to come look at what he was talking about.

"Make sure to check every corner of this place, we don't want to burn the castle now, do we? I'll just be right back in a minute."

"Mom! Come on!" Von said and impatiently dragged Venedette to come with him to one of the roofs of the castle.

"Can you see that?" Von asked and pointed at a glowing magma-like rock just by the edge of the roof, threatening to fall any minute now which Venedette immediately went to and grabbed it with her own hands.

"Mom! Wait! Isn't that thing an active magma?!" Von exclaimed while watching Venedette carry the melting rock with her iron fists away from the edge of the roof.

"It's called Foerus, the element of fire," Venedette said while carefully examining the rest of the roofs for more of them..

"Isn't it hot?" Von asked and reached out to touch it, but without even an inch away, he could already feel the fire coming from within this melting rock with lava inside of it.

"It is, but I'm used to it," Venedette said and hopped to another roof to retrieve another Feorus from it.

"It's like clay, but made of lava."

"So this was the reason why that mad scientist took Feorus and Black lily powder at the same time, he was really trying to set the whole castle on fire!"

"What?! That's what Lei just exactly said!"

"Well they're not wrong," Venedette said and told Von to help her look for Feorus on the edge of the roofs.

"When did he put all of this here? If this melts down completely to the hallways I'm sure the Black lily powders would activate immediately and spark across the hallways. What a dangerous plan for someone who's surrounded by his enemies."

"That is why I said taking him as Petunia's pet just because she whined isn't a good idea at all," Von said and shrugged before searching for more Feoruses again.

"You're right. And the fact that we left him here while we went away for a trip…" Venedette said, pondering over that reckless decision that she made or forgot to do even.

"Lei said they're coming right back up," Von said while passing through Venedette in the sky.

"Are they okay? They just suddenly stopped sending replies earlier."

"They're fine now, but something happened to Petunia and Lei wanted us to see for ourselves."

"Alright then, we should also thank them for noticing the missing ingredients in the basement and preparing us for a disaster."

"What's up with these outsiders and their obsession with fire?" Von asked himself and notified Venedette of another Foerus that he saw just hanging around the edge of the tower's roof.

***

"Petunia just left a message, she said they're fine," Fily said which made Gem sigh in relief.

"Thank goodness for that. I was so worried when they suddenly got out of touch and Petunia's stats started breaking down," Gem said while holding her necklace before proceeding to inspect the little glass shards on the walls of the short tunnel that Fily and Petunia purposely destroyed back then.

"Lei probably used the potion again on her," Fily said.

"Is that safe?"

"Maybe. There's nothing really dangerous about the ingredients that Heize used to create that potion but the way she created it was just a surprise to me. So I don't really know if it's a hundred percent safe or not anymore," Fily said, sounding a little bit disappointed and annoyed about that thing that she was restricted to learn about.

"Actually, I might have an answer for that," Fily said and positioned herself against one of the walls towards the end of the tunnel, "Can you keep watch while I search for things inside my head?" Fily asked Gem who just immediately nodded at her.

"Sure," Gem said and sat down on one of the large pieces of debris of the old mall underground like how she would sit down on a chair.

"Okay, just call me when you need my help," Fily said and proceeded to drown herself in her mind palace again.

"Call mom," she said as soon as she arrived in her desk space and subsequently searched for her brother's name from her contacts to also interrogate him.

"What is it?" Fily's mom suddenly said without even a notice of entry to her connection but Fily just let it go.

"Why can't I learn about the inventions from other countries? Is that some kind of rule in the country's constitution? Because if it was, then maybe I have also never heard of it before."

"Why are you asking me that? If it's not in your memories' archives then it's probably not true."

"Right, so there's no rule like that?" Fily asked while also typing a very long message to her brother, complaining about potentially helping their enemy again.

Fily: It was you, wasn't it? You're the only one who would have done this. I know you're not assigned to Clandamascarene but why do you keep messing up with my mission?! Do you know how hard it is to keep the peace here?! Actually, the more important question is, do you want me to die?! I know we're not close but we're still siblings you know!? Just wait until mom hears about this.

Fily sent and took a deep breath with her physical body to calm herself down.

"Stop asking those kinds of questions, you're making me look like I raised a dumb daughter even though she has the knowledge of more than three generations in her mind," Riveth said and attempted to end the call which Fily totally expected she would do.

"Wait! Before you go I have something I need to tell you," Fily said while reading her brother's immediate response to her message.

Koya: What are you talking about?

He simply said.

Fily: You really don't know? You think I wouldn't know that it was you who helped that mad scientist escape from Petunia's lab and even gave her the map to this castle which I'm very positive that you got from my mind while you were hacking me! 

Koya: NO, why would I do that? I'm not the one who's hacking here, remember? You're the one who hacked me! Your assumptions are getting more irrational now sister. Have you been eating emotions lately?

Fily: Shut up, if you won't tell the truth I'm really telling mom to stop you from reaching Clandamascarene ever again.

Koya: Hey! Listen to me! I'm telling the truth! It's really not me! Why would I give that pawn a map to the Princess' castle and a plan to burn your castle? That's just insane!

Fily: I didn't tell you anything about burning the castle, brother. You just exposed yourself to both me and mom. Thank you for that.

Fily said and then ended the conversation forcefully.

"Did you see that mom?!" Fily said and groaned out of frustration.

"That damn bastard had been sabotaging my mission since you let those crones come here?! Is this also a part of the Queen's plan?! To burn Venedette's castle down?!" Fily said in frustration while still on a call with her mom.

"O-Of course not! Why would the Queen order me to do something so unthinkable to her daughter?"

"Exactly! So help me stop this mom! Let me have access to that guy's Stat-hut or just completely ban Koya from ever reaching this country's server ever again. This is my domain! He's not supposed to be able to just have access to my domain anytime he wants. He's not even thinking about my safety anymore!"

"Fine. If I do that would you stop whining like a powerless child? Thank the gods I'm in a light mood right now or I would have rejected your proposal and just let you two just figure things out on your own even if it meant getting on each other's throats."

"As if we could do that," Fily said and sighed.

"There, I reprimanded your brother already, he shouldn't be able to access anything from this country ever again, more especially his comms with the outsiders," Riveth said and then paused while looking like she was reading something which made Fily a little bit nervous of what it was based on Riveth's serious look on it.

"What is it?" 

"Your brother was telling the truth. He was not the one who gave those orders to that mad scientist but only delivered the message without knowing what was inside of it."

"And you believe him? You know that guy is full of lies, right?"

"No, there's footage of it happening inside the dungeons," Riveth said which made Fily more confused about what was happening and whose fault was it really.