Perkele takes a sip of some liquid and looks for a new prey. He sees Diane, who is talking to the elf king and queen. He drinks what remains of the strange liquid, turns the cup into gold and then into golden dust.
As the golden dust flows through his fingers for a moment, people take notice of this strange miracle-like feat. Perkele beats the golden dust from his hand and then goes to talk to the elves who have noticed his miracle.
Mori asks Perkele "Was… that just now… gold?"
Perkele smirks and says "It was. Interested? You might be able to scoop some before a cleaner comes through or some other snob takes it."
Mori doesn't take lightly being implied to be a snob and says "Now listen here. I am Moriamas Highgreen. The king of Hearth. As astonishing as your feat may have been, you should talk to me with respect, human."
Perkele is astounded by Mori's unawareness of who he is talking to, but before he can say anything, Miere whoops in as well and says "And not only a human, but probably some lowborn criminal who has some sick pride keeping the chains on him for such an event. That dust probably is just some shiny sand that you used in your little magic trick. Go and leave the banquet if you have at least some dignity."
Perkele starts to smile heartily and then taps the elf pair on their shoulders in joy. Perkele laughs and says "Sure, sure. Your highnesses! I'm just a nobody who weirdly got an invitation. Don't you think it is weird they let people like me into a place like this? It should tell a lot about the character of that blood sucker now that she is head over heels for some human king or something. Truly… to you know that the hosts have some screws loose when I come to the party."
Mori shouts "Unhand me you pest! Where are the guards to let noble elves get tarnished by some human criminal?! Guards! Guards!"
Diane tries to calm Mori by saying "Don't you think it is a bit untasteful to call guards here? Calm down and think rationally. There are gods in this banquet. Gods. You understand?"
Mori says as he has an idea "That's it. I must pray for judgement for this human scum. Pray that gods may intervene and smite this filth!"
Perkele claps his hands together and says "And the gods shall answer you, Moriamas Highgreen!" Then he opens his arms to introduce himself "I am Perkele. The god of debauchery, depravity and defilement! Now tell me…"
Perkele grabs Mori, who just realized he was badmouthing one of the most notorious gods of Lutah in his face, by the shoulder, gives out a creepy salesperson smile and says "How… May… I… Help… You… Your… Highness?"
Mori's legs give out, as well as Miere's, as they try to process the situation. Neither of them dared to look for help, as they were now in full gaze of the monster of their bedtime stories.
Diane defuses the situation by saying "Now now… Don't you think you are scaring these two a bit too much, o magnanimous Perkele? Let's let them cool off a bit as your presence might be too much for them to handle at the moment."
Diane managed to get Perkele's attention to herself and Perkele said with a much calmer smile, "My goodness. I haven't been called magnanimous in ages. You are… Ah… I know you. You are one of the most influential people in Rusteror. The matriarch Diane. How does it go in your little sandy pithole you call a kingdom?"
Diane laughs Perkele's comment off and says "Haha… You sure make interesting remarks. We are doing fine. The silk industry is booming and while there have been some minor issues in spice trade, we are doing fine overall."
Perkele rubs his chin and says "I see. I see. So how is the human breeding program these days?"
Diane takes the hit and manages to say in a calm tone "It has seen better days, but soon it'll likely perish thanks to new laws being formed and Aquila guild's newfound interest in the region."
Perkele hums a bit and then lowers his head to Diane's level. This does not bode well for Lucina's opinion and she gets between her and Perkele to shield Diane.
Perkele doesn't seem to care for Lucina's defensive stance and says "You have a mighty fine looking cat with you. Who is she supposed to be?"
Lucina says "While I have respect for you being a god, I can't allow you to get your head close to the matriarch."
Perkele hums a bit again and asks with a creepy smile on his face "I'm sorry little cat. Did I ask you to talk?"
Lucina is visibly nervous now, but she manages to keep it together unlike the Highgreen couple. She says "I'm sorry. But please leave the matriarch's presence, lord Perkele."
Perkele hums and looks deeply into Lucina's eyes for a moment. Then he straightens his back and grabs Lucina by one of her shoulders and says "Why don't you have a little fun with me, kitten? You seem like you haven't seen action down there in forever. If you do that, I might just leave your dear lady alone for tonight."
Lucina is considering Perkele's proposal, as disgusting as it feels to her, but before she agrees, Diane says "It is fine Lucina. I'll just have a small chat with the magnanimous Perkele. Isn't that right, my lord?"
Both Perkele and Diane stare into each other's eyes for a moment, until Perkele closes his and removes his hand from Lucina's shoulder.
Perkele says to Diane "If you say so little lady. A talk is just a talk though, I would rather have a little taste of you as well."
Diane smiles confidently and says "Are you going to threaten me into doing something, o magnanimous Perkele?"
Perkele chuckles once and says "You start to annoy me a bit with that magnanimous line of yours. I do feel like making your old virgin ass beg for mercy, but since you have some guts and I am to be on my best behaviour during this banquet, I'm going to let that sweet ass rest for a few nights more."
Diane bows and says "I appreciate your generosity. You truly are a magnanimous god."
Perkele says with a smile on his face "Save it. So about that little Aquila guild. The one that is carried by the maiden of freedom Altair herself. What would interest that wind to blow on a sandy pit like your kingdom?"
Diane says with a sweet smile "After Faust and his crew investigated the Terrotertuska and came in contact with the star elves, the elder councilor Altair got interested about him and came down to reignite the collaboration between the star elves and the dark elves."
Perkele thinks as he rubs his chin "So the ever so righteous freedom sworn saw the human breeding program and finally did something about it. I got the picture now. I was going to talk to her later during this banquet about a few other matters, but now this has also piqued my interest more than I anticipated."
Then Perkele pauses for a moment, looks at Diane with a smile on his face and says "Now then. What is your opinion of humans? Seeing that you didn't join those two's…" Perkele points at the two high elves on their knees "little berate, I take that either you don't see eye to eye with these two regarding humans, you are indifferent about the matter, or you knew me from the beginning. Which is it sweetie?"
Diane says mischievously "Who knows. Why don't you take a guess since you seem to think so highly of yourself."
Perkele says "Ohhohho. What gave you that idea lassie?"
Diane says calmly "The air you have. You remind me of people who carry themself in an arrogant way."
Perkele gets excited and says "Dear me. And do tell, does your own smell mix there as well?"
Diane smiles and says "Who knows."
Perkele begins to chuckle heartily and says "You… I like you. I bet you will taste good when I get to you."
Diane says "Hope you won't disappoint me, o magnanimous one."
Perkele notices something from Diane and decides to get closer to her for a moment. Lucina doesn't dare to get between them this time and Perkele grabs Diane's shoulder.
Perkele notices a little twitch as his hand touches Diane's shoulder. He smiles and begins to caress Diane's neck up to the ear. Then he rubs the ear a bit and it was this point clear to Perkele that Diane was very anxious, maybe even scared.
Perkele removes his hand from Diane and looks at her for a moment. Diane, who doesn't know Perkele noticed how she was feeling, says to him in faked confidence "Had enough? After all this is over, I'm sure you will disappoint me once you visit me."
Perkele doesn't seem amused by Diane's act and does the usual. He sniffs the hand that touched Diane just now in an exaggerated way. This brings chills to Diane's and Lucina's spines and now Lucina can't help but go between Perkele and Diane.
Lucina says as she is shaking "Get away from the matriarch you creep."
When Perkele removes his hand from his nose, he gives an uncanny smile to the two dark elves. This almost makes Lucina pee her pants and Diane's legs to give out.
Then Perkele turns to the two high elves who have decided to try and crawl away. He says "And where does the one who prayed for my help and his wife think they are going? Don't they teach you to not call gods' names in vain?"
Perkele starts to say loudly enough so that people around them could hear "Hear ye hear ye! Two prideful high elves, the king and queen of the Hearth kingdom themselves, flee from a god who answered their prayers! Oh what a shame! A shame indeed!"
There are people who start to murmur amongst themselves. Some disapproved of the royal couple's actions against the divine. Some muttered how the royals of Hearth were crawling shamelessly in a grand banquet. Some make a sigh or two when they see that Perkele is at the center of it all again.
Meanwhile, Peretasha was looking after Trix, when she saw Toki and Tifa chatting with other guests. The moment Pere laid eyes on Toki, she knew that Toki was the supposed child of another her.
While Trix was munching away, Pere left to talk to Toki.
With authority in her voice, Pere said to Toki "Hey you. Are you the one the great Trixtitkitus calls her grandchild?"
Toki's back was facing Pere, and to surprise to Tifa, Toki seemed unable to turn around, let alone talk. Tifa asked Toki "You okay girl?"
Toki didn't make a peep. She was incredibly stiff the moment she heard Pere talk.
Pere says in an annoyed tone that still has some authority behind it "Answer me girl. Are you, or are you not what great Trixtitkitus claims you to be. I can sense an air of a dragon from you, yet I haven't seen you anywhere in dragon lands. Speak."
Tifa looks at Toki and says to Pere "I don't think now is a good time for her. Right, Toki?"
Pere gets irritated by this and shouts "If she is indeed born from the blood of a dragon matriarch, then she should be able to talk straight to my face! This girl I'm seeing now doesn't fit to be called my child."
Toki decides to run away from the situation and Pere screams after her "Hey! I was not done talking with you!" She tries to go after Toki, but Tifa grabs Pere's hand and says "Like I said, now doesn't seem to be a good time."
Pere looks at Tifa with an irritated look and asks "And who are you supposed to be? I can smell the stench of abyss from you. The same kind of stench the girl you called Toki also had."
Tifa says "I'm who people call Zolotifa. Blooddaughter of Maumar. And Tokiko's second mother."
Pere turns to face Tifa more seriously after hearing what she said and responds with "So you are the other woman who made me carry that disappointing looking child."
Tifa, getting annoyed, says "Just so you know, she is the Archon of the Abyss, so she is plenty impressive."
Pere jabs at Tifa by saying "But what I saw was a scared child unable to face someone like me. I don't buy it."
Tifa responds by saying "I don't know what got into her either, but let her be for now. Or else…"
Tifa exudes some of her power to Pere, who makes Pere even angrier than she already was. But instead of paying Tifa in kind, Pere admitted that "You truly are strong. But not strong enough to bewitch me with your power."
Tifa says "You think that I'd show all my strength in a place like this? I'm disappointed with how you see me."
Pere says "I sure hope so, or people have feared your existence for naught."
The two stare into each other's eyes for a moment. Pere's eyes that shimmer like gems of many colours stare at Tifa's now the deepest dark eyes that her true form has. Both have powerful looks in their eyes, measuring each other's strength.
Meanwhile Toki is on the balcony shaking, she mutters to herself "In the end, I couldn't face her. I still haven't changed."
Trix, who saw Toki run to the balcony, came to chat and said "You seemed to be in quite a hurry when you met Perere. Did you and your mom have a fight?"
Toki says, unable to face even Trix now "I just… I'm just not ready to talk to her."
Trix asks "Why not? I'm sure you talked a lot to other Perere when you were a child."
Toki says with sadness in her voice "I've never actually met my other mother."
Trix has a surprised look on her face for a moment, then anger comes over her and she turns to head back in the building with words "If Peretasha was that bad of a parent where you came from, then I have few things to teach this one better."
Toki turns around and grabs Trix's arm to stop her from making a scene. Toki says while still avoiding to look Trix in the eyes "It wasn't that she chose to. She was… never able to."
Trix is a bit confused after hearing that and she tries to think of an explanation. She asks "Was some political trouble preventing her? Did I in that timeline act like a pain in the ass grandma or something?"
Toki was unable to answer Trix's questions for a while. She let go of Trix's hand and walked to lean on the railing of the balcony. Then she said "She died before I hatched. Right when she was popping me out. I… never even saw you in that timeline."
Trix was speechless after hearing the truth. Something like Peretasha dying never even crossed her mind. The sheer thought seemed impossible to imagine. Yet here, the one who she had called her granddaughter, was telling that very thing she deemed impossible.
Trix put her hand to her mouth as she thought for a moment. What would cause the one and only Peretasha Xitolrta, the dragon god Trixtitkitus' most grandest of creations, to die when she laid her first and last egg.
Toki let Trix to ponder for a moment before Toki decided to say "Feel free to hate me if you feel like it."
Trix asked in bafflement "Why would I hate you? You didn't kill her. You said that you weren't even hatched yet, so why would I blame you? Did… the other me send a message that I felt that way?"
Toki says "No. She never contacted me. The moment the egg was brought back to Elysium, there was no contact between the dragon lands and Elysium."
Trix is thinking more than she has done in millennia and asks "Do… you know why that was?"
Toki answered with "No… No one told me why there was no contact between the two, I actually wasn't told who my other mother was before I made my Elysium eternal."
Trix thinks and thinks, but she can't seem to understand why her granddaughter experienced that. But as much as it worried her, she knew that Toki had to have thought about this for a very long time, only to be unable to find the answer herself.
Trix asks "And is there really no way to know the truth now?"
Toki answered "The only ones who might know are Maumar and mom."
Trix turns around and is about to leave and talk to Tifa, but Toki just says that "This Zolotifa isn't the version of herself that should know, though I'm unaware if Maumar has told her something."
Trix stops and realizes what she must do. She goes to Toki and asks "Turn around and face me girl."
Toki turns around but is unable to look Trix in the eyes. Hence, Trix grabs Toki's head and makes her look forcibly at Trix.
Trix says "Look at me into eyes, little one. Look deep in my eyes and listen well."
Toki struggles to look, but every time she looks away, Trix shakes Toki's head until she looks back at Trix's eyes.
Trix says "I don't know what happened to that Peretasha and why you were kept away from the dragon lands, but one thing I'm certain is this."
"It wasn't your fault."
Toki tries to deny it with "But, if I weren't there, she'd…", but Trix makes it clear by saying "Listen. Not your fault. You didn't choose to be born. Are we clear?"
Toki still tries to deny it with a "But…" but Trix tightens her grip on Toki and says "No buts. Not your fault. Not your fault. And I repeat once more. Not your fault. That's it."
It took a moment to settle in, but soon, tears started to form on Toki's eyes. Trix pulls Toki in for a hug and for a moment, Toki feels like a little child again. On the hands of a maternal figure.
And as this heartwarming scene was playing, Perkele was eavesdropping on the conversation Toki and Trix had.
A cheeky smile forms on Perkele's face as he mumbles to himself "Well, oh well. What an interesting piece of trivia. When I got a whiff of those three, I felt like an interesting story I was left out of. Niece calling this girl Archon of the Abyss and that story just now… Oh boy, I have so many ideas forming that I can't concentrate. But at the very least…"
Perkele starts to head in the direction Tifa and Pere were. He mumbled "I will have a feast after this is all over."
Perkele greeted Pere with a cheerful "Hey Perere! Long time no see!" He hangs his arm around Pere's neck and takes an opportunity to squeeze the front melon.
Pere immediately tries to hit Perkele with the back of her hand, but Perkele gracefully bends his back and dodges it.
Perkele says "My o my. Haven't we gotten feisty. I heard you have a little family drama going on here. How's life with the baby daddy? Any progress in this timeline?"
Pere tries to punch Perkele repeatedly and says "I am no one's mother!"
Perkele keeps dodging and comments "You manage to move like that in that kind of dress? Tell me who your tailor is since I want something that doesn't get damaged with that kind of tightness and movement."
Pere stops attacking and says "Why don't you come a little closer and I tell you."
Perkele says happily "Really? Thanks a lot. You know we sometimes just have to wear something that is durable, you know."
Perkele says this as he walks closer, and as soon as Pere's fist is about to reach his face, Perkele finishes saying "By the way, did you know the other you got taken out by a child?"
Pere stops her fist right before she hits Perkele's face and asks "What?"
Perkele says "Yeah." As he lowers Pere's hand with his own while he says "Apparently that Toki was the cause of another you's death. When she was still growing I might add."
Pere is deep in thought after what she heard. Tifa decides to ask Perkele "And how do you know that?"
Perkele makes his hands look like birds, flaps their wings and says "A little birdie told me a story of a lifetime. You really need to be there to appreciate the story fully."
Pere says "No. No matter what timeline I'm in, I wouldn't lose to someone who's still a child."
Perkele crosses his arms in disapproval and says "You sure about that. You sure you haven't lost in many… many timelines to a child? It is, like, incomprehensibly huge for even a god to imagine."
Pere asks "But why would she have trouble talking to me then?"
Perkele says in a tone that mocks Pere's intelligence "Aww. Little Perere can't figure out the awkwardness someone has for her. Too bad. Here, have a treat." Perkele grabs a treat from a server who passed by as he said it and offers it to Pere.
Pere says in an annoyed tone "You… Just…" Pere looks at Tifa and asks in an honest manner "As someone who knows her better, do you have any answers now, Zolotifa?"
Tifa answers with "If she felt proud of what she did, I doubt that she would have felt too scared to talk to you. Even if she would have been proud at one moment and then grow to regret it later, I don't see her acting like that. I feel like…"
Pere asks "Like?"
And Tifa finishes with "That… it might have been an accident."
Pere thinks out loud "An… accident…" And then gets annoyed and says "Well that just makes it worse. Why would she… Argh…"
Perkele claps his hands in satisfaction and says "Well done. While it didn't go as I hoped it would, you did get close to the answer. Congratulations! Here is a treat for you too, niece." He grabs another treat from a server as he had eaten the previous one and hands the new one to Tifa.
Tifa says "You deliberately made it sound worse than it was."
Perkele places his hand to his chest, raises the hand that has the treat as if he was giving a wow and says "Guilty as charged." Then Perkele eats the treat and says "But it is more fun this way, right? We get the blood pumping this way."
Pere says, still annoyed "So what really happened?"
Perkele places his hand in front of his mouth, smiles cheekily and says "Wouldn't you like to know."
Pere raises her fist and is about to punch Perkele as she says "You…" but perkele skidaddles like a rat bastard he is.
Pere held her fist up in annoyance for a while longer and then turned around to face Tifa. Then she says to Tifa quite sternly "Listen. Be sure to ask that child of yours what really happened, you hear? For some reason, I grow less angry at you three now and more angry at that poor excuse of a god."
Tifa says "I'll make sure to ask her, but something tells me that it won't come out as easily as we'd hope."
Pere says "Good" as she looks at Tifa with stern eyes. Then she says "I better go find what great Trixtitkitus is doing and make sure that there is more food to share with other guests."
Tifa says "Good luck with that." And with a nod, Pere leaves in search of Trix.
Meanwhile Perkele has found a quiet corner where he mutters "I was wrong about their profiles a bit. I kind of expected my niece to not talk kindly about that child. I need to adjust how I interact with her."
Perkele sees Pere looking for Trix and mutters "And her. The pride of a dragon is everything to her, so why did she relent so soon. And by the words of my niece to top it off."
Perkele looks at the people he has "interacted with" during the event and mutters "Others have been on the line I expect, but these two…"
Perkele is deep in thought and mutters "No matter. I'll have to just adjust how I interact with those two. Tokiko on the other hand…"
Perkele licks his lips and smiles "I don't have to worry about her too now."
Then Perkele starts to go look for his next victim.
Samael, who has been wandering around, bumps into Ult by accident, which makes Cardinal alert for a moment. As Samael falls to the ground, he immediately says "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I… too many people… for my… liking, you see…"
Cardinal says with authority in her voice "Who are you? State your business."
Ult grabs Cardinal's hand, which was about to pull the sword out of the hilt. She says "Calm down Cardinal. It was clearly a mistake. Right, my winged friend?"
Samael says as slowly gets up "Yes… accident… it would be… or it is… is it?"
Cardinal gets more suspicious at Samael, glares at him and says "He sounds suspicious, your holiness. Perhaps we should get the staff to remove him from the premises."
Samael, now up, tilts his head in confusion. Ult on the other hand just says to Samael, "Don't mind her, my winged friend. Since we are on a foreign land, she is a bit on the edge. I am the Pope of the…"
But before Ult could finish, Samael says "A pope? Are you… no you wouldn't… lie… or would you?... confusing. Don't sense… angel precedence… from you, yet… something interesting… we have med in the past… or have we?... yes… no… maybe… it is all too confusing in this noisy… place. Here, take… this… piece of… cake. We are at a… party now… or are we now?"
Samael hands a piece of cake not found in the tables on a silver plate that isn't found in the event. It appeared on Samael's hand like it always was there, and this makes Cardinal very suspicious of Samael.
Regardless of how Cardinal feels, Ult just takes the piece of cake on a plate that Samael offered and says "Thank you. But to be clear, I'm from Välynthar and I'm the Pope of that place. It might be a little confusing for people here, so sorry for the confusion."
Samael says "Is… that so?"
Ult says "Yes. And that being said, I don't think we have met yet."
Samael says "We haven't?... but… the energy inside you… so… familiar it seems. Maybe there? … Oh… but you wouldn't remember… I do though… so it's okay… Little Val seems happy… She is so active… there, but wonder if she… maybe not though… or will she?... Will… I?"
Cardinal's suspicion is changing to confusion, and Ult is getting a bit confused as well.
Ult asks Samael "You have met Valth'zar? I haven't heard her talk about an angel like you. What was your name again? I don't think you introduced yourself yet."
Samael gets a bit flustered as he starts to move his hands sporadically but slowly. He says amidst that moving "Oh um… forgive me for… what exactly?... Oh yes… name… My name is Samael… A humble priest from… where was it?... there… you know the place, don't you?"
Ult is about to say "I don't." But suddenly some place with Samael playing with some orphans comes to her head. She says "I… do know the place" as she feels as if she knows where the place is and how to get there.
Ult feels a little confused by this, but brushes it off as some memories from past Popes overlapping and says "Don't worry Cardinal. I know the place. Must be one of the past Pope's getting in my head.
Cardinal gets a little worried after what Ult said.
Meanwhile Lucious spots Samael, which confuses him, since he can tell that he is an actual angel and not one of the fallen ones that dye their wings white. He decides to go and greet him with his entourage.
Lucious starts with "Greetings fellow angel. I haven't seen you before, yet this event doesn't invite just anybody. Who might you be, good sir?"
Samael turns away from Cardinal and Ult and shakes Lucious' hand with glee "You are… the Pope… Yes, I'm certain… or… maybe not. This woman said… she was… but… different? Samael… my name."
Lucious responds with "Samael. I haven't heard anyone with that name in quite some time. But, she is a Pope, you say?"
Archinsecutor says with authority "Anyone impersonating the Pope with intent to fool others is punishable up to execution should the damage be category 3 or higher. Which one of you two claims to be the Pope?"
Cardinal gets between the Arcinsecutor and Ult and says "Hold on a minute. No one is impersonating anybody here. But if you dare to even attempt to arrest her holiness, I will have to take your life."
Archinsecutor says "Threatening church officials with intent is punishable with imprisonment depending on the level of the church official. In this case, the sentence will be…"
Lucious grabs Archinsecutor by the shoulder and says "I think there has been some misunderstanding here, Archinsecutor. I doubt that anyone here is foolish enough to claim to be the Pope unless they actually are one. That is also to say that there are other religions in Lutah, which may have a position of Pope in their titles."
Archinsecutor says with distress "But… the codex…"
Lucious responds by saying "While you are correct that impersonating me is a crime if there is foul intent, no one here has yet to claim to be the Pope of the holy church of Lutah, now has they?"
Archinsecutor stammers a bit, until she mumbles with a low voice "Understood. Your holiness."
Lucious smiles, nods and removes his hand off the Archinsecutor. Then he says to Ult and Cardinal "Forgive my companion here. She has a good heart, but she is on the edge in this event due to the middle realm people being invited here. As you heard, I'm the Pope of the Holy church of Lutah and my name is Lucious Pon Enkel III. Who might you be to lighten my presence?"
Ult comes out from behind the Cardinal and says "Greetings, Pope of the Holy church. Me and my companion are from Välynthar and I'm the Pope of the church there. Because of our religion, I can't state my real name, but my companion's name is Cardinal and she guards me the church and its ideals, like I assume this Archinsecutor does."
Lucious grabs his chin in interest as he says "I see. That is interesting. I'd like to know more about how things operate there. Do you mind having a private chat amongst us two Popes after this part of the event is over?"
Ult says "I'm sorry, but we of Välynthar feel uneasy when we aren't in our homeland, so I'd like to go back as soon as possible. I apologize if this comes out as rude."
Lucious nods in understanding as he says "I see. Well, do you mind sharing your short time here chatting with me? I'm sure we have a lot to talk about."
Ult says "That works for me, but wouldn't you need to talk to other people as well? I take it that building connections is as important a part of this land's culture as it is in our land's."
Lucious nods and says "I will go talk to others, yes, and I won't take all of your time here hopefully. Since you don't plan to stay too long outside your homeland and I plan to stay for the whole duration, I can have the time to talk to you as much as you wish. Of course, that is if you don't want to talk long with me, that is also fine.
Ult says "No no. That wasn't what I was getting at. Let's have a long chat right here."
Lucious says "Excellent, but isn't the cake you are holding missing something?"
Ult looks at the cake and says "Does it?" She then notices that it doesn't have any cutlery.
Ult asks Samael "Excuse me Samael, how did you plan to make me eat this? Did you drop the spoon while we collided earlier?"
Samael says "With hand we usually… oh… oh right. Fancy party… we have here… so cutlery we… should? Or should we?... Yes… sorry for my… mistake… here."
Samael, with an empty hand, puts his hand to the plate that Ult was holding. But when he removes it, there was a spoon beside the cake.
The people gathered there were confused and Lucious asked "How did you do that? Some kind of magic?"
Samael just says "Magic? What magic?... Yes… no… why there would be… I grabbed the spoon from… Mr. table." Samael pointed at the table and there was a basket with spoons similar to the one that was now in Ult's plate.
Ult says "I see. Some transportation trick you have here."
Rupalin says "I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like that in…"
Lucious says "Ah yes. Right right. I see what you did there. Nice trick, Father Samael. Haven't seen that in ages. You must be pretty on the edge of growing a new pair of wings to do that."
Samael is confused and says "Yes? No… what… oh yes… right right. The circumstances… The holy church and angels… yes… no… there I'm about that age… diligent studies… no, yes… yes."
Archinsecutor and Rupalin get suspicious of both Lucious and Samael.
Lucious says "Right, right. Do you plan to leave early during the banquet, Father Samael?"
Samael says "I… have someone taking… care of… the orphanage while… I'm here I think… Who was it again?... Peter?... Michael? Johannes?... But weren't they… No… Does it matter who is taking care of… the kids… Pope?"
Lucious says "As long as you trust them, then I think it is alright. I take it that you plan to stay the full duration, I trust?"
Samael says "Yes… No… No… Maybe yes… Don't know… I kind of… come and… come go… somewhere. To the church?... Orphanage?... Were they seperate again? I can't remember… yes they were… same… same as always… Pope is so… wise. Take care… of people… gods… and things… important… Maybe books?... I like books… When I can… concentrate… they are hard here… hard but… not there though."
Lucious says to Samael "Then I see you later, Father Samael."
Samael responds with "Yes… this is… oh, I get… it? Wanna me to… talk go… With people… Pope… so wise… so wise… wise… smart."
Samael leaves and bumps into other guests and apologizes each time in his usual confused manner. Some even get worried for Samael's health and ask if they should call someone to help him, but Samael makes it clear that he can take care of himself. Or does he?
But as Samael is bumping into people, Ult takes a taste of the cake Samael gave her. Once she takes a bite, she says "This is one of the best tasting cakes I have ever tasted. You should have a taste of this too, Cardinal."
Cardinal refuses at first, but once Ult holds the spoon with cake on it in front of Cardinal's mouth, Cardinal can't help but take a bite.
As Ult and Cardinal are taking in the cake's taste, Rupalin whispers to Lucious "Do you think that he is…" To which Lucious says "It is possible, but we can't be certain yet. Keep an eye on him and see if he does something that they usually do."
Rupalin answers, "Understood" and starts to follow Samael's suspicious behaviour. Archinsecutor asks "So you suspect that he is…" But Lucious stops her by saying "Quiet. But yes. He does show the symptoms. Yet… to be able to have a conversation at all when he's that old. But… since he was invited here as well by Mercy of Absolution, there is a possibility that he is just mentally undeveloped with some unique skills."
Archinsecutor says "But since Mercy of Absolution invited him, then there could be more than meets the eye."
Lucious says "Yes. But let's leave it at that."
Then Lucious turns to Ult with a smile on his face "So, about your religion…"