Twisted Wonderland Book 6: The Watchman of the Underworld

Chapter 49: Strange Advances

Idia and Ortho explain what they have to tell Briar and Vil.

Vil is shocked to hear it, "Rook and Epel followed us all the way here?!"

"And Sereia, Jasper, Tanzanite, and Trinket are with them?!" Briar asks, surprised.

"Please, tell me you're joking!" Vil adds, still shocked.

"Wish I was, dude," Idia says, "Their attack's gonna go down as the wildest thing to ever happen at Styx.

"What possessed them to do such a thing? Were they actually trying to rescue us?" Vil asks.

"Well, four of them are hoping to rescue you guys. They were very determined," Ortho says. Then happily says, "It's sweet that you have friends who really cared for you, Briar."

Briar giggles, "That's very sweet of them."

Then Idia turns to Ortho, "Ortho, go on and give him the stuff Rook and Sereia brought."

"Roger," Ortho says.

He walks off for a second, and then returns with the items, "Here you are, Vil Schoenheit. A full set of your preferred skincare products! And for Grim! A bag of tuna cans!"

"...I beg your pardon?" Vil says, dumbfounded.

Briar giggles.

"RIGHT?! That's the normal reaction!" Idia says, "When Rook came flying up to the island on that broom. He held out those bottles and was like, 'You must give these to Vil!' And I swear every Styx staffer there just froze in place.

"He said he was here to rescue his boon companion from mortal peril," Ortho adds.

Briar soon begins laughing, "What?"

Even Vil starts laughing.

And then says, "I could hug and kiss all of them right now. Then I'd slap them in the face." And then says, "I thought I was used to Rook's antics, but this truly takes the cake. And then there's Epel and Briar's friends! I explicitly told them not to get involved. They just never listen. I must give them a stern talking-to once we get back. They need to understand how foolish this was. But since they were kind enough to bring it all, l gladly take it." and takes his cosmetics

"Thanks Ortho, I think Grim would appreciate it," Briar says, and takes the bag of can.

However, Vil notices something odd and mutters, "Hm? This serum..."

"Something wrong?" Ortho asks, confused.

But Vil says, "Oh, no, not really," and looks at the bottle, "This isn't what I normally use. It's a high-end product imbued with a special cantrip. After seeing how violently the Charon troops dragged me off. Rook must've feared I was in dire straits."

They knew they didn't stand a chance, yet they came after you anyway," Ortho says, "Rook and the others must be really caring friends."

"Uh, what they did was way beyond 'caring.' More like creepy, TBH," India says, sounding a bit annoyed.

Then Vil says, ""Heh. Rook can certainly be eccentric, but once you get used to it, you see he's quite affable and honest. Honest to fault sometimes, and utterly devoid of tact... But regardless, he's ensured I'll be in top form for my photo shoot next week. I imagine not every subject is allowed to receive care packages from the outside. Thank you, Boss."

"Eh, no biggie. I just threw a howling beast a bone. Had to calm him somehow," Idia says.

"That's mean," Briar says with a frown.

Then Vil says, "You really do have a special talent for getting on people's nerves. Well, if we're all done, then I'll return to my room.

"Yeah, cool. Later," Idia says.