❀ ❛ SERAPH OF EARTH.

Standing up, a stretch he then bent down to pick up Pupbo. Hearing some sounds from the kitchen it meant the owner was awake. But besides that, nothing else stirred. Looking Pupbo in the face he sighed. "Do you think I look presentable? Though I don't know why I would need to. It's just a silly dance."

The normins, much to her pleasure, all happily agreed to play along with her plan when she explained the plan. The normin dance actually does not exist, merely being a joke Edna enjoys pulling out for the gullible people ( Meebo ), but the normins were all amused and felt happy enough to contribute anyway. They would make up the dance choreography while she’d make up a song for it——because you totally can’t have a dance worshiping normins without a cute song.

A little after when the sun starts rising up, she hears familiar barking noises while she’s coaching the normins back at where they first found Pupbo, behind the sanctuary. The normins all grin at Meebo when he arrives, happily vowing to never tell a soul upon his condition. ❝ I won’t tell anyone either, ❞ Edna adds, eyes twinkling. Heheheheh.

She instructs the normins to line up, then gestures at the center empty spot in between two normins, telling Meebo, ❝ You can stand there and then copy what they do. I even have a song prepared, but we can go without it this time. Only Pupbo is going to watch, so just time yourself, got it? Start! ❞

Such is a Kresnik's work...

'It was folks from the inns I volunteer at.' Yes, plural. Rumors are okay as town gossip, but once they spread? They get twisted more and more till problems do arise. Thus, he's here. 'If it were just "Eek, floating bones!" I'd think it was just a prank. But I heard over and over a green gremlin was controlling them and it's better safe than sorry.'

He volunteers at an inn? She has no time to demonstrate her mild surprise in favor of the exasperation she is starting to feel. His concern does make her feel a little guilty. Just a little. Onii-chan’s brows were always furrowed whenever she came home late, hence why Edna always told Sorey beforehand if she wandered somewhere alone during the journey, so it’s not like she doesn’t understand Ludger’s concern.

But still. She’s the earth seraph who helped Shepherd Sorey stop Lord of Calamity Kittybeard. It’ll take more than a ‘green gremlin’ to put her in any real danger. Actually, she is quite offended he thinks she’d go down that easily, so he deserves some mild retribution for it.

❝ A green gremlin? ❞ Would Ion find that amusing? Or would he feel offended that all of his work was only good enough to warrant nothing else more terrifyingly, ominous-sounding? ❝ I know there used to be giant ogres roaming around here when the malevolence was still rampant, but I don’t remember any gremlins. ❞

After a week after Edna's prank time with Ion, Ludger has since come to pay a visit yet again. Although unlike his usual visits, he's ditched the travel pack for nothing except his twin swords, a notepad, and a couple tomato cream puffs for snacks. And his expression is a stark departure from his uncompromising ray of sunshine attitude.

When Ludger reaches Lady Edna's side, he begins twirling his pen as he debates how to phrase the news. After a few moments, he decides to confront things head on.

From how solemn and grim he looks, she had been under an impression that he had witnessed something deeply tragic——but when she reads the notepad this time, she pauses; blinks and wonders how successful the prank was if even someone from the Kresnik Clan knows about it. Ion definitely went wild with the whole performance, but Edna didn’t know it had that much of an impact …

Then again, she thinks, humans will be humans.

And now that Ion had his fun, it’s Edna’s turn.

Is it a bad habit? Yes. Will many sheets be torn and plates destroyed in his efforts? Most certainly. And yet no amount of logic has changed his feelings after so many years. All to chase the vain hope that somehow, someday, he'll finally get it right. Although if Ludger ever told him to stop trying? He'd be a bad brother to ignore his wishes.

But so far, he hasn't yet. And Ludger's brief yet nonetheless warm look tells him he's not planning to.

"One layer would be cake, then pudding on top of the cake, and ice cream on top of the pudding. That way, hellions of any texture bias has a pick waiting for them," See, his joke still has some fight in it! And speaking of fight.... "As for who'd make them, I know another good chef who's not especially busy. He's rather touchy about strangers knowing his name, so that's all I can say." Any more might summon an angry Victor from under a rock.

His cockiness doesn't hold up long as his reaction is met with harsh, harsh punishment: a lecture, and a whopping -100 points. Which meant either he's at -10 points, or even worse, -90 points if his performance wasn't weighted to 90/100. All because he slipped and a joke seriously...

"I... suppose I can't complain for failing to recognize such an obvious joke...." Julius attempts to accept his defeat gracefully, yet he can't swallow the shame burning on his face. Meanwhile his mind is working overtime to piece together how he fixes this without acquiring more negatives.

Arguing? Terrible idea. A joke? Risky given his ability to step on delicate subjects. Begging for forgiveness? Can't ruin Ludger's image of him.

That left the final option: a simple, direct question. It should be fine. Surely.

‘Things he’s good for don’t help with chores’? She’s not even going to venture further, knowing that he is quite the enigma.

❝ I’ve never such courteous service towards hellions before, ❞ she flatly remarks, still unimpressed. As if the hellions would actually care, but she’s pretty sure he knows that too. ❝ Why would he get touchy over that? ❞ That person sounds like another weirdo. In fact, the entire Kresnik Clan seems eccentric, to put it lightly. Not really in a bad way; she acknowledges the sense of humor, even if some of them are a little slow on the uptake.

Case in point: ❝ Mhm. Yes, you should repent for it. Failure to distinguish jokes is a transgression upon the laws of comedy. ❞

Ordinarily, the role of the funny person is her while the tsukkomi role belongs to Meebo, and Dezel on occasions back when he was still around——but when she’s with Lailah, the roles reverse and Edna is forced to maintain balance in the comedy realm by being the reluctant tsukkomi. She is unsure of which role to perform with Julippy, honestly. The manservant bit just now proves that he makes a terrible tsukkomi to her boke, and a successful comedy routine cannot function with two boke people. Tsk.

When he asks how to regain his points, she squints at him and ponders. Given his attitude thus far, he could very easily spin some sort of joke out of this to try saving face, but it seems that he’s playing safe this time. At least the concept of bad manners is not lost on him. ❝ You can start by working on your comedy skills. Try coming up with a routine that will impress me with your comedic timing. Feel free to partner up with Lurin if you want. ❞

" Jeeze, I g-get it! Alright! " It feels like a scolding from Gramps, just WITHOUT the painful round of smacks to the head with a wooden cane--- Edna's trusty parasol, though, is a close second when it comes to how LITTLE he enjoys being assaulted with it, but he's fortunate enough he hadn't tested her nerves enough to lead her to BRANDISH it... yet.

--- or, she can just substitute it for a punishment that would hurt his PRIDE more than his actual body. Frighteningly strategic, bratty, mean, scary, no good--- " You cannot be serious. NEITHER of those options is an appropriate form of RETRIBUTION for the offense! I'm NOT doing it! "

Seriously? She squints when he actually turns around, his back to her, his arms crossed, as if he is done with the world ( her, she knows ). He really is such a boy … A boy throwing some sort of tantrum and being a stick in the mud.

Edna shakes her head, knowing that things will only escalate from her annoyed mood and his … whatever tantrum he’s doing. She meant to simply to mess around with him as usual, but those words he described her with earlier destroyed all semblance of harmless joking for her. If he wants to be such a stick in the mud, then she’ll let him get stuck in the mud forever. Maybe she’ll just go find Lailah or Rose to kill time with since some boys here are clearly still boys: insensitive and always putting their foot where their mouths are——

"Oh believe me, I will have such fun. And it would cure his own boredum. After all when was he last time he struck fear into the hearts of stupid humans. A long time he would wager. Since to most he simply looks like a sweet innocent young man, however that was just a false mask which concealed something more darker.

Continuing on his way down the path, Ion soon came upon a good pile of bones. "These will do. Oh and by all means you are more than welcome to take on a secondary role. We'll give them a show they will not forget. Now, let us begin." Holding a hand out, his eyes closing and a glow beginning to surround his body. Ion began the spell to make the bones awaken.

Heh. She likes Ion. He knows how to have fun in a way that wouldn’t bore her with geeky talk over ruins, which was the norm she had to put up with. Edna watches him work, seeing him glow as he casts some sort of arte on the pile of bones. She watches the bones rattle and jangle, mildly impressed. Yeah, a random human might get spooked by this.

❝ It’s rare of them to come, but when they do, they’re usually here to place their offerings on the shrine and pray. Surely you must’ve passed by a shrine on the way up here. ❞ It’s definitely hard to miss since there’s only one path leading up to where she is. This mountain is the largest one in the area, but there actually aren’t that many pathways on it either. Some eroded away when the land naturally shifted and changed, making it quite barren.

She turns around to lead him to the shrine, expecting him to follow. ❝ We could wait for them there. Just don’t get bored from waiting. This isn’t exactly a place where humans are excited to go to, you know. ❞

--Although part of that might be the sleepiness hitting as he's trying to keep his head upright. Which his body's quick to agree when another yawn escapes his mouth. Good thing he got Lady Edna's blessing to go to bed because he'd last maybe another hour tops.

A full night's worth of sleep, here he comes!

The cave Lady Edna guides him to is as she promised: roofed and completely hellion-free. There's enough smooth patches that he should be able to dust away any pointy pebbles for a mostly comfortable sleeping experience. And residing in the home of a powerful Seraph like Edna, he's confident he doesn't need to sleep with one eye open lest he be a corpse in the morning.

'I can work with this. Thanks again for letting me stay!' Ludger is sure to bow as he presents his message.

Now for getting to bed. From his always faithful travel bag comes out a fluffy mat sewn by his own hands. Tiny pebbles are swatted away so he can lie it as flat as possible with no risk of surprise pokes. Next out comes a nice blanket he usually used for picnics, but it doubles as a top layer. And as for the pillow? His bag is packed so if he lays down on the bottom left corner, it's cushy enough without ruining anything.

And thus, once he's snug as a bug, Day 2 of his Shepherd's Seraphim Appreciation Tour ends. . . .

At about the midpoint of sunrise, Ludger finds himself still in one piece as he awakens. Despite the rough terrain underneath, his body had no issues unwinding for the night. And thus his energy levels for the day were near if not 100% full and ready to find the wandering Lord Mikleo and Lord Zavied! Though before he leaves, he did want to ask Lady Edna one thing. Is she--

Oh, she's actually right outside! A personal send off from a nice lady and the world co-savior is a flattery he doesn't deserve. And also one he'll treasure for years to come.

Being a seraph, of course, Edna didn’t even sleep, preferring to stay up and watch over the mountain as usual. Being a proper hostess is part of it, but it’s merely natural for her to keep an eye on her beloved home, especially when there’s company today. Ludger has proven himself a dork and certified master chef, greatly lowering the possibility of him desecrating Rayfalke behind her back, and so, she allows him the luxury of a full night’s rest in peace.

She’s already waiting near the cave before dawn even rises, staring at the horizon where the sun meets land. It’s a quiet and gentle start for the day as she watches him come greet her——

Until she reads the first message on the notepad. ❝ Better remember that feeling, because it’s a privilege a human like you will rarely get, ❞ she flatly says, unamused. He even drew a weird little face on it. Dork.

Edna considers the next message. It would be quite impolite to deny him such a simple thing for all he’s done. She wonders how his visit with Lailah turned out, whether or not Lailah also had to share campfire stories or impart more terrible puns onto him. He might have a blast getting along with Grampveid and Meebo if he actually enjoyed that, so she hopes he will conveniently neglect to mention the shrimp fossil story should he ever somehow find Meebo. Meebo will certainly know it was her who brought it up, given that they were the only two seraphim members who were actually present to witness and participate in the discovery.

❝ Sure. Just don’t come empty-handed. ❞ ( She isn’t sure if the Nii-san in question will be as easily welcomed, though. ) The earnest gratitude makes her lower the umbrella just enough to shield her face, then she grumbles, ❝ All right, I saw you off, so get going already. If you’re too slow, then you’ll be an old man by the time you find Meebo and Zaveid, dummy. ❞

But most of all, she’s just glad he didn’t have any intentions to rob or desecrate this place. Maybe Onii-chan could’ve gotten along with him.

She won’t be walking him down the mountain, but when she turns her back to him, she adds, ❝ And thanks, I guess. For the marron glacé, I mean. Bye. ❞ If he pays attention while he’s descending the path, then he might notice that she’s standing close to the edge that lets her see him on his way back to the entrance. She won’t wave at him, but she’ll keep an eye on him until he’s officially gone out of sight.