09. Summer Break I

As the school year comes to a close, group D decides to venture to the humble abode and origins of Caysili, heading towards Lotholm. Upon arriving, they are greeted with open, loving arms by Sisi's mentor, Veronica. She shows everyone her cottage, and shares a very delicious pie with the whole party. Over the course of the night and following morning, Sisi notices that many aspects of the cottage are not quite what she remembers.

In the morning, Ariza of Freedom wakes up to Veronica making breakfast for everyone. Ariza finishes breakfast quickly as Veronica heads out to the garden, warning Ariza to not open the closet door next to the stairs. Ariza, of course, makes his way to open the door, but before he is able to do so, the rest of the party wakes up and descends the stairs for breakfast.

On their way out the door, Veronica decides to join the party when they head in town, running upstairs to get ready before leaving. Gabimaru Narumi and Ariza immediately break for the closet door, finding a basement, one that Sisi swears never existed before. In the basement, there laid a large, shackled door with runes drawn all over. Ignoring said runes, Gabimaru smashes the door down, revealing some sort of experimentation room inside.

The door makes a large noise, and Veronica quickly descends to investigate, as well as the whole party. Veronica warns them to stay outside the door before she descends. She immediately gets hostile at Ariza and Gabi, using magic to fling Ariza into a nearby wall. She casts a spell later identified as Modify Memory on Gabi, charming him, threatening to remove his memories of the encounter. However, worried the party runs down, and after a tense argument between Sisi and Veronica, the party manages to swiftly detain and incapacitate Veronica.