Into the World of Twisted Wonderland

🐙The Merchant from the Depths🐙 Chapter 30

Ruggie and Leona were walking outside of Octavinelle dorm, heading to the Dark Mirror, leaving the commotion of the Mostro Lounge. Ruggie only snickers.

"Shyeheehee! Managed to swipe 'em without a hitch, huh?" Ruggie asks Leona, who only smirks at him.

"Y'know, your compulsive pickpocketing never ceases to amaze me," Leona states.

"Hey, if you wanna keep something' safe, you gotta keep your pockets secured too," Ruggie smirks as he pulls out the contracts in his pocket. "I'm still not over how many contract scrolls there are. I count around five to six hundred," he says as he flips through the scrolls, speed counting them as they walk.

"Hmph," Leona says as he crosses his arms. "He's probably been trapping people in contracts and stockpiling 'em since long before he enrolled. Now that we've got the contracts outside the VIP room, that just leaves one thing to do..." He says as he takes the scrolls from Ruggie hands, focusing his magic on the scrolls. "I am the one who hungers. I am the one who thirsts. I am the one to rob you of your future-"

"HOLD IT!" Azul screams, interrupting Leona and making the two look at him. They see that Azul was out of breath and looked a little unhinged as he stare at the two.

"Whoops. That was quick," Leona smirks as he sees Azul's panicked expression. Azul steps closer to the two and Leona just glares at him with a smirk. "Don't come any closer, or the contracts are toast," he threatens, making Azul flinch.

"G-give them back..." Azul mumbles to the two. "Give them back now, if you please!" He pleads loudly for the two to hear, panic in his voice as he tries to compose himself physically.

"Hey now, at least try to sound composed," Leona teases. "Have you decided to drop the cool act altogether? Judging by the way you're panicking, she was right on the money."

The statement made Azul look at the two in shock. "Wait...What?"

"So what you're saying is that the contracts could be breakable when they're stored in the vault?" Leona asked Angel.

"Exactly. It makes sense when you think about it," she responds with a smile.

"Huh? 'Scuse me? What? How would that work?" Grim asks.

"Ooh, now that you mention it, yeah! Something doesn't quite add up right, huh?" Ruggie states. "If Azul and his boys are right, and the contracts are totally unbreakable and jolt anyone who touches them...Why would they need to keep 'em locked up tight in a vault at all? They could just leave 'em around anywhere, like Leona does with his wallet," he smirks.

"Oh!" Grim exclaims. "Now that you mention the vault...Remember how freaked out he got when the vault got a little dinged up?"

"No..." Azul says as he hurriedly rushed to the vault, passing by Jack and Angel, looking around, inspecting it. "The door's damaged! The dial and hinges aren't shot, are they?!" He says as he inspects the door. After a moment, Azul breathes a sigh of relief. "Phew. Okay, good." He turns to Floyd angrily. "How many times have I told you not to use your signature spell so carelessly?! What will it take to get it through your head?!"

"I said I was sorry, okay?" Floyd says with an annoyed tone. "You don't gotta get all bent outta shape over one little ding." The five only look at each other and nod, using their argument as a way to get out of the room as they carefully navigate their way around the conversation.

"You'd have me save my protestations for when it's completely demolished, then?!"

"Yeah, huh? It's just common sense to put valuables in a safe, so I didn't even question that part," Ruggie says. "Who know our pampered prince's inability to tie his own shoes in the morning would be the key to solving this mystery?" Ruggie says as he smirks at Leona.

Leona clicks his tongue. "Tch. You always hafta get in a dig."

"Y'know, I'm starting to think that whole bit about the contracts electrifying people was another bluff on their part."

"What did mew say?!" Grim exclaims.

"He knew you froshes were watching them, so they conveniently 'forgot' a contract scroll and left it on a table. All they'd have to do at that point is wait for one of you to touch it, then use some lighting magic to jolt you. Maybe don't fall for such an obvious trap next time," Leona tells the two.

"Now that I think of it..." Angel says as she remembers the first time she saw the contract. "When I saw the contract when you guys were fighting, I reached out, but nothing happened. If that was the case, then it would have shocked me at that time. At the moment, he didn't expect me to touch it, so he wouldn't have time to plan a trap like that."

Grim listens to Angel's explanation and growls. "Azul ain't just duplicitous! He's like, octaplicitous! We've been had again!" Grim angrily exclaims.

"Regardless," Leona continues, "the quickest way to test your theory is to remove the contracts from the vault."

"This was Angel's idea?!" Azul says in shock as he listened to Leona. He glares, clenching his fists. "Why? Why am I being hassled like this?!" He angrily exclaims. "She stands to gain nothing whatsoever from releasing the anemones! It's ridiculous!"

"Frankly, I couldn't agree more," Leona says, agreeing with Azul. "So, Azul..." Leona smirks. "How about you and I make a deal?"

A/N: alrighty guys. We're in the last ten chapters of book 3 and I haven't written the finale yet (give me time! I'll get there!). This schedule actually finished up quicker than I thought since I surmise book 3 would actually be finished July 19th, which can still give me time to make side stories but it'll probably be three side stories for here. Do know that the new work will probably be out the first week of august since I need time to write a few chapters for book 4 ahead of time and try to deal with class. Thanks for understand guys and have a wonderful 4th of July! ❤️🤍💙!  (7/1/23)

PS: I PASSED MICROBIOLOGY YALL!!! 🎉🎊

PSS: Don't worry everyone! More event stories will be on the way! Mainly after looking at the events that's going to happen in July!