Calling

To be fair, Vana thought old Mr. Morris was right.

Flame, holy oil, and incense—the three essential elements of a sacred ritual. Though in special circumstances one could find ways to make do, replacing all of them with things found in a kitchen was rather hard to justify.

But she still decided to give it a try.

First, she had done it more than once aboard the Lost Homeland before, and second, she simply could not find more suitable materials in this Witch's Mansion.

"I shouldn't have expected a 'witch' to keep things like holy oil at home," Vana sighed and said helplessly to Morris. "I've been lax in my everyday preparations."

Morris muttered instinctively, "I always felt that ever since you successfully performed a ritual with substandard materials on the ship last time, you simply stopped considering properly preparing ritual materials..."

Vana shrugged and pointed out the window. "Then why don't you find a way to buy some from the street?"

Morris looked up at the tree-shadowed street outside the window and thought of the current chaos in Lightwind Harbor. He decided it was better not to say anything.

Shirley, who had come over with A'gou to watch the excitement, curiously observed Vana's preparations before suddenly blurting out, "Why don't you add some ginger and garlic too?"

Vana was utterly baffled. "Why?"

Shirley said, "When you're done with the ritual, have Luni stir-fry a couple of dishes too—I'm hungry."

"...Don't make fun of this!" Vana finally could not keep a straight face. She glared at Shirley, trying her best to look stern and serious. "This is a solemn ritual. I'm only making do because circumstances leave me no choice..."

Shirley said nothing to that. She merely tugged A'gou and silently retreated a little farther toward the door.

Vana looked