Early in the morning, just as Sno had woken the sleeping Mr. Fool and was preparing to head next door for a lavish breakfast, the doorbell suddenly rang.
Lily seemed to have grown used to such situations. Without waiting for Sno's instruction, she leaped down from the dining table, ran all the way to the door, and lightly jumped onto the doorknob.
With a creak, the front door opened. Lily looked at the unfamiliar young man before her with a somewhat strange expression, as if worried that she should not have opened the door. Then Sno's voice came from behind her—
"Oh, heavens, my old friend! Looking like that, even my cat couldn't recognize you!"
"I couldn't help it. A Beyonder just died in my house! If I weren't coming here, I'd already be aboard some passenger ship bound for the Sunia Sea." The young man at the door looked no older than twenty-three or twenty-four. He wore formal clothes that were not particularly expensive, but at least did not look out of place. His tone carried a weathered quality that did not suit his appearance. He seemed to want to punch Sno in the chest as a friendly gesture, but after hesitating, he did not do so.
"Anyway, come in first." Seeing how restrained he looked, Sno picked Lily off the doorknob and gestured for him to follow.
The two made their way to the living room.
Kaspars immediately pulled a tin box from his coat. Inside was a lump of rotten flesh that gave off a foul stench. If not for the faint chill radiating from it, one might have thought it was mud scooped from some filthy gutter.
"I don't know whether this is what that existence wanted. Anyway, after that guy died, this was the only