"Montedan?" Gray Porcelain froze for a moment, then seemed to remember something. "Oh, you're the Montedan who left us that message saying we cleared the stage by taking a shortcut?!"
Montedan looked a little awkward and nodded.
Rabbit Girl added, "He's also the Montedan who hid nearby and eavesdropped on our conversation."
At first, Montedan did not understand what she meant. Then Angel used an illusion to form two lines of text before him—
"Montedan's opinion of you has improved slightly."
"Points: 10"
Montedan understood at once, and a trace of embarrassment crossed his gray-black face.
"I..." Montedan wanted to say he had not been eavesdropping. But Rabbit Girl and Gray Porcelain were both watching him as if to say, Let's see what excuse you come up with. After a moment's hesitation, he said quietly, "That wasn't eavesdropping."
"I was listening openly! Observing openly!"
Once he said it, Montedan grew increasingly confident. Even his voice gained conviction. "The great Wonderland Authority granted me discretionary power of approval. How could I score you without observing you?"
"Take this, for example." Montedan pointed to the illusory words "Points: 10" that Angel had formed. "I could only give you those extra points because I observed you, couldn't I?"
Rabbit Girl and Gray Porcelain had no idea how to answer his righteous argument.
And when they followed his reasoning, it did seem to make some sense.
"Hey, that's not the point," Angel said. "The point is, aren't the scores you gave us a little too low?"
Gray Porcelain caught on and puffed out his chest. "Exactly! We cleared the stage, but you only gave us ten points and said we took a shortcut. Isn't that far too little?"
Montedan's gaze wandered. "...The Wonderland Authority gave me discretion. How I score you, and how many