Richard entered and saw rows upon rows of completed Magic Puppets standing neatly in one corner of the nearly hundred-square-meter room, as orderly as robots. In another corner lay a huge pile of bones.
In the third corner sat the reclining chair the Lich Old Man used as a bed. The final corner was piled with miscellaneous items for all sorts of purposes.
The functional divisions were pretty clear... Richard raised an eyebrow. Just as he was about to speak to the Lich Old Man, he turned and saw that the old man had not followed him inside. Instead, after Richard entered, he swiftly shut the door, fussed with the bolts and Iron Locks, and sealed it tightly from within, as if he had not considered at all that Richard would need to leave later.
Well... Richard opened his mouth and said helplessly to the Lich Old Man, "Mr. Afu, isn't this a little excessive? Sure, I know A Nan does have a strange habit of stealing the bones you pick out, but with all these precautions, how could he possibly succeed?"
Click!
The Lich Old Man locked the final Iron Lock, tugged hard on the several chains fastened to the door, and, still not reassured, waved his hand and cast several more Warning Spells.
Only after the faint glow of the Warning Spells covered the entire door did he turn back, let out a breath, and say, "Hey, kid, listen to me. You might not believe it, but things have been really strange lately. Before, I clearly had the door sealed tight, and I never left the room, but one of the Magic Puppets I made in here vanished for no reason—from sixty-two to sixty-one.
"I strongly suspect that skeleton A Nan did it. I don't know how he