(Here's the bonus chapter for last month's monthly tickets~ And while I'm at it, please vote for this month!)
In the dim room, the scent of tea drifted through the air with the flickering flames of a small stove. A pot of fine tea was then poured into two cups engraved with shadow-spider patterns, all with elegant precision. Slender, beautiful fingers lifted one cup, and after a gentle sniff, a satisfied hum escaped.
But he didn't drink it. He casually poured the amber liquid onto the floor beside him, letting the tea's fragrance spread.
This masterful display of tea-making ending like that was no different from a brat using his astonishing genius to spend ages building the coolest sandcastle ever, only to kick it over.
If a brat really did that, it would mean something was probably wrong with him. By the same logic, the fellow brewing tea in the dark was definitely no respectable person, either.
But he showed no awareness of being abnormal. Still perfectly content, he continued picking out tea leaves in preparation for the next round of his "tea-making demonstration," until a knock at the tightly shut door interrupted this charming, if distinctly peculiar, ritual.
The thin man in the darkness raised his head. His narrowed eyes brimmed with annoyance at the interruption. He made no effort to hide it as he asked coldly:
"What is it?"
"The sacrificial ritual has run into trouble, Master 'Slaver.'"
A pleasant woman's voice came from outside the room. In the lilting language of the shadow elves, she reported:
"The city that was supposed to be sent into the subspace a quarter of an hour ago was interfered with. Its course inexplicably veered under the influence of an unknown force. After entering the planar gap between the Astral Plane and