Wet Black Hair clung to his forehead as Annan returned to the Living Room, wrapped in a blanket and hunching his shoulders.
"Where's Della?"
Copper couldn't wait to see Della as an Elf.
"She's still bathing." As soon as Annan said it, he noticed their strange looks. "Uh, Della just got me soaked."
Their expressions grew even stranger.
"With melted ice!"
Click—
The door opened, and Della appeared in the Living Room wearing Annan's Mage Robe.
Now even Ingrid joined in.
"What happened to your skin?"
"I'm a Dark Elf now. I've shed that filthy bloodline."
Copper couldn't believe Della, so he had a guard summon Rona, even though Della no longer had a single Ratfolk trait.
Rona said Della now gave off a wonderfully distinctive scent. Ratfolk clearly had nothing to do with "wonderful."
Remembering something, Annan ran upstairs. When he came back down, he had changed into a Mage Robe and was carrying a handkerchief containing a fist-sized tangle of blackened curls, like a scorched pig's tail.
"What's that?"
"Della's tail." As everyone recoiled, Annan asked Della, "Do you still want it?"
"You can have it."
Annan then seriously asked Abby, the Head Maid, to find a box for it. Copper asked what he wanted it for. Annan said that if Della became an Epic or Legendary figure someday, the tail that bore witness to her story would become a valuable collectible.
Della looked at Francois, who read the question in her gray eyes:
“A lot happened during the months you were asleep... All you need to know is that the Town outside belongs to him, he's keeping us too, and he's desperately short of money.”
Then it was Della's turn to tell her story. After fleeing to the forests and Snow Mountains to escape the Ratfolk,