The problem was food

At the entrance to the old mansion, the huntress glanced at Gordon.

"Quick reflexes." She licked her lips. "...I meant to hit that butler...or someone else...I was waiting for a scream, but I never heard one."

"I wanted to hit him too." Gordon pointed at the water monkey on the ground. "So the plumbing problem has arms and legs?"

Evans's expression grew even worse.

How utterly disgraceful! Something so disgusting, such a shameful family secret, had appeared right outside their front door for everyone to see.

Though it looked much like a human, its mouth was utterly alien, filled with concentric rings of tiny barbs running inward, no different from a lamprey's.

"Get it out of here," Evans ordered. "Now!"

The guards glanced at the monster, taking turns pulling one another in front of themselves as shields.

"...Miss Vera Cateret." Evans turned to the huntress. "You should be fighting the monsters right now."

"I already did." Vera crouched on the steps, looking troubled.

"Where's Griff, the cook?" Evans suddenly noticed someone was missing. "He volunteered to go down with you."

"Oh, the one with the white hat," Vera said. "The monsters tore him to pieces. Each grabbed an arm."

"Miss Cateret," Evans complained, "could you be a little more tactful when reporting a tragedy like that? For example, start with 'Griff was a brave man,' then 'but he met with misfortune,' then 'he couldn't hold out until reinforcements arrived,' and only then say 'he died.'"

Vera tilted her head and thought for two seconds.

"Understood," she said.

"Then what about Caroline, my finest hound?" Evans asked anxiously.

"Caroline was a brave dog..." Vera recited the phrasing she had just learned.

"..." Evans staggered.

Gordon nodded. He felt he and Vera would get along.

"So," Charlotte said, regaining her composure, "what exactly happened down there?"

"The basement wall collapsed." Vera gestured. "River water poured in, and these things came in with it. Too many monsters to count."

"You haven't killed them all?" Evans looked despairing.

"I killed four." Vera pointed at the one beside Gordon. "That's the fifth. There are more inside. Kill them all? Of course I can't."

Evans let out a moan.

Gordon crouched and carefully examined the "water monkey's" neck.

[Head wound. An awkward angle. The killer is not far from you.]

He noticed a black chill emanating from the edges of the wound, with faint light flickering constantly.

It looked as though some terrifyingly sharp weapon had pierced it clean through.

This had to be the effect of source substance.

As an Essence Hunter, it was hardly surprising that Vera carried a source substance weapon.

Gordon glanced at her again and only then noticed the Black Sword at her side.

"What exactly is this thing...?" Charlotte looked at the horrifying creature, part human and part fish, deeply unsettled.

"A demon," Evans said, correctly and uselessly.

"I know. People at the Old Fish Market call it a 'mermaid in the mud,'" a guard said.

"...It's 'Daddy's Finger,'" said a servant named Harold.

"Isn't it a 'water monkey'? I've called them that all my life." Vera frowned, unconcerned with the name of her prey.

"This is a Deepclaw Demon," Gordon said as he examined it. "Webbed fingers, scales on its back, a humanoid appearance, and lungs that are present but atrophied. They usually live at the bottom of the Blackwater River, or in any sewer in this city."

The scholarly tone of Gordon's words dispelled the thick air of folk horror that had hung over the gathering.

"How do you know?" Charlotte asked in surprise. "Aren't we studying the same subject?"

"Because I listened in class," Gordon said.

Charlotte's little face flushed, and for a moment she could find no retort.

"Deepclaw Demon... Are you a student?" Vera rolled the term around, then looked Gordon up and down. She had never set foot in a school in her life unless it was to kill someone.

"Yes." Gordon nodded. "But the other students are exploring knowledge. I'm exploring ways to make money."

Vera nodded. She was trying to find ways to make some money too.

"If you're after money," Vera said, "don't work for these people. They're stingy."

"?" Evans was furious.

"What you paid only covered me going in for a look," Vera said. "Now I've had a good, clear look. There isn't one monster in there, there's a whole swarm, and the place is flooding too. If you want me to keep killing, you'll have to pay more."

Evans was just about to launch into some haggling.

"And bring me food right now," she added.

"Dinner?" Evans repeated. "You want dinner before you've finished your assignment?"

"Yes." Vera was deadly serious, even showing a glint of food-guarding ferocity. "Give me big chunks of meat."

Gordon understood the feeling.

The only food he had eaten over the past two days was the bread Charlotte had given him, barely enough to keep him alive. Those pieces of bread now shone with a holy glow in his memory. Besides, he had gained something supernatural inside his head, and it placed a considerable drain on his body.

"I suggest making dinner immediately," Gordon proposed.

Vera gave Gordon a long look and nodded in wholehearted agreement.

At that moment, the two formed a temporary alliance without even needing to shake hands.

"Evans, prepare dinner," Charlotte ordered.

"Miss," Evans said, "I still believe this is not the best time to eat. We should at least wait until the crisis is resolved."

"If the house is in such a terrible state that we can't even prepare a hot meal," Charlotte said coldly, "then we should notify the Bureau of Affairs immediately."

Evans sighed. If investigators from the Bureau of Affairs came, the house would be sealed and every item catalogued. Then the ancestors' plots, her grandfather's debts, her parents' generation's lovers, the dispute over Charlotte's inheritance...all of it would be in the papers within days.

Five minutes later, more lights came on in the Montfort ancestral mansion.

Gordon took his seat, and the servants brought dinner.

A white tablecloth covered the table, its edges hanging in neat folds. Silver candlesticks stood in a row down the center, their flames gently dancing. On the walls to either side, portraits of Montfort Family members gazed down at the diners: men holding swords, women holding fans, and children clutching puppies with pained expressions.

On the tabletop, bread, hot soup, roast beef, stew, and cold ham stood ready for inspection.

Gordon speared a piece of beef and tasted it with satisfaction.

Delicious!

He swallowed the meat, and his energy gradually began to return. The chill, the drowsiness, and the anxiety over his debts slowly faded. Only then did Gordon have the strength to think about serious matters.

The Deepclaw Demon attack on the ancestral mansion...

Charlotte broke apart her bread, with no appetite.

Meanwhile, Vera was eating her fifth plate of food.

White bread, roast meat, even the rosemary sauce used as garnish-once her gray-white eyes locked onto something, it vanished without a trace in the whirlwind of the next moment.

She had no table manners whatsoever. Knives and forks seemed to be nothing more than decorative obstacles on the table to her, used when necessary and bypassed otherwise. She ate with utter abandon, like a wolf that had gone hungry for three days.

Some of that food might have gone toward maintaining her tall, straight figure, but that still could not fully explain her astonishing appetite.

Source substance symptoms... Gordon guessed.

It was said that Essence Hunters strengthened themselves with the power of monsters, but many could not control the power of source substance and paid a price to some degree.

Vera had already revealed a glimpse of her speed and strength at the entrance. Judging by what he saw now, her bill was probably written in her stomach.

"I just want to know whether the basement entrance can still be sealed. I can hire more people, bring in planks, nails, bricks..." Charlotte put down her bread and looked straight at Vera.

"What basement? If you mean the place down those two flights of stairs...it leads to a huge pond now." Vera's mouth was stuffed with food.