"Dear audience, thank you all for crowding so close and standing so straight to hear my tale!"
In the room, Rhode sat atop a platform made from several stacked chairs, telling a tale to the girls in his household.
Lilia, Kienlo, and Sally sat below, looking up at him.
Lilia asked, "Rhode, if you're telling a story, just tell it. Why do you have to sit so high up?"
"It sets the mood. Gets me in the spirit of storytelling." Rhode waved the fan in his hand.
Lilia huffed. "Fine, then. Start talking. Hmph, you're just telling us how you beat Oto that day. Did you really have to climb that high..."
"We mostly want to hear what happened after Oto split into copies," Sally added. "People outside have been making it sound so outrageous that I'm starting to wonder whether I saw things wrong."
Kienlo, in her human form, flicked her blue braid and said, "Mostly, the two of you were moving so fast back then that we really couldn't keep up. Please explain it again, Rhode."
"All right, listen closely!" Rhode slapped his thigh. The chairs wobbled, threatening to topple.
Rhode hurriedly summoned a Mage Hand to steady them, then continued, "Now, that Oto had a gleaming scalp and two gleaming blades. Truly, a bald head with critical hits, a twin-bladed blender..."
"We said we wanted to hear what happened after he split up, Rhode!" Lilia complained. "It's not like we don't know what Oto looks like!"
Why does this kid keep ruining the storytelling mood? Oh, forget it.
"Fine, then. Behold this man, Oto, who suddenly became eight people. That made eight heads in all, and eight legs too."
"Shouldn't it be sixteen?" Lilia interrupted. "I know that much arithmetic."
"Children shouldn't keep interrupting. Do you want