Hearing Colmar's question, the gray-robed witch drew in shallow breaths. After a long while, she finally gathered the courage to speak again.
But this time, her voice was much weaker, utterly lacking her earlier ease and confidence. "...I mean, would you like some Green Bee? Your complexion looks a little poor..."
She had originally wanted to ask where Colmar had dyed that gorgeous silver hair, and what the mysterious Rune on her forehead meant. But when the words reached her lips, they inexplicably turned into another question.
Colmar lowered her eyelids and tried hard to rein in the faint aura leaking from her body. Because tricksters were less sensitive to magic, they did not grow as uneasy around her as the school wizards did. Yet they could still sense the increasingly oppressive atmosphere in the hall. This was not the outcome Colmar wanted.
The witch's self-restraint quickly took effect.
The Trumpet Flower in the flowerpot was the first to recover. It quietly unfurled its petals and began humming softly once more:
"...
At fate's mercy,
A futile resistance,
Until death do us part
..."
"Catherine, gather everyone," the owner of Genie's Hut said, taking a deep breath. Her hair rose without wind, and her eyes gained a measure of resolve. "I have an experiment that requires people to cooperate."
Catherine was the gray-robed female trickster, and one of the tricksters at Genie's Hut with the greatest "magical skill." Whenever Colmar was absent from the club, she was responsible for Genie's Hut's daily operations.
Cooperating with Colmar in certain "gray experiments" was also an obligation these tricksters had to fulfill.
This was also an unwritten rule in most similar clubs in Beta Town North District. After all, knowledge was priceless. Even charity was never supposed to come at one's own expense