"Why was Teklin in such a foul mood today?"
The tall, skinny wizard in another Picture Frame spun his pointed wizard hat on one finger and looked curiously at the irritable dwarf. He was a portrait visiting from the floor next door.
"Oh, him."
The plump woman beside him, clutching a small folding fan, chuckled and explained, "This morning, some little brat wearing an Invisibility Talisman passed through the corridor and smeared a booger on Teklin... You know we portraits have no way to physically interfere with the world outside our frames... so today, he's been especially harsh toward invisible children."
"Indeed, students who use invisibility for pranks are the biggest headache."
The tall, skinny wizard suddenly stopped spinning his pointed hat, his face turning mournful. "They're already university students, so why do they sometimes still act like children? I remember one year, no idea who provoked whom, but someone smeared merfolk dung from Linzhong Lake all over many portraits..."
"That incident had nothing to do with pranks."
The plump woman smilingly interrupted his complaint. Opening her little folding fan to cover her mouth, she revealed only a pair of large, frog-like sparkling eyes. "As for invisible pranks, if you truly care that much, you should make a suggestion to the School Labor Committee and forbid students from using invisibility spells inside the teaching buildings..."
"That makes no sense. What if the children need to practice Invisibility Talismans in Talisman Class, or invisibility spells in Magic Spell Class?" A round-faced young witch in another Picture Frame cheerfully joined the conversation.
Naturally, Zheng Qing had no idea that after he was startled, so much debate had taken place in the corridor.
As he remembered beneath the dwarf portrait that tying a black ribbon around one's arm was a way of mourning