-Silica-

"Oh, no luck on your side as well, huh? Lord Riku."

Riku shook his head in disappointment. "My apologies, Regulator Nagi, our men have searched every corner of Majabah and have found nothing."

Riku, along with Mitsuki and Gaku, met up with Nagi, who was with Ryuu and Yamato, over tea. While the topic they were discussing—locating Isumi Haruka's hateful spirit—was serious, they kept their meeting simple and casual.

"This is a most troubling situation indeed." Sougo joined in. He could sense that Tenn's dispel magic effect on Haruka was getting weaker. Even then, he could not pinpoint the exact location of the spirit. He was afraid Haruka would regain enough power to possess someone like a magic user and stir up trouble from within.

The party went quiet for a while, with everyone deep in thought. At one point, Riku spoke up with a voice full of hesitation. "I should perhaps be ashamed of what I am about to speak, but..."

"My lord?" Gaku prepared for the worst when he saw his lord's troubled expression.

"Perhaps we should seek out a fortune teller." Riku finished his sentence.

"A what now?" Yamato, who had sunk into the couch from boredom, suddenly sat up.

"Did I hear that right?" A drop of sweat ran down Gaku's forehead. "I thought fortune tellers were banished from Majabah centuries ago." Fortune telling was once a hit in the ancient Majabah. The Nanase saw it as a threat since, in a way, it could be considered a form of mind manipulation regardless of whether the vision of the fortune teller was correct or not.

Riku shook his head. "They should have been. Though, I doubt the Natsumes would allow themselves to be annihilated so easily."

The Silicans wondered how these people talk about taking people's lives as if it were something typical.

"Natsume, one of the three houses that was once as powerful as us Yaotomes, huh?" Gaku sounded surprised. "I did not realise they were specialised in divination."

"Well, we're out of options anyway, aren't we?" Mitsuki reminded everyone of how their conversation got here. "It can't hurt to speak to that Natsume guy, right?"

"I'd rather solve things scientifically, but Mitsu has a point. It can't hurt to try that while we continue with our research." Yamato voiced his opinion, earning agreeable nods from Nagi and Ryuu.

"I would like to believe so..."

Riku looked up at the sky. According to the records of his ancestors, the Natsumes were cunning. While their magic power fell short in comparison to Yaotome's and Takanashi's, they somehow managed to retain their status and glory during wartime. The lord could not help but feel they had to be on their guard if they were to meet the Natsumes.

~~

-Majabah-

Gaku pondered hard. He couldn't possibly be wrong. According to the books of old, the Natsumes used to rule the town known for its abundance of water sources. He, the lord, Tamaki and Mitsuki were standing right at that place. Being there did not mean they could find a clue as to where the fortune telling family could be. It was even harder when the people of Majabah were forbidden from speaking about fortune telling.

"Gaku and I have not yet found any leads." Riku shook his head. The party reunited at a log tavern after a few hours of poking around the town. Riku had ordered 'soda', a new sparkling water product imported from Silica, for everyone as refreshments.

"It's strange..." Mitsuki and Tamaki had returned to their lord's side after checking out the large river just outside the town.

"What is?" asked Gaku.

"The animals around here won't talk to us." Human-forme Tamaki explained. "I tried to get close to them by transforming into a cat, a dog, a rabbit, a deer, and a griffin. No luck. They all ran away from me and Mikki." He looked pretty disappointed.

"Surely they would run away from a griffin haha..." Riku laughed dryly.

"None of my songs managed to attract any of them when I should have been able to call at least a small mouse." Mitsuki sighed.

"Hmph! That's most likely just you being amateurish." Gaku smirked, seeing this as an opportunity to be a jerk to the Silican.

"Damn you Yaotome!" Mitsuki grabbed Gaku's full glass of sparkling water and splattered the whole thing on Gaku's shirt. He probably did not notice, but a drop of water hit a mouse hiding behind a chair a few steps behind Gaku, startling it. Being a beast, Tamaki caught the animal's movement. Right away, he transformed into a cat and began chasing the escaping mouse.

"Oi, I haven't even taken a single sip!" Really, Gaku? Your butler clothes were all wet and that was what you were worrying about?

"Should we not go after Tamaki?" Riku noticed the dragon had bolted out of the place. Unfortunately, his voice went unheard by the two bickering butlers. "Guys-" The lord tried again. Nope. No luck there.

An icy aura surrounded Riku's body, scaring people in the tavern. He directed his piercing gaze at the two butlers who could not behave. He wanted the two to stop fighting and well, he did not know how to do it without turning on his mighty lord mode. "Drop the silly act and go after Tamaki. Now."

Terrified that their lord would turn them into ice blocks, the butlers immediately stopped their catfight, bowed their heads to the highborn, and left right away.

~~

"Oiiii! Over here!!"

Standing by the large river just outside of town, human-forme Tamaki waved his hands energetically. He wouldn't have chased just any mouse. As a beast, Tamaki knew full well that a typical mouse would not just sit still and hide behind a chair, so he had decided to go after that squeaky creature.

Tamaki pointed at the water's surface as the lord's party was approaching him. "That mouse jumped into the water," said Tamaki, with his usual bored face.

"Mouse? What mouse?" My, my, a so-called vigilant butler Gaku had failed to notice the presence of a mere mouse.

"Was in the tavern. It ran away when you got wet." Tamaki pointed at Gaku's wet clothes.

"You drove it to its death, Tamaki! Bad dragon!" As a Beastmaster, Mitsuki felt the need to praise or scold his beast as needed, even if it was a mighty dragon.

"Hah?" Tamaki was now pissed. "Don't you get it, Mikki? No mouse in its right mind would jump into the water! Tch." He crossed his arms over his chest, sulking.

Suddenly, Riku's eyes gleamed as a result of his childish imagination. "Are you saying that there could be something underneath the river?"

"Foolishness! What could be under the river other than water and depths of seaweed?" Gaku got closer to Tamaki, angry that the dragon gave his lord a stupid fantasy idea.

"Did you just call me a fool, Gaku?!?" The lord shot his faithful butler a look of disbelief.

"I-I would never! M-MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES, MY LORD." Gaku bent down on one knee and bowed his head immediately after realising he had committed a crime.

Watching the whole thing, Mitsuki couldn't help smiling. He thought those two had come a long way. The air around them was no longer stiff and awkward. They acted like old friends from time to time while still respecting the lord-butler boundaries. Sure, they had a long way to go, and Mitsuki wanted to keep watching Riku's smile become more and more radiant.

Anyway, the party had a problem to solve. "Tamaki, think you can transform into a fish and dive into the river to see what's down there?"

The dragon looked confused. "A fish? Like a whale?"

"Ye-wait no! Baka!" Mitsuki shouted at the dragon. "I know you're a big mighty dragon but think of something smaller. Much smaller."

"Oh!" Tamaki struck his palm with his hand as if he had a brilliant idea. "A salmon then!"

"Well, yeah, whatever." Mitsuki took a deep breath in then began singing a peculiar but pleasing song to help the dragon transform into a new creature. Once the dragon managed to shapeshift, Gaku used object manipulation magic to throw him into the water.

Tamaki disappeared for a good twenty minutes before coming back up to the surface with widened eyes in his human-forme. "Guys you won't believe what I saw! A town! There's a whole town down there in the river!" Excitedly, he smiled. Riku narrowed his eyes and stared right into Gaku's. The butler could only keep his head down and stay quiet, reflecting on the crime he had committed.

~~

Tamaki explained (though not very well) that he saw a large town made of white marble at the very bottom of the river with humans and animals actually residing there. The salmon-forme dragon could only watch from the outside as the town was covered with a strange barrier, preventing water from getting in.

It might be risky, but the party had decided they would once again rely on Tamaki and Riku's strength. If a town was hiding all the way down there, it must have held some sort of secret.

Tamaki transformed into his full dragon forme for Mitsuki, Riku, and Gaku to climb on. "Ready, Rikkun?" he asked. Once Riku nodded, Tamaki jumped up, giving Riku time to use his power of imagination to create a bubble surrounding the dragon's body, before letting gravity pull him down into the river.

"It worked! Hahaha!" Mitsuki observed his surroundings excitedly. With Gaku casting some magic to light up their bubble, which was acting like a submarine, the young doctor could see all sorts of river fish and creatures.

"Be vigilant, Izumi." As usual, Gaku's tone was serious. "My lord and I are casting our magic. If something were to happen to us, it's up to you and the dragon to protect Nanase-sama."

"I know, I know." If Riku's bubble burst, Mitsuki did not want to imagine what would happen when they were this deep in the water.

Fortunately, the party got to the town entrance safely. The instant they crossed the barrier, they could walk and do things normally again. Given that the structures, houses, and shops were made of marble, the town looked pretty grand, almost like a sunken, glowing treasure. Well, technically, it was.

The most surprising thing wasn't the fact that this whole place existed without the Nanases' knowledge, it was that humans and animals there were living closely together like partners. There were people who walked around with hawks, cats or iguanas resting on their shoulders. Meat-eating creatures such as leopards and lions walked around freely. The sight was otherworldly.

The lord's party made their way into the town square full of shops, hoping to talk to some underwater townspeople. However, they only earned gasps and panicked faces as their welcome.

"We're done for!"

"Their magic power is crushing. Are we truly going to be alright?"

"Dad, is it true those people can use magic?"

People began to talk. Most could be seen whispering until the party got closer. Then, they would hide or pretend not to care.

"They fear us, my lord," said Gaku of the obvious.

Riku nodded. "Right. They speak as if we were out of the ordinary."

"Why would they be afraid of magic? Are we in a third world now?" asked Mitsuki.

"All of you are in Majabah alright."

The party's attention turned to a man who seemed to be the boldest in town. He was a white-haired man clothed in a long robe and a light scarf, barefoot. With a small smile, he made eye contact with each of the party members.

"Care to enlighten us about this place, madame?" Gaku decided to go with a direct approach. Then again, he was probably incapable of using other methods.

"A sir, my good man," The robed man corrected Gaku with his feminine voice. "Now, I suggest we talk at my place, or you all would scare the people with your mighty appearances."

The party followed the man to the largest building in the town, which was a humble two-storey house, again, made of marble. The man led them inside a living room with a small table and exactly five chairs. Once the party sat down, the pretty man made a hissing noise. Almost instantly, three snakes appeared slithering out with a tray of glasses on each of their backs. Gaku being Gaku, jumped and readied a shuriken in his hand, startling those venomous creatures.

"Fear not, sir. These snakes obediently follow my command." The robed man bent down to pick up those glasses and put each one in front of each guest. The liquid inside looked a lot like water. Tamaki drank it right away, earning a shocked look from Gaku and Riku.

"That hits the spot. I've been so thirsty." The human-forme dragon smiled, earning a sigh of relief from the two nobles when the content could have been poisoned.

"A good dragon you have here," All of a sudden, the robed man appeared behind Tamaki and patted his head. He glanced at Mitsuki. "Aren't you quite a well-trained Beastmaster?"

Riku and Gaku exchanged looks of worry. The stranger in front of them knew too much. How could he possibly know that Tamaki was a dragon and Mitsuki was a Beastmaster?

Catching Gaku's hard stare, the man chuckled lightly. "Ah, where are my manners?" He bowed deeply towards Gaku and Riku. "I am Natsume Minami. While I never consider myself a town leader or a representative, people tend to treat me as such. On that note, welcome to our humble underwater abode where we Beastmasters reside."

"Natsume?" The wary butler shot Minami his piercing gaze, not that Minami was fazed by it in the slightest.

"Ufufu," Minimi looked most amused. "You just gave away your identity the instant you reacted to my family name, Yaotome-san." With grace, the beastmaster went on one knee and bowed towards Riku. "Never thought I'd lived to see the day Nanase-sama and his lord's butler here in our humble town."

Riku's eyes glowed. Seeing as Gaku was alarmed, he had no choice but to impose his high lord character. "I take it you know why we are here, Natsume."

"So you truly believe we Natsumes are fortune tellers, my lord?" Minami lifted his head and looked right into Riku's eyes, causing Gaku to take his combat stance. It was a crime to stare at a lord's face, not to mention the man had just spoken of one of the greatest taboos in Majabah: fortune-telling. Again, Minami did not budge at all. Not even when Gaku pointed a shuriken right at his neck. It sent shivers down the butler's spine. So the Natsumes remained as prideful as they were during the times of war.

Gaku roared. "How very fearless of you to speak of such topic in front-"

"Better than spending 10 minutes trying to go around it, no?" The pretty man eyed the butler briefly, chuckling, before locking eyes with Riku again. "I pledge my loyalty to you, my lord, as we Natsumes are not fortune tellers and have never been. We are mere Beastmasters who rely on the eyes, ears, and magic powers of the animals around us."

Since Minami was willing to talk, Riku ordered Gaku to drop his weapon.

"Well, that explains why all the animals around here won't talk to Tamaki. They all obey you and the people of this town, right?" asked Mitsuki.

A mouse appeared on top of Minami's head. Tamaki pointed right at it. "That mouse! It's the mouse that jumped into the river."

Minami nodded lightly. "Ever since the times of war, we Natsumes had been practising Beastmastery. We used animals to get information on our enemies and the like. People came to us for all sorts of information."

"And so began the fortune telling rumour."

"Correct, my lord." Minami bowed. "Our ancestors fled for their lives. Using the help of animal powers and their followers, they made a home here at the bottom of the river."

"Pray forgive me, my lord, for I have not answered your question," Minami hissed for his snakes and the mouse to go away. "Yes, I know what you seek, and if I may be so bold, I would like to ask something in return."

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Hewlo Lovely people I am back! Late, but back! I've finished all the drafts so  there will be 36 chapters in total. I'll be editing and updating once a week to the ending :D

I had a lot of fun writing Minami XD Hope you liked this chapter. Let me know what you think!