The day began with the usual sailing towards the nearest shore, or perhaps the edge of Morta.

Mist grew stronger and more hush and the rocks that Rowan had carefully observed were now completely consumed by the milky, silver fluff, which felt oddly warm whenever the ship sped or slowed down.

After breakfast, two Tributals stepped out of the cabin below the deck and started oaring, either from absolute boredom or the sheer idea of getting things over with a little quicker. While Rowan and Kukhi stayed inside, the former lay on their makeshift bed above Ace's clothes and played on a little strutter, which was an instrument mainly used in the second part of the song welcoming the Nuil.

The tool itself had ten wooden exits, each making a slightly different sound, and if one were to put their fingers above the hole in which the throaty noises were created, it would either go up or down in pitch.

Rowan always carried a strutter with themselves, but rarely ever played it, so there it appeared through the boredom and denied jealousy, the idea to make a few sounds or try and remember the songs they had memorised.

Meanwhile, Kukhi sat on the opposite side of the cabin, digging through and below the clothes that made their bed, searching for a small opening in the wooden deck. "Aah!" they made a strange noise, grinning, and Rowan gave them a rather mean look, their mouth still at the top of the strutter.

"Found it, found it!" Kukhi announced, and Rowan sighed, with those noises turning into sounds.

Kukhi kicked the clothes to the side and opened a hatch below the deck, taking out a brown backpack that had many pins and sew-on badges bought in a five-for-three deal in Handulia. They quickly unzipped it, took a small wooden box out, and ran on their short legs out of the cabin.

Rowan sat up, hitting their head, the strutter changing the curse words they uttered into rather measly noises, and the Tributal followed the other out of the room, on their fours.

The others sat in a triangle in the middle of the ship, and Kukhi gave each about six cards, putting one in the centre and laying the others on their back next to themselves.

Then, the game started, each Tributal carefully looked at their decks, and when their turn came, they either put down a card with a matching element or took another one from the stash.

Rowan rolled their eyes, observing how things unfolded, and when a few minutes passed, the three started laughing, teasing each other about the game and such.

Rowan sighed loudly, making sure they'd heard him, and it was only Ace who didn't bother to turn their head towards the sound. The Tributal sat down by some oars, desperately trying to see through the fog, but their thoughts were constantly interrupted by the game.

"One, two, three..." Ace put down three cards that had the symbols of a yellow mathilda flower, an oval crystal and a golden heart, however, the number at the top was four, in all examples.

"You can't do that!" Damien pointed. "That's cheating!"

"Looks like someone doesn't know the rules!" Ace backed out a little, with a grin.

"Kukhi! Game expert!" Damien immediately turned to the other party, who unfortunately held fifteen cards in their hands.

"Um." Kukhi trembled a little, spotting the two Ace held. "Cheating or not, Ace, introducing Eran rules to a royal game will be costly. Keep going, play your turns, let's see who wins." they furrowed their eyebrows, thinking, presenting themselves as open-minded and thoughtful, in reality plotting to scheme to assure a certain victory.

"Kukhi?!" Damien shook them, awaiting answers.

Rowan turned around, pushing one leg forward with a sour expression.

But the other Tributals ignored them, too engaged in the game. Rowan tried muttering something about sailing the ship instead, but it felt like their words just bounced off.

A turn passed, and Ace, with a large smirk, put down one more card, stretching their hands. "Then, I think we all know where the tides will take us, eh, Damien, Kukhi? One last card-"

"MACAU! MACAU!" Kukhi pointed, standing up, their hat almost falling off. "YOU DIDN'T SAY MACAU! YOU MUST DRAW FIVE MORE CARDS!" he sniffed.

"What?!" Ace muttered, making a strange, hurt face.

"Eran Macau says..." Kukhi sat down, with a list of rules attached to the box in their hands. "If you don't utter the word Macau with one card in your hand you must add five more to your deck! You sore LOSER!"

"Huh? WHEN WAS THIS ESTABLISHED?!" Ace asked, blinking.

"If you want to play by different rules you accept the good and the bad!" Kukhi pointed.

Damien eagerly peeked their head, trying to read the smaller letters on the paper in Kukhi's hand.

"Bleh! You're the one cheating now, show me that damn paper!" Ace launched themselves atop Kukhi and the two started thrashing, while Damien clenched their fists.

"Doesn't matter, Ace!" Damien continued. "Kukhi still has sixteen cards!"

"WHO'S SIDE ARE YOU ON?!" Kukhi shouted.

Suddenly, Rowan chuckled and things hushed without a breath added.

The others turned to Rowan, who immediately faced the sea, almost embarrassed, trying to wipe that smile off their face. Yet, the complete absurdity of what happened kept coming back to them, and they giggled a few times too.

"I mustn't laugh," Rowan muttered, covering their mouth.

Ace, Damien and Kukhi gave each other a look and smiled victoriously, bumping each other's fists, with Ace continuously staring at the Tributal.

***

When they all got up (Elton's snoring woke most, while he stayed in bed for almost the longest, only beaten by Ambrosia who vowed to sleep through the Tributal cycle, making them wait two more hours), Pollimer prepared a hearty breakfast.

While the troupe enjoyed their meal, the Mirillian started packing a few more things into the big baskets he carried, complaining about the strange noise one made when things were thrown atop the brown pile of clothes.

Nevertheless, Morio asked for seconds and thirds, and at this point, Jyuzou took it upon himself to deduce Morio's hunger, theorising and even asking Bancho if Morians have a boosted appetite in caves, which came down to two possibilities. Either it was that the underground food was much different than the ones Morians ate, which Atomu, unfortunately, lumped into this argument, and also agreed with. Or it was simply Morio, being extra.

The answer was both. Mirillian food had much more fats and calories than anything outside, which was also the reason why most Mirillians either had a big belly or a large frame, but it didn't matter what they looked like.

Big, small, thin or fat, they were all much stronger than Morians. Morio ate a lot because he wanted to get his hands on as many different types of food, which was also another goal of his that he didn't bother mentioning.

However, their concerns quickly vanished when the importance of the quest at hand appeared. They took Pearl, leaving all the other horses behind, tasked to be taken to Magna by Inigius, and the troupe carefully walked towards the three massive, stone gates near the king's palace. It took a few Mirillians to lift one, and then they set out, into the dimmed caves.

Pollimer stood in the front, serving as a guide to the others, quickly making haste and separating himself from the rest of the troupe for various reasons. It was Anna who quickly noticed and complained about how long everything took, be it Morio and Jyuzou stopping because they disagreed or Ambrosia who explained that they kept catching themselves on strange thoughts, which Elton shot down, saying that the bunny analogies they kept trying to talk about are stupid.

Atomu slapped him, and Elton explained that he couldn't bring himself to lie, which led to Bancho stepping in, making a little anecdote about the importance of distorting the truth from time to time, which came back to Morio, accusing him of lying, and you could imagine how this might've looked to the people which weren't necessarily used to their shenanigans if you could call it that.

Anna stayed far away, with Pollimer, leaving them behind.

"They seem to be quite the strange fellows," Pollimer muttered.

"I was very eager to finally do something with my life but now I'm starting to regret it." Anna shook her head. "Please don't lump me with the rest of those weirdos. I'm calm, and collected." she continued.

"Ahaha! I'm sure they're all nice, eh?" Pollimer asked. "Maybe a bit silly, sure. But ya always have something to search for!"

"Pff." Anna crossed her arms. "Doubt it."

"I'd appreciate the moments ya have if I were ya!" Pollimer muttered, speeding up a little, and Anna-Pom turned to the chaos behind her, further denying Pollimer's words. They were good Demonears, sure, but there was a reason why she preferred spending her time by herself, or at least, with people she knew and trusted.

Her gaze averted to Chyuuichi, who simply strolled forward, and at the side of the rocky corridor, with his head on the ground and with an absent smile, which she thought to be quite strange. Either way, it wasn't a reason to complain. She sighed and continued.

The caves were comprised of many corridors and stairs going up and down, which Pollimer explained each took to a different, named passage in the undergrounds below or above Mirillis, or even further into Errarion. About twice a week, a group of Mirillians headed out at random, digging out new corridors or following through the caverns, trying to find something new or known but rare.

To head towards the Star Sun Cave, Pollimer took the seventh turn, which led to a deep-slate corridor steeply going down. They took the eleventh, the fifth, and then the first corner, with his words announcing to their comfort that the next time they'll have to take turns will be in days, and only after Kakinoki.

The word itself caught Chyuuichi's attention, as the Mirillian in the front was quick to explain its importance. The half-demon sped up a bit, peeking his head out.

"I recall now." Pollimer stroked his beard. "Back in the day, Mirillians searched far and wide, perhaps looking to expand our horizons. Then, we finally found something, richer than any treasure you could ever think of."

"Food." Morio pointed, completely convinced of his own words.

"Not everything revolves around food!" Atomu added.

"Hahaha! No, it wasn't just food, my dear Frosti! T'was a cave as spacious, if not even bigger than Soban!" Pollimer announced. "And naturally, we started making haste, dug through corridors and exported materials, building bigger palaces and castles than in Soban. Mirillians started moving, hell, even the king changed their palace, but that was all... rather short-lived." he looked down. "Phew."

"Why?" Jyuzou asked, holding a journal in his hands.

"Well, the wrath of the caves decided against us! Once again." Pollimer commented. "S-Shi Hon brought an army of demons-"

"They weren't Shi Hon's," Chyuuichi uttered, stepping into the conversation. "Stories all described demons which didn't resemble what we, Demonears, saw. I r-remember. Inigius told us, didn't he? Were ya there?" he unsurely put his hands together.

"Perhaps it's Satan's demons," Bancho uttered. "Whatever they are." he shrugged.

"Maybe," Chyuuichi muttered.

"Uhh, sure." Pollimer blinked. "Stories or not, I was there to see it." he stared forward, before gulping. "On a stroll, on my way to the mines, with metal in this very basket. I watched the biggest and tallest palace explode in front of my very own eyes." he shook his head. "...and Steeliu's head landed in front of my feet. Demons took over, and I barely escaped. See this?" he pointed to a scar on his forearm. "T'was twenty years ago, and the bugger still sometimes bleeds," he muttered. "Kakinoki's a stolen land. Taken from Mirillians by the filthiest of demons. Shi Hon or not."

Bancho raised a brow.

"Maybe we could retake it!" Morio raised his fist.