As they wrapped up their breakfast, Marice decided to head out a bit and visit the square's alchemy emporium. Katherine aside, Richelle insisted on tagging along with them as she wouldn't be allowed to go anywhere else. The spider familiar joined in as well, probably because she didn't want to be left out.

However, as they left the unit and looked out from the corridor, a few people from the atrium square immediately spotted them. And with cameras at the ready, they formed a small crowd below them, causing Marice and her companions to backpedal out of sight.

"I had a feeling they would still be here," Richelle said, folding her arms. "How annoying. What do these people even get from following us around like this?"

"Money," Marice said.

"It can't be that much. It's only a matter of time before these people get into trouble, and I wouldn't even care in the slightest."

"I can understand," Katherine said, tugging at her sweatshirt. "Marice and her mom have been a hot topic on the internet for two days now. Any news about celebrities like them, no matter how small and trivial it may be, will net them millions of clicks in just a span of twenty four hours!"

"Eh? Really?"

Marice gave her an annoyed look. "Hmph, don't act like you aren't a part of this. People can't shut up about you and your... specs..."

She put a hand over her mouth. "A-Ah! You don't have to remind me!"

Richelle glanced at the two policemen guarding the staircase, one of them equipped with an armored suit. "What do we do now? Can we ask the police to kick them out of the building or something?"

"I didn't want to resort to this," Marice said, fishing out a bottle from her cargo shorts, "but it's for the sake of my own sanity."

Katherine gasped. "Those wasps...! Marice, isn't that a bit too much?"

"We can't rely on the police all the time. And if those fools don't want to respect our space, I'll make them."

Marice deactivated the talisman attached to the bottle and began chanting a spell under her breath. As a magic circle lit up beneath her feet, a faint purple light enveloped each of the preserved wasps, causing them to start twitching to life.

"Whoa!" Richelle uttered as the wasps flew out of the bottle one by one. "You brought them back to life!"

Marice took a deep breath, opening her eyes. "No, I merely reanimated them. These wasps are still dead."

She exchanged amazed looks with the spider familiar. "Oh... but that's still awesome! You got to teach me that!"

"Anyway, shall we?"

With the wasps buzzing around them, Marice led the three of them downstairs. Both the police personnel and the nosy mob took notice of the insects, prompting most of them to immediately take their distance. And while there were a handful who stood their ground, Marice simply ordered her wasps via telepathy to chase them out of the way.

One of them was a young lady who was filming them with her phone's camera. "What's with you? You're gonna get people hurt!"

A man wearing an AR visor clenched a fist at her. "Yeah! You didn't have to scare us like that!"

"Sorry," Marice replied as she continued walking past them, "I didn't seem to recall inviting any of you in here. Stop wasting our time and leave us alone."

"Wow," the young lady said. "Your mother is so sweet and kind. Why can't you be a little more like her?"

Marice suddenly stopped in her tracks, facing them. "Yeah, why can't I be more like her so that everybody can take advantage of me for being so soft."

"Aren't you being a hypocrite? You're the one who's making selfish decisions for her. If she wants to help the police, let her be!"

As her emotions flared, the wasps around her became restless. "Selfish? My mother has no obligations to any of you!"

"S-So arrogant!" a middle-aged woman said. "You think you've finally regained your honor as an Alcantara heiress just because you studied abroad?"

Marice laughed, much to the confusion of everyone around her. "You know," she began, "I don't get it. I don't understand why people love eating up baseless rumors, then act like they're betrayed when their fever dreams don't happen to match up with reality. Are you really that stupid or what?"

But before anyone else could respond, several police officers got between them and nudged them away from each other. "Okay folks, move along now if you're done with your meals," the police captain said, wagging a turon at them. "We can't let this place get too crowded."

Katherine gave the captain a thumbs up. "Nice save, Captain Bernard!"

He shook his head, glancing at the crowd being led to the entrance. "Miss Marice, I know they're annoying, but it's best to keep your cool. They'll just end up hounding you more if you keep taking their bait."

"What? Don't blame me. They're the ones who keep—"

Katherine placed a hand on Marice's shoulder, giving him a wide grin. "Ah, sorry about that, sir. We're just gonna visit the alchemy emporium."

He rubbed his nose, taking a bite of his turon. "Gotcha. We'll keep an eye on the square's patrons just in case there are still more of them waiting to pounce on you."

"Thank you!" As they started walking again, she leaned closer to Marice. "Well, that didn't work out, did it?"

"Oh, shut it. I could've handled them just fine."

"By siccing your wasps at them?"

She narrowed her eyes, ordering her wasps to perch on her cap and shoulders. "Who's side are you on again?"

"Love and justice, obviously!"

"And yet you just stood there while your best friend gets picked on by everybody."

Katherine's eyes widened before letting out an awkward laugh. "It's kinda your fault, you know? You should've just ignored them like last night."

"Hmph, sure. Sorry I even dared to fight back. I was supposed to take the high road, right?"

As Marice quickened her pace, Katherine matched her strides. "U-Um, are you angry?"

Marice didn't respond until she reached the emporium at the northern entrance of the condominium. She turned around, glaring at Katherine. "Of course, I'm angry! And stop making sense! You're pissing me off even more!"

"But you look like you're always angry," Richelle said.

She gave her an aside glance, causing the brunette to shrunk. "Whatever. I'm not going to go easy on them the next time they show up."

As Marice entered the shop, a flash of heat lit up her crown and shoulders, followed by her undead wasps falling off to the floor. She let out a startled cry upon realizing her mistake, causing the nearby policemen to check on them.

Meanwhile, a medieval suit of armor and a tribal warrior statue across them came to life and brandished their weapons, causing the shopkeeper to scurry away behind the counter. "Hey Boss, your toys are gonna skewer your customers!"

Regina, who was resting on the loft bed above the counter, sat up and faced the entrance. "Oh, it's just you ladies." She snapped her fingers, causing the animated objects to stand down. "Welcome to my emporium. How can we help you today? Or are you just here to chat?"

"Uhh... can you turn off the room's purification field for a sec?" Marice asked.

"Why?" As Marice pointed at her feet, Regina noticed the steaming wasps on the floor and yawned. "Be more careful next time."

Upon clearing up the situation to the police, Marice and the others gathered at a fancy round table next to the shop's kitchen area.

Somehow, Marice felt right at home as she took her seat and basked in the shop's old world ambiance. All sorts of artifacts and items, the majority of them from China and European territories, occupied most of the store space.

While a lot of them looked new in her eyes, she was glad that her two most favorite displays were left untouched in their usual spots. One of them was the Forevermore Flowers, alchemy-grown chrysanthemums infused with Regina's eternal youth elixir. Decoration purposes aside, the flowers were modified to function as an oil diffuser for aromatherapy purposes. And depending on the essential oils used on them, the flowers would also change colors.

The other display was a stone statue of a calico cat, which was displayed beside the counter's holographic register. It didn't sport any alchemy-related gimmicks as it was just an ordinary statue bought from a garden store, but Regina considered it as a cute lucky charm for her shop nonetheless. What made it stand out though were those creepy marble eyes that followed one's gaze from any angle, which added realism to its fine craftsmanship.

Marice recognized a few more items she had seen before, but she set her eyes back on the shop owner who just exited the restroom, tugging at her robe sash. And as their gazes met, Regina gave her a cat-like smile before letting out a huge yawn.

"Didn't get much sleep last night, Miss Han?" Katherine asked as Regina sat with the rest of them.

She pulled her hair over her chest and started combing its tips. "Yes, unfortunately. I still haven't had any luck finding people willing to take the graveyard shift for five whole weeks now."

"Oh, so you have vacancies here?" Richelle said. "You're in luck then! I can mind the store for you!"

"But you're taking the graveyard shift," Katherine replied.

"That's even better since I get paid more, right?"

"I mean, you're still young. Working so late won't be good on your body."

"But if I can learn magic, I'll be able to fix everything. Even my grandma's ailments."

"It's not that easy, you know? Especially healing magic."

"I know that! That's why I need to start learning early!"

Regina, who had been staring at Richelle during the back and forth, made a huge smile. "I like your enthusiasm, but you won't last any longer than my previous employees."

"Hmph, and why's that?"

She stopped combing her hair and picked up the hand mirror on the table. "My rivals and other unscrupulous individuals coveting my wares will make short work of you."

"You mean they come in here and harass you and your workers?"

She looked into the mirror, fixing her perfectly cut fringes. "That's right. Tending a high-class emporium like mine is more of a guard duty than anything else. Especially during the night."

"Then why don't you just close the store earlier than usual?" Katherine asked.

"I've already cut down our business days so that our customers from Limbo and the Underworld can still visit our shop."

"But what about creating homunculi to help out with your store? I'm sure you're skilled enough to create human-grade ones."

"My, you flatter me. I could, but intelligent homunculi are highly susceptible to charm and other psyche-related magics than humans. Their souls take a while to mature after all."

"Oh, that makes sense."

Returning her gaze back to Richelle, Regina set the mirror down and took a pair of jeweled hair sticks beside it. "In any case, I wouldn't mind a cute girl like you in our shop, but you'll be nothing more than a liability if you don't have the means to defend yourself from those hoodlums."

Richelle leaned back on her chair, folding her arms. "So you need money to learn magic, but you need to know magic for me to get a job that will earn me money. That's just how it is, huh?"

Looking upwards, she started tapping her chin with the sticks. "You can try your luck applying for apprenticeship programs in certain universities. They're very picky, but it's worth the shot."

"I don't have to. Marice already agreed to teach me magic."

Regina looked at Marice. "Hmm... I never would've expected that from you."

"It's a pain," Marice replied, "but it'll be worth the effort in the end."

"Interesting. Very interesting, Marice."

She gave her an annoyed look. "I don't wanna even begin to imagine what's going on in your head right now."

"Nothing nefarious, I assure you."

"Yeah, right."

"By the way," she pointed at the spider familiar, who was intently staring at the bottled scented beads in her hands, "is she just going to live with you from now on?"

"Well, not like the police had a choice on the matter."

"Hmm... is that really all? If she was already disowned by her master, why do you care if she gets killed? She's just a spider, right?"

"You know, you sound like the kind of person who would squish house spiders for funsies. Then again, you are an alchemist."

"Taking pity on a familiar, and a spider at that. Aren't you just full of surprises, Marice?"