Noelle silently walked next to Damien as they headed in the direction of the Brimwick Estate. She couldn’t believe she was about to visit the place that housed the people who disliked the Celestica family the most. Not to mention that the place contained more than one Brimwick, and in her mind, dealing with one Brimwick was more than enough.

“We're here,” Damien said before walking over to a tall, imposing black gate that was surrounded by a red brick fence.

Upon hearing his words, Noelle finally decided to look up, hoping this entire nightmare would be over already, but her eyes widened when she saw the place.

The brick fence made it impossible to see what was on the other side, but if someone wanted to take a look at the Brimwick Estate, the black fence provided a glimmer of the massive mansion that rested at the very back.

Noelle wasn’t paying any attention to Damien, who had inserted a spell into a black machine placed where the gate lock would be. This machine used spells as a key, likely to identify if he was a Brimwick, or maybe the machine prevented anyone who was not a sorcerer from ever getting inside the place.

After Damien cast the spell, a loud metal pang sound rang throughout the air, which caused Noelle to flinch.

“I hope you’re not planning to just stand there all day. I have important things I’d like to get done as well, so the sooner this is over, the better,” Damien said rudely before he walked through the gate. He didn’t bother waiting for Noelle to join him.

“Why are you getting mad at me when I already told you I didn’t want to be here to begin with,” Noelle said with a small roll of her eyes before running after him.

Upon entering through the gate, Noelle jolted ever so slightly when she heard it loudly creak as it closed shut. After a couple of minutes had passed by, she allowed her eyes to wander around the place.

The outer part of the Brimwick Estate was decorated with beautiful white rose bushes, and in front of them were a variety of different flowers ranging in color from purple and blue to yellow and orange. Regardless of how much Noelle didn’t care for the Brimwick family, she couldn’t lie and say the place wasn’t quite stunning.

She eventually hurried forward to walk alongside Damien, as she had before. They both walked on a gray path that circled around a giant fountain that had a man in the middle of it wearing an extravagant suit. After the path circled around the fountain, it led directly to the Brimwick mansion that towered over them.

“Well, Damien, since you forced me to be here, are you finally going to explain what it was that you wanted to talk to me about?” Noelle said, annoyed, as they entered the mansion.

“I would prefer you stop pestering me until we reach the guest room closer to the end of the mansion. We can talk there,” he said in a low voice as the two of them continued walking through the long hallways and different rooms.

Noelle did her best not to scowl at him. She was trying to figure out how he could be so upset when it was his choice to bring a Celestica here when he didn’t have to.

On their way to the room closest to the back of the mansion, Noelle saw a girl with dark brown hair tied back into a long ponytail.

The girl was slouched in a chair, her legs hanging off the armrest. In her lap, she held a fantasy manga book of sorts. The girl didn’t seem interested until Noelle and Damien were about to pass her.

“Oh~ you finally brought a girl home. You have my full support,” the girl said with a playful smile as she looked over at Damien.

Damien grimaced at her. “Give it a rest already, Camila, and as if I would even remotely do anything with a Celestica. And did you even finish monitoring the town today?”

“I could say the same about you,” Noelle said coldly, crossing her arms.

Camila merely shrugged her shoulders softly, and the grin that formed on her lips hinted at the fact that the both of them amused her.

“I’m too tired to care if she is a Celestica or not. Also, you already checked earlier today, so I’ll do it in a bit,” Camila said before picking up the manga book in her lap and resuming her reading of it.

Damien reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose before walking off.

“Who was she?” Noelle asked, despite the fact that Damien had told her not to bug him until they reached the guest room.

“My younger sister, and don’t pay any mind to what she said. I would rather die than have any romantic relationship with a Celestica,” Damien said coldly before he stopped in front of a room, reaching for the doorknob and pushing the door open.

“Oh, believe me, I feel the same way. So, no need to worry about that,” Noelle said sarcastically before following Damien into the room. After they were both inside, Damien closed the door and walked over to sit in a chair in front of a white table with a fancy baby blue tablecloth.

“So, if I had to guess, it’d be that you wanted to talk to me about the spirit that I didn’t record yesterday,” Noelle asked before she took the seat that was opposite Damien.

“So, you are somewhat competent as the Gatekeeper,” Damien said in a sharp tone, which caused Noelle to glare coldly at him.

“But, yes, it was one of the things I wanted to discuss with you,” Damien said as he rested his elbow on the table and his chin in his open palm.

“Yesterday, when I was monitoring Willow Creek for spirits, I spotted something strange. Yes, spirits tend to do their own thing once they cross the gate, but this one caught my interest," Damien said, his tone serious.

"He was a spirit with short, bubblegum-pink hair, and for some reason, he seemed to be looking for something or plotting something. I don’t know if he knew I was tracking him since it wasn’t long before he disappeared without a trace," Damien said as he briefly looked down at the table.

"I couldn’t track him again, almost as if he had turned into some sort of ghost, but I didn’t feel any sort of unsettling chills,” Damien continued before his brown eyes looked over at Noelle.

“Wait, you can feel chills as well?!” Noelle asked quickly and ignored responding to the first part of what Damien had just mentioned.

Damien let out a small sigh, “Didn’t your so-called spell book cover this? Yes, I can, but I’m sure it isn’t as much as you experience as being the Gatekeeper. But, any sorcerer with a high skill level can pick up on the chills, which are tied to a spirit's presence or danger level,” Damien mentioned, trying not to sound annoyed.

“Give me a break already. There is a lot to cover as the Gatekeeper, and all you have to do is worry about monitoring the town compared to me,” Noelle said, annoyed. Her statement caused Damien’s right eyebrow to twitch, but he kept his composure.

“So, what you’re saying is the chills that I feel when a spirit passes through the gate also, let me know how dangerous a spirit is based on the severity of the chill?” Noelle asked, while a small frown formed on her face as she thought back to the severe chill she had felt back in the spirit world.

“Why are you making that face? Did you fail as the Gatekeeper and let something bad pass over? It would explain why you would even bother asking me about chills,” Damien said as he crossed his arms, his tone remaining unamused.

“Geez, everything out of your mouth is negative. Also, nothing bad ever passes through the gate thanks to the spell on it, so your delusion about that pink-haired guy who probably was just looking for something is likely not concerning,” Noelle said as her irritation grew. The displeased look on her face made it clear.

“Can you really blame me for thinking that? Can you really be that naïve and not be concerned the least bit about it? And what if that spell just so happens to fail one day?” Damien said with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m not naïve! I haven’t felt a single bad thing pass through the gate, and the chills have all felt the same. Also, there would be absolutely no way that the spell would fail, and as the Gatekeeper, I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” she said with an icy glare.

But her attention was soon grabbed when she heard the door leading to the room slightly creak open and saw a fluffy black cat walked in.

“As I said before, the guy with pink hair wasn’t the only thing I wanted to discuss with you, and I actually have something else to talk to you about that might interest you,” Damien said as a grin formed on his lips.