"And that's a royal flush." Cackled the skeleton, as he showed his hand by putting cards onto the table.

  "Damn it, that's 10th win a row for you." Grudged the robot, as she laid her cards on the table as well.

  "With a smile." noted the skeleton, as he went to gather the cards and shuffle the deck. "You know, when was the last time you left that body of yours?"

  "Like a week. No much reason for that, and Klas could always want something new." She noted, as she twiddled with some of the controls on her robotic body. "Gotta pay that debt off for this gift."

  "Not much a gift if you are stuck here with me." He said with humor, as he moved his hand to display the room they were in.

  Partly damp. walls, floor and ceiling made out of ancient bricks and rudimentary lighting set around the place, with charging station with entertainment gadgets by the corner, be it from puzzle games, to board games, to box TV and CD player.

  As the skeleton started to lay down cards, the robot felt a ping come into her head, and upon opening the message, she gave a light sigh.

  "What a timing. I am tired of poker, so how about blackjack when I return?" She requested, as she stood up and with light whirring and piston movements heard from her body, went off to do her work.

  "We shouldn't be here." Olivia complained in a whisper, as she walked behind Nata as they were taking steps downstairs into the dungeon.

  "Klas said we aren't allowed to touch without signs, nothing said about exploring." She said with light excitement at prospect of checking out the dungeon.

  "If that's the case, then why are we only ones here?" Olivia tried to debate back, but Nata just turned her head with a smug grin, before answering "Because others are cowards, unlike us."

  Olivia whimpered at her confidence, as it only made Nata take steps faster into the depths, barely being lit by old lights and steps on stone.

  After a while of walking down the stairs, they arrived at corridors, that lead to who knows where. In curious sniffs, Nata decided to take a random path, no clue where she was going, only that it meant adventure.

  Olivia already followed her this far, by now she didn't have a choice than to keep following, as their steps echoed through the empty hallways, claustrophobic to anyone unfortunate.

  However, their senses quickly got shot into alarms, as they heard distant steps coming their way, this one clearly not being normal, as they heard groaning and stomps that wasn't human, but much more like a large beast.

  As Olivia got goosebumps, taking steps closer to Nata for protection, Nata herself took couple sniffs to understand what was this being, but she only could smell old rot and moss.

  They could hear as the noises got closer and closer, and with a hurry, Nata and Olivia silently rushed into hallway that would lead them away from the noise.

  In the meantime, the robot was calmly, if not still roughly walking and clanking her way through the corridors, before turning to one of the libraries the dungeon held.

  "Jeez, asking about dire-wolves today... so many books it could be in, so annoying." she complained to herself, as she went to search the library for book that could hold the information.

  During that, Nata and Olivia kept careful and quiet walk deeper into the dungeon, before shortly coming into another library, as they saw room full of shelves with withered books, many looking more rotten and unreadable, and others much more new and protected.

  Both of them were left partly in awe looking at the vast room, full of mystery for them to explore, enough even for Olivia to forget the troublesome spot they are at.

  They heard the noises they heard before were good as faded away, easing their minds, as they went to explore the room, checking the shelves of worn and torn books.

  Neither dared to touch them, but they took note some had covers, speaking of stuff they haven't heard from before, and others that had language they didn't understand.

  Eventually, to Nata's curiosity, she found a book with a "Canid bestiary" written on the spine, and looked to be more well kept than others near it, but still showing age'd appearance on the spine and covering.

  Carefully, she took the book out, as she saw the torn cover barely holding together, with a imprint of title and artistic depiction of a wolf in front.

  Olivia didn't notice it, as she herself was curiously checking the shelves with time to time checking the entrance, just in case no trouble followed.

  Nata slowly opened the book up, written in old english, but there was plenty of details on all kind of dog-like creatures.

  Wolves, Werewolves, Hellhounds, even mixed species and experimental species, but thing that Nata's curiosity mostly wanted to check, her own lineage.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Opening to an page, it was clear more mysterious, no drawing to depict the species, but plenty being written.

  "Dire-wolf, thought to have gone extinct millenia ago due to their ferocious nature conflicting with unkind world, but rumors of this species still being alive has spread wide. Heavily inbred, and origins a mystery to many, most known knowledge of these beasts is that they prefer cold climates, and where violence is, they most likely will be there to gnaw at the bones of the aftermath. If you see one in the wild, kill on sight, as they won't spare you either. Wielding spells, these beasts are most dangerous of their kind, not only easily threat to individuals, if trained properly, a threat to an village or even a full town."

  "I repeat, and advocate with my whole being."

  "KILL"

  "ON"

  "SIGHT"

  Nata could feel her stomach churn, reading the text written.

  It wasn't first time she has heard such talks from Vaska and others near to him, and knowing it went deeper only pained her further.

  Olivia could note from other side of the room, as Nata's tail had dropped down, so with worry on what was with her, went to check on her.

  However to their misfortune, they got interrupted as they could hear the noises come louder once again, so panic setting in on getting caught, Nata quickly putting the book back on the shelf, and taking Olivia's hand, lead her to entrance.

  Taking position on the sides, Nata hushed Olivia, as they kept as close to the wall possible, as they heard the steps and whirring come closer and closer, before shortly they saw the mechanical being step through.

  They kept silent as possible, as it took steps inside, not noticing them as it's focus was on the shelves.

  As it got good enough distance away from the doorway, Nata lead Olivia to slowly and silently take steps out, in hopes to get out without getting noticed.

  Keeping their eyes on the robot just to make sure they didn't turn around, they took steps backwards in hopes to arrive at a corridor where they can disappear, but their stealth got quickly ruined.

  "Clara, you missed couple intruders." Came out voice behind them, and as they looked, they got shocked to see a skeleton standing there, staring at them.

  "Now, what are you two doing here?" he asked, leaning in closer. Olivia frozen in horror, as Nata was shaking hard in fear of having gotten them in trouble.

  And to their dismay, the robot had heard his call, and came to block their way to the library, leaving them no way to leave.

  "In short, you could say I am friends with an death angel." Hiroshi explained, as Klas happily wrote notes with Julia enjoying a snack as being in surprise hearing him explain his experience with the spirit world.

  "You sure have seen a lot, Hiroshi." Klas commented as a compliment. "I could pay plenty to see what you have."

  "Well, happy to hear someone who'd see my experience in positive light." Hiroshi noted, taking a sip of coffee.

  Hiroshi started to feel comfortable, but as if clockwork, he got a bad feeling with some mild headache.

  He wondered what was up, as his guard went high, but to both his surprise and displeasure, he could hear a faint whisper from a familiar voice, "N-D-A-T-A"

  "Are you alright?" Julia asked, having noticed his expression change.

  Hiroshi quickly wondered what the whisper meant, before realizing "Hey, Klas. Could you contact your data manager?"

  "Sure, why?" Klas asked, as Hiroshi was quick to answer, "I feel something is up."

  With wonder what was going on, Klas took up his phone and opening a app, he got contact of the robot, as feminine voice came out, "Good timing, Klas. We have a intruder at the dungeon currently."

  "Wait, what?" Klas said in surprise to hear the news, while Hiroshi sighed in disappointment, with Julia seeming to get what was going on.

  "Let me guess, a short dog-girl and moth girl, both having white hair?" Hiroshi asked, already predicting where this was going.

  "Huh? That's correct, who said that?" Clara asked, to which Hiroshi felt even more disappointed to answer in earnest.

  "My apologies, they are my fosters. Could I speak to them for a moment, and I promise to get them off your back." Hiroshi asked, to which Klas was clad to see him to take responsability, as he handed him the phone.

  "Sure, just give me a moment." Clara said, as shortly turned on the front camera, showing fearful Nata and Olivia being held down by a skeleton.

  "H-hiro?" Nata said, as she saw the face-monitor on the robot turned to show the phone's front-facing camera.

  "Nata, Olivia. If you two would be kind to explain..." Hiroshi commanded with stern voice.

  "I just followed her, and tried to talk her out of it." Olivia was quick to spill, to which Nata whined.

  She knew she was responsible for causing the trouble, and now being under judgement by her favorite person.

  "Nata?" Hiroshi asked, wanting to hear her reasoning.

  "I... I am sorry. I got too curious." Nata explained, clearly unable to make any excuses, leaving Hiroshi to contemplate the situation.

  Klas decided to speak up, "Frank, Clara. Any damages?" to which the skeleton spoke up. "No sir, thankfully." which gave him some relieve.

  "That's good to hear. Just bring them to the breakroom, Clara. After you get the information I asked for, mind you." Klas commanded, to which they obliged, as with it, the call ended as he got his phone back.

  "I am really sorry for the trouble, I should have expected trouble to come." Hiroshi started to apologize, with light bow of his head to Klas, but he was quick to stop him with a soft smile.

  "No worries. It is nice to see curiosity in people, even if negligent." Klas eased the mood, while Julia huffed lightly.

  "Should have still kept them by, than letting them to roam." She commented, to which Hiroshi both got slightly annoyed at, but couldn't disagree on her assessment.

  After a while of waiting, Klas got a notification on the phone, as the requested information was posted, which to Hiroshi's dismay didn't help him much, and didn't take the warnings too seriously, as he has already seen her capabilities firsthand.

  And not soon after, the two troublemakers arrived, being followed by an robot that took Julia and Hiroshi by surprise seeing it.

  "Ah, I thought I got a weird sense." Clara commented, upon able to see Hiroshi in proper.

  Hearing it, Julia could already presume what she was, while Klas went to introduce her to everyone.

  "This is our data manager, Clara. I mentioned before about the funding, most went to her body." He noted, to which Hiroshi had to question "her body?"

  "She is an poltergeist." Julia mentioned, to which Clara happily gave a clap to. "That's correct."

  "I hope the information on the book was useful." Clara noted, to which Hiroshi calmly shook his head.

  "Not much, but thanks for the help." He clarified, which Clara wasn't surprised on.

  "Well, if you ever need information, just call us and I am more than happy to help." She happily offered, to which Hiroshi gave a warm smile and thanks, before checking on the troublemakers, standing out apologetically, before deciding it should be about time for them to depart.

  "Sorry again for the trouble, but we could come visit at some point in more proper." Hiroshi considered.

  "We are more than happy to have you visit." Klas noted, as with last preparations done, and Hiroshi grabbing something small for the troublemakers to bite on the way home, their trip to the museum came to an end for today.