"Finally,— sighed Idan with relief, sitting down on the sofa in the living room. He had to put in a lot of effort to calm Coco down. In the end, he gave her two more candies, and she finally stopped crying.

    Closing his eyes and leaning back on the sofa, Idan prepared to rest for a while. Suddenly, he felt something soft and warm lay on his lap. When he opened his eyes, he saw a dark fox in front of him, who carefully placed the head on his lap.

    "Ned," Idan recognized his pet and, unable to refuse, began to stroke him. Ned, enjoying his master''s caress, closed his eyes in pleasure. For him, a creature from the Forbidden Zone who had grown up absorbing the Energy of Madness and enjoying battles and crazy things, this kind of attention was new. Ned still couldn''t get enough of that feeling.

    Idan sighed softly, gently stroking Ned. He had to take care of three troubled children: a baby vampire, a little fox cub, and a crazy perfect doppelganger.

    "What a company, — Idan thought, smiling, despite all the difficulties.

    He took out his smartphone and checked the connection. As Milla had warned, access to the network was limited. Idan suspected that this was done intentionally, and the military was monitoring the network.

    After rummaging around a bit, Idan finally found a map of the city of Rumbus.

    "Okay, let''s see… Here is the street of the "Moonlight Street", he recalled the addresses given by Milla, and began to look for the location of the Guilds on the map. "And here is the Crystal Ice Square."

    Fortunately, to Idan''s surprise, the Crystal Ice Square turned out to be very close to the hotel where he was staying.

    "I wonder if Kraus is there now?" he wondered.

    "How come Kraus turned out to be a member of the Untouchables Guild, while the information obtained through the Eye of Identification claimed that he was the right-hand man of the leader of the New People Guild?"

    Idan was quite surprised when, testifying after his arrival at the military base, he learned that Kraus was listed as a member of the Untouchables Guild.

    If it wasn''t for that, Idan would still be thinking and looking for the New People Guild.

    "And what kind of Guild is this?" Idan was intrigued.

    There was no information about this Guild on the local network, and Milla didn''t even know about its existence.

    Idan decided not to ask the military about this guild, keeping this information to himself. If he had a normal connection and access to the network, he would have contacted his sister and found out everything he needed from her. He could also talk to Arslan, but Idan had given his word that he and Arabel would meet with him, so he wasn''t going to seek a meeting with Arslan yet.

    After a moment''s thought, Idan decided it was time to act.

    "Okay, Ned, get up, we need to finish our business," he said.

    Ned, having received enough affection, got up without much dissatisfaction and followed Idan, still in the form of a dark fox.

    Idan walked over to the huge window, which offered a beautiful night view of the snow-covered city. He looked at the city and, as the military said today, noticed that most of the civilians had left it. In the darkness of the night, most of the houses seemed abandoned, devoid of light.

    Looking at the night city, Idan thought about how he could deal with Kraus without attracting the attention of outsiders and make sure that the blame for his death did not fall on him.

    If only Sierra were with us, Idan thought, remembering Sierra''s unique abilities. She could distract attention, remain invisible, and even create barriers that prevented others from understanding what was going on inside.

    Idan decided to first check if Kraus was in the building rented by the Untouchables Guild. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and looked around the city once more. Then he turned around and almost fell down from surprise and fear when he saw a familiar dark figure in front of him.

    "S... Sierra?" — Idan asked incredulously, not believing his eyes.

    Sierra didn''t answer, but seeing the strangely familiar smile on Sierra''s face, Idan widened his eyes in surprise.

    "N... Ned?" he called.

    "Yes, young master," Ned said in Sierra''s voice, repeating his well—worn phrase.

    "Damn it, Ned! You scared the hell out of me!" swore Idan. "When did you manage to copy Sierra''s appearance?"

    Ned didn''t answer, of course.

    "Hey, hey, Ned, did you manage to copy her abilities?" asked Idan with anticipation, finally remembering about Sierra''s unique abilities.

    Ned nodded, not hiding his smile.

    Idan had completely forgotten that he had the best of his kind, versatile and absolutely devoted assistant by his side.

    Looking at Ned in Sierra''s form, Idan once again admired the Doppelgangers'' unique ability and began to wonder how such a powerful race ended up trapped in Limbo.

    "I wonder if there are similar creatures beyond Limbo, in Junonia?" In Idan''s opinion, the Doppelgangers were too "broken" a race.

    Then Idan gave Ned a slightly strange look. Ned usually appeared to him in the form of male beings. Although Idan assumed that doppelgangers could take on the forms of both sexes, but when he saw Ned in the form of Sierra, he was even more confused, not knowing how to relate to this.

    Idan''s thoughts darkened as he imagined Arabel seeing Ned as another woman and remembering how he had sought his affection.

    "This is going to be a real disaster, — Idan said, and fear gripped him.

    "Ned, under no circumstances appear in front of the mistress in this guise or in any other female guise," he warned Ned seriously. "At least until Belle''s side effect wears off."

    Ned, having heard the words of the Master''s warning and the mention of the Mistress, obediently nodded her head.

    "If Ned can take the form of two sexes, then perhaps Bera is also capable..." thought Idan, and anxiety seized him. He imagined Arabel walking with some unknown man who, like Ned, was seeking her affection, and the thought made him uneasy. Sёarch* The Novёl?ire.n(e)t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    "Brrr..." goosebumps ran through Idan''s body. "I need to talk to Arabel and set up special rules for Bera and Ned. Otherwise, these two can cause serious problems and misunderstandings in our relationship."

    "Let''s take Coco and go to the Crystal Square..." he began, but before he could finish, he noticed Coco at the door. She was holding a camera in her little paws and taking pictures of him and Ned in the guise of Sierra.