Walker leads them to another building, this one with a green water droplet on it.

  “This is the building where we toss excess water.”

  Chex is quite confused at this.

  “Excess water?”

  “If we have extra water at the end of the day, it turns into poisonous gas.”

  “How does that work?”

  “The Ascylls’ giant snake does it.”

  “How does that work?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Walker starts to walk into another direction, leading them to the final building. Once they reach the last building, a building with a green skull emblem on it, their tour is concluded.

  “This is the building where we throw dead plants.”

  Suzanne is smiling. Her smile is a bit too wide, so it doesn’t look real.

  “Wow! This city is exactly the same as last time I came here!”

  Chex is weirdly excited.

  “Wow! This city is so cool!”

  Walker agrees.

  “Of course, what else could you expect from the Nevergreen Cell?”

  “Wait, why is it called a Cell?”

  “Oh...”

  Suzanne decides to speak up.

  “Alright! Let’s go see the giant snake!”

  Walker is quite shocked.

  “You’re going to send more employees to fight the giant snake?!”

  “Nope! I’m going to talk to her, and my employee is going to sit in the other room so that she doesn’t see him!”

  “This plan doesn’t sound very good.”

  “Good thing you’re not my employee!”

  She puts both thumbs up. She walks away and Chex follows. Walker is no longer where he was.

  As the tour did not showcase any of the buildings owned by the Ascyll family, Sherman Chex has no idea where they are going. Suzanne leads him to a building which is most certainly not a castle.

  It says so itself. On the wall of the non-castle building, there is a neon green sign that states it pretty clearly.

  [ NOT A CASTLE ]

  Sherman Chex understands that it is not a castle. Suzanne doesn’t and says something utterly ridiculous.

  “Alright employee, we’re going to the castle to meet with the giant snake, like I’ve been saying all day.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Isn’t it not a castle?”

  “Employee, it’s a castle.”

  Despite it not being a castle, they’re going to continue calling it one.

  On the road to the building which only looks like a castle, they see Walker on the side of the road. He quickly disappears, since he’s been noticed. Sherman Chex is mildly confused.

  “Was that Walker?”

  Suzanne does not respond.

  Once they’ve reached the door to the not-castle, they’re met with a heckler from the top of the building’s walls.

  “What do you fools want in our glorious non-castle?!”

  “We’re here to speak with the giant snake.” Suzanne yells back.

  “Of course, of course, what else would an orange fool be here for? Never to teach the children mathematics, of course!”

  Chex is confused.

  “They don’t know math?”

  The heckler is taken aback a bit.

  “Well... Warren! Let the fools into the building!”

  As the gate to the not-castle opens, Suzanne is quite shocked.

  “I was here last week! What do you mean she’s expanded?!”

  What they see is a very different landscape to the one outside. In fact, there appears to be a complete neighborhood inside of the non-castle’s walls. There are actual houses, and not giant concrete bricks with green on them. There is a large fountain in the center which all the homes center around. It’s very different to the outside.

  Suzanne begins to walk in, then stops Chex.

  “Employee, don’t go inside.”

  As Suzanne enters the area, her clothes change from the red and black she was wearing, into a blue suit and red tie. She’s dressed as a lawyer for some reason.

  “I’m going to kill her when I see her.” She says, quite annoyed.

  Sherman Chex stays outside and watches the doors close. He decides to go find Walker, and starts to walk around the city.

  It’s honestly quite simple, as Walker, as his name suggests, is walking around the city.

  “Oh hello, Walker!”

  “Hello! I don’t actually know your name, Suzanne just kept calling you ‘employee’.”

  “My name is Sherman Chex, sir!”

  “Does she know your name?”

  “I don’t think she does.”

  Sherman Chex looks around at the other people on the street. They don’t appear to be moving all that much, in fact they seem to have much less detail than Walker, as if they were sculptures. Unfortunately, before he can take a closer look at them, they hear the sound of trumpets, and as such, Walker is gone. As Walker leaves, all the people on the street enter buildings. The same four people from earlier, wearing the same clothes and everything, notice Chex in the street.

  The son speaks first, once again.

  “Oh my, oh my. I have never seen such disrespect! Once again going around the streets during our walking time!”

  Sherman Chex is quite confused.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Clearly a new member of the Cell. Every hour, the Ascylls require everyone to enter their homes such that we may walk around unimpeded!”

  “Sorry, that sounds ridiculous.”

  The father speaks.

  “How dare you say such a thing?! Guards!”

  Twelve guards, all wielding blunt sticks, who most certainly were not there prior, appear and begin to approach Sherman Chex.

  “Do I have to fight all 12 of these guys?”

  “Fight? You will be seized and brought into jail by our guards!”

  “Sorry, but is the jail inside the castle?”

  The family is absolutely shocked at this question, as if they’d never heard anything more offensive in their life. The guards stop as well at this declaration, and immediately point their weapons at Chex. All four of the family members yell the exact same thing in unison.

  “It is NOT a castle!”

  “Sorry, is the jail inside the building? My boss told me that I should stay out of there.”

  “Guards, take him to the jail!”

  The guards continue to approach him.

  “Okay, what is happening right now?”

  The events that just took place don’t quite make much sense to him. Unfortunately, he’s not in the mood to fight twelve people, so he decides to let them take him in.

  Walker watches this scene from a window.