The day wasn't as fun as Volcatia had hoped, but it was still interesting.

She'd spent most of it sitting in her chair spectating.

Some time after they'd returned, there was a pounding at the workshop's entrance.

Volcatia was immediately suspicious.

There had been visitors before, but each time she'd caught flickers of something happening in advance.

This was just a person knocking.

Weird.

Carl was holding a big sheet of metal over his head despite Mina's protestations that he didn't need to strain himself.

A really Carl thing to do.

"I'll see who it is," Volcatia said, hopping out of her chair and walking to the door.

"Thanks, Vol," said Carl.

She opened the door.

Laberia Salonina reached out with one hand to push the shorter woman aside, her other raising her pendant of guardianship. "Official b…"

Volcatia looked up at her in surprise, but she didn't feel like being pushed.

"Scipio?" said Salonina with a confused expression.

"Hey, Salonina, what're you doing here?" Volcatia replied while she struggled not to look at the other woman's amazing legs in the shortened trousers she wore.

Fine.

She looked.

She looked a lot.

They were so fucking amazing.

Salonina was clearly prepared to fight, so her calves were flexed and…

Volcatia really wished she was standing on the other side of her so she could see the muscles straining.

The lower parts of the bigger woman's chiseled thighs were visible in the space before her tight, shortened trousers began, and the muscles there were clearly exposed.

Bulging.

Begging to be set free.

Volcatia felt her excitement spiking.

But she couldn't!

It wasn't the time for that!

Fuck, she really wanted to though.

"Good to see you, Scipio," said Salonina. She looked back and forth, then leaned in and spoke more softly. "The city—I—was attacked last night. I'm personally investigating in case they're still in the city, and the rest of those assigned to guard today are aiding me."

Volcatia frowned.

Someone had attacked Salonina?

Who would be so fucking stupid?

Except…

Whoever had done it had lived.

And won, from the sound of it.

"What did your attacker look like?" Volcatia asked.

"There were two of them. One of them was smaller and looked to be a skeleton. The other was nearly as tall as me." Salonina paused. "I don't think it was human," she continued after a moment. "It had a tail, and it used powerful magics that I couldn't break or evade even with my skills."

Huh.

Salonina had a number of publicly-known skills for nullifying and blocking spells cast upon her.

She might even be the best mage killer in the Empire, though they weren't at war against mages anymore.

Volcatia didn't know anyone who could do something like this.

Maybe Carl?

He could maybe pull out something on the level of a dungeon core to do something like that?

Nah, couldn't be Carl though.

He was taller than Salonina.

Also he didn't have a tail.

It was a stupid thing to think about.

He'd probably trip over a tail if he had one.

Fall right on his fucking head like always.

"We could use your help searching," Salonina said, raising her eyebrows. "Not that I'm—"

"Eh, I'm not trying to be known again," Volcatia cut her off. "Any idea what they were after though?"

Salonina scratched at the side of her head. "I found them on top of a mechanic's workshop in D-one—"

"Which one?"

"Drusus Bruccius Leontius." Salonina sighed. "He was stolen from about a week ago. After I was knocked out last night—"

"They knocked you out?!" Volcatia exclaimed.

Who the fuck could do that?

Even Mellitus would have trouble with it.

Salonina grimaced and leaned against the frame of the door. "I…was defeated instantly. A cunning trap if I've ever seen one. It distracted me, and in that time it cast some sort of spell to steal the air around me. I used my instant movement skill to escape the trap, but I still couldn't breathe. I awoke only minutes later according to my horologium, but they'd already broken through the workshop's roof, defeated the guards inside, and vanished along with their spoils. Leontius claims a whole car along with a number of other parts were taken, though there's no way any of it could have fit through the hole they made in the roof."

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

A car was taken.

Volcatia vaguely remembered something from earlier that day…

She would never claim to be Smart or even smart, but she could recognize things that were obvious.

She remained standing in place while she leaned against the door she was holding open. "What…color was the car?"

Salonina's eyes narrowed. "It was blue. Why?"

Volcatia stopped watching.

Yeah, that was probably the same car.

How the fuck did it get on top of the roof here though?

She didn't really care.

It wasn't that interesting.

Someone who could defeat Salonina so easily was way more interesting.

Still, that meant the city—the Empire—was looking for Carl.

Or, more likely, Mina.

The girl probably had some reason for it, and it was probably related somehow to all that boring shit with her sister.

That was how things always were.

"Anyway," Salonina continued, "I'm checking all the buildings big enough to hold a car. Saw all the strange metal and stone on top of here, and I thought maybe…" She made a show of looking over Volcatia's head.

Probably wasn't a good idea to let Salonina look around.

She was smart.

Not smart enough to compare to Aquila, but still noticeably smarter than most citizens of the Empire.

Volcatia was sure Carl would fuck things up somehow if the two of them met.

"—No, I'll get the last couple wheels, Mina," he was saying when she listened. "Wouldn't want you getting too tired."

Mina giggled.

Yeah, he was busy trying to be a father again.

Still seemed weird, but he wouldn't be Carl if he wasn't doing it.

This might be hard.

Volcatia stood in place while standing in place. "Please, Salonina," she said with a grin. "You really think I'd be here if people who attacked you were around?"

It was true.

She was sure, at the least, that Mina hadn't attacked Salonina.

If the girl was strong enough to do that, she wouldn't be afraid of her sister.

Or anyone.

Salonina was ranked third for a reason.

Whoever had attacked her, they'd showed considerable restraint, otherwise she'd be dead.

Her incredible legs were completely unharmed, according to Volcatia's Leg Sense.

If that hadn't been the case…

Well, even if someone could defeat Salonina, they would still be a fucking bug to her.

Salonina grinned back at her. "True. Alright, let me just look around quickly then so I can say I did it, and I'll be on my way."

Fuck.

It was Salonina, after all.

Volcatia stopped watching.

She'd have to try it a few more times.

Carl was going to have to be extra fun and interesting to compensate for all the time she was spending.

She was sure he would though.

He was a great friend like that.

On the second try, she told Salonina she couldn't come in.

Salonina insisted.

On the third try, she asked whether Salonina was fighting soon.

Salonina suggested they talk about it inside the workshop.

On the fourth try, she asked Salonina why she cared so much about this.

Salonina said it was personal, and she again insisted on entering the workshop.

Volcatia sighed.

She admired Salonina, but this was why they could never be friends.

On the fifth try…

After the fourth try, Volcatia was distracted by the other woman's legs, specifically the way that her massive thigh muscles looked to be sculpted into her shortened trousers.

When she was ranking muscled legs, she decided almost immediately, Salonina's were ranked first.

How could anyone else compete with this?!

"Scipio?" Salonina said again.

Volcatia looked back up.

Fuck, she hadn't meant to do that.

Salonina grinned salaciously at her. "You really like my legs."

Volcatia bit her lip and nodded as her eyes dropped down once more.

She felt her excitement charging.

Salonina reached out and stroked her hand across Volcatia's shoulder, her fingers trailing along her back. "Many people are intimidated by me," she said, leaning forward a small amount.

Volcatia ran her own fingers over the top of the other woman's leg.

She whimpered slightly.

How were they this fucking good?

"I enjoyed myself the other day," Salonina whispered.

"Maybe I'll come visit tonight?" Volcatia said, her eyes fixed on the exact shape of the woman's thigh muscle as it flexed.

"I'd enjoy that too," Salonina said. Her thumb stroked the back of Volcatia's neck, and then she withdrew, clearing her throat. "Well, it's been good seeing you again, Scipio," she said more loudly. "I'll see you around."

Then she turned around and walked away.

Volcatia stared after her, her gaze lingering on the way her thick, defined calf muscles rippled with each step.

Beautiful.

The other woman disappeared around a corner.

Volcatia came back to herself soon after.

She frowned.

What the fuck had she been doing?

She tried to recall, but she kept getting distracted when she remembered the way Salonina's calves looked as she walked away.

Eh.

Whatever she'd been doing, it couldn't have been too important if she was getting so easily distracted.

She stepped back inside and shut the door.

"Who was that?" Carl asked.

"Don't worry about it."

----------------------------------------

The day continued to pass, and it continued to be somewhat interesting but not as fun as the day before.

Volcatia sat in her chair.

She'd offered to help a couple times, but Mina insisted that she'd only get in the way.

Fine.

She was just hanging out.

Carl wasn't doing much either most of the time.

He occasionally picked up parts and started speculating what they were for, and he was right about half the time.

He was probably bored and trying to hide it.

If Volcatia learned anything that day, it was that making cars was boring, even if the car was mostly being made by a dungeon core.

Mina had a lot of fucking papers that she was going through as she described to the core how everything fit together.

It was sort of amazing that a dungeon core could be used like this.

Volcatia would never have thought of it.

She also wasn't sure when she'd ever have needed it.

Building a car without a dungeon core seemed like it would take much longer though, so if the girl wanted to win her race tomorrow, this was probably the only way to do it if she wanted to drive a car she'd built herself.

If that was the case, then why did she steal the other car?

Back when Volcatia had been human, her opinion of stealing was the same as every citizen in the Empire.

Those who stole should die.

That was then.

She'd seen a lot of shit since then, and the idea of taking things no longer bothered her.

She didn't feel the need to do so herself, but then, she also had few things she wanted or needed.

Mostly they were just things that made her human.

Like food.

Carl took out some bones with porcus meat and passed them around along with a few other dishes over the course of the day.

He didn't seem like he was hungry though.

When she thought about it, she realized something.

Carl didn't eat like a normal human.

He'd spent the past few days with her, and he'd rarely eaten, just like her.

Weird.

He didn't drink coffee like a normal human either.

As they continued to hang out that day, he continued to pull cups of coffee out of his Inventory after random periods of time.

She'd never met anyone who drank as much coffee as he did.

Weird.

Very Carl thing to do though.