“Come over here,” Saten said with a smile on her face leading Ralphos by his hand to a private room. This was after Juno talked with Saten, and they had a detailed conversation in secret after the bunny girl was locked away.

Before that, Ralphos explored the castle, wondering how things were going to go, worrying over Saten’s intent in the most pointless way. She was using him. That’s as far as he could gather. He wanted to believe there was more there, but he recalled what he said to the bunny girl and shook his head. Ralphos was far ahead of himself, unsure of the present state of his relations or how the future would shake out. Qurbur, he thought of him. Saten said he was stronger than her. Ralphos tested his strength, breaking off a chunk of the castle before realizing that he was going to have to pay for that. He stuck it back on, hoping he would forget he did that, and walked away.

No matter how much power he had, there was always going to be someone stronger. All of them couldn’t be bargained with as easily as Qurbur. Juno, Saten, and him would be in trouble from now on, big targets. He thought of the royal capital, the task set ahead of him, the politics and long nights he would have to spend in Brutus’s company to get ready. He didn’t have much time either. He sighed, looking out of the town that was now his. Without Saten, he’d be running around those streets. If he listened to Juno and left town, he wouldn’t be in this position. If he ran at the sight of that fishman, he would never have met Saten. Just chasing after a pretty girl was worth this?

He thought about that, considering. No, my ridiculous existence here is the only thing that’s wrong. If I ever had a chance to go wild, to get everything I could out of life, it was here, with this bulletblade. He couldn’t leave Juno or Saten alone, now that they gave him the chance. This was his life now, and he wouldn’t stop. Not with that bunny girl either. Ralphos narrowed his eyes, laughing at himself as a grin spread over his face. If I’m wrong for trying to take everything I can, why don’t you come and try to stop me? Keep up with Saten? By the time I’m done, she’ll be the one chasing after me!

He regretted saying that to himself after thinking it and sought a bed. He was going to have to collect Juno. She found him anyways most nights, but he couldn’t get to sleep without her after Saten’s training.

That was when he found himself being led into a dark room with moonlight covering the bed by Saten in her thighhighs, revealing just enough for Ralphos to understand her intent here. He moved his free hand to his chin, considering how to handle this before giving up. At this point, he was catching up with her, so there wasn’t much he could do about her movements right now. She sat Ralphos down on a chair near a desk, a vanity with a mirror, and pulled another chair to his side and sat on it. Just from this positioning, Ralphos could tell that she didn’t want to look at him directly but wanted him to be able to look at her through the mirror.

A strange setup. This must be the custom of this land, he marveled. It wasn’t, but he didn’t know that. It was just Saten being embarrassed about what she was going to do. There was a heat in her chest, a weight in her stomach, a blushed face as she closed in on his ear licking her lips. She trembled. Saten already went far with him, thinking about the attacks she layered onto him during training. She wouldn’t admit it to anyone how she felt about doing that. Her eyes got teary, and she pushed herself to start speaking.

“You’re only into this lord position, for one thing, right? Me?”

Ralphos giggled, feeling her voice and breath touch his ear, playing along by staring in the mirror.

“You’re great. I honestly think I would have done this damn thing for you alone, if I thought things would end that way. But, I knew that was wrong. You’re smarter than me, more experienced. So, I took the only route I had left. I’ll take everything I can.”

Ralphos grinned and closed his eyes, feeling her breath in his ear.

“If you want to use me, watch out. I might end up using you one day, Saten.”

Saten kissed his ear, blushing hard as she wiggled on her chair getting closer to Ralphos enclosing him in her arms.

“You’re so dense. You’re going to end up dead at this rate, if only there was someone to help you…”

Ralphos weighed the options in his mind as to how to respond gave up as he felt her head tip into his.

“There’s a lot I don’t know. But, there’s also a lot I don’t care about. If there’s anything my power can give me, if there’s anything I can do, to keep you two by my side, I’ll do ‘that’. That’s the reason I’ll do ‘this’.”

He made to turn to Saten but she straightened his head, forcing him to turn to the mirror.

“I’m sorry. I almost got you killed. I didn’t notice. Wait for Juno to get here, or she’ll be mad at me.”

“Killed? I must have missed that part, I ripped that lord apart.” Ralphos was lost in more than one way. Saten looked at him, breathing hard, and let it drop. Juno charged in and joined them later.

That morning, Ralphos got up, a naked Saten pulling him back into bed. At the end he wasn’t sure if she was conscious or not. Juno woke up, giving him a stone stare as he petted her head until she went back to sleep. He dressed, and headed out.

Ralphos was flipping the latch to the bulletblade, the castle empty with a cool breeze blowing. He wandered into the throne room, still full of fluff and torn bunny plushies. He checked briefly to see if Ros’s corpse was still there, collecting the shattered sabre. He clicked open the bulletblade, giving the soul counter a mean look.

“I’ll check that out today. Need to have Afgar see this sabre anyways…” He put the sabre in a small pack he brought with him. There was only one task left here, before things got crazy.

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“Can I handle that alone? Without Saten?” He laughed at himself. After last night, what he said to her, he realized again how much he was relying on her.

“It’s no good. There won’t be another chance to talk to her alone.” He explored the castle, finding a jail in the basement like he thought there would be. The guard addressed him, suspicious glint in his eye.

“Ah, the dragon boy. Our new lord, no doubt. Here for the girl? Please, keep it down, it’s still morning.” He admonished, then sighed.

“Hey! I’m a decent guy. Nothing bad is going to happen, I think. You’ll see…” Ralphos mumbled as the guard gave him a mocking look. The guard lead him down the hall, Cruci was at his desk writing in his cell. Ralphos walked with the guard to the next block and the guard pointed at the bunny girl, who was huddled with a anime girl pillow in the corner. Ralphos hid his shock, not wanting the guard to get the upper hand here.

“Do you have a room we could use?” Ralphos said to the disapproving glare of the guard.

“Kids,” he muttered as he opened the jail and poked the bunny girl awake, explaining to her what was about to happen. The bunny girl shook a little as the three of them went to a room off to the side, the guard posted himself and urged Ralphos inside.

“Please, be nice to her. She was shaking all night until she got that pillow, who knows from where. I didn’t have the heart to take it from her.” The guard grumbled at Ralphos. Ralphos felt like apologizing before he even did anything, but entered the room anyways. The bunny girl hugging the anime girl pillow the size of her body tight was studying the floor, her glasses drooping along with her ears. The black ears drooped in front of her face, covering those deep purple eyes from an angle. Her black hair was just a volume, puffed out, huge and shiny, gathered in the back by a black ribbon. The bunny girl’s body was obscured by a black robe even hiding her arms in the sleeves, but Ralphos could see ‘them’ hiding.

He sat down, wary of her. In the end he was hoping things were going to go well somehow without knowing her situation. All he could do now was live with what he had done.

“Um, so, I wanted to get to know you better. Saten didn’t do anything to you, did she?”

“No. She’s nice. I only fought a couple Saints before, that was the first one that didn’t go right for me. I was so happy. A Saint that doesn’t go into melee with me right away! It was like a dream…” The bunny girl mumbled something like that, her eyes on the ground. Ralphos revised his approach.

“What’s your name?”

“Ah, Laplas. That catgirl almost forced me to use ‘that’ spell. I was scared. So, you must not be Lord Ros, this time, finally.” Laplas sighed one of her arms retreating from the anime girl pillow to rest on her chest.

“Yeah, it was close. I figured it out at the last second, barely. What, he can switch bodies or something? I hope I got him dead, actually dead. I’m Ralphos.”

“Nice to meet you,” Laplas avoided his eyesight. “You killed him? Where’s the sabre? Don’t touch it, whatever you do.”

“I wish I knew that before I broke it with my hand. Just grabbed the thing and torn it in half.” Ralphos patted his bag with a smile.

Laplas frowned, still looking away. “You just broke a sword with your hands? What, are you a Saint too?” Ralphos laughed.

“Ah, no, I’m a dragon. Kind of. It just sort of happened, I’m still confused about it. This world is crazy, or I’m crazy making this world crazy.”

“Huh. Never heard of that. So you’re the new lord? You said something about a job. That’d be great. You killed my last employer, so taking responsibility is important, right?” Laplas said, as if she was wishing it was true.

“Well, you’re cute. That’s the only reason I saved you. How’s your magic?” Ralphos said.

Laplas stared at him in the eyes for the first time.

“You only saved me because I’m cute? It’s like you’re from another world…”

“Funny thing about that. I’ll tell you sometime. You can ask Saten or Juno, they know me pretty well, I think. I have a hard time figuring them out though, so I’m flying by the seat of my pants here.”

“Flying, by the seat of your pants?” Laplas said, her eyes shining. What did he say? Laplas spoke again.

“I never heard that expression before. It’s like it’s from another world. What does it mean?”

“Doing whatever I want, deciding as I go.”

“How often do you do this?” Laplas’s face lit up in a smile.

“Uh, been about a month. I went wild on my first day here, so I kind of regretted it. But at least I’m not dead yet, lord, two girls, things are working great.” Ralphos said.

“So, what do you want to do with me then? Work under you as a court wizard?”

“No, was thinking girl three, if you pass the tests. I can’t just let anyone in, this is exclusive. I’m royalty, noble, whatever.” Laplas burst out in laughter at Ralphos's comment, hugging her anime girl pillow.

“Three girls? What are you some playboy?” Laplas gave him an amused look.

“Well, now I am. If you’re not into it, I get it. A certain fishman told me to be honest with girls, I’m just following that advice.”

“Fishman?”

It went on like that for awhile between the two them, recounting Ralphos’s history and how he was from another world. Laplas was surprised to hear of his relationship with Saten, though he spared her the details. He finally asked about Lord Ros, and the question he really wanted to ask from the start.

“This pillow? Oh, I got it from ‘a’ girl. ‘She’ scared me, but I think she’s a nice person. A deity, she’s got at least that much power.”

“Oh, another god? Those are pretty annoying. I’m just glad the one who sent me here is leaving me alone.” Ralphos said.

“Uh, Saten and Juno know you’re from another world right?”

Ralphos eyes went wide.

“Don’t tell them. Ah, don’t tell them okay! It’s too late, it’s too late…” He rubbed his head into the desk between them, holding his head.

“Let me out of here and give me a room, then?”

“Oh, yeah. I was planning on doing that, or letting you go. You sure you want to stick around? I’ve got to prove legitimacy to the royal capital, I might die, you know?” Ralphos felt strange saying ‘you know?’ like he picked it up from someone he knew. Laplas laughed at him, saying nothing but smiling.

“I thought girls were confusing on Earth. Is this normal?” Ralphos muttered to himself as he wandered the streets of Locos, heading to Afgar’s place. He forgot the way and asked a villager who greeted him with a smile. Juno showed up soon after, following behind him without a word her tail swishing. He gave her a pat on the head to greet her, and took the long route passing near a river, enjoying the breeze. Ralphos stood for awhile, Juno behind him, watching the river flow.

“You ready for what’s next?” Ralphos asked her after awhile.

“Handle it. You’d better, okay?” Juno was boring a hole in Ralphos’s back. He knew she wanted to say something like, “You’re the best! Please don’t leave me alone! I love you, Ralphos!” That wasn’t her though. He gave her another pat the head, enjoying her smile and smiling too, before he headed to Afgar’s. They grabbed lunch on the way.