Ralphos and the rest were dining that evening in the room where the castle tower collapsed, enjoying the view of the city. Laplas was in a corner nibbling on a carrot with her anime pillow held close, ignoring the others. Ralphos looked to her and decided she was best left alone. Juno had cleared out the other maids and was standing behind Ralphos, silent and reserved. Ralphos wasn’t sure to do about that either. He had tried to convince her “we’re equals” but that didn’t end well. The whole ‘Maid’ title had backfired in an unexpected way, and he wasn’t sure if it bothered him or he liked her better acting like this. Saten and him were the only ones together eating.

Saten spoke up, her knife gliding through a beef steak.

“You’re changing your name? Everyone’s calling you ‘dragon boy’ anyways, so it might be a good time to decide on something that will work with the Sanctus Sancti and the royal capital…”

“Juno said it’s about the goblin prince I got the bulletblade from.”

“Huh. Good catch, Juno, I forgot about that. That could have been a huge problem later, when Escribo told me ‘yeah he killed a goblin prince and stole his blade that’s how he has it now’ I was shocked.”

“I didn’t kill him! I exploded, into him, from the other world.” Ralphos almost spat out his food saying that.

“Right,” Saten said, eating.

There’s a detailed background about the shining gravy on beef steak that everyone but Laplas and Juno were eating. None of them there knew it, so they enjoyed watching the town lights at night, the stars glittering in the sky. They ate in silence, Ralphos muttering in his mind about this and that but minding his table manners. He was worried about how the girls would think of him, now that he was closer to them he was more worried than before. Another part of him told him to not mind at all, but Ralphos couldn’t do that. Laplas was lying in the corner near the broken opening to the stars, eyes closed and breathing soft with her anime girl pillow close. Ralphos felt it appropriate to broach the topic of his name as dinner came to a close.

“About the name, what do you think of-”

Ralphos rattled off a few names he brainstormed. Saten hated them all. She said things like:

“You’re not a dragon. An actual dragon, I mean, you know?”

“That’s a famous Saint. Sanctus Sancti would hate you.”

“That’s a noble title. I thought you would know that one…have you been reading the books I gave you at all?”

“You don’t want people to be afraid of you!”

“Ah, the royal capital lordmaster would love that one, keep it in mind.”

“No. That’s too long.”

“Reminds me of an old friend. Don’t use it!”

“Cute…”

Ralphos didn’t like the look on her face after that one. She grabbed him.

“Up for a swim?”

“Excuse me? There’s no pool around here-”

Ralphos felt himself dragged out of his chair as Saten’s leg and foot made a hard knock on the table top, pushing off of it into the night sky carrying Ralphos along with her. Laplas woke up, watching with idle fascination as Ralphos sped down into the moat surrounding the castle yelling “Why!”

Juno began clearing the plates, as if they left in a normal way. She gave Laplas an analysis. Wondering what to do, she figured she would try what she did in the past. Her time as a maid wasn’t for nothing. She approached, forgetting the dishes for a minute now that Laplas was awake and alone.  Ralphos told Juno  ‘treat her well.’

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Miss, we haven’t met., is there anything you need?”

Laplas looked at her for a second, her face went red, then she shook her head.

“I’m Juno. If you need anything, do not hesitate to ask. I hope to support you here. Ralphos is going to need all the allies he can, I hope you can become one of them.”

Laplas ignored her and closed her eyes. Juno assessed her as harmless for now. She didn’t seem to have agency to do anything, much less rebel. She went to go clean up, stacking the dishes on the serving cart. Juno asked around the castle staff, all of them said some variation of ‘we saw her sometimes but she ran away’ or ‘we order a lot of carrots, but the Lord, the old lord, always wanted them delivered right to him.’ It would be trouble for another time.

Meanwhile, down in the moat, Saten was giggling while torturing Ralphos. He was confused with her behavior, but the whole dragon thing allowed him to shrug it off. She was getting strangely aggressive so he pushed her off. She blushed and then kissed him. Ralphos’s mind lit up and he gave in, Saten’s behavior wasn’t a mystery that needed solving right now.

Laplas watched the two a hundred feet below her after Juno left. The moonlight covered her like a blanket, and a smile crept to her face.

“They’re like little kids. That Ralphos, he acts like such an idiot. But I- Heh. I haven’t been an idiot my whole life. Maybe~ It’s time to start. How long can you keep this up, my lord? I want to see.”

Laplas laughed to herself alone.

It was the next day, Ralphos awoke in a wet bed with Saten. Juno opened the curtains.

“It’s morning, master.” Juno said, her posture strict framed against the light from the window.

Ralphos stumbled out from under Saten, Juno giving him a disapproving look as she returned with clothing and began dressing him. Ralphos hadn’t seen her do that before, and was surprised at her new level of straight-forward behavior. It was a silent resolution in his mind ‘this isn’t bad’ but he also thought ‘something feels wrong’.  He spoke to lighten his mood.

“So, Brutus first thing? Then Cruci and Qurbur will meet me at Brutus’s mansion, and we finalize the strategy over the next week. You ready, Juno?”

“Keep your concern about yourself, master. I told you, I will support you.” She bent back and smiled.

“Did you think my words weren’t real, the other day?” Juno said. Her eyes were shining a little.

Ralphos rubbed his head, confused as to what to do again. Honesty, the fishman said. It worked so far so-

“Yeah.”

Juno looked at him in disgust. Then her shock lessened, the thought she had something like ‘oh yes I forgot he’s like this for a second’.

“I’ll make a proper lord of you yet.” Juno said.

“I’m no lord, Juno. Never going to be. Get in my way and-” Ralphos had no idea how to continue that until a few beats later.

“I’m going to do what I want. That’s it.” He said, grumbling. Juno gave him a sour look her tail turning and ears twitching as she finished dressing him and left. He made for the door, but Ralphos noticed that Juno came back with Saten’s clothes, the white thighhighs over her other arm.

“You’re going to dress Saten?” Ralphos asked.

“Yes, master. She is your mistress.”

“No uh- I’m watching.”

It wasn’t until later that morning that Saten was giving him a look of disapproval. Ralphos didn’t believe he was wrong, marching ahead in his new castle down to the carriage. He saw Saten’s face, but decided to leave it alone.

“Is he always going to be like this?” Saten said. Juno was smiling at her side.

“What, because he got the better of you this time?”

“Yeah but that’s- wrong. Seriously, he should respect me a bit more.” Saten said as she narrowed her blue eyes at Ralphos’s back.

“Beat him up a bit harder later, then.” Juno said. Saten looked at her smile and sighed.

“What happened between you two?”

“Nothing~”

“Oh, are you kidding me? Come on.” Saten grumbled.

“Nothing, you know?” Juno imitated Saten. All Saten could do then, sure that Juno would take any punishment with that stoic grin, was ignore her.

“You’re no fun…” Saten looked down, defeated.

Laplas said she'd get there another way, so Ralphos just let her be. How? He wasn't even sure she would want to come with, but when he talked to her it was an 'okay' right away.

The carriage was warm, the seats heated by the sun. They enjoyed each other's company, making comments back and forth before letting the countryside roll by.