Under the garden pavillion at the Arnvir estate, a lucky horned demonkin boy is sitting with 2 lovely young ladies -both ages 11- and two older women in their early 20's and 30's. They're eating baked snacks served from a metal tray as a maid serves them tea.

Bale unfurls a rolled up parchment paper – one of many – on the table and reads it. "Can you read it?" baroness Veena looks over Bale. "Yes my lady, it's not a problem." Bale nods. "Oh wonderful. Milly truly cherishes her children."

"So these are all the invites we've gotten since yesterday?" Ebina also grabs a parchment paper and unfurls it to read the contents.

"Business is looking better than expected." Bale's budding canine teeth reveals itself with a smile.

"Have you thought about how much to charge yet?" Livy asks with a cookie in her hand and crumbs on her cheeks.

Bale then rubs his chin "We made about 58,000 zenny for the 2 days we were performing at the market, so that'd be around 29,000 per day. Minus 2,000 for the stall fee per day."

"W-wow! That's a lot!" Liva drops her cookie, eyes wide with surprise at the unexpected report. "27,000 per day?!" Veena mirrors the reaction, but without a cookie to drop.

"The first day we made about 33,000 zenny, but on the 2nd day it was 25,000."

"That's quite a drop off, but that's still more than what an average person would make in a day." Captain Fiotta nudges the bridge of her glasses. "For example, I only make 8,000 a day."

"Yea, it's still a lot. I only get paid 3,000 zenny a day to serve Lady Lumilla." Liva smiles "But the job is really easy."

Bale then asks "May I have something to write on?" Veena then nods to the maid as she leaves the area. She then re-appears moments later carrying a tray with a parchment and fountain pen at it's center..

"Thank you." Bale then grabs it and begins scribbling on it for a few minutes while everyone watched. "This much zenny per day of travel... This much zenny as a base fee... This much zenny per song..." He then hands over the parchment to Veena for her input "What do you think Lady Veena? Is that too expensive?"

"So just showing up would already cost 40,000 zenny." Veena furrows her brow. "Each song is an average of 5 minutes, so an hour of singing would be...." her voice trails off.

"I see...so it'll be more expensive up front, but more economical the longer you perform."

Bale nods "This ensures that we won't be at a loss if we only get hired for a few songs."

"How long is an average recreational gathering?" Ebina scratches her head.

"Anywhere between 2 to 8 hours." The baroness waves her hand in a nonchalant fashion.

"So even on the low end, we'd make decent zenny." Bale nods his head in confirmation.

"T-that'd be over half of my monthly wages made in just 2-3 days..." Captain Fiotta wipes the drool off of her face after peeking at the parchment. For just a moment she thought about a career change, but remembered that she never played an instrument nor sang in her entire life. Not even a hum.

"That much?! I think that might be too much..." Liva sweats nervously, too faint-hearted to read the prices written on the parchment. "Yea, let's not be too greedy brother." Ebina nods vigorously in agreement, fearing that the prices may scare away their potential customers. The 2 modest girls have never imagined that they'd ever see such a mind boggling amount of money.

"I don't think so though. We'll be splitting it between each member of the troupe after all." Bale shrugs. "There's also the unseen work you'd be doing like practicing, that takes a lot of time."

"Oh practicing! I totally forgot." Ebina unconciously slaps her own thigh.

"Well, I think that's too cheap. I'd easily pay 5 times as much for such an amazing performance." The baroness offers her praises. "We nobles easily spend a million zenny on lavish gatherings."

"A million?!" Everyone shouts in unision. Veena then snickers "The party I threw for my daughter Lumilla costed around 600,000 zenny. And it was only that low because Lumilla hates lavish spending."

"Alright well, I suppose we'll just go with my price proposal for now." Bale shrugs. "We'll raise the prices once we become more popular."

He then bows lightly "Please let them know our prices and see what they respond with."

"Very well, Bale. I'll go personally send the letters right away." (Even if the small amount of zenny I get doesn't cover their costs, their association with Arnvir house will be more than worth it). Veena stands up and starts walking away. Captain Fiotta respectfully bows to Bale before quickly turning around to catch up to her lord's side.

(If we do one performance per week...that'd take around 200 performances before I can afford the golden Zodiac stone. Roughly 4 years maximum, 2 if I'm lucky...) He crosses his arms. (That's do-able even if my other plans fail.)

"Well, now that that matter is over with, would you all like to practice?" Livy presses her fingers together, eager to prove her worth. "Yes! Lets!" Ebina cheerfully raises a hand. "What about you brother?"

"Well, we have one more thing to do before that." "And what's that?" The girls shift their eyes to Bale.

"We need a name for our troupe." Bale raises a finger upwards. "Oh that's right..." Livy nods. "Otherwise people won't know what to call us."

"Ebina, you're the star of the troupe. Pick a name." Bale motions towards her. "Eh? Me? I don't think I can!" She panicks from being put on the spot. "You're the one who created and manage this troupe after all." Ebina twirls her hair, feeling a bit of guilt for always having Bale take care for her - and now she was going to steal his creation.

"It's fine. This will be my gift to you." Bale pats her on the head. (There may be a time when I leave the troupe for extended periods, so it'd be best for her to be the one in charge). "I haven't given you a birthday present all these years after all." Tears then begin to fall down her face as she hides her eyes. "Are you okay Ebina?" Liva asks worriedly. Ebina then suddenly hugs Bale and presses her face against his chest. "!!!" Bale is at first surprised, but then hugs her back.

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"Uuuu..." Liva now also has tears welling up in her eyes as she takes in the scene before her.

"You know little brother, I was always felt like my dream would never come true because I was a demonkin." Ebina continues, still hiding her face in Bale's chest "And so I never dared to dream about being a singer. But thanks to you, I feel that my dream will come true."

"That's what family is for." Bale smiles as Ebina takes a step back to recompose herself. "How about 'Dreamers of Etheria?'" She clasps her hands behind her back and sways lightly from side to side.

"Dreamers..." Bale scratches his cheeks. "...that applies to me very well." "M-me too!" Liva sobs.

Bale then pumps his fist into the air. "Then from now on, we are Dreamers of Etheria!" "Y-yes!" Liva cries out awkwardly.

And for the rest of the day, the Dreamers of Etheria practiced their music – both old and new.

In the training area near the large wall of the estate, a small band of knights clad in light clothing are training - some are sparring with wooden swords and spears, some doing pushups, and others are doing pullups. Humans, Elves, Dwarves – male and female – all train together. The difference in strength between male and female in combat is mostly nullified via the activation of Zodiac stones. It's a typical day in the life of a fief knight.

"Phew!" one of the knights lie flat on the uneven limestone brick floor, sweat dripping from his curly brown hair. "I think I finally worked off all that food I ate a few days ago!" He breathes hard. "Alright lets take a 10 minute break!" He shouts as everyone stops and gathers around to sit nearby. "Here are some towels gentlemen." Bobby the butler hands them white towels as they thank him.

"Hey Jayce, what do you think of the little lady?" one of the knights asks him. Their gazes shift to Lumilla and commander Haz in the opposite end of the training area. "Think she'll win against Johny?"

"I sure hope so." He frowns "If she marries Johny, half of us will be out of a job." Haz is the only demonkin knight on the Arnvir manor, but there are plenty of elves and even a few dwarven knights in the barony's employ.

"All she's been doing is nothing but practicing swirling smoke around Commander Haz for the last few days." the resting knights chatter amongst themselves.

"But I think it's going well, commander Haz has been rather calm the last few days."

"Tornado!!" Lumilla thrusts a palm forward. A torrent of wind quickly appears and begins swirling violently around Haz. "HRGH!!" Haz has his arms raised to protect himself. He then tries to take a step forward, only to get dragged right back into the center.

Lumilla then sticks her sword into the limestone floor and swings her free hand at a fire burning in the corner "Wind blast!" a strong current of wind blows the smoke right into the tornado as it begins to turn black.

"Wind barrier!" Haz shouts as a small barrier of wind begin to surround him, attempting to redirect the smoke away from his face. They both channel copious amounts of mana to exert control over their magic. Haz then swings his sword to cut the wind and leaps out of the tornado - only to get dragged back in mid-air. TOOM!! He lands with the weight of an elephant - the tremors could be felt by the recuperating observers - which is proof that Haz is fully channeling his magic. They struggle like this for about a minute before Haz begins to cough. "Hack! Cough!!"

"Ung!" Lumilla then falls to a knee as she breathes hard. Channeling full powered wind magic is quickly tiring her.

"Cough! Cough!! HACK!!" The air barrier that Haz deployed could barely keep the smoke away as it begins to break down. It would have been much stronger if Haz wielded the clear Zodiac stone.

"Argh!" Lumilla falls on a knee and grabs her wooden sword in frustration as the tornado vanishes. Her staminia had been completely depleted. She breathes hard while Haz walks up to her – hands behind his back – in a relaxed demeanor. "Good job Lumilla, I was trapped for over a minute."

"Even with my wind barrier, I still inhaled enough smoke to make me cough a few times." Haz tilts forward to pat her shoulder as she sits up on her butt. "Anyone who isn't using the clear Zodiac stone would be puking their guts out right now." He grins.

"I think you're finally ready. Go rest up for tomorrow."

"Did you come up with this plan?" Lumilla asks. "Hmmm..." Haz looks up as he pauses. He then turns his head in her direction "Why do you wanna know?"

"If it fails, I wanna know who to beat up." She then raises her wooden sword "I could've spent the last 4 days training with the sword instead you know?"

"Ha! I don't think you'll get that chance!"

"Who was it? The duke?" Lumilla frowns.

"Sorry, it's confidential." Haz waves as he walks away to the exit. He then sniffs his shirt "I smell burnt, gotta take another bath...."

◈━◈━◈━◈━◈

The next morning, Bale rubs his eyes and sits up in bed with a black Zodiac stone in his hand. He had been preferring the black Zodiac stone lately, it's more useful on Earth when he's not killing someone. (Nothing happened much on Earth yesterday, I sent an Email to princess Miltine but haven't gotten any response yet.) He then takes a deep breath. "Today's the day of the duel." He then walks over to a desk and pulls open a drawer to reveal a bunch of brown parchment on a metal clipboard. (Paper exists here, but it's much too expensive so I gotta write my my entries on parchment...) He then exhales "Oh well, I really only need to keep track of my last activity."

Bale and his sister had met up and had breakfast together in the cafeteria where the rest of the workers and guards ate. "Where's Liva?" Bale asks Ebina while looking around.

"She'll eat later, she's attending to Lady Lumilla at the moment." After a few bites of her breakfast, she looks up at her brother "Did you want to practice again today?"

"Sorry, the duel's today. I need to watch it." Bale says with a stern expression on his face. "Do you want to watch it with me?"

"No, sorry." Ebina shakes her head. She then smiles "I'll just practice with Liva today."

"Alright. Don't worry about it, everything will be fine." Bale flashes a forced smile.

After breakfast, Ebina had returned to her room while Bale decided to mosey his way to the training area.

"Huh? He's here already?" Bale stops in his tracks when he sees Johny swinging his large sword around. His swings seemed so elegant, yet powerful - indicative of a person who have trained with the sword their whole life.

"Hey... you're the guy I saved earlier...Why are you here?" Johny stops his warmups when he notices Bale.

"My name is Bale, I live here." Bale then puts a hand on his waist. "Do you regret saving me now, Lord Johny?"

"No." Johny sticks his sword into the ground.

"Where's your father? Did you come here alone?" Bale asks.

"He's awaiting Duke Fiengald's arrival, whom will be officiating the duel."

"You know, I didn't thank you for saving me the other day, sorry about that." Bale bows.

"I-it's fine. There's no need for that." Johny raises his hand. "I'm not anyone worth thanking."

"I disagree, you don't seem like a bad person." Bale shrugs.

"That's only your opinion." Johny exhales as Bale detects the guilt in his voice.

"What will you do if you win the duel and marry Lady Lumilla?" Knowing the future, Bale asks Johny a pointed question "...Exile all the demi-humans from this land?"

"No, not me personally. But my father probably will." Johny then lowers his hands to his side and deeply bows to Bale. "I'm sorry!" He shouts. "You're all probably going to lose your home because of me...!"

"You're...sorry? Then just cancel the duel." Bale scratches his head in confusion.

"I can't." Johny returns to an upright position, but the weight of his guilt keeps his gaze low.

"My elder brother was much more talented than I ever was. And my mother was a kind and gentle person..." Johny balls his hands into fists. "But they died because of me."

"It's all my fault, so I can't defy my father." He then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Especially since he's begun to treat me like his son again."

Bale casts a symathetic gaze at Johny (So he's just like me after all. I used to blame myself for mother leaving us, and I'd let that guilt eat me alive. And I also hoped that someday, my abusive father would turn a new leaf and treat me kindly).

Bale then clenches his teeth as his eyes study Johny's pained expression (But now I know it was all just a foolish wish. It never happened).

"And I'm sorry too." Bale says with empathy in his voice.

"For what?" Johny asks, locking eyes with Bale.

"For crushing your dream. And for ending your life." Bale then puts a hand on his chest. "I came up with a strategy for Lady Lumilla to kill you in this upcoming duel. I thought I should at least let you know."

"..." Johny analyzes Bale's face, wondering if he's telling the truth. But in the end it doesn't matter. He then turns around, not wanting to get too familiar with the demonkin before him "We're both simply doing what we must."

"I too, once dreamed that my father would treat me like a son." Bale also turns his back to Johny. "It's almost time. Best of luck." He then walks away to find a good observation spot as the guards begin to trickle in.