Late at night, on a snowy road to the north, nearby a city…

Straf and his group approach the dim glow of the city ahead. There are no grand walls surrounding the buildings, and while there are paper lanterns hanging from roof to roof, only a fifth, or perhaps a third of them are lit. Some of the roof tiles are missing, and the gaps on most have hastily been patched with thatch some years or decades ago. Unlike the previous settlements, nobody seems to have bothered to shovel snow out of the streets, and a large population of homeless lines the buildings' walls.

「What a… Poor place…」

Cycelia remarks with a troubled grimace while they enter the city, and pass a few men sitting huddled together, all wrapped in multiple layers of repurposed sacks and old rags.

「I told you… There's nothing to see here, unless you're here to watch the misery.」

Stripe replies with her mouth scrunched to the side in frustration. She then turns her golden eyes ahead to Straf, who is casually looking around the buildings with his hands in his pockets.

「I'm here for the gambling dens. Where are they?」

He asks, and glances over his shoulder at Stripe.

「I don't know. I was here only once before. That was enough for me to never want to come back. You don't even have money, and you already want to gamble?」

Stripe replies with her arms crossed as Straf stops at a junction, and looks around.

「I don't have money yet. Where do you figure one would be?…」

Straf quickly clarifies with his index finger extended, then returns his hand back to his coat's pocket.

「Pft. Spoken like any idiot who's stupid enough to borrow money from shady characters. Just so you know, most of these dens are colluding-」

She scoffs, gaining an amused smirk on her face while shaking her hatted head.

「You have the money, and I'll borrow that. I'll even return some of it.」

He replies with a bored gaze and his mouth aslant.

「Wha-? Huh!? What makes you think I'll pay for your gambling addiction!?- Wait, some of it!?」

Stripe shouts back, becoming progressively more outraged the more she processes Straf's reply. He ignores her shouting and approaches one of the men sitting on the street.

「Hey…」

Straf calls out. The shaggy man keeps his head hanging in his knees, wrapped by the canvas and rags and sitting on a small patch of ground cleared of snow.

Thump!

「…Hey, I said!」「Huh!? Wha…!?」

Ignored or unheard by the man, Straf clicks his tongue gives him a rough kick to his feet, sending the man spinning and tumbling onto the snow as he snaps awake with his eyes wide open.

「I heard this place is a shithole where there's nothing to do except gamble, drink, and die of preventable diseases. Where can I do the first two?」

Straf asks, and the rest of the group band around him. Cycelia looks at the man with a troubled, slightly apologetic face and a pitying gaze while fidgeting with a button on her coat.

「Eh? Er… Uh…」

Somewhat groggy and dazed, the man lowers his gaze as he thinks, shivering from cold.

「…If you want to gamble, you're out of luck. Divine Wrath torched all of the legitimate gambling places. There's some illegal ones… But I don't know about that.」

He replies after a moment of thought. Stripe tilts her head and furrows her brows, exchanging a confused look with Straf.

「…Divine Wrath? You mean a coincidental lightning bolt burned down all of them to a crisp?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands while Stripe stares at the man with a wary and somewhat puzzled face. He shakes his head in response.

「No, no… It's a… Uh… Well, nobody really knows what they are. Some call 'em gang, some call 'em do-gooders. They call themselves her Embodiment's will.」

「Her Embodiment's will?…」

The man replies, and Stripe quizzically echoes his words with her arms crossed.

「Yeah… Saw 'em once. They went on a long rant, called this place a den of inequity, handed out some food and money… I don't know what they're about. I don't mind 'em.」

He nods, and adds a shrug of his shoulders underneath the canvas covering him.

「You're sure they are the ones who torched the gambling dens? Why?」

Straf asks, rubbing his chin before pulling his hand away and shrugging it.

「Not sure. They yelled something about fate, the immorality of gambling, whatnot, whatnot… Same old stuff you'd hear from your wife…」

The man on the ground shrugs his shoulders again as he glances at him and Stripe. He lowers his gaze momentarily, furrowing his brows.

「…Ah. But they said a Seeker approves of what they do. Supposedly the one from the local temple, but I don't know. I'm too busy trying to live through the winter to care.」

He adds, then wiggles himself into a comfortable sleeping position against the building's wall again, adjusting the canvas sack around him.

「Seeker?」

「Her Embodiment's Seeker. It's an unbroken line of priestesses that search for her Divine Embodiment's next incarnation when she dies.」

Straf echoes with his brows furrowed, but Stripe chimes in, explaining for the man.

「When she dies?… So what, she's like a phoenix? She respawns? She's supposed to be a goddess, right? How can she be divine if she just fuckin' dies?」

Only further confused, Straf spreads his arms, narrowing his eyes at Stripe. Cycelia and Lily tilt their heads at Stripe, who lets out a fatigued sigh.

「Tsk… I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop babbling all these random words I can't possibly hope to understand…」

Stripe replies with her mouth heavily scrunched to the side, staring at Straf with an annoyed golden gaze.

「…It's exactly as the name suggests. It's her Divine Embodiment. It's a mortal body that lives and dies. She needs food, water, rest, and shelter just like anyone else…」

She continues, and Straf's face gains a slightly mocking grimace of unconcealed skepticism, further annoying her.

「…The whole purpose of the palace is to provide a comfortable life for her. You can never know when she'll save the entire Eastern Kingdoms with a single order again.」

Stripe shrugs, briefly glancing at Cycelia's confused emerald eyes.

「So, they have a dowsing rod for a goddess?」

Straf shrugs his hands, smirking briefly at both Stripe and Cycelia.

「I don't know how they do it. Don't ask me. I just know the Seekers all come from one family, and they have temples dotting the land… But it's weird…」

With a sigh, Stripe shrugs her shoulders. Her brows furrow, and she lowers her chin into her fingers, thinking.

「What is?」

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「…I thought of the Seekers to be total recluses. They're not the type to chide the serfs on what is right and wrong, nor are they in the position to. Strange that one of them would do it.」

Straf asks, and with her brows still furrowed in thought, Stripe rises her narrowed eyes to meet his. She shrugs, and dismisses any further thought.

「Well… I'd go look for one of those illegal gambling dens, but it's late enough. Know any pleasure houses around here?」

With a resigned sigh, Straf glances around for any glowing sign-lanterns indicating a pleasure house, but doesn't see any in their immediate vicinity. His eyes return to Stripe.

「Geh!… You'd seriously…!? With all the women following you!? And me!?…」

Stripe winces with disdainful disgust on her face. Cycelia's head perks up in worry, and she exchanges glances of disbelief with Stripe. Lily tilts her golden head, blinking at Straf.

「Yeah…」

He nonchalantly replies with a shrug of his coat-covered shoulders. Stripe recoils in deepening revulsion.

「You… You are actually utterly shameless…」

She remarks with a wide-eyed shock on her face while blinking at his bored face.

「…Unless you want to pay for rent again.」

Straf adds, leaning in a little. Stripe perks up, and Cycelia lets out a small, covert sigh of relief.

「Wh-? So you want a room?… Why can't we just go to a normal inn!?」

Outraged, Stripe throws her arms apart with her brows pleadingly furrowed.

「'Cause we need a place to sleep- Well, they do. Focusing with old men snoring in your room is harder than you think. We'll just order no entertainment…」

Straf casually shrugs in reply, pointing towards Greaves and his party, as well as his own with a nod of his head.

「…Hey, Carrothead, twerp… Do we order entertainment for you?」

He adds, grinning at Greaves and Will.

「Huh?」 「I don't really mind… I'm kind of curious to see what it's like.」

Greaves tilts his head in confusion, and Will adjusts his glasses as he replies. Stripe's jaw drops as she visible cringes and waits for a good moment to intervene.

「Aaa!… Aaaaa, it's adult entertainment! For adults!」

Stripe explains the best she can with the mildest terms available off the top of her head.

「…Is it like, drinking?」

Alicia asks, tilting her head with her brows furrowed. With her arms crossed, Lian furrows her brows, thinking as she narrows her eyes a little.

After a second of thought, Will's eyes widen in shock. He adjusts his glasses with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, and his eyes snap over his shoulder to Lian. She tilts her head while looking at him, before letting out an amused huff as a smirk appears on her face. Staring at Alicia, Stripe's hands flails around aimlessly while Cycelia stares at Greaves and his party with a knowing, tight-lipped grimace.

「Aaaa!… Y- Yes!… And other stuff, so!…」

Stripe nods with her golden eyes wide open.

「I'm an adult!」

Greaves proudly declares with his fists on his hips.

「No you're not… Not yet. Greaves can't really drink yet. We'll pass. I'd rather just go to sleep, so maybe Will and Lian are up for it.」

Alicia chimes in and explains with a shrug of her robed shoulders.

「Well, Will?… Are you up for it?」

Lian asks while leaning onto her spear with a large, amused smirk.

「N- No… I've changed my mind… I'd rather go to sleep too…」

Will replies with his head lowered, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

「Right. Let's go look for a pleasure house then… You're paying.」

Straf shrugs, and picks a random street to follow, but not before peeking over his shoulder towards Stripe with a snide grin on his face.

「Khhhkk… Get your own money already, you deadbeat scumbag!… Leech!」

Stripe clenches her teeth and fists as she and the rest follow, grumbling to herself the entire way…

…

Half an hour later, in one of the pleasure houses…

After a prolonged search, Straf finally finds a pleasure house that is open, and unoccupied enough for the entire group to have their own rooms. A kimono-wearing woman leads them to their rooms upstairs, bearing a slightly sour expression on her face as she departs downstairs afterwards. Straf enters his room, which is a simple wide mattress laid out on a woven mat floor in the center of the room. He sighs, and kneels down upon it without even peeling the blanket away.

「Welp… At least I don't have to listen to snoring-」

「…Ah! Ah! Ahhhn!…」

Just as Straf mumbles to himself with a weary sigh, moans of a woman's pleasure come from an adjacent room through the thin wooden wall. A tight-lipped grimace appears on Straf's face.

「…Pleasure house, alright.」

「…Ahh! Wait!- Ah!」

Straf remarks, and lets out another sigh as the moans continue…

…

At the same time, in Will's room…

Lying in his bed with his glasses on the floor just beside him, Will blinks his large eyes at nothing in particular in the darkness.

「…Ah! Ahh! Ah!…」

Muffled moans of pleasure continue pouring in through the wall. He gulps, and adjusts the thin air on his face, then rolls onto his back.

「…H- How shameless… I know some people do this in inns, but…」

He mumbles to himself with a red face while staring at the dark ceiling above.

「…Ahhhhn! Ahh! Not inside!…」

「…Good grief! This inn should have a policy against something like this! What is Lian going to think!?」

A woman's breathless shouts pierce through the walls. Will grumbles to himself, adjusting the thin air on his nose again.

He blinks at the darkness above for a few moments in relative silence as the moans die down.

《…W- Why am I thinking about Lian?》

With an uncomfortably hot face, Will asks himself as her smug smirk from a moment ago flashes into his mind…