「That's an aircraft. I like honest girls…」

Straf declares, rubbing his chin while looking at Tahandra. Her rags poorly protect her modesty and her wide hips. Looking at Straf's focused face, she furrows her brows, and realizes that he's staring at her exposed skin. Becoming somewhat self-conscious, Tahandra turns a little and tugs at her rags, but all it does is simply expose more, elsewhere.

「…And I don't like glasses, but…」

He turns his attention to Emilia, and specifically, her chest. If not for the thin cord around her waist that's keeping her tattered rags tied close to her body, it's entirely possible her clothes would cover not much at at all, other than her larger than average breasts. When she sees Straf's wolf-like gaze on her, she skitters behind the guild girl, hiding behind her.

「Straf, I've learned something important.」

Lily squeezes in through the crowd of vampire hunters and Roland.

「Eh? What?」

Straf's gaze turns to Lily's flat, blood-stained chest, and quickly snap upwards to her pale face. She looks at him with her mouth slightly aslant.

「The demon lord is back, after all. As I thought, this wasn't a random attack. Roskiel was acting under orders, and the fiends came from the demon lord.」

With her loose fists on her hips, Lily explains with a serious expression.

「Yeah, I figured.」

Straf shrugs, and nonchalantly returns his attention to the guild girl's exposed hip. Her face begins to flush red, and she turns her eyes away.

「Wha-? Eh? Huh?… You knew?」

Lily asks as her golden head recoils back in surprise, greatly furrowing her brows.

「Nooo… But the moment the deemooon looord was brought up, I knew that wouldn't be a red herring. You really think anyone would do that, Lily?」

Straf asks with his hands spread, further confusing Lily.

「Huh?」

「What I mean is, did you really think I'd by pure chance hear about the demon lord doing stuff somewhere, only for it to turn out to be some bullshit, like bandits? Come on.」

He adds, placing his fists on his hips with a shrug of his shoulders. The clarification doesn't help, and Lily simply blinks her confused scarlet eyes at him.

「…The demon lord? What is this about, Straf?」

Roland asks, his voice echoing in his helmet. The heads of the two girls standing nearby perk up, and they look at each other with concerned faces.

「Ah. The demon lord came back in the east, or something. I was going to go and have a look, but the local dragon felt like his airline monopoly was being threatened…」

Straf replies with a nonchalant grimace, shrugging his shoulders again.

「What? A dragon? So the rumors were true?…」

Roland glances over his shoulder at the vampire hunters behind him. They are silently following the conversation, and growing increasingly nervous with each minute.

「…The demon lord has returned?」

Tahandra asks, looking at Straf with Emilia, both of their faces bearing worried grimaces.

「Yeah, how many times do I have to repeat myself? Carrothead is going to have a ball…」

Quickly rolling his eyes, Straf returns a nod, scrunching his mouth to the side in mild frustration as he spreads his hands.

「Then, that burrower attack from months back?…」

Emilia remarks, turning her attention to the guild girl.

「Mhm… It all makes sense now…」

She nods, and her gaze drifts down as she thinks.

「What does? Can you stop building up the tension?…」

《…This decent girl, indecent clothing thing is a good combo. I really ought to get myself an indecently dressed slave-》

Straf asks, and his eyes idly drift down to her hips again.

「Remember those burrowers from when-」

Snap.

Blushing, Tahandra meets Straf's pensive gaze. Suddenly, he snaps his fingers, interrupting her.

「…Cat.」

Straf abruptly declares with a smug smirk on his face, seemingly at random.

「…Huh? What? Where?」

Tahandra asks, and looks around the slums in search of a cat.

「No, nothing. Go on.」

Briefly shaking his head, Straf dismisses her question with a wave of his hand and returns his fists to his hips.

「Well… Remember those burrowers from a few months back? When you registered at the guild?」

She asks, and Straf's gaze drifts upward as he thinks for a few moments.

「…Nope.」

He casually replies with a shrug.

「Ahh…」

Tahandra lets out a fatigued sigh, and grimaces slightly.

「…Listen, Emy went with you outside the walls to the old training grounds. You protected her and got hurt in the process…」

As she explains, a faint memory of sending a pair of glasses into a suborbital trajectory flashes before Straf's eyes.

「Ah. That.」

He nods while looking at Emilia's glasses with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「…Right. The thing about burrowers is, they really don't like cities and villages. There's far too much activity. Rumbling, noise, horses, feet and hooves compacting the ground…」

Tahandra nods as well, and continues explaining.

「…Burrowers are usually found deep in forests and around mountains of softer stone. They're dangerous, but their seclusive nature means they are rarely a threat… 」

She quickly glances in the direction of the mages' guild, far across the city as she speaks.

「…So when Emy told me that you ran into burrowers, I thought it was odd. But now, if the demon lord is back, it makes perfect sense.」

Tahandra adds, and places one hand on Emilia's head.

「…How so?」

Straf asks, raising one brow. Roland and Lily listen in.

「For obvious reasons, this is a poorly researched topic, but…」

Emilia chimes in, adjusting her glasses. Straf and the rest turn their attention her.

「…It's believed that the demon lord can affect magic beasts to a degree.」

「Like burrowers?」

Straf asks, and his mouth tilts as his brows slowly rise.

「Exactly. It's almost common knowledge that fiends are under his direct command, but there's evidence suggesting that he can give simple instructions to beasts, too…」

Emilia nods her head, then lowers her chin into her thumb and finger. The vampire hunters exchange nervous glances, and look at each others' circlets.

「…Mmhhh… Instructions is the wrong word. More like instincts? Compulsions? Burrowers normally keep away, but the demon lord could affect their behavior…」

She thinks for a brief moment and corrects herself, gently tilting her head as she searches for the right word.

「…This is poorly researched, but it's thought they can follow commands like rampage, grow, spread, ambush, pester… Things a beast would have natural understanding of.」

Emilia adds, and shrugs her bare shoulders. A moment later, she shivers, and rubs them to warm herself. Her breasts bounce up and down on her forearms while Straf watches.

「So, all the wild stuff is going fucking crazy because the demon lord is telling them to?」

Straf asks, shrugging his arms.

「That's what I think, at least.」

Tahandra replies with a nod.

「…I'm inclined to support that, Straf. I found it a little strange, too. You probably have no point of relation, but wild beasts aren't usually this aggressive.」

Lily chimes in, turning her scarlet eyes away from the two to Straf.

「Adventurer work really picked up in the last… Ten or so years? I wonder if that had something to do with it.」

Roland remarks, shrugging his arms with a clatter of armor.

「…So I'm not a monster magnet? Good to know… Did you get rid of all of the vampires yet?」

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Straf asks Roland and the vampire hunters.

「I don't think we got all of them, but now that the sun is out, it should be easy to hound down the rest.」

One of the volunteers from the back replies.

「House to house combat? Oh boy… You're about to find out why most militaries just level the buildings…」

Straf scoffs, places his hands in his coat's pockets, and walks past Roland and the rest.

「…Did they end up slaughtering the city?」

He asks, glancing over his shoulder at Roland and the hunters.

「No, the people are cowering in their homes. I think they'll come out once they realize that the threat is mostly gone.」

Roland shakes his helmet, and follows behind Straf. Lily and the rest soon follow.

「Well, get them all to get out on the streets, and then start combing through the buildings of the residents that are unaccounted for. That'll narrow your list down…」

Straf shrugs as he heads out of the slums. Indeed, some people are hesitantly peeking out through their doors.

「…Yes, that's a good idea.」

Roland thinks, and nods his helmet in agreement.

「…Well? What are you waiting for? Are you going to follow me like a band of fucking ducks? Get to work.」

Straf stops in his tracks and turns around, pointing his hand at one of the adjacent streets as he speaks to the vampire hunters. They nod, and hesitantly disperse…

…

Around the same time, far in the east, in the ruins of a castle…

「Hmpf. Pathetic…」

A female voice declares, and two violet orbs tilt where the normally throne should be. A steady wind howls through the dark, empty throne room.

「…Ahhhhh. Good commanders and generals are so hard to come by these days. Curse that man and his sword. So many competent vampire counts lost to sunlight…」

The voice sighs, and the violet eyes shut for a moment.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…

Steady rhythm of a fingernail tapping against stone echoes faintly across the room, just slightly louder than the wind.

「…And that swordsman. Tsk… If only the kraken caught a single good mage… Perhaps I should ask the lich king next?… No. Far too early for that…」

The woman clicks her tongue, grumbling quietly, still tapping her fingernail on the armrest before stopping abruptly.

「…Who killed the kraken? Where did that flying carriage come from? Who made it?… And those vampire lamps… Crude, but the resemblance to chargewands is uncanny…」

With the violet eyes lightly tilted, the slit pupils turn sideways as the woman thinks out loud.

「Ahhhh…」

《…There are too many unknowns. I'll have to leave things to spies for now. Detestable, simply detestable…》

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap…

The eyes close again with a large, frustrated sigh, and the steady tapping begins once more.

「…Tsk.」

《…What a bother. What a bother. Move too slow, and the abysmal human lifespans will run out before I can use them. Move too fast… That's not good either. Why can't I find a good general!?》

Slam!

The violet eyes open with a click of her tongue, and a fist slams on the armrest. Another frustrated sigh overpowers the howl of the wind…

…

Just before the evening, in the Royal Reserve Bank…

Nona is slumped over on Niklaus's unoccupied desk, watching the door with her Ministry of Security hat barely on her head while it rests on her forearms. A man enters, a man leaves. Another man enters, and he leaves. A man and a woman enter, and they leave. A woman enters. Nona lets out a tired sigh, and her amber eyes look at Niklaus's empty chair.

「…Where is everyone?」

Nona lifts her head as she mumbles to herself, and her head droops down to her arms again.

「Long day?」

The woman asks after walking away from the tellers' counter. She flashes a brief smile at Nona, and turns her face to the open doorway.

「Yeah- Well… I'm just a little lonely. And bored.」

Nona straightens out, then shrugs her uniformed shoulder. She sighs again, and rests her chin on her hands while holding the hammer's pointy pommel.

「No plans for the new year's celebration?」

The woman asks, still facing the doorway, though her tone suggests that she's still smiling.

「No, not really…」

Nona feebly shakes her head with her mouth scrunched to the side.

「Nobody to spend it with?」

「No- Well…」

The woman asks, and Nona intends to shake her head again, but then changes her mind.

「…I don't know if he'll have the time for me.」

She replies, shrugging her uniformed shoulders, and lets out a resigned sigh.

「Why not ask him? Men tend to like assertive girls these days…」

The woman suggests with the corner of her mouth tilted upward. Nona tilts her hatted head, furrowing her brows a little.

「…Good luck.」

The stranger adds, and departs. Nona lowers her gaze down to the floor, rests her chin on her hands again, and thinks intensely, grimacing…

…

Around the same time, outside the capital's walls…

Fffffffwooooopfffwfffffff… Fwwwwpffffff…

An ominous and hard to trace sound fills the sky over the capital as a small black dot leaves a white trail in the air high above. It dives, descending towards an area near the city. The sound grows louder, more intense, and more localized when as it draws closer. The people in the streets watch it approach with nervous eyes under their furrowed brows, but considering it's not their first time seeing it, there is no panic anymore.

「…I'll be heading out early!」

Nona shouts into the bank's doorway as she runs out with the hammer resting on her shoulder, and heads for the city gate.

Less than a minute later, the black aircraft's engines swivel as it lowers itself to the ground. Its legs extend out of its flat belly, and the heavy aircraft lands with a small bounce up and down. The ramp lowers, the engine noise begins to die down, and the powerful wind coming from the exhausts weakens.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank…

「Well, that was a shitshow… I give you a mission rating of… Okay, I guess.」

Straf declares as he casually walks down the ramp out onto the brick airstrip.

The vampire hunters emerge out of the aircraft, carrying two makeshift stretchers and two corpses. Roland and Lily exit soon after.

「Straaaf!… Straaaaf!…」

Nona shouts from the city gate, waving her arm high as she runs up.

「Hm? What's up?」

Straf asks when she runs up, catching her breath. Her head perks up when she sees the weary, dirty, battered men, Roland's dented armor, and Lily completely covered in blood in a tattered dress.

「…What happened?」

She asks, pointing her finger at the group.

「We were dealing with vampires. And these two…」

Roland replies as he approaches Straf's side. He glances at the volunteers heading towards the gate with the stretchers.

「…That one died in an ambush. The other one, a greater fiend caught him. He stuffed what-you-call-em's into its mouth, and told it to choke on it before it bit him. Both good men.」

He explains while looking at one corpse covered by a sheet of cloth, before turning his eyes to the man who has a series of horizontal bite marks entirely around his chest, and lightly singed hair.

「Hm?… Vampires? Where? When?」

Nona tilts her head, turning her amber eyes back to Straf.

「Earlier today. Doesn't matter, the public won't hear about it. What do you want?」

Straf asks, nodding his head up at her.

「Well… Are you going to be busy this week, Straf?-」

「Yeah, probably.」

Nona asks, and Straf replies without a moment's thought with a shrug of his shoulder.

「Ah… Well… I was wondering…」

Her light smile quickly disappears, and her gaze drops down to her feet.

「Yeah?…」

「…Would you be too busy to spend the new year's with me?」

Nona asks, and briefly peeks up at Straf's face with a pout on hers.

「Hmmm… Lily, that's a good idea, isn't it? We should have a new year's party.」

Briefly rubbing his chin, he glances over his shoulder at Lily. Nona's head recoils with a faint expression of betrayal on her face.

「Hmpf… I wouldn't know. I don't celebrate something as trivial as a new year-」

「So you're not coming?」

Straf asks, interrupting Lily and raising his brows.

「…I'll come.」

Turning her eyes aside with a pout on her face, Lily shrugs her shoulders…