As Straf is walking away from Ossen with Cycelia on the road towards the capital, Lily swoops in and joins their side. Surprisingly, she chooses to walk beside Cycelia instead of Straf.

「Ah, Lily, there you are.」

Straf says, and his brows rise as Lily's parasol is beside Cycelia shoulder.

《…She's not going to be mean to her, or fight, right?》

「Redwing girl…」

Lily says, hiding beneath her parasol from the low sun.

「Eep! …Yes?」

Cycelia nervously yelps when Lily addresses her directly.

「…I owe you… A debt of gratitude.」

Lily says, looking away to the roadside while pouting.

「Huh? Why?」

Cycelia blinks, surprised Lily is not there to berate her or say something hurtful.

「You have… Pulled your weight, so to say…」

Lily responds, still looking aside, cautiously choosing her words.

「What do you mean?」

Cycelia tilts her head. Lily clicks her tongue.

「Tsk. Do I have to spell it out for you, princess? I am grateful. For helping Straf.」

Frustrated, Lily finally looks up from her parasol at Cycelia. Though her brows are furrowed in anger and her tiny mouth is skewed towards the side of her face in exasperation, there is a notable absence of her usual scornful glare.

「Ah! No, I didn't- I didn't really do much… And you were right, I was being a burden this whole time…」

Cycelia waves her hands in front of her face, dismissing Lily's very tempered praise. Her eyes drift lower as her expression grows sullen.

「That may have been the case… But this time, I was unable to help Straf due to the cursed lamps. Even then, even should they not be there, I am not sure I would be able to do much against a slime of that size. My only option would be to try to grab onto Straf, and walk out with my weight manipulation…」

Lily sighs as she looks away from Cycelia's face. She twirls her her parasol on her shoulder as the last beams of orange sunlight cast long shadows on the landscape around the road. Her timid tone makes it clear she rarely admits weakness.

《…What the fuck are they both on about? Is this a big misunderstanding?》

Straf simply looks on as Lily and Cycelia converse, staring at them intensely.

《Well, whatever. As long as it keeps me from kicking her bony vampire ass out.》

Straf shrugs, and simply looks forward down the road while he continues listening in.

「But!- But it was my fault… Straf risked himself to protect me-」

Cycelia once again denies Lily's praise, shaking her head.

「That was his own choice to make. And for once, you have pulled your own weight. Isn't that right, Straf?」

Lily's eyes snap to Straf in an attempt to gain acknowledgment and recover some of her confidence.

「Huh?- Well… Yeah, I guess…」

Straf says, as he shrugs his shoulders and glances aside.

《No, what the fuck!? It was just a stupid slime, why are you making a big deal out of it!? I wasn't even in danger! I thought Lia was about to get sent to another world by a fucking sewer portal!》

「…But to make it perfectly clear!」

Lily points her clawed finger at Cycelia's face, raising her voice.

「Eh!?」

Cycelia recoils back, staring at the sharp fingernail just a short distance away from her eye.

「You saving Straf makes us even! I saved him once, and you saved him once!」

Lily exclaims with a petty, frustrated frown.

《Is this a ball game now!? You are keeping score!?》

Straf squints with one eye at the girls, greatly annoyed, but remaining silent.

「Um… Okay?」

Cycelia nods, her eyes locked on the claw in front of her as they walk.

「Hmpf. So don't get too full of yourself…」

Lily pouts again, and folds her parasol as the horizon obscures the remaining sunlight.

「O- Okay?…」

Cycelia nods again, sighing in relief after Lily retracts her finger.

「Straf, where are you going to stay over the night? You're not heading all the way to the capital tonight, are you?」

Lily asks, her crimson eyes remain highly visible and contrast against the darkening background.

「Hmmm… I dunno. I could walk all the way to the capital, but…」

Straf shrugs, looking at the gradient evening sky. He glances at Cycelia, still covered in the remnants of the giant slime.

「…Could we stop at a place where I could wash this off? It feels… Gross…」

Cycelia grips at her skirt to take a better look at the green goo staining her. While wet it remains slippery, but the day's heat is quickly drying it out, causing it to stiffen and become crusty.

「There should be a small village not far from here, if my memory doesn't fail me. There's not much to see there, only an inn and some market stalls. Take the dirt path at the fork ahead. I will return to my castle, Straf.」

Lily says while looking ahead into the distance, she glances at Straf for a moment before looking away.

「Hm? Alright. I'll expect you'll be sleeping in again.」

Straf shrugs and scoffs with a smirk.

「I won't! I think… Also… Redwing girl…」

Lily raises her voice in denial, then shrugs her shoulders herself. She glances at Cycelia for just a moment, and they lock gazes for an even shorter duration. Lily breaks eye contact, looking at the roadside again as she pouts and grimaces.

「Hm?」

Cycelia tilts her head, puzzled by Lily's reaction.

「Well… Thank you.」

Lily fiddles with her parasol in her hands, pouting and grimacing even more as she tries to get some words out. She quietly mutters them out, then disappears into the growing darkness in a black blur.

「Huh? I don- Ahh… She left…」

Cycelia doesn't get a chance to respond before Lily is gone. She lets out a mildly disappointed sigh and starts fiddling with her medallion. After a few seconds, a slight smile appears on her face.

「So… You're getting along with Lily now?」

Straf asks with raised brows, side-glancing at Cycelia.

「Eh? Well… I don't know. I suppose? I don't really know what she thinks of me at this point…」

She shrugs her head while looking down at the road, still playing with her medallion in her fingers.

「It seems like she at least sees you in the older sister role now. Or younger sister. Whichever it is, at least she's not at your throat.」

Straf shrugs, mimicking Cycelia. Or perhaps the other way around.

「That's true… She's a vampire, but… She can't be that bad if she cares about you, right?」

「I guess.」

《This would be heartwarming if not for the fact they both misread the situation. They walked themselves into this misunderstanding, and I don't have an obligation to pull them out of it. Hope they sink neck-deep into the swamp of warm and fuzzy feelings.》

Straf shrugs, then rolls his eyes. An amused smirk appears on his face as he looks aside at the dark castle in the distance, far on a mountain's ridge. Not too long after, they encounter a fork in the road.

「I think this is it Straf. This must be the path to the village Lily mentioned.」

Cycelia says as she steps up to the dirt path off the paved road.

「Right. Let's go… I have a bunch of questions to ask along the way.」

Straf steps past Cycelia, still leisurely walking with his hands in his pockets.

「Yes, Straf?」

Cycelia joins his side, leaning forward as she attentively looks at his face.

「You said you prayed for power, right? To who?」

Straf looks at Cycelia with bored eyes and raised brows.

「To Mercia! Do you not know, Straf?」

「Nope.」

「Not even Mercia!? Well, I shouldn't be surprised…」

Cycelia is shocked at Straf's reaction of shrugging his shoulders at the name. She blinks a few times, and fiddles with her medallion as she thinks about it. Her head perks back up.

「Mercia is a goddess of life and rebirth, Straf. Her followers are the most numerous on the entire continent.」

Cycelia explains with her index finger extended.

「And that's it?」

「No, of course not! Though, I don't know much about other religions… I know the elves worship something akin to a nature deity…」

She looks down as she thinks, rubbing her lips with her thumb.

「Uh-huh, that's a classic. So that's it? Humans have this Mercia, and the elves hump trees?」

Straf spreads his arms with a disdainful, slanted smirk.

「No, obviously there's more than that. I know the eastern kingdoms worship some person holy to them? I don't really know much else about it.」

Cycelia looks up and clasps her hands behind her back as she speaks, still thinking.

「Nice. The emperor, huh?」

「What?」

Confused, she blinks at Straf.

「They worship their emperor, don't they?」

「No, Straf. They're separate kingdoms. They're mostly the same people of the same culture, though.」

Cycelia shakes her head, and Straf squints his eye in response then looks away, confused.

《Bunch of shattered kingdoms… But in the east? Japanese Germans?》

Straf thinks as he rubs his chin with brows furrowed.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

「Well, now I know what I was curious about.」

Straf shrugs, and returns his hands to his pockets.

「Maybe I should give you a proper history lesson sometime!」

Cycelia jests, smiling broadly at Straf as she leans forward.

「Yeah, tell me about all the mustached men you've got in your history books.」

「…Huh?」

Cycelia tilts her head as she blinks in confusion.

「Didn't have any yet? Man, that sucks… Do you like facial hair, Lia?」

「Huh? I suppose… A stubble isn't bad…」

Cycelia is a little surprised by the question, she glances at Straf's face, then quickly looks away with a light blush on her face.

「Good taste, but that's not iconic. Nobody is going to recognize that.」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia, and the conversation dies down as they continue onward along the shadowy dirt path…

…

An hour later, Straf and Cycelia arrive at a small village. Only a few homes are in sight, along with an obvious inn. Empty stalls line the market square of packed dirt. They head straight for the inn, and enter.

「Ah, hello.」

The innkeeper, a woman for a change, lifts her eyes from a book she's reading and greets them.

「Get us two rooms with the big beds.」

Straf places two silver coins on her counter with a clank.

「Huh? Two?」

Her brows rise and her eyes widen as she glances back and forth between Straf and Cycelia as they stand next to each other.

「Yeah, got a problem with that?」

Straf nods and places his fists on his hips.

「N- No, it's just- Forget it, it's just one silver-」

She dismisses her aborted sentence with a wave of her hand, and slides one of the silver coins towards herself.

「Well take both of them and give us some food, I can't live off ice cream forever.」

Straf shrugs, pointing his palm at the other coin as he interrupts the innkeeper.

「Huh? Understood, will you eat here or do you want me to take it to your room?」

The innkeeper nods, and takes the second coin as well. She glances at them both, and Straf peeks at Cycelia.

「I'll just eat here. How about you, Lia?」

Straf shrugs as he asks.

「Well… I want to wash my clothes first. Don't wait for me Straf, I'll just do that, and then head to bed.」

She once again tugs at her clothes, examining the dry and crusty slime stains.

「…I hope this washes off.」

「Alright then. See you tomorrow in that case.」

Straf shrugs, and walks towards one of the empty tables. The other tables are sparsely occupied by random travelers or adventurers passing by, and the village seemingly lives off their profits as there don't appear to be any fields large enough to sustain the village tilled or sown outside.

Cycelia heads to the baths, and Straf orders his food. He eats the meal that couldn't reasonably be found in a medieval Europe, then heads up the stairs to his room. He closes the door behind him, and hops onto the bed.

「Athea, get down here.」

Straf demands, with his arms crossed as he sits on the bed.

《What now!? It's really one thing after another with you, isn't it?》

The frustrated voice of the goddess echoes in Straf's head.

「Just get down here, and you better put my gift on.」

Straf rolls his eyes and waits.

「Well? How long am I supposed to wait? The pacing is supposed to be snappy.」

Straf shrugs his hands as he keeps waiting.

《Tsk. Shut up already!》

Fwoompft.

A gentle gust of wind swirls around the room as Athea's boots clack onto the wooden floorboards in front of Straf, after she appears in a flash of light.

「Oh!」

Straf gets jolted out of his boredom. He snaps his fingers and points at Athea.

「What? More of your perverted urges?」

She asks with her arms crossed, glaring disdainfully at Straf.

「Oh! You are bending the rules! I like that!」

He exclaims, pointing at Athea. She has her flowing white dress on, and underneath it, bits and pieces of Straf's gift are visible as well.

「Tsk. You didn't say anything about me wearing my dress on top.」

Athea clicks her tongue as she continues glaring.

「You're right! Though, you would only reserve the right to be smug like this if you didn't show up to me looking like you're an exhibitionist the first time.」

Straf snaps his fingers again, and holds his index finger up as he agrees with a nod.

「I'm not-! You made me wear this!」

Exasperated, Athea raises her voice as she denies. He stops herself, then outright shouts back at Straf.

「No I didn't. You said it yourself, I didn't say anything about you wearing the dress-」

Straf shrugs, smugly grinning at Athea as she gets visibly more irate by the second.

「You implied that I should be only wearing that!」

She shouts back while pointing at him, scowling in anger.

「Oh, yeah. I implied it, but in the end, it was your choice to show up wearing only that, was it?」

Straf chuckles, aggravating Athea even further.

「I didn't want- Forget it! Why am I here!? Just so you can make me angry again!? Congratulations, you did it! Can I go now!?」

Athea shouts, spreading her arms as she fumes. She lets out an exasperated, tired gasp as she places her hands on her hips, then asks in immense annoyance. Straf pats his thighs in response.

Pat pat.

「Tsk. I should have known…」

Athea winces and clicks her tongue, crossing her arms again. She looks aside and mutters under her breath. She taps her foot on the floorboards while sneering with disdain.

Clack clack clack clack.

Eventually, she sighs, and walks up to Straf while keeping her arms crossed. She turns around, and sits down in his lap, trying her best to keep the physical contact to minimum. She side-glares at Straf, and lets out a frustrated sigh.

「Athea, help me…」

Straf sighs out as he places his chin on her shoulder from behind her, and grabs onto her chest with both hands, elicting a high-pitched yelp.

「Heh, w- With what? You can't get it up?」

Athea tries her best to appear smug and condescending, denying as much access to her huge breasts with her crossed arms as possible, but this ultimately proves futile. As much as she attempts to appear frigid and unbothered, her breath quickens and her ears redden.

「No, I can. I just choose not to. Want to see?」

「N- No!」

Athea tries to shout out immediately, but almost hesitates. Her breaths get heavy after just a few moments of groping, and she has to breathe with an open mouth.

「Well, for every week you act coy, you'll have to beg harder when you finally decide to get explicit. Though with that dirty mind of yours, I'll probably have to lock you up in a chastity belt for safekeeping-」

Straf nonchalantly states as he continues squeezing and fondling away with a bored face.

「I don't have a dirty mind! You are the one with your hands on me!」

She protests with clenched teeth, seething at Straf.

「Yeah? Then where else would you want me to put your hands on you?」

「…What!?」

Heavy breathing and suppressed moaning fills the room as Athea blinks at Straf in confusion.

「Huuuuuuuh. That's a really long time to say nowhere-」

A smug grin re-appears on his face after Athea's momentary lapse in attention.

「I don't have a dirty mind! What do you need help with then!? Why don't you start with that!?」

Athea once again tries her best to regain her cold glare and stone face. Despite her effort and her clenched teeth, some suppressed moans escape through her nose regardless.

「I'm bored. Find me something to do.」

Straf sighs and loses the grin. His mouth instead rotates into a slanted frown, and his face regains his look of boredom.

「Like what!?」

Athea shouts, after taking a deeper breath.

「I dunno. Something.」

Straf shrugs, pausing his groping.

「Why'd you- Why not go help some people then!? You're almost as strong as the hero at his peak! You could become a legend yourself, and you'd do some good deeds-」

「Boring. I'm supposed to be your avatar, or your janitor? I want something fun.」

「Well why don't you find something fun to do then!?」

Athea shouts, then lets out a quick, frustrated sigh.

「Make my own fun, huh?… Yeah, I can do that. Do you want me to?」

Straf shrugs, and asks ominously.

「No! No! No! I'll think of something!」

Her eyes widen in realization of what she has implied, and shouts to take it back while shaking her head.

「Well, you better. Or else I'll just start breaking this shitty world.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, tilting his head a little.

「As if you weren't already doing that!」

「I didn't even start. Get off.」

Straf bluntly orders Athea as he pulls his arms away, kicking his thighs up with his toes on the floor.

「Huh?」

Athea can't believe her ears, and her brows furrow as she looks confused at Straf.

「I'm bored of you too, get off.」

「…What?」

She gets up, staring at Straf with a slack jaw and a completely incredulous expression.

「What? Do you think I'm 12 or something? There's only so much fun I can have playing with two obscenely large tits like yours. The novelty wore off. Shoo.」

Straf is doubly surprised by her reaction, and he shrugs with his hands as he asks. Adding insult to the injury, he dismisses her with a wave of his hand.

「Wh-?」

The shock of Straf's statement eats the rest of her sentence. She blinks. At Straf, around the room. Shaking her head, she grimaces in pure confusion with her mouth still agape. Never before has anyone ever insulted her this deeply, yet she had no recourse.

Fwoom.

Athea disappears in a narrow beam of light upwards, without saying a word in response…