Somewhere, on the edge of the Mage Federation Autonomous Zone, on a road to the north…

Tisha is sitting with her arms crossed, looking outside through the window. Damian sits facing her with his arms likewise crossed, albeit slightly offset to the side so they can have more leg room.

Her blue eyes watch the empty and barren trees slowly grow more and more sparse, and the ground below slowly turn more gravelly as less and less yellowed grass grows through.

She lets out a large sigh, turning her lightly sullen eyes forward towards the empty seat right beside him.

「Wow. This is the first time I'm seeing you like this.」

Damian remarks in a serious yet casual tone, looking at Tisha's somewhat gloomy, pale face. Her blue eyes snap to his, and her face quickly gains a scowl.

Thwack!

Tisha delivers a quick kick to his leg, knocking them both away towards the other door.

「Owww! Stop punching and kicking me already!」

Damian shouts, clutching at his shin.

「Shut your mouth. It's just too bad Lia couldn't have come with me.」

Tisha scoffs, turning her face back to the window.

「…You know you can just write to her, right? You know where she lives.」

Damian remarks, still rubbing his aching shin through his black pant leg.

Tisha's eyes open wide, and as if she realized something in a moment of brilliance, her fist drops like a hammer onto her open palm waiting beneath it.

「You seriously didn't think of that? Are you stupid?-」

He asks, furrowing his brows at her. Her angry, scowling face snaps back to him with her hand raised above her golden head. He recoils, and his own head retreats like a threatened turtle.

「Hmpf. That was a good suggestion, so I'll spare you this time… But getting a message out of the north is such a bother. Ahhhh…」

She lets out a scornful huff from her nose, and crosses her arms again. Her scowl softens when she thinks of the blizzards and roadside bandits waiting to intercept travelers, and sighs.

「…Hey. Are you going to send a letter to your sister?」

「Why are you asking?」

Damian warily narrows his eyes at her, only ever so slightly relaxing as he drops his hands back down.

「Yes or no?」

She asks again, audibly angered. He clenches his teeth with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「Well, uh… Yeah, I planned to explain the situation to her and tell her not to worry…」

「Ahhh…」

Damian nods his head as he replies, awkwardly scratching his cheek. Tisha lets out another large exasperated sigh, staring at her own reflection in the window.

「…Guess I'll just send mine with yours, and assign extra security to the courier. That way they're more likely to make it out.」

She shrugs her shoulders covered by thick, fuzzy, dark brown hide, and turns her blue eyes back to him with her mouth lightly scrunched to the side.

「Wait, is that even necessary?…」

Damian asks as his eyes widen slowly.

「Eh? Of course it is. Even in my father's domain, the north is pretty lawless. A lot of things can kill you when you're just trying to make it from one place to another.」

Tisha replies, furrowing her brows and sounding almost surprised by the question.

「…Why do you think I have that here?」

She asks, nodding her head up at the sheathed sword hanging above her on an easily and quickly accessible rack. It bounces a little along with the carriage. Damian gulps.

「What kind of things?…」

「Hm… Blizzards, beasts, bandits… Well, they'd probably just kill you and ransom me off.」

「W- What? You're joking, right?…」

Damian asks, jittering with a nervous face.

「Huh? Why would I be?」

Tisha tilts her head, looking at him with a confused expression. Damian gulps again, and shakily turns his head to the window on the opposite side of the carriage.

「Ah.」

After a prolonged pause, she lets out a surprised utterance, blankly blinking at the carriage wall across her.

「…I'm afraid to ask, but… What?」

Damian says, looking at her with huge eyes.

「Lia said that she's the queen of the Redwing Kingdom…」

Tisha remarks with her index finger extended, still staring dead ahead with a perplexed expression on her face.

「…Right. So?」

「…And she was pretty vehement about not being in a relationship with Straf.」

「…Okay?」

Damian furrows his brows, not fully following.

「…But when we asked her about it, she said he's a married man, and that he's married to the queen of her kingdom.」

「Right. So she was just making stuff up?」

He nods his head, slowly piecing Tisha's meaning together. She ponders something deeply, placing her thumb and finger on her chin with an extremely thought-consumed face.

「Right. But she also said that her kingdom is ruled by an evil queen…」

Tisha nods, still staring at the carriage wall.

「…To be honest, I don't really get it.」

Damian shrugs, looking at her focused face with a perplexed gaze.

「…But if it's ruled by an evil queen, and she is the queen, that would mean Lia meant that she is the evil queen.」

She adds, extending her index finger again. Her blue eyes under her gently furrowed brows turn to him again.

「That makes sense… Not really, but logically speaking…」

Damian nods along, shrugging his shoulders as he grimaces gently with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…But if she and Straf aren't in a relationship, yet the evil queen is… That would mean…」

She lowers her gaze, slowly arriving at the logical conclusion. Somewhere far away, another princess of another kingdom is following the same flow of thoughts.

「Hnf!?」

Tisha's ice-blue eyes suddenly snap wide open with a tight-lipped grimace on her face. Damian tilts his head, blinking at her.

《…Lia has threatened to kill us if we go for Straf!?》《…Lia has threatened to kill us if we go for Straf!?》

Somewhere, despite the large distance between them, Tisha and Neela arrive at the exact same conclusion at the exact same time…

…

A few hours later, on the road to the Redwing Kingdom, amidst a shadowy forest…

「Aah… Aaa- Aachoo!… Sniffsniff… Ahhh…」

Cycelia sneezes, turning her head aside. She sniffles quickly a few times afterwards.

「Are you okay, Lia? Are you feeling sick?」

Straf asks, turning his eyes towards her as her hand briefly stops stroking his head upon her thighs.

「I'm fine… Something has been tickling my nose for a while now. I rarely get sick, don't worry.」

She gently shakes her chestnut head, rubbing her nose with the backside of her finger before her other hand returns to petting Straf.

「I wouldn't be surprised if you were. You packed all that stuff and no winter clothing.」

「I didn't expect how cold it would be around here. I'll pack some warmer clothes next time…」

「Less knights, and wooly thigh-highs instead perhaps?…」

Straf suggests, raising his brows a little. A few minutes of silence pass as Cycelia continues watching the golden and orange leaves fall from the trees outside with a content smile.

「Neeeeeeeiggggh!」「Easy! Eaaaasy!…」

Though muffled, the horses let out a loud whine, and the mustached driver's voice pierces through the carriage wall in front of them shortly after.

Crrrrassh! Crrrrrash!…

Thrrrr… Thud!

The cart comes to an abrupt halt, sending Cycelia's baggage audibly sliding across the roof only for it to stop on the metal railings, and throwing Straf off her thighs onto the floor.

「Unf!… Son of a bitch!…」

Straf grumbles, picking himself up off the floor. Cycelia was thrown forward as well, but managed to brace herself enough with her legs to stay in her seat.

「Are you okay?」

She asks, blinking at Straf while he's trying to get back up to his feet in the cramped space.

「Yeah, I'm fine…」

He replies through a grunt as he stands back up, though his voice sounds full of frustration.

「Do you think trees fell on the road? It sounded like it…」

She remarks, turning her concerned emerald eyes towards the carriage wall ahead, and then aside to the door.

「Yeah, it did… Stay in the carriage.」

Straf quickly replies, and pulls the curtain over her window with one swift motion, then turns to and opens the door across.

「Huh? Okay…」

Mildly confused, she blinks towards his back, but then nods her head. Straf shuts the carriage door behind him after he hops out.

At a first glance, indeed, trees fell on the road ahead… But also on the road behind the carriage. Multiple armed masked men approach from all directions as Straf walks to the front.

Both of the drivers are nervously looking all around the carriage, they exchange nervous glances, then covertly lift their shirts while they reach for their hidden daggers.

「It's just not your lucky day, friend!…」

A cloth-masked man pointing his crossbow at Straf exclaims as he approaches with at least five others from the cart's ten o'clock.

「I've honestly had worse.」

Straf casually replies, shrugging his shoulders with his hands in his pockets while his bored eyes scan over at least two dozen men approaching, though there's more on the other side.

「Heheheh… I believe you, but the day is long. We're not here to kill ya… But you better not do stupid shit. Is there a green-eyed woman in there?」

The man chuckles in an ominous, gravely voice. Despite the very apparent hostility and simple language, his tone is surprisingly courteous.

「Why? Blonde and blue-eyed doesn't do it for you?」

Straf nonchalantly asks back. The masked men surrounding them chuckle, though the one with the crossbow remains silent, only shifting about a little.

「…We already broke the ice and the time for jokes is over. We're taking a peek in the cabin. You're going to hand us that baggage on top too.」

The man with the crossbow says after a prolonged pause, waiting for the chuckling to stop. His voice is no longer as lighthearted as previously.

「The only thing I can hand you is your own fucking ass, buddy. Find another luggage boy.」

Straf scoffs, smirking a little at the man. The highwayman's eyes narrow, and his brows furrow in obvious anger.

「I don't think I like your fucking attitude…」

He replies and quickly raises his crossbow to his shoulder.

Tfwap!

The metal-tipped bolt sails through the air towards Straf's throat.

「What?…」「The fuck!?…」「Did you see that?」「Eh?…」

The man lowers his crossbow, staring at Straf with greatly disconcerted eyes as he's casually examining the bolt in his hand. The mustached driver blinks, stunned with his jaw dropped in shock, having expected Straf to be reeling and choking on blood now. The rest of the masked highwaymen also glance at each other and can't believe their eyes, muttering amongst quietly amongst themselves.

「…I'm not a fan either. On one hand, you pissed me the fuck off, but on the other hand I'm kind of ashamed of myself… How about we just forget this ever happened?」

After calmly replying, his face gains a tight-lipped grirmace on his face. Straf then shrugs both his shoulders and the hand holding the bolt as he asks.

「That's a real nice sleight of hand… Let's see if you can do that again!」

The man shouts angrily as he places another bolt in the crossbow.

「You shoot that at me one more time, and I'll shove it up your fucking ass… Wide end first, so you'll need these guys to help pull it out!…」

Straf points his finger at him, clutching the bolt in his fist with scowl on his face. The man pauses just before raising his weapon when Straf nods his head towards the others.

「…You really want to limp back to your hideout like that!? It's gonna be embarrassing!」

Straf lowers his hand, glaring at the man. He remains frozen, and glances at the others, unsure what to do next. None of them appear to want to be the first one to act.

「Straf!」

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「Lia, I told you to- Tsk…」

Cycelia's shout pulls Straf's attention away. He turns his face and looks at her over his shoulder.

「Nobody fuckin' move or the girl's gonna be on you!…」

A masked man shouts from the other side of the cart as he drags Cycelia with him. His arm is wrapped around her neck, and in his other hand he holds a raised dagger.

「…And you two fuckin' assholes stay where you are!」

He notices the mustached driver and the young man beside him preparing to lunge at him, and quickly points his dagger hand at them both. They clench their teeth and sit back down.

「Yeah!」「Nice!」「Now hand us the fucking baggage!」

The bandits shout, some cheering the man with Cycelia in his grasp. She stares at Straf with large emerald eyes, and her brows heavily furrowed.

Straf turns to face him, glaring at him while turning the crossbow bolt in his fingers.

「Lia, move your head a little…」

Looking at Cycelia with a grim and serious face, he tilts his head to the side as he speaks with a lightly raised voice.

「Huh?…」「And you stay fuckin' put-!」

She briefly blinks back, confused, but immediately obliges and tilts her head to the side as much as she can.

Snap!

Cycelia flinches, forcing her eyes shut as the bandit's growl directed at her is abruptly silenced by a supersonic crack that echoes off the trees on the sides the road.

Straf is pointing his empty hand towards her. She feels the man's arms go slack, and he seemingly steps away from her.

Thud!…

He crashes to the ground onto his back, blankly staring at the treetops behind him with his eyes rolled back. There is a small, but easy to see rectangular hole in his forehead. Blood is pooling freely on the stone road below his head. The bandits' cheering and their jovial mood dies with the man. Straf turns his attention back to the man with the crossbow as Cycelia rushes to his side with the drivers' escort, daggers drawn.

Though half of their faces are covered, their gazes tell everything. The men stare at Straf with terror-filled eyes, some even take a step or two away.

「I was a little pissed off before, but now you just made me fucking mad. You were just a nuisance so I was going to let you go on a warning…」

Straf places his now empty hand back in his pocket as he approaches the crossbow-wielding highwayman in an unrushed step.

「…Now I'm just going to wring every bit of knowledge from you, even if I'm fairly sure you have nothing new to tell me.」

He adds, and abruptly stops a few paces away from the man. He can't seem to find the courage to raise his crossbow, despite Straf's appearance as an easy and relaxed target.

Though it was already dim, the area around the carriage suddenly turns nearly pitch-black, as if an extremely dense cloud blocked out the sun. The only things that remain somewhat visible are the glint in Straf's, Cycelia's and the drivers' eyes, as well as their daggers, though the two men behind him are visibly preoccupied with swiveling their heads all around. Straf nods upward, and the bandits look up at the sky…

…Which is now blocked out by a massive, whirling purple vortex.

「What the fuck is that!?」「Oh shit!…」

The bandits start panicking, some rapidly taking more steps away. The man with the crossbow remains silent, simply returning to staring at Straf completely wide-eyed.

「…And none of you try to fucking run, 'cause I can do this!」

Straf shouts, turning his head towards the bulk of the highwaymen. The sunlight suddenly flashes on and off, as if someone was playing with the light switch.

The vortex is darting rapidly around the sky in a speed uncanny for its gigantic size, before it quickly stops right over the largest group of the bandits.

「Now!… You're going to tell me everything! Who hired you, how much, and for what purpose!? If you try to run or stay silent, you're all dead!…」

He continues shouting. Shaking heavily, the bandits clutch at each other both to not trip, and to simply be near someone for some solace.

「You have ten seconds to start talking before you're the first people to die of kinetic seafood poisoning!… Ten! Nine! Eight!…」

With his mouth angrily tilted to the side, Straf begins counting down, maintaining eye contact with the frozen crossbowman.

「I told you this was a shit fucking idea!」

「We're right by the fucking Academy! Didn't you think there would be a mage with them!?」

「This is your fault you fucking idiot! Take some responsibility, you stupid fuck!」

Panicking, the bandits begin screaming towards the man with the crossbow in high-pitched voices.

「Seven! Six! Five!…」

Straf continues to count, ignoring their screams. Their apparent leader remains frozen.

「We're so fucking dead!…」「I knew I fucking shouldn't have!…」「Fuckfuckfuck!」

「Four! Three! Two!…」

The bandits' panic increases as the count slowly decreases.

「Get him! Get him, fucking get the fucker!」

One of the bandit shouts, rallying the others. Straf scoffs, grinning a little.

「You better not-」

He raises his finger at them, though to his surprise the shapes in the darkness don't rush him as he expected, but the crossbowman staring at Straf.

Thud! Tfwap-fwap! Thwack! Clack!…

「What the fuck!? What are you-!?」

The man finally unfreezes, shouting angrily at someone.

「One…」

Straf continues counting down, ominously raising his voice.

「Waitwaitwaitwait!」「Wait, please!」「Hold on hold on hold on!…」

A large group of the highwaymen screams desperately at Straf. He tilts his head a little, trying to make sense of the dark shapes in front of him.

「It's his fault! We'll tell you everything!」「It's all his fault! He's the one who wanted to go with it!」「It's this fucking fucker!…」

They scream and shout in panic, their voices crack into a higher pitch nearly consistently. A very brief silence begins, though the bandits are all breathing heavily.

The sunlight suddenly returns to the forest road as the vortex above disappears. The entire group of highwaymen has forced the crossbowman to his knees and knocked his weapon aside. Some are holding him by the hair, some by the arms, one has him in a headlock, and the rest who couldn't find enough space to contribute simply awkwardly stand behind everyone else, staring at Straf with giant eyes.

「Okay. Start talking… Who hired you?」

Straf asks, glaring at the men before him with his hands casually in his pockets. The bandits take a large breath and sigh with relief.

「It was those mage people!… Tell him! Tell him you stupid fuck!」

One of the bandits restraining the leader's arm shouts back, then turns his face to the man kneeling and screams demands in his face.

「Tsk… It was this mage guy in blue robes…」

「Eh?…」

Visibly hesitating with his eyes darting left and right, the man reluctantly replies. Cycelia's head jumps in surprise, and her brows furrow.

「Who? Old? Young? Somewhere in-between? You sure it was a guy?」

「I don't remember.」

The man turns his gaze away from Straf as he squats down in front of him.

「Well you better start remembering, or I'm going to do the whirly thing again-」

「Tell him you fucker!」「Talk or I'll stuff my fucking thumb in your eye!」「Tell him you dumbshit!」

The bandits scream and threaten their leader as soon as they hear the vortex may return.

「I seriously don't fucking remember! I swear! He had a fucking hood on his head! He might have been old, I don't fucking know! He had a beard!」

The man in their grasp shouts back, trying to shrug his shoulders, but his men won't let him.

「Gray? White? Long? Short?」

「I don't remember-」「Fuckin' tell 'im!」

Straf calmly asks for clarification, and the man replies. The chokehold around his neck tightens, and the man beside him screams in his face.

「I seriously don't fuckin' remember!… I already was fuckin' down a few! It was a blur!…」

The man adds, straining through his squeezed neck, audibly speaking through his teeth even though his black mask is in the way.

「Alright, fair enough… Now how much?」

Straf asks another question, and the man visibly winces. The other bandits look at Straf, then wait for the crossbowman's reply. A few moments of silence pass.

「Start fucking talking!」

The man tightens his chokehold on his leader, sparing Straf any necessity of further prodding.

「I don't… Fuckin' know!… A little under a hundred!…」

He replies, writhing his head left and right to try and loosen the grip a little.

「A hundred of what?-」

Straf asks, but he's immediately interrupted.

「…What the fuck?」「Are you fucking serious?…」「Huh!?」

The men all loosen their grasp on the leader somewhat. He glances at each of them with nervous eyes.

「What?-」

「…You gave us a coin each, you fucking!…」

Thud!

The man holding onto his other arm lets go, and delivers a powerful punch to the crossbowman's ribs, causing him to writhe in pain and twist his face in pain.

「You fucking!… I'm going to fucking kill you!」

Not satisfied, the man keeps punching. A few to his face, a few to his ribs, some to his stomach. Then, the idlers join in, along with some delivering hits with their free hands.

Thud! Thwack! Thud-Thwack! Fwap! Thud! Thwack!…

「You fucking piece of shit! One coin for this shit!?」「Fucking die, you motherfucker!」「You fucker! Nrrgh!」

The whole group continues mercilessly punching and kicking their leader. He makes feeble attempts to cover himself.

Snap snap snap!

「Hey, hey, hey!… I'm not done yet!」

Straf snaps his fingers, and the violence abruptly stops. The bandits turn their eyes to him, some frozen with their fists cocked back, some mid-kick.

「…He gave you a gold coin, right?」

「Yeah! Motherfucker took the rest for himself!」

One of the men nods powerfully, pointing his free finger at the man's battered and bloodied face.

「Tough… Now…」

Straf stands up, glaring at the man spitting blood on the ground.

「…For what purpose?」

He asks in an ominous tone as his eyes jump to them for a second each…