After sundown, in Cycelia's room…

「Whew… I'm glad Neela is alright too.」

Cycelia remarks, slipping her boots off her feet as Straf plops down onto his own bed.

「I'm surprised that bald midget made it… Honestly, I kind of wrote him off. Something something, you can't save everyone, or something like that.」

Straf shrugs with a little grimace, and places his head on his forearms.

「It'd be too sad if someone died. I'm glad you were just in time.」

She smiles warmly, then briefly shivers and skitters underneath her blanket.

「Brrr… It already feels like winter here. I don't know how Tisha can live like this up north.」

Cycelia says, curling up for warmth as she looks at the leaky closed window and the dark sky outside.

「She probably grows seasonal fur… If you're too cold, you can always hop into my bed. That'd be pretty hot.」

Straf nonchalantly declares, glancing at her.

「Straf!… Don't even joke like that…」

She replies, and pulls the blanket up to cover most of her reddening face.

「Well, suit yourself.」

He shrugs, and turns his eyes back to the ceiling. A brief silence begins while the steady flame from the oil lamp burns away.

「…Goodnight, Straf. It's been a pretty long day.」

「Yeah, I guess it was. Goodnight, Lia.」

Straf nods, and looks at the lamp.

「…I suppose you can kill the light if it bothers you.」

He adds, and glances at her glittering emerald eyes.

「Ah. We should save the oil… Fwoo!」

She quickly sits up, and blows the flame out, then lowers herself down. She yawns, covering her mouth, and wiggles into a more comfortable position as she closes her eyes…

…

A few hours later, well into the night…

Lying in bed on his back with arms behind his head, Straf stares at the dark ceiling. Despite the wraith dissolving into nothingness, he can still feel a presence. Different than the wraith's, but still a presence.

「Hm…」

He hums, deep in thought. Unconcerned, but unable to relax.

Thud.

His brow rises when Straf hears a muffled noise, and the clatter of window's glass.

Clack.

The window's latch moves, and it opens. A magic orb of light appears above him, hovering.

「Lily. What brings you here again so soon?」

He asks as the little vampire is standing in the narrow window, just big enough for her to fit into.

「I knew something was off about the feeling I've had when I last came here, so I've returned to my castle to find a book. Straf, this is the Compendium of Cursed Things and Beings…」

Lily replies, holding a sheathed sword by its hilt in one of her tiny hands, and a thick tome in the other as she shows its cover to Straf.

「…So?」

He casually asks, disinterested. Cycelia groggily opens her eyes, and covers them from the blinding light.

「Straf, everything I've read leads me to believe there is a wraith somewhere around here!-」

She announces with an urgent tone.

「Yeah, I know.」

Straf casually cuts her off with his mouth aslant.

「You… You do?- Of course you do! Naturally! As expected, Straf!」

Lily proudly declares with her golden head held high, smugly grinning with her fangs showing.

《…What is she so smug about?》

「And?」

He asks, unimpressed.

「…Well, in any case, I brought the Redwing girl's sword! She left it behind, not knowing how valuable it is! It's made of glimmermetal, so dealing with the wraith-!」

Lily's grin grows as she holds Cycelia's sheathed sword up, pointing her other hand's clawed finger at her while her emerald eyes squint back.

「Yeah, uh… That'd be really useful a week ago. I've already dealt with it.」

Straf shrugs his hands with a nonchalant grimace on his face, and places his head back on his forearms.

「You… Have?…」

Lily asks. Her smug expression fades as her shoulders slump, and she slowly lowers the sword.

「Yes, Straf has already saved everyone, Lily.」

Cycelia nods her chestnut head with sleepy, half-open eyes as she sits up on her bed.

「…Can you close the window? It's really cold.」

She adds, rubbing her arms for warmth. Lily stares at her with a frustrated, tight-lipped grimace before gracefully leaping off the window sill onto the books in Cycelia's baggage.

Still grimacing, Lily grabs the window's small rotating handle, pushes it shut, and twists it locked.

「Thank you-」

Cycelia nods and scurries underneath her blanket, but Lily doesn't even wait for her to finish thanking her.

「…Naturally! I shouldn't have expected any less of you, Straf! You are truly at least three steps ahead of me at all times!」

Lily once again proudly declares with a smug grin, walking up to Straf's bed. With a little grunt, he swings his arms and sits up.

「My apologies for not being of more use to you, Straf.」

She says as she bows her golden head towards him.

Pat.

「You tried, Lily. It's the thought that counts.」

Straf replies as he places his hand on her head and pets her. She pouts, but doesn't pull away.

「Who's a good ball of discriminate hatred? Yes you are.」

He says, and intensifies his petting. Lily turns her face away.

「…Redwing girl, do you want your sword, or not?」

She asks, holding the sword out for Cycelia while she's lying on her side and looking at them.

「Um… If the wraith is gone I don't think I will need it, Lily…」

「…I see.」

Lily says, scrunching her pouty mouth a little as Straf pulls his hand away.

「What about the tome, Straf? Do you want it?」

She asks, holding the compendium up cover to Straf again.

「Nope. I only wanted to read the part about wraiths, but I don't need it anymore.」

He shrugs with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「…I see.」

Lily nods, sounding almost disappointed. She holds her ringed hand out above the table, and a purple vortex like Straf's [Portable Storage] appears. She throws both the compendium and the sword in, then closes it.

「…You're hungry, aren't you?」

He asks as he places his fists on his hips.

「…I will manage until your return, Straf. If you have everything under control, then I will take the sword back.」

Lily says, and turns to the window, opening it again. She gracefully hops onto the window sill, and looks over her shoulder at Straf.

「Thank you, Lily…」

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Cycelia nods, but Lily ignores her.

「I will be waiting-」

「Ah, yeah, wait!…」

Straf quickly utters out, holding his hand up towards her. She furrows her brows and tilts her head in confusion, jiggling her golden twin tails.

「…Lily, was the barrier still the same?」

He asks with his brows lightly furrowed as well, pointing at the wall with the window. She tilts her head further.

「…It's the same as ever, what do you mean?」

Lily asks, blinking her crimson eyes at him.

「What I mean is, is it still red and deadly? Did you feel anything weird while passing through it?」

「It does have a red shimmer to it, just like before. Why?」

She nods, and tilts her head the other way as Straf rubs his chin. Cycelia's eyes fill with concern while looking at him.

「…Nothing. Go on, Lily. We'll be alright.」

Straf replies with a tight-lipped grimace, and shrugs his shoulders, shooing her with his hand. Lily nods again, shoots a quick glance at Cycelia, and turns into a black blur when she leaps out of the window.

「Ah…」

Cycelia quietly utters out, shivering beneath her blanket.

「…She left the window open.」

She adds, and sighs.

「Yeeeah… You need to have political enemies to be able to close it from the outside.」

Straf remarks, looking at the open window as he nods.

「…Huh?」

Cycelia squints, blinking at Straf in confusion while they look at each other…

…

The next morning, on the dueling grounds…

With his hands in his pockets, Straf is walking around the arena, looking carefully at the dirt. He paces around the impact marks he left in the dirt yesterday. He stops, and rubs the back of his neck.

《Did someone scoop it up?… No, I don't think anyone would actually-》

Straf sighs, looking at the general area where he pummeled the wraith into disappearing.

《…Maybe it fell into that hole?》

He thinks, and steps over the elbow-deep hole in the dirt, peering into it. He finds nothing, except more dirt, and lets out a frustrated sigh.

《Come to think of it, I didn't get XP for that either. Humans drop no items, but give XP… Do wraiths give neither?》

Straf rubs his chin as he looks aside at an obelisk picked at random.

《Think about it logically… The guy got killed, probably gave his friend a bunch of XP… The loot he dropped was whatever he had on him…》

「Hmmm…」

He hums as he ponders the mystery of the missing item.

《…Since a wraith is just a dead guy's memories, that means he already dropped his loot, and gave someone his XP… Doesn't it?》

「Tsk…」

With a frustrated click of his tongue, he places his hands back in his pockets.

「Man, this is fucking annoying… I save the day, and get fucking nothing?… That's my quest reward? Good feelings? This sucks.」

He thinks out loud as he looks up at the headmaster's window. Corvus is standing there with his hands behind his back, looking down at him. He waves his hand, gesturing Straf to come, and walks away.

「…You're real quiet about this too, dyslexiac. Not even a「good job, you saved everyone forever!」or something like that? No shitty ring that will let me see in the dark? Nothing?」

Straf says, staring at the grayish sky above with an annoyed, tight-lipped grimace.

《…I am watching.》

Athea says in his mind, after a moment of silence.

「Yeah, I figured. You sound a bit on edge.」

He remarks, shrugging his shoulders.

「No comment, huh?… How about giving me some divine exposition, then? What was the guy's fucking problem? How did this shit come to be? How'd he curse everyone?」

Straf asks, briefly spreading his hands before returning them to his pockets.

《I cannot tell you at this moment.》

She bluntly replies.

「At this moment? Why the fuck not?-」

He asks, and his head tilts back a little when he realizes something.

「…Ah. Because the barrier is still deadly, and there's some fucker still involved, huh?」

Straf says, looking at a random cloud. He waits for a response, and waits.

「…Bingo, huh? Well, whatever. I figured that much. Keep your fucking secrets, then, but you better tell me after I'm done kicking his fucking ass.」

He scoffs, shaking his head as he walks back to the building…

…

Ten minutes later, in the headmaster's office…

Corvus sits at his desk, fingers interlocked, staring attentively at the door ahead.

Thunk thunk thunk!

His head perks up in surprise when he hears a glassy knocking sound coming from behind him. He swivels in his chair, and looks at the window.

「Straf!?…」

Corvus exclaims, jumping out of his chair. He hops up the stairs, hurrying upward. Straf is holding onto a rope, hanging just outside the headmaster's window with a huge, smug grin on his face.

The old mage twists a little knob at the windows, and swings a small segment of it open.

「Surprised?」

Straf asks with pure, concentrated smugness in his voice.

「…Yes! Very! Come, you might fall!」

Corvus nods with his busy brows raised high, and pries the window open further. Straf squeezes in through the narrow opening, wriggling heavily.

「Hmpf!… Hnngh!… Even if I do, not like it matters…」

He nonchalantly replies, pausing briefly as he's in the middle of his attempt to get in.

「Yes it does! You're a young man with a promising future!-」

「That's not what I meant!- Hnnnugh!」

Straf finally slips out of the window's tight grasp into the office. He lets out a relieved sigh as he descends down the stairs, with Corvus right behind him and heading back to his chair.

「…Let me guess, the trouble isn't over, huh?」

Straf asks as he sits down in the visitor's chair, places his boots on the headmaster's desk, and crosses his arms.

「Correct, Straf… I was very pleased to find the Cursefire Brazier dark and cold. We have moved the brazier itself to a more secure location, but I believe at this point it's nothing but a chunk of iron…」

Corvus nods, interlocking his fingers once more as he looks aside at a shelf of baubles.

「…I have to thank you. I didn't think I'd actually live to see the cursed flame die out. I've heard that the wraith took it with itself?」

He asks, turning his eyes back to Straf, very slightly furrowing his brows.

「Yeah. Full-on burning zombie situation. It was a fucking mess.」

Straf nods, and Corvus gains a consternated expression, adjusting his glasses.

「…Burning zombie?- No matter. The wraith is gone, the curse is gone, and with it, the Cursefire is gone. It is completely without exaggeration, when I say that you single-handedly saved the Academy, Straf.」

The headmaster shakes his head, and briefly spreads his hands as he praises Straf's efforts.

「I know.」

Straf nonchalantly replies, and shrugs with a tight-lipped grimace.

「But…」

「But the barrier is still fucked?」

He asks before Corvus can continue.

「I would not word it like that, but yes. As I thought, the wraith had very little, if not outright nothing to do with the barrier being subverted. You effectively flipped the hourglass hanging over us on its side…」

The headmaster grimaces a little from Straf's coarse language, but shrugs and nods in response.

「…But whoever is attempting to harm the students remains. I suspect the wraith may have not been a centerpiece to the Academy's enemy. I think even the barrier itself is merely secondary.」

Corvus adds, and stares at Straf's face with a serious expression. Straf remains unimpressed, and briefly looks upward.

「So you think there's another threat inside?」

He asks as his eyes return back to the old mage.

「Yes. It may be more or less insidious than the curse, but I doubt it's any less dangerous. Moreover, I'm almost certain the villain in question was supporting the wraith in some ways…」

「How so?」

「Wraiths, vampires, and other beings cursed to stay in the dark are averse to sunlight, of course, but also to fire. A wraith should not be able to come into contact with the flames to use its very being as a curse…」

Corvus explains, brushing through his beard while staring intently down at his desk.

「So he had outside help, you think? Someone helped him do just that?」

「…Exactly. I don't know how. There's so many things about this whole situation that baffle me. From the wraith's aberrant behavior, through the barrier being subverted, to it being able to dwell the light…」

The headmaster nods, and interlocks his fingers again, resting his elbows on the oaken desk.

「…All of it is so bizarre. If our enemy appeared around the time the barrier was subverted, it would also make sense why the wraith reared its head then. It was not a coincidence, but a deliberate attack.」

He concludes, and lets out a large, troubled exhale.

「So, what do you want me to do about it? Got any leads?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands.

「I'm afraid not, Straf. I only have a request… Please keep the students safe, and be vigilant.」

Corvus shakes his head, and replies with an apologetic tone. Straf throws his hands up with a frustrated grimace, and stands up, turning for the exit.

「Straf…」

The headmaster calls out, and Straf stops, partially turning back to him with his hands in his pockets.

「…With that being said, please take a while to relax. I know, this may sound paradoxical, but I know this burden couldn't have been easy on you either. A stressed mind will not perform as well as a calm one.」

Corvus says, looking at Straf with a serious face and gaze.

「When I find the guy behind this, I'll treat his head like a stress ball. That'll relax me, alright.」

Straf scoffs, and turns for the door again. The old mage furrows his bushy brows.

「…Stress ball?」

He mutters out, watching Straf shut the door behind him. Corvus brushes his beard, pondering the nature of a stress ball…