「Millie! I'm back!」

The young man announces as he enters the run-down house. The door behind him refuses to fully close, until he pushes his entire body weight into it.

Thud.

「Louche? Did you get hurt? Did you win?」

The young girl lying in straw-lined bed asks, squinting her blue eyes at the door. Her long, golden hair flows everywhere. Louche turns around, revealing his badly bruised face, swollen nose and bloodied clothes.

「No, I lost pretty miserably. I have your medicine, though.」

He shakes his head and winces a little as he smiles. He kneels down next to the bed, propping himself up on its edge with his arms.

「…How? Didn't you say you need to win two rounds?」

Millie asks quietly with a strained voice. She looks at him closer.

「Brother, your face… Did they not heal you at the arena?」

She squints a little more, and frowns when she catches a sharp enough image of her brother's battered, smiling face.

「They did. They have to conserve mana for the others… The man I fought against paid me to rig the match.」

「Louche! That's fraud! You could get arrested! And you got really, really hurt too! Your face is all beaten up!」

Her eyes widen, and her tired voice rises.

「Millie…」

「I don't want you to do shady things for some scumbags because of me! I'm causing you enough trouble as it is! I- Hrk! Coff! Coof cooooof!」

The young girl covers her mouth and her eyes wetten as a coughing fit interrupts her agitated scolding. As soon she gets her coughing under control, Louche wraps his arms around her, and lifts her up to sitting.

「Here, drink this…」

He uncorks a small glass phial, and helps her drink the translucent violet liquid from it. When it's empty, he gently lowers her back down onto her pillow, and pulls the blanket back up over her. Millie's shoulders heave as she attempts to catch her breath with her mouth open.

「Millie, he's not a scumbag. I thought that at first too. He told me if I make a show out of losing, there will be 3 silver coins in my pocket.」

「But- But that's barely anything-」

She stammers through her gasping breath, but stops when Louche raises his palm. He pulls out 8 silver coins, and shows it to his sister.

「How?」

She asks, squinting up from his palm to his eyes.

「He's a kinder man than we thought he is. He didn't need to rig the match, I would have lost it anyway. There was nothing I could have done against someone that strong. And when he beat me, I thought he lied to me. I only felt a single coin.」

「Why do you have so many, then?」

「It was a gold coin, Millie. Thanks to him, I have plenty of time to think what to do next. He wanted to save you, too. I can't believe I thought ill of such a good person…」

She frowns again as Louche pockets his coins with a clink.

「That's a lot… If you didn't buy me medicine, it could have lasted you almost a year-」

「Millie, what are you talking about? I'm doing this for you! I don't care about the money.」

「Brother… If we ever end up not having enough, it's okay. I don't want you to do things that risk your life, like in the arena.」

She shakes her head a little.

「I'm know I'm a burden… That's why-」

「Millie! Stop saying that!」

Millie looks away from her brother, down at the foot-end of her bed. Louche interrupts her with a shout and grabs her pale hands, clasping them together tight with his.

「I only have you left! If you die after mom and dad, who will I be left with!? You're not a burden!」

「If you die, who will I have left, brother?」

Millie asks with a tired voice and drowsy, half-closed eyes. The young man winces, and clenches his teeth as he looks down. He wraps his arms around his sister again and hugs into her, his teeth still clenched.

「I'm getting kind of sleepy…」

Millie says as Louche pulls away.

「It's the medicine. Sleep, Millie. We don't have to worry about anything for a while.」

《I'll find a way to repay you, Straf Katastrof Vindict. I'll find a way…》

…

「Are you sure it's her?」

「It was someone matching her description-」

The man at the table holds his palm up, and nods towards the door. The other man stops himself mid-sentence and looks over his shoulder, as Straf and Cycelia enter the inn.

「Are you sure you don't want food, Lia?」

「No… The corndogs and the hotdog was enough… And I lost my appetite…」

「Well, if you say so.」

Straf and Cycelia talk as they walk up to the innkeeper's table. The men stand up and inconspicuously place themselves near them.

「Hey, I want two rooms-」

「Sorry, I only got one left free. It's due to the tournament, you see. A lot of visitors.」

The innkeeper interrupts Straf, shrugging his shoulders as he wipes a rag on the inside of a tankard.

「Tsk. Fine, we'll take it.」

「20 coppers. Oh, and it'll be one bed, hope your wife doesn't mind that.」

《Wife? Wife!? In one bed!?》

Cycelia re-animates and her eyes open wide when she processes the innkeeper's words.

「20 cop-? Fuck me, and fuck tourist traps. Good thing I broke my coins, for once. You don't mind, right, Lia?」

「Huh!? Wha- I'm not- We're- I don't-」

She wiggles her hands at the innkeeper, failing to form a single coherent sentence as she proceeds to turn red.

「Alright then. Still, what got you so down, Lia? Just the tournament being boring? Come on. They're designed to be like that. It's caltrops to slow the plot progression. Out of ideas? Bam! Tournament!」

Thud-Clink. Straf slaps a handful of copper coins on the table as he rants to the confounded Cycelia.

「That's 20. Rest is yours.」

The innkeeper says as he leaves a few coins on the table, sliding 20 coins off the table into his hand.

「You can practically hear the plot's chainsaw rev as the barefoot writer runs from it, throwing random shelves and racks in its way.」

He smirks, shrugging with his hands.

「…Huh?」

「What I'm saying is, tomorrow, the fights should be pretty kick-ass. So, cheer up. The animators and artists cry out in pain around the middle and the end of tournament arcs. It's pretty out of character for you to be so gloomy, what would the viewers think?」

Ba-dump.

Straf leans onto the table with his elbow, and the innkeeper throws their door key onto it, with a loud wooden clank. Straf smiles confidently at Cycelia, as if he just imparted a vital wisdom onto her.

「I don't think I get it all, but… You're right.」

Plap.

She slaps her cheeks and forcefully exhales out of her nose. Her face snaps out of her gloom.

「You're right. Getting disappointed a little shouldn't get to me this much. If you have a lot of participants, it's obvious not everyone is going to be great.」

「Exactly. It's an old trick, having nobodies fight to build up tension. I'll pass, I don't think we missed much leaving when we did. Are we turning in early, then? I was told to show up early tomorrow morning.」

「Ah… I was thinking I'll maybe take a bath first…」

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

《If we're going to spend the night in one bed… If I'm going to spend the night with Straf… Who knows what is going to happen?》

She fingers her medallion as her breathing quickens.

「Hmm… Alright. I'll wait for you, then.」

Straf hums, and watches Cycelia bow a little bit then leave for the baths. The men standing nearby leave the inn. Straf chuckles and grins to himself.

《Heh. As if. I'm not going to miss this chance. I'll give it a few minutes, then go get my cliche.》

Straf continues chuckling to himself, arms crossed as he leans on the table with his back.

「Hey, buddy. You alright?」

The innkeeper asks Straf, after a minute or two of unending giggling for no apparent reason.

「Huh? Yeah, why?」

「…To be frank, you laughing to yourself about something creeps me the fuck out.」

「Tsk. Fine, I'll just do my thing.」

Straf takes the key and leaves for the baths as well. The hallway is much shorter here, than in the other inn.

「Ah. Only 6 doors? This should be easy. Let's see, she'd probably take the closest one…」

Straf grabs the door handle, his face is twisted into a smug grin, almost declaring victory in and of itself. He pushes the door open.

「Huh!? Straf!?」

《Ahh… There it is. Now that's a trope. You can't get a view like this on the vapor-reduced BD release. Those clouds of steam tastefully blocking the important bits. Cycelia completely naked, staring at me like a deer in the headlights. And that… assassin crawling in through the window!?》

「…Do you want to come in- Huh!?」

Cycelia's demure expression disappears from her face, just as quick as Straf does from the doorway. She freezes when she hears a terribly loud noise behind her at the same moment.

「You son of a bitch. You ruined it!」

「Wha-!?」

The assassin points the tip of his dagger at Cycelia's neck from behind, with his body halfway through the tiny, foggy window high up in the wall. Straf's abrupt appearance with [Translocation] right in his face, and the boom accompanying it seems to have spooked him thoroughly, as his eyes open wide. He recoils from the shock and looks at Straf's face.

Without giving it even a second of thought, Straf grabs him by the collar of his leather chestpiece and violently pulls him in through the window.

「Hrk!」

His face slams with force into the wooden bathtub below, smashing it apart. Water pours all over the floor and the dagger clinks into the corner near the door. Straf throws his leather hood off, and rips his cloth mask away from his bleeding face. Cycelia puts her clothes back on in panic, as the steam spreads around the room.

「How fucking dare you!?」

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Cycelia stares at Straf shaking the would-be assassin violently by his armor. His nose is bleeding profusely, and he's being thrown around like a ragdoll by Straf who screams at him in fury.

「I was waiting for this! How dare you!?」

Straf yanks the man back and forth, and his head flops around like a fish.

《I have never seen Straf this angry… Did he know?》

「I give…」

The leather-armored man puts his palms up and says in a pleading voice, spitting out the blood that flows into his mouth.

「How many more!? How many more of you are there!?」

「Just my master…」

「Where is he!? How does he look!? I'll kill that son of a bitch!」

Straf yells the question at the assassin, still shaking him.

「I don't know, he could be anywhere…」

「Okay, fuckface. Let's play a game. I ask you a question, and you answer yes or no.」

Straf says, and the man blinks, then nods.

「If you answer anything else, I'll give you a good smack. If you answer I don't know I'll break your finger. If you lie, I'll break your neck. Is that clear?」

「Yes!」

The assassin exclaims, strongly nodding as blood keeps pouring from his nose.

「See, you got it. Now, there's only one more of you, right?」

「Yes!」

「Where is he?」

「I don't know- Aaugh!」

Crack.

Straf grabs the assassin's finger and pulls it the wrong way with a sickening sound. Cycelia covers her eyes.

「The rules are the rules.」

「That wasn't a yes or no question!」

The man exclaims through his teeth, clutching at his broken finger.

Slap.

Straf pats the man on his cheek with his fingers, and his head bounces away. A wet slap echoes across the hallway. Dazed, he groans in pain.

「You're right about that one, but that doesn't give you the permission to say anything else. Now, is he in the inn?」

Straf asks, and the man pauses. Either because of the daze, or because he can't hear so good anymore.

「…Yes.」

He answers, after a moment of hesitation.

「…Will he be in our room?」

Straf asks another question. The man opens his mouth, but closes it without saying anything. He gulps, looking at Straf with eyes full of terror.

「Shit. I should have added the if you're quiet for longer than 10 seconds I smash your teeth out clause.」

The innkeeper arrives in the doorway, short sword in hand.

「What is that racket!? What is going on in here!?」

He looks at the scene, his eyes jump intermittently from Cycelia, to the water on the floor, to Straf interrogating a bloodied man.

「Call the guards! That's an assassin!」

Cycelia shouts at the innkeeper and points at the man. The innkeeper nods.

「Oh my. I'll be right back with them!」

He runs off, Straf grabs the golden earring on the man's ear and rips it out. Cycelia glances at them over her shoulder, but then looks away, grimacing.

「Auuuugghh!」

The man grips at his torn, bleeding ear. Straf opens his [Portable Storage] and throws the earring in.

「That wasn't in the rules, but it's the fine for ruining everything. Now, you better tell me who you are working for. I'll let you go outside the scope of yes and no, because this clearly isn't working as well as I was hoping it would.」

「We're with the assassins' guild! We've been paid to get rid of queen Cycelia!」

「Yeah I figu- Wait, queen? So you knew who she is, and still went with it? You realize the guy on the throne is a usurper, right?」

「Heh… Do you think we're dumb or something? We investigate the who and the why. It didn't matter, because the gold was right.」

The man winces, and smirks.

「Alright, you scrawny twig. Where's your headquarters?」

「I don't know. I'm not high enough rank yet. My master takes me for the jobs, only he knows.」

「You don't know much of anything, do you?」

Crack.

「Argh! What was that for!? You said- Oof!」

The man clutches at his next broken finger. He asks in a high-pitched, pained voice. Straf lets go and drops him on the floor with a thud as he stands up.

「I know what I said. I didn't let you say I don't know. But honestly, I just snapped your finger because I thought it would be funny.」

Multiple armored footsteps echo in the hallway. Moments later, three guards enter the bathroom, swords in hand.

「Is this him?」

One of the guards asks.

「Yeah, that's the assassin. When can we see him hang?」

「Uh… I mean… I don't think he's going to get the rope.」

「What?」

Straf's eyebrows furrow. He looks at the guards, then Cycelia.

「We don't have the proof he tried to kill anyone. Best we can do is disturbing the peace and violation of decency for peeking into the baths. That's two weeks time, at best.」

「…Fucking seriously? Lia, I thought you can get death sentence for just about anything in your kingdom.」

「Heheheh… You can't escape my master.」

Straf spreads his hands in confusion, as the guards pick up the man by his limbs and haul him out.

「Well… He didn't change all the laws. My father was rather soft on crime…」

「Alright, I understand. I guess adventurer-based economy comes with hidden societal costs. Should we head to the room, since that bastard ruined the highlight of my day?」

Disappointed, Straf spreads his hands out again and asks. He then drops his hands limp, and they pat the sides of his legs. Cycelia nods, and they leave for the hallway.

「…Man, I really deserve that slap.」

「Huh? No, Straf. You did a really great job!」

「Yeah. That's why I earned it.」

「…Huh?」