In the evening, at the executioner's plaza in the capital…

A large crowd in front of the gallows is dispersing, satisfied by the sight of three men hanging by their necks with their hands tied behind their backs. Straf approaches the stairs.

On top of the gallows, a man wearing a black sack with two holes cut out for his eyes is heading for the stairs as well. He stops in his tracks when he sees Straf climb them.

「…And who are you?」

The man asks asks, furrowing his brows beneath his mask. Straf pulls out his Ministry of Security ID, flips it open, and flashes it before him.

「Straf Katastrof Vindict, Minister of Security.」

He nonchalantly declares with one hand in his pocket as he climbs to the top, then throws the badge back into his [Portable Storage]. The man's head perks up, but he quickly gets over his surprise. Straf glances over his shoulder at the crowd below, placing his other hand in his pocket. He then looks at the hanging men.

「Ministry of Security? What does the Ministry want with an executioner?」

The black-masked executioner asks, crossing his bare, muscular arms.

「Not what, but who… Well, what as well…」

Straf replies with his index finger extended before pausing, and lightly shrugging his shoulders with a little grimace. He turns to face the man.

「And that would be?…」

「…Do you have any more of those?」

Straf asks, pointing at the hanging men behind the executioner. He looks at them, then lets out a hearty, amused wheeze.

「Rapists and murderers!? There's plenty! Hahaha!…」

The man's shoulders jump up and down as his laugh echoes across the emptying plaza.

「No, I meant corpses… Actually, I need murderers and rapists too. Can you hold off with offing them for a few days?」

Straf nods at the men, placing his hand back in his pocket.

「Huh? You want me to spare criminals?」

The man's covered head perks up in surprise again, his eyes narrow at Straf through his eye holes.

「Noo… I want them to marinade in their sins for a few days. Give them a few more days to think about it. Ruminate on it.」

He shakes his head at the executioner, then waves his hand in a circle as he elaborates. The man nods, rubbing his chin through his sack.

「Well, I don't mind… But you sure that's alright? It's not up to me. Honestly, I'd like to take a break too. Executing scum is hard work.」

「I believe you. And don't worry, if anyone asks, you have direct authorization from me. I just need them around for uhh… Six days or so?」

Straf shrugs, and nods along.

「…Can I ask why?-」

「No.」

The man asks, and Straf bluntly shuts him down with a tight-lipped grimace. The two stare at each other in a prolonged, awkward silence.

「…Well, alright. Sure. Think I'm gonna take my wife and kids somewhere nice in that time. Work eats up a lot of family time, you see.」

The executioner adds, nodding with his hands spread.

Snap.

「Hard-working family man. You're the model citizen…」

Grinning, Straf snaps his fingers and points at the man as he turns back, and walks to the stairs with him.

「Ah, you flatter me, mister. I'm just an average guy-」

The executioner bashfully rubs his covered nose with the backside of his finger, chuckling a little.

「Exactly! This kingdom is built on the back of average citizens like you!…」

Straf spreads his arms as they reach the bottom, then places his hand on the man's broad, bulky shoulder.

「…By the way, there will be a mage coming to pick up the corpses of these guys, and the ones you have lying around waiting for burial. He'll freeze 'em for later.」

He adds while looking straight into the man's eyes.

「Wait, what? Why?」

The executioner's sacked head shakes in confusion.

Snap.

「You should show junior the ropes sometime. Y'know, bring a kid to work day.」

With a snap of his fingers, Straf begins walking away, pointing at the man over his shoulder and grinning. Utterly confused, the executioner simply watches him leave…

…

The next morning, in a dimly lit room…

Robed men are sitting around a table in chairs of stone, their eyes dart warily to one another beneath their hoods. A salt and pepper-bearded, aging man enters through the double doors, briefly illuminating the room with the light flooding in from the hallway before the guards outside pull the doors shut again, turning the room dark once more. He approaches the sole empty chair, and takes a seat.

「I see everyone is here… Good.」

He briefly looks over everyone else in the room, and nods his hooded head in approval.

「More bad news? Nothing good ever comes out from these meetings.」

Another man remarks in a frustrated, almost mocking tone.

「Our plans have been… Experiencing setbacks lately. For two months everything was going well, but now…」

The gray-black bearded man replies and pulls out the new golden drake, holding it up for all to see.

「…They've made new ones. Again.」

Thud!

He adds, and an old man slams his fists on the table.

「I've poured so much money into this, and they just keep making new designs!?」

He shouts, staring at the drake in the middle-aged man's hand.

「It wasn't just you. We all put our money into this plan-」

Another wrinkly, hooded man chimes in, staring at the irate old man.

「Initial funds! You put forth only initial funds! I've been shouldering the costs ever since!」

The angry old man stands up and shouts, pointing at the calmer one.

「Calm down, Scale. It's just a matter of copying the new design. Eventually they'll have to return to coins, or give up and accept our counterfeits…」

Speaking softly, yet another man holds his palm out towards the shouting old man.

「About that…」

The middle-aged man says with a raised voice, and slides the drake across the table towards him.

「Hm?…」

The calm man takes it into his hands, and begins examining it. It doesn't take long for his eyes to widen in surprise.

「…Faking these may prove problematic. I've spotted two new security features on this one alone, and there's likely more.」

He adds, rubbing his gray-black beard with a troubled grimace on his shadow-shrouded face.

「What's the problem, then? Take a moment to figure it out and make more. It's just some ink on paper-」

Another old man chimes in, shrugging his hands and lightly shaking his head as he looks at the rest.

「It's not paper. It's too… Textured.」

The calm old man says, lowering the banknote while raising his brows. His thumb continues sliding across the drake.

「What? If it's not paper, then what is it?」

「I don't know. Not paper.」

The calm man replies, and slides the banknote over to the old man beside him. Quiet mumbling begins at the table as the old men pass the drake around between themselves.

「…I am done with this idiotic plan! With the money I've thrown into mud for this, I could have hired mercenaries and seized everything by force!」

Scale stands up and shifts out of his seat, then heads towards the double door.

「Look at him. He's better than the robber barons…」

A mocking old man sneers at him while he's nearing the door. The irate man stops, and turns to face him.

「I'm better than you, dimwit! Better than all of you! You sit here, twiddling your thumbs while I do all the work and pay for everything!」

Scale shouts, waving his arms around. His wide sleeves flap and flop around.

「Scale, we're still at preparation stage-」

The middle-aged man holds his palm out towards him in an attempt to calm him down.

「For how much longer!? We've been at it for how long with no results!? Like a brick wall, we're smashing our heads on this idiotic idea of bringing their economy down!…」

The irate man keeps shouting and shouting, getting only angrier as he does so.

「…And for what!? At this point I've spent more than years of their wealth produced! I'll be dead before I get a return on investment! None of you were of any use!」

「Are you done!? Go back to selling your spices, idiot! You blame us for the fact that you cheap out on the fakes!? If they had been better, they wouldn't find out-!」

The mocking man stands up and asks, spreading his arms. Scale rushes up to him.

「You bastard!…」

He shouts as he grabs onto the man's robes and twists them in his grip, pushing him onto the table.

The two old men begin wrestling on the table, and the rest of the robed men jump to their feet to spectate the brawl.

「Order! Order!」 「I knew it'd end up like this!」 「Maybe he's right! Maybe we do have dead weights!」

The middle-aged man jumps into the struggle, trying to pull the two apart while the rest of them crowds around the three, loudly making off-hand remarks on the situation.

「Who do you mean!? Why don't you point your finger to him!?」

Another old man angrily asks in an accusative tone. Soon, more shouting begins…

…

In a forest on the periphery of the capital city, just before noon…

With one hand in his pocket and the other idly throwing and catching the Innovative Energy Device, Straf is casually making his way through the dense forest with Stripe in tow.

「…By the way, what happened to all that money you stole?」

Krkrkrk… Krkrkrk… Krkrkrk…

Straf asks, turning his bored gaze to Stripe while throwing the IED up over and over. It makes a quiet rattling noise each time it's thrown.

「Uhhh… Ummm…」

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《…It won't punish me for lying, right? I could probably pay someone to take this thing off my neck.》

Her golden eyes jump away while she thinks, grimacing heavily.

「…I… Lost it.」

She replies, and stares at Straf's face while his brows slowly elevate.

「…You mean you stole a bunch of money and it kept falling out of your hands on the floor until you were left with nothing?」

He asks as he catches the rectangular box and doesn't throw it again, warily staring back at her.

「N- No! By lost it, I mean I gambled it away! I am really, really bad with money! H- Ha ha!」

Stripe shrugs and rapidly rubs the back of her head in what she imagines to be the body language of a deeply embarrassed person.

She and Straf briefly stop and stare at each other in silence. It stretches on and on, while his brows furrow further and further.

《…Shit. No way he bought it, he's not stupid.》

She gulps nervously while Straf's gaze pierces her.

「…I just can't get away from financially irresponsible women, huh?… I bet a psychologist would have a field day with me.」

He shrugs and continues onward towards the smoky smell in the distance, resuming casually juggling his invention. Stripe's jaw drops.

《He's actually stupid!?!》

She thinks as she rushes to catch up to him.

「Lia, Nona, You…」

Straf says as his eyes drift up to the yellow and orange canopies above. Drying leaves rustle softly beneath their feet while they head deeper into the forest.

「…From what I can tell, Lily actually has a pretty well-tuned income in her barony… But I guess the caveat is that she's not a woman per se.」

He adds, then shrugs as his bored eyes and slanted mouth turn back to Stripe.

「H- Hehe… Unlucky…」

She nods along, grinning awkwardly.

「Yeah…」

Straf nods back, and turns his gaze forward while grimacing a little.

「…Good thing I'm not paying you, though.」「Urk!…」

He shrugs, and Stripe winces in response. Straf stops in front of a row of chest-high bushes.

Pop!…

As if twin radar dishes, Stripe's ears on top of her head turn and swivel in search of what made the sudden sound somewhere in front of them.

Pop!

Just a second later, she hears it again. The crackling of a campfire. Stripe looks at Straf's face, and she realizes he's looking at something up front, then joins his side.

「…Goblins?」

She utters out quietly, only peeking her eyes and ears out of the tall vegetation that obscures her almost entirely.

「Yup. Couldn't have found a better test dummy…」

He smirks, nodding his head as he watches a handful of goblins roast a boar over a flame, skin and fur still on, albeit most of it completely charred now.

「Test dummy?…」

Stripe furrows her brrows at Straf. Grinning, he holds up the Innovative Energy Device.

「Yeah. Man-shaped targets, all bunched up, and they're not aware we're here, so I've got the perfect test environment for this thing.」

He replies and turns his gaze back to the goblins in the small clearing. He makes a very brief, half-hearted attempt to estimate their numbers.

Less than a dozen, at least eight. He shrugs, and pulls his hand out of his pocket. His index finger hooks onto the pull ring, but he stops himself just before pulling it.

「…You should go sit behind that tree over there. Trust me.」

He nods his head at a thick oak tree just a few steps behind Stripe. A little confused, she obliges and rests her shoulder against the tree, taking cover behind it.

「And don't peek out. Seriously. Don't.」

「Okaaay…」

She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms as she rolls off her shoulder onto her back, waiting for whatever is to come, out line of sight of the goblins.

Smirking, Straf pulls the pin then puts his finger and thumb into his mouth.

Ffffffwwwwiiiiiiiiiiiiit!

「Hey! What's lean, green, and all over the forest!?」

Whistling loudly, Straf grabs all of the goblins' attention and shouts a question at them. Clutching their thick branches and makeshift clubs, they jump up to their feet.

「…What is he doing?」

Stripe mumbles to herself, but when she thinks about looking, the collar gives her neck a painful tingling sensation that causes her to reconsider.

Grinning, Straf throws the rectangular box in his hand towards the goblins in a large arc.

KRKRKRKRKR!…

It sails through the air and lands right in front of them with a loud metallic rattle, bouncing a few times into the very center of their group before stopping right in front of their campfire. The goblins let out confused utterances, staring at the box for a brief moment. Not understanding the human language and treating the box as a flubbed ranged attack, the scowling pack of goblins turn their yellow, horizontally-slit eyes to Straf.

Clink!…

A loud, muffled noise of something shattering comes from the box. The next instant, it glows incandescent white.

BOO-!!

A magical reaction erupts from the gem shattered within, sending the contents of the box flying in all directions. [Contextual Time Perception] activates as multiple metal fragments and bent nails are sent shooting towards Straf. With the flow of time slowed to a crawl for him, Straf calmly watches the hot metal fragments rip the goblins apart. Their frail, soft green bodies are no match for the wildly spinning nails tearing through their internal organs, eyes, brains, let alone the shockwave that follows in their wake and pulps the rest, sending the remainder splattering across the trees.

The shockwave instantly extinguishes the campfire and gives the already dead, partially cooked boar similar treatment as the goblins, though its thick hide protects it a little.

Meanwhile, Straf casually picks out the metal fragments and searing hot nails from the air as if he was picking flowers.

When the last of the threatening debris is in his hands, the flow of time resumes to normal.

…OOOOM!!

By the time it reaches Straf and the row of bushes, the shockwave has already weakened into merely a powerful gust. The canopy overhead is now barren, and the branches that weren't shattered are completely empty as a rain of golden leaves slowly descends in a swaying, dazzling dance. Stripe jumps up, startled by the deafening noise. Wincing in discomfort, her ears hug her black head as her clawed hand grips the bark.

「…Alright, you can look now.」

Straf declares with his fists on hips. Her golden eyes cautiously emerge from beyond the tree, eartips first.

「Wha-!?」

Her jaw drops as she looks at the carnage. Goblins remains are strewn all over the clearing ahead, with some of the body parts hanging off the branches, blood dripping.

「The answer is moss… But I don't blame you if you thought goblins.」

He says, grinning as he points his thumb over his shoulder at the green moss growing on a tree near him.

「That was the IED!?」

「Yup.」

Stripe shouts, pointing at the unrecognizable organs strewn across the bushes in the distance like a macabre decoration. Straf nonchalantly nods.

「I thought it was an energy device!」

Completely shocked, she spreads her arms, blinking at Straf with her mouth ajar and her pronounced canines bared.

「Yeah. And it is. What'd you think was gonna happen if you release a lot of energy concentrated on a small point? It's physics 101.」

Straf shrugs and enters the clearing. He looks around, then scratches his head with a troubled grimace on his face.

「Tsk… Shit…」

He grumbles as he looks around the floor with his fists on his hips, quickly tapping his foot.

「Well… It's not like I'm going to actively use these, but…」

《…Kind of annoying that it blew the items all over the fucking place. Whatever.》

He shrugs, puts his hands back in his pockets, then returns to Stripe while she's still frozen and in awe beyond the bushes.

「I don't feel like looking for the stuff they dropped. Let's go, you've got work to do.」

Straf says as he walks past her, gesturing with his head for Stripe to follow. Physically shaking off the shock by shaking her head, she obliges.

「…What work?」

She asks, staring at him with nervous eyes. He turns his bored face to meet her gaze with his mouth aslant.

「You're going to assemble 384 of these.」「What!?」

Straf nonchalantly replies, shrugging his shoulders. Stripe's jaw drops in shock again…

…

Three days later, in the Rankor Kingdom, in the king's room…

The young king is lying on his bed, curled up on the covers and completely still.

With a gloomy expression on his face, his eyes are locked onto random spot on a wall off to the side, only blinking every few seconds.

Knock knock…

「King Rankor?…」

Someone knocks on the door, and a man's voice from beyond it asks. The young man on the bed ignores it, not even as much as glancing towards the sound.

Knock knock…

「King Rankor, are you already awake?…」

The voice asks again after a long pause.

「…King Rankor, I'm going in.」

The voice declares, and the door opens. A middle-aged man enters, closes the door behind him, and approaches the bed.

「King Rankor?… Are you perhaps sick? Should I call for a doctor?」

He asks, staring at the young man while he stands by the bed's foot end.

「…I'm sick with an incurable illness.」

The young king briefly turns his dispirited eyes to the man's face before staring at the wall again.

「Why? What's wrong?」

The man in black robes steps closer, furrowing his brows as he's standing by the bedside.

「…She told me she's not interested.」

「Who? Not interested in what?」

「Queen Cycelia… I asked her to marry me in her garden maze. She just said that she's not interested. Worse yet…」

King Nide rolls his face onto his blanket to hide it.

「…She said that she already promised to marry someone else.」

He rolls onto his back and throws his arms up, before dropping them limp at his sides.

「Your highness, do not take this the wrong way… But that was the obvious outcome.」

The robed man sighs, and replies while spreading his hands.

「In what way!? It wasn't obvious to me!」

King Nide shoots up to sitting as he angrily shouts at him. The man lets out another sigh.

「Your majesty, you took a young woman by surprise and ambushed her with a marriage proposal. You barely know each other, don't you?」

He calmly asks, staring at the angry king's scowling face.

「…We would have learned plenty about each other.」

The king says and shuffles over to sit on the bedside.

「Your majesty, it was obvious she'd refuse. She doesn't know you, and more importantly, you gave her the opportunity to gracefully reject you in a secluded place.」

The middle aged man explains, to which King Nide begins to rub his chin, deep in thought.

「You should grow your relationship first. Tend to it. And then-」

「…And then ask her in public, where she can't refuse!」

King Nide exclaims with an enlightened expression. The robed man's face grows somewhat concerned.

「…Nooo? I'm saying you need to take things slower, King Nide. You are both young, after all. Write to her. Send her poems. Women appreciate the creative and sensitive side-」

「I will arrange an official meeting soon enough! And then I will ask her to marry me again in front of as many witnesses as possible!」

The young king shoots up to his feet, grinning at the man.

「…I do not think that is wise, King Rankor.」

「It's genius!… Now get out my room! I need to write!」

King Nide rushes past the man towards his desk, pointing his finger at the door while shouting. He sits down and immediately pulls out writing implements.

「…Very well, King Rankor. Please come to me for advice before taking any action regarding Queen Redwing. Excuse me.」

The middle-aged man approaches the door, bows, and exits. The young man ignores him entirely, being too focused on scribbling something a sheet of paper…