Fifteen minutes later, in a small, mat-floored eatery…

Straf sits down at a low table with the rest of his group. A waitress takes their order, relayed by Straf, and the party wait for their meals.

「…What was that argument from a moment ago about?」

Oleander asks, tilting her head while blinking at Straf.

「Huh?」

Straf narrows his eyes at her, leaning onto the table with his elbow.

「Outside the gambling place. When you made a scene… What was it about? I don't know your language.」

She asks, shrugging her shoulders. Will listens in, adjusting his glasses with his brows furrowed.

「It wasn't an argument. And forget it, anyway. Not like it matters…」

Straf clarifies, then turns his bored, slightly displeased gaze away towards the restaurant.

「…Sorry for the wait!」

The waitress from before arrives after a few moments and starts placing meals in front of everyone with a weary smile. She places a bowl of noodle soup in front of Oleander.

「Eh? I get food too?…」

Visibly perplexed, Oleander asks as she looks up from her bowl up at Straf, who receives his own meal of rice and curry split evenly in his shallow bowl.

「Yeah, why?」

Straf nods, taking his wooden spoon into hand with a raised brow. The waitress bows and departs to serve another table.

「He's not going to starve you. He's not like that, so be grateful…」

Stripe chimes in, pointing her chopsticks at Oleander with an angry frown on her face, before dismissively returning to her bowl of rice with pickled toppings.

「…I see. I'll receive this with gratitude, then.」

Though a little conflicted, Oleander nods and takes her chopsticks into her hand, deftly grasping them with an appropriate grip. Everyone at the table eats without exchanging any thoughts or remarks for a prolonged and rather awkward moment. While Nona still struggles to use the chopsticks, she has the rudimentary basics down to at least take a bite now. Cycelia lowers hers onto her bowl, placing them across its top.

「By the way… Here.」

Clack!

Straf pulls out a loop of coins from his [Portable Storage] with no regard for keeping it hidden, and throws it to Stripe with a loud clatter.

「Ah. Wait, this is more than what you took…」

Stripe remarks as she quickly counts through the coins.

「…Ugh. And they stink.」

She winces, turning away from them in disgust.

「…Straf, can we talk for a moment?」

Cycelia asks with a sullen, guilty look on her face.

「About what?」

He asks with his mouth aslant in frustration.

「About you feeling lonely…」

「I'm done talking about that.」

Straf replies with a blunt, harsh tone.

「You know you can always turn to me, Straf. If loneliness is bothering you, let me fight it with you. I'm always ready to listen.」

Lily nonchalantly chimes in with her arms crossed, staring into Straf's eyes with an intense scarlet gaze.

「I know, Lily…」

Straf sighs out, rolling his eyes.

「You're surrounded by people. How can you be feeling lonely?」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses with a poorly veiled anger on his face.

Straf stops eating and turns his glare towards Will. Both stare at each other for a prolonged moment, but Will's stern face slowly begins cracking underneath the weight of Straf's cold glare. Alicia looks at the two with a worried gaze, and Greaves briefly pauses eating to take a glance as well, raising one brow in confusion.

「…Straf, is this about your family?」

Cycelia asks with a deeply troubled face, causing Will to turn his confused eyes to her and adjust his glasses.

「Huh?」

Straf narrows his eye at her, then glances at everyone at the table.

「I was feeling incredibly lonely after my family… You know…」

She replies with a shrug of her shoulders and a lowered gaze.

「…Is it something like that? You're not alone, Straf. I think everyone here lost their parents at some point.」

「What?」

She asks, and Straf's head perks up with a look of confusion on his face. He turns his eyes to Greaves and his party, Stripe, Lily, Nona, then Cycelia.

「Orphan. Orphan. Orphan. Double orphan…」

Straf says as he points at Cycelia, Stripe, Nona, and Lian. They all raise their brows or tilt their heads in confusion.

「…Twice orphan. Orphan. Orphan. Orphan…」

He continues and points at Lily, Greaves, Will, and Alicia. Lily averts her scarlet eyes, while Greaves and his party glance at each other.

「…Orphan, right?…」

Straf asks, pointing at Oleander. Her head perks up in surprise, then returns a hesitant nod.

「…Man… It's like I'm the only one who just has no parents.」

He scoffs, shaking his head with a smirk as he returns to eating his rice curry.

「You… You're an orphan too?」

Will asks as he adjusts his glasses with his angry glare softening.

「Huh? Are you deaf? I said I just don't have parents.」

Straf briefly pauses eating to reply with his eye narrowed in ridicule at Will. He then shakes dismissively his head and continues spooning rice and curry into his mouth.

「Straf is… A special case.」

Cycelia clarifies to the group with a troubled, slightly pained smile on her face. Everyone at the table looks at Straf, exchanging gloomy glances with one another before returning to their own meals. The table goes silent again, but Cycelia notices two men in black clothing enter the building. She tilts her head at their unusual attire, and their black, conical hats that seem to be an integral part of their masks. Stripe notices Cycelia is distracted by something, and checks to see what it is.

「Ugh!…」

Stripe grunts in discomfort, nearly choking on her food with her eyes wide open when she sees the two palace guards approach their table with rapid, purposeful steps while one of them is looking at a sheet of paper in his hands. She turns her face the other way, nonchalantly eating and pretending she didn't notice. Oleander looks at them with a tight-lipped grimace on her face, while everyone else sitting at the table remains oblivious.

「Straf… Straf!…」

Stripe covertly calls out without turning her face back to Straf.

「What?」

He asks with his mouth aslant.

「…Those men! They're from the pala-!」

「Straf Katastrof Vindict?」

One of the masked men calls out before Stripe can finish her hushed sentence, visibly causing her to wince. Oleander remains silent and simply watches.

「…Yeah?」

Straf replies with his mouth scrunched at the two men in black. One of them looks at Straf's face, then the sheet of paper in his hands before rolling it up and tucking it away into his snug sash tied around his waist. They glance at each other, then turn their eyes back to Straf while idly gripping onto their curving swords' handles in their sheaths.

「You're coming with us. Get up.」

The other man declares, and demands with an upward nod of his conical hat. The atmosphere around the table changes from gloomy to tense in an instant as Greaves, Will, Cycelia and Lily exchange glances. Stripe reluctantly sets her bowl down on the table and turns her golden eyes to the palace guards, hiding most of her face behind Straf while covertly reaching behind her back.

「Huuuh? And who the fuck are you? The connections that guy mentioned? You're pretty fucking quick, I have to say…」

Straf asks with an amused grin, crossing his arms as he looks the men up and down. They appear unarmored, wearing snug black clothes with shoes that resemble covered sandals and having space separate for the big toe. On top of their heads there lies a flat, conical hat of rigid cloth. Half of their face is also masked, leaving only eyes, brows, and a portion of the nose exposed. One of them has a length of rope tied around his waist.

「…You've got the exotic goon look down too. Do you have a catchphrase like「Y'got it boss!」or something like that, too?」

He adds, spreading his hands as his grin turns mocking. Will and Greaves hold onto their swords' hilts, while Lian is gripping onto her spear on the floor.

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「We're from the palace. You're coming with us to explain yourself.」

The first guard explains with a stern tone, taking a step closer. Straf stands up, smirking. Greaves and his party tense up, preparing to shoot up to their feet.

With a smug smirk on his face, Straf holds his wrists out for the men in black. They recoil back slightly in surprise, then exchange confused glances.

「…Tie him. Tie him.」

「Eh? Straf!?」

One of the guards pats the one with the rope on his shoulder, pushing him slightly towards Straf. Cycelia perks up in surprise, while Will and Greaves exchange confused grimaces.

「You made a wise choice. We have 16 more people searching through this town alone, not accounting for the city guard. 40 more in the general area…」

The masked man remarks as he unties the rope from his waist and slips it around Straf's wrists while he waits patiently with a smirk on his face.

「Really?…」

Straf says with a mocking tone as the guard finishes tying him, and tightens the knot between his wrists.

Ffffflap.

「Eh?」「What?」

Without Straf moving his hands in the slightest, the rope unties and drops to the ground as if the knot the guard tied had no friction. The two exchange baffled gazes.

「…What are you doing? Tie it better!」

「I- I did! I tied it properly!…」

Seeing as Straf isn't taking the opportunity to resist, the guard picks the rope up off the floor and tries again while his partner berates him. Stripe looks at Cycelia, who is just as confused as her.

…Ffflap.

「What!? But you saw me-! I tied it! You saw me do it!」

The guard watches the rope effortlessly slip off Straf's wrists again, causing the man to point his hand at Straf while explaining himself to his partner.

「…You! I don't know what is it you're doing, but you better stop! I'm warning you!」

While watching the guard try to tie Straf again, the other one points at his smug face and shouts a warning with glaring eyes beneath his hat's brim.

「Seems like your rope is no good. May I offer you a better, western one?」

…Ffflap.

Straf asks as the rope slips off his arms once again. The guard attempting to restrain him clenches his fists in anger.

「Tsk. Let's just fucking kill him!-」

CRACK!

The guard standing beside him exclaims as he begins drawing his curving sword. The next instant, his leg bends the wrong way at the knee with a terrible noise of snapping bone.

「Auughggh!」

The injured guard aborts trying to grab his sword and instead clutches at his knee, hopping away on one leg while grunting and moaning on pain. Will winces in shock.

「Wha…!? But!…」

The other guard utters out as he takes a step back, deeply confused as to how his partner had his leg broken despite both him and Straf not moving. His startled eyes jump between Straf's smug face and his partner trying to deal with the pain. Everyone at the table seems to share the guard's confusion. Straf reaches down for the rope on the floor and takes it into his hand.

「…You bastard!」

The uninjured guard finally realizes that Straf likely had something to do with it, and draws his sword.

Thwack!

「Ungh!?」

As soon as the man raises his sword for a slash, something painfully impacts his hand, sending his sword flying across the room.

Thwomp!

「Woah!」「Hey!」「What is going on!?」

The spinning sword digs itself into the table of people ignoring the noises and shouting in the bustling eatery. They only jump up in panic when the blade nearly lops off one of the patrons' hand, narrowly missing it. They scramble away and look at the source of commotion. They find two palace guards at another table, where one is clutching onto his knee, and the other onto his hand in pain. A man in front of them is holding onto a length of rope, grimacing slightly while nodding his head.

「Nice, but whips aren't my thing. Maybe if I go treasure hunting again…」

Straf shrugs while looking at the rope with a tight-lipped grimace, then throws it into his [Portable Storage].

「…Anyone still eating?」

He asks, turning his eyes to the table. Most of the bowls and plates are already empty, including his own. He returns his gaze to the guard, who is now assuming an unarmed fighting pose.

「I'll make you regret this-!」

Before the guard can finish his sentence, Straf grabs his half-extended arm and sends him flying towards the table, too quickly for him to even begin reacting to.

「…Eh?」

Thunk-crash!

The waitress watching from the other side of the room winces heavily as the palace guard smashes onto the table, shattering the tableware, and bouncing off to the ground. Everyone sitting at Straf's jumps away and stands up, clutching onto their weapons and looking around in alarm. Straf lets out a sigh while rubbing the back of his neck.

「…There's more of these, huh? What a pain. Hopefully they'll give up by the next town. Let's go.」

Straf says while looking at the guard standing on one leg like a stork while grunting and moaning in pain.

The group moves to follow, but not before glancing back at the guard who smashed into their table. He is now rolling on the mat floor, groaning and clutching onto his ribs.

「…Ngrggh… You're not going to get away! We have men up north, too! And scouts at the border of the demon territory! There's nowhere for you to run to!」

The palace guard with the broken leg shouts towards Straf, narrowing his eyes in great pain.

「…Dude, I'm slowly walking away. What makes you think I'm running?」

Straf replies with his arms spread, then places his hands in his pockets.

Thump!

He kicks the sliding door open and walks out, causing Stripe to cringe terribly as she follows him out.

「Hey!」「There he is!」「Call the guards!」

A few small groups of men in black cry out at the sight of Straf and his group exiting in the commotion. They draw their swords and run towards him from down both ends of the street, blocking the way out. Stripe's eyes jump back and forth between the two groups closing in, while Straf lets out a large and fatigued sigh.

「For fuck's sake… Alright, let's just head north and see if they give up.」

Straf declares and nonchalantly turns towards the northern group. Greaves and Will draw their swords, setting in a defensive formation with Lian and Alicia. Cycelia joins behind them.

「Why would they give up!? H- Hey! What about these guys there!?」

Stripe asks, jumping backwards to follow after Straf while he's ignoring the southern group dashing towards them with their swords raised. Straf rolls his eyes and turns around.

「…Fine, let me deal with those first.」

He says as he pulls out the length of rope out of his inventory with his mouth aslant, casually approaching the palace guards running towards him as he walks past Greaves and his party.

THWACK!

With one snap of his rope, all three of the guards charging at them from behind are painfully disarmed. Their swords fly out of their hands to the side, and one of them shatters from the impact. With one hand in his pocket, Straf cocks his arm back for another crack of the improvised whip with an unimpressed, bored, and somewhat frustrated grimace on his face.

Thwack!

「Wha-!?」

One of the disarmed guards utters out when he finds himself wrapped in Straf's rope. An immense force pulls at him, as if tied to a charging horse.

「Waaaah!… Waaaaah!」

Thump-thump!… Crash!

He shouts while Straf swings him about like a human flail. He impacts the two other guards recoiling from pain, sending them flying into an alleyway and breaking something wooden.

「Wha-!?」「Look out!」

Thud-thumpthump!

「Guah!」「Oof!」「Agh!」

Smash!

The northern group of the guards closing in recoils back in shock when they see a helpless man-on-a-string swinging for them at a high speed. They try to shield themselves with their arms, but it proves of little help as his sheer mass and velocity send them flying. One crashes directly through a wall into a building, while the other two are swept away and sent flying back down the street, losing grip on their weapons. Straf reins the wildly swinging man in, momentarily dropping him to the floor.

「Meh. You can go, I guess…」

Straf looks at him, then shrugs and unwinds the rope around his body with a rough upward tug, violently unrolling him free onto the snow. The man grunts and groans, and appears heavily dazed, but ironically appears least injured of them all. Straf returns the length of the rope into his purple vortex.

「…I felt like swinging you down and making you splat, so you better appreciate that.」

Walking past, he remarks to the man writhing around on the snowy street in pain. Will cringes as he follows him.

「What?… What is going through your head?」

Will remarks with his brows furrowing, wincing heavily while picturing the excessive violence.

「Right now? Cool finisher moves…」

Straf replies, walking on ahead towards the edge of the city with his hands in his pockets.

「…But I suppose Lia doesn't want to see that, so I'll spare her.」

He turns his eyes to Cycelia's troubled face. She returns a meek, silent nod in reply. Straf shrugs, and turns forward, followed by his group as they leave the battered guards behind…