「…I don't think I follow? What does this have to do with any-?」

A momentary confusion flashes on the magnate's face. He furrows his brows and gently shakes his head, also leaning in over the desk. His eyes then widen, and his amused smirk is instantly wiped off his face as he stares at Straf.

His face gains a serious expression. Sir Vinis sighs as he leans back in his chair with his fingers interlocked on his stomach, elbows on the armrests. He and Straf look at each other in silence.

「…Then the entire election was a farce to begin with?」

Sir Vinis asks, nodding his head as he hangs it down.

「No, not exactly.」

Shrugging, Straf scoffs with a grin.

「…So it was me, who made the fatal mistake of shirking your invitation?」

He asks with a voice lacking any vigor.

「Yup. But…」

Straf says, snapping his fingers.

「But?」

Sir Vinis says, looking at Straf from beneath his eyebrows.

「But!… You know the thing when you want a girl to like you, but then when you're nice to her she's like whatever? And then you start acting like a fuckin' dick to her because you don't give a fuck anymore, she suddenly cares?」

「…What?」

The magnate tilts his head at Straf's mumbling statement.

「I'm not calling myself a girl, but it worked. I got pissed the fuck off enough to check who the fuck are you.」

Straf points his finger at Sir Vinis, grinning.

「…Right.」

《What is he talking about?》

He nods his head in response with his brows heavily furrowed.

「Now… I like you more than that total war guy. Just a little bit.」

Straf says with his index finger extended.

《Huh? Who?》

「…Total war guy?」

Sir Vinis asks with a deeply perplexed face.

「Yeah. 'Cause with him, it's either glorious victory or the kingdom gets a glamorous dismemberment in two or so years. With you…」

Raising his brows, Straf points his finger at Sir Vinis again.

「…We get a slow, long internal rot, where people complain about things getting smaller, everything becoming more expensive, and wages still being in the same place as 40 years ago.」

Straf says, and Sir Vinis gains a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「Minister Vindict, are you insulting me-?」

「No! I'm saying it's great because I know if I leave the kingdom in your hands, I won't have to take a peek at it every 5 minutes to see if it's burning!」

He continues, cutting Sir Vinis off.

「…So in other words… You'll allow me to win?」

Sir Vinis asks with his brows heavily furrowed in confusion.

「Maybe. I have a few conditions. If you don't satisfy all of them, you can go fuck yourself.」

Straf crosses his arms and shrugs.

「…And what would that be?」

Sir Vinis asks, grimacing at the coarse language.

「First!… You pay the citizens to vote for you anyway. With drakes.」

Straf demands, tapping his finger directly down at the desk.

「Very well, but… Why?」

The confused magnate asks, glancing aside as he thinks with furrowed brows.

「So I have something and someone to blame! Among other things…」

Straf shrugs with his hand, grinning.

「Second!… So that you don't have it too good… You'll donate a portion of your profits to a charity of my choice. I am being very generous by not setting a minimum amount, so don't fuck with me!」

He taps his finger on the desk again, scowling at the magnate as he warns him.

「Very well…」

The magnate nods, leaning onto the desk with his elbows, fingers interlocked.

「Third, perhaps the most important one… You don't actually run the place into the ground. The kingdom has to make a profit, and it has to be at least partially functional. If you fail that, I will get really creative with old execution methods. I'll add a new twist to them!」

Straf slaps his hand on the desk as he ominously grins at the magnate.

「…That goes without saying, minister. I plan to manage the kingdom well…」

Sir Vinis nods his head, but his voice trails off into silence when he hears Straf mumble something to himself.

「…Death game scaphism? Breaking wheel racing? Team cannoning?…」

Straf rubs his chin as he thinks. His eyes abruptly snap to Sir Vinis, causing a chill to run through him.

「I think we're done here. Do as I say, and you get to line your pockets with your pals, as long as you don't go overboard.」

Straf says, getting up from his chair. Sir Vinis stands up as well.

「Well, thank you for forgiving my previous rudeness, minister.」

Sir Vinis says, with his hand outstretched towards Straf for a handshake. Straf ignores his hand, and walks past his desk to the cabinet.

「…Minister?」

Confused, he calls out as Straf opens it and looks through the bottles. With his brows furrowed, Sir Vinis sits back down and watches Straf dig through his cabinet. After a moment, with a clink of glass, he pulls a bottle out and turns for the exit.

「Well, help yourself…」

Sir Vinis throws his hands up, and they drop back down onto his lap.

「Too late for that.」

Straf barks back at the magnate with a slanted mouth, and throws the bottle into his [Portable Storage]. He grabs the door handle and pulls.

Crrack! Thud!

The door rips off the hinges and falls onto the floor with a loud thud. Straf and Sir Vinis look at each other for a second in an awkward silence.

「Well, bill the fuckin' government if you are mad about it.」

Straf shrugs and throws his hand up as he disappears behind the corner.

「No, I don't believe that will be… Necessary…」

The magnate says, his voice trailing off as he realizes he's mostly speaking to himself now.

「But better make it fair! If you try something funny on the bill, I'll fuck you up!」

Straf returns to menacingly point his finger at him through the door frame with a scowl.

「I don't believe that will be-」

Sir Vinis says, but Straf disappears just as quick.

「…Necessary.」

He sighs, and rubs his brows with this thumb and finger…

…

An hour later, just before the sunset…

「…Whew!」

Straf returns to his palace bedroom, and slams the door behind him shut. He drops into the large, comfortable bed with his back. He lets out a large, fatigued sigh with his forearm on his eyes, and his legs still hanging off the bed below the knees.

「Man. I'm tired. Not sleepy, not out of stamina… Just tired.」

Straf groans, and rubs his face with his hands.

「Well, nothing I can do about that. Drinking and complaining are the magic wand for this kind of exhaustion. And if the magic wand doesn't work…」

He grumbles, looking straight up with half-open, bored, fatigued eyes.

「…Guess there ought to be a recharge scroll somewhere out there.」

Straf sits back up with a grunt, and sighs.

「Hey, Athea!」

As soon as Straf calls out the name, he hears a large sigh resonate in his head.

《…What?》

Athea's voice asks in a frustrated tone.

「I wanted you to ask me a stupid question, thanks.」

Straf's face twists into a broad, exaggerated smile as he plops back down on his back with his arms behind his head.

《What? Really?》

Sounding somewhat surprised, she asks again.

「Of course I'm being sarcastic you dyslexiac bimbo, get down here!」

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Straf demands, spreading his arms on the bed with his brows angrily furrowed as he shouts at the ceiling.

《I am not your pet, and I'm busy. Can't this wait?》

Athea lets out another deep sigh as she asks.

「…Okay. How long do you want me to patiently wait, then?-」

Straf asks, rolling over on his side to prop his head up on his hand.

Fffwooom.

The window curtains and the bed canopy flutter, as Athea appears in the room with a flash of golden light and a clack of her shoes on the floor.

「…Is something wrong?」

Athea asks with her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face. Her blue concerned eyes blink at Straf.

「…Wow. I gotta note that one down for future reference.」

Straf says with a grin as he sits up, softly chuckling.

「…What do you want, then? Be quick about it.」

Her serious face shifts into a tight-lipped grimace, and the concern in her eyes turns into disdain. Straf opens his [Portable Storage], and pulls out the skimpy micro bikini.

「Here, I got this for you.」

He says, and throws the barely bathing set at Athea. She catches it on a reflex, and starts examining it in her hands.

「…What is this?」

Her deep blue eyes look at the bikini with her brows furrowed in confusion.

「It's your swimsuit. Hope you like it, it wasn't cheap.」

Straf says, grinning at Athea as she looks at him.

「…Are you out of your mind!? This covers nothing!」

She exclaims in outrage with shocked disdain on her face.

「Hey, it covers something. What's the problem? I already saw you mostly-naked…」

Straf shrugs with his hand and shoulders, shaking his head a little.

「That's because you are a single-minded, perverted, loathsome-!」

Athea starts hurling insults at Straf, but he cuts her off with a nod and a circular wave of his hand.

「…Yeah yeah yeah, my point is, it covers more than what you already wore. And you'll be wearing it to a beach, so it's socially acceptable. Everyone is mostly naked at a beach. I'll be in my undies too, so what's the problem?」

Straf asks with a smirk, spreading his arms. Athea glares at him, then the bikini, then back at him in silence, still holding her tight-lipped disdainful grimace.

「Hmpf. You're unbelievable…」

Athea snorts out in frustration with her mouth scrunched to her side, and disappears upward into a narrow stream of golden light. Straf blinks in disbelief at the space she was occupying just a moment ago with an amused grin.

「…Wow. She actually took it.」

Straf lightly chuckles again as he opens his [Portable Storage].

「…I guess I can keep this for later.」

He says, as he pulls out a modern-looking pearl-white swimsuit roughly of Athea's size, and looks at it in his hands with a grin on his face…

…

After the sunset, but before the night's bell…

An odd sound wakes Straf from his early slumber. The wind blows through the room, and the window curtains flutter gently. He grunts softly and rubs his face, stirring from his sleep.

「…That's weird… I thought the window was closed.」

He mumbles to himself, still half-asleep.

「Yes, it was…」

A pair of crimson eyes reply as they stare down at him from the bedside.

「Ahhh… Lily.」

Straf sits up with a grunt, and looks at the little vampire standing near.

「I don't know when, but we invented the door sometime back, y'know? Is the window a loophole to not being able to enter uninvited?」

Straf sighs, glancing at the closed door.

「…What?」

Her golden twin tails jiggle as she tilts her head, lightly squinting one of her eyes in confusion.

「Forget it, what were you doing so long in the bathroom, Lily?」

Straf dismissively shakes his head, and asks another question.

「…Taking a bath.」

Lily looks aside with a pout on her face.

「Yeah, that's what people do in a bathroom. I'm asking why you were there in the afternoon, when you went there… A little before that?」

Straf furrows his brows, rubbing his chin as he thinks.

「…I was taking a long bath. The maid washed my hair.」

She replies evasively, still pouting.

「Yeah, a long bath… What are you, an old ma-? Wait, you are 1000 years old, after all…」

Straf asks with an amused grin, before his eyes widen and he looks aside with his brows furrowed, thinking intensely as he rubs his chin some more.

「My age has nothing to do with this… More importantly… I am hungry, Straf…」

Lily says, and with her arms crossed, her scarlet eyes look into Straf's.

「Yeah, I figured you'd say that… Here, dig in.」

Straf's eyes escape Lily's hungry gaze by rolling away, and he presents her his open hand horizontally in front of her mouth.

「…I get to pick.」

She says, gently pushing his hand aside with the back of her hand. Straf cringes, glancing aside.

「Tsk. Alright… But respect the rules! No bites below the belt!」

He cautions Lily, pointing his finger at her.

「Naturally… I remember our contract.」

Lily nods her head, looking intently at Straf.

「So what's it gonna be? My arm? My ribs? My liver? Please not the liver, it's working too hard to do a two-on-one right now.」

Straf shakes his head as he pleads, clutching onto his liver with his hand. Lily lifts her hand up, and touches the tip of her clawed finger to the side of Straf's neck in silence. Her calm, neutral demeanor combined with her focused gaze gives it an eerie quality.

「Right. I thought so…」

Straf rolls his eyes again and sighs in defeat. Just as he's about to lean his neck in towards her, with a noisy flutter of her dress, Lily throws her leg out over Straf's lap and takes a seat on it face to face.

「Wha-!? What are you-!?」

Straf exclaims in surprise with a nervous grin on his face, leaning away from Lily as she puts her clawed hands on his shoulders.

「Getting comfortable. We will be sitting like this for a long time, do you want your back to hurt?」

Lily nonchalantly asks with a serious face, glaring at him with determined eyes.

「…Now stop leaning away like that, you're making it difficult.」

She adds. Straf slowly, reluctantly straightens out, tilting and turning his head aside so that Lily has better access to his neck.

「…Thank you for the treat.」

Lily quietly says, and two wet needles painfully pierce Straf's neck.

「Ow ow ow! Ow, for fuck's… Tsk.」

He winces as soon as Lily bites down into his neck, and clicks his tongue when the pain becomes manageable. While she continues drinking away, Lily wraps and locks her arms around Straf, almost like a hug.

Straf crosses his arms, and waits for Lily to satisfy herself. After a minute, she pulls her fangs out of his neck.

「…That was quick, are you done-?」

Straf asks with his brows furrowed in light surprise, but Lily cuts him off.

「What do I smell like?」

She asks, and licks her blood-coated pale lips.

「Lily… You're going a little over the line-」

Straf says with a nervous grin and attempting to lean away a little, but Lily is holding on too tight.

「Tell me.」

She demands with a commanding tone. Straf hesitantly takes one of her twin tails into hand, and brings it up to his nose. He sniffs twice.

「…Uh, like flowers, I guess?」

Straf looks aside as he tries to identify the pleasant smell attached to Lily's golden hair.

「Hm.」

With a smug smile she lets out a content, satisfied hum, and bites back into his neck.

「Ow fffff-」

Straf winces again, but the stinging pain quickly becomes subdued. Curious and with nothing else to do, Straf takes three more sniffs in a quick succession.

「…Now that I think about it, it kind of smells like… Lilies? Is that why you were in the bathroom for so long?-」

Cla-clack.

「Minister Vindict! We'd like to apologize for all the mis-」

Straf cringes as soon as he hears the door latch. The door swings open, and a group of smiling maids appears on the other side.

On all of their faces, an expression of confused surprise appears when they see a little blonde girl sitting on Straf's lap, tightly hugged into him, and appearing as if she's passionately kissing his neck. All while he's holding her hair in his hand, close enough to sniff.

「…Understandings…」

The cheer and enthusiasm disappears from the maid's voice, as they all look at each other. Glares of disgust and disdain lock onto Straf. The maid in the center walks into the room, holding a tray in her hands.

「…In our spare time, we have baked you some cookies…」

She says, refusing to even glance at him. Straf looks looks at the rest of the maids, and he's met with nothing but faces of pure disdain, disgust, and disapproval. One of them just barely manages to contain herself, and the side of her upper lip jumps up and down into a sneer.

「…I'm the victim here!」

Straf attempts to explain with his brows plaintively furrowed. The maid sets the tray down onto his desk much harder than she really had to, and on her way out she stops in the center of the room, turning towards Straf.

「…Thank you for your hard work…」

She bows politely at Straf without looking at him at all, and there is no warmth in her voice.

《Ahhh! I'd freeze to death from that if not for the ring!》

Straf thinks, as he looks at the maid exit the room. They slowly close the door, still glaring at him through the narrowing gap…