In the morning, in Redwing Kingdom, inside an inn within the capital…

Will enters the inn, and with a puzzled, pensive expression on his face, he approaches his party's table.

「And? Got scammed like a dumbass?」

Greaves asks with a smug grin as Will sits down in his chair and props his staff up against the table.

「…No, I made a decent profit, actually.」

Will replies, looking at Greaves with a still perplexed face.

「Wha-!? Bullshit.」

Incredulous, Greaves crosses his arms and looks at Will with wary eyes.

「No, really. I only bought short-term bills, and only in a small quantity… But since they reference the payout based on the average prices of steel, and the prices are crazy these days…」

Will shakes head, and adjusts his glasses. He leans onto his elbows, and interlocks his fingers as he speaks.

「…I think I might be the richest member of our party member right now. And I've done nothing much to achieve that.」

He adds, and shrugs his hands. Lian lets out an amused huff.

「Good on you, Will. A proper man amasses resources. This holds true even in your land, doesn't it?」

She smirks, resting her cheek on her fist. A waitress brings a collection of tankards and lays them out on the table, one filled with grape juice for Greaves.

「Well… Kind of…」

Will lowers his head, and adjusts his glasses, while Greaves audibly clicks his tongue and turns his gaze aside.

「Maybe I should buy a whole bunch of those bills, then…」

Greaves grumbles with his arms crossed, then looks down at his tankard, and begins angrily guzzling down the juice.

「Ah, that's actually not a bad idea, Greaves, but…」

「But?」

Will replies, then his gaze drifts down to the table again. Alicia inquisitively chimes in with a tilt of her head.

「…I don't know. It worked out this time, but who's to say it will work out again? It is free money, but it seems like a trick. And since that bastard Straf came up with it-」

After a sigh, Will shrugs his shoulders, and helplessly spreads his hands before rejoining them again, pensively staring at the table.

Clunk!

「You're just saying that because you don't want me to be rich too!」

Greaves noisily sets his half-empty tankard down, and points his finger at Will with an accusatory tone.

「What? No. If anything, if you were rich, we could drop this whole adventurer business and just open up a shop somewhere.」

Will's head perks up, with a perplexed expression on his face again.

「That'd be nice.」

Alicia remarks with a smile.

「Well I'm going to buy all the bills with all my money!」

Greaves proudly declares with his finger pointed at Will.

「Wha-? Greaves, that's just a bad idea. What I think about these bills aside, you should at least leave some money for food.」

Stunned, Will shakes his head with his brows furrowed, reasoning with him.

「Nuh-uh! I can just get money for food by getting a task at the guild real quick, and we have free food at the palace! I'm going to get all the short-term bills I can afford, and be richer than you!」

Greaves wags his finger, points it again at Will with a shout, then resumes guzzling his juice.

「…You do realize longer-dated ones have a better payout, right?」

Will asks with his mouth aslant, and adjusts his glasses.

Clunk!

「But I want money now! If I get money, then I can get even more of those bills!」

Slamming his empty tankard down, Greaves begins shouting again. The other patrons start giving their party's table dirty looks.

「But there's no guarantee that they won't be bought out- Wait…」

Will replies with his mouth scrunched to the side, but then his head perks up in a sudden realization, and he begins rubbing his chin.

《…That's right. There's no guarantee the short-term bills will be there. In his stupidity, Greaves might have just discovered an important tactic…》

With his brows furrowed, Will continues pensively rubbing his chin. He lifts his eyes up, and looks at Greaves.

「Hey! Bring me another drink!… What do you mean I'm not old enough!? I'm almost old enough!… Fine… Juice, then…」

Still thinking, he watches Greaves wave his arm at one of the waitresses, shouting and making demands, before relenting and crossing his arms with an upset pout.

《…It might be better to actually buy up the shorter-dated bills, before locking up your money in the longer term ones. If it's not a trick, that is.》

Will lowers his gaze back down to his tankard, and adjusts his glasses.

「…Actually, I'm going to buy some of those bills again, too. We can do that when we're back from our task.」

He straightens out, and speaks to Greaves.

「Heh. You think you can make more than me because you're a mage? I'm going to keep putting my money into the bills!」

With his arms still crossed, Greaves gains a smug grin and directs it at Will.

「No, don't… That's a terrible idea…」

Somewhat incredulous and a little concerned, Will tries to explain with his hand out and palm upward.

「Watch me!」

Greaves continues smugly grinning ear to ear, ignoring Will's advice…

…

Around the same time, in the consumer goods factory…

Tink tink tink… Tinktinktinktinktink…

With his fists on his hips, Straf is watching the workers fiddle with magic tools, clumsily and gingerly carving away magic channels in the kubelwagen engines, and punching small holes out for gem slots to guide mana through. The workers old and young, female and male alike are working in small teams, with one shining a small and enclosed candle into the engine's dark crevices being worked on.

「The industrial revolution didn't come without consequences… And it didn't come without its own problems. Problems like, how do we get people to work for chump change?…」

Straf says while watching the busy peasants' hands work.

「…They need to be oppressed just enough to feel obliged to work, but not enough to revolt. Then there's another question… How educated should they be, exactly?…」

He continues, and a man blows some metal dust away from a freshly carved-out channel. A young boy shines a light onto it, and the man nods in approval at his handiwork.

「…Literacy itself is a risk. Now what if the peasants hold valuable skills?… Like, for example, knowing how to convert kubelwagen engines to use magic? Or-」「Who are you talking to?」

Straf continues talking, and Stripe cuts in, interrupting him. His face gains a tight-lipped grimace, before heavily scrunching his mouth to the side.

「I am narrating.」

He bluntly replies while staring at Stripe, who's standing by his side with a confused look on her face.

「…For who!?」

She exclaims, spreading her arms, only confused even further.

「The audience.」

Straf nonchalantly declares.

「What audience!?」

Stripe asks, and briefly looks all around. With his mouth aslant, Straf looks aside.

「…Who are you looking at!? Are you an actual lunatic!?」

Stripe double-takes to ensure that she didn't miss something as Straf is staring at the warehouse wall, and seemingly at nothing in particular.

「I'm looking at a space that nobody is occupying for the comedic effect.」

He replies, turning his gaze back to her.

「What?」

「Ever heard of the fourth wall?」

「No!」

She shouts back, furrowing her brows in deep confusion.

「Yeah, I know. It'd be weird otherwise…」

Straf scoffs, and places his hands in his coat's pockets as he turns to leave.

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「…I'm heading to see Lia, and maybe to pay Lily a visit. You might get some new workers today, so keep your cat ears out.」

He adds while holding onto the door handle, and promptly walks out.

「They're not cat ears! Khhkkk!…」

Clutching onto the bumps on her cloth hat, Stripe shouts towards the empty doorway as the door swings shut, and she clenches her teeth in impotent anger.

「…Are you two married, boss?」

A nearby laborer, an old man with tired eyes asks, as he glances up at her from the engine he's working on.

「What!? No! What even gave you that idea!?」

Her head perks up, and she shouts back with her golden eyes widened.

「You sound like you are…」

Carving out a magic channel, the old man remarks with a shrug of his shoulders. Stripe's face quickly flushes red. Crossing her arms, she turns her gaze away towards the audience…

…

A little over an hour later, in the palace, in Cycelia's room…

Sitting at her desk, Cycelia lets out a sigh, and flips a page of her thick magic tome. The door behind her swings open.

「Knock knock. Again…」

Straf says, and enters her room, shutting the door behind himself.

「Ah. Straf. What is it?」

She asks with a smile over her shoulder.

「Listen… I just had an enlightening thought…」

「Yes?…」

Straf shrugs his hands, and Cycelia nods back, entirely focused on him.

「…I think I'm doing too much work. Manually, I mean. I think that has to change, 'cause I can't be everywhere at once. Not without a hit to my already fragile sanity, that is.」

He explains, spreading his arms with a tight-lipped grimace, before shrugging his shoulders and placing his fists on his hips.

「Ah, uh… No, I agree! You must be the most overworked man in the entire kingdom! There's nothing that I can do that could do to properly thank you for all you've done, Straf…」

Briefly surprised, Cycelia nods in agreement, clasping her hands together with a warm smile.

「…Anyone would be a little overwhelmed by all those responsibilities. If there's a post you want to give up, just let me-」「Right, so make me the Minister of Education.」

「Eh?…」

Straf interrupts Cycelia with a blunt request, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.

「…But didn't you just say that you're doing too much work, Straf?」

She asks, furrowing her brows, blinking her puzzled emeralds at him.

「Yeah, that's why we need schools. For the unwashed masses, that is. I can't keep doing everything, forever. I need automation, but we're not quite on robots yet. Technically.」

Straf nods, and briefly shrugs his hands again.

「Schools?… You mean like, for the commoners to learn?」

Cycelia asks with her brows furrowed, thumbing at her lips pensively.

「Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Make me the Minister of Education so I have the final say on everything that's being taught.」

Snap.

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia, nodding his head.

「Mmmhhhh… Hmmmmmm…」

Thinking heavily, Cycelia wobbles left and right in her seat, thumbing at her soft lips.

「…I don't know, Straf. You know what they're saying about you, right? They're calling you the all-minister, and insinuating that you rule the kingdom…」

She replies, still deep in thought with her greatly brows furrowed.

「That's… Uh…」

Straf's gaze jumps sideways as his face gains a tight-lipped expression.

「…Ridiculous, right? But rumors like that don't crop up out of nowhere. I partially understand their concerns, that you might be amassing too much power…」

Cycelia tilts her chestnut head, placing her dainty hands on her chair's backrest.

《…I was going to say a little too accurate, but that works too.》

Straf thinks as his eyes stop evading Cycelia.

「…But I am mostly worried about you, Straf. My day to day responsibilities have basically been reduced to almost nothing, and I still feel stressed about certain things. Are you not stressed?」

She asks, looking up at Straf with emerald eyes full of pity, and her brows furrowed.

「I'm fine, Lia. I'd be a lot less stressed if I had that education position.」

He shrugs, and places his hands in his pockets.

「Hmmmhmh…」

Cycelia lets out a troubled sigh in response, and her gaze drifts down to the ground.

「…Perhaps it would be better if you'd point out someone like-minded, and I'd make that person the Minister of Education? Then it wouldn't be a direct res-」

「No, Lia, I'd rather it be me. I can do it, no worries.」

Straf cuts in, shaking his head.

「Mhhhh… Okay. I'll let Sir Vinis know.」

After another troubled sigh, Cycelia relents, and nods her head as she looks back up at Straf.

「Great… By the way, who was spreading those rumors?…」

Snap.

Straf snaps his fingers, then rubs his chin as he asks with inquisitive tone.

「I don't know, Straf. It seems to be a pretty common opinion, and I can see where it's coming from.」

Cycelia shakes her head, then slowly perks up in her seat and shrugs her shoulders.

「Tsk… Alright. I'll go see Lily to fix some labor shortages, and look around for some buildings for sale to turn them into schools.」

《…There goes my chance to silence the little shit saying that stuff.》

Straf clicks his tongue, and turns for the exit.

「Ah. Okay. Tell Lily I said hi!」

「I will. See you later, Lia.」

Cycelia nods with a smile, and turns back to her book as Straf leaves her room…

…

Late at night, in the city below the Mountain Palace…

Falcon is weaving through the crowd of people in the busy night streets, though when they recognize him as someone from the palace, they quickly back out of the way and clear a path for him, bowing with great respect as he passes by, his armor clattering softly with each step. His eyes drift up to a prominent red lantern at an overhang. Falcon reads the text stating「Pleasure House」upon its round body in just two characters, and ignores it. He continues onward through the packed street.

「…But have you heard what happened recently?」

「What do you mean?」

Two women gossip, likely employees of the Pleasure House a few paces away, provocatively dressed in their decoratively patterned robes with low, intentionally revealing cleavage.

「…Pfff… Fwooo… That woman whose husband works as a guard in the palace?… He went off on his mission up north with like 50 others, and they haven't returned.」

Falcon briefly listens on as he's passing by. The older of the two sucks on an elongated, lightly smoldering pipe, and blows out a mouthful of smoke in the general direction of the street.

Very quickly, he recognizes the smell of the smoke as a bark of a certain tree, which is said to have lightly pain-numbing effect, protect against all sorts of simple diseases, as well as supposedly help the body cure them. It's also very popular with courtesans, further solidifying Falcon's guess as to their occupation. The smell is powerful and slightly irritating to the nose, but not entirely unpleasant.

「Do you think?…」

The younger woman says, but doesn't quite finish her question. Her brows furrow as she covers her mouth with her milky-white fingers. Falcon clenches his teeth.

「Uh-huh… Pffff… She'll be waiting for a good while…」

The woman with the pipe nods her head, bearing a grim expression on her face as she replies with a cynical, sarcastic tone, dumping the cinders in her pipe out as smoke spews from her mouth.

「Ah.」

The younger woman notices Falcon, and bows low towards him. The older one is quick to follow, and Falcon returns a light nod with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「…The people from the palace sure have it tough. I kind of feel ashamed for saying the other day that we have to deal with some real fiends.」

The young Pleasure House worker watches Falcon continue onward and merge into the busy crowd, with only glimpses of his red armor peeking through as he's heading towards the palace.

「Did you see his face?… I wouldn't mind treating him for free.」

The older courtesan asks with a smirk, and stows her pipe into her exposed cleavage.

「You can't!… Madam would be mad!」

「I kid, I kid…」

The two women turn for the entrance to the Pleasure House, and with a disarming smile, the older worker pacifies the younger one with a pat on her head…