In the evening, in the Mage Federation battle fortress, in the grand master's office…

Knock knock knock…

The bulbous-nosed grand master is reading through a document with concerned eyes behind his glasses, and his cheek on his fist. He lifts his head up at the sound of knocking on his office door.

「Come on in…」

He calls out in a loud voice as he returns his eyes to the document in his hand.

「Grand master…」

Magnus bows his head as he approaches the grand master's desk. The old mage glances up at him briefly.

「…Is something worrying you, grand master?」

The younger mage asks, leaning forward slightly with his hands behind his back.

「There's plenty worrying me, Magnus… From the tight supply of gems, through the matter you've come here to discuss, and to many other things…」

The grand master sets the inventory report down, and adjusts his glasses, pushing them back up his nose.

「And what matter would that be?」

Magnus facetiously asks with a little smirk.

「Yet another war involving Redwing Kingdom… Empire now. Multiple wars, even… And all over as soon as they had begun. Makes me wonder what happened.」

The old mage replies, shrugging his shoulders with a tired gaze.

「Did I not say that her majesty would be emboldened by a lack of reaction from the Federation? She is even styling herself as an empress… With imperial ambitions, I'm certain.」

Magnus asks, spreading his hands with a smug smirk on his face. The grand master nods weakly while stroking his chin.

「…I have to say, Alexander and his bunch are rapidly losing ground to stand on. I feel like I'm being played for a fool in our correspondence with her majesty.」

The grand master remarks, interlocking his fingers as he looks up at Magnus.

「Why, if I may ask?」

The younger mage leans forward, raising one brow.

「Nothing but assurances and platitudes from her, ensuring me that she means no harm, but a war after a war erupt around her. Now, I want to ask what brought peace back so quickly…」

The grand master shrugs his hands in exasperation, and leans back in his chair, thinking with his eyes turned elsewhere.

「…Asking her directly if she threatened them with her demonic grimoire would be a lack of tact, wouldn't it?」

He turns his tired gaze to Magnus, and asks.

「Grand master, I think the solution is clear. Mobilize the battle fortress. Demand the grimoire. It doesn't matter if she did or did not, as long as it's out of her possession.」

Magnus leans onto the desk with his hands with an insistent tone.

「And then what, Magnus? Destroy their capital?… We've already discussed this. I do not like tangling the Federation up in politics… But the idea of acting seems feasible now.」

The old mage replies, lightly shaking his head with his hands spread, then adjusts his glasses.

「Then act, grand master. Nobody would dare to refuse a demand from the Federation with the battle fortress looming over them… With the exception of some northerner idiots…」

Magnus nods and straightens out, placing his hands behind his back again.

「…Either she will hand the grimoire over, or her people will devour her for the sake of safety. While at it, we could bring that criminal Tolwick to justice too.」

He adds, shrugging his shoulders.

「That is not what the Mage Federation is, Magnus… But I agree that something has to be done… I will write to Corvus, and ask him what his thoughts are on the matter.」

The grand master replies, and pulls on a drawer, retrieving a blank sheet of paper from within. He takes a quill from the side of his desk into hand.

Knock knock knock…

「Oh, wonderful…」

Magnus sarcastically remarks as he looks over his shoulder at the door.

「Come in!…」

The grand master calls out while writing down the current date in the corner of the sheet. The door opens, and Alexander makes his way in.

「Tsk… Magnus…」

Alexander clicks his tongue when he notices Magnus standing in front of the desk.

「Alexander. I'd stay to have a debate, but I'm afraid I've already spoken my mind on everything that I had to say.」

Turning around, Magnus nods his head and heads towards the door, passing Alexander with a smug smirk on his face.

「…What brings you here, Alexander? Same thing as Magnus, I presume?」

The grand master asks, momentarily raising his eyes from his letter as Magnus leaves the office…

…

Around the same time, in a roadside fortress in the Redwing Empire's capital region…

The mood in the barracks is celebratory. Sitting on their beds, the soldiers are grinning, laughing, joking in large bands, while less than pleased officers circle around the room to restore at least scraps of the army professionalism, and terrorize the soon-to-be-released conscripts to maintain their discipline to the end. Also sitting on their beds, Julius and William are quietly watching the rest of the men.

「Crazy that we're- Well, you are a free man tomorrow, isn't it, William?」

Julius asks, turning his faintly smiling face back to William.

「Well… Provided no war starts overnight.」

William replies, and the two stare at each other for a prolonged moment. Someone lets out a cacophonous laughter in the background.

「…Don't even jinx it. You'll never get out at this rate.」

Julius smirks, furrowing his brows a little. William scoffs, shaking his head with a grin.

「Yeah, but then again, I don't think they have much choice anymore. Those guys outside would freeze. This is the longest levy cycle I've ever been in…」

William nods his head towards the barracks door, then returns his gaze back to Julius.

「…By the way, I've got something for the occasion.」

He adds as he reaches under his bed.

「What?」

Julius tilts his head, and his eyes widen when William pulls out a bottle, along with two wooden cups.

「Check this out. I managed to beg the supply guys to sneak this in.」

Krkk… Krrkk… Krrrkk- Pop.

William grins, uncorking the bottle.

「Huh!? How?」

Glugluglugluglug…

Julius furrows his brows as William forces a cup into his hand and pours dark, fizzy liquid into it.

「Where there's money, there's a way, Julius…」

Glugluglugluglug…

William chuckles, grinning while he pours some for himself, and sets the bottle down between his feet.

「Money? But I thought you weren't getting paid…」

Confused, Julius looks down the cup in his hands.

「Yeah, I'm not… I had to trade like fifty gold worth of those shitty Parnatau drakes for a single bottle. Cheers.」

Clunk.

William replies with a shrug of his shoulders, then knocks his wooden cup against Julius's, and takes a gulp.

「Fifty gold!?- Wait, when did you get Parnatau drakes?…」

Julius asks, and takes a small sip.

「After the last battle. When we were collecting their winter clothing, I picked through their pockets.」

William replies with another casual shrug, and takes another gulp.

「Eh?… So this is for dead man's money?… You looted the enemy dead for this, William?…」

Stopping just short of taking another sip, Julius looks down at his cup's contents with his brows heavily furrowed.

「The worms have no use for money, Julius. I checked some of our guys too, but only one had some loose change… I left it in his hand.」

Gluglugluglug…

William takes another gulp, then replies while pouring more of the drink into his cup.

「But… The clothes were a necessity… But Mercia forbids looting the dead for personal gain like that, William…」

「Ah… Mercia this, Mercia that…」

Julius remarks, and William dismisses it with a wave of his hand, rolling his eyes.

「…Listen, Julius… Great if you want to have a cozy next life, but I checked our guys' pockets too, and guess what? They were all poor as fuckin' dirt, then became one with it…」

He adds, pointing his finger at Julius and his discomforted face.

「…What I'm thinking is, they were either conscripts like me, or they were just poor as shit, ooor… Someone got to them first. I don't want to be like them, Julius. I've got this life to live first.」

「Yeah, but…」

William raises his cup, then takes a large gulp. Julius nods in response as his eyes drift down.

「For all I fuckin' know, you die and that's it…」

With a shrug of his shoulders, William remarks while staring down at their feet.

Snap.

「…Like that. You get an arrow in your neck, and it's all black. Ever went to sleep and didn't get any dreams, Julius? Could be like that, forever.」

He adds, snapping his fingers. William then takes another gulp.

「Don't even say that… That's kind of scary to think about…」

Julius gains a nervous grin on his face, and takes a gulp as well.

「Death is supposed to be fuckin' scary, Julius. All this shit about Mercia this, next life that…」

William nods in agreement, pointing his finger at Julius.

「… Anyone saying this shit die before? Or are they taking care of their ass in this life? I know I will be. I'm a farmer… Like you, Julius…」

He asks, shrugging his hand as he leans in towards the young man sitting across from him.

「…I'm glad those skinny twigs turned tail and ran. I've got nothing against them, I didn't want to kill 'em. Some starving peasant who doesn't know I exist isn't an enemy of mine, Julius.」

William sighs after a moment of pause, then pats his chest with his hand as he explains, before taking another large gulp.

「…We didn't really have a choice.」

Julius nods, and takes one too.

「Yeah… Tsk. This is the most expensive bottle of fuckin' booze I ever paid for.」

William nods back in agreement, takes the bottle into hand by its neck, and reads the label.

「Why'd you even pay this much? Couldn't you have just kept the money?…」

The young soldier tilts his head, blinking at William and the dark brown bottle.

「Could have… But Parnatau Kingdom is too far for my liking, and I'm lucky he even took the deal. He lives right by the Gap, so he got rich quick and easy.」

Glugluglugluglug…

William shrugs, and begins pouring more into his cup.

「Eh?」「Ah.」

When he tilts the bottle upright, the two notice a mustached officer standing right beside them, staring at them with his hands held behind his back. At a loss for words, William looks at the bottle in his hand. The officer's mustache tilts left and right as he looks at Julius, then at William.

「Ahem… Sir.」

William clears his throat, and the two stare up at the officer with tight-lipped grimaces. He stares back in ominous silence.

「…That bottle better be gone by tonight.」

「Yes sir!…」「…Yes sir!」

The officer utters out in a calm but stern voice, and simply walks away. William and Julius nod rapidly.

「Whew…」「Whew…」

Both of them let out a relieved sigh, and William pours more into Julius's cup.

「…Come on Julius, we've got orders.」

William raises his cup with an amused smirk, and the two take large gulps…

…

Around the same time, in the Redwing Palace, in the negotiation room…

Straf presses the over button on the magic phone, and the text stops glowing. The projected screen disappears, and the runic circle's glow fades out. No more numbers are lit up, and the slab is overall dark. Leaning back, Straf stretches with his arms raised and lets out a groan.

「Ahh… Finally… I should have thought of a voicemail function… Tell 'em right away to fuck off if they want gems.」

He says as he stands up, and gives the chair a light tap with the side of his foot, sliding it back towards the table. He turns for the door with the chancellor following him.

「…By the way, have you seen the court mage?」

Straf asks, glancing at him over his shoulder.

「No, minister. The empress, or perhaps the maids should know.」

The serious-faced chancellor replies with a shake of his head.

「Tsk… For fuck's sake…」

Stolen novel; please report.

Straf clicks his tongue and lets out a sigh as he walks out into the hallway…

…

A little over fifteen minutes later, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia is sitting in her desk, smushing her cheek up against her fist and reading her magic tome with a weary face. The door behind her opens.

「… Knock knock.」

Straf announces himself, briefly glancing at her empty bed before peeking further in and looking towards her desk.

「Ahh… Straf…」

Cycelia sighs out over her shoulder, and turns back to her book.

「Ouch… Are you already tired of me, or are you hungover?」

Straf winces as he walks in, lazily shutting the door behind himself. Standing behind Cycelia, he places his hands in his pockets.

「Don't be silly, Straf… I was feeling really sick in the morning, but I'm better now… Mostly.」

An amused huff escapes her nose, though it's tinged with fatigue, and she replies with a small smile on her face.

「You know you can take a day off, right?」

Straf asks, peeking at her tome over her shoulder. Its pages appear to concern the concept of teleportation, and touch a little on blinking.

「That was yesterday, Straf… I can't just take a day off every day. I just have to power through it.」

She replies, briefly peeking over her shoulder at Straf with a smile on weary face.

「Despite being technically in education, you're still the queen of NEETs in my heart, Lia…」

Straf remarks with an amused smirk, and lets out a sigh.

「…Have you seen that guy Tolwick anywhere? I want to ask him some stuff.」

He asks from beside her, leaning onto her table with his hand.

「Tolwick?… Not lately, no. He keeps to himself… But he should be in the cellar, I think?」

「We have a cellar?」

Cycelia replies, shaking her chestnut head and blinking her emerald eyes up at Straf. He furrows his brows greatly in surprise.

「Yes… For storing food, wines… Even important prisoners back in the day, but that fell out of use. Tolwick requested a key to the deepest level, so he's likely there. If he's not…」

She nods, and shrugs her shoulders as she explains.

「…Then I don't know.」

Cycelia adds, shrugging again with a little grimace on her face, blinking into Straf's eyes.

「Right. How do I get there?」

Straf nods and straightens out, placing his hand back in his pocket.

「There's a door by the garden entrance. The stairs are somewhat in disrepair, so be careful, okay?」

She replies, smiling a little before turning her attention back to her book.

Snap!

「Right. Loser living out of a basement… Thanks, Lia. See you later.」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at her as he heads for the door.

「Mhm. I think I'll be heading to sleep soon, so goodnight, Straf.」

Looking over her shoulder, Cycelia nods at Straf, smiling warmly at him.

「Night, Lia…」

He nods back through the small crack in the door, and pulls it to a close, leaving Cycelia to study…

…

Less than an hour later, in the palace cellar, on the deepest level…

Straf navigates the cramped, poorly lit cobblestone corridors with an orb of light circling above his head in a slow and steady orbit. The air is stale, faintly smelling of mold, and something rotting. The combined smell is vaguely unpleasant, although not overwhelmingly disgusting. The narrow corridor widens at a junction, and faint sounds come from an open iron bar door to the side. Straf shrugs, and decides to follow the noise.

After following a once again cramped tunnel for a brief moment, the space opens up into a large room supported by many pillars. Straf descends down a short flight of stars into the large stone room, and looks around. Handheld magic lamps are hung up in a provisional manner off the pillars and walls, hanging off large iron nails sloppily hammered into the rock, and casting some light on the otherwise dim room.

The room appears to have been used as a water cistern for some time in the past, as indicated by the discolored walls roughly up to Straf's hip level, but now it's difficult to ascertain what the room's current purpose is. Straf notices movement across the room, and decides to investigate. Someone is idly pacing about in a slow, uncoordinated manner.

「Hey! I've been looking for you-」

Straf calls out to the man turned away from him, but then furrows his brows slightly when he realizes the man is wearing torn rags instead of robes fit for a mage.

「…What the shit?」

Tilting his head, Straf utters out as the man turns to face him. His face is dark brown, rotten, and desiccated. His jaw is hanging slack, and his milky white eyes stare blankly at Straf.

Heavily confused, Straf reaches into his [Portable Storage] and pulls out his iron sword. With one hand in his pocket and sword raised, he walks up to the shambling corpse.

「Stop!… What are you doing!?」

A man's voice calls out from the side, just as Straf was about to bring the sword down on the zombie.

「Huuuuh?」

Heavily confused, Straf turns his eyes to Tolwick, who approaches in a rushed step. A few men and women with blank expressions shamble behind him, though they all appear normal.

「Don't you dare cut him down! Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to raise someone dead for 600 years!?」

Tolwick points at Straf, and places himself between him and the desiccated zombie.

「Dude. He's going to grab you and bite you in the neck-」

Straf explains with his arms slumped.

「No he won't! He's completely harmless! He's under my control! All of them are!」

The black-robed mage angrily cuts Straf off, throwing his hands up in frustration.

「All of them?…」

Straf echoes back, and turns his confused eyes to the group of men that followed Tolwick. None of them appear as corpses, being of healthy complexion, although some of the men have their jaws hanging slack. Most of them simply stand there, idle, and a little hunched over, exchanging dazed glances with their empty eyes. However, one of the women blinks every now and then, and she appears merely like she just woke up, rather than completely unthinking.

「Yes, all of them! They're my experiments! This is a cutting edge field of research!…」

Tolwick nods, then turns his attention to the drowsy-looking woman.

Snap snap snap!

「Tianna!… Tianna!」

Tolwick snaps his fingers a few times and calls out to the woman. Initially, she doesn't react, but when he repeats himself, she furrows her brows a little, and her eyes appear to focus a little.

「…Uhh?」

The woman lets out an almost inquisitive moan, though she mostly sounds confused.

「Take Georgie and the rest back to your cages and lock yourselves in.」

Tolwick nods his head up at open wrought iron cages tucked away into a corner on the other side of the room.

「Uhhh… Huhhh…」

She appears briefly confused, then to Straf's surprise, she nods her head and approaches the desiccated zombie. She clumsily wraps her arms around him, blankly staring ahead rather than at him, then pulls him towards the rest of the group. She then spreads her arms, and corrals the rest of the apparent undead in the direction of the cages.

「…And what the fuck is your field of research?」

Straf asks as he throws his sword back into his purple vortex.

「Why, I'm glad you've asked!… Temporal necromantic archaeology!」

Fwap!

Tolwick spreads his arms with a grin, flapping his black robe's sleeves.

「And what do you actually do, other than collect a harem of zombie wives?」

Straf asks with his mouth heavily aslant, placing his hands back in his pockets, staring at the necromancer with a bored gaze.

「Wh-? Wi-? Preposterous! They're my experiments!…」

Stunned and outraged, Tolwick exclaims, pointing at the cages of zombies that have obediently locked themselves in.

「…Ahem. To sum things up, I search for ancient dead, raise them using necromancy, then apply temporal magic to them, in the hopes of learning history from first-hand accounts!」

Composing himself, he clears his throat and calmly explains, extending his index finger with a smug, self-satisfied grin on his face.

「…You know you could just dig out some pots, or read fucking books?」

Straf asks, shrugging his shoulders.

「Nonsense! Books are a secondary source! The people are the primary one! I've mostly achieved temporal stability! I just need finer control to restore their consciousness!…」

Tolwick scoffs, scornfully shaking his head with a ridiculing expression.

「…Tianna is my best attempt yet! She can follow simple commands, and even say a little about herself! She was a blood slave for a vampire baron, and then presumably starved to death!」

He points at the woman standing idly in the iron cage, then grins at Straf, who appears rather unimpressed.

「…Does Lia know you play with corpses?」

Straf asks, narrowing one eye at the necromancer.

「Her highness? Hmmm… No. But she doesn't have to. What do you want? I'm busy.」

Tolwick grimaces a little, then replies with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.

「Good grief… So you're a magic mad scientist trying to invent resurrection just to open people up like an encyclopedia? I should just make the internet and be done with it.」

Shaking his head in disapproval, Straf sighs out with his mouth aslant.

「No, I am not「trying to invent resurrection」because that's not possible. They're undead, and they will remain that way. The consciousness that might return will be simply a record.」

Tolwick directly quotes Straf with air quotes and a mocking tone, then explains in a frustrated tone.

「Cool, so you've reduced formerly living, breathing people to a cassette that you want to wind back. You're almost as bad as banks… Anyway…」

With a tight-lipped grimace on his face, Straf shrugs, then sighs again, rolling his eyes.

「…How do I charge this shit? Give me a quick explanation. If you try to dump exposition on me, I'll punch you in your fucking teeth.」

Straf asks as he pulls out a tiny red magic gem out of his [Portable Storage], and shows it to Tolwick.

「Is that?…」

The mage walks up, tilting his head.

「Yup. It is… How do I charge it?」

Straf nods, and pulls the gem away when Tolwick attempts to reach for it. The necromancer gives up and pulls his hand away.

「…Aren't you a mage? Don't you know how to cast spells?」

Tolwick asks, narrowing his confused eyes at Straf.

「Yup.」

Straf bluntly replies with another nod.

「Then how can you not know how to charge a gem!? That's like… That's like!… That's like knowing how to cook without knowing what a fire is! How!?」

Completely baffled, Tolwick throws his arms aside.

「Wooow… Food analogy?… Are you going to tell me, or do I introduce your wife to Lia?」

Straf scoffs, smirking at him.

「Tsk… Fine. I'll give you a quick explanation…」

Tolwick clicks his tongue, then lets out a frustrated, resigned sigh, agreeing with an annoyed grimace on his face.

「…I assume you've casted spells before?」

「Yup.」

He asks, and Straf nods back.

「And you've felt your mana drain?」

「Kind of. I overcasted myself once.」

Tolwick asks another question, and casually Straf shrugs.

「Did you not feel an odd sensation in your extremities? A feeling of unpleasant cold that quickly washed away as soon as you've finished casting?」

The necromancer asks, and Straf furrows his brows. He thinks, looking aside at a random magic lamp and its blue glow.

「…I think?」

Straf replies with a clear lack of confidence in his tone, narrowing one eye at Tolwick.

「That's the feeling of mana leaving your body. Living beings have mana, that's what keeps us alive. No mana, means you're dead. Things get cold and stiff when they die.」

Tolwick crosses his arms and explains with his mouth aslant.

「Alright?… But how do I charge this fucking thing? I'm tired of being ripped the fuck off.」

Straf spreads his hands, then holds the gem up in front of Tolwick, holding it between his thumb and finger.

「Look… It's difficult to explain this with words, so take my hand and I will demonstrate instead.」

Tolwick replies, and holds his hand out for Straf. He looks at it, then takes it.

「Huh? The fuck is this?」

Straf's head perks up at an unpleasant tingling sensation, almost like electricity running through his arm and up to his chest from Tolwick's grasp.

「I'm flowing raw mana to you, and your body is resisting it. Remember this feeling, and simply apply it in reverse. Focus on it. It's like casting a spell, but with no spell in mind.」

Tolwick explains as he flows his mana to Straf's hand for a few more seconds, before letting go.

As soon as he does, the tingling stops, and Straf feels no numbness whatsoever that's usually associated with light electric shocks. Tolwick turns around and heads for a desk a few paces away.

「Let me know if you need something clarified, but please make it quick.」

The necromancer adds as he pulls out a chair and sits down, then takes the top tome off a large stack of them, and opens it.

Straf looks at the gem held in his fingers and narrows his eye at it. He grimaces slightly, straining. Tolwick glances over his shoulder at him.

「There is a saying!… If you're straining, you're doing something wrong!… Stop that. It has to be natural…」

The necromancer calls out, interrupting Straf's intentful grunting, before turning back to the pages of his tome.

With his other hand in his pocket, Straf lets out a sigh, and focuses his gaze on the gem again. He looks at his hand, and tries to replicate the feeling that Tolwick's grip gave him, but in reverse.

「…Ah! A word of warning! You need to be careful when charging-!」

The court mage calls out without as much as bothering to glance at Straf. A loud impact noise against the stone floor interrupts him.

Thud… Clink… Clinkclinkclink.

「…Oh dear.」

Tolwick looks over his shoulder, then lets out a frustrated and troubled sigh…