「…Ahh, how easy it would be to smother him with a pillow right now. All of his exploits would come to an end.」

「Don't even say that. You saw how distraught she was.」

「Could you really do that to someone this defenseless?」

「I was just jesting…」

…

「…Slowly. Be careful. Make sure he doesn't choke.」

「He's lucky he's still swallowing.」

「Be careful with the cup, only a small sip at a time…」

…

「…My, my… If not for my sweetheart vying for you, I'd have taken you right now, and you wouldn't have even known. Oh well…」

…

「…It's strange. You're right here… But I miss you…」

「…I feel like I have so many things to tell you, but I might not get a chance to now…」

「…I'm afraid. I'm afraid I've made a mistake that I can't take back by being so meek…」

「…I have so many regrets already, I don't want another…」

「…You can't be replaced. I mean, look… Everything is falling apart without you already…」

…

One week later, in the Redwing Palace, in the royal bedchamber…

Knock knock…

A strong fist knocks twice on the large oaken doors. There is no response.

Knock knock knock!…

It knocks again, louder. There is no response still.

「Your highness?… I'm coming in…」

Crrrrreaaaaaak!…

Will's voice announces from beyond the doors, and they open with a loud creak.

「…Excuse me.」

He says quietly in a meek voice, adjusting his glasses as he peeks his head inside the room.

Crrrrreaaaaak…

Will gently pushes the doors shut with another creak, then heads towards the king's excessively enormous bed in the large, lavish bedchamber. There are no windows, and instead, illumination is provided by fixed oil lamps in exquisitely decorative housings. With a somber expression on his face he approaches Cycelia, who is asleep on the bed, with her head resting on Straf's chest, lying on top of his blanket right beside him.

「Ahem… Your highness!…」

Will says with a raised voice, although not quite shouting.

「Mhn? Nhhhm… Will…」

Cycelia wakes up and turns her gloomy, groggy emerald eyes to Will, before rubbing them with the back of her fingers. She shuffles herself off the bed back into a chair placed by Straf's bedside.

「I'm sorry for waking you, your highness, but you've said to report at regular intervals, so…」

Will apologetically bows his head, then adjusts his glasses. With his staff absent and only a sheathed sword at his hip, he places his hands behind his back.

「No, it's okay… I know that I have…」

Pulling her hands away from her eyes, she nods and turns her sullen face to Straf's, then lets out a long, wistful sigh.

「…He's still asleep I see.」

Will remarks as he looks at Straf's handsome, peacefully sleeping face. His head is sunken in a soft, scarlet pillow, while the bedsheet and the blanket are both clean, pure white. His covered chest rises and falls in a slow, steady rhythm. Saying nothing, Cycelia nods in response.

「I bring both good and bad news, your highness. I will start with the former, if that's alright…」

He says, and leans forward a little. Cycelia turns her gloomy face to Will, and nods again.

「…We have finished distributing the circlets. There will be people on watch in every region, day and night. If there's trouble anywhere, we'll know right away…」

Will nods back and begins reporting. He adjusts his glasses, and idly watches Straf with Cycelia.

「…Marshal Ursa has assembled the reaction force. They will use Straf's invention to rapidly handle threats that suddenly crop up… I will help them maintain it, if I can…」

He continues, shrugging his shoulders.

「…Roland considers himself Straf's friend, so he volunteered to be a part of it for meager pay. Shien is still out hunting any more dangerous beasts that might crop up…」

The two look at each other and Cycelia nods along, silently listening.

「…And Greaves, well…」

Will adjusts his glasses then grimaces slightly as he looks aside, thinking.

「…Pardon my language, your highness, but Greaves has managed to pull his head out of his ass for once. He, Lian, and Alicia are out handling smaller, less interesting guild tasks…」

Briefly shrugging his arms, he turns his eyes back to Cycelia and continues the report.

「…Goblins, horndogs, wild animal packs, and such… Say what you will about Greaves, your highness, but he can be dependable when it's no longer time to fool around…」

「I'm sure…」

Cycelia says softly, nodding her head with sullen emerald eyes.

「For once, he put his legendary hero delusions away, and he's out doing something actually heroic for a change… Don't tell him I said that, please…」

With a sigh, Will adjusts his glasses again as he praises Greaves, then promptly makes a request with his tight-lipped grimace directed at Cycelia.

「Er… I won't.」

A little taken aback, Cycelia nods and gently shrugs her shoulders.

「Ahem… Thank you… What else?…」

Looking around, Will taps his foot on the ground with his fists on his hip while he thinks.

「…Right. The beastman… Stripe, was it? She said she's handling the sale of the… Autowagons, were they called?… She's trying her best, at least…」

He nods his head as he remembers more detail, and raises his index finger, continuing his report. He pauses to remember the odd names, furrowing his brows for a few seconds.

「…I wanted to help her a little, so I thought I'd try to figure out what was going on in Straf's head, but…」

He helplessly spreads his arms, and the two look at Straf's serene face. Will lets out a long, resigned sigh.

「…Tsk. Whatever he envisioned in his mind exactly remains a mystery, but I thought I could glean something from those magazines he was selling. I bought a second-hand copy…」

Will explains as his gaze begins to drift away from Cycelia, and his face reddens. He starts to adjust his glasses rapidly over and over.

「…Uhh, it… Uh… Well… Um… It seems that… Uh… Straf wanted to replace wagons and carriages… With those autowagons… And such… It listed a price, so… That was helpful.」

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Stammering heavily and mumbling, Will's eyes begin to dart everywhere, except back to Cycelia while he continuously adjusts his glasses.

「Will? Are you okay?… You're all red. Maybe you have a fever?」

Cycelia tilts her head, furrowing her brows in worry.

「Nonononono! I'm fine! I'm perfectly fine!…」

He rapidly shakes his red face left and right, almost throwing his glasses off his face, waving his hands in front of himself.

「…If you say so. Don't overwork yourself, okay?」

Cycelia nods, but the concern on her face remains.

「…I'm fine, your highness!… Ahem! Anyway!… Stripe snooped around, and she found a warehouse full of autowagons waiting to be fitted with the things that they're producing!…」

「I can hear you just fine…」

「Right, right… My apologies, your highness…」

Will exclaims, and Cycelia replies with a soft, quiet voice. He very quickly cringes, and lowers his.

「…I've also talked a little with Nona from the Ministry of Security. There has been an increase of criminal activity, but they're managing it… I think that's all of the good news.」

He concludes with a shrug of his shoulders, and adjusts his glasses.

「And the bad news?…」

Cycelia asks warily.

「Ahhh… There's some of that… Greaves is out handling monsters, but they've gone wild recently. It almost seems like there are more and more each day…」

Will lets out a troubled sigh, and helplessly spreads his hands as he begins sharing the bad news.

「…Shien is hunting beasts, but there's no end to them. Nona and her boss are reining in crime in the city, but… The roads outside are becoming less and less safe…」

He continues, and begins counting up on his fingers, pulling them away with his thumb.

「…Then there's the economic problems… There is this phenomenon that I've dubbed currency inflation-」

「I know, Straf told me about it a little.」

Cycelia cuts in, softly interrupting Will with a nod of her chestnut head.

「R- Really? He has?… I thought I came up with that concept…」

Will tilts his head, blinking at Cycelia with his eyes narrow in great surprise. He mumbles to himself as his eyes drift aside.

「…In any case, that's good. That means I don't have to explain as much. The economy is experiencing massive inflation, and it seems that only Straf knew how to combat it.」

Quickly adjusting his glasses, Will shrugs, and turns his eyes to Straf's sleeping face again.

「…Are we in deep trouble?」

Cycelia asks, grimacing in worry as she recalls the troubled state of affairs in hyperinflating countries from Straf's tales.

「To be honest, I don't know yet, your highness. It seems that even someone like Straf could have missed a spot, because he wasn't selling any magic gems to the other kingdoms…」

Will returns a helpless shrug, and sighs while looking at Straf.

「…I've already recommended to Sir Vinis that he should consider exporting them… Good grief. I'm shocked, unnerved, and awed that so much hinged just on Straf being around.」

He adds, shaking his lowered head in disbelief with his fists on his hips.

「Yes… I keep saying that he's the most overworked man in the empire. Hehe…」

Cycelia nods, and lets out a little forced chuckle as she looks at Straf. Her small grin quickly fades back into a sullen frown.

「…Well, he's getting some rest now. He'll have to take a look at things once he's up, though. That's all I've had to report, your highness.」

Turning his eyes to Cycelia, Will shrugs his arms.

「Thank you, Will…」

Cycelia replies, gratefully bowing her head.

「Ah! No, please don't lower your head! I don't deserve that at all! Maybe Greaves, but not me!… Really, the marshal is the one who deserves praise! He has a head on his shoulders!…」

Flabbergasted with his jaw dropped, Will extends his hands towards Cycelia's shoulders, but does not dare to actually touch her.

「No, Will, you've helped a lot. I think that deserves recognition, especially now. It's good to know that I can rely on you and your friends.」

Cycelia shakes her chestnut head with a warm, friendly smile, although it's plainly visible that she's pained beneath it.

「N- No… I've done nothing at all, personally… I just threw some ideas left and right, and tried to piece together the puzzles he left scattered. I'm not doing anything, like Greaves is.」

Breaking eye contact, Will adjusts his glasses as he lowers his head.

「Greaves and his contribution is important, so is Alicia's, Shien's, yours, and along with everyone else helping. Ursa, too… I'll make sure to award him a medal later. My father chose well.」

Cycelia nods, and replies in a calm, soft voice.

「W- Well… I have to return to work now… Excuse me.」

With his head still lowered, Will adjusts his glasses again, and bows politely, backing away a few steps.

「Will…」

Cycelia calls out as soon as he turns for the door. He turns back around, and looks at Cycelia with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「…Yes, your highness?」

He looks at Cycelia's pensive, sullen face while she's staring at Straf's.

「…You're a mage too… Tolwick said that he will eventually wake up, but there is nothing that can be done. Do you think he will wake up?」

She asks without taking her emerald eyes off Straf.

Will's face becomes deeply troubled by the question, and he grimaces heavily while pondering it.

「…Do you want me to lie to you, your high-?」

「No. Speak the truth. Tell me what you think.」

He asks, but Cycelia cuts him off. Her serious gaze meets Will's eyes. He takes a deep breath, then lets out a large sigh.

「Yes, I do.」

Will nods, but his face is far from carefree.

「When?」

She asks another question, immediately causing Will to wince and avert his gaze slightly. He sighs again.

「…I don't know. Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be next year… Could be next decade…」

Will shakes his head, then adjusts his glasses with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…All I know is, he should wake up somewhere between tomorrow… And sometime this century.」

He adds, helplessly throwing up his hands.

「…I see.」

Cycelia lowers her head, and her emerald eyes drift down to Straf's white blanket.

「…I'm sorry, your highness. I wish I had something better to say, but you told me to say what I think.」

After a momentary pause, Will apologizes, shrugging his shoulders with a disappointed sigh.

「No, it's fine…」

She weakly shakes her chestnut head with a voice to match while staring blankly at one point on Straf's blanket.

Will bows politely towards Cycelia then turns for the door, making his way out with a loud, obnoxious creak…