「Well, actually…」

Cycelia looks at Straf with a troubled, tight-lipped grimace.

「…Yes?」

Straf sighs, then asks.

「After everyone who gets paid by the palace had their drakes redeemed, I kind of re-used those drakes…」

Cycelia explains, tapping her fingers together awkwardly.

「Ahhh, Lia…」

Straf exhales a large sigh, looking at Cycelia with a slanted mouth and an expression as if he knew this was going to happen from the beginning.

「…You’re not mad, are you, Straf?」

She asks with a little pout and large, green puppy eyes.

「No, of course not, Lia. You’re a 20-something young woman, it’s only natural that you’d overuse unlimited credit. Your father didn’t teach you the concept fiscal responsibility, and now you fell for one of the Keynesian pitfalls of spending money that you do not have.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, and looks at Cycelia with an understanding smile.

「Sorry…」

She continues tapping her fingers together, still looking downwards.

「It’s okay, most governments weren’t taught any fiscal responsibility either. Now, how much have you overspent, exactly? 10 drakes? 30? The central bank might be able to cover it-」

「All of it.」

Cycelia bluntly declares, causing Straf to almost choke.

「Hrk- You mean… All the drakes I gave you? You handed all of them out? Again?」

Straf asks with a forced neutral expression, although hints of concern are slipping through.

「…Yes. B- But on the bright side… The gold mines from Millie’s region will offset the missing gold relatively quickly.」

Cycelia nods her head, and shrugs her hands with her shoulders slumped.

「…That is indeed a problem. That new mine you mentioned, when will it start churning out gold? Next week? Can’t be longer than two weeks, right? Right?」

Straf asks, staring at Cycelia intensely. She blinks, and starts twiddling with her thumbs.

「…Two months, Straf. The miners need to reinforce the tunnels. And then they need to actually mine the gold.」

Cycelia replies with a tight-lipped grimace, and Straf stares back at her with a mirrored expression. The two silently stare at each other for a prolonged moment.

「Wow. Running a kingdom is hard when you’re not running a kingdom.」

Straf looks at the setting sun outside the window with a troubled grimace on his face. He looks back at Will and Lian, who appear to be fatigued by Straf’s back-and-forth with Cycelia.

「So, what’s their problem?」

Straf asks, and glances at Cycelia.

「Can I?」

Will looks at Cycelia, and she nods in response. He turns to Straf and adjusts his glasses dramatically.

「…I’ve come here to ask for your help.」

Will says, staring at Straf with a deathly serious face.

「Huuuuuuuuh? With what? You’re running a debt too, twerp? Where did Carrothead and his babysitter go? The dirt? Better not, her fans would never forgive you for that. She’s too plain-but-cute to die off-screen.」

Straf asks multiple confusing questions one after another, causing Lian and Will to look at each other and grimace with wordless understanding at each other, then look at Straf with squinted, displeased eyes.

「What are you talking about? Greaves and Alicia stayed behind to keep an eye on things!」

Will angrily adjusts his glasses, but remains outwardly cordial and polite.

「Straf, I have sent out Greaves and his party to investigate the magic bandits. Will here has told me they may have found something very important.」

Cycelia chimes in, pointing her hand at Greaves from the throne. He glances at her, and adjusts his glasses again.

「Okay?… And I’m a little too busy to handle that right now. Good luck with your magic bandit hunt.」

Straf shrugs with raised brows, and nonchalantly dismisses Will’s request.

「Straf! But it sounds like… Like you-know-what!」

Cycelia raises her voice, then lowers it, paradoxically speaking with a loud, hushed tone.

「No, I don’t. Like what?」

Straf shrugs, asking with a slanted mouth and bored eyes.

「Like… You know… The grimoire.」

Cycelia explains further, tapping her fingers together. Will’s eyebrow rises out of suspicion.

「Your highness, if you know something-」

「Oh well, sounds like Carrothead and his buddies are handling it.」

Straf interrupts Will’s address, causing him to glare at Straf and adjust his glasses angrily.

「Greaves might think so, but we unfortunately might need all the help we can get, that’s why-」

Will adjusts his nigh-permanently slipping glasses again, and Straf interrupts him once more.

「Hey, have more trust in your childhood friend, alright? He’s the legendary whatever with his carrot sword. It sounds like your power of friendship might be the weakest link here, twerp. I’m too busy, anyhow. My adventure has been too snappy and I don’t think I have the time for another high-speed arc like this. Good luck, though!」

Straf waves his broken hand at Will as he turns around and heads for the exit.

「…I told you this will be a waste of time, Will. He’s a truly despicable so-called man.」

Lian imparts a chilling glare at Straf’s back as he’s departing, while spitting venom with a hushed tone towards him to Will.

「Straf, where are you going!?」

Cycelia calls out, and Straf only stops to momentarily glance over his shoulder.

「To turn in and sleep on a nice comfy bed for at least one night, before I have to somehow fix this mess tomorrow. Haven’t I earned that?」

He asks, spreading his hands, and leaves without waiting for a reply.

「Ah, no, of course… Good night, Straf!」

Cycelia stammers quietly before bidding Straf good night, long after he has turned the corner…

…

Straf enters his room sans bed, and sighs with relief when he shuts the door behind himself. When he turns around, he sees the vampire baroness sitting at his table with her arms crossed, pouting and staring at him.

「…I was waiting.」

Lily says through her heavy pout with an upset tone.

「I can tell. Let me guess…」

Straf says, pulling his borrowed palace bed out of his [Portable Storage] and placing it back where it belongs.

「…I’m hungry.」

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Lily announces, and stands up from her chair.

「…You didn’t let me guess, but that was my guess.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, and Lily hastily approaches him. She stretches her clawed hand out towards his chest. Straf sees the movement, and ignores it, staring at her with a slanted mouth.

《Oh, I know what this is. A push onto the bed and another suggestive pose cliche, huh? Not this time, I’ll just slip beneath the blanket.》

Straf thinks, as Lily pushes him on the bed with force unbecoming someone of her size. Mid-flight, his eyes widen in sudden realization.

《Wait. Shit. My arms are broken.》

Thud.

Straf noisily lands on the cloud-like bed with his back. It creaks gently, and Lily quickly crawls over Straf. Her golden twin-tails drag along the blanket.

《Uh oh, deja vu.》

Straf blinks, staring into Lily’s scarlet eyes while she glares down at him. The door opens.

「Minister Vindict, do you need anyt-?」

A young maid’s face peeks into the room with curious eyes. She sees a beautiful little girl dressed in a gothic dress crawling over Straf in his bed. While there is no physical contact between them, the pose is very difficult to explain. The maid’s innocent, curious, honest eyes are slowly filled with disdain the longer she looks.

「I know if I say「Wait! I can explain!」you won’t let me, anyway, so what I want to know is… Do the maids around here have a sixth sense for detecting vampire girls in suggestive situations? Seriously.」

Straf asks, and Lily glares at the maid with veiled anger. The maid sighs, and starts pulling the door shut.

「…I will not disturb.」

The maid announces with pure scorn in her voice.

「You’re not disturbing anything!」

Straf exclaims, but the maid ignores him and shuts the door.

Ca-clack.

The door noisily latches shut, and Lily turns her eyes back to Straf, then to his neck.

「Hand. Not neck. And this is your last free meal ticket, by the way.」

Before Lily can even do anything, Straf sticks his broken hand in front of himself, placing it between him and Lily. She sighs, and wordlessly takes his hand into hers.

「Careful, it’s-」

「Broken, I know.」

She adjusts her grip to have better access to Straf’s index finger, and looks into his eyes again.

「…I was your hands for an entire day, have you forgotten already?」

She reminds Straf, and places his finger on her sharp fang.

「Yeah, I remember. I’m just reminding you not to be rough handling it- Ow.」

Straf lets out a little, subdued yelp of discomfort as Lily bites into his index finger with a surprising amount of gentleness. The vampire girl sucks on Straf’s profusely bleeding finger like on a never-ending popsicle, her vertically-slit crimson eyes staring into his the whole time.

「…Can you make it a little less uncomfortable?」

Straf asks, and Lily momentarily pulls his finger from between her pale lips with a strand of saliva still attached.

「…Is it too painful?」

She asks, tilting her head.

「No. It’s too fucking awkward. Can we sit up, at least?」

Straf asks, as the little girl still hovers over him on the bed…

…

The next morning, at one of the capital’s pawn shops…

Ring ring…

The bell above the door chimes. A tall, handsome man enters with a little girl in a gothic dress right behind him.

「Welcome! Welcome! If you see something you’d like or want to ask about, let me know!」

The shopkeeper calls out, and the tall man walks up to the counter. The mood grows tense as the man glares down at him with a serious face.

「Um… Uh… Is there a problem?…」

The pawn shop owner asks, growing increasingly nervous.

「You tell me. Do you sell magic artifacts to shady characters?」

Straf asks, staring at the man with a disdainful expression.

「Huh?」

The shopkeeper furrows his brows at Straf.

「Instead of grunting like a monkey, answer his question you spineless worm.」

Lily demands, glaring with hateful inhuman eyes at the pawn shop owner.

「B- But- I don’t believe I understand the question?」

He answers, and Straf clicks his tongue in response. He grabs the shopkeeper’s shirt, and pulls him closer over the counter.

「Well you better start understanding quick, or else I’ll-」

Straf lifts his casted arm, glances at it, then clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes.

「Tsk. Lily, show him your claws.」

Straf looks down at Lily, and she menacingly fans out her fingers, displaying her sharp, claw-like nails.

「…Or else I’ll let her do as she likes with you. Now let me ask again, and let it be the last time, one way or another… Did you sell any magic artifacts to shady characters?」

Straf asks menacingly, and the shopkeeper stares at Lily’s hand with huge eyes, before glancing up at Straf.

「No! No! Well… There was one sale I thought that may be unsavory people… But it was a defensive artifact, so no harm done, right?」

The shopkeeper spreads his hands, nervously grinning at Straf and Lily.

「And what was it?」

Straf asks, letting go of the man’s shirt.

「A ring. It turns your body into metal on impacts, it could save someone’s life, so-」

「You mean the ring that broke my fucking hand? You prick.」

Straf scoffs at the man, holding his recently broken hand up.

「What? It broke your hand? How? That shouldn’t happen on normal use-」

The shopkeeper shakes his head in confusion, staring at Straf’s hand.

「It wasn’t on use. It was on punching a fuckhead bandit-」

「Should I cut this worm’s hand away as a punishment, Straf?」

Lily chimes in, interrupting Straf.

「No, Lily, that’s for thieves. Leave it be.」

Straf explains, and Lily nods, seemingly in awe of his knowledge of appropriate punishments.

「Thieves?… I see….」

Lily nods her head, absorbing the new knowledge.

「Alright. If you want to keep your head, better tell me who sold you the ring.」

Straf slaps his hand on the counter and demands with a serious expression.

「I got it at a bargain from the other store that closed recently!」

The shopkeeper quickly explains, waving his hands in front of himself.

「Huh? What other store?」

Straf tilts his head and asks with a raised brow.

「The other pawn store! The guy made a fortune and retired! He sold his remaining stock at a complete steal! I got a few things that I already quickly sold at a good profit, like that ring!」

The pawn store owner explains himself further, pointing in some vague direction outside the store.

「Did he say who supplied him with the magic shit?」

Straf asks, still glaring down at the man. Lily sighs, and lowers her hand.

「He didn’t talk much about it, but he said he got his initial stock from some handsome tall man… Kind of like you, I guess.」

The shopkeeper spreads his hands, and shrugs. Straf looks aside and rubs his chin with his once-broken hand.

「Hmmv A guy that looks like me peddling magic shit at random? This just got complicated. We might be dealing with sabotage, Lily. And worse yet, I don’t have the time to follow this trail further. We just need to count on being lucky.」

Straf announces, and shrugs. He turns to the exit.

「You’re lucky you were cooperative. Lily here was hoping to at least cut a few of your fingers off.」

Straf says over his shoulder, grinning at the shopkeeper smugly. He opens the door, and exits.

Ring ring.

The bell chimes softly, and the door shuts behind the little girl. The shopkeeper blinks, and shudders from the realization of how narrowly he dodged mortal danger…