A day later, at noon, in a palace on a mountain…

「…What? Where?」

Willow perks up at his low table, staring at the man shrouded in black clothing kneeling at his open door, furrowing his brows at his conical hat.

「In the land of Lord Bright, in the town of ill repute, and heading further north.」

The palace guard replies with his head lowered.

「Gnnghh…」

Willow lets out a troubled groan as he lowers his gripless tea mug and strokes his short beard, thinking.

「…Shall we send Master Falcon after them?」

The man asks, raising his eyes up to look at the old mage from beneath his hat's brim.

「…Redirecting him would be faster than if I would handle it… And I can't leave the palace like this either…」

Willow mumbles to himself in deep thought while looking blankly at his mostly empty mug.

「…Send him. Tell him to make it quick. He's to kill him and return to guarding the villages at risk as soon as he's able.」

The old mage barks out an order to the kneeling man and takes his mug back into hand, taking a sip.

「Understood, Master Willow, but… There is another issue…」

The guard nods, and awkwardly chimes back in.

「There's always an issue… What is it?」

Shaking his head, Willow swallows and replies with his mouth scrunched to the side in frustration, wrinkling his tired face heavily.

「The guards there spotted Oleander. She was in their group, and she left with them. What should be done?」

「Oleander?」

The guard explains, and Willow's bushy brows furrow in surprise and confusion.

「Yes, Master Willow…」

The guard nods to confirm, and lowers his head as he waits for a reply.

「Did she successfully infiltrate their group?… Or did she change sides?…」

Willow pensively rubs his chin again, staring at the table with an absentminded gaze.

「…No matter. We don't have time for this one way or another. Tell Falcon to investigate what's going on with Oleander, and to send a report back when he's done.」

He shakes his head and turns his eyes back to the waiting guard, who nods in reply.

「Yes, Master Willow.」

The man replies and slides the door shut.

With a sigh, Willow takes another sip, emptying his mug…

…

Around the same time, deeper north, in a small city…

Straf and his group are aimlessly wandering the wide, but empty streets. The only people who are still outside are seemingly transients and the displaced, lining up the buildings as they sit on the ground wrapped in rags, sacks, or whatever else they can find to shield them from the relatively soft cold. Will adjusts his glasses and lets out a weary sigh as they pass yet another poster depicting Straf.

「…Are we just looking for trouble at this point? You're wanted. Why are we just walking around? In fact, what is the point of this!?」

Will exclaims, spreading his arms with an exasperated look on his face.

「The point is that there is no point. We're having fun.」

Straf nonchalantly replies over his shoulder, then stops at a crossroads in the empty city.

「What's so fun about people trying to kill you!? Do you find kicking holes into stuff fun!?」

「You wouldn't get it.」

Will shouts, throwing his arms up. Straf shrugs with a nonchalant grimace on his face and his hands in his coat's pockets.

「…We do need something fun to do, though.」

Straf remarks with his mouth aslant as he fails to find anything catching his attention in all directions.

「There's nothing fun to do here. Look around. Do you think fun is on the mind of people getting pestered by demons?」

Stripe replies, approaching his side. She points at the line of people sitting on the ground huddling together for warmth.

「Where is everyone? The cities down south were packed.」

Straf asks, turning his eyes to Stripe and Oleander behind her.

「Probably hiding indoors. The people are terrified of demon attacks. There are her Divine Embodiment's servants working day and night to protect them, but it's not enough.」

Oleander chimes in, glancing at Stripe with her mouth scrunched to the side.

「…Yeah. That's what I heard. People in the south can afford a normal life… For now, at least. Everyone is doing the bare minimum work and hiding, hoping that they won't come.」

Though reluctant, Stripe nods and concurs with her arms crossed while looking at Straf with a serious, somewhat gloomy face.

「The demons?…」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses as he approaches.

「Yeah. Further north it's just small villages that either managed to hold them off, or the people there are so poor that if they get forced out, they might as well die.」

Stripe looks at Will and nods in reply, turning her gaze towards the northern part of the empty crossroads in the city.

「How long has this been going on?… Surely we'd hear of it in the west.」

Will furrows his brows, glancing over his shoulder at Greaves and the rest.

「Roughly 15 years or so at a small scale… But it got bad about a year ago. Half a year ago they just started razing cities and slowly making their way south.」

Stripe shrugs and explains, thinking briefly while staring at the snow-dusted stone road.

「15 years ago!?…」

Will perks up with a voice raised in disbelief.

「Keep in mind, it was minor incidents… But I heard of them happen even as a child. A person got torn to shreds here, someone disappeared there… It all felt distant…」

Stripe nods, but reiterates with her mouth aslant in a troubled grimace and shrugs her shoulders as she continues. Her gaze drops down to her feet as she thinks.

「…It's not so distant now. You saw it for yourself, didn't you?」

She adds, blinking her golden eyes at Will. He only replies with a soft grunt and adjusts his glasses on his gloomy face.

「Sorry to interrupt the backstory, but is there anything fun to do in the local area at all? Any onsens? Anything?」

With his hands in his pockets, Straf leans in with his bored grimace glancing at everyone in front of him.

「Tsk… I told you, there's nothing fun in a city that's wondering if it's its last day!…」

Annoyed, Stripe shouts back at Straf and points her clawed finger in his nonchalant face. Seemingly unbothered, he leans back a little to avoid it poking him in his eye.

「…And if you want an onsen, we're way too far north for that!」

Crossing her arms back up, she adds as she turns away from Straf.

「Onsen?…」「…Onsen?」

Cycelia and Nona both ask at the same time, tilting their heads.

「…What's that?」

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Will adjusts his glasses, glancing between Straf and Stripe with his brows furrowed.

「Tsk… It's a… It's like a bath with hot water. It's really nice, especially in winter when you're frozen to the bone. It really hits the spot after intense physical training too.」

After some trouble with searching for words, Stripe explains to the unaware group to the best of her ability, and shrugs.

「After intense physical training!?」

Clenching his fists, Greaves lights up as a grin appears on his face.

「It's just a bath, Greaves… I don't know what you're getting excited for.」

Will turns his scrunched mouth to Greaves with an unimpressed grimace.

「Not exactly. It's a large bath that doesn't get any colder… Moreover, an onsen episode is a must…」

Straf chimes in as well, raising his index finger to clarify. He returns his hand to his pocket, smirking slightly.

「…But maaan, I really hate backtracking. What's the closest one? What are our options?」

He adds, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

「I'd stop by an onsen again, so… The closest one is not that far… But the best one with the fanciest views is a little west of the palace.」

With her arms crossed and gaze turned away, Stripe mumbles to herself under her breath before replying.

「The best one, huh?… The onsen episode is getting budget. But if it's far south, we might as well call it a day early and rest up for a long trip tomorrow.」

Straf inquisitively rubs his chin with his brow raised at Stripe. He then shrugs his hand, returning it to his pocket as he turns his eyes to the rest of the group. Cycelia nods in agreement.

「It just so happens!…」

Stripe says in a raised voice and a lowered head, causing the group to turn their attention to her.

「…It just so happens that this city has a western-style inn. It's very expensive, but I also doubt that you care.」

She adds, raising her golden eyes to Straf with her mouth aslant.

Snap!

「Right. Let's go, then. Unless you want to rent another mansion…」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Stripe in reply with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, nodding for Stripe to lead.

She takes a western turn down the crossroads, and Straf follows her with a glance over his shoulder at the rest. A large group of palace guards miss Straf by a second or two…

…

Half an hour later, in the afternoon, in an eastern western-styled inn…

After paying a large portion of their money, though smaller than at a pleasure house, Straf and his group go up the stairs to the hallway of doors at the empty inn. With one hand in his pocket, Straf briefly searches for his own door, and finds the matching number on the wooden plate attached to the key.

Cla-clack!…

He swings the western-style door open and enters.

「Goodnight, Straf-」「Yeah.」

Thud.

Cycelia calls out in a soft voice. Without turning around, Straf replies with a nod and swings the door shut behind himself.

「…Goodnight Will, Alicia, Stripe… Everyone.」

With her emerald eyes lowered, Cycelia approaches her door, nodding her head towards the rest of the group as they prepare to enter their own rooms.

「Goodnight, your majesty.」「Goodnight to you as well.」「Yeaaah…」

Will adjusts his glasses as he nods his head in response. Alicia bows, while Greaves partially rolls his eyes and nods as well. Cycelia enters her room and shuts the door behind herself.

As the rest of the group slowly enter their own rooms, Stripe unlocks her door then looks over her shoulder at Cycelia's, then Straf's with a troubled grimace on her face. She enters her room, gently pushing the door shut. She pulls out the dagger from her sash and unties it, slipping her kimono off, wearing only much thinner, plain and white underrobes. Stripe folds her kimono into a square on the western-style bed, sets it on top of the chest of drawers nearby, then slips into the bed.

「Ahhhhh… As I thought, these beds are just better after all…」

Stripe lets out a contented sigh as she places her curving dagger beneath her puffy pillow and wiggles herself into a comfortable sleeping position under her blanket…

…

At the same time, in Straf's room…

「Let me guess… The bed's a piece of shit…」

Thump.

Straf says as he jumps into the bed by a wall with his hands in his pockets, bouncing on his back.

「…At least I didn't get pleasantly surprised-」

Fwwooompf. Clack.

A soft overpressure disturbs the air in the room to the sound of heels clacking gently against the wooden floor.

「Huh. Look who finally decided to show up. Is this episode airing at night? Can I expect something?」

Straf lets out an amused huff as he turns his bored grimace to Athea, who approaches his bed with her arms crossed. She turns around and sits down by his feet.

「…Do you want to talk?」

She asks, turning her serious, gloom-filled blue eyes to Straf.

「About what?」

He asks back, shrugging his shoulders as he places his hands behind his head up on the pillow.

「About you feeling lonely.」

「No.」

Athea clarifies, and Straf bluntly replies with his mouth aslant.

「…I see. I won't force you. But he's right. You're surrounded by people, you shouldn't feel this way. I'm not telling you not to, but I think it's your own choice.」

She says after a long, troubled sigh, briefly lowering her golden head before returning her gaze back to Straf's frustrated face staring at her.

「It isn't. It wasn't. Why do you care?」

With his mouth scrunched to the side, Straf asks.

「I care because I'm responsible for you… For better or worse. Both unto this world, and unto you. Even if you're technically not my problem anymore.」

Athea says with a serious face, still keeping her arms crossed. Straf scoffs.

「Wooow. How magnanimous of you. You are responsible for me. You did this.」

He replies with an audibly sarcastic tone.

「I don't think it's magnanimous. I know it's just something that belongs to me as a responsibility. I also know different people react in different ways…」

She returns a gentle shake of her flowing golden hair and returns her soft blue-eyed gaze to Straf's annoyed grimace.

「…I was wrong to think that you got over things so quick. Perhaps it was a little callous of me. I'm sorry.」

Athea adds with a sigh and another shrug of her bare shoulders.

「I got over everything. I'm back in business. I got distracted for a few months, now we're back at the original recipe, and it's not a marketing trick.」

Straf replies with an angry tone and his mouth still scrunched.

「I've watched you long enough to know that's not true. But I won't force you to talk. I know you know that I'm here. It's your choice if you want to keep acting out a character…」

Clack… Clack… Clack…

Athea stands up and walks to the center of the room in a slow step. Her heels clack noisily against the wood.

「…If you want to talk, I'm always available… Even if I can't always come here like this.」

She adds with a light, albeit slightly troubled smile.

「If it matters to you at all, I feel slightly better now that you've decided to stop ignoring me.」

Straf quickly chimes in, still lying on his bed with his hands behind his head. Athea lets out a long, frustrated sigh.

「…I'm not ignoring you. If anything, I'm neglecting quite a lot of things and a lot of other people thanks to you.」

She replies with a soft voice in spite of her frustrated sigh just a moment ago.

Fwwwommm!

Athea disappears into a narrow column of light upward with a soft chime. Straf scoffs, shaking his head as he turns his annoyed gaze to the dark ceiling above him…