「I was in a city! But it wasn't like a normal city! The buildings were huge! Huge! Suppose you stood on the roof, you would be a tiny dot from all the way down! And everything was made of glass! And it was so loud! And there were moving paintings!-」

As soon as Alicia lets go, Greaves sits up and begins a haphazard retelling of his dream while waving his arms around. Straf stands back up with a little groan, and puts his hand in his pocket as he listens.

「Greaves, how are you feeling?」

She puts her hand on his chest, as if his pause button was there.

「I- Uh. Alright, I guess?」

Greaves looks at her hand on his chest, and then onto Alicia's face with significant confusion before hesitantly answering, a little flustered.

「I see… I'm glad.」

She pulls her hand away to place it on her own chest instead, sighing in great relief. Alicia smiles gently at Greaves, looking at him with a very glad gaze.

「Anyway, Alicia, listen! It was so weird! The roads were smooth! And everything was covered by this weird gray stone!- Well, some of it was colored, but…」

Greaves furrows his brows, looking down to recall the details.

《…Concrete?》

Straf furrows his brows while listening to Greaves.

「Well anyway! It was smooth! Smoother than the roads we have! Not like perfectly smooth but you wouldn't notice the texture from a few paces away! And some of it it was on the ground and black like coal!…」

《Asphalt, huh?…》

Straf smirks, looking aside while Greaves continues telling everyone about his deranged dream.

「Alicia, here comes the weirdest part! There were carriages riding around with no horses! And they looked weird! The driver was inside for some reason! And they were loud!」

《Woooow, amazing. I wonder what that could be…》

Straf scoffs at the young boy's description of automatic carriages.

「When I got my bearings- Wait, why is everyone standing over me?」

Greaves stops himself, realizing that Straf, Will, Lian, Cycelia, and even the carriage drivers are staring at him. Straf snaps his fingers and points at Greaves.

「'Cause you fucked up and fell asleep, inconveniencing absolutely everyone. Good job, legendary jobber.」

Straf says with a snide grin, pointing his finger.

「Wha-!? That's-! It's not my fault! I slept like ass today! I'd-! 」

「Greaves… He's just messing with you. It wasn't really your fault, and you didn't really fall asleep.」

Will approaches closer, adjusting his glasses as he cuts off Greaves's excuses.

「Tsk. Killjoy.」

Straf grumbles, sneering at Will. They exchanged an annoyed glance before they both look back at Greaves.

「What? Then… What happened?」

Greaves asks, his head jumps left and right as he looks for an answer from just about anybody.

「Someone explain it to him again… Or don't. I'm going back to my mat, I hate recap episodes.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders as he turns around and walks away with his hand in his pocket. Cycelia's gaze follows him.

「Recap… Episode?…」

She quietly asks, preemptively giving up on waiting for an answer…

…

Around the same time, in the capital's dungeon…

「Unhand me! I said I won't resist!」

The blonde man demands in a raised voice, tearing his arms out of the Ministry's agents' grasp. The two grim men leading him stop in their tracks, and grab onto their swords' hilts. He, and the two men glare at each other with narrowed eyes.

Then, his gaze jumps to Nona's amber eyes. They look at him curiously and innocently from behind the men, tilted a little to the side. When the Ministry agents realize the prisoner indeed isn't resisting, one of them points forward.

「Move.」

He demands, and the blond prisoner slowly turns forward again and continues walking. One of the agents overtakes him, and opens a door up ahead.

「Get in.」

One of the men demands. The prisoner approaches the open door, and stops just short of entering the shadowy room. He looks over his shoulder at Nona and the other Ministry agent, locking his gaze with her.

「I said-」

The agent holding the door says, but stops when he sees the prisoner hesitantly enter. The three follow him in, and the agent shuts the door.

「Sit.」

「What am I, a dog?」

The prisoner looks over his shoulder, protesting the blunt command of one of the agents pointing at a thick wooden chair soaked with old blood.

「Sit.」

He repeats through his teeth. The blond man hesitantly obeys, glaring at the men with frigid eyes. One of them pulls the coiled length of rope out from his belt, and both of the Ministry agents begin tying the man to the chair.

「This is unnecessary, I said I won't resist. I'm here to clear my name and clear up this misunderstanding-」

「Shut up.」

The prisoner verbally protests, but doesn't resist the efforts to tie him up. One of the agents bluntly cuts him off with a growl through his teeth. When he's tightly wrapped up, one of them gives the ropes a rough tug, eliciting a restrained grunt out of the prisoner.

They approach Nona, and she tips her peaked cap at them with a smile.

「Good work today!」

She says with a bright smile. The two grim men nod back in silence, and leave the room, shutting the door behind them.

With her hands clasped behind her back, Nona slowly stops up to the chair with large steps, albeit very slowly, while the two look each other in the eyes. He glares at her with an ever-frigid stare.

「…I think I have a rough idea what this is about.」

The blond captain of the guard says, looking almost exposed out of his guard's armor and missing his red cape.

「Do you?」

Nona inquisitively asks, leaning forward a little with an impish smile.

「I'm here because you want revenge for the time you got arrested, right?」

He asks, and Nona silently replies with a shake of her head while gently smiling. He sighs with relief, and slowly nods his head.

「I see. I'm glad. I thought it might have been the case, but I've decided to trust you. To me, you didn't seem like the type of person to do that.」

He says, looking Nona in her unnaturally orange eyes the whole time with a frigid gaze.

「Reeaally?…」

Nona grins, tilting her head. She skitters closer, and squats down low hugging her legs while looking up at the prisoner captain.

「…What kind of a person do you think I am, then?」

She asks, looking into his eyes with her chin on her knees, smiling softly. He goes silent, blinking a few times as he looks Nona in her amber eyes with a cold, but unfocused gaze. He blinks again, and his eyes re-focus.

「…I think you're a conscientious person, always doing your best, and you have a strong moral compass. But you're also a free spirit, and you do what you want. You're not vengeful, don't hold grudges… I figured as much.」

He says without a shred of sarcasm, his tone of voice remains the same as always.

「Ahahaha… Is that what you think?」

Nona lowers her head momentarily, giggling, before her amber eyes return to meet his with a light grin on her face.

「I may be wrong, but… I think you're an overall kind person. I have some evidence of that, even.」

「Really? Like what?」

She tilts her head, her grin growing wider.

「You never murdered anyone, for starters. You never as much as injured anybody, aside from your shoulder shoves on your way out… And you didn't take a thing from the old widow.」

「Hm?」

She tilts her head the other way, her orange eyes blink in confusion.

「You picked the whole place clean, but you didn't take a single copper from the widow. For the longest time, we thought she was involved.」

The prisoner captain says, looking at Nona with a still frigid gaze.

「Ahaha! Who would steal from someone like her? She'd die quick without savings!」

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Nona giggles, covering most of her face with the brim of her hat.

「Right. It'd be no different from murder. That's why I was against your sentence as well… You're not irredeemable.」

「Flattery won't get you anywhere! Ahaha!…」

She says, giggling. She stands up, holding the brim of her cap between her thumb and finger as she walks to the tool table.

「It's just what I think. Like I said, I may be wrong… But am I, Nona?」

He shrugs, looking into the darkness of the room, before turning his gaze back to Nona when she returns to the chair.

「Hmmm… I don't know. Are you, Arthur?- Ah, should I call you Mr. Reiker instead?」

She asks with another impish smile, before her eyes widen. She then places her finger on her chin again, looking up and away, before her amber eyes turn back to Arthur as she asks another question.

「…Arthur is fine. Is no murder a rule of your gang, or your personal creed? Are you still with them?」

He asks, looking up at Nona.

「Hmm… I don't steal anymore, if that's what you want to know.」

She replies with a faint smile and a tilted head.

「I see. That's a relief. I'm glad to hear the gallows aren't a place for you.」

Arthur nods, but his eyes continue frigidly looking up at Nona's amber eyes.

「Say… Will you sign a paper that says you admit you're guilty?」

Nona leans in forward, matching his head level with her hands behind her back.

「Absolutely not. I maintain my innocence. This is a misunderstanding, and I'm ready to prove it. I know the guards that handled your arrest didn't behave up to the standard, but I also understand that mere men are flawed. I will work to change-」

He says, but Nona suddenly raising her arms up above her head makes him pause. Following her hands, his eyes notice a hammer held up high, lit up by a flickering candlelight. Nona looks down at his face with a gleeful grin.

「…Is that meant to scare me into-?」

Arthur asks with brows lightly furrowed in confusion.

Clunk!

「Hrrrrghhhhh…」

A strangled groan of pain slips through his clenched teeth when Nona doesn't allow him to finish, slamming the hammer down onto his hand with a heavy sound of impact of metal on flesh.

「Hm?」

She tilts her head with a confused grin, looking at Arthur quietly deal with the pain with a twisting face.

「…Hrrgh. So it doesn't matter what I say, in your mind, I'm already guilty, huh?…」

Arthur asks, breathing heavily while sweat starts to build up on his forehead. Nona shakes her head.

「Nuh-uh. I believe you- No…」

She says with a smile, holding onto the hammer with both of her hands. She agrees with Arthur's innocence, but then stops herself and leans forward into his face.

「…I know you are innocent. Ahaha…」

Nona says with a grin, and straightens out with a quiet giggle.

「…What? Is this vengeance for the guards after all!?-」

「Nuh-uh. I'm not vengeful at all…」

She shakes her head again, interrupting him.

「…In fact, I'm really grateful. You really saved me back then.」

Nona adds with a smile, still holding onto the hammer.

「…Is this how you repay gratitude, then?」

Arthur asks, breathing heavily and sweating from the pain in his hand.

「Ahahaha!… Hey, do you know this feeling, when you do something that you really shouldn't?」

She asks with a wide grin, tilting her head a little. Her amber eyes blink staring into Arthur's.

「What? No.」

His frigid gaze grows confused, and he shakes his head a little with furrowing brows.

「I figured. You're too much of a good guy, you wouldn't do something bad…」

She shrugs her shoulders, nodding her head.

「…I first started stealing to have money for food. That was when I was desperate. It couldn't be helped, what was I supposed to do? Starve to death?」

Nona asks, with her face twisted into a small grin.

「…I would have excused stealing to survive out of desperation. How do you excuse this?」

He asks, nodding at his swelling, bruised hand.

「Ahaha!… You see… After a while, I figured out stealing feels good. It's fun. I wasn't supposed to steal, but I did it anyway. Even when I had plenty of money for food.」

She lets out a short giggle, and continues her explanation.

「…So you were in for the thrill of it? Like an old gambler?」

「Ahahaha! That's right! That's funny! It's kind of like that! Ahaha!」

Nona laughs, pointing at Arthur as she nods her head, before clutching onto her waist in laughter.

「And for the longest time, that was enough for me. I made a lot of friends and I had a lot of fun. I knew I could end up in big trouble, but I did it anyway. And then I got caught.」

She says, and her grin softens into a regular smile. Arthur keeps quietly listening with a cold, concerned stare.

「I had a lot of stupid thoughts when I had the rope on my neck. Then Straf came to save me, and I thought about it a lot, and slept on it. I realized I just didn't want to die unfulfilled, is what it was. I could do much more fun stuff before I die.」

She leans forward, with her hands on her knees along with the hammer.

「And this job was fun for a while, too… But then it kind of got boring, you know?」

Nona says, tilting her head while her amber eyes stare into Arthur's.

「…What?」

His eyes widen. His jaw drops a little, and he keeps blinking with an utterly perplexed expression on his face.

「Yes. It was fun, because it felt like I wasn't supposed to do this to people… But then I kind of got used to it. Ahaha…」

She straightens out and nods. She looks aside as she elaborates further, then her orange eyes jump back to Arthur, and she lets out a little quiet giggle.

「…What? Are you saying… That I'm here because?…」

Slowly processing her words, a realization dawns on Arthur's face.

「Yup! Because you're innocent! And I'm really grateful that you saved me! So… Ahahaha…」

Nona begins giggling, and grips onto her hammer with both of her hands again.

「So I'm really not supposed to do this to you! Ahahaha!」

「What?!-」

With his teeth clenched, Arthur's eyes follow Nona's hands above her head again while she lets out a loud cackle.

Clunk!

「Hrrrrrghhhhh!…」

Another groan of pain escapes Arthur's teeth when Nona's hammer comes bearing down on his other hand with a massive grin on her face.

「Ah? Again?」

She tilts her head and blinks rapidly in shock when he writhes in pain, grunting and groaning heavily. He once again manages to get his pain under control after a moment, although it's clear it's taking a toll on him.

「Hrrgh… What do you mean… Again? Agh…」

He asks, breathing heavily, glaring at Nona from beneath his brows.

「You didn't scream. Again…」

She says, sounding almost amazed as her voice trails off.

「I'm not going to… A proper man suffers in silence…」

Arthur says, suffering almost in perfect silence.

「Haha… Ahaha… Shit, this is bad… Ahahaha!…」

Nona says, visibly attempting to get her mad giggling under control, covering her mouth with her hand. She backs away from the chair a few steps, eliciting a confused look from Arthur.

「This is bad… Ahahaha… I should leave… I really should leave…」

She mumbles to herself, and glances at the door, backing away further as random chuckling escapes her mouth.

「What?… What's wrong?」

Arthur looks up at Nona with concerned eyes while he's in visible distress, though her face is frozen into a massive grin.

「I might actually kill you at this rate. I should leave, but…」

She glances at the door, suppressing laughter with a wobbling grin. She clutches at her chest, breathing heavily.

「Are you feeling alright? What's wrong?」

Arthur asks, with genuine concern for Nona's well-being in his voice. She takes a step forward, taking her hammer into both hands.

「I should leave, but I really want to break you. Ahaha… Hahaha… Ahahaha!」

Nona says, cackling. She lifts her hammer above her head.

Clunk!