Fifteen minutes later…

「Here…」

Straf holds one of the cutlets between his thumb and finger out for Nona.

「Aaahhh… Ahmm~」

She leans in over the table and takes a bite. Her amber eyes turn to Cycelia as she chews smugly.

「S- Straf… Is that really okay?… I don't think your hands are clean-」

Cycelia says with her brows furrowed, poorly hiding her anguish cracking through her mask.

「I don't mind if they're dirty.」

Nona gulps then nonchalantly replies with a smug smile, turning her gaze to Straf and his slanted mouth.

「They are clean… Probably cleaner than surgical tools. I'm fairly sure if your throat was scratchy, I could give it a good rub on the inside and it'd get better.」

「Aaaaaaahm~」

Straf replies while feeding Nona the rest of her cutlet. He takes another piece and lifts it up in front of her face while she chews.

《Damn it… Why do I have to learn all the easy stuff so quickly!?…》

Cycelia clenches her teeth in dismay and closes her fist around her chopsticks while watching the two.

「I don't mind if you want to give my throat a rub. Hehe… Ahhhhm~」

Nona takes a bite, then turns her smug amber eyes to Cycelia while chewing conspicuously with a large smirk on her face.

「Kkhkkkk…」

《…I want Straf to feed me like that too! Stop being so smug about it, it's pissing me off!》

Cycelia's chopsticks creak under the pressure from her fist as she hides her face behind her hair.

「Stop making it sound lewd- You are doing that on purpose, aren't you?」

Straf asks with his mouth scrunching to the side in disapproval. Nona gulps.

「What's lewd?… Aaaaaaahhhnn~」

She asks with an innocent smile, and sticks her tongue out as she leans in towards the cutlet in Straf's fingers.

Instead of taking a quick bite, she looks into Straf's eyes as she gives its tip a lick. Straf looks at her with a mildly annoyed, unimpressed expression on his face, while Stripe stares at them with a tight-lipped grimace and her golden eyes wide open. Nona moves to take a bite, but then stops and looks at Cycelia, who is borderline fuming while glaring at her.

「Ah. Maybe you want Straf to feed you too?-」

「N- N- N- Nononono! I can eat by myself fine! It's fine! I'm not angry at all!」

Nona asks, but Cycelia shakes her head and replies before she can even properly finish. To demonstrate her ability to eat by herself, she hastily scoops up one of her cutlets and takes a quick bite, chewing rapidly with her eyes wide open and darting between everyone around the table seemingly at random.

「…Huh?」

Straf narrows his eye at Cycelia as Nona finally takes a bite with a mischievous grin on her face, and pulls away.

「Mmmmmhmmmm!…」

《Nooooooo! I said too much!…》

Clunk.

The partially-eaten cutlet falls back down to Cycelia's plate as she clenches her fist around her chopsticks with her emerald eyes forced shut in anguish. Straf lets out a long, weary sigh.

「Tsk… Fine. I'll pamper you for a little bit…」

He says as he picks the cutlet up and holds it up for Cycelia.

「Huh?」「…Say aaaaaaaahh.」

Cycelia opens her eyes and looks at the cutlet in front of her, then furrows her brows and looks at Straf's slanted mouth staring at her.

「Aaaa?… Aahm~」

A little confused and blushing slightly, she bites down on the cutlet.

Though it's already room temperature after a lengthy and failed tutoring for Nona, Cycelia's heart fills with warmth and joy as she begins to chew.

「Hnnnnmfff!」

She lets out a pleased squeal as she closes her eyes.

「Is it that good?… I thought it was cold… Shame we don't have microwaves, huh? Would really help restaurants out a lot.」

Straf raises a brow at Cycelia's surprisingly gleeful reaction. She blinks at him, and her cheeks flush further as she feebly tries to hide them with her dainty hands.

「Microwaves?…」

Nona asks, tilting her fluffy brown head.

「Yeah, short for microwave ovens, actually. It's a box where women can put their leftovers in to make them hot again, and men can make microwave meals with.」

Straf nods and explains as he patiently waits for Cycelia to finish chewing.

「…Can't men make their leftovers hot too?」

Nona asks another question, tilting her head to the other side and blinking her curious eyes at Straf's bored face. Her mass of hair jiggles slightly from the motion.

「We don't have to.」

Straf bluntly replies with his mouth aslant, and Cycelia swallows. He reaches for another cutlet on her plate.

「Ah, er… I'm fine.」

Cycelia grabs Straf's wrist with both of her hands, and says with a tight-lipped grimace on her red face.

「It's really not a problem… I don't mind feeding you too-」

「I'm fine.」

Straf replies, but Cycelia cuts him off with an insistent nod of her chestnut head. The two stare at each other for a brief moment of silence, before Straf simply shrugs and pulls away.

「…If you say so. Here, Nona, last one.」

He adds, then reaches for the last cutlet on Nona's plate instead. He picks it up and lifts it in front of her.

「Hmpf. Can't I get more?」

Nona pouts slightly while looking at the breaded, golden-orange cutlet in front of her.

「You're still hungry?」

Straf asks, furrowing his brows in mild surprise.

「Nooo, but…」

Still pouting, she replies and turns her amber eyes aside.

「Come on, don't keep me hanging.」

「…Aaaaahhm~ Ahm~」

Straf pleads with a weary sigh, to which Nona turns her face back to the cutlet and takes two quick bites, one after another, devouring the rest of the cutlet entirely.

「Right. I think it's hamburgers for you next time…」

He remarks with a shrug, then turns his eyes back to Stripe, who is sitting in front of an empty bowl lightly dotted with specks of finely chopped greens.

「…So, returning to that previous topic… That girl in the palace wants me dead? Why?」

Straf asks as he leans onto the table with his elbow again. Cycelia furrows her brows while bashfully eating her cutlets with her head lowered.

「Not necessarily her Divine Embodiment… She does very little day-to-day ruling, so I've heard. The palace officials make decisions and change the laws that the rest follow instead.」

Crossing her arms, Stripe shakes her head while speaking in a hushed tone.

「And why the fuck would they want me dead?」

Straf raises his brow and glances at the rest. Nona blinks at him, tilting her head. Lily raises a brow without saying anything, and Cycelia is busy with her cold cutlets.

「Seriously?… I can think of at least a dozen reasons… But that's not important…」

A smirk appears on Stripe's face as she's somewhat amused by his question. She scoffs, shaking her head again as she lowers it.

「…My original mission was to find out what the public's reaction was to your death. I'm fairly sure they thought they killed you a pretty long time ago.」

She adds, lifting her golden eyes to meet Straf's bored ones with a serious grimace.

「Tsk… Yeah, the turtle incident… The edgy teenager brother was really impressed by the abyss quote, and told me some guy sicced him at me…」

Straf clicks his tongue and lets out a frustrated sigh as he nods along.

「The turtle incident?…」

Stripe asks, furrowing her brows in confusion. She looks at the rest of the table.

「I was impressed too…」

Lily chimes in, and quickly looks away.

「What abyss quote? What turtle?… Am I missing something?」

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Stripe's confusion only deepens as her gaze darts around the table. She looks at Nona's amber eyes staring at her.

「…I dunno. He he.」

Nona replies with a shrug, a grin, and an innocent giggle.

「The turtle incident was… Um… Straf was ambushed by Shien, Lian's brother, on the way to the capital…」

Cycelia explains in an awkward, hesitant voice while glancing at Straf.

「…And, um… I kind of blame myself for that… Because I found a turtle on the side of the road, and I thought it was strange, so I wanted to take a look… And Straf got distracted…」

She lowers her head as she continues, growing quieter and quieter. Crossing his arms, Straf lets out a sigh.

「It's fine. Forget it, Lia. I bet that crafty son of a bitch placed it there as a distraction to begin with. Why would there be a turtle?…」

He rolls his eyes and shrugs before mumbling to himself, rubbing his chin.

「What about the abyss quote?-」

「Forget it too, if I misquote it too much, people will get irrationally upset about it. So you're saying this whole time, ever since the tournament, they wanted me dead?」

Stripe asks, but Straf dismisses her question with a shake of his head and asks his own instead.

「Most likely. Maybe even longer than that.」

She nods with her oval pupils staring directly into Straf's eyes.

「But I didn't even know this place fucking existed at that point! What the fuck!?」

Indignant and speaking with his voice raised, Straf throws his arms up.

「But that was…」

Confused, Stripe narrows her eyes warily before turning them aside to think.

「…A little over half a year ago, wasn't it?」

She asks, and her confusion deepens.

「Yeah, I guess.」

Straf bluntly replies with a quick shrug and his mouth aslant.

「…And you learned out language in that time?」

「Nope.」

She asks, and Straf replies in the same manner.

「So, you were born to someone-?」

「Nope.」

「Huh? But- Are you making fun of me? Is that it? Are you just mocking me?」

Utterly baffled, her golden eyes drift down to the table before angrily snapping back to Straf's face. Her lip and brow twitches as she stares at him with her arms crossed.

「What? What bit you in the ass suddenly?」

Somewhat puzzled too, Straf tilts his head slightly.

「You said you didn't even know about the Eastern Kingdoms, but six months or so later, you can speak our language. What is up with that?」

Stripe explains in an angry tone while glaring at Straf.

「…I have to admit, it is a little weird, Straf.」

Cycelia chimes in, leaning a little over the table with her brows furrowed his way.

「Is it?」

Nona asks, tilting her head. Stripe and Cycelia furrow their brows at her, very briefly glancing at her before returning their eyes back to Straf.

「…Are you saying you just can speak our language, without knowing about us?」

Stripe asks with her eyes narrowed full of suspicion.

「…Yeah? Do I have to learn a language to speak it? Did you? Don't you just speak?」

Deeply confused, Straf asks while spreading his arms and looking around the table. Stripe and Cycelia exchange likewise confused gazes.

「But… Yeah?… That's how it?…」

Perplexed, Stripe throws her clawed hand up as her voice trails off from the sheer confusion as she struggles to process Straf's bizarre reply.

「Hmpf… I think Straf's genius is simply so great that he is struggling to comprehend your simplicity. It's best if you simply drop this topic before you're embarrassed.」

Previously quiet and still keeping her arms crossed, Lily chimes in with a scoff as she looks at the rest with disinterested scarlet eyes.

Stripe, Nona, and Cycelia exchange gazes between each other, then furrow their brows at Straf, who is still deeply confused by Stripe's question.

「Yeah, maybe…」「It's Straf after all…」「I'm kinda too dumb to follow, so… Hehe…」

Stripe, Cycelia, and Nona all nod along in agreement. Cycelia shrugs her shoulders with an awkward smile, while Nona lets out a quiet giggle.

「Hmpf. Indeed… It is Straf.」

Lily remarks and lowers her head again, only partially paying attention.

「Sooo… Who do I talk to? To get this shit called off, I mean.」

Straf asks, lazily shrugging his hand as he returns to leaning on the table.

「Huh? You can't. You've been marked for death. You don't just casually cancel something like that like an order in a restaurant.」

Stunned, Stripe narrows her eye at Straf with a ridiculing smirk on her face.

「Soooo… Who do I have to kill so that they get the message?」

Straf rolls his eyes then asks again.

「Pft. Good luck.」

Stripe scoffs, smirking without even entertaining an answer.

「The Embodiment girl? Fine, the palace is the next-」

「What are you even-!? I told you she has very little to do with day-to-day things!」

Thud!

Straf asks with his brows raised and furrowed, but Stripe cuts in with a frustrated shout and slaps the table, attracting some quick glances her way again.

「So who is it? Better tell me or I'll let Mercia sort 'em out.」

Crossing his arms again, Straf asks with a smug smirk on his face.

《Uwaaa… Straf is so cool when he's ruthless, even when he's bluffing… I think.》

Cycelia thinks while nibbling on her very last cutlet with stars in her eyes while staring at Straf's handsome and smug face.

「I don't know who wants you dead! It could be any official with sufficient enough power! There's hundreds of them, thousands if you extend the possibilities to petitions-」

Stripe replies with her voice raised just below shouting.

「Right, everyone it is-」

Straf bluntly cuts in with a shrug of his shoulders.

「Are you even listening to me!?」

In return, Stripe cuts him off as well with another angry shout…

…

Late at night, on the eastern side of the Eastern Ranges, at the foot of the mountain…

Greaves and his party descend the mountain slope. Alicia is shambling behind the party, while Will is showing signs of fatigue as well.

「Come on, Alicia… Just a little closer and we'll be at the village. We'll get an inn and sleep in a cozy warm bed for the night.」

Greaves briefly stops and looks at Alicia, who is gasping for air while barely walking forward.

「I'm… Trying… Haah…」

She replies between breaths, hugging her hands underneath her armpits while her wand rests locked under her arm. Greaves lets out a sigh and pulls his backpack off.

「…Will, carry this stuff for me.」

Greaves says to Will as he throws his pack his way.

Fwumpfclunkk.

With no choice but to receive it either in his arms or his face, Will catches it in his arms on a reflex.

「Huuuuh!? You expect me to carry your ba…!?」

Briefly outraged, Will shouts back at Greaves with his eyes wide open. His voice trails off into silence when Greaves walks a few steps to Alicia, turns around, then kneels down.

「I'll carry you to the village, Alicia. Hop on.」

Greaves says as he looks at her over his shoulder covered by his red scarf. She manages to shamble up the few more steps required, then drops onto his back with a tired groan.

「…Hup.」

Holding her legs, Greaves stands up without straining in the slightest as Alicia wraps her arms around his neck from behind.

「Tsk… Alright…」

Will clicks his tongue and simply shrugs as he turns to continue towards the village with the backpack in his hands. Lian takes a few faster steps and catches up to his side.

「…Are you sure you don't want me to carry that, Will? My pack is pretty small.」

Empty-handed, Lian asks from the side with a light smirk and her brows gently raised.

「Forget it… What kind of a man would make a woman carry his pack?…」

He replies with a faint shake of his head and his mouth aslant.

Lian lets out a faint amused huff from her nose and turns her black eyes ahead to the orange glow of the village…