An hour later, at the dinner tables in the ballroom…

Everyone has mostly finished their food, and are now simply sitting around the table, casually talking while the band in the corner of the room plays a quieter, calmer tune. Despite that, a few pairs are still dancing, albeit slowly and calmly. Lily appears to have become the subject of a very cautious study by a small handful of bold, daring guests interested in knowing more about vampire politics and affairs. She sits on one of the chairs at a wall, resting her elbow on the small table near her, and answering questions with a disinterested gaze.

「Your majesty… I understand you're planning to return to the Academy of Magic next year?」

Sir Vinis asks while patting down his lips with a cloth napkin.

「Ah… Yes, I want to finish both years.」

Cycelia turns her eyes to the magnate, and nods.

「…Will you be taking the minister with you again?」

He asks, and side-glances at Straf, who returns his distracted gaze back to the table. Straf meets Cycelia's emerald gaze.

「Straf?… I understand if you'd prefer to stay this time, but at the same time, I'm sure I'd have a lot of fun with you there…」

Cycelia says while looking into his eyes, smiling softly.

「…But I'd also want you to keep an eye on things here… What I'm trying to say is, I'd really like for you to come with me again, but I wouldn't mind if you'd stay either.」

Her eyes drift down to her clean plate, and she shrugs her shoulders, smiling at Straf again. Sir Vinis, as well as the rest of the table turn their attention to Straf.

「…The last time was a fucking chore, so I guess I'll stay here. But I suppose I can pop in every now and then and see how you're doing… Y'know, to make sure no asshole is locking you in again.」

With his arms crossed, Straf replies after a moment of thought, shrugging.

「Locking the empress in?… Did I miss something, your highness?」

Sir Vinis asks, furrowing his brows at Cycelia.

「Ahh… I didn't tell you, since it wasn't really that important anymore. There was an incident at the Academy. One of the usurper's old aides and the vampire that attacked Murusburg…」

She gains an awkward grin on her face, and begins explaining while Sir Vinis listens with a focused, lightly confused expression.

「…They placed a barrier that kept everyone in, and it killed anything that tried to leave. Lily was fortunately immune, being a vampire… A few innocent people were murdered.」

「…Well that sounds terrible. Good thing the minister was there, then?」

Sir Vinis remarks with a grimace, and quickly glances at Straf's bored face while he's propping it up on his hand.

「Yes… But that's not at all. It turned out that long time ago, a student was murdered after a duel, and his grudge formed a wraith. The three were trying to kill all the students and professors.」

Cycelia nods her chestnut head, and continues explaining.

「…A wraith?」

The magnate leans, furrowing his brows further.

「Yes. It's a construct of wrath, essentially. The mage, the count's aide murdered a professor and assumed his identity. The wraith cursed everyone to die with its essence…」

She nods again, spreading her gloved hands as she explains, shrugging her head a little as she speaks.

「…Straf somehow beat it with his bare fists. Ehe…」

Cycelia lets out a little giggle, smiling at Straf and his bored face, before turning her emerald eyes back to Sir Vinis.

「…Eventually, Straf figured it out, broke the barrier in a way that saved everyone, and killed the treacherous mage. Unfortunately, the vampire escaped to cause problems in Murusburg.」

She concludes, briefly glancing at Straf again as she smiles at the magnate.

「Pardon my assumption, minister, but I would think that you'd brag a lot more about that?」

Sir Vinis remarks with his brows raised, turning his surprised face to Straf.

「Meh.」

Straf shrugs in response. One of the doors to the ballroom open, and a man with a large hourglass in his hands enters.

「Your highness!… Honored guests!… The palace time keeper sends this year's final turn of the hourglass for her majesty to witness!」

The man declares as he raises the hourglass high above himself for all to see. The band slowly plays the notes quieter and quieter, before stopping altogether.

「Ah! Come, Straf!」

Cycelia jumps out of her chair with a large smile, and waves her hand for Straf to follow her down the steps into the standing area. She hurries out of the wooden balustrade, pinching her dress and holding it up so that she doesn't trip. The guests pluck glasses of alcohol from the maids' trays orbiting around them, and step closer to the hourglass bearer to watch the sand pour away. Most of it is already collected in the bottom half, but there is a fair share of it left to pour down.

Straf leaves the table, placing his hands in his coat's pockets. He joins Cycelia's side, and soon the rest of the table join them too. With a smile, she wraps her arm around Straf's, and hugs her rosy cheek into it. Nona watches on with curious amber eyes, while Lily stares at the trickling sand with her pale lips slightly scrunched to the side, like the whole ceremony is a farcical charade.

The drinking accelerates as the less sand remains in the top half of the hourglass. Some of the more inebriated nobles are still chattering, but most are watching the last of the grains trickle away with their breaths held. Looking at Cycelia, Alicia decides to copy her, and wraps her arm around Greaves's. His orange mass of hair perks up in alarm. She smiles at him, and he awkwardly scratches his cheek with his face turned away.

「…Final moments, ladies and gentlemen!」

The man holding the hourglass declares, and lifts it up again, keeping a close eye on the remaining sand. All eyes turn to the hourglass and its narrow neck.

The sand trickles, and trickles, and trickles.

It trickles away, and the last grain drops onto the heap below.

「…It is now year fifteen of the third era, ladies and gentlemen!」

Clapclapclapclapclapclapclap!…

The man proudly declares to a large applause from the guests as he lowers the hourglass with its top empty, and bows towards Cycelia with his hand on his shoulder. She claps her gloved hands too, though with not as much fervor as the nobles and magnates gathered. Still clapping, she turns her smiling face to Straf's bored one, and tilts her chestnut head. The man departs, and the band begins playing an energetic, rapid song again.

「Well, that was a little underwhelming… Some fireworks and a big clock would fix that. Maybe next year.」

Straf shrugs, then glances all around himself at Cycelia and the rest.

「Mhm. Maybe next year…」

She nods, blinking her emerald eyes up into Straf's with a warm smile on her face. The guests begin their celebrations anew, taking fresh glasses from the maids' trays, and some start dancing.

「Hmpf. Of course it was underwhelming. It's just another year.」

Lily scoffs with her fists on her hips.

「But that means new stuff to see… Right?」

Nona replies, then turns her amber eyes to Straf, smirking a little with her hands held behind her back. Either intentionally or by accident, she leans forward, revealing more of her cleavage.

「Right… And there's going to be some stuff to see, alright. I'm going to turn the empire into an economic superpower, just because it'll be funnier that way.」

Straf nods, then grins at the door as maids constantly pour in and out of the room with either empty or full trays.

「…Aren't we already an economic superpower?」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses. At the same time, Lian taps him on his shoulder with a smug smirk on her face, and holds her gloved hand out for him to take.

「Yup. But this will be like economic superpower 2… Or economic superpower fifth grade… Or ascended economic superpower.」

Rubbing his chin, Straf shrugs in casual agreement.

「Those are all completely meaningless words!…」

Will declares as Lian drags him away for a dance. Straf scoffs, shaking his head.

「Straf… Would you dance with me?… For the first time this year?」

Cycelia asks, brushing some hair behind her ear as she lets go of Straf's arm, and holds her gloved hand out for him. He looks at it with a tight-lipped grimace on his face, then into her eyes.

「…Sure. One more couldn't hurt.」

He shrugs, and takes her hand. The two make their way towards a relatively empty area of the packed ballroom.

「What about me!? I want a first dance of the year with you too!」

Lily declares with her eyes wide open, pointing her clawed finger at herself as she quickly rushes after them. Straf lets out a fatigued sigh.

「Patience, Lily… You're up next, okay? We're doing it by the order of appearance now…」

Straf replies, turning his narrow-lipped face towards Lily. She crosses her arms and turns her shoulder towards the two.

「…Fine. Don't keep me waiting excessively again.」

With a pout on her face, Lily shrugs, and begins impatiently tapping her foot on the hard wooden floor.

As they begin rapidly shuffling left and right again, with his mouth aslant, Straf briefly glances up at the lacunar ceiling above…

…

The next morning, in a kingdom neighboring Redwing Empire, in the capital city…

On the cold new year's morning, market vendors are back to work. They're laying out their goods on their stalls and hanging up the merchandise for sale before the hungover customers show up. Some of the stalls are already prepared, and the idle merchants are simply chatting amongst themselves. A man approaches a sausage vendor stall. The sausage seller puts his conversation on hold, and returns to serve the customer.

「Morning!… Celebrated hard?」

The merchant asks with a grin, crossing his arms.

「No, but I will be.」

The man bluntly replies.

「I see… So, what will you have?」

The merchant spreads his hands, and the customer aimlessly looks around the products on sale.

「…That link. The whole length.」

「Ah! Celebrating indeed, haha!… 200 auken… Drakes are fine, too, if you have 'em.」

The man nods up at one of the sausage links hanging above, and the grin on the mustached sausage seller's face grows. He pulls the link off, and sets it down on the stall.

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Without much fretting, the customer hands the merchant a 1000 auken bill. He takes it, and quickly begins counting the change.

「…800 auken change. Here you go, sir.」

The merchant holds eight 100 auken bills out for the customer, and with an encouraging nod, points his hand at the coiled up link of sausages waiting on the stall. He takes the money.

「…What is this shit?」「Hm?」

The customer says in an outraged tone, and the merchant raises his confused brow.

「Is there a problem? Did I count it wrong?-」

The merchant wiggles his mustache left and right in confusion. Just as the usual customers begin to flood in and the market slowly comes to life, the man reaches out, and grabs him by his jacket. The stall clatters and wobbles under the weight of the merchant's rotund belly when he's pulled over it.

「You think I'm stupid, you son of a bitch!? Huh!?」

「Wh-!? What!? What's wrong!? What did I do wrong!?」

The customer shouts at the sausage seller, balling his fist up in front of his face as if readying to punch him, crumpling up the bills in it. The frightened merchant holds his palms out.

「Hey!… Hey! Break it up, right now! What's going on there!?」

Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack!…

An armored city guard shouts as he runs up, pointing at the man and the merchant. His sabatons clatter noisily on the cobblestones. The guard forces himself in between the two men, and pulls the irate customer away from the merchant, gripping onto his sword just in case.

「This fucking bastard tried to scam me! He handed me a bunch of shit fake money!」

The customer shouts while pointing his finger at the merchant, who is still meekly holding his hands up.

「What?…」「Fake money?…」

The guard narrows his suspicious gaze at the customer, then glances at the merchant's plump, frost-reddened, and confused face.

「…Let me see this fake money.」

The guard demands, holding his armored gauntlet out for the man. He angrily pushes a whole fistful of auken into it. After making their purchases, the customers and the merchants alike are looking on to see what the commotion is, and most gossip amongst themselves with their fists on their hips. The guard looks onto the bill, furrowing his brows greatly. He quickly raises his wary eyes at the customer's scowling face to check if he's not preparing to leave, or doing something suspicious.

Taking another look at the bill, he finds nothing wrong, at least nothing immediately obvious. He glances at the man with a look full of suspicion again, then turns his eyes to the merchant.

「You. Show me what he paid you with.」

He demands, and the merchant quickly returns a nod, and pulls the 1000 auken bill out. He takes it, and compares the two bills, searching for something elusive.

Cla-clack!

「S'cuse me, did I hear something about fake money?…」

The guard's armor clatters as he jumps up in panic when another man joins in from behind. He leans over the guard's shoulder, and looks on with a curious face.

「None of your business! Move along!…」

The guard exclaims, and points his armored finger further down the market.

「Uhhh… It might be my business though. You see, the other day a merchant tried to scam me with the same trick. Maaan, I was pissed off… Do you need help figuring out if they're fake?」

The newly arrived man shrugs his hands, and asks. The guard's cautious eyes jump across the three men.

「…You know how to?」

He asks with a wary face.

「Yeah. Can I see them? Just let me have a close look and I'll tell you which ones are fake.」

The man nonchalantly nods, shrugging his shoulders. The guard shows him a 1000 and 100 auken bill, and the man takes them.

「Hmmmmmmm…. Hmmmmm…」

The man humms while looking at the two banknotes. The merchant leans in over his stall, watching with his brows furrowed in worry, while the irate customer waits with his arms crossed.

「And?」

The guard asks.

「…Yeah. This thousand one… This one's real. But the hundred is fake.」

The scammed man replies, and shrugs the 100 bill. The guard's head perks up in surprise.

「How do you know?…」

He asks with a very wary tone, tilting his helmeted head.

「Weeeeell… I can't know for certain, I'd need to see the other bills for that, but it has the signs of being fake. Can I see the other hundreds? I'll know for sure then.」

The man helplessly shrugs his hands, then rubs the back of his neck as he explains. The guard glances at the conflicting party, then hands the man the rest of the bills.

「…Yup. All fake. Definitely.」

After giving each a quick glance, the man nods his head and holds them out for the guard.

「How do you know? Explain.」

The guard demands, taking them back. The man leans in, and points at one of them.

「See the number here? With real ones, it keeps increasing, but these keep repeating. See? They increase, and then these have the exact same number.」

He explains as his finger points at a small serial number off to the side of the bill. The guard sifts through the banknotes, and finds them duplicated every few of the copies.

「What the?…」

The guard's head recoils in surprise, and he turns his scowling face to the merchant, taking an angry step towards his stall.

「…Aaaah, before you do anything… The merchant here probably didn't know that himself. The scummy one I dealt with knew. This one's probably as much as a victim as this guy here.」

The scammed man softly stops the guard, placing the back of his hand on his breastplate before he can reach the merchant.

「…Let me look through my money quick!」

The merchant declares, and begins laying out his banknotes onto the stall. The guard and the two men watch on as he looks through the serial numbers. The merchant's reddened face turns pale.

「…Mercia's grace, they're all fake! I have no money!」

「See?」

The merchant declares with his eyes wide open, while the fake banknote expert shrugs his hands as he looks at the surprised, and slightly unnerved guard.

「…You're both victims then, but all those bills are illegal. I'm confiscating them, and returning the real one to this man.」

The guard declares, and holds the 1000 auken bill out for the now calm customer. He takes it, and pockets it.

「I- I'm terribly sorry, sir! I didn't know this myself! This is terrible!」

Greatly troubled, the merchant throws his hands up, then looks at the guard scoop all the fake bills off his stall one by one. Another commotion begins as the word of the fake bills spreads through the market. The merchants quickly rush to their stalls to check their money, while the customers begin checking their bills.

「…I invalidate your transaction, sir. Either come to an agreement again, or buy from someone else.」

The guard says to the customer as he continues scooping the fake money up.

「Nah, I'm good.」

The customer shakes his head, and the two men turn to leave.

「…You son of a bitch! Give me my money back!…」「…I didn't know it was fake! It's not my problem anymore!…」「…Give that back! Thief!…」

Merchants and customers alike all over the market start throwing accusations at each other as shouting matches, and even wrestling ones begin. More guards rush into the market, but it's clear it's rapidly spiraling out of control as more and more people find out that their money has been counterfeited. The once-irate customer and the fake money expert walk together side by side, and one of the men blows some air into his hands to warm up.

「…Should we try another market, captain?」「…Enough! Stop, or you're under arrest!…」

Crash!

The expert asks as they calmly depart from the market. One of the stalls gets thrown to the ground, and a handful of men behind them throw fists at each other. Shouting empty threats, the guards are completely helpless, and multiple brawls break out at once. The customer glances over his shoulder.

「…No. Things are heating up a little too much. I'd say we're done here. Let's hit their bank, drain them of what they have, and head back.」

He replies, shaking his head a little with a small grimace on his serious face.

「…Drinking money for late new year's celebration?」

With his hands in his pockets, the expert asks, grinning. The captain tries to suppress his smirk, but fails.

「Funds nobody will ask about.」

He nonchalantly replies, and shrugs.

「I like your thinking, captain!…」

The expert says, chuckling with a wide grin as they head for the capital's bank…