In the throne room, in the morning…

Queen Cycelia is sitting in her throne. She yawns, covering her mouth with her hand. Straf enters the room and beelines straight for the throne.

「Hey, Lia, check this out.」

Straf says with a grin, and hands her the golden dragon bills in varying denominations.

「…What is this?」

She asks, looking at the slips of stamped paper in her hands.

「It's money. Well, not yet. You need to announce that it is.」

Straf says, then shrugs and clarifies.

「…Is this supposed to be Redwing?」

She squints, looking at the dragon on the bill.

「Supposed to? It is. Do you not see it?」

Straf asks, and leans in towards Cycelia by propping himself up on the throne's armrests, looking at the 100-bill in her hands. Cycelia squeezes herself back deep into her throne, as Straf's face far too close for comfort.

《Ah! Close! Close! Too close! What is he doing!? Is he trying to k- K-》

Cycelia flushes red, looking at Straf's bored face with a tight-lipped grimace. The guards look at each other, the distance between Straf and the queen is too small even for them.

「Well? Do you see it? You pass by the painting most likely every day.」

Straf asks, looking back down at the bill after glancing at Cycelia's darting, panicking emerald eyes.

「Huh!? Uh- Um. Yes, I see a resemblance now…」

She replies, nodding, then looks at the bill in her hands.

「So, what do you think?」

He pushes himself away and asks, putting his fists on his hips with a grin.

「Um… It's… It's meant to be money?」

As she manages to calm down and become less flustered, her gaze jumps back and forth between the bills in her hands and Straf.

「Like I said, you need to announce that it is.」

「But how is it supposed to be money? It's just paper-」

She furrows her brows.

「Tsk, tsk, tsk.」

Straf clicks his tongue and wags his finger while shaking his head. He peeks over the bill, and points his finger to small text stamped on the bottom of the bill along its edge.

「Read the fine print.」

「…All debts public and private? But, who would respect this? Straf. It's just paper. It has no real value beyond being just paper-」

Straf starts chuckling, cutting Cyclia off. She blinks in confusion.

「Ahhh, Lia…」

With his head lowered and lightly shaking left and right, Straf lets out an amused sigh with a large grin on his face.

「…What?」

She anxiously asks, glancing at the bill in her hands to see if she didn't miss an important detail.

「No, you're right. It's just paper. That's why I need you to tell the people that this is money now.」

Straf shrugs and spreads his hands, glancing aside with a smirk.

「What? But- Even if I do, why would they actually treat it as money?」

Cycelia shakes her head in confusion, pointing her palm to the bills in her hand.

「Well, you see Lia, people ought to pay taxes, right?」

「…Yes?」

She nods lightly, furrowing her brows.

「No. Taxes are bullshit. But!…」

Straf raises his finger and declares bluntly, causing Cycelia to get quite perplexed.

「…But! As long as the masses believe the government can actually hound them for not paying taxes, they will feel obliged to pay them. Therefore, they will need money to pay the taxes.」

「That… Yes, that's how it works. But how does this relate to anything, Straf?」

Cycelia's confusion grows ever deeper, and she asks as she squints at him.

「I am getting to that. Now, remember that line, all debts public and private?」

Straf shrugs his hands and nods his head.

「…Yes?」

「Taxes are a public debt owed to the government. Now, you can either lug around heavy coins, or you can carry around light and portable papers. Which one do you think the average person will prefer, Lia?」

Straf asks, spreading his hands with a smirk.

「That's- Wait…」

Her eyes widen, and her brows furrow. She looks at the golden dragon bill again, and rubs her lips with her thumb as she begins deeply thinking.

「…That's right… Weight is a large issue for merchants…」

Cycelia mumbles to herself, and lifts her eyes off the paper slip back up to Straf.

「Straf, I have a few questions about this system.」

She says with a serious expression.

「Well, go on. Ask.」

Straf confidently shrugs, adding a little tilt of his head.

「First, how would we get other kingdoms to respect our currency? Even if it has value to my subjects, it's still a meaningless piece of paper to others. Second, how would this actually work? It says redeemable for its value in gold. How does that work? Am I supposed to empty my coffers for someone with a piece of paper?」

Cycelia asks, and Straf grins as he patiently listens.

「Heh. I knew you'd ask that. Okay, so the first one…」

Straf lowers his head, still smugly grinning.

「You knew?…」

Cycelia tilts her head, somewhat surprised.

「…We can't. If other kingdoms decide that our money is trash, we're shit out of luck. Basically, we just have to convince them to use our money.」

Straf spreads his arms and shrugs, grinning while looking aside again.

「That's… Well… How do we do that, then?」

She groans quietly, and her expression turns troubled.

「Production, Lia. We just have to make them fear of missing out. Don't you worry, I have something lined up already. Production is the least of our problems. You just have to draft me a law, kind of like that constitution of yours, that declares these things to be legal and valid money.」

「…Constitution?」

Cycelia tilts her head and furrows her brows at the familiar, yet unfamiliar word.

「Yeah, the thing you wrote, Lia. That's called a constitution. Congratulations, you're likely the first one to have done that. Here, treat yourself, you earned it.」

Straf opens his [Portable Storage], and hands Cycelia an ice cream.

「Huh? You still have them?」

She hastily takes the ice cream as Straf shoves the cone in her hands, and starts licking it.

「Of course I do. And for the second question… In that law, you have to form a central bank. Don't worry about the details, it just has to be in the law itself. Make me the owner of that central bank, and I'll consider the 700 gold coin debt settled.」

Straf spreads his hands, and shrugs again with a grin on his face.

「…Bank? What's a bank?」

Cycelia asks, licking her ice cream with furrowed brows.

「A place to safely store all those coins and issue those papers for them. Don't worry about it, Lia. Do you want the debt cleared, or not? It's a good idea, isn't it?」

Straf asks, tilting his head.

「Well… I suppose so. This would help merchants significantly. Every coin they take is a burden on the horse that could be instead taken by cargo. Not to mention, the average person would benefit from this a lot… But the issue is trust, isn't it? I don't imagine the people will trust these papers much.」

She comments, licking her ice cream in between every few words.

「No, of course not, that's why it's important that you actually redeem the coins when they ask you to. Then they will realize how dumb they are, and ask for the banknotes back.」

Straf chuckles, grinning at Cycelia with his fists on his hips.

「…Banknotes?」

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「Yeah. Notes. For the bank. Banknotes. You know, these slips of paper stating that you are owed gold?」

Straf points at the banknotes in Cycelia's hand.

「Ah. I see… What do we call them though? Maybe golden drago-」

「Drakes.」

Straf bluntly replies with a serious face and an adamant tone.

「Huh?」

「We call them drakes.」

Straf insists, staring at Cycelia still.

「Why drakes?」

Crunch.

She tilts her head, and bites into the cone.

「Lia…」

Straf sighs, sounding almost disappointed. Cycelia gets a little alarmed by Straf's disappointed tone.

「Wh- What? What is it?」

She asks, blinking with a tight-lipped grimace.

「You have these things, with a dragon stamped on them, and drakes isn't the first thing to pop into your mind?」

Straf asks, looking at Cycelia with a slanted mouth.

「But- But drakes and dragons are two different things, Straf…」

Crunch.

Cycelia anxiously explains, and nibbles onto her ice cream cone.

「Who cares? Do you think people want to call these things dragons? No, they're drakes. Write that into the law. Make it illegal not to call them drakes.」

「What? Why?」

「Because I say so.」

Straf insists, still maintaining his slanted mouth and a serious expression.

「O- Okay…」

Crunch.

Cycelia yields, and bites into the cone. An awkward silence falls onto the throne room.

「…By the way, Straf, have you found the source of the artifacts yet?」

Crunch.

「Uhhh… Nope. I'm going to get onto that as soon as I'm able.」

Straf's brows rise, and he glances aside. He snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia, reassuring her.

「What about the grimoire?」

「Nope. Not yet.」

「I see…」

Crunch.

Cycelia nods, and throw the remaining fragment of the cone into her mouth.

「Well, I have more work to do. Being a minister is some busy work, I tell you what. I'll pop back in a few hours.」

Straf shrugs, and walks down the steps towards the door.

「Okay… It should be ready by the time you're back, if I don't forget anything.」

Cycelia says as Straf is walking away, and he waves at her with the back of his hand, then places them back in his pockets. He begins chuckling as he draws closer to the door.

「…Huh?」

She blinks, and Straf disappears behind the corner, grinning heavily.

「What was that about?- Ah!」

Cycelia places her hand on her face, wincing.

《I forgot to ask what would happen, if by a mistake there's more of these paper slips- drakes than there is actual coins… I'll ask him next time.》

Cycelia sighs, and slouches in her throne, looking at the drakes in her hand.

《Oh, Lia… You completely forgot what I told you about fiat money and central banking, huh? Too bad!》

Straf chuckles like a madman as he walks through the palace halls, causing maids passing by to hug into each other with great worry on their faces…

…

Somewhere in the capital, in the slums…

Lily walks in through the door to a large, open space filled with a seemingly random mix of round and rectangular tables. Multiple men and women or varying ages sit just about everywhere, including the tables themselves.

All attention shifts to Lily, and the entire room goes silent, cutting short all conversations happening before her entry.

「What's a human doing here?-」

「Shut up! She's not! Look closely!」

A voice calls out from the crowd, but is cut off by another, hushed and urgent voice.

「…But the sun is out.」

「…Daywalker?」

As Lily shuts the door behind her and walks further in, a quiet murmur begins.

「Ah, baroness… What brings you here? This is just a lowly establishment for our fellows to not sit out the night alone. I don't believe we can properly receive someone of your status here…」

A burly man standing behind a chain of rectangular tables explains, strongly reminiscent of a bartender at an inn.

「That is fine… I am not here for long.」

Lily walks up to the bartender, and her eyes scan the room, glaring at each table.

「Is a… Gang, by the name of Backstreet Biters present here?」

She asks the bartender, though her question is loud and seemingly addressed towards everyone in the room. The men and women start nervously glancing at each other.

「Oh shit…」 「He's fucked.」 「Knew it…」

Multiple voices from all around comment, but nobody answers Lily's question. The bartender shifts around uncomfortably, his scarlet eyes dart over everyone else with a troubled expression on his face.

「Well… You see, baroness…」

The bartender mumbles, and Lily glares at him.

「Point me to him.」

She demands, her voice almost a growl.

「Please have some leniency, he said he was starving. We are all still adjusting-」

「Point. Me. To. Him.」

Lily scowls, crossing her arms and impatiently tapping her finger on her sleeve. The bartender stammers and shrinks. He nervously shifts around for a second or two more, before slowly turning his head to a group of six men sitting at a rectangular table in the corner.

The men and Lily make eye contact, then the five of them look at the one sitting in the middle. He glances at them all, then at Lily. As soon as Lily takes a step towards their table, he jumps out of his seat and leaps through the room towards the back door.

The man rushes out into a dark alley, panting and whining in panic. Despite the sun being out, the shade of the dark alleys protects him. He looks over his shoulder, and sees that the door is still open, and Lily is still not in pursuit. He grins and chuckles nervously, sprinting across an entire district of slums in matter of seconds, then crosses into a corner.

When he turns his head forward and sees Lily standing in his path, he slides into a stop and falls over on his back. The little girl's pale face covered in shadows glares down at him with a wrathful expression.

「So… You are the one who challenged me. I am wondering, how have you managed to last this long?」

Lily lifts her clawed hand in front of herself, approaching the man on the ground as he crawls backwards, ferociously shaking his head.

「No no no no! You don't understand! I haven't had a drop of blood in years! I didn't meant to challenge, or break anything, or do anything! I just wanted the hunger to stop!」

The man explains himself, still crawling away from Lily in panic.

「Oh? That's why you ripped that human to shreds? Because you were hungry? Even though I outlined how you should go about things like satisfying hunger, going forward?」

Lily scoffs, mocking the man with questions asked in a disdainful tone. He keeps crawling, and hits a building's wall with his back. Realizing the sun is on one side, and the way back to the commune the other, with Lily blocking his only way out, he raises his hands to plead with Lily.

「Wait, wait! I just bit him in the neck too hard! He was fighting, and struggling, and screaming! I panicked! I thought he'd bring the hunters to me! I didn't have a choice!」

The man frantically shouts, shaking his hands in front of him as he grows even smaller in front of Lily. Her cold glare has no sympathy.

「You had a choice. You had plenty of opportunities to work, or even steal. I even permitted you self-defense. The vampires are undoubtedly above humans, but I have placed you within rules for a reason. You broke those rules. The rules are simple, pay a human for blood.」

Still holding her claws in front of her, she continues berating the man.

「I didn't have any money!」

The man shouts, pounding his fist on the alley's dirt.

「You liar. Not only do you think I'm weak, you also think I'm stupid. You need to pay for this attitude.」

Lily scowls at the man, and hatred flashes in his red eyes. He lunges at Lily's throat with his claws.

Crack-snap!

「Aaaarrrrrghhhhhhhh!!」

Both of his arms break. To him, Lily does not appear to have moved even a little. He falls to the ground, screaming as he kicks his feet and rolls around on the dirt. Some people peek out of their doors with nervous eyes to see what the commotion is, expecting another murder, armed robbery or assault to be taking place.

Their brows rise when they see a blonde, twin-tailed girl in a pretty dress standing over a man in his mid-twenties screaming in agony with his arms bent the wrong way.

Slam! Slam-slam! Slam!

She looks at the people, and the doors begin slamming shut in quick succession. The man gasps for air, and manages to get his breathing under control.

「Please don't kill me! I learned my lesson! I won't do it anymore!」

He begs, his crimson eyes pleadingly look up at Lily's scowling face.

「Of course you won't do it anymore. Don't worry, I won't kill you. First, we're going back. I have to make an example out of you. The sun will kill you, tomorrow morning.」

She grabs the man by his shirt collar, and starts dragging him back to the commune through the alley, leaving a wide trail in the dirt. The man tries to dig his feet into the dirt, but it's fruitless.

「No! No, wait! Please! I beg you!」

The man keeps screaming and begging through the alley. The people silently look on through their windows. Lily throws the man into the commune through the back door, and shuts the door behind herself…