Clang! Clank-clang!

Sounds of a furious battle continue from the throne room, Straf looks in the direction of the passage over his shoulder, while continuing to pat Cycelia on her head. Her wailing has calmed, and is now merely just quiet sobs interspersed with silence.

「Uh, Lia, do you think that maybe we should let everyone know it's over?」

Straf momentarily lifts his hand off her hair as he asks. Cycelia looks up with reddened, green eyes up at Straf, and nods. She lets go, sniffling one last time, and wipes her eyes with her fingers. They turn around and return to the side passage, but not before Straf scoops the bloodied crown off the ground.

「Might need this…」

He says, as he wipes the crown's bloodstains with his shirt. The blood refuses to soak into his clothing, and instead is pushed away and drips off onto the floor.

「Well, whatever, good enough.」

Straf shrugs, and continues onward with his hand in his pocket as he holds the crown in his other hand. He enters the throne room, and passing by him, Cycelia stops to look at the young captain on the ground once more, this time calmly.

「…Are you okay? You didn't get hurt, did you?」

Cycelia asks, sniffling again as she leans forward with her hands on her knees. She looks at the man on the floor, not much older than her, with furrowed brows and a small frown.

「Uh… Yes, I'm fine.」

He hesitates to answer, still pretending to be dead, but Cycelia's quiet voice and genuine concerned tone make him rise to his knees and answer.

「He's… He's gone now, you don't have to pretend anymore.」

Cycelia nods at the captain encouragingly, after taking a quick peek at the room she battled in.

《Ahhhh… Saved… Fuck being a baker, I made it big! I'm not giving it up now!》

The young man exhales with relief, as he gets up to his knees.

「Ahem… That is good to hear, your highness.」

「You are the new captain of the guard, are you not? What happened to the other one? Did he resign?」

Cycelia asks, as she looks at the plume on his helmet. Its color is deeper red than that of regular palace guards.

「He, uh… He was executed by the… That guy. For treason.」

The young captain points over his shoulder into the adjacent room. Cycelia's face grows sullen again.

「I… I see. I should have guessed, it only makes sense… Follow me, we need to officially put an end to that madman's reign.」

Cycelia's gaze drifts downwards, and she mournfully nods. A glint of determination flashes in her sad green eyes as she orders the captain.

「Yes, your highness!」

Cycelia turns around to catch up to Straf in the throne room, and the captain follows in a hasty step…

…

A few moments ago, in the throne room…

Straf enters the room with a wide, triumphant step and a smug grin on his face.

Clap clap clap clap clap!

「Okay, okay! Everyone stop fighting now!」

Straf claps his hands, shouting loudly over the sounds of the battle to bring everybody's attention to himself. Most everyone at least pauses to see what's going on, except Greaves, Lily, and Lian. With a roundhouse kick, Lian sends Hakkonen flying across the room, striking his ribs.

Crack-thud!

「Stop kung-fu fighting, soul ripple fighting, or whatever-it-was-that-sent-that-guy-flying fighting! Just stop for a moment, I have an announcement to make!」

Straf shouts louder, pointing at Hakkonen reeling on the ground near one of the pillars, after he smashed into it. After glancing at Straf, Lily pulls her arm back and glares at Lukhyur's neck, with her claws ready to strike. She holds her umbrella between her head and shoulder and forces his massive axe away with her now-freed hand.

「Lily…」

Straf loudly calls out towards the little vampire. She clicks her clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes in response, then lets go of the axeman's weapon. Lily steps away with her arms crossed, and a pout on her face. Lukhyur takes some steps backwards as well, and sighs in relief as his nervous eyes slowly regain their boredom.

Clang! Clink!

Greaves completely ignores Straf, and forces the would-be assassin to fight for his life, rolling on the ground while blocking strikes with his dagger.

「Hey, Carrothead! Are you deaf, or stupid!?」

「I'm Greaves, not Carrothead!」

「Just stupid then, alright…」

Straf shouts at Greaves, and he pauses his relentless attacks. The leather-armored man desperately crawls away from Greaves, and warily eyes both him and Straf. Straf looks at both Shien and Lian, lightly rising his brows.

「Team mostly blue wins! Ding dong! The king is dead! Long live the queen!」

Just as Cycelia enters the room, Straf lifts the blood-smeared crown above high his head and grins smugly at the mercenaries. The captain of the guard trails behind the new queen, places himself in a corner, and makes himself small.

「So, unless you're non-profit charity workers, stop fighting! That's it!」

Straf spreads his hands, and shrugs. The mercenaries all gain a sour expression on their faces, though Hakkonen has the worst of them all.

「Here, queen, you dropped this.」

Straf says, as he gives the bloodied crown one final rub on his shoulder in a useless attempt to clean it, and sets it on Cycelia's head.

「So, that's it then? Not only we lost our pay, we likely lose our lives too?」

Lukhyur asks, glancing at Cycelia and more importantly, Lily not too far from him.

「There will be no more slaughter! Enough of the bloodshed already!」

Cycelia exclaims as Straf walks further into the room, casually walking towards the mercenaries with his hands in his pockets. Louche runs into the room with sword drawn, heavily panting.

「Ahh… Haa… I missed the fight!? Damn!」

He shouts, and leans forward to catch his breath.

「Yeah, luckily. Your sister would be very sad to learn of your timely, off-screen and predictable demise.」

Straf replies in a loud voice, and walks over to the steps of the throne. Cycelia cautiously follows him, hiding behind his broad back.

「So, you are letting us go?」

Vitsa asks Cycelia with her spearhead up, after seeing Shien's posture has significantly relaxed.

「If that's what you wish. But I have a deal for you instead. I will pay you what he offered, on the condition that you work for me.」

Cycelia momentarily peeks out from behind Straf.

「Huh? All of it? Just like that?」

Vitsa asks, completely perplexed.

「Yes, and I'd like you to tell me what his offer was, but first… Alicia, could you heal everyone who was injured?」

Cycelia calls out to Alicia, who glances at everyone on their side. She raises her brows when she realizes only the mercenaries are the ones wounded.

「Huh? Okay.」

Alicia cautiously walks up to the Cycelia's twice would-be assassin. Unsure what to do, he warily looks to Cycelia, the mercenaries, and Alicia, and lowers his dagger. She utters out an incantation quietly, and begins healing his injured, split, swollen lips and the teeth misaligned by blunt force trauma.

「When you're done with him, heal that man too.」

Cycelia points at Hakkonen, clutching at his ribs while on the floor.

「Huh!? Him too!?」

Alicia looks at Hakkonen, then at Cycelia to see if she's just joking, but her expression is serious.

「Yes. Him too.」

Cycelia nods her head, playing with her medallion in her fingers. At the same time, a little over two dozen men in red capes arrive to the throne room with swords at the ready, startling everyone near the door.

「What is this? This is turning into a fucking banquet all of a sudden.」

Straf points his palm at the armored, armed, and caped men as they fan out from the door. Cycelia hides behind Straf once again, the mercenaries clutch onto their weapons, and Straf's allies turn to warily face the men as well.

「Who are you!? Identify yourselves!」

Cycelia demands of the men, glaring at them with a serious face and nervous eyes. The men suddenly all kneel, with their heads lowered.

「Queen Cycelia, my apologies for being late! We assembled as soon as we learned of the disturbance in the palace!」

The knightly-looking man at the front of the intruding group proclaims, befuddling Cycelia.

「But… Who are you?」

She asks, with furrowed brows.

「My queen, we are the Dragon Cult.」

The man apologetically lowers his head again as he explains.

「Lia, I thought you said you don't have a secret police!?」

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Indignant, Straf turns to Cycelia, pointing his hand at the cultists.

「I don't even know who they are!」

Cycelia shakes her hands in front of her, quickly explaining herself to Straf.

「It's true we are a semi-secret formation, but I had expected you'd know, your highness. We venerate the dragons, and their descendants. Since you are the last remaining descendant of Redwing, we have been amassing funds and war material, and stashing it away to prepare for your return to the throne.」

The man lifts his head, and explains.

「…You knew the count usurped the throne?」

「Whether he did or not is irrelevant, Queen Cycelia. We were intent on supporting you regardless, as you are the dragon's last living descendant, no matter the circumstances surrounding you.」

The man explains further, and Cycelia blinks. She furrows her brows, as her face gains a troubled expression.

「Hold on, you said you stashed funds and war material? Did you happen to mark those places?」

Straf asks, with his eye narrowed and index finger extended. The cultist looks at Straf with suspicion.

「Your highness, is this man your ally?」

He looks to Cycelia for answers with his eyes squinting, full of caution.

「Yes, I trust him with my life.」

Cycelia nods, and warmly smiles at Straf.

「…I see. Yes, we did leave our symbol near the stashes. The ancient Redwing banner.」

「…It's a dragon wing in a circle, isn't it?」

Straf furrows his brows, and places his fists on his hips.

「Yes, how did you know? Have you seen one of them somewhere?」

The man asks, and Straf only knowingly smirks at Cycelia, who grimaces back at him with a tight-lipped expression.

「Forget it. You and your superhero wannabe friends would have been real helpful 5 to 10 minutes ago. Try cutting down on speech bubbles, and haul ass next time.」

Straf dismissively waves his hand at the man, and points it at the throne instead.

「So, how about it Lia? Ready to finish your character arc and see if this cool chair is worth it, or it's just a scam to fleece the rich and kill off the poor?」

He grins, and Cycelia nervously eyes the throne, playing with her medallion. Alicia starts healing Hakkonen, and after a minute or two, he swats her hand away.

「Fuck off! I don't need your healing! It's just broken ribs!」

He growls, and gets up with clenched teeth. He walks up to the mercenaries, that bunched up into an uncertainty-filled, passive defensive circle. Straf's allies begin to gather to talk as well, as Cycelia takes a seat in the throne.

「For now, rise.」

Cycelia orders the cultists, as she raises her hand while pointing it at them.

「Yes, your highness!」

The men stand up from their knees, and seeing that there is no apparent threat in sight, they too step off to the side to discuss something amongst themselves. Cycelia's eyes drift downward, as she sinks into deep thought with a gloomy expression.

「What are you doing here? I thought you were back home.」

Shien asks, as he walks up to Lian.

「I could ask you the same thing. I see you've completely given up on trying, and reached for a crutch to make up for your lack of skill. What have you done to yourself?」

Lian asks as she looks into Shien's black, lizard-like eyes with a conceited smirk.

「I have not given up on trying. I am simply using different methods.」

Lightly frustrated, Shien replies.

「Is that so? And how did that work out for you? You look like a lizard, and you can barely keep up in a fight with a woman. I don't remember, were you always a lizard?」

Lian bites into Shien with a sharp remark, slyly grinning.

「She reminds me of you. She's experienced with a spear, and has a reminiscent nasty attitude.」

Shien casually bites back after glancing at Vitsa, with a completely serious expression.

「Oh? Want to have a go at it, and see just how much you've fallen behind?」

「Naturally, I am always-」

Lian scoffs, placing her hand on her hip with a disdainful grin, when Will suddenly inserts himself between the two.

「I don't know if you are ex-lovers or something, but I'm not going to let you fight her!」

Will shouts at Shien, spreading his arms apart in defense of Lian.

「Lov-?」

Shien utters out with furrowed brows and squinted beastly eyes, the only noticeable human reaction so far. Lian sputters, and tries her best to keep her poker face.

「That's nice, Will, but I don't think I need you to protect me. Despite our little spat, we love each other very much, don't we?」

Lian places her hand on top of Will's head, and smirks at Shien, barely holding back her laughter. Shien's lips are also grimacing heavily, despite his serious expression. Will gasps, and his heart painfully shatters into a million pieces as Greaves and Alicia walk up.

「…Yes, indeed… Elder sister.」

Shien says, and his mouth twists into a smirk.

「…Sister?」

Will's heart pulls itself together from millions of pieces, although a faint pain remains as Will furrows his brows in confusion.

「Yes, I have finally found my dear idiot little brother, after all these years.」

Lian smirks as she gazes into her brother's animal-like eyes.

「As for our spar, I don't think you'd do too well without a spear.」

Shien looks down at Lian's empty hands.

「This is your brother, Lian? Why are his eyes like this?」

Alicia asks, looking up into Shien's odd eyes.

「It's a long story-」

As Shien tries to explain, Cycelia begins to loudly giggle on the throne. Her giggling slowly transforms into chuckling, and soon after, into outright laughter while she grins like mad. Everyone in the room stares at her with uneasy expressions and concerned eyes.

Snap snap snap.

「Uh, Lia? A little bit too early for this kind of foreshadowing.」

Straf says as he snaps his finger.

「Huh? Ahh! Uh- Mercenaries, what was the usurper's offer to you, again?」

Cycelia abruptly snaps out of her maddened laughter and looks at Straf's face. He looks at her with his brows raised, and eyes bored. She looks at the rest of the room, while the whole throne room is looking back at her, and Cycelia's face turns bright red.

She nonchalantly acts like nothing happened, and the mercenaries glance at each other, before telling her what deal they received from Count Belltis. Her face drains of color more and more, with each mercenary that follows.

《…Less than an hour on the throne and I already made a terrible mistake.》

Cycelia woes as she puts her face in the palm of her hand, and sighs.

「…Very well. Except slavery. That is out of the question.」

Cycelia sighs with a tired frown, and places her hands back on the armrests. Hakkonen is less than pleased, but he long lost the negotiating chips.

「How do you define slavery anyway, Lia?」

Straf asks, shrugging with his hand.

「Huh? Isn't it obvious? You force someone to do something, keep them in chains, things like that.」

Cycelia blinks, somewhat perplexed by Straf's inane question.

「So, in other words, if Hakkonen here pays his slaves a pittance to work for him, it's not slavery?」

Straf points his hand to Hakkonen, amused by Cycelia's innocence.

「Um… No? If someone is paid, he's not a slave by definition…」

Cycelia shakes her head in confusion, furrowing her brows.

「You heard her. As long as you pay them a few coppers, it's not slavery, it's a job.」

Straf scoffs, and looks at the northman over his shoulder with his fists on his hips.

「What the fuck. I can just pay them a single coin and then work them to death?」

Hakkonen asks in disbelief.

「No! That's not it at all! That's no better than slavery!」

Cycelia slaps the armrest, shaking her head.

「Well, Lia, you did say keep them in chains. Financial slavery doesn't really use chains, they cut into profit margins too much.」

「You have to pay them a fair wage!」

Cycelia protests, and Straf scoffs again.

「Lia, let's not get into that right now or we'll spend the whole day here. How about you let the unwashed masses know that you are the queen now?」

Straf spreads his arms with a smirk, then places his hands back on his hips.

「Ah, you're right… Captain, go tell the town criers to order the citizens to assemble under the address balcony in an hour. Take the Dragon Cult with you to help you.」

Cycelia turns her head to the young man in the corner. He winces, and nods his head.

「Yes, your highness!」

He runs towards the group of the cultists, says something to them, and most of them exit the throne room in haste with the captain.

「Straf, could I have you wait here an hour or so, while I tend to administrative duties? I need to clean up the mess that maniac left.」

Cycelia stands up from her throne with a sigh, fiddling with her silver medallion.

「Yeah, I guess. While you're at it, come up with a good speech.」

Straf sits down on the steps of the throne, splayed lazily, as he props his head up on his fist. Cycelia nods, and approaches the remaining cultists.

「Yes, your highness!」

The cultists shout out in unison, and follow her out of the throne room…