In the capital's throne room, Cycelia listens to a dragon cultist. Kneeling with his head lowered, he's out of his combat equipment, but the red cape remains on his back.

「…The officers remain confused, and the great majority of them are still uninformed of the events that took place. Even then, those that were informed, are greatly suspicious. Only time will restore the organization levels, your highness.」

The man finishes his report, and the throne room falls silent.

「…Thank you, you're free to leave. Inform me if the situation changes.」

Cycelia nods her head, looking pensively at the man.

「Yes, your highness.」

He stands up, bows one last time with his hand on his opposite shoulder, and leaves. Cycelia sighs with her hand on her face, fatigued by the weight of the crown. The golden-haired spearwoman walks through the doorway.

「It's done. They won't be a problem anymore.」

She proudly announces, stopping in front of the throne with her spearhead still faintly bloodied.

「…Did you kill them?」

Cycelia asks with furrowed brows and nervous eyes.

「I did give them a chance to surrender… Was I supposed to treat marauders with silk gloves?」

Vitsa shrugs, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

「No… Thank you, Vitsa. I'm sure you did the right thing.」

Cycelia shakes her head, and looks at the spearwoman with mournful eyes, frowning a little.

「Yeah, I'm sure I did too. Call Beard next to do your chores. He's a hard-working guy, he'll be glad to actually do work.」

The spearwoman shrugs again, smirking a little, before turning her back on the queen and walking towards the doorway. Cycelia sighs again, and lifts herself off the throne.

「Ah, your highness, are you done for today?」

The captain of the guard asks as she lazily walks down the steps.

「Yes, I'm heading to my room… It's all a little too much…」

She nods without looking at the young captain, and leaves with a sullen frown on her face. Cycelia navigates the winding hallways with ease and arrives at the door to her room, two palace guards stand on watch on each side of the door.

「Your highness.」 「Good evening, your highness.」

The guardsmen bow, she nods her head in acknowledgement, and opens the door to her room. A maid runs up before Cycelia enters the room.

「Queen Cycelia! Please wait! I've brought you the sewing set!」

The maid calls out, holding a little rectangular box in her hands as she runs up.

「Ah, thank you.」

Cycelia takes the sewing set, and lifts it to her head level to examine it further.

「Are you sure you wouldn't want us to sew the shirt, your highness? That is what we are here for-」

The maid asks, tilting her head as she places her hands in front of herself, one on top of the other. Cycelia shakes her head, and the maid goes abruptly silent.

「No, thank you. I want to do this by myself.」

Cycelia returns a warm smile at the maid, and the maid bows her head.

「I understand. Do you want me to show you the basics, your highness?」

「No, I already know a little. Thank you.」

Cycelia nods again, and disappears behind the door as the maid bows low to bid her goodnight.

「Ahhh… What a day… I can't believe father managed this every day…」

Cycelia sighs, and sets the sewing kit down on the table. She takes Straf's torn, folded shirt off her bed, and sits down at the table.

Clack.

「Let's see… What do we have here?」

She mutters under her breath as she unlatches the sewing set, and opens the lid. Many needles of various length and curvature are inside a small compartment, along with many spools of different colored threads. Some patches of colored textiles are neatly folded into little packets, and set aside in another compartment.

「I suppose this is the color?…」

She tilts her head, and unwinds a short piece of a thread with a color matching Straf's shredded shirt. Cycelia nods, and digs through the needles for a suitable one with a soft tinny clatter.

「Isn't this one best suited for this?」

She looks carefully at the medium-length, gently curved needle pinched in her fingers, rotating it around to get a good sight of its curve. She takes the end of the thread, and attempts to thread the needle.

「Come on… Get in there… You little!…」

Cycelia mumbles in frustration at the thread and the needle, as she fails multiple attempts. Eventually, she gets it in, and knots the end of the thread so it doesn't slip out.

「There! Now…」

Cycelia sets aside the spool on the table, and takes the edge of the shirt in hand. She is about to begin sewing, but stops herself. She looks intently at the shirt, blinking.

《Straf's shirt…》

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

She thinks as she stares at the torn fabric, and sets the needle aside on the table, taking the shirt into both hands. She raises it to take a good look at it. It is completely torn at the side, mercilessly shredded, the slash starts at just ever-so-slightly off-center, and all the way to the side, ending just under the armpit. Cycelia starts breathing heavily the longer she stares at the shirt.

「Straf's… No, no, no!」

She shakes her head left and right violently, and lowers the shirt into her lap. Her face flushes red a little.

《What am I thinking!? He's gone for just one day and I'm already starting to have such… Unbecoming thoughts!?》

Cycelia's face reddens further, and she pouts from self-inflicted embarrassment. However, she glances at the shirt again.

《But… He wouldn't know…》

She lifts the shirt again, and looks over her shoulder at the door. She slowly looks away, back at the shirt, and brings it closer to her face.

《Straf's shirt… Straf's…》

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Cycelia's heart bangs heavily like a war drum within her chest. She presses the shirt into her face.

《Ahhh, it smells like…》

Snifffffffff…

She takes a deep breath through her nose, and lowers the shirt, completely red-faced, with a severely disappointed expression.

「…Like a shirt…」

Cycelia stares at the table, disappointed by the shirt, and more importantly, disappointed by herself. She sighs, and takes the needle back into her fingers.

「Well, I suppose I'll get it fixed, then get to work on my project…」

She says in a disappointed, sighful tone, and pierces through the shirt's fabric at the tear's edge.

「Ow! Mmhhhhhh…」

She lets out a pained yelp, and a frustrated groan after she also pierces her thumb. Cycelia immediately puts her aching thumb into her mouth, licking up the minuscule amount of blood that surfaces on the tiny injury with furrowed brows…

…

Meanwhile, At Lily's castle…

「Here it is! My collection of books.」

Lily exclaims with clear pride in voice, as she pushes the door to a dark room in, and walks inside.

「How do you read in here? It's almost pitch black.」

Straf asks, squinting to grasp the vague shapes of shelves in the darkness.

「Straf, I'm a vampire…」

Lily's slit pupils turn to Straf, expecting his statement to be a joke. He doesn't even notice her gaze.

「And I'm not. How am I supposed to read anything like this?」

Straf asks, staring into the darkness.

「I suppose you can open one of the curtains…」

Lily sighs, and concedes within the darkness, as she sits down at a round table.

「…And where is that?」

Straf asks, looking in the general direction of Lily's voice.

「Straight ahead of you, Straf. Careful, don't trip on the books.」

「Uh-huh.」

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Straf acknowledges, and then promptly kicks a pile of books apart.

「Careful!」

Lily's eyes widen when she hears the ruckus of her ancient books falling to the ground, and without a delay straightens out in her chair to shout at Straf.

「Yeah, yeah, yeah… Is this it?」

Straf grabs onto a rough fabric, and pulls it aside. Beams of dying sunlight hit him straight in the eyes, as the room lights up.

「Gah! Fuck! Every time with this ball of floating shit!」

Straf shouts and covers his eyes, Lily becomes partially visible in the darkness.

「I hate the sun as well, believe me. What would you like to read first, Straf?」

She nonchalantly asks, tilting her head a little as her red eyes glow in the dim light.

「The bestiary, obviously. Show me the cool monsters.」

Straf winces, and lowers his hand from his aching eyes.

「Which one?」

She looks up at the tall shelves towering over here.

「I don't know? Let's start with the basic stuff, which one is the most complete one?」

Straf shrugs, and places his hands back in his pockets as he looks at endless amounts of books on the shelves and in piles everywhere on the floor.

「Hmm… It's pretty old, but The Tome of Beasts Magical and Mundane by Baron Boselight is what you are looking for. He burned away at the end of the Night of Fangs, but his works remain. Interesting, isn't it? Even vampires aren't eternal.」

Lily places her chin between her thumb and finger as she thinks, then smiles at Straf as she suggests the reading material.

「Where do I find it?」

Straf glances at Lily, then up at the tall shelves.

「Should be… There, I believe. Either there, or somewhere in the vicinity.」

Lily points at the highest level of a nearby shelf, and Straf casually climbs up onto it.

「Magic… Air Magic… The Biology of- Man, who cares?… Alchemical, nope… The Tome of- There it is.」

Tap!

Straf pulls out a book as thick as his arm from the top shelf, and casually hops down, the impact of his shoes on the ground echo loudly across the deathly silent castle halls.

「Oh, cool, it even has pictures.」

Straf opens the book as he walks up to Lily to have a seat, and skims through the pages.

「It does illustrate certain odd beasts with sketches, yes. One of the finer points of the book. Baron Boselight really put his heart into his writings, it's a shame he's gone.」

Lily nods, and picks up a book from top of the nearby pile. She opens it at a bookmark, and begins reading.

「Watchu readin', Lily? Vampire romances? Heh.」

Straf lets out a singular chuckle, as he flips the pages back to the beginning of the bestiary. Lily reacts with a marked surprise, and pouts as she looks aside in random directions for a few seconds.

「How preposterous!… It's a book on civics and administration! I've started it a while ago, so I thought it would be a good idea to finish it now, considering I'm an official baroness.」

Poorly feigning indifference to Straf's accusation, Lily pouts even harder, and sticks her nose in the book.

「What, really? A girl your age- Well, a girl that looks your age doesn't read some trash about a vampire, and a werewolf girl competing over some human's affection? I'm not buying it.」

Straf grins, teasing Lily even harder as he flips from page to page, taking a glance at the sketches, and completely ignoring the mundane monsters' descriptions.

「It's… I…」

Lily struggles to find the correct words, as she looks aside, away from Straf.

「What?」

Straf's brows rise, as Lily hides behind her thick administrators' guide.

「…The ending of that book was awful. Why would they share him? The vampire should have just killed her, and taken him by force…」

Lily grumbles quietly, hiding her face behind her tome. Straf's mouth pries open from disbelief.

「…You mean that actually fucking exists?」

He asks, lowering his bestiary with an expression of a tempered, disdainful shock.

「…Yes. Haven't you read it? Isn't that what you were referencing?」

Lily's scarlet eyes peek out from over her book, before retreating behind it again.

「Wow… The bar for quality in this world is fucking dead, and buried underground. Rest in peace.」

Straf shakes his head, and sighs as he continues speedreading through the bestiary.

「Highland Troll… Hinter Huntsman… Horndo- Pffft.」

Straf can barely contain his laughter as he reaches one of the entries, chuckling quietly as he looks at a quite detailed sketch of a wolf-like animal with twisting, menacing horns.

「What's so funny?」

Lily asks with her brows raised at Straf.

「Nothing. I just can't believe people seriously fucking call them that.」

Straf shakes his head with an amused grin, and sighs in relief as his urge to laugh subsides.

「By the way, what's a『Fiend』? I saw it mentioned when I skimmed through the demons pages, then I skimmed its own page, but it didn't really give me a good idea what it is.」

Straf pauses his page-flipping, and looks up at Lily as he asks. She looks up from her book as well, and they lock their gazes.

「Really, Straf? I thought you knew.」

Lily blinks, somewhat taken aback his question.

「Why?」

Straf furrows his brows, shaking his head a little in mild confusion.

「You seem to know her. The thief girl, I mean.」

Lily returns a half-answer, and continues reading her book.

「Who? The- The tomboy? What does she have to do with anything?」

Straf sets his book down, shrugging with his hands as he leans in, intrigued by the bizarre non-answer.

「You don't know? She's a fiend, Straf.」

Lily lowers her book, tilting her head. She blinks at Straf, as if the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

「What the fuck? You mean they have a demon there, and they don't give a fuck? How do you even know?」

Straf throws his hands up, completely puzzled by Lily's blunt answer. She stands up, and walks up to Straf.

「Here. Read this.」

Lily takes a few seconds to flip back Straf's bestiary to the page covering fiends, and points her clawed finger at a verse.

「Skinny limbs, almost skeletal-like, with inhuman strength-」

「No, Straf. Above.」

She clicks her tongue and stops Straf from reading further, and taps her finger on the page.

「…Unnatural violet or amber eyes, cat-like or lizard-like pupils…」

Straf reads the verse above the previous one out loud, then looks up at Lily with a raised brow.

「Exactly. And what eye color did the girl have?」

Lily crosses her arms, staring at Straf inquisitively as she leads him towards the answer.

「…To be honest, I don't remember. She's pretty forgettable.」

「Tsk. Amber, Straf. Amber. To be precise, she has fiend blood in her. She's lucky her pupils aren't slit like mine, or that spearman. They'd find out in an instant. I suppose most humans aren't aware of the specifics.」

Lily clicks her tongue in frustration, and explains the rest to Straf as she returns back to her chair.

「Huh. I'll ask her about it later.」

Straf shrugs, then flips the pages to continue looking at the monster drawings.

「By the way, Straf… Did you know the monster lord was a fiend as well? Just a little piece of trivia.」

Lily adds, before picking her book up and sticking her nose back into it. Straf looks up at Lily, but remains silent. The two quietly read their books, and Straf quickly reaches the end of his bestiary.

Clap.

「Hey, Lily… I have a great idea to pass the time.」

Straf says, and noisily slams his book shut.

「And that is?…」

Not taking her eyes of her book, she asks in an exaggerated, curious tone.

「How about we use this book as a list, and kill everything inside at least once? Except some of them, I guess. I don't feel like killing that girl. Or a vampire. The kraken might be a pain in the ass too, so let's not.」

Straf taps the bestiary's cover with his finger for emphasis, grinning at Lily. She slams her book shut as well.

Clap.

「That is a splendid idea, Straf. I know where to find most of the beasts in the entries, it is high time you have shown your power, and taught the lesser beings to fear your name.」

Lily grins with glee back at Straf, and the two start cackling like mad.

《Hahaha, oh man… Free XP, here I come! And I've got my own quest marker with me!》

Straf lowers his head, chuckling even harder as he slaps the table.

《…What is he laughing about, exactly? When is it acceptable to stop?》

Lily thinks, as she continues giggling with a malevolent grin on her face…