Around the same time, at a crossing in the capital…

With his arms behind his head, Greaves and his party are walking down the palace street. When they reach a crossing, Will breaks away from the party.

「Will?…」

Alicia calls out, a little confused.

「Go on ahead, I'll just stop by the mages' guild real quick to take a look at something I wanted to read. I'll meet you at the inn.」

He replies while looking over his shoulder, adjusting his glasses. The party stops to glance at him, before glancing at each other. Greaves shrugs his shoulders and continues onward.

「Okay… I'll wait a moment and order food for you, okay? Don't make us wait long!」

Alicia says, then rejoins the group after they leave her a few paces behind. Will nods, then turns towards the mages' guild.

Roughly ten minutes later, he arrives at the guild building. He enters, pushing the door open with his shoulder while adjusting his glasses. Though relatively sparse inside, there are like-minded mages occupying the circular reading tables nearby the bookshelves. Heading towards the old woman at the counter, Will glances at them very briefly.

「What do you need, sonny?」

The elderly guild woman asks, barely sticking out from beyond the long counter.

「Evening… Do you have anything covering dream-eaters? Any bestiaries, or a treatise that at least mentions them in passing?」

Will politely nods his head down to greet the shrunken woman and adjusts his glasses.

「Dream-eaters?… Dream-eaters, dream-eaters…」

Her already wrinkled lips wrinkle further as she thinks, furrowing her brows. She looks aside at the bookshelves with a pensive gaze, grimacing slightly.

「…I believe there might have been something. I forgot the author, but try「Magic and the Mind」on that shelf over there. It has a short segment on dream-eaters.」

She nods her head towards one of the closer bookshelves. Will glances at it, then nods.

「Thank you. I'll just read it here.」

He says as he walks towards the bookshelf.

Will searches for the title for a minutes, and eventually finds it. He pulls it out and blows onto its dusty cover, then heads towards one of the tables.

「Sorry, do you mind if I sit here?」

He asks one of the mages sitting alone. The man raises his nose out of the book on the table and looks at Will with a mildly startled expression.

「…No, go ahead.」

He shakes his head, then returns his gaze down.

「Thanks…」

Will nods, and sits down across from the man. He props his staff up against the round table, and opens the tome up.

《Don't care about that… Or that. Sorry…》

With a slightly apologetic grimace on his face, Will rapidly flips through the pages of the book. The man across sneaks a quick, confused peek at him, but then returns to his own tome.

《…Ah. I think I saw something about dream-eaters.》

Catching one of the pages, Will abruptly stops his page-flipping and goes back a few. Indeed, he finds a passage about dream-eaters, along with an accompanying sketch of one.

《It's their general description here, though…》

Slightly scrunching his mouth to the side, he flips a couple pages forward, cautiously scanning through the text.

「Ah…」

《…There it is.》

He utters out, and starts reading through the pertinent chapter, sliding his finger along the lines.

《…The dream-eater is particularly devious, in that friends and family are easiest group prey. The more connected to others, the harder the victims will find it to wake…》

Will reads a portion with his brows furrowed, rubbing his chin. The man peeks at what he is reading.

「…Dream-eaters?」

「Eh?」

The fellow mage asks suddenly, in turn startling Will a little.

「You're reading about dream-eaters, right? I thought I saw a drawing of one. Is there something you want to learn about them?」

He asks with a nod of his head at Will's tome.

「Ahh… Not as much as learn, as I just wanted to verify something… To make sure that I'm correct. Something's been on my mind for a while now.」

Will casually replies, adjusting his glasses as he shrugs his shoulders. The man grimaces slightly, nodding along.

「What is it? Personally I've never seen one, but my buddy was a victim of an attack from one. Maybe I could answer the question you have.」

The mage shrugs his hands along with a light tilt of his head.

「Was he alright?…」

「Yeah, but his friend wasn't. My buddy managed to wake up, and the people they were traveling with thought they could get his friend on the wagon to get help…」

「Ah…」

Will's face gains a troubled grimace, and he adjusts his glasses in response.

「…Yeah, you can probably guess how well that went.」

The man shrugs with a rather nonchalant tone.

「I'm sorry to hear that.」

Will apologetically nods his head, still grimacing heavily.

「Eh… They were real tight friends, but he was more like an acquaintance to me. Shame about the guy, but I didn't know him too well… So, what do you want to know?」

He shrugs again, and leans in over his tome.

「…When he woke up, did your friend have any… Knowledge he shouldn't reasonably have?… Places, people, events, and so on?」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses. The mage across the table straightens out, thinking deeply while tapping his chin with his finger.

「…Yeah. Now that you mention it… They were heading to the dead guy's hometown. It'd be his first time there, but my buddy said he saw the town in his dream…」

「…And it was accurate?」

The man replies, furrowing his brows a little. Will leans in as he asks.

「…Yeah. He said a few places changed owners, some closed down and whatnot… But everything was exactly as he remembered. He had never been there before, mind you.」

「That's strange… So it was more like a memory, and not a dream?」

Will rubs his chin as he looks down at the table.

「Seems like it… But from what I read about it, that doesn't seem right. Most people seem to have jumbled, nonsensical dreams.」

The mage nods and adds, shrugging his shoulders.

「…Thanks.」

Will adjusts his glasses, and nods with gratitude.

「No problem. Hope you find what you're looking for.」

The man across the table shrugs, then returns back to his tome, and so does Will. He flips a few pages, scanning through the text for new information.

《…But that makes no sense. Did the author get it wrong? They both should have woken up almost immediately…》

Will furrows his brows as he reads more of the tome, then returns his finger back to the text and continues sliding it along as he reads. His head perks up.

《…Unless…》

He adjusts his glasses, then continues reading the next passage.

《…The dream-eater grasps hearts, and the very conscience itself. The survivors often say the attack opened a new perspective to view from upon themselves…》

Will finishes the passage, then straightens out with his arms crossed, staring at the borrowed tome with an extremely pensive grimace, deep in thought.

《…But that'd have to mean the two are the same, or at least alike. They're nothing alike. That's ridiculous. Not even getting into the details, there's fundamental differences…》

He lets out a large sigh, and closes the tome. The mage raises his eyes up from his book.

「Nothing?… You don't seem too happy.」

He asks, straightening out.

「I found what I was looking for… I think. It just seems so incorrect at the base level that I wonder if the author didn't just make wrong assumptions.」

Will replies, shrugging his robed shoulders.

「…Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe it's you who did?」

The mage tilts his head, slanting his mouth slightly. Will stands up, and the two look at each other in a brief silence.

「…I genuinely don't think so… But your thinking is right. At the very least, I don't want to discount that possibility. It just seems so wrong to me that it's laughable…」

Will takes the book under his arm, takes his staff back into his hand, and walks a few steps away.

「…Thanks again. Food for thought.」

He nods towards his fellow mage, then approaches the bookshelf and returns the book.

「I'm done with the tome, I put it back where it was. Thank you.」

Out of courtesy, adjusts his glasses as Will notifies the old woman at the counter, then turns to the exit.

「You're welcome, sonny! Come back anytime!」

She replies, peeking over the counter the best she can with a wrinkled smile…

…

Ten minutes later…

Will arrives at a packed inn full of chatter. Alicia notices him enter and waves her hand towards him, though Lian sticks out in her seat far more conspicuously than Alicia, even with her arm up. He approaches their table and takes a seat.

「For me?」

He asks, noting a steaming bowl of stew in front of him as he props his staff up on the table.

「Yes. I didn't know what you would like to have, so I thought I'd order you a stew. I hope that's okay. It should be hot still.」

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Alicia nods back with a smile and returns to her food. Greaves is busy eating his meal, and Lian is taking her time sipping her soup.

「That's fine… Can't go wrong with stew.」

Will shrugs, and grabs the spoon by the bowl.

「Whaddya read about? You don't rush off like that often.」

Greaves asks between chews, then gulps noisily.

「…I didn't rush off, I just didn't want to hold you up at the guild for no reason.」

With a shrug of his robed shoulders, Will replies, and starts to slowly eat his stew as well.

「Well, what did you read about?」

Greaves asks again, pointing his fork at Will. He sighs in response.

「…Just some stuff. I wanted to know more about dream-eaters, and why your dreams were seemingly interconnected.」

Will replies, and continues eating.

「Yeah, why were they? Everything was so confusing and weird, but at the same time, it kind of made sense…」

Crossing his arms, Greaves puts his fork down on his plate, thinking with brows furrowed.

「I told you, didn't I? Dream-eaters briefly connect minds of the people it catches. You were basically exploring each other's warped memories…」

Will explains, then lowers his pensive gaze to his stew. Bits of chopped vegetables and meat float around amongst the oil slicks.

《…But why weren't they warped beyond recognition?》

He thinks with a troubled grimace on his face. After a sigh, he spoons some of the stew into his mouth…

…

Around the same time, in the palace, in Straf's room…

「I'm back!…」

Straf announces as he enters his room. Stripe is already lying on his bed, drowsy, though not yet asleep. She raises her head a little and blinks her golden eyes at him.

「Nnhhh… What were you even up to past these few days?」

Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hands, she asks as he approaches and slips his boots off.

「I was buying shit.」

Thwump.

He replies, and drops down onto the bed with his back right beside Stripe.

「…What shit?」

「Shit.」

She asks, and Straf nonchalantly spreads his hands. Stripe crawls closer on all fours, staring at Straf while he slinks underneath the blanket.

「…What? Are you going back to sleep, or not?」

He asks, staring into her eyes while she's practically on top of him, looking at him on her hands and knees over him.

「…I am.」

Sripe simply replies with a single nod.

「Alright, well then- Where's your bell?」

Straf's eyes narrow when he realizes he hasn't heard the specific jingle of the bell yet, and looks at her collar. Stripe looks away at nothing in particular, staring at random furniture.

「…How did you take your bell off?」

He asks, but Stripe refuses to meet his gaze. In fact, she actively evades it.

Pat.

Straf bears his palm down on top of Stripe's head, and forcefully turns her face towards his. With a nervous expression on hers and a tight-lipped grimace on his, he stares at her.

「…Tell me. How'd you manage to do that? I thought I forbid you from taking it off.」

He asks again, more insistently.

「Tsk… I didn't. I asked a maid to take it off for me!」

Trapped, Stripe clicks her tongue and replies, finally meeting Straf's gaze with her mouth scrunched to the side.

「What? What the fuck? Son of a- You can't do that!- Tsk…」

Straf shakes his head in a mixture of surprise and disbelief, before clicking his tongue again.

「…I'm a little pissed off, but at the same time, I'm also impressed how you managed to skirt the rule. You're pretty clever. Too clever, almost. I'll let this one slip.」

He adds in a voice full of frustration then begins petting her head, ruffling her two-toned hair between her animal ears. Stripe drops down to his chest, resting her head on it.

「Well… It was annoying, what did you expect?…」

She says meekly, pouting slightly. Her ear flaps violently from a light, accidental brush of Straf's hand against it.

「…What was that thing in front of the doors? You said I'll be making that soon. When?」

Stripe asks, briefly raising her head to glance at Straf's nonchalant, bored, and somewhat sleepy face.

「Right now, IEDs are the priority… But there's only so many IEDs we'll need, so I'll have you convert engines at the factory sometime next month… But, uh…」

He shrugs his shoulders, then begins to rub his chin while looking up at the canopy.

「But?…」

Resting her head on his chest, her golden eyes gaze upward to try and catch his face.

「…But it's a little technically complicated. Give me some time to think of a solution-」

Cla-clack.

「Straf? I meant to ask- Geh!?」

Cycelia opens the door, peeking her smiling face in. As if with flip of a switch, her expression instantly snaps into horrified shock.

「T- This isn't!…」

Stripe exclaims towards Cycelia, staring at her, completely wide-eyed with her jaw dropped in shock, but she quickly stumbles over her words and her voice trials off into a silence.

「…W- What are you doing in a bed with a bea-!? With Stripe!?」

Cycelia asks in a voice raised just barely beneath shouting, pointing her dainty finger at the two. Stripe looks at Straf's nonchalant, completely unfazed face for rescue.

「…It's pretty normal for us to sleep with a cat in our bed in my world, Lia. Isn't it in yours?」

Straf asks, shrugging his shoulders as he continues to pet Stripe's head.

「…I am not a c-!」

Stripe tries to protest, but a single glare from Cycelia's emerald eyes makes her change her mind and go silent.

「Hey, what do cats say?」

Straf asks Stripe, smirking at her.

「H- Huh?…」

Confused, she blinks at his smug face.

「Come on, what do cats say?」

He asks again, grinning. She bashfully turns her face away, only for her gaze to accidentally meet with Cycelia's glare. She quickly turns her eyes away towards nothing in particular.

「…M- Meow…」

Very reluctantly, just above a whisper, Stripe meows and clutches onto the blanket, clenching her teeth in shame as her face reddens. She sneaks a peek at Cycelia, and her face softens.

「So anyway, that's how it is…」

Straf shrugs with his free hand, grimacing slightly. Cycelia's shoulders slump as her murderous intent evaporates, slowly being replaced with uncertainty and confusion.

「…What do you need, Lia? I was about to sleep. Honestly, the mere fact I didn't doze off yet is a feat of willpower.」

He asks, placing his head on his hand. Cycelia shakes her chestnut head.

「N- No… If you're sleepy, I'll just leave you be. You must be tired after today, after all… Goodnight-」

Though Cycelia turns to leave, her awkward smile is directed at Straf the whole way.

「Want to join me?」

Pat pat pat.

Straf asks, and pats the empty space beside Stripe and himself.

「Eh!? Join you!?」

Cycelia jumps up in surprise and begins furiously fidgeting with her medallion.

「Yeah. I mean, it's pretty cold out now, right? The cat here keeps me warm at night…」「…Meow…」

He shrugs, and pats Stripe's head a few times to point her out. She lets out another quiet meow, then buries her red face in the blanket.

「…So, how about it? There's plenty of space. I saw that bear in your room… I'm not sure if I can match its volume, but I'm fairly sure I beat it in warmth and physical strength.」

Straf adds, pointing his hand at the empty space on his bed.

Unsure what to do, Cycelia swivels her head back and forth between the bed and the open door to the hallway. After a moment, she softly, hesitantly pushes it shut.

Pat pat pat.

Straf pats the empty bedside again as Cycelia approaches, blushing heavily. She slips her boots off, sits down on the bed, then slips underneath the covers facing Straf and Stripe.

「There. Much better than sleeping alone, right?」「Wah…」

He asks, smirking at Cycelia as he moves his arm to wrap around her and pull her closer. Both she and Stripe end up almost touching noses, face to face on Straf's chest.

「Now I just gotta wait for them to deliver all the shit… Goodnight, Lia…」

Straf says as his voice trails off, and his petting hand slows.

「Y- Yes… Goodnight…」

Cycelia nods her chestnut head, briefly glancing up at Straf, but her emerald eyes quickly return to Stripe's golden ones.

Completely silent, the two stare at each other with tight-lipped grimaces, rising up and down with Straf's chest with the soft sound of his breathing…