Straf looks over his shoulder Athea, who remains sitting on Cycelia's mat. The two lock their gazes together.

「Why don't you stop being a stick in the mud!? Come watch the sunset!」

He shouts towards her, and she visibly clicks her tongue, breaking eye contact.

「Why should I!? I've seen sunsets like this one hundreds of times before!」

She shouts back, and turns her face to the sand.

「…And a few million other ones, and then another million of more impressive ones…」

She quietly grumbles to herself, hugging her knees and hiding herself with her arms.

「Because this one's special!」

Straf insists, and powerfully waves his arm to gesture Athea to join the group. She sighs and relents.

「…How is an exactly same sunset as any other special?…」

Athea grumbles while she approaches, covering herself with her hands. She stops just short of the line, standing slightly behind everyone else.

「…And? What's so special about this? I've seen this before.」

She asks, looking at the sun's glow as it's slowly hiding itself.

「No you haven't…」

Straf insists, and opens [Portable Storage]. He reaches in with both of his hands, and pulls ice cream cones out.

「Huh? Is this yet another one of your obnoxious tricks?-」

She asks, and looks in confusion at the ice cream Straf is holding out for her.

「What?…」

「Here. A consolation prize. I couldn't find a watermelon, or anything suitable enough for a beach ball.」

Straf says with a smirk, and she hesitantly takes the cone into her hand.

「Here, Lia. You too.」

「Ah… Thank you.」

Straf hands Cycelia the other ice cream. He pulls out another two, and holds them out for Lian and Alicia.

「Here, you too I guess.」

He says as he nods his head towards them both. Alicia quickly takes one with a smile, but Lian looks at it with her almond-shaped eyes narrowed in suspicion. After a silent moment, she slowly picks it from his hand.

「…What is this?」

Lian asks, looking at the odd spiral in a wafer.

「It's an ice cream, Lian. Have you never had one before?」

Alicia asks, and nibbles the spiral's tip with her lips, shielding her teeth from the cold.

「…I've never seen something like this before. It feels cold.」

「Yes, and it'll melt if you don't eat it quick!」

Alicia nods her head, and takes another nibble. Lian hesitantly takes one as well, and her brows rise in surprise.

「Here. I guess you earned one too.」

Straf says, holding another pair of cones in front of Will and Greaves.

「Oh, nice!」

Greaves exclaims as his hand mindlessly swoops in and takes the cone.

「Agh!- I didn't mean to take anything from you! Shit!」

「I have a no refunds policy, even if it's free.」

Greaves cringes as soon as he realizes he accepted the nice gesture from Straf. He clicks his tongue in response to Straf's deadpan words, and angrily starts licking away at his ice cream. Will looks on at the cone in Straf's hand with suspicion on his face.

「…Is your magic hole frozen, then? Is that why you took the kraken? That's pretty greedy of you-」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses, but Straf immediately cuts him off.

「Ah, no, it's not actually freezing. It's more like nothing. Kind of warm, even」

Straf shrugs as he explains the nature of his [Portable Storage].

「What? Isn't the kraken going to rot in there?-」

「Nope.」

Straf bluntly replies with another shrug. Will stares at Straf's face with his mouth slightly open, and his brows greatly furrowed. He glances at the ice cream, then back at Straf's face, and hesitantly takes it from his hand.

「But… This is cold… How does it work then?… Is each object's temperature separate?…」

Will rubs his chin deep in thought as he idly, slowly eats his ice cream. Straf returns to his spot, pulling another ice cream out of the purple vortex as it follows him. It shuts close, and Straf holds the ice cream out for Lily.

「Here, one for you too, Lily.」

「…Straf. I am a vampire.」

She reminds him, looking up at him incredulously.

「Wow, you really are a picky eater. I was convinced an ice cream would work.」

Straf shrugs, and looks at the sun. He takes a large bite of the whirly spiral. Lily sighs and shakes her head in silence, jiggling her streaming, golden twintails.

「…'twas my last one, anyway.」

He adds, then glances over his shoulder at Athea.

「…Are you not going to eat yours?」

He asks, looking at the untouched and slowly melting ice cream in Athea's dainty hand.

「Huh? Ah… I don't like cold things…」

Athea replies, and looks at the ice cream.

「So you're just going to let it melt?」

He asks with his brow raised, and the sun beside his face sinking in the water. She blinks a few times, looking at him.

Athea looks at the ice cream again, and gives the tip a small nibble. Her eyes open wide in surprise just as when she took a bite of the roasted fish.

「…It's good. I just wish it wasn't cold.」

She says, with her face a little sullen.

「Tsk. You just want plain milk with sugar in it, huh?」

Straf scoffs, shaking his head as he turns his gaze back to the sunset.

「…So how is this sunset special?」

Athea asks, and hesitantly takes another small bite of the cold spiral.

「Well, you won't see it again.」

Straf nonchalantly replies, shrugging his shoulders.

「Hmpf. Nonsense. I can just wait a little and a new one will come. Typical, I should have expec-」

Athea scoffs, and her mouth scrunches to the side in frustration. She grumbles under her breath quietly, mentally preparing for another nibble of her ice cream.

「Yeah, a new one will come. You won't see this one again.」

He shrugs once again, casually agreeing, and takes another large bite of his ice cream.

「…Huh? What's the difference? You're just grasping at straws.」

Frustrated, Athea shakes her head with a slanted mouth.

「Yeah? You think so? I don't think Lily will be up for watching the sunset with you tomorrow.」

Straf scoffs at Athea's words with a lightly amused smirk.

「Right, Lily?」

He looks down at Lily with a humorous smile.

「I'm only here because you are, Straf.」

She crosses her arms, ever-so-slightly turning her face away, but she continues watching the sunset.

「Right… And I might not always be around.」

Straf tilts his head towards his shoulder in agreement, then takes another large bite of his ice cream. Lily turns her eyes back to Straf.

《…Around the palace? The beach?》

She thinks, and breaks eye contact when Straf glances at her again. Her eyes escape towards the sinking sun.

《Or does Straf mean?…》

Her crimson eyes sink lower, to the sand, as she searches for a deeper meaning in his words.

「I mean, if you try to tell anyone about this, you'll sound like someone who wants to sound cool really bad…」

Straf scoffs, grinning towards the sea. Cycelia glances at him, almost done with her ice cream.

「Yesterday?… I watched the sunset with a vampire…」

Straf says, after assuming an exaggerated pose supposing to be cool yet nonchalant, with a campy voice as if an actor poorly reading a dialogue from a low-budget movie. As soon as he breaks out of his pose, he starts chuckling with a massive grin, shaking his head.

「Come on, that's something an edgy 15 year old would say as an euphemism for hunting a vampire. And yet, here we are…」

His cackling calms, and he shrugs his shoulders with an amused sigh.

「Right?」

Straf says to Athea with a light, slanted grin, peeking over his shoulder at her. The last direct rays of sunlight flicker out below the water, and the beach darkens significantly. The sky remains faintly lit by the sun's remaining glow, hidden beneath the horizon.

「…Yes. I suppose…」

Athea mindlessly agrees, somewhat mesmerized by the sunset despite her previous grumbling. Straf returns his gaze back to the hidden sun.

「I'm just making an allusion to how you can't step in the same river twice. Yeah, it's the same river, but the water is already gone down the stream, y'know? The sun might be old, but the day is new, and so is its end.」

Straf says, and a brief silence begins. He silently shrugs his shoulders, and a loud crunch of his cone wafer breaks the silence.

「…So you are a philosopher, sir?」

A voice from behind them all politely asks. Everyone turns their heads to the source. The mustached man is waiting with his hands clasped in front of himself, patiently waiting for Straf to finish his thought. He blinks at the driver, and sputters, barely holding his urge to laugh in.

「No, I work for a living. I just tend to overthink things.」

Straf replies, and turns his head back to the sea, shaking it while chuckling to himself.

「I see… Your highness, the carriage is waiting. If you'd like to stay longer, it's perfectly fine. But, uh…」

The man turns to Cycelia, and takes a few steps closer to her.

「…Did something happen? The road to here is terribly ruined, and there is a gigantic tentacle by the roadside.」

He adds, looking over his shoulder towards the torn dirt road above the beach.

「…No, I wouldn't say anything out of the ordinary.」

Cycelia thinks for a few seconds, before smiling at the man as she replies. She knowingly turns her smiling face to Straf, and the two glance at each other.

「We will be there in just a moment.」

She adds, nodding her head.

「Again, there is no rush, your highness. Take your time if you wish.」

He replies, and bows low. The driver then turns around, and carefully steps through the shifting sands back to the dirt road, and hops back onto the driver's seat alongside the young man already on it.

「…Now that I think about it, wasn't this sunset kind of quick? Or is it just me? Anyone?」

Straf asks, looking side to side for someone to agree with him.

「N- No, I don't think it was. It seemed pretty normal to me… But time flies when you're having fun! Right, Straf?」

Cycelia says, and beams a happy smile at Straf, tilting her head a little.

「…Are you sleeping enough, Straf?」

Lily asks, doing her best to veil her concern, but some of it slips through her scarlet eyes as she looks into his.

「What? No I-」

Straf sighs, rubbing his brows with his thumb and finger in frustration.

「No, I literally can't sleep. That's not the problem, Lily.」

He replies with a tight-lipped grimace.

「Maybe you're sick? Are you feeling okay?」

Alicia asks, peeking her head past the rest of the group.

「I'm fine…」

Straf replies, rolling his eyes.

「Thanks for asking though, that's really nice of you.」

He adds, with a snap of his fingers as he points one at her.

「Ehehe… Well…」

Alicia giggles quietly, smiling a little as she hides behind Lian and Greaves's mass of hair again. Will and Greaves click their tongues almost in sync.

「…Seriously, are you not going to eat that?」

Straf peeks his eyes over his shoulder at Athea again, and notices the ice cream dripping down onto her fingers.

「Wha-? Ah. Damn it…」

She grumbles under her breath when she notices it as well, and starts quickly biting into her ice cream in larger and larger chunks.

「…It's not bad when it's not so cold.」

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Athea comments, licking her lips of the melted ice cream.

「Seriously, you just want milk with sugar in it…」

Straf shakes his head, and sighs as his eyes return to the sea once more.

「The best part about ice cream is that it's cold and it's cruelty-free…」

He remarks.

「…If you discount the production chain, that is.」

Straf adds after a brief pause, shrugging his shoulders.

The group spends 15 more minutes watching the sun completely disappear, and the beach grow dark while they finish their ice cream in peace and silence…

…

「…Shall we head back now, Straf? That's all there was to see, right?」

Cycelia asks, looking into Straf's eyes.

「I suppose so, but I've got one more thing to show you all. It's a real fuckin' cliche, and it's going to blow your fucking mind.」

Straf says, and chuckles ominously. Athea's face gains an anxious expression, and she takes a few steps closer to Straf's back.

「Craft.」

Straf says with his fist on his hip, and a crafting screen only he and Athea can see opens before his eyes. They snap to the search bar in the corner. Already anticipating something terrible from Straf's announcement and his gleeful voice, she skitters even closer with huge, blue eyes.

「Gunpowder.」 「Hhuuuuuurrrkkkkhhhk!…」

Straf utters out, with a wide grin on his face. Athea gasps, almost choking for air.

「No! You can't do this to me!」

She closes the gap and grabs onto his shoulders with massive, panicked eyes and her clenched teeth bared.

「Reelaaax.」

Straf says, grinning at her while looking into her deep blue eyes, and calmly presses the [Craft] button in another corner of the screen.

「Please, anything but this! Why!?」

「I said relax…」

Straf insists, disregarding her distraught pleas and shouts.

「…What's gunpowder?」 「…What's gunpowder?」

Cycelia and Lily ask at the same time, and glance at each other with their brows raised.

「You'll see.」

He replies to them both, chuckling with a grin.

「No, no, no no! Don't!」

Athea begs, digging her fingers into his bare shoulders. He clicks his tongue, and rolls his eyes. A large, tied sack of powder drops into his waiting hand.

「Guess I don't need this right now, off to inventory it goes…」

He shrugs. [Portable Storage] opens, and it hungrily devours the sack of powder.

「Sparkler.」

Straf says, looking at the search bar again.

「…What?」

She utters out, becoming deeply perplexed. Her fingers clutching at Straf's shoulders let go, and she takes a few slow steps back. Straf taps the [+] button next to [Craft multiple], and holds it for a short moment. He then taps the crafting button.

A few paper sticks drop into his hand.

「Here, take these.」

He hands Cycelia and Lily one, then approaches Greaves's group.

「Straf, what is this?」

Cycelia asks, looking at the odd spiral of twisted paper.

「Like I said, you'll see- Ah. Lia, could I bother you to start a fire again? Just a little one. I need a small stick that's on fire, really.」

Straf stops mid-step, and looks over his shoulder at Cycelia.

「…Sure, be right back.」

She furrows her brows, and nods her head as she steps towards the remaining branches.

「Just the tip, Lia! Okay!?」

「Sure!」

Straf adds, shouting at her as she jogs towards the branches. She shouts back, waving her hand with a smile.

「Heh. That was easy.」

He lets out a singular snort from his nose with an amused grin. Just as he's about to take another step, he remembers an important detail.

「And be careful with that! Keep it away from the fire!」

He shouts as she's heading towards the remains of the campfire. Straf then hands the remaining papers to everyone else.

「…What is this? Is this edible?」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses.

「No. Not in this form, at least… Actually, you eat the lead part.」

Straf scoffs, smirking at Will as he hands him the twisted paper.

「Lead? Why would I eat lead?」

Will adjusts his glasses again, furrowing his brows.

「There's many reasons. Overtaxation, for one. Here.」

Straf continues his vague explanation as he hands the curious thin objects to Lian, Greaves and Alicia.

「Where's yours?」

Will asks, noting Straf is now empty-handed.

「I don't need one.」

He shrugs with his hands, smugly smiling. Cycelia returns with a small stick, with an even smaller flame dancing on its tip.

「Is this good enough, Straf?」

She asks, handing him the ad-hoc torch.

「Yup, that'll work. Thanks, Lia.」

He nods, and takes her hand holding the sparkler into his.

「S- Straf?…」

She stammers and recoils a little from the sudden touch, but doesn't otherwise resist his grasp. He lifts her hand a little, and brings the flame under the sparkler hanging from her fingers.

「Now watch this. Don't drop it.」

Straf says, and lights the sparkler on fire.

Fssssssssssssssss…

It lets out a quiet, steady sizzle, flinging orange sparks everywhere.

「Wow! What is this!?」

Cycelia asks with a huge, amazed smile as she watches glowing sparks rapidly shoot out from almost her very hand.

「Alright, everyone else show 'em to me.」

Straf wiggles his fingers towards the rest of the group. They all hold their thin papers spirals out for Straf, and he lights them all at once. Lily panicks mildly.

「Gah! Isn't this going to burn-!?」

She exclaims with her scarlet eyes wide open, cautiously darting from one spark to another at an inhuman pace.

「Nope, relax, Lily.」

Straf reassures her, and she calms down a little. Her eyes continue tracking each spark at a crazed pace, however. He takes a step back, and chuckles a little, watching the entire group observe the sparks fly in complete and utter awe on their faces.

「…Is this a magic tool? How does this work?」

Will asks himself, and adjusts his glasses.

「If this is a magic tool, it's probably the saddest one in existence.」

Straf scoffs, shaking his head. His gaze turns to Athea, who is watching the scene from behind everyone else, away from the sparks' glow in the ambient darkness.

「Want one too?」

Straf asks, nodding his head up at her.

「…No, it's fine.」

Athea shakes her head, with her fist on her very exposed cleavage. The previous panic is gone from her eyes, but caution and suspicion remains on her face.

「Alright then… Rocket.」

Straf utters out, looking at the search bar again. He scrolls through the list, and selects an item. Athea looks on with a tight-lipped, nervous grimace as she approaches closer.

He presses [Craft] button again, and a conical shape appears in the air in front of him.

「What's that, Straf?」

Cycelia asks, looking up at Straf as she leans forward a little with her free hand on her knee. She looks like she's having the time of her life, with a huge happy smile spanning almost from ear to ear. The glow of the sparks occasionally glitters in her emerald eyes looking at him.

「Again, you'll see…」

He replies, and the cone drops into his hand. He impales the sand with the thin wooden stick protruding out of its bottom, and crafts another one, stabbing the sand with its stick too. He repeats this a few times.

Athea approaches closer and lets out a huge, relieved sigh. A soft smile appears on her face as she watches Straf bend over a little and set a string beneath one of the cones on fire. He waits a few seconds, then lights another one up. This repeats until all of them are burning.

「Now watch this. No better way to end a beach episode.」

He declares with a smug grin, and flings the burning stick into the sea.

Plunkfwwwshh.

The water noisily extinguishes the fire as the stick sinks, and the strings beneath the conical items continue noisily hissing like the sparklers nearby. Straf takes a few steps back, and puts his fists on his hips.

Fwooosh!

The burning string burns into the cone's bottom, and after a few quiet seconds, it takes off into the air with a huge velocity.

「Huh?」 「What was that?」

Everyone in the group notes the odd sound, and their heads turn towards the darkening sky.

「…That almost sounded like a windbolt. We're not under attack, are we?-」

BOOM!

Will asks while adjusting his glasses. A large, colorful explosion in the sky interrupts him.

Cracklecracklecracklekrkrkrrrk…

The flickering lights high in the sky spread out, and noisily split into golden sparks. The small sparklers quickly lose everyone's attention.

Fwwwooooooooshwhoohwoohwhoow!

Another cone takes off with a specific whistling noise as it departs.

BOOM! Cracklecracklecracklekrkrkrrrk…

Another explosion sends more colorful sparks all over the sky, illuminating the dark beach in the colors of the rainbow. Straf peeks at the group over his shoulder, and everyone is watching the firework show completely slack-jawed, and in silence.

Everyone except Athea, whom Straf exchanges a quick glance with.

「Heh. Told you it would blow your fucking mind…」

Straf says with a huge smug smirk after turning his gaze to the group, then returns his eyes to the sky.

「…I wonder what the reaction would be to cluster munitions. Or a nuke.」

Fwooosh!

He thinks out loud, and another cone noisily shoots off into the sky…

…

「…Are you sure we should wander away this far from the village?」

A young girl in her teens asks the teenage boy leading her by her hand.

「It's right here… And I'll walk you back home safely regardless of what you tell me, don't worry.」

The boy assures her with a smile and nervous eyes as he glances over his shoulder at her

「…Huh? What I tell you?…」

She quietly says, tilting her head with her brows furrowed in confusion.

「…Here. This is the spot.」

He says, and leads her up to a small, bare hill amidst the trees. They arrive to the top. The boy lets go, and he points his finger towards something.

「Wow! You can see the sea from here! Isn't it a few hours away on foot!?」

The girl exclaims with a smile.

「Yeah. It'd be half an hour if not for this stupid cliff in the way.」

He nods his head, lowering his arm as they look at the waves crashing onto the dark waves in the distance.

「…What's that by the road? It looks like a worm.」

The girl asks, squinting heavily.

「…Dunno, probably a big rock or something.」

The boy shrugs his shoulders, and anxiously scratches his temple with his finger.

「Is that why we came all the way here, though? We could have done that in the morning, silly!」

She smiles at him, and giggles softly.

「N- No… Listen, Lisa… I li- Like you…」

He mumbles, looking down at the ground.

「Hm? Well I like you too, Jack.」

She smiles, replying in a matter-of-fact tone, turning her head back to the dark sea.

「N- No… What I mean is…」

「Hm?」

She turns her eyes back to his face again. The boy's mouth trembles, and he clutches his fists. He inhales sharply, and meets her gaze.

「Lisa, what I mean is, I lo-!」

Boom! Cracklecracklecracklekrkrkrkrkkkk…

「Wow! What is that!? Look!」

The girl points her hand at the sky with a huge smile. Flashing colorful sparks dance across the dark canvas.

「Wha?- Ah… I don't know, maybe it's a mage casting a spell or something…」

He mumbles under his breath, scratching his cheek with his mouth glumly scrunched into a corner.

「Isn't that really pretty!? Look!」

Boom! Cracklecracklecrackle…

Another distant explosion rings out through the quiet night sky, sending out flashes of light. The boy's spirit deflates with a large sigh, and his sullen eyes drift down to the grass below.

「Yeah… I guess…」

He shrugs.

Boom! Cracklecracklecracklekrrrkrkrk…

Another lightshow begins. He looks beside him, at the girl's rainbow-toned smiling face.

「But it's not as pretty as…」

He says, choking on his words.

「Hm?」

Her smiling face turns to her with her brows gently raised.

「…N- Nothing. Nevermind…」

He breaks eye contact to look back down at the hill.

「Wha-?」

「Look! Another one!」

The girl abruptly grabs the boy's hand, and points at another distant firework rising into the sky.

Boom! Cracklecracklecrackle…

The distant firework show goes on, and the two continue watching the paradoxically bright night sky…