Less than an hour later…

Straf arrives to the local mages' guild and approaches the long counter. Mages sitting at the tables within ignore him, only glancing at Straf for a brief moment to see who entered.

「Good morning, beautiful young lady.」

Straf says to the short, old, wrinkly guild woman at the long front desk.

「Hmpf. It's you again. The rude man…」

She squints, looking at Straf with her eyes barely over the counter.

「Hey, I can be polite if I want something.」

He replies, grinning as he leans onto it with his elbow.

「…You think you can butter me up with flattery now? What do you want, young man? More gems? A crystal? Potions?」

The old woman asks in her raspy voice, pulling herself closer up by the desk.

「Yes.」

Straf nods his head, still grinning.

「…Which one?」

「Yes.」

Snap.

He snaps his finger and repeats as he points at the confused short woman.

「I don't under-」

「Tell me… Resistor crystals are a waste product of creating magic crystals, right?」

Straf cuts her off, leaning towards her on both of his elbows.

「Well yes, that's common knowledge.」

She shrugs, narrowing her eyes further.

「Right. Is there a limit on how big they can get? I need a pretty big one to work with it.」

「Well, theoretically… There's no hard limit, but one mage can only make a crystal as big as their supply of mana, and a smaller resistor crystal with it.」

The woman thinks briefly, glancing aside before turning her squinted eyes back to Straf's handsome face.

「And if a few mages worked together?…」

He asks with his brow inquisitively raised.

「Of course, then the crystal could grow larger, but it would take time. Obviously the more mages help, the faster it would be. More mana means bigger crystal, too.」

She nods, and shrugs her robed shoulders.

「Right… If I need a really big crystal, could the guild help me with that? Money is not an issue」

Straf declares, spreading his hands. The old woman narrows her eyes and rubs her wrinkly chin.

「Money's not an issue, you say?… How big are we talking about, youngster? Baby-sized? Man-sized? Or an extra-large one like one o' those bookshelves there?」

She nods her head towards the rather large, wooden bookshelves by the reading area of the guild. Full of thick tomes, it nearly reaches the guild's tall ceiling, right to its roof.

「Uhhh…」

Leaning onto the counter with one elbow, Straf looks aside at the shelf, thinking. His eyes then snap back to the old woman.

「…What about the size of the guild?」

He asks, leaning in towards the woman.

「Oooohohohohoho!…」

She erupts into laughter, covering her mouth with her thin, wrinkly hand. Some of the mages at the tables stop reading and look at her before promptly returning to their tomes.

「Hohoho…」

「What are you laughing about? Can it be done, or do I go look elsewhere?」

Straf furrows his brows, and the woman's laughter trails off.

「…You're serious?」

Her beady perplexed eyes blink at him.

「Yeah, what did you think? I need it as fast as possible. Both the magic crystal and the resistor. Preferably in a week from now. I'd do it myself, but I don't have the time.」

He throws his hands up, then returns to leaning onto the counter.

「A week!? You'd need hundreds of mages-」

「I said money isn't an issue. How much do you need to pull that off? Will a thousand gold drakes do?」

Straf cuts the woman's shouting off with his index finger sticking out. His hands then return to the counter, flat against its surface.

「A thousand?…」

Her eyes widen, then begin to bulge out as she stares at the young handsome man's face with a tight-lipped grimace on hers.

「…Money up front! No tricks! And it will cost you ten thousand total!」

The old guild girl points her bony finger at him as she shouts. Her wrinkly lips pressed together into narrow lines.

「Fuck… Alright, fair enough.」

Straf lets out a frustrated sigh, then shrugs in resignation. While he reaches into his [Portable Storage], the mages that overheard the woman shout the price glance at each other with wide eyes, then turn their gazes to the two at the counter. Straf pulls out a wad of bills, counts through it, then slaps down a thick stack of them onto the counter.

「Here's ten thousand up front, but it better be ready in no longer than a week.」

He sighs again, and places his hands back in his pockets as he looks at the woman with his bored eyes filled with frustration.

「T- Ten thousand!…」

The woman gasps out and quickly snatches the bills, counting them several times with her beady eyes wide open. She clutches onto them tight, as if Straf were to take them away.

「…It will be done. But you'll have to pick them both up outside the city's walls. We have no space here to do something like this. How you pick it up is your own problem!」

She says over her shoulder as she turns to a partially open door to a backroom, and takes a few steps towards it.

「Cool. Have them be right by the gate… By the way, I also want roughly 500 healing potions, same amount of stamina potions, and give or take… Hmm…」

Straf nods, before rubbing his chin in thought.

「…I guess 384 small magic gems should do. Make sure they're fully charged to the brim.」

Snap.

He snaps his fingers and points at the short woman. Shocked, she shakes her head in a bout of confusion.

「…That's a huge order, but we'll get it done. You'll have to pay more, though.」

「That's fine. I'll pay on pickup. The faster the better, if you can get it all by the end of the week, that'd be ideal.」

Straf replies, and turns for the exit.

「What could possibly need so many potions, gems, and crystals of this size? Is the kingdom constructing a barrier to dwarf the one at the Academy of Magic?」

The woman asks as she briefly returns to the counter.

「That's a need to know basis, and you don't need to know.」

He casually says, shrugs his shoulders, and exits the guild, leaving the old woman with more questions than answers…

…

Around the same time, in the palace garden, at the other end of the maze…

Crestfallen, King Nide shambles out of the arched entrance to the hedge maze, and Cycelia follows him out. They are met with the sight of the king's knights who stand at attention as soon as they see him exit. A patrol of plumed guards passes by nearby again, seemingly too frequently for it to be random. Cycelia turns to face the young king.

「Don't feel bad, King Nide. There were maids who were lost in the maze for hours, I think you made it through fast enough.」

She says with a smile, lightly tilting her chestnut head.

「Uh-huh… I'm going to head home now…」

The young man nods, and shambles towards the glass door under the escort of his knights.

「Huh? Already?… Um… I'll see you off, then.」

Cycelia's head perks up in surprise after standing stunned and still for a few moments. She then follows King Nide and his guards…

…

Less than an hour later, in the palace workshop…

With a sour expression on her face, Stripe is sweeping the dusty floor of the magic workshop with a broom in her clawed hands, glaring down at its bristles.

Swish. Swish.

「…Stupid bastard… And his stupid collar…」

Swish. Swish.

She grumbles under her breath, the broom's bristles scraping against the stone tile floor making a louder sound than her frustrated muttering. The door opens.

「Woah. So nice and clean here now. Didn't know you were such a hard worker…」「Tsk…」

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Straf chuckles as he enters, grinning at Stripe. She clicks her tongue, and angrily turns her golden eyes away. Ignoring him, she continues sweeping away.

「Craft. Pipe.」

「Huh?…」

Confused, she turns her gaze back to Straf as he's tapping through the thin air in front of himself.

「…What are you doing? I saw you do that back at that warehouse, and then a-」

She asks with her eyes warily narrowed. A small, glowing cylinder appears in front of Straf while he holds his hand out, waiting for the object to drop into it.

「And then that happened! What is that!? How do you do that!?」

Stripe shouts, pointing at the cylinder glowing with a golden light. The shine dies down, and a length of a metal pipe drops into Straf's hand.

「My, aren't you curious…」

Straf side-glances at her as he opens and digs around in his [Portable Storage], then pulls out a small magic gem.

「…Can't believe they just left those things lying around back there.」

He quietly remarks as he sets down both on the workbench.

「Like all people with intelligent opinions about the government, I'm making an IED. Want to make one too?」

Straf explains, and turns his smugly smirking face to Stripe.

「Craft. Spring.」

「IED? What's an IED?」

She asks as Straf taps the thin air, and another object inexplicably appears in his hand.

「Hmmmm…」

His eyes briefly drift upwards while he rubs his chin, idly throwing the item in his hand up and catching it a few times.

「…Innovative Energy Device. It's going to be all the rage among the people who need a lot of energy at a specific spot right this instant. You'll see!」

Straf replies, grinning at her before turning his attention back to the object. A long, thick, twisting strand of metal that compresses and extends as Straf squeezes it between his palms, roughly the circumference of the cylinder. He pulls out an awl and a hammer out of his inventory, then begins hammering it into metal cylinder's side.

Tink tink tink tink!…

「…What is it for? It looks like a metal hammer shaft.」

She walks up closer, idly sweeping the floor near the workbench.

「I said, it's for unleashing a large amount of energy quickly, silly. There's a lot of military-industrial uses for that. Craft. Pipe cap.」

Straf explains while working on the cylinder, threading a metal pin with a pull ring through the hole while pressing the spring inside so that it remains stuck in its compressed position.

「Military-industrial uses? Like what?…」

Stripe furrows her brows, blinking at the Innovative Energy Device in production. Straf briefly looks at her with an exaggerated smile, before wordlessly returning the task at hand.

「I just need to figure out a delay mechanism for this fucking spring…. The simpler, the better.」

Swish. Swish.

He rubs his chin, pondering the half-finished assembly on the workbench while Stripe sweeps.

「…A delay mechanism? You mean you want something to happen later?」

She asks, blinking at his face with a confused and wary expression on hers.

「Yeah. When the peasant pulls the pin, I don't want the spring to be immediately released. There has to be some non-chemical, mechanical way of doing it…」

Straf nods, rubbing his chin with one hand, while the other rests on his hip in a fist. Stripe looks closer at the pipe.

「…In the Eastern Kingdoms, there are these bamboo deer-frighteners. They fill up with water, then swivel and impact a rock after a delay. You mean like that?」

She remarks as her golden eyes jump between the pipe and his face. Straf's brows abruptly rise, and he snaps his fingers.

Snap.

「…I've got it!」

He announces with a smug smirk on his face and a snap of his fingers.

「You'll use a deer-frightener?…」

Stripe asks, furrowing her brows in confusion.

「What? No. How would that even fit in there?…」

He points his hand at the metal pipe lying on the table, slightly thicker and larger than a hammer's shaft.

「I don't know…」

She shrugs, and returns to sweeping.

「I'm going to use a simple, yet overly complicated set of gears to introduce a delay, and then release the spring!… But that means I need another housing for this thing.」

「…Is that a problem?」

「No, I was going to make a shell for it and pack it full of nails anyway.」

With his fists on his hips, Straf nonchalantly replies with a shrug.

「What does energy have to do with nails?」

Stripe asks, furrowing her brows again as she briefly pauses her sweeping.

「…More than you think. Craft. Gear.」

He replies with a light, almost condescending smile, then turns his head forward and taps the thin air again…

…

A few minutes later…

「…Aaaand, there. It's done! The world's first ever, and certainly not the last IED!」

Straf proudly declares as he straightens out from his hunch over the workbench, and looks at the completed IED assembly. Now twice as thick and somewhat rectangular, it resembles a shrunken-down shoe box of metal. Straf takes it into his hand with a soft metallic rattle and examines it from all angles.

「Congratulations…」

Stripe sighs out with a visibly tired face, speaking in a tone seeping with sarcasm.

「I'll test this one out on some animal later. For now, stop sweeping and come with me. I have an important task for you…」

Straf throws the IED into his [Portable Storage], and waves his hand for her to follow as he turns for the door. Stripe sighs again, and reluctantly shambles after him.

「…What is it? You could at least order me to assassinate your political enemies. At least then my skills wouldn't be wasted.」

She asks as she shuts the door behind them and follows him through the palace halls.

「Well, uh… You're a little too late for that. I have no political enemies, just political people I'd rather not see again if I could help it.」

Straf replies with a grin while swaggering down the hallway, taking wide steps.

「You killed them already!? Even in the Eastern Kingdoms-」

Stripe's golden eyes widen in shock. She blinks a few times in utter disbelief at Straf's ruthlessness.

「What? No. I voted them out. They're effectively dead to me.」

He scoffs, smirking, and turns for the stairs with Stripe…

…

Moments later, in Straf's room…

Thud.

Straf closes the door behind himself as Stripe enters. She turns around and keeps her clawed hands close to her chest, warily staring at Straf.

「…Why are we back here? You're not going to do something to me, are you?」

She asks with her body language screaming discomfort.

「No. Sit down.」

Straf points at the foot end of his bed while digging around the whirling purple vortex. Stripe hesitantly obliges, and stares at him with a nervous, tight-lipped grimace.

「…Now show me your feet.」

He says while holding a photo camera in his hands.

「What!? Why!?-」

Zzap.

Her striped ears perk up, and the collar applies a painful shock to her neck.

「Ow… Why do you want to see my feet!?」

Stripe winces, and reluctantly begins slipping her shoes off.

「Hey, not me. There's a demand for this, I'm just the supplier. You're not going to be the main girl or the topic of the next issue anyway.」

Straf spreads his arms as he explains, then kneels down, taking a low angle in front of Stripe. Her face twists into a look of disgust and confusion.

「What?… Demand?… Demand for what? What main girl? What main issue!?」

She rapidfires questions and places her bare feet down at the ground, but Straf ignores them as he fiddles with the camera's knobs and switches with a disinterested face.

「Shush. Show me your feet and act natural. Maybe swing them a little. Pretend you're embarrassed.」

He hushes her with his index finger in front of his mouth, and brings the viewfinder up to his face. Blushing, Stripe begins wildly swinging her feet.

「…I am embarrassed.」

She replies, turning her golden eyes away.

「Slower. And do something with your hands. I don't know, cross them a little or something.」

Click click click click.

The camera shutter clicks rapidly as she obliges, and slows her swings. Straf rolls around on the floor trying to capture interesting angles of her rather unremarkable feet.

「Oh yeah! That'll rile those perverts up! Look at the camera!」

「No!-」

Zzap!

「Grrghhrkkk…」

The collar zaps her again, causing her to wince.

Clickclickclickclick.

With her teeth clenched and face reddened, Stripe looks at Straf, her lips wobbling from embarrassment while the camera continues making a loud clicking noise…