In the morning hours, in the Palace Town, outside of a clinic…

Straf exits the clinic with Cycelia and everyone else, aside from Greave's party.

「Ahhhhhhhhh… Looks like we're stuck here for a day or two…」

He sighs as his shoulders slump. The thick crowd of people rolls past, paying him and his group no mind.

「…Unless you want to ditch them? How about that?」

Straf asks, glancing over his shoulder at Cycelia with a smirk on his face.

「Straf, no! Stop being mean to Greaves and his friends!」

Furrowing her brows in a small outrage, she returns an upset frown.

「Tsk… I'm just saying-」

He replies with a shrug and a click of his tongue, rolling his eyes aside.

They happen to land on Oleander, who is focused on the mountain path in the distance, and Stripe, who is looking the same way.

「Straf.」

Stripe's eyes snap to his face, meeting his gaze. [Contextual Time Perception] activates. Straf furrows his brows as Stripe is rapidly reaching for his wrist.

「What?…」

He asks as she grabs it and forcefully pulls him off the street into an alleyway between the buildings. Cycelia tilts her head as she watches Stripe lead Straf away.

Thump!

Stripe slams her hand on a wall, obscuring Straf's view from the street.

「…Wow, it's me this time? What got into you?- Wait, are you in heat or something?-」

Straf blinks in surprise at Stripe, who is looking away from the street with her hand against a wall right next to him.

「Shut up! Quiet!…」

She barks back in an urgent tone in a brief eye contact before quickly breaking it with her cheeks lightly flushed.

「Eh!? What are you…!?」

Cycelia perks up in shock, blinking her emerald eyes at Stripe and Straf, who is mostly obscured from her view. Her voice trails off when she hears synchronized marching behind her.

「…Huh?」

Glancing behind herself, Cycelia sees a large group of men in black with masked faces pass behind her. Some at the sides of their formation look at her, then at Stripe's back in the alleyway, before turning their disinterested eyes away, marching down the street through the crowd. Oleander watches them pass with calm eyes and a frigid face.

When the black-shrouded men take a turn and disappear, Stripe lets out a sigh and pulls her hand away from the wall and straightens out.

「They're gone… Why didn't you say something, assassin bitch!?」

She walks out of the alleyway and storms up to Oleander past Cycelia.

「Am I supposed to?」

Oleander asks with a tilted head and a quizzical tone.

「You know they're looking for Straf!」

Stripe clenches her fist and teeth in anger while Straf causally emerges out, listening to the two argue.

「So?」

Oleander tilts her head the other way.

「Khh… Can I slap her!?」

Stripe seethes through her teeth over her should towards Straf, pointing her clawed finger at Oleander's nonchalant face.

「Nope. It's not a big deal anyway…」

Straf shrugs his shoulders with a nonchalant grimace on his face, walking back up to the group with his hands in his coat's pockets.

「…That's the palace, huh?」

He asks, turning his eyes up the mountain. It towers over the city, and a steep path leads up its side. Rather than being raw rock and gravel, the path upwards is well developed with railings at the narrow parts, and chiseled stairs where it gets too steep to feasibly climb. Clouds roll past, revealing bits and pieces of tall defensive walls with tiled ceramic roofs.

「Yeah… And I know what you're thinking. Don't. It's full of trained killers, deadly guards, and it looks like they're extra paranoid and patrolling the city too.」

Stripe nods while looking up at the palace with Straf, staring at it with a troubled and pensive face.

「And what am I thinking?」

Straf asks with an amused smirk on his face and a raised brow.

「You want to walk in there.」

She lets out a sigh, looking at Straf with her mouth aslant.

Snap!

「Yup. At night, though. Know any fun places where we could waste some time? Any snack places?」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Stripe's face. Cycelia furrows her brows, glancing at Lily's nonchalant face with a worried gaze.

「You want to sneak in there, and your planning phase is wasting time in fun places!?」

Stripe cringes, grabbing her head and retracting it into her shoulders like a turtle into its shell.

「Yeah, what else are we going to do? It's a mountain. You were there before, weren't you? I think that solves most of the scouting…」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, leaning in slightly, glancing at Oleander who is standing a little off to the side and staring at him with a frigid gaze.

「…Do you want us to discuss our secret plans on a street patrolled by their security forces? Or perhaps do something fun, and maybe eat something good?」

He adds, shrugging his hands. Stripe lets out a long, weary, and resigned sigh.

「…Fine. I suppose you're not interested in bath houses after the onsen visit, I think the nice, small, quiet place where you can get a drink and some food is open still.」

She relents, and begins walking down the street.

「Open still?」

As he asks, Straf gestures to Cycelia and the rest with his head to follow.

「Yeeeaah… I've been there a few times as a kid, so I don't know for sure if it still is. I couldn't drink, but the food there was good, and the atmosphere was really cozy.」

With a sigh, Stripe nods then begins swiveling her hatted head around for more palace guard patrols while leading Straf.

「Sounds good to me.」

Straf remarks with a shrug, and nodding an approving grimace over his shoulder towards Cycelia…

…

Late in the evening, up on a mountain, in the mountain palace…

Leaning on his walking stick and breathing heavily, Willow walks through the gates back into the palace walls' interior as the guards swing them shut behind him.

…Crrrrreaaaaankkkk… THUD!

The large wooden gates slam shut on their stops, and the guards haul a large, long block of wood up to bar them. Willow continues through the pristinely shoveled plaza, and the palace garden filled with long trays of small, hardy and colorful flowers. A man who is sparingly watering them from a watering can lifts his head up when he sees movement enter the light from the lanterns hanging from overhead strings.

「Ah, Master Willow, you're back. Did you find him? The man that you were looking for?」

The gardener bows his head and asks as he walks up, then joins the old man's side as they head for the doors of the palace proper ahead.

「No… It's like he evaporated into thin air… He, or someone matching his description rode into the city on a horseless wagon… But then neither he nor the wagon could be found…」

Willow shakes his head, pensively stroking his short beard and furrowing his bushy brows while the two walk together.

「Perhaps he hid it?」

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The younger man comments, tilting his head while his watering can sloshes noisily.

「That's what I thought, yes… And the guards spent an entire day searching for it. Nothing.」

「Strange…」

Willow first nods, then explains and shakes his head with a sigh. The gardener furrows his brows and looks at the sky. A distinctly reddish moon is glowing amidst the glittering stars, right next to the Small Eye. The two think in silence, with only the sound of their footsteps against chiseled stone making noise in the otherwise quiet plaza.

「…The moon is red too. Doesn't that mean something bad?」

「Wha…?」

The gardener idly remarks to the old mage, who lifts his eyes up at the sky. He stops, and the gardener stops just a step later. A troubled grimace appears on Willow's face.

「Hmf… Her Divine Embodiment remains silent… Perhaps it's nothing to worry about…」

The old man remarks while looking at the moon with a displeased slant to his mouth.

「What? Should I be worried?-」

「Forget it. Tell me this, gardener…」

The younger man asks, but Willow interrupts him with a dismissive wave of his wrinkled, weathered, and bony hand before returning it to his chin.

「…If one had to break in here to harm her Divine Embodiment, how do you figure would one do it?」

「Well, that's obviously impossible-」

The gardener replies with an amused, slightly ridiculing grin.

「Humor the thought.」

Willow insists with a light nod. The younger man's eyes idly drift up to the sky again.

「Hm… Probably at night like this…」

He replies, then lowers his gaze back down to the old man's quizzical face still waiting for more. With an awkward smile, the gardener idly turns his eyes aside and looks around.

「…Scale the walls, maybe? If we're talking about a professional assassin that'd take on a mission so suicidal, he'd have to be skilled enough to do that to even hope for success.」

The gardener shrugs while looking at the tall walls surrounding the palace complex and its many large buildings, forming a veritable fortress.

「Hnhf… Yes, that sounds about right… But also rather impossible to defend against. We have to remain watchful.」

Willow declares with a helpless shrug and takes off towards the palace with an impatient step, leaving the younger man in the dust.

「…Is her Divine Embodiment in danger?」

The gardener asks in a concerned and hesitant tone, furrowing his brows at Willow's back while his staff clanks against the stone below with each step.

「…Open the gates!…」

An urgent voice of a man shouts from outside the walls, right in front of the gates. A guard standing atop the gates in roofed battlements leans over, then waves his hand below, to the inside.

Willow stops and looks over his shoulder as the guards unbar the gates, and they sluggishly swing open. An exhausted palace guard runs in, then spots Willow staring at him.

「…Master Willow!… Master Willow!…」

The guard shouts between breaths while dashing towards the old mage.

「What is it? Take a breath and spit it out.」

Willow says, furrowing his brows while heavy worry builds up in his chest, growing worse with each second the man heaves and gasps. The guard suddenly straightens out and points.

「…Straf Katastrof Vindict!…」

The guard shouts while pointing over at the gate with his eyes wide open at the old man.

「What!? What about him!?」

Willow steps up. The worry dissipates, instead replaced with anger and concern.

「…Spotted in the city!… Just a few moments ago!… I thought I'd report instead of… Instead of fighting!… I'm sorry, Master Willow!」

The guard shouts out through strained gasps, then falls to his knees with his conical hat bowed in apology.

「No, you've done well. Where is he?」

Willow shakes his head and asks in an urgent tone, leaning down on his staff towards the man.

「…Red lantern store… Maybe ten, or fifteen minutes ago…」

The guard replies, and Willow rushes towards the gate, rapidly clanking his staff with each hurried, angry step…

…

Around the same time, in the Palace Town, on the main road leading to the mountain path up…

Straf is casually walking with his hands in his coat's pockets with his group packed tight right by his shoulders. The crowd of the people is dense, almost worse than at noon, and Straf would be unable to move forward if not for his elbow shoves bulldozering the way. Angry cursing and shouting comes from behind, but Straf ultimately slips away faster than the toppled citizens can pick themselves up.

「…Anyway, it was actually Lily who came up with that idea.」

Straf continues his conversation, pointing over his shoulder at Lily, who's right behind him with her arms crossed.

「That's really creative. Have you considered studying magic, Lily? Not spells, but magic, like Straf?」

Cycelia remarks with her brows raised in surprise while looking at Lily's unfazed face.

「No. It wouldn't hold my interest, and no matter what I'd do, it would pale in comparison to whatever Straf could create.」

Lily simply declares, and turns her scarlet eyes up to Straf.

「That might be so, but…」

Cycelia tilts her head with a shrug of her shoulders, politely agreeing, while trying to disagree.

「Still, it's clever. Even if Straf sinks in his whirly thing like in a bathtub, he can give other people a ride on it, right? Injured people, for example.」

Stripe chimes in with her arms also crossed. She shrugs her shoulders, briefly looking at Lily, then turning her golden gaze to Cycelia, who nods enthusiastically in agreement.

「I theoretically could… Lia, want to ride my whirly thing?」

Straf shrugs, then turns his grinning face to Cycelia.

「Stop-! You're making it sound debauched! If she rides on your whirly thing in the city, everyone will know who you are!」

Stripe grips onto her woolly hat in frustration at the mere suggestion, shrinking while she cringes, then spreads her hands in exasperation.

「Yeah, yeah, I know- Oh. Lily, it's a blood moon, isn't it?」

Straf rolls his eyes, then accidentally catches a glimpse of the reddish moon peeking over the palace. He turns his raised brows to Lily's gently fatigued face.

「Not yet, Straf… Though tomorrow, it's likely. This is actually quite rare. It happens once every twenty years or so. A partial blood moon…」

She returns a gentle shake of her golden head as she lowers it, then looks up at the sky. When her scarlet eyes turn towards the moon, they begin glowing like bloodstained spotlights.

「Partial?」

Cycelia echoes back, furrowing her brows in confusion.

「…Indeed. A partial blood moon is enough to drive weak beasts and vampires into a frenzy, but not enough to empower them. It's quite- Haaaaaaah…」

She nods, lowering her disinterested gaze back down. Her scarlet eyes continue glowing as a yawn interrupts her explanation, covering her mouth with her small, clawed hand…

「…Excuse me. It's quite convenient for me, since all the weaklings in the barony will be quickly dealt with by my subjects. It's a shame they're so rare. Having no blood moons is also rare…」

Lily nonchalantly pardons herself, then casually continues with a shrug of her shoulders.

「…I wonder if that means the spring has come?」

She adds, raising a brow at Straf, Cycelia, then Stripe as they continue bulldozering through the crowd…

…

At the same time, up the mountain trail…

…Clank!… Clank!… Clank!…

「Haaah… Haaaaah… I'll kill you just for making me run up and down the mountain at my age, you bastard… Straf!…」

Willow grumbles under his breath between gasps while rapidly descending the mountain by the neat, well-maintained trail…