Early into the morning, well before the sunrise, in Redwing Kingdom…

「Hup!」

A sharply dressed, crimson-eyed man throws the entire kubelwagen's engine block to another well-dressed and red-eyed man, who deftly catches it, then sets it aside next to a whole stack of them.

Tinktinktinktinktinktink!…

The sound of metal chisels working fills the warehouse. Straf and Lily watch on while the vampire men and women labor, although Lily is struggling to keep her scarlet eyes open.

「Haaaaaaaaahhh…」

She yawns softly, covering her mouth with her pale hand.

「…Straf, is it not time to call it a night? The sun will rise soon, and while I don't care for it much, they do.」

Lily asks with her golden head gently tilted. Her twin tails jiggle slightly like vines of gold.

「Hmmmm…」

Straf glances at her, then returns his gaze to the vampires.

Tinktink! Tinktinktink!…

「…Hup!」

Despite having only just finished his work on the previous engine, the elegant vampire throws another ready engine block to the one stacking them.

「…Did you really have to tell them to dress up in fancy clothes? I needed physical workers.」

Straf asks, glancing at Lily.

「Well… You only said that you needed someone respectable, so I told them that they will be meeting someone very important, and to put on their best clothes. It's fine, isn't it?」

She nonchalantly shrugs her hand and shoulders in response, then crosses her arms again, turning her scarlet eyes back up at Straf.

「Well, it gives a positive first impression…」

Straf shrugs, watching yet another engine fly through the air and land in the vampire's clawed hands.

「…But what gives a better first impression is the pace they work at. Seriously. One night here, and they output more than a few days of work… Makes me question what humans even exist for.」

He looks at the pile of converted kubelwagen engines stacked up and ready to be fitted into their vehicles.

「Heh… That is a good question, Straf. Why not-?」

「No, Lily. Do not read my praise for vampire workers as intent to turn into one.」

Placing her small fists on her hips, her face gains a smug grin, but Straf quickly cuts Lily off.

「Tsk… Well? They can't work forever, Straf. I can't order them to risk burning in the sun without being a tyrant.」

Turning her scarlet gaze away, she clicks her tongue, visibly disappointed. Lily then shrugs her shoulders, and looks at the busy vampire workers.

Clap clap!

「Okay! That's enough for tonight! I think you've sufficiently proven to everyone why humans are the most boring race! Good job!…」

Straf claps his hands, then wiggles his fingers for the vampires to come closer. They set their tools down, and approach him.

「…Here. I'd say you actually earned this. I might as well shut the factory down during the daytime at this rate.」

Quickly digging around in his [Portable Storage], Straf pulls out a thick bundle of freshly printed, ominously copper red-colored drakes.

「Hm? New drakes?」

Lily tilts her head with a raised brow as Straf hands the first vampire in line a few of the drakes. The man appears confused, glancing at the drake, then Straf, then the drake again.

「New-new-new drakes, Lily. Dragons, they're called… Or imperial drakes. Or imperial dragons. You pick your favorite…」

Straf explains with a wag of his finger, smirking slightly, before shrugging and adding a few more names.

「Thank you, minister.」

The man bows his head, and accepts the new drakes. He folds them into his fancy sleek jacket, then heads for the door with another deferential bow for Lily.

「…Unlike the last reprints, the old ones are still valid, but I'll be trying to phase them out. Didn't you hear, Lily? We're an empire now.」

Straf adds, handing the vampire woman in line a few drakes. She likewise bows towards the two, and leaves.

「Really? What changed?」

Lily's eyes widen slightly, mostly out of curiosity rather than surprise as Straf continues handing out the new money.

「Lia's heart, apparently. She wants to return to tradition, and traditionally, the kingdom is actually an empire. At least that's how she justified what could have been just a simple name change.」

Straf shrugs, and replies with a little grimace on his face as he glances aside at Lily.

「Tradition?… Hm… Redwing's Empire…」

Lily mumbles with her head lowered, pensively holding her chin between her thumb and finger as she thinks.

「Heard of it?」

「I have. Well… It's something I've heard of, at least. With my master around, I never really concerned myself with politics. Especially not human ones…」

Straf asks, and Lily tentatively nods, before quickly correcting herself.

「Even if you don't care about politics, politics care about you…」

With a light grin on his face, an amused huff escapes Straf's nose.

「Hmpf… Indeed. What a bother… But indeed, I might have heard a Redwing's Empire, or Redwing Empire uttered by someone, once or twice.」

With her arms crossed, Lily nods along, and slightly scrunches her mouth to the side.

「Remember who?」

「Of course not… I don't even remember whether it was a vampire, or a human. My memory isn't flawless, Straf. On top of that, I was rather… Immature, I would say, at the time.」

Straf asks, and Lily spreads her hands, lightly shaking her golden head before crossing her arms back up.

「Immature? How can a twelve year old girl not be immature?」

Straf's brows furrow as he begins handing the last of the vampires the new drakes.

「I stopped being twelve years old centuries ago, Straf. I didn't really mature until I lost my master. Now that I think about it… I should have spent more time with him, and not the books…」

Lily replies with a sullen sigh, and Straf hands the last vampire his pay, who then bows towards the two, and quietly leaves before the sun can get him.

「…I wonder if you'd like the me from before I matured, some 300 years ago.」

She remarks as she looks up at Straf with an unusually soft gaze, and turns for the door.

「I'm sure I would have, Lily. But…」

「But?…」

「…712 year old vampire doesn't quite roll of the tongue as easy.」

With his hands in his pockets, Straf replies while following Lily out of the consumer goods factory…

…

A few hours later, in a large mansion within the proximity of the Royal Reserve Bank…

With his hands in his pockets, Straf tours the building with another man following by his side. The two head up the stairs to investigate the second floor. They peek into the spacious rooms meant for dining, guests, as well as the many bedrooms. Straf nods with an approving grimace the more they tour, while the man following him keeps his form slightly shrunken.

「Right. This will do fine, at least until some purpose-built stuff can be made… Principal!」

The whirling, purple vortex appears next to Straf, and he reaches into it.

「Y- Yes, minister?」

The balding man nods, adjusting his glasses, and Straf forces a stack of sheets of paper into his hands.

「This is?…」

「You're going to teach the students exactly what's in these papers, and exactly how it's written…」

Fwap. Fwap. Tfwap. Tfwap…

Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

The principal furrows his brows in mild confusion, and Straf begins handing him books, then starts stacking them on top of each other.

「…And you're going to draw on the knowledge from these books.」

Tfwap. Tfwap…

Straf says as he continues piling on the books.

「Ah! Er, minister! I can't hold this much!…」

The balding principal calls out, obscured by the wobbling books.

Tfwap… Thwumpthwumptfwumptfwump!…

Another book lands on top of the already tall stack, and it collapses along with the principal holding it, who feebly tries to stop the inevitable.

「Cooome ooon. This is just basic elementary school knowledge. I even cut the students some slack and didn't include any math beyond basic algebra.」

Looking down at the principal in the pile of books, Straf throws his hands up with his mouth aslant. The balding man opens one of the books, and reads the first page.

「…Penned by… You wrote these, minister!?」

The principal looks up with his eyes wide open in shock.

「Yeah, while waiting for workers… These are the only copies in existence, so you better treat them well…」

Straf shrugs, and heads for the stairs down into the entrance lobby.

「…I want an educated and competent workforce in!… By the end of the year!」

He adds, raising his index finger with a demanding tone.

「But minister, that's in just a little over a month!」

The principal desperately calls out as Straf heads for the door.

「Did I fucking stutter!? They better pass an exam for elementary schoolers, or you're out of job!」

Straf shouts back, and leaves the mansion-to-be-school. The balding man lets out a dismayed sigh…

…

A few days later, in the morning, in Straf's office…

Straf is looking through a gigantic stack of papers on his desk, reading through them with haste, though without an apparent rush. His eyes simply gaze upon the contents for a split second, and he sets the paper aside before taking another one off the top of the stack. Every few documents he reads through, he grimaces, nods, or grimaces while nodding.

「Right. So the prices are finally normalizing, largely thanks to the demand of drakes from that fatass…」

He remarks, and sets another document aside. He then grabs another one pertaining to worker migrations, and begins nodding.

「…And migration to the villages is up. Man, what a pickle. Shut down the factories to cut the costs, or keep them open so the people keep getting paid?…」

Straf rests his cheek on his fists, and his eyes drift upward to the ceiling as he thinks. He brings the paper up to his eyes again.

「…Hold on, what if I reversed the direction? What if I undercut the craftsmen from the capital in Parnatau?-」

His brows furrow pensively as he thinks out loud, but the door swinging open interrupts his thoughts.

「Straf?…」

Cycelia peeks her curious face into Straf's office.

「Yeah? What do you need, Lia?」

Leaning onto his elbow, Straf asks as he lowers the sheet of paper obscuring his handsome face. Cycelia is briefly stunned, but quickly recovers.

「Ah, haha… You really look like someone from the government now, Straf.」

She giggles softly, covering her mouth with her dainty hands, as she remarks on the stacks of documents on Straf's desk.

「What, I didn't before?」

Narrowing his eye in confusion, he asks.

「Ah, no! That's not what I meant at all!… I'm just saying that with how many responsibilities you have, I always imagined you swarmed at your desk like that.」

Cycelia quickly shakes her head and waves her hands in front of herself, correcting her statement with a warm smile on her face.

「I wasn't, 'cause I did everything myself. Now I'm trying to delegate stuff to others so it mostly runs by itself, and it's a pain in the ass. I need to sift through hundreds of reports like these…」

Straf shrugs, and shows Cycelia one of the reports with utter disdain for the sheet in his fingers, before discarding it off to the side of his desk.

「…So, which city is getting devoured by monsters, and needs my help?」

With his elbows on the desk, he quizzically spreads his hands.

「None, Straf. I just stopped by to ask if you wouldn't like to have a breakfast with me, Greaves, and his friends. The maids say the food is almost ready.」

Cycelia shrugs, smiling softly.

「…Am I going to get poisoned?」

He asks, furrowing his brows with a wary look on his face.

「Wha-? Straf, no! What makes you think that?… Is this the stress talking? You deserve a little break, Straf, just like anyone else.」

Confused and a little indignant, Cycelia asks.

「…Nah. Let's go, I was getting kind of hungry anyway.」

「Right.」

Straf shrugs and relents, cautiously walking around his desk and the stacks of papers upon it. Cycelia nods, and backs out of the doorway with a smile.

「…But if I do get poisoned, it was the maids.」

He adds while heading towards the hallway to join Cycelia.

「Straf! The maids would never do that! They're all wonderful ladies, some of them even served my grandfather!」

Outraged, Cycelia chides Straf with her brows furrowed, pouting slightly.

「But just in case…」「You seriously need to take a break…」

He replies while pulling the door shut as Cycelia shakes her chestnut head in disapproval…

…

Fifteen minutes later, in one of the dining rooms…

Straf and Cycelia enter, where Greaves and his party are already seated by the long table.

「I'm back.」

Cycelia declares with a smile. Crossing his arms, Greaves clicks his tongue when he sees Straf enter behind her. Adjusting his glasses, Will and Alicia politely nod their heads their way, while Lian simply looks on with disinterested eyes. Shien, who is sitting right by his sister, stands up and bows towards Straf, waiting for him to be seated first before sitting back down himself.

「I'm glad we can have a meal together in a big group like this. I miss doing that with my family…」

Pressing her hands together, Cycelia says with a big, warm smile.

「I'm sorry, your highness…」

Will nods and replies with a somber tone.

「Ah, no, I didn't mean to bring the mood down. I just meant that I'm glad I can do something like that again. What happened, happened. You can't help it.」

Cycelia waves her hands in front of herself again, and shrugs her shoulders, once again beaming a warm smile at everyone. As soon as she finishes her sentence, the door opens again.

A gaggle of maids enter, carrying pots and trays of food to the table. They deftly lay it all out, then begin plating the meals for everyone attending. Straf sniffs his plate with roasted fish, and a Temurian oasis fruit slice upon it for poisonous smells, but can only pick up a savory, sweet, and slightly sour aroma. With his mouth aslant, he sets the plate down, and takes his utensils into hand.

「Let's dig in!」

Cycelia says with a smile, and starts carving a bite-size chunk of the fish away. With nothing else to do but attend the diners, the maids begin idly gossiping with hushed voices.

「Have you heard what the merchants are saying?」

One maid whispers to the other as they stand side by side, watching the table for empty plates or glasses to refill.

「No, what?」

A young maid shakes her frilled hat.

「They're saying that the demon lord is back in the far east. There's demons ravaging their land…」

「What? That's terrible…」

The older maid shares a gossip, and the young woman covers her mouth in subdued shock. Cycelia being the focus of the maids, and therefore the closest, overhears the gossiping.

「Ahem… What's this about the demon lord?」

Cycelia asks, looking at the two maids over her shoulder. Greatly embarrassed, the maids lower their head in shame. Meanwhile, Greaves stops mid-chew, and his orange head perks up.

「Ahhh… We're sorry, your highness… We were just talking about the rumors…」

The older maid apologizes, and the two lower their frilled heads.

「No, it's fine, I'm a little curious myself. What's the rumor?」

Cycelia replies, and lightly tilts her chestnut head, blinking her large emerald eyes at the two behind her. Straf listens on with a raised brow.

「Well… You see, your highness, it's just random bits and pieces of rumors… But supposedly, if the merchants are to be believed, the demon lord has returned in the Eastern Kingdoms-」

Clank!

Greaves stands up, dropping his utensils onto the plate. He blinks at the maids with an amazed expression on his face, and his grin only grows and grows by the minute.

「Greaves, no! I know what you're thinking… No! Sit back down!」

Will demands, pointing down at Greaves's seat with his eyes wide open, and lips tightly pressed together into narrow lines.

Greaves turns his eyes full of excitement to Cycelia, who looks back into them, and quizzically tilts her head.

「Can we go there and check it out!?」「Greaves, no, you idiot! We are not going there!」

Shaking his clenched fists up and down, Greaves asks the queen. Will immediately chimes in, shouting at him…