In the early morning, in the Ministry of Security's barracks…

With her golden twin tails swaying and lagging behind her, Lily enters. Though off duty during the daytime, her ominously armored enforcers stand up at attention as she approaches them, and she doesn't as much as glance at the human agents.

「Well? Report.」

She demands, looking up at one of the Ministry vampires.

「Uhh…」

He groans with hesitation, and glances aside to the vampire with small dents all over his armor.

「Report. What happened tonight?」

Lily repeats with a growl, and tilts her head with her eyes suspiciously narrowing at him.

「Well, um… Not much, really. We arrested a handful of young ones for disorderly conduct.」

He glances at Lily's face, then turns his gaze away to another agent. They look at each other with tight-lipped grimaces as he speaks.

「Did they resist?」

She asks, and her gaze joins the vampire he is looking at as well. He becomes increasingly nervous, and his gaze jumps between her, and the Ministry agent explaining last night's events.

「No- Well, just minor scuffles… Except one.」

The agent continues, and his troubled crimson eyes return to Lily.

「Were there any blood thefts?」

「No.」

「Murders?」

「No, none…」

She asks, and the agent answers, shaking his head, as his helmet lies on the long and empty table.

「None?」

Lily inquisitively tilts her head, furrowing her brows.

「Just property damage, baroness…」

「Property damage?…」

She asks, and her brows slowly rise.

「Yes… One of them resisted arrest, and we had to use force. He ripped out one of the magic lamps, and shattered the crystal. Agent Hund here took the brunt of it, as you can see, baroness.」

He nods his head in response, and points his hand towards the vampire with dents all over his cuirass.

「So, one magic lamp…」

Lily glances aside with disinterested eyes.

「And, er… Agent Hund was knocked back by the explosion, and punched through one of the buildings' wall. The perpetrator also damaged a few doors, windows, some furniture…」

He explains, as her gaze returns to him.

「I see… Have him work all the damages off. Force him to repair the wall. The humans' new ruler will know how to wring value out of him, I will inform him of the incident.」

She crosses her arms, and glances at the handful of human agents taking a break.

「Yes, baroness.」

The vampiric agent nods his head, looking at her with a troubled, tight-lipped expression. Another vampire peeks over his shoulder at her face.

「Uh, baroness…」

The third vampire calls out, and her sharp gaze returns to him.

「…Do they have any significance?… Those markings, I mean.」

He inquisitively, albeit hesitantly asks, pointing at her.

「Huh? What are you talking about?」

Lily furrows her brows at him.

「The… The black markings on your face, baroness.」

He replies, and the other two Ministry agents silently mouth shut up at him.

「Huh? On my?-」

She furrows her brows while rubbing her cheek lightly, and looks at her hand. Lily's clawed fingers are stained with black soot. Her eyes go wide, and her mouth twists into a tight-lipped mortified grimace.

「…What do they look like!? Describe them to me!」

Lily glares at the agent, causing the other two to cringe visibly.

「Well uh, I… Err… The tip of your nose is black… And there's three lines stretching out from underneath it on each side…」

He says, carefully choosing his words.

「…Kind of like a drawing of a cat. There's the whiskers, and stuff.」

Another one adds, rubbing his finger sideways across his cheek, and the three nod. Indeed, her face now has a black cat nose, and cat whiskers drawn on her pale cheeks.

「Cat?- Hurk!」

Lily asks, but then her eyes widen again. She needlessly gasps for air out of shock.

「Wipe it off my face! Immediately!」

She commands, pointing her clawed finger at them. They search for any implement to use for that purpose, such as a rag, but find none on hand.

「…Just use your sleeve, or something! Hurry up!」

She shouts, then clenches her teeth and fists in indignation.

《How dare you embarrass me like this, Straf!? While I'm defenseless in a torpor!? How dare you!? How dare youuuu!?》

Lily stomps her foot, squealing angrily through her clenched teeth as a Ministry agent wipes the black cat whiskers off her cheeks with his sleeve…

…

In the meantime, in the palace courtyard just beyond the gate…

「Heave… Hup!」

The mustached driver grunts, and loads the heavy traveling case on top of the carriage. He dusts his hands off, then turns to Cycelia and Straf.

「Is that all, your highness?」

He asks, breathing heavily.

「Yes, I think I've packed everything…」

She nods back with a smile. The driver nods as well, and opens the carriage door.

「…Are you sure we shouldn't take some guards with us, Straf? At least on the way there?」

Cycelia asks as she approaches the door, and looks at Straf's bored face.

「…Why? Do you suddenly not feel safe with me? Around me?」

He asks back, looking at her with a slanted mouth as he leans onto the carriage with his hand.

「Stop being silly, Straf… What I mean is, the Academy is quite a long way from here. What if we're ambushed at night?」

Cycelia pouts a little, and looks aside.

「Ah, your highness…」

The driver calls out from behind her. Both she and Straf turn their heads towards him.

「…I wouldn't worry about it. We will only take a short break to eat in the evening, and then press on. By nightfall, we should reach the Mage Federation's Autonomous Zone.」

The mustached driver explains, bowing his head a little with his hand on his opposite shoulder.

「The who's fucking what?」

Straf asks with his fists on his hips, furrowing his brows as his eyes jump between them both.

「The Mage Federation's Autonomous Zone, Straf. It's a part of the agreement my grandfather signed a long time ago.」

Cycelia replies, looking at Straf.

「Okay?… Now what's the Mage Federation and what's with their Autonomous Zone? Does the kingdom have some sort of a mage problem you don't want to talk about?」

Straf asks, spreading his palms upwards as he shrugs.

「What? No. The agreement states that the Federation is allowed to build an Academy of Magic in the kingdom, but they must obey our laws, and the land remains in the crown's control. However…」

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She says, extending her index finger as she explains.

「…They get to essentially rule a portion of the land autonomously, like a vassal. The agreement prevents the crown from passing laws targeting the Autonomous Zone, and they are allowed to pass their own laws.」

Cycelia adds, and lowers her hand.

「…So it's a special economic zone with wizard hats. Good to know. Are we going, or is this arc centered around everything but the academy?」

Straf asks, pointing his hand at the carriage door with a slanted mouth on his face.

「Ah. Yes, let's go-」

「Hold on. Are you sure you packed everything? I don't think you want to realize that you forgot to grab spare panties, when we're halfway there.」

Straf asks and blocks the doorway with his arm, and almost causing Cycelia to bump her face into it. She blushes faintly, and looks away again momentarily.

「Spare clothes with boots, books, a little bit of snacks for the road, money… I think I have everything I need.」

Cycelia thinks, counting items on her fingers, then shrugs. Straf retracts his arm from her way.

「…Alright. But just so you know, I can only lend you my shirt at most…」

He cautions with a smirk as she enters, and sits down inside as well.

「…As I was saying, your highness… We should reach the Autonomous Zone by nightfall. Then, the lamps there will guide us right to the Academy by the morning. We'll drop you off there, and return to the inn by ourselves.」

The mustached man continues his explanation, standing in the carriage doorway.

「Are you sure we'll make it in time?」

Cycelia asks, tilting her head at the man.

「I was there many times with your father, your highness. If we do not dawdle, or run into unexpected issues, we will be on the lamp-lit highway precisely by the time the sun sets. From there on, it's a straightforward path.」

He nods his head, and replies.

「Ah… You were a carriage driver for my father, too?」

「For fifteen years, your highness. When the last driver retired, I took over for him. Believe it or not, I was young once. Ha ha ha…」

The driver replies, laughing softly with a smile missing a few teeth, and the tips of his mustache turned upward. Cycelia giggles quietly as well, covering her upturned lips with a loose fist.

「…And I s'pose the youn'gun here will take over for me when I retire. He'll drive the carriage for your heirs, and so on, and so on…」

He adds with a nod of his head towards the driver's seat, and shrugs. Cycelia's eyes glance at Straf's bored face, while he's silently listening with a tight-lipped grimace.

「Er, ah… It's too early to think about matters like that…」

She quickly turns her gaze down to the carriage floor, and plays with her medallion in her fingers as her ears turn red.

「Perhaps so… Retirement is a few years away still, but…」

The driver shrugs, tilting his head a little as he turns his gaze to the empty driver's seat.

「Well, let's not dawdle, your highness. I'll let you know when we'll be stopping for a break.」

He abstains from furthering the idle conversation, and smiles at Cycelia with a nod. She returns a smiling nod as well, and the mustached man shuts the door, then heads for the driver's seat.

After a brief moment, the carriage begins rolling along. As it does, Straf peers out of the window. Lily is approaching the side of the carriage, and stops just beside its path. She and Straf lock their gazes through the carriage window.

「Heh.」

Straf grins, looking at the faint smears of charcoal on her pale cheeks. With her arms crossed, she looks back at him with an upset pout, then abruptly snaps her face aside, whipping her golden twin tails about. However, as the carriage is rolling past her, Straf catches her side-glancing at the cart again. Their gazes meet again, and she stares into his eyes with a serious expression that seemingly grows more sullen, the farther the carriage rolls past her.

《It's just two months, Lily. I thought I pissed you off enough to spare me the cliche of staring at each other through the window.》

He thinks with a light smile, before Lily disappears behind the carriage. With his arms crossed, he turns his attention to Cycelia in front of him.

「She looked a little… Angry. Did something happen?」

Cycelia glances at the window briefly with her brows furrowed.

「Not much. She just dumped a few centuries old emotional baggage on me.」

Straf shrugs, and looks out the window again.

「Huh?」

She lightly shakes her head in mild confusion.

「Ah. There's that girl again…」

He remarks as an easel comes into view, when the carriage rides out of the palace perimeter.

「What girl!?」

Cycelia loudly asks, gluing her dainty hands and face to the window. She notices a young girl on the street with a paint brush in her hand, in front of a canvas on an easel. She looks at the carriage with curious eyes, notices Straf, and waves her hand a little with a smile.

「Ahh… It's just a chil-」

Cycelia sighs with relief, peeling away from the window. Her emerald eyes snap open mid-sigh.

「Straf… How and why do you know that child?」

She asks with a nervous, tight-lipped grimace on her face, staring at him.

「Hm? Well, some prick was bullying her, and I stepped in. He ruined her paints, so I gave her some money for new ones.」

Straf momentarily glances at her huge eyes, then returns his to the streets, and shrugs. Cycelia lets out a large, relieved sigh again.

《Ahhh… So he is just misunderstood. I'm sorry Straf… I should stop listening to the maids' nonsense… He's such a great guy!》

Cycelia thinks as she smiles contently at Straf, fidgeting with her medallion. His suspicious eyes turn to her emerald ones.

「…Why did that sound like you are relieved?」

「Ah! Eh! Uh!…」

He asks, and she stammers. Her eyes dart left to right and back again.

「…Well, I'm relieved you were there for her! You're just too nice, Straf!」

She spreads her hands, shrugging with an awkward grin.

「…You think so?」

Straf asks, rubbing his chin.

「Of course! You are way too nice to everyone! You're such a great catc-!…」

Cycelia exclaims, nodding her head. His eyes turn to her again as he continues intently rubbing his chin.

「…Guy!」

She corrects herself, and begins tapping her fingers together.

「Hmmm… You know what? You're right, Lia. I'm way too lenient, way too nice, and way too merciful…」

「That's right! You need to cut yourself a break sometimes, Straf!-」

Cycelia powerfully nods her head with a broad smile, agreeing completely.

「I think I ought to be the opposite from here on out! No leniency, no being nice, and no mercy!」

Straf chuckles, spreading his arms.

「Eh? Er… I don't… I'm not sure I-」

Her face grows troubled, and Cycelia meekly stumbles over her words, searching for an appropriate response.

「Huh? What the fuck? Lily and that painter girl I can understand, but what are these guys doing here?」

Straf abruptly remarks, ignoring Cycelia as he looks out the window. Greaves's party is walking down the road, heading to the city's gate as well. Lian, Greaves and Will stop to look at the carriage rolling past. Will adjusts his glasses.

Meanwhile, with a huge smile on her face, Alicia rapidly waves her hand at Straf and the queen. Cycelia waves back, smiling at her with a tilted head.

「…Hold on, this is too big of a coincidence. Something's up… Wait. Don't fucking tell me… Is the season ending!?」

His eyes widen in shock as he exclaims.

「Huh? Well, yes, Straf. The summer is about to end-」

Cycelia furrows her brows, tilting her head while the carriage drives past the adventurer party. With her hammer on her shoulder, Nona longingly looks at the departing carriage as she's heading to the dungeon.

「Just like that!? Before the big Academy arc!? Are you serious!? Is there a next season announcement, at least!? A hook!?」

「Huh? Announcement?…」

「Lia, don't just sit there! Help me look around!」

Straf desperately exclaims, looking at her while he's glued to the window.

「Huh!? Look around for what!?」

Cycelia starts searching for something vague outside the carriage as well.

「I don't know! Shady characters, people that look weird, a guy in weird clothes… Anything, Lia! Anything that could be an unresolved plot hook!」

He replies, as his eyes dart around the early morning citizenry. From an alleyway, a cloaked, hooded woman watches the carriage pass by her. With disdain in her golden yellow eyes, she stares at it with a sour expression on her face.

「Do you see anything? Anyone!?」

「No, not really…」

「Shit. Me neither… You can't end a season like that! Seriously? Seriously!?」

Straf clicks his tongue, and pulls away from the window. He hammers his thigh with his fist in frustration, before angrily crossing his arms again. As it passes her on the way to the city gate, a woman gently smiles at the carriage…