A few hours later, after sunset, in an inn…

Will enters the crowded room full of adventurers and regular citizens, adjusting his glasses. His eyes turn to the usual table, where Greaves and his party are already waiting.

「Slow day?…」

He asks as he sits down at their table. Greaves glances around the room idly without replying.

「A little… But that's good, isn't it? That means we're doing our job well.」

Alicia shrugs with an awkward smile then looks around the table.

「How about you, Will? How was your day?」

With a soft smirk on her face, Lian asks while leaning onto the table with her elbows.

「Ah… Don't get me started. I was asked to go on a bogus monster hunt, and all of it is because the empress is just tired and seeing things… And then there were those kids…」

He adjusts his glasses as his expression sours. Will shrugs, rolling his eyes as he thinks of the heckling band of children.

「Monster hunt?…」

Alicia tilts her head with her brows furrowed in concern.

「Ahh, there was no monster, Alicia… I think. The empress just saw something in Straf's room at night. She's not even sure what it was… Cat-like monster with no cat ears?…」

Will turns his gaze to Alicia and adjusts his glasses before crossing his arms as he explains. He then mumbles to himself briefly, staring down at the table as he thinks.

「Hmmm… She must be really worried about him. I feel bad for her, she must really love him a lot.」

Alicia replies with her eyes drifting down to the table.

「Huh?」「Eh?」

Will and Greaves both utter out in surprise. Will adjusts his glasses, while Greaves stares at her with his arms crossed and mouth's corner raised and eye narrowed in ridicule.

「Huh? Eh?」

Somewhat confused, Alicia's head swivels between the two.

「No, wait… It'd make a lot of sense, actually…」「Huuuuh?」

Will declares, lowering his head and adjusting his glasses again as he crosses his arms back up. Greaves turns his incredulous face to him.

「…I actually forgot, but I suppose someone like him could have somebody that loves him too… He did help her majesty reclaim the throne, and asked for nothing in return after all.」

「Tsk…」

He adds, and Greaves clicks his tongue, turning his gaze elsewhere.

「Here you go!… And a stew for a mage with glasses…」

A waitress suddenly comes in with a large tray of meals, and begins setting them out on the table.

「Ah, thank you…」

Will returns a grateful nod as she places a bowl of steaming stew in front of him. The waitress smiles, and departs towards the innkeeper's counter.

「…He's pretty handsome too.」

Alicia nonchalantly says while fiddling with her utensils and focused on her plate.

Thud!

「Huuuuuh!? But what about me!? Who do you like more, Alicia!?」「Greaves! Stop doing that already!」

Greaves perks up in surprise, slamming his palms down onto the table with his jaw dropped, and then points at himself. Will's glasses get splashed with the stew. Alicia returns an awkward smile.

「…Tsk. Stop being so petty, Greaves… He's a bastard and I can't stand him, but Straf is objectively a pretty good-looking guy. He's pretty tall, muscular…」

Will clicks his tongue in frustration as he's forced to take his stew-soaked glasses off and set them aside. He squints heavily at Greaves from across the table, appearing as if scowling.

「You-! You're on his side now too!?」

Greaves points at Will with an expression of pure shock on his face.

「…Come to think of it, I rarely get to see you with your glasses off, Will.」

Lian casually interjects into the conversation with a smug smirk on her face. Will turns his squinting, confused eyes to her.

「Huh?… Yeah… They're dirty because of Greaves, so I've no choice…」

He furrows his brows slightly, briefly turning his glare to Greaves's blurry form before shrugging his shoulders and resuming eating his stew. Greaves pokes his food angrily with a scowl.

「…Alicia has a point. It really is no surprise. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors, and they've spent some time together at the Academy too…」

Will continues his thought after swallowing, looking upwards towards nothing in particular amidst the blur as he props his cheek up on his fist.

「…He's tall, handsome, muscular, powerful… As much as I hate to admit it, he's a pretty genius mage, too. Honestly, he could do a lot of bad things with his strength…」

With a frustrated sigh, Will shrugs his shoulders with his mouth aslant.

「…But he just doesn't? Not excessively so, at least. I don't know if it's her majesty keeping him in check, or if he's secretly a good guy after all, but…」

「I don't think he's that bad…」

Tilting her head, Alicia chimes in with an awkward smile.

「Khhhkhhh…」

Tinktinktinktinktinktink…

Clenching his teeth, Greaves stabs the steak on his plate many times with his knife.

「Greaves, stop playing with your food. Good grief… You're almost an adult, and yet…」

Alicia turns her eyes to Greaves, chiding him, which only causes him to grip the knife tighter. She lets out a weary sigh as her shoulders slump, and takes a bite of her own food.

「…Still, some people really just luck out, huh?… Why is someone like him allowed to be handsome, strong, a genius mage, and call the empress by a pet name?…」

Will continues, adjusting the thin air up his nose. He glances at his glasses on the table, then awkwardly crosses his arms.

「…I doubt she'd let him do that if she didn't love him. The only thing I'm wondering is, why aren't they married yet? True, if he's just a commoner, it'd be a pretty bad hit to her prestige…」

He lowers his gaze, rubbing his chin with his brows furrowed.

「…But even if he is, he's strong enough for it not to matter. Who would dare to say a bad word about him if he's this powerful?」

Will asks, glancing around the table with his arms crossed. Lian slowly raises her brow, while Alicia glances at her from the side with a troubled look on her face.

「…What? Is there stew on my face?」

He asks while looking at both Lian's and Alicia's blurry faces while they stare at him, furrowing his brows.

「It's nothing…」

Alicia replies with a shrug. Will simply nods along and resumes eating his stew.

「…I wonder how Shien is doing.」

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

He says after a moment, when Lian's blurry form from across the table reminds him of her brother…

…

The next day, in the early morning, in a village by the northern border of the empire…

…Fffffffwwwwwwooooooopffffffffffff… Fffffwwwwoooooopffffffmmmmmm…

「They're almost here! Hold out for a little longer!」

A formation of hastily militia spearmen point their spears at a raging four-legged winged beast with the white-furred body of a bear, wings of a dragon, and a spike-tipped tail almost like an ox. It tries to gore the poorly armed and armored villagers with its antlers, but spears coming near its eyes keep it at bay. Some of the badly wounded men are crawling along the snow towards the village, leaving a bloody trail against the white ground.

Each of the militiamen glance up every few seconds whenever they get a chance to, searching for the black object and gauging for its distance as it descends towards them.

Thump-thump… Swish!

「Gargh!」「Ungh!」「Aaaghnghh! Hnnnnnghhhhh!」

The villagers are flung aside into the snow when the beast turns around with a quick jump, and whips the entire formation with its tail.

…Ffffffffwwwwwwwwwwopppfffffffff!…

Before the aircraft even touches the ground, the ramp begins to open, and piles of snow are blasted away by the hot exhaust. The relatively uninjured militamen are picking themselves up, while one of them is clutching at his arm, which is slightly bent the wrong way. The man writhes and rolls around in the snow, clenching his teeth while the reaction force troops jump out in a rush as soon as the height is safe.

「Go! Save 'em!」

William shouts to Julius as they charge towards the beast with Roland and the rest. The beast selects the weakest target, which happens to be the villager with the broken arm.

「Hnnnghhh… Nngh?」

Just as the man manages to recover a little from the pain and pay attention to what is happening, he finds a massive and antlered bear standing over him. It raises its massive front paws as it stands on its hind legs, towering over the downed and injured villager. His eyes wide at the sigh as he feebly tries to kick himself away off the snow.

「Shit! We're not gonna make it!… Julius, crossbow!」

William reaches for the loaded crossbow hanging off his hip by a loosely secured cord on a belt.

Fwap!… Fwap!

He takes quick aim in the beasts' general direction and fires, with Julius shooting his shortly aftewards.

Tfwap-tfwap.

The bolts get lost in the beast's thick white fur without it even reacting. The nearby militiamen are hesitating, split between taking the help's arrival as an opportunity to escape, or to try and help the downed villager against their better judgement. All of the reaction force members are simply too far to cross the thick blanket of snow in time before the beast can drop its weight onto the man.

…Thwap!

The beast recoils back, wobbling back and forth slightly as its paws drop to its fat belly when a broad-headed spear flies in and lodges itself in its exposed throat. The mad charge of the reaction force slows down a little out of sheet confusion. Roland and the rest turn their eyes to the direction the spear came from, and find snow spraying into the air as a blurry shape closes in rapidly.

「What is that?-」

Roland utters out, warily raising his shield towards the speeding blue object spewing snow everywhere.

…Thumpppfff!

The antlered bear beast drops down onto its back with its wings weakly spread across the stomped snow. A blurry blue shape leaps over the injured man on the ground towards it.

In one violent motion, Shien grabs onto his spear and rips it out of the beast's throat, sending its still-warm blood spraying everywhere. He then raises it back up, pointing it down at the beast while his glaring black eyes dart around its head. After a moment, his alert stance on top of its chest eases, and he straightens out of his tensed hunch. Shien then turns to face the stunned villagers and the confused reaction force members.

「My apologies. I was tracking the beast but when it sensed it was losing, it took off, dodged my spear, and escaped. Snowfall complicated my tracking effort.」

Shien bows his black pony-tailed head as he jumps off and casually approaches the armored men. The reaction force members exchange confused gazes.

「…Everyone who can walk, go tend to the wounded!」

One of the militiamen cries out, rallying everyone still reeling from the beast's blow.

「Fuck, I think my ribs are broken…」「Ahhh… Fucking shit…」「I need a drink…」

The villagers run off towards the village center in haste, grumbling and groaning while clutching onto various parts of their aching bodies.

「Hey! Go see their injured! Give them the potions if it'll make a difference!…」

Roland turns to face the reaction force and waves his arm in a circle above his armored head, then points his hand towards the village center. Julius, William, and two other men remain.

「…Who are you? Some kind of a foreigner?」

When most of the reaction force leaves for the snowy village, Roland turns to approach the blue-bodysuited tall stranger. The two meet in the middle of their paths.

「My name is not important. You may call me the beast hunter… I am Straf Katastrof Vindict's disciple.」

Shien bows his head towards Roland as he introduces himself.

「Straf's?… Well, well met. I am Roland the Wall. I'm Straf's friend, you could say.」

Roland's helmet perks up in surprise at the familiar name, and he casually leans onto his tower shield as he introduces himself as well.

「Straf's friend?… In that case, my name is Shien. Perhaps you know my sister, Lian?…」

Shien bows his head again as he reintroduces himself, and tilts his head slightly, blinking his horizontally-slit eyes at Roland.

「Nope. Don't know 'er. I thought you were a beast yourself at first, and your eyes are kinda strange, friend… That normal in your kingdom?」

Roland shakes his helmet, then straightens out.

「No… My homeland isn't a kingdom, it's a collection of warring clans… I am a mutant, that's why my eyes are like this.」

Shien gently shakes his head, jiggling the silky ponytail behind him as he explains with a calm, frigid, and expressionless face.

「A mutant?… Huh?」

Roland tilts his head, then looks over his shoulder at Julius, William, and the other two. All four shrug their shoulders.

「More importantly… You may have the beast, it's yours.」

Shien nonchalantly points his hand behind himself towards the dead winged bear beast.

「Huh? Why would we want it?…」

Roland asks, shaking his head in confusion. Likewise confused, Shien tilts his.

「…It's a lot of meat. I have no time to prepare it, therefore you're more than welcome to partake.」

Shien casually explains with his brows lightly furrowed.

「You'd eat that thing?…」

Julius asks with a baffled tone.

「Of course- Ah, there is no need to worry. It is a regular snowbear chimera, not a mutagenic one. You can eat it with ease.」

He nods in response, before his black head perks up. He then reassures the reaction force members with a gentle bow of his head, all while remaining completely stiff-faced.

Julius, William, Roland, and the other two exchange deeply troubled glances through their helmets' visors before returning their eyes to Shien.

「…No, thanks, buddy. Appreciate it, but no thanks.」

Roland replies for the group in an awkward tone, nodding slightly.

「…You will not partake?」

Shien tilts his head as his face finally becomes visibly confused.

「Nah… We're good, thanks.」

Roland acknowledges, and the entire group nods in agreement.

「Hm… This meat may go to waste then, that would be a shame. I take it you are not from the village?」

Shien peeks over his shoulder at the slain beast as he thinks, then turns his slit-eyed gaze back to Roland's helmet.

「No. We're from the capital. We're a reaction force to counter sudden threats and incidents… You beat us to it, I guess.」

Roland glances at the men behind him, then shrugs his armored shoulders with a noisy clatter.

「There is no shame. If anything, the shame is on me for my previous failure… I saw you arrive by this… An airship?」

Shien walks past Roland, staring at the aircraft behind the reaction force with curious black eyes.

「Airship?… Yeah, I guess it is, actually. Fitting.」

Roland nods along as he turns around and joins Shien's side, wading through the snow.

「Who made it? This would make trips from here to the islands trivial.」

With a brief glance at Roland, Shien asks as he returns his gaze back to the airship.

「Straf, apparently. So I've heard, at least.」

Roland shrugs again with one of this armored thumbs hooked into his belt.

「Straf did?… Indeed, as expected of my master. Once again I am dwarfed by his foresight.」

Shien's brows jump up very gently in an extremely subtle show of humanity, before nodding his head in approval with a frigid, expressionless face…