Elsewhere, around the same time…

An elderly, long-bearded man walks through a pitch-black tunnel. Skeletons are laid to rest on dug-out shelves, spaced out seemingly at random. Skulls are embedded into the walls, densely packed between the cobblestones.

He carries on through the oppressive darkness, with only a torch to provide him a small, narrow circle of light. He arrives at a cave. A single beam of sunlight makes the surroundings just bright enough to see a figure of a man sitting on a pile of bones and skulls neatly formed up into a throne.

「At last, I have finally found you.」

The elderly man calls out to the man on the skull throne. In response, the man only straightens out on the throne, and stands up. The old man's eyes widen.

「Stay your hand!-」

He shouts, and just as he manages to finish his sentence, he realizes the man's clawed hand is just one fingernail's length away from piercing his throat. Without him noticing the movement, the man has crossed the large cavern in blink of an eye.

「…Baron Roskiel, I presume?」

The old man asks, leaning away from the claws.

「…Who are you? No ordinary human would dare to enter these catacombs.」

The man asks, his vertically-slit crimson eyes glare at the bearded old man.

「Pardon my manners, baron. I am Archmage Diebin. It's likely you have never heard of me, but I have served as a court mage under-」

The mage bows politely ever-so-slightly, with his hand on his opposite shoulder.

「Spare me the trifling story. Why should I stay my hand, instead of ripping your throat out and feasting on you?」

The baron growls, flexing his hand as he glares into the old mage's eyes.

「…It would be extremely unwise, baron.」

The elderly mage insists with full confidence in his voice.

「…Is that a threat, you shriveling raisin?」

Baron Roskiel's glare intensifies, and he snarls at the mage.

「Of course not, baron. I freely admit that I am no match for you in power. However… Simply killing me would deny you a great deal of benefit.」

The old man grins like a sly fox, arguing in face of a deadly threat.

「And that benefit being?」

The baron asks, and the mage reaches into a hide bag slung over his shoulder. He pulls out a thick tome bound in dark leather.

「Aside from me being an archmage and being able to do daytime chores for you, I have the Redwing grimoire with me. Are you familiar with its story, Baron Roskiel?」

The old man lifts the tome up, and the young man retracts his clawed hand, squinting at the book.

「Of course I am… The demon summoning tome. But how do I know it's real? And why have you come before me?」

The young man rubs his chin, watching the old man with suspicion in his scarlet eyes.

「Unfortunately, I have no proof. You have to trust my word it's real, I have verified it with my own eyes. However, I come to you with a deal. Should it succeed, not only will I prove the grimoire is real, we will gain a powerful ally to further our goal as well. Care to listen, baron?」

The mage places the heavy magic grimoire at his hip, and asks with an accompanying gesture of his free hand.

「Very well… But do not waste my time, or test my patience. I haven't fed for a while, and my stores of patience are running very thin.」

Baron Roskiel says as he turns around and returns to his skull throne, then sits back down, slouching lazily in it.

「My proposition is as follows… I will prepare a magic circle and lay it over a population center, handling everything during daytime. When it's ready, your part of the work will begin, Baron Roskiel. At night, you will slaughter the population very slowly, to not alarm anyone. When enough souls are captured-」

The old mage lays out a plan, but the baron interrupts him.

「Magic circle? Souls? What are you talking about?」

He asks in an annoyed tone. The faint glimmers of light that there are, cast a dark shadow on his sneering face.

「The magic circle is a large… Well, circle required to begin a ritual. The ritual captures souls of the people slain within its radius, and when enough souls and mana fill the circle, the souls can be used as an offering to bind a demon to a contract. This is the crucial part, baron.」

「So the Redwing magic is a necromancy, and a summoning magic in one? I am no mage, I only know the broad basics from my already foggy memory.」

「Something akin to that, baron. Indeed.」

The mage nods his head, looking up at the menacing throne of death.

「And the demon, and the contract? How does it work?」

The young man inqusitively asks, shifting around to prop himself up mostly on his elbow against the femur armrest.

「Yes… Normally, the demon would be summoned to complete one task, but I have a better idea. What if we were to summon it with a very vague, yet possible to complete task? A task such as, protect us for a year or some such. In that time, I could prepare another magic circle, and summon another demon on the same principle..」

The mage explains, and the young man begins rubbing his chin.

「I get blood out of it, but what do you get?」

Baron Roskiel asks, pointing at the elderly mage.

「Power, Baron Roskiel. I want power. The end goal is to dominate the human world. All of it. I am not interested in life eternal, so make me the king of all humanity for the rest of my life, and you shall be my heir to the throne, baron.」

The mage grins, spreading his arms.

「Is that not an enticing deal? One short life of an old man already one foot in death's door, and you will rule all of humanity.」

「Hmm… Intriguing. And where do you suggest we'd begin the plan?」

With his interest piqued, the vampire baron nods his head. The elderly man grins broadly at the youthful-looking ancient vampire…

…

Straf and Lily arrive at a foggy, grim bog. Straf nonchalantly steps in, completely unimpeded by the murky water.

「Okay, any ideas where to find it, Lily?」

Straf asks, while Lily jumps onto a branch of one of sunken trees.

「It's likely sleeping at this hour. It's a night and dawn hunter.」

Lily replies high above Straf, looking around the swamp for possible traces of their quarry.

「Well, I'll just walk forward until I find something cool, then.」

Straf shrugs, and walks deeper into the swamp. The water refuses to splash as his feet sink into the muddy surface, without being impeded in the slightest. Lily scans the horizon from above, and Straf searches from below. Eventually, Straf's foot hits something odd beneath the water's murky surface.

「…What the shit? Is this some sunken log?」

Straf mumbles to himself, and gives the underwater object a few rough kicks.

Splash!

A massive snake shoots from the surface of the water. Its total length is roughly that of a short passenger train, and it is as thick as an expressway.

「Straf! That's it! That's the swamp strangler! Watch out!」

Lily shouts from above, and Straf is confused as [Contextual Time Perception] applies seemingly without a reason.

《What the shit? It's just looking at me-》

The snake wraps its tail around Straf, constricting him and lifting him into the air.

《Oh. That makes sense.》

Straf shrugs, and slips out of the beast's coiled tail as if he was coated in lubricant. The snake looks at its empty coil, its simple mind likely unable to process what happened. Time returns to normal as Straf is no longer under direct danger.

「You didn't tell me it's a fucking snake Lily! I thought it was some spindly-armed thing that grabs you and strangles you to death!」

Straf shouts as he hops away, not disturbing the water in the slightest, and begins pulling out his blessed sword.

「I thought you knew! Do you need help!?」

Lily shouts at Straf from her tree, and Straf scoffs.

「Yeah, as if I'd need help with a sentient salami…」

Straf shakes his head with a grin on his face, slowly approaching the snake with his sword out…

…

Greaves's party, Lian and Vitsa are traveling together along a highway. Lian keeps glancing at the serious, golden-haired spearwoman every few minutes.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

「…What?」

Vitsa asks, after Lian glances at her in silence once again.

「Nothing. I am wondering when you will become my brother's woman.」

Lian smirks as she answers, without bothering to look at Vitsa again.

「That is pretty presumptuous of you. What is he, some sort of rich noble boy? If he's passably handsome, I'll give it some thought, but better don't imply things like that as if they were a done deal. I don't like it.」

Vitsa ignores Lian's light goading, and maintains her serious face with ease.

「Really? But you have met my brother just a while ago. Or were his spear skills so mediocre, that you already forgot him?」

Lian asks with a smug grin.

「A while ago? Ah, it was that spearman, wasn't it? I see the resemblance… I like his face.」

Vitsa thinks for a second, before a mental image of Shien fighting her pops into her head.

「Just his face? I suppose my idiot little brother neglected honing his skills so bad, he almost lost to a woman-」

「Shut up. Don't badmouth him.」

Vitsa glares at Lian, with a subtle, veiled, angry frown.

「Oh? I suppose you already are my brother's woman… That was fast.」

Lian smiles smugly with her eyes narrowed at Vitsa, before turning her head back towards the road ahead of them.

「…I simply respect his strength as a warrior. That's all it is. Don't badmouth him. I am not allowing you to. You talk like you know everything there is to know. It's best if you are just quiet.」

Vitsa forbids Lian, then an awkward and prolonged silence begins. Lian continues smirking, as it is now Vitsa shooting quick glares at Lian.

「…We could spar, and I could show you how badly my brother neglected training.」

Lian smirks as she makes a suggestion.

「Um… Lian, I don't think that's a good idea-」

Alicia meekly chimes in from behind them, but Vitsa stops in her tracks and cuts her off.

「No, I think it's a great idea. The one thing I can't stand is loudmouths and braggarts. I want to see if you have any skill to back your attitude, or if you are just saying trash about the first man who could keep up with me in battle.」

Vitsa glares up at Lian, and Lian scoffs with a sly smile in response.

「I'd be glad to oblige. I want to test if you're right for my idiot brother myself.」

Lian steps off the road onto the roadside grass, and Vitsa follows her. She creates a little distance between them, and an intense staredown ensues.

「See, Will? I told you two spear users is too many.」

Greaves grins as he crosses his arms and glances at Will.

「Shut up Greaves. This isn't a joke, they could get hurt. Be careful, Lian!」

Will adjusts his glasses, glaring at Will, before shouting towards Lian.

「Oh, I will be. Dont worry about me, worry about the blondie. I'll try to not hurt you though, okay?」

Lian tilts her head as she derisively mocks the golden-haired spearwoman. She glares at Lian back.

「Speak for yourself. What are the rules?」

「Let's say we try to not kill each other… And we stop whenever we feel like it. Or if one of us gets too wounded to continue. How about that?」

Lian replies, shrugging with her hands as she leans onto her new spear.

「Fair enough. Healer, give us a three-count.」

Vitsa gently nods, and calls out to Alicia without even turning her eyes towards her.

「Fair enough? That's barely any rules!」

Will protests, adjusting his glasses.

「Exactly how I like it.」 「Mhm.」

Both Vitsa and Lian reply to Will. Lian only lets out a singular chuckle, and smiles at Will, greatly amused.

「…Do I really have to?」

Alicia sighs, and asks. She looks aside while clutching at her silver wand with a tired expression.

「Yes.」 「Yes.」

Both of the spearwomen reply in unison. Alicia sighs again.

「Okay… Three. Two. One. Fig-!」

Clangclangclankclinkclangclang! Clang! Clangclang!

The battle begins without either of the fighters waiting for Alicia to finish her shout. They zap towards each other, closing the gap in no time at all, and begin swinging and stabbing away at each other with their spears, deftly parrying each of their opponent's blows…

…

About half an hour later, both of the spearwomen are breathing heavily, pointing their weapons at each other. Will and Alicia are pensively staring at them. Specifically, Will's attention is focused solely on Lian, while Alicia's gaze under her furrowed brows jumps between both of the women. Greaves simply grins at the spectacle.

「…I have to say, you're pretty good.」

Lian compliments her opponent with a slanted smirk, taking deep breaths and quickly exhaling them.

「You're not bad yourself. You've survived… Well, longer than anyone I've ever fought.」

Vitsa tilts her head and nods. She shrugs, when she realizes only Lian managed to give her so much trouble.

「You are squandering your talent, though. You're incredibly lazy.」

Lian then completely turns her compliment around with a stern face.

「Tsk. What now?」

Disgruntled, Vitsa clicks her tongue.

「You don't actually train with a spear, do you? It all comes naturally to you, doesn't it? That's why I'm saying you're squandering your talent. My brother is completely talentless. In fact, he's the definition of a helpless loser…」

「And what does it matter? I haven't ran into any trouble so far. I gain experience in battle. It's live training. Do you think swinging my spear at thin air is going to help me, when there's a wild beast in front of me? Ridiculous.」

Vitsa replies in an annoyed tone, with her brows furrowed at Lian.

「And how long will that live training work? It's likely you won't survive your first loss of your training. That's why you prepare ahead of time. My brother is talentless, but he still strived to be a great warrior, and he was succeeding beautifully. It was an admirable effort, until he one day decided to completely abandon all this effort, and grab onto a crutch. Like you are.」

As her breathing calms, Lian accuses Vitsa further.

「I am not using a crutch, what's wrong with you?」

Unveiled anger cracks through the golden haired spearwoman's facade.

「Oh, but you are. You think your talent can spare you the hard work. Frankly, you may be right, but I loathe to see this much talent squandered, much like I loathe to see my brother abandon all his hard work. Say, how about we call this a draw? I think it was a good spar. You may have learned a thing or two from me.」

Lian smirks as she asks for the spar's conclusion. Vitsa leaves her combat-ready stance, and Lian follows suit.

「…I don't want to train, I just want to take it easy. I almost had it, but that stupid usurping bastard had to die.」

Vitsa grumbles as she returns to the road, shaking her head with a sour expression on her face.

「Well, let's continue. Shall we, Will?」

Lian smirks at Will as she passes by him, and they resume their travel down the road…

…

Greaves and his party arrive at the swamplands. Lian and Vitsa carefully scan the surroundings, standing in front of the bog.

「…I think we should find a walkable path that's not underwater. It might be dangerous otherwise.」

Vitsa suggests as she keeps looking amidst the swamp trees.

「What do you think, Will? Should we spend some time looking around for one? We might end up finding nothing, and it'll get dark-」

Lian turns to Will, but then she notices Greaves pointing his finger into the swamp.

「Ah!」

He exclaims loudly, with his mouth agape. He points at Straf, casually and effortlessly wading through the swamp waters, talking to Lily above him about something.

「Tsk. Not him again…」

Lian clicks her tongue and rolls her eyes at the sight of Straf, when she turns around to face the swamp again.

「It's the super ass guy! What is he doing here!?」

Greaves shouts, pointing at Straf. Straf notices, and a moment later, he walks up to his party.

「Ah, Carrothead. And recurrent character. Fancy meeting you here, but what are you doing here?」

Straf asks, as Lily leaps to his side, causing varying degrees of fear in Greaves's party.

「The queen told us to go hunt down the swamp strangler! It's this giant snake, and it's been eating cows and stuff-」

Greaves explains, gesturing heavily and pointing his fingers in random directions. Straf chuckles, interrupting Greaves.

「Oh. Well, uh… You're kind of late, buddy. Better luck next time.」

Straf's face twists into an insufferable, cocky, massive grin, as he starts to chuckle even louder…