「Shien, was it? You didn't finish, what made your eyes… Like this?」

Alicia points to her eyes, looking up at the tall, muscular man with a serious face right into his eyes.

「As I said, it's a long story… And to make it short- Lian, have you told them about our clan? About what happened?」

Shien lifts his eyes off Alicia, and looks at his sister.

「They know most of it.」

Lian shrugs and tilts her head.

「Very well. Then to make the story short, before I left the islands, I decided to eradicate all the beasts that can threaten humanity. Big and small; magical or mundane; two, four, or hundred legged… It didn't matter. I've left to grow stronger through the weaker beasts found here, and I've already formulated a plan long before I left. The mutagenic chimera…」

Shien speaks, and lifts his eyes off Alicia back to his sister as he mentions the name of a certain beast.

「Don't tell me…」

Lian scoffs, furrowing her brows.

「As you probably expect, I have prepared an extract from its stomach. This was my first step to attaining the power to eradicate them. From there on, I hunted the beasts whose natural abilities would come most useful to me the fastest. If not for the razortail salamander's regeneration, I would have been dead quite a few times already… And that's why my eyes are the way they are.」

Shien's black eyes with vertically slit pupils stare downward at the awed Alicia.

「So you eat all those monsters, and you gain their powers?」

「That is how it usually goes, yes.」

Shien nods his head in response to Alicia's question.

「What… What if you ate a cow? Would you have an udder?」

Alicia tilts her head as she asks, and Lian sputters.

「No. A cow has no special abilities that humans do not have. Although, if I ate its stomach… I could potentially mutate rennet production. However…」

Shien rubs his chin as he thinks, then sighs, placing his hand on his hip like his sister.

「After some time, I have realized… Or rather, it was revealed to me, that the way of empowering myself was misguided. I have become the very thing I have sworn to eradicate, without even realizing it. I have Straf Katastrof Vindict to thank for opening my eyes. Else I would have lost my humanity sooner, or later.」

Shien looks at Straf, who sighs with boredom while looking at the mercenaries standing around.

「What? Really? That deviant?」

Lian looks at Straf as well, and they lock gazes momentarily. Lian peels her eyes away, and sighs in disappointed disbelief.

「I can't believe I owe him my gratitude again… Maybe I really was too harsh on him-」

Lian abruptly stops talking, and grimaces heavily as Straf walks up and casually places his hand on her shoulder, as if they were in a close relationship.

「Saw you looking at me, no need to be coy. I was getting real bored, so I thought I'd join the conversation.」

Straf says, after spending less than 5 minutes waiting on the stairs.

「Master Vindict… Do you have a relationship with my sister?」

Shien asks, looking at Straf's hand on Lian's shoulder, and his sister's heavily grimacing face.

「Huh? You two are siblings? I kind of see the resemblance. Drop the master shit and just call me Straf like the mostly normal people do, I don't want people to think we're some sort of perverts.」

Straf points at Shien, with his eye narrowed in minor frustration. Straf then leans closer to Lian, causing her face to finally start twisting into a shape of anger.

「We aren't, not yet at least. So, how about it? Changed your mind yet? Want to join my harem?-」

Straf asks, and Lian pulls his hand off her shoulder and interrupts him.

「Ahhh, you've used up all your garnered goodwill already. Touch me again without my permission and you'll lose your hand.」

Lian turns her face to Straf, smugly smirking, although there is a very clear and unveiled anger in her smile, almost as if her expression was a cheap counterfeit of her regular one.

「So, how do I get the permission to touch you?」

Straf grins, placing his fists on his hips.

「…One of the world's greatest mysteries.」

She replies, with complete disdain in her eyes as she smirks at him.

「…Harem?」

Shien asks with an inquisitive tone, and his brows gently furrowed.

「It's a term for-」

Will adjusts his glasses, and is about to explain, but Lian lightly taps him on the head with her palm.

「Ssh. Shien left as a young boy. He doesn't need to know, he's still a big child inside.」

Lian hushes Will, interrupting him. He adjusts his glasses once more, and nods his head slowly after a confused pause.

「Elder sister, I really wish you would stop treating me like I'm still a child…」

Shien lowers his head and sighs in exasperation.

「Yeah, tell me about it.」

Greaves scoffs, crossing his arms while looking at Will beneath Lian's hand.

「Oh? And what are you, if not a child? Have you found a woman to take back to the islands, and rebuild the clan with yet?」

Lian scoffs and tilts her head with an amused, sideways-tilted grin.

「…Perhaps. But I am not coming back to the islands, elder sister.」

Shien proclaims as he glances at the golden-haired spearwoman. His eyes then return to his sister

「What? Why?」

A serious expression of concern wipes out Lian's smug smirk with ease, as her head shoots upright.

「You want to continue the clan, expand it, empower it. That much I agree with as well, but… Our clan is already dead, elder sister. The fortifications are in ruins, the homes stomped flat like grass under an uncaring foot, and all of its dwellers dead, or otherwise gone.」

Shien speaks with a calm voice, keeping eyes head lowered and eyes closed. He only opens his beastly eyes at the end of his sentence to look his sister in her regular, human eyes.

「So you give up? You will just let the clan die out-?」

Lian asks with furrowed brows, in utter disbelief, but Shien interrupts her.

「I said that I agree, elder sister. But you misunderstand. Our clan is dead, it's no longer on the islands. Our clan is now where we are. There is no need to return there, and as such, I will not be returning.」

Shien lowers his head a little and shakes it lightly, before looking back into Lian's eyes.

「I see… That is much more reasonable than what I expected of you, little brother. As I understand will eventually continue the clan?」

Lian sighs, and her shock evaporates. Her face takes on a neutral expression quite unique to her.

「Eventually… However, I have different things on my mind right now. Straf gave me a lot to think about. I will head to the harsh northern lands for a few months, to find out what I truly am.」

Shien looks at Straf, and he rolls his eyes.

「That gave you a lot to think about? Seriously? Is the inside of your head just beasts and one old quote?」

Straf's mouth's corners scrunch up, as he grimaces with furrowed brows.

「Another beast, isn't it, brother?」

Lian scoffs as her smug smirk slowly makes its return.

「Yes… And I need to find out whether it will devour me, or I will devour it. The trip will be long, and the stay will be short. My travel there will surely take longer than the time I will spend there. I believe I will return within 3 months, or less. In that time, I will aid the people of the north pestered by the beasts.」

Shien nods, and he takes his eyes off Straf to look at his sister again. His expression remains consistently serious throughout the conversation.

「Tsk. Just as I found you, you're running off again… Well, go on. Go on your self-discovery trip. Just come back, so I don't have to look for you again. I don't like the cold…」

Lian sighs again, and dismissively waves her hand in front of her before placing her hands on her hips with a slightly disappointed, yet somewhat smug smirk on her face. Straf looks around for Lily, and she's tapping her foot impatiently, away from everyone else, with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.

「Lily! Come join the arc epilogue banquet! You'll miss out on the character development!」

Straf calls out towards Lily, and she sighs.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

「Must I really?」

She loudly asks, scowling as she looks at the group of humans, the part-human, and Straf.

「Well, I'm not forcing you! But you might as well come and tell everyone how much you hate them, and why!」

Straf shrugs, and waves his hand to invite Lily closer. She clicks her tongue, and walks up. The general atmosphere very quickly becomes tense and nervous, as she glares at the group.

「Are you this vampire's… Servant?」

Lian asks, warily staring at Lily.

「Hmpf. How impudent. We are equals. Isn't that right, Straf?」

Lily glares at Lian with a sour expression, then looks up at Straf with a smug smirk.

「Actually, you're more like beneath me.」

Straf shrugs, placing his hands in his pockets. The entire group's eyes open wide in shock of the outrageous statement as they glance at Straf, then at Lily to gauge her reaction.

「Well… Maybe a little… Just a bit.」

Having expected a different answer, Lily looks aside with a pout.

《…How did this insufferable pervert place a vampire underneath his boot!?》

Lian glares at Straf silently in utter shock.

…

The conversation is mostly inconsequential and mundane, ranging from topics like favorite food, or what Shien and Lian's home islands look like, before Cycelia and the red-caped men abruptly return.

「Straf… Everyone! I'm sorry it took so long! I am still getting used to this, and this is a bigger mess than I thought!」

Cycelia exclaims as she heads towards the throne, and sits down. The caped men follow her, and create a defensive screen at the throne's steps. A few of them stand near the pillars on each side to fill in for the missing guards.

「The palace guards should be returning shortly, and the citizens are probably already waiting… But before anything else… Straf, I still haven't heard from you, what is it that you want, as a reward for returning the throne to me.」

Cycelia looks down at Straf from the throne with a serious, focused expression.

「I wasn't really doing it for a reward, but…」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, as his eyes drift up and off to the side while he thinks.

《Ahhh! He's such a great guy!》

「That's preposterous, Straf. You must be rewarded, my honor demands it. If… If it would be my h- Hand that you…」

Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Cycelia looks away, and her fingers reach for her medallion as she begins stammering.

「Meh. I guess you can give me a marriage coupon.」

Straf sighs and shrugs his shoulder.

「A m- M- M- Ma- Ma-!…」

Badumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadumpbadump-

Cycelia's hands shoot to her reddening face to conceal it as she stutters, unable to even properly echo the words back.

「W- Wait… Coupon?」

Her heart and breathing calms down as her brows furrow, due to the confusion of a new word being combined with the one she knows very well.

「Yeah. I don't mean a physical one. Make it a CFD, or an IOU with an S attached at the end. Basically, I get to marry you at my time of choosing, and you don't get to refuse. That's my reward, I want it.」

Straf shrugs again with his hands in his pockets, and looks at Cycelia with his bored eyes.

「Well… Well if you insist I suppose I have no choice!」

「I mean you can give me something else, but that'd be lame-」

「Ahahaha, I suppose I have no choice! You've more than earned that!」

「But I'm saying-」

「Well what can I do!? Consider it granted, Straf!」

Cycelia completely ignores what Straf has to say beyond that point, and simply giggles while covering most of her reddened face with her hands.

「Cool. Are you going to do the thing and give them their land back, or whatever, too?」

Straf points to Louche, who stands off to the side in the room.

「Huh? Me?」

Louche points to himself.

「Yeah, you. What'd you do to your sister, dump her into a river?」

「No, she's waiting in the inn.」

Louche lightly shakes his head in response to Straf.

「Ahem. All matters will be settled. But for now, I should address the masses. Mercenaries, you're free to return to your rooms, I will hammer out the details of your deals tomorrow. Everyone else, please wait here a moment longer. Straf, will you join me?」

Cycelia says after a large exhale, and stands up from the throne.

「Yeah, sure, try to fit in as many cliches as possible.」

Straf shrugs, and follows Cycelia out of the throne room with a small escort of the dragon cult…

…

After walking a floor down, and to the other side of the palace, Straf and Cycelia arrive at a spacious room with an attached balcony, outside a tall glass door resembling a window, more than a door.

「Ahh… I'm nervous, I've only gave speeches to small gatherings of nobles before.」

Cycelia clutches onto her medallion as she sighs with furrowed brows.

「Well, Lia, here's an easy trick to stop being nervous. If you hate the guts of everyone you're going to give a speech to, you're not really going to care what they think about you. Try it.」

Straf scoffs and shrugs, smirking at her.

「I can't! I'm their queen after all… Well, let's go Straf, I have to tell them what happened.」

「Yeah, just telling people stuff is also an option…」

Straf shrugs again, and follows Cycelia onto the balcony. A massive crowd of people below murmurs something amongst themselves. When Cycelia shows herself the murmurs grow louder, before quieting down. She takes a deep breath, and exhales quickly.

「Just freehand it, Lia. If you fumble a line, it might wrap around into being an endearing Cyceliaism.」

Straf encourages Cycelia with a wave of his hand, before returning it back to his pocket. She nods, and leans onto the balcony.

「Good people of the kingdom! I am Cycelia Redwing, the rightful heir to the throne! For the last few weeks, you have been lied to!」

She begins her speech, shouting loudly so the crowd can hear her as it quickly quiets down.

「The man you thought was the king, was a usurper! The king you thought was temporary, intended to rule for the rest of his life! And the king you thought was your just ruler, was a tyrant!」

She continues and starts gesturing with by waving her arms around.

「I mean, he did rule for the rest of his life…」

Straf scoffs with a grin.

「He said that the king was murdered, and that much was true! But he also said that I killed them!」

Cycelia ignores Straf's quip, an grips onto the railing. She swallows nervously, clenching her teeth.

「Good people, I have decided that I will not lie to you! That much is true as well, I indeed have killed my family!」

As she shouts so, the crowd starts murmuring loudly.

「However! The true murderer was Count Bellatis, the ruthless usurper! He used vile magic to command me to murder my father the king, my mother, my younger brother, and our court mage Albus, who saved me from death! Count Bellatis ordered me to fight with palace guards to the death, when they would come to arrest me!」

Cycelia slams her hand on the railing, clutching onto it in anger, breathing heavily. The crowd quiets down again.

「Albus gave his life to save me, and because of his sacrifice, I could find reliable allies to help me reclaim the throne! I intend to undo all the damage that madman had done! As you may already heard from the town criers, his tyrannical edicts have already been annulled! There will be no more bloodshed!」

Cycelia waves her hand aside with force to make her point. She straightens out, sighs out, and calms down.

「Good people of the kingdom! I only have one request of you! Continue serving me as you would have my father, and I will bring about changes to this kingdom that will benefit all! From the lowest commoner, to the highest nobleman!」

She looks at the crowd with a focused, determined gaze as she finishes her speech. The crowd reaction is lukewarm at best. Cycelia blinks, somewhat shocked by the reaction, or lack thereof.

「Uh. Straf, do you think… Do you think I could have done better?」

She looks at Straf with a tight-lipped grimace.

「Yeaah, no. Maybe here and there, nothing major. It was pretty to-point as far as speeches go. You didn't go on a 30 minute rant how great your family is, so that's something.」

Straf shrugs as he looks at the coughing, murmuring, unexcited crowd.

「It feels kind of wrong to end it like this. Straf, isn't there something I can say that would garner support? It just feels like another coup…」

Cycelia looks down at the crowd again with furrowed brows, people slowly start to disperse.

「I mean, there is a way…」

Straf shrugs, and leans towards Cycelia to whisper into her ear, covering his mouth from the onlookers below.

「What!? But- But that will cost a fortune! I don't even know-」

「Hey, do you want an instant reaction, or not?」

Straf grins, and Cycelia groans, discomforted by her indecisiveness.

「Um… Additionally! Ahem… Additionally!… Tomorrow, I declare a day free of labor, and a feast free to all paid by the cro-!」

Before Cycelia can even finish her announcement, the crowd explodes in a maddened cheer. Jumping, shouting, waving their arms, pumping their fists. Some coherent shouts start to formulate. Cycelia looks down on the crowd in horror, that so few words had so much effect.

「…own?」

「Hail Queen Cycelia, the rightful heir to the throne! Hail Queen Cycelia, the rightful heir to the throne! Hail Queen Cycelia, the rightful heir to the throne!」

The crowd screams, pointing their palms up at her as they give them a little wave back and forth with each chant. Gradually, the chant shortens…

「Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!」

The crowd, in its efficiency, managed to shorten the fervent chant into just a single word to get the message through. Cycelia is shocked, awed, and confused as it appears that nothing up to that point had any meaning to the crowd. She looks at Straf, to see if he has anything to say about it.

Straf is contently smiling at the crowd with a big grin, lowering and raising his palm towards them at shoulder level with each repeated chant, seemingly not bored by the repetition in the slightest.

「Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail! Hail!」

The crowd continues chanting, with no end in sight…