「…Huh?… Eh?… What?」

Cycelia blinks her emerald eyes in disbelief at the distant, smoldering ruins of the battle fortress as the snow settles back down from its foggy mist form.

「They were trying to do a reference to the movie with the aliens, but I'm not about to let them. Fuck 'em.」

Straf declares with a smug grin on his face while watching the distant floating city burn on the ground.

「How?… How is this possible? It's like the barrier was never there.」

She asks in shocked disbelief as Straf puts his magic rifle away into his [Portable Storage].

「Well, it wasn't… For me. It's like holding up a sheet of paper in front of your face, and going okay, now punch it!」

He replies with his hands casually spread and an amused grin on his face.

「…That's… I still can't believe this happened.」

Cycelia remarks as Straf nonchalantly heads back inside with his hands in his pockets.

「C'mon Lia, I'll be freezing in just a moment…」

He says over his shoulder, and gestures Cycelia to follow as he heads back to the bedroom.

「Right…」

Cycelia nods, only then realizing how cold it is outside. She skitters inside and pushes the balcony doors shut, and twists the handle.

「…The dog lives, by the way.」

Straf says when she emerges from the study doorway, and continues for the chest of drawers she pulled his pants out from.

「Huh? What dog?…」

She tilts her chestnut head, furrowing her brows in confusion.

「The one from the movie. It jumps out of the way of an explosion at the last second. The movie completely ignores physics. Rarefaction? What's that? Is it tasty?…」

He adds, and scoffs as he shakes his head.

「…Ah. Shirt and boots too. Good.」

Straf notes as he peeks into the drawer, and grabs his usual attire, then sits down on the side of his bed.

「Straf… This is going to have consequences.」

Cycelia remarks with a greatly concerned expression on her face as she walks up to him.

「…Huh? Lia, I'm putting on my fucking shoes. You're being overly dramatic.」

Straf furrows his brows with his eyes narrowed, briefly pausing tying his shoes, before shaking his head and casually dismissing her worries as he resumes.

「No, I mean!… The battle fortress. I know it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, but…」

She shakes her head and points her finger at the wall in the direction of the smoking ruins outside.

「Well, they damn did, and now they're damn eating shit for it. I should have known those assholes would have learned nothing. Sucks to be them.」

Straf shrugs as he tightens the laces on his boots with force, and begins slipping on his shirt.

「This won't go unnoticed, Straf. The battle fortress was the central seat of the Federation's authority. We can't possibly hide this incident.」

「Eh? Why hide it? Who gives a fuck? In fact, we should let everyone know that the pesky Mage Federation has been blown away, and now we can do all sorts of illegal shit…」

Cycelia steps closer, and he furrows his brows in response after slipping his head through the opening for the head. Straf then spreads his arms through the sleeves with his fingers splayed.

「…That nerd down in the basement is gonna be happy. He's getting an official pardon… Courtesy of me.」

He adds with a smug smirk as he ties the laces of his shirt by his neck, tightening the collar.

Slam!

The half-closed oaken doors slam open with immense force.

「What now?」

Straf turns his narrow-eyed gaze beneath his furrowed brows to them.

「…I knew it!」「Hm?」

Lily loudly declares with her scarlet eyes wide open, and her clawed hand still on one of the doors while staring at Straf. He tilts his head

「Ah, Li-」

Before Straf can finish his sentence, [Contextual Time Perception] activates. Having had deftly launched herself off the doorframe, Lily is shooting towards him through the air like a missile, with her golden twin tails trailing behind her like silk ribbons in a dance. With his eye narrowed, Straf looks at the corner of his vision at the newly appeared status icons.

[Contextual Time Perception]

[Active]

Perception acceleration factor: 8800%

[Freedom of Movement]

[Active]

Comfortable speed (Time) factor: 11352%

《Eh!? Excuse me, what the fuck!? That's actually kind of dangerous!》

His brows rise and his eyes widen when he reads the newly-appeared info box. Straf then looks at Lily, who is speeding for him with her arms outstretched to leap into his lowered arms.

…FFFFWOPPF!

「Wah!」 「…Lyyyyy!」

Cycelia jumps back with a panicked yelp as a black and red blur shoots past her towards Straf. Finishing his sentence, albeit with a shout, he sidesteps and grabs onto Lily's waist while still in flight, spinning her around to gently decelerate her. As gently as a speeding object of her velocity can be decelerated, at least. Straf spins around on his heel like a gyroscope, with Lily's minuscule weight shifting his center of mass slightly.

「That's dangerous! What are you doing!?」

He asks as he finally manages to stop his spin, and throws Lily up a little to turn her to face him in his grasp, holding her up like a little baby.

「I wanted to investigate the odd noises so I jumped onto the city's wall, and I saw the destruction outside… There was no doubt in my mind who could have caused it!」

Lily explains as her fanged smile grows, and then wraps her arms around Straf's neck, hugging her pale, smiling face into his shoulder as he cradles her on his forearms.

Cycelia lets out a sigh of relief when she realizes the blur was simply Lily, and smiles a little herself when she sees her hugged into Straf.

「What would you do if I hadn't caught you!? Stop doing that already!…」

Straf exclaims while glancing sideways at her golden head.

「…It's good that you trust in my ability to fuck shit up, but you know my hand might slip one day, right? It'd be really awkward if you punched through the wall-」

Crunch.

「Yeoooowch!… Lily! What is your problem!?」

Straf shouts with a wincing face as Lily suddenly bites into his neck. Cycelia jumps up in surprise, both at his loud scream, and at Lily's decision to bite him.

「It han't he hepped!… Wui wus n'gry!…」

Lily replies with her mouth full.

「Don't talk with your teeth in my neck! You're making it worse! Much worse!」

Straf shouts back and shuffles to the bed to sit down. Cycelia watches on with a troubled face.

「Tsk… Some welcome back this is…」

He clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes while Lily continues hungrily feasting. Cycelia looks on, blinking her emerald eyes at him with furrowed brows.

「…By the way, Lia… You said the maids were taking care of me?」

Straf asks, meeting her gaze.

「Um… Yes, why?」

Cycelia nods, and tilts her chestnut head slightly.

「One o' them is really perverted. I am guessing which one, but I don't want to point fingers…」

「Eh?」

Her head perks up in surprise, while Lily turns her narrowed crimson eyes to the side of Straf's face.

「Yeah. Kept saying how many babies she wants with me, and kept bumping the number up… I don't think she realizes that at one point, it'd have to be a team effort.」

Straf adds with a very light nod, shrugging his shoulders, only to wince. Cycelia's face rapidly turns red.

「Ah, ahhh!… Y- You know, you're a handsome guy!… Can you really blame them!?…」

Cycelia exclaims as she turns around to face the door, hiding her flushed face from Straf and Lily while fiddling with her silver medallion.

「I'm just saying… Wait, they didn't do stuff to me while I was asleep, did they!?」

Straf furrows his brows at the sudden realization. Lily withdraws her fangs.

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

「…No, I assure you, Straf… You remain untouched by a woman. I can tell.」

She says with a trickle of Straf's blood running down from the corner of her mouth, and nonchalantly licks it up while looking up into his eyes.

「Geh!… You really had to word it like th-!?」

Crunch.

「Yeeeeooowch! Lily!… You're just adding insult to the actual injury!」

Straf yelps in pain again as Lily bites back into his neck…

…

Around the same time, in the vicinity of the capital city, in a wooded area…

Sitting in their horses' saddles, a group of blue-robed battlemages with a lighter blue silhouette of an eye on their robes stare at the pillar of black smoke rising in the distance.

「…Shit! This is your side's fault! If you hadn't constantly pushed for this, this wouldn't have happened!」

One of the old mages shouts at another from his horse, pointing his finger at him.

「How were we supposed to know they were capable of this!? We all found out at the same exact moment!」

The mage replies, and throws his arm aside with a flap of his sleeve.

「The grand master… There's no way he survived that!… And Alexander!」「…Magnus!」

Other mages ignoring the argument bemoan the destruction with troubled gazes, split into two groups some distance away from each other.

「That madman Magnus caused this! He, and your entire deranged faction!-」

「Enough! At this point it doesn't matter who is to blame, we need to figure out what comes next!」

Lacking the distinctive eye silhouette on his robes, another blue-robed mage interrupts one of the Listener faction members. The two factions' members turn their attention to him.

「What do we do then? Do we try to make a run for it towards the Academy?… They'd surely shelter us!」

One of the Action faction members asks, reigning in his uneasy horse as it stomps on the snow.

「No! We are the last remnants of the Federation's central seat of power! Our lives are valuable by that fact alone!… If we try to run, most of us will be eventually caught and killed!…」

The emblemless mage shakes his head, and trots a few paces away to then turn around and face the two groups.

「…We should continue towards the capital and surrender! It's our only chance to get out of this ordeal with our lives!」

He adds, and glances at both factions.

「Are you insane!? Surrender!? So we all can be lead to the gallows in an orderly fashion!?」

One of the Listener members shouts back, with a few others nodding along.

「No! I've heard the empress is rather merciful!… Besides, we were dispatched as a diplomatic delegation! No monarch of sound mind would execute diplomats!」

The man raises his palm, shaking his head as he provides a counter-argument. Each faction's members glance at each other and begin discussing the idea between themselves.

「…What if we run into a patrol!? Or other authorities!?」

An Action member asks.

「Ideally, we'd want to surrender directly to the empress and her authority!… But if we are caught by military men, so be it! We'll explain that we want to see her majesty!」

The battlemage without an emblem eye explains, briefly spreading his hands. The two factions exchange glances between their members, then between themselves.

「…Very well! But if something goes wrong, we're fighting our way out!」

Aldrei replies, and trots up to the man. The rest slowly follow along, returning to the imperial highway nearby the woods…

…

Half an hour later, in the Redwing palace, in the royal bedchamber…

Straf is sitting on the bed with Lily in his lap while she guzzles blood from his neck. Cycelia is sitting nearby, dressed back in her regular clothing, and watching the two with a concerned gaze.

…Clankclankclankclank!

「Your highness!…」

A red-plumed guard calls out towards Cycelia as he hastily runs in with his halberd in hand.

「Er, yes?…」

Her emerald eyes turn to the palace guard, and she furrows her brows at him.

「…There is a matter you should attend to! A delegation of diplomats from the Mage Federation had just arrived!」

As the guard replies, Lily pulls her fangs out of Straf and licks her pale, blood-reddened lips.

「…Thank you for the treat.」

Lily says as she casually hops off Straf's lap down to the bed.

「…From the Mage Federation?」

Cycelia asks as she stands up and takes a few steps towards the door while fiddling with her medallion in her fingers.

「Yes, your highness!… That's what they claim, at least!」

The guard nods his plumed helmet, and waits for her instructions.

「…Where are they right now?」

She asks, gently tilting her chestnut head.

「Outside the palace, your highness!… Should we bring them to the throne room?」

The guard replies with a loud and clear voice, and his chin raised as he speaks at-attention.

「Um… Yes, I'll be right there. Thank you.」

「As you wish, your highness!」

Clankclankclankclankclankclank!…

Cycelia nods, and the guard replies with a quick salute, then turns around to hurry out of the room with a clatter of his armored feet.

「Someone actually survived that?… Shit. Am I getting old?」

Straf rubs his chin, furrowing his brows as he thinks.

「Straf… Could you come with me? Lily, I think what concerns the capital concerns you too. You should come as well.」

Cycelia asks as she turns to face Straf and Lily. The two stand up from the bed.

「Yeah, I guess… Back to business as usual.」

Straf shrugs as he windmills his shoulders and stretches his aching neck with his mouth aslant.

「Hmpf… I suppose I can.」

Lily replies with her arms crossed, and follows Straf along.

The two leave the bedchamber with Cycelia. Lily shuts the battered door on her way out…

…

A little over half an hour later, in the throne room…

Cycelia sits down in her throne and adjusts her golden crown upon her chestnut head, then grabs onto the scepter in her lap, simply to hold onto it. The palace guards guide a large group of blue-robed men into the throne room. Straf watches them enter with an unimpressed face as he stands by Cycelia's side with Lily. The men jump a little in panic when they look at Lily's crimson eyes, and the only thing keeping them from fleeing in panic is the relative calm of everyone else.

The robed man without an eye emblem on his robe steps forward ahead of others, including a few handful who also lack one.

「Ahem… Your highness… We have been dispatched from the battle fortress to negotiate…」

The man begins explaining awkwardly with his fingers interlocked low.

「Yes?-」

「Hold the fuck up!… First off!… How did you survive that?」

Cycelia asks, but Straf raises his index finger as he exclaims an abrupt question at the mages.

「Er… We were dispatched from the battle fortress before it was struck… Though we barely survived its resulting crash…」

The battlemage explains with his hands spread while the rest remain silent with awkward grimaces on their faces.

「…Wait, really?」

Straf furrows his brows as he places his hand back on his hip in a fist.

「…Yes, really.」

The mage nods back with a tight-lipped grimace.

「…Huh. Well, that explains it at least. Go on.」

Straf briefly glances aside, then shrugs his shoulders and dismissively waves his hand for the mage to continue.

「Well, uh… I'll get to the point. We want to surrender.」

The man says with a helpless shrug of his arms as they fall limp at his sides.

「Surrender? The Mage Federation?」

Cycelia asks, blinking her emerald eyes at him.

「No- Well, uh…」

The man shakes his head, but then quickly changes his mind and glances at the rest of the mages behind him.

「…I meant just us, but… At this point, we're not even sure if the Mage Federation even exists anymore…」

The blue-robed mage adds while anxiously fidgeting with his fingers, and shrugs his shoulders. Lily lets out a noisy scoff out of her small nose with a smug smirk on her pale face.

「…Is it that bad?… How many people do you think have died?」

Cycelia's face and tone grows concerned as her brows furrow.

「…It is hard to estimate, your majesty. To get the battle fortress up into the air, the policy is to get all the bystanders out of the city. It's a gargantuan task, of course…」

The mage replies with a troubled face of his own after a prolonged pause, shrugging his hands.

「…We have left the citizens to wait for our return at a joining of leylines north east of the Academy of Magic, beyond the mountain ranges… They'll likely be waiting for days, weeks…」

He continues, and begins awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with his head lowered, grimacing heavily with an apologetic face.

「…As for the death toll… I don't know the exact number, but it takes somewhere around 300 battlemages to operate the battle fortress. It may be a little higher than that.」

The mage adds, and shrugs his shoulders with a gravely troubled grimace and furrowed brows.

「I see… As surprising and unpleasant this whole ordeal was, I'm glad that the innocent bystanders weren't killed… We'll need to do a count of the dead on our side, too…」

Cycelia nods, and lets out a small, relieved sigh as she raises her chestnut head back up.

「…Tell me, what were you exactly dispatched for, originally?」

She asks, tilting her head slightly.

「Well, uh…」

The man glances over both of his shoulders at the both factions, before returning his awkward gaze beneath his furrowed brows back to Cycelia.

「…Originally we were sent out to reclaim your majesty's family grimoire, but… Now we'd just like to ask for you to spare our lives.」

He adds with a shrug, and the collective of mages gulp nervously.

「I see… So the Federation intended to negotiate after all…」

Cycelia nods, lowering her green eyes to her scepter for a few moments, before turning her sullen gaze up to Straf's nonchalant face with a slanted mouth upon it.

He returns her gaze with his bored one for a seconds, before Cycelia turns her attention back to the mages…