The next day, in the south-west of the Eastern Kingdoms, in a temple…

「…A man of foul repute?」

A youthful girl asks, echoing the words of a letter which she lowers down to her lap, kneeling at a low table in a small, mat-floored room. Kneeling, the man in black nods his conical hat.

「Yes, priestess… There are multiple women with Straf Katastrof Vindict. His concubines, no doubt…」

「Concubines?…」

The palace guard replies, keeping his head lowered. The girl's long-haired head perks up, and she covers her mouth with her hand in shock.

「…He is also a gambler, a warmonger, but most importantly, he threatened to harm her Divine Embodiment. Such a thing is unacceptable!… Priestess, please lend us your power.」

The man adds, then lowers himself to the ground. His conical hat tilts upward as he presses his forehead against the woven mat below.

「Lift your head…」

The girl straightens out as she commands the man with a serious tone and face. He obliges, and looks up at her. She is kneeling in a dignified pose and wearing a wide-sleeved white robe with a long, flared vermilion skirt. Her dark brown, almost black hair flows down her shoulders onto her back like a waterfall.

「… I will lend a hand. I have no interest in politics, nor a duty to tell others how they should live their lives. Living a moral or immoral life is their own choice…」

She says in a stern tone with a composed face, folding the letter back up into a neat paper rectangle while the man in black listens.

「…But threatening her Divine Embodiment… Unforgivable. He deserves death just for that. I will set out immediately. Please return my reply to Master Willow, and greet him warmly for me.」

The priestess sets the folded letter down onto her low table and stands up, walking past the still-kneeling man.

「Thank you, priestess…」

The palace guard bows his head as she slides the paper door behind him open, and walks out into the wooden hallway. Her wooden sandals clack and grow distant with each step…

…

Around the same time, in the early afternoon, at the foot of a tall mountain…

Straf and his group walk up the steep road to the city at a mountain's foot. Cycelia, Will, Alicia, and Oleander are out of stamina, panting and gasping for air, while the rest of the party remain nonchalant about the climb. Straf stops, if only to take a look at the picture before him, nodding in approval and grimacing slightly.

The city appears to be built in layers. The bottom-most layer begins just ahead, where the slope levels out to a more flattened area. Despite the city occupying a rather small breadth, it's highly vertical. The next layer above, higher up on the mountain, appears to be much better developed, richer, and more solidly built than the simple wooden structures below. As the city grows upward and shrinks towards the spine of the mountain, it becomes more fortress-like.

Atop the very tip of the mountain, there is a quaint wooden structure, however. A small creek, or perhaps a river flows down the mountain's side, steaming heavily.

「Haah… Haaaaah… I'm seriously… Gonna drop dead… This hill is… Too much…」

Will pants out with his hands on his knees. His backpack throws him around as he sways.

「You need to work on your stamina, Will.」

Lian remarks with a smug smirk.

「I know… But…」

He nods in reply, but his voice trails off without saying much more.

「…You figure they fucked off and left us alone because they got the message, or we just got lucky and none of the assassins found us yet? These last two days were pretty uneventful.」

Straf asks with his fists on his coat-covered hips, turning around to face the party with his mouth aslant.

「I hope they won't bother us any more, but…」

Cycelia remarks after catching her breath, still panting heavily.

「But? Not gonna bet money on it?」

Raising his brow, Straf asks.

「…Knowing life, we just got lucky.」

Cycelia adds with a shrug of her shoulders while looking at Straf with a troubled face.

Snap.

「Don't worry Lia, I think so too…」

Straf snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia with an amused grimace, then shrugs his hand. He turns around, facing the city while his hands snake their way back into his pockets.

「…Cat, where do we go from here? Do we just beeline straight for the onsen, or is there something fun to do on the lower levels?」

He asks Stripe, glancing at her over his shoulder. She lets out a long, frustrated sigh with her arms crossed as she approaches his side, and they continue towards the city.

「This is a popular tourist destination all-year-round. I wouldn't be surprised if we met a daimyo or two here, or at least their family members…」

Stripe replies with a shrug, looking around the bustling city streets. As soon as Straf and his group crest the hill, they walk onto a large plaza, where there is a visibly steaming fountain.

The buildings are very simple, but the relative scale of the plaza, the amount of people casually chatting, the street stalls with food and merchandise, the decorative plaza floor of chiseled stone, and the mountainous scenery all around makes it all the more impressive, as well as charming and aesthetic. Cycelia walks out onto the plaza, slowly approaching the fountain while looking around and taking in the sights of the buildings and the people.

「Hm?…」

She tilts her head at something black in the distant sky, which quickly dips and disappears behind one of the roofs.

「What's up, Lia?…」

Straf asks, joining her with Stripe.

「No, nothing… I just thought I saw something, but it was probably just one of those big birds.」

Cycelia briefly shakes her chestnut head and dismissively shrugs her shoulders with a light smile.

「Thunderbird? Roc?」

He asks, glancing at the sky in search of something vague.

「Probably one of those two. It's gone now…」

She shrugs again, and approaches the fountain.

「…Huh? It's steaming?」

Cycelia remarks, blinking at the water splashing out into the air from the marble fountain's decorative spout in the center. She moves her dainty hand close to the water pooling in its basin, feeling for its temperature. She then decides to cautiously dip her fingers into it.

「It's warm?」

She furrows her brows, turning her confused emerald eyes to Straf and Stripe while leaning onto the fountain with her other hand. Will and the rest join them.

「Yeah. The water comes from the hot spring's source above. They channeled some of it, and it kept a little bit of warmth all the way down to here.」

With her arms still crossed, Stripe nods her woolly hat and glances up at the slivers of the wooden structure on the peak of the mountain.

「Huh…」

Will utters out and cups some of the water into his hand. He lowers his neck to take a sip.

Pat!

「No!… Don't.」

Wide-eyed, Stripe abruptly reaches out and snatches Will's wrist with a tight-lipped grimace on her face. The water spills back into the basin.

「Wh-? What? Why?」

He asks with his brows heavily furrowed, deeply confused and exchanging likewise confused glances with Greaves and Alicia.

「It's not for drinking. People bathe in that stuff.」

「Ew.」

She lets go as she explains, causing Will to instantly cringe at the fountain.

「That being said, it's clean. There's nothing wrong with washing your hands or face in it. Just… Don't drink it. You wouldn't drink the bathwater out of someone's tub either.」

Quickly clarifying, Stripe crosses her arms back up and shrugs.

「Yup, not unless they're famous…」

Straf briefly chimes in with his mouth aslant. Stripe, as well as the rest of the party turn their attention to him. Stripe looks at him in sheer disgust.

「…Ahhh… Fuck's sake, sometimes I'm glad I'm out.」

He mumbles to himself while staring at the cloudy sky with his brows furrowed.

「…What's wrong with you?」

Stripe asks and looks at the rest of the group, who are almost as equally confused as her.

「A lot of things. Some of them are even classified in medical manuals… Where do we go from here? Any suggestions?」

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Straf replies with a nonchalant shrug, then turns to the rest of the party. Lily decides to finally approach the fountain and dip her clawed fingers in.

「Hm…」

Appearing disinterested, she shakes the water off and crosses her arms back up, then idly moves to the back again.

「If it's a popular tourist destination, we need to think about lodging. We should find an inn and get some rooms ahead of time-」

「Ah, about that… The onsen on top of the mountain is kind of like an inn too. Despite the popularity, I doubt it'd be at capacity. It's for the rich only.」

Will chimes in, but Stripe quickly cuts in and explains, nodding up at the mountain's peak. He adjusts his glasses and nods back.

「So… Any other ideas?」

Straf asks, spreading his arms.

「Um… Why don't we just go and look around the town? It's pretty nice here, isn't it? The buildings aren't as grand as in the empire, but they have their own charm.」

Cycelia asks with her index finger extended, smiling softly at Straf. She then turns her eyes to the general eastern-style architecture surrounding the plaza.

「Well, that's a plan at least…」

Straf shrugs with a nonchalant grimace, placing his hands back in his pockets.

「Wait… How about we get some food together, for starters?…」

Will calls out, adjusting his glasses as he steps past Greaves and Alicia.

「…Stripe, could I ask you to help me with my translation sheet? I've been compiling translations of things ever since I got here, but I'm fairly sure I have some things wrong.」

He asks as he walks up to Stripe. She perks up in surprise, and her golden eyes dart around everywhere but towards Will.

「Huh? Er, um, erm… Suuure?…」

Stripe hesitantly returns her gaze to Will's bespectacled face staring at her, and she returns a hesistant shrug with her arms crossed. He returns a powerful nod with gratitude.

「Right. Let's go look for something then…」

Straf says to the group as he walks off, with only a gesture of his head for the rest to follow.

「…It's really nice here. I'd like a few fountains like this in Draconis, but it's too flat there… I don't know how we'd get the water to flow like that…」

Cycelia remarks while following Straf through the wide and open streets clear of snow.

「…The people seem to like it here too.」

She adds while looking at a small group of smiling mothers in a carefree discussion with each other, with their children holding their hands.

「Aqueducts, Lia… But I have something better. You'll see.」

Straf chimes in with a quick peek over his shoulder.

「Yeah… Kind of makes you forget that there's demons ravaging the land up north, doesn't it?…」

With her arms crossed, Stripe nods, taking a look at the women and children while she speaks in a grim, serious tone. Cycelia's smile fades as her eyes turn to her.

「…Sorry. I don't want to spoil the mood, it's just… My whole life I was told it's my duty to protect the people. When I was a child, people could afford to be carefree…」

Stripe takes one look at Cycelia, and turns away her golden eyes with a guilty look on her face as she lowers her gaze.

「…They used to be happy. Now you can see how things are. Only the places directly surrounding the palace still have the trust that they'll be protected.」

She shrugs her shoulders, turning her gloomy face back to Cycelia.

The group follows a gently inclining path upward. Stripe looks at the distant palace up on another mountain, briefly visible through a gap in between the buildings as they pass by…

…

A few hours later, outside a busy eatery…

Straf and his group gather up. Will is standing near Stripe, reading through his revised translation sheet. Nona is last out through the door, hopping sideways past the crowd squeezing in.

「Okay. Are we good to split now? Remember, up at the onsen by sundown.」

Straf asks, spreading his hands while looking at his group with his mouth aslant.

「Yeah, yeah… Thanks, Stripe.」

Will nods along with a sigh, adjusting his glasses, then nods with gratitude towards Stripe.

「Y- Yeah… No problem…」

Stripe returns a nod of her woolly hat with an awkward, tight-lipped grimace on her face as Will turns away.

「Uh… I suppose we'll see each other later, your highness?」

「Yes. Have fun, everyone.」

「Yeah…」

Will asks, partially turning around to face Cycelia. She nods her chestnut head with a smile, and Greaves's party moves on their separate way.

「…Do you know any fun places?」

Straf asks, turning his bored eyes to Oleander.

「Up above, there is a nice cliff…」

She replies, pointing her finger up at the mountain.

「…Aaaaand?」

Straf raises his brow, leaning in slightly.

「…You could jump off.」

Oleander adds with a frigid glare.

「Tsk… How long do you figure until she warms up to me?」

With a click of his tongue, Straf turns his frustrated grimace to Stripe.

「How should I know?」

Confused, Stripe spreads her hands.

「Right. You're a cat so you don't know your own feelings… Whatever. Lia, Lily, Nona… Let's just wander around and see if we find something interesting…」

Straf shrugs and turns to head down another road. They follow along, joining at his sides with the exception of Oleander, who is trailing behind Straf.

「…Want to go look for that souvenir?」

He asks, turning his bored gaze to Cycelia.

「Yes!」

A wide smile appears on her face, and she nods her head in reply as they move on…

…

Around the same time…

A priestess in a long vermilion skirt, and a stick with zigzagging paper streamers tucked away into the cloth wrapping her white robes at her waist enters the city's plaza. Briefly distracted by the steaming fountain, she approaches it and looks at its flowing waters with a tilted head, before turning her eyes towards a random man in the crowd.

「Excuse me…」

She calls out with her head gently bowed. When the man turns to her, he perks up in surprise and bows low.

「Priestess! What can I do for you?」

He asks, raising his eyes but not the rest of his body.

「…Have you seen this man?」

The girl asks, pulling out a rolled up poster from her sleeve and unrolling it with a flick. She holds an excessively handsome man's sketch up in her dainty fingers.

「Mhhhm… I don't think so…」

With his brows furrowed at the poster, the man returns a light shake of his head.

「I see. Sorry to have bothered you.」

She calmly replies with a quick nod and departs just as quick.

「…Ah, please wait!」「Hm?」

After a few steps, the man calls out towards the priestess. With her brow raised, she peeks at him over her shoulder. He runs back up in haste.

「Sorry, it escaped my memory, but I'm fairly sure I saw him earlier.」

The man says with his brows raised, and his eyes widened a little, apologetically nodding his head.

「…Was he in a company of women?」

The priestess asks with a tilted head as she rolls up the poster and hides it in her sleeve.

「Y- Yes! Yes he was! And some young men too!」

The man quickly confirms with rapid nods of his head.

「Where did he go?」

「That way. But I don't know where they were headed.」

She asks, and he points down the street Straf and his group took just a few hours ago.

「…That's fine. I think I have a good idea where he'll go anyway. Thank you, you've been of great help.」

The girl remarks, and shrugs her robed shoulders. She bows, and some of her dark brown hair slides off like a waterfall.

「N- No, not at all! I'm glad to be of service to her Divine Embodiment!」

The man bows lower in return. When they both straighten out, the priestess parts with a polite nod, and a light smile.

She follows the wide street upward, accompanied by an indistinct clatter of her wooden sandals against the stone below…