The environment around Stripe shifts abruptly. She quickly looks around, and finds herself standing in an alleyway.

「Ah… It worked…」

She lets out a relieved sigh when she realizes the fat king is still in her grasp.

「…There was a chance it wouldn't?」

The king asks with a nervous gaze.

「Quiet. If you shout for help, I'll gut you. If you try to run…」

Stripe presses her blade against his fat throat.

「…Well, I think we both know that's not going to happen, so don't even try. For you own good.」

She scoffs, and pulls the dagger away. The fat noble lets out a large, relieved sigh, and wipes his sweaty forehead.

「Geh… Not only you look like a pig, you smell like one. Move. Don't make me drag you.」

She pushes him down the alley, recoiling from the smell of his soaked robes.

Despite the buildings being somewhat far apart, the king has issues navigating the alley due to the abandoned, rotting crates and barrels in the way, which would be trivial for someone slim to pass.

「Move, you fatass!」

「I'm trying! I really am! There's these things in the way!」

Stripe gives the king another shove, and he continues trying to squeeze himself through with his hands up. She clicks her tongue in frustration, shaking her cloth-wrapped head.

After a few moments and a lot of grunting, the king finally slips past the stacked crates. Stripe simply turns her body sideways and walks past with ease. He stops at a T-split ahead, facing her.

「Now, where do we go from here?- Eh?」

Stripe's head perks up when she notices multiple kubelwagens parked in the alleyway, one after another.

「…What are these things doing here?」

She tilts her head, blinking her golden eyes at the cars.

「What are they? A cart?-」

The fat man asks, but Stripe cuts him off with a dagger pressed against his throat.

「Shut up. Get in.」

She commands, pointing at the passenger's seat while the king is grimacing in fear. He squeezes past her towards the car, and tries to climb in.

「Hnnggghhh!… Hnnnnnnghhhhh!…」

He leans onto the door, causing the side of the vehicle to sink. He grunts and strains as he continues trying to climb in, but can't even as much as lift both his feet off the ground at the same time.

「Stop. This is hard to watch…」

Stripe lets out a frustrated sigh, and walks up to the door as he takes a step back.

Cla-clack.

She pulls at the interior handle, and swings the door open.

「Get in.」

She demands again with a hidden, tight-lipped grimace.

「Ah… So it's a door… That makes sense…」

With his eyes on the dagger in her hand, the king gingerly takes a seat. The car's side sinks heavily again.

Thud.

When he places his feet inside, Stripe slams his door shut.

Booooommmmm!…

「Huh? IED?…」

She furrows her brows, turning her gaze in the general direction of the loud sound of an explosion.

「That noise… What was that? It sounded like it came from the palace… What's that thing you said?-」

Though there are buildings in the way, the king looks up and towards the palace with heavily furrowed brows. He then turns his gaze to Stripe, and asks.

「Shut up!」

She barks at him again, as she jumps into the front seat through the back.

「Now, how did he?…」

She mumbles under her breath, grabbing onto the steering wheel while she looks down at the gear stick and the pedals below.

The king looks on with a tight-lipped grimace, not daring to ask another question. Stripe pushes her feet down at the pedals, but nothing happens. She tilts her head, then looks at the ignition.

「Ah. He first did this…」

Click.

She turns the key. She tilts her head again.

「…Is it broken?」

She asks, mumbling to herself as the kubelwagen neither shakes, nor makes noise. Stripe then presses on the pedals again.

Whirrrrrrrrrrr!…

「Ah! It made a sound!…」

She blurts out as her head perks up in surprise.

「…Is that good?」

The king asks hesitantly. Stripe glares at him, but says nothing as she looks back down.

「…But why does it sound like that? Is it broken after all?」

She tilts her head again as she talks to herself under her breath.

「Ah… Next was…」

Turning her gaze to the gear stick, she wraps her fingers around it and tries to push it into the first gear.

「…Hmnf… Hmmmmff!… Hnnnnnghhh!… Why is it not moving!?」

Stripe grunts and strains as she unsuccessfully tries to mimic Straf.

「Tsk… You, fatty! Move this stick here!」

Frustrated, she takes her hand off the stick and sticks her finger into the king's pudgy face.

「Ah? Eh? Like this?…」

Confused, he looks down at the gear stick, and tries to push it into the first gear as instructed by Stripe.

「…Hnnnnnnghhhhh!… Hnnnnnnnnnghhhhhhhh!… Haaah… Hnnnnnnnnngggggggghhhhhhhh!…」

Crrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrkkkkkk…

As the king tries to force the gear stick out of neutral, it makes a horrible metallic creaking noise.

「Alright, enough, enough, enough! You'll break it, idiot!」

Stripe shouts at the king, and he pulls his hand away as if the stick was burning.

「Sorry!… Sorry… I don't know how to do it…」

He raises his hands, leaning away in fear, then lowers his head and tries to make himself small. He is unsuccessful in his effort.

「Wait, didn't he?…」

Looking at the pedals again, she tilts her head. She stomps on one of the silent pedals, then fiddles with the stick to a similar result. She lifts her leg, then stomps down on the next one.

Clunk.

「Ah. It worked!」

「It did?…」

Stripe's head perks up with a gleeful tone in her voice as discovers how to operate a manual gearbox. The king raises his furrowed brows.

Whirrrrrr…

「Woah!?」

He lets out a surprised gasp as he's jerked backwards into his seat, when Stripe gives the noisy pedal a quick stomp.

「Uwaaa! That's fast!-」

Her eyes widen when she's thrown back by the force as well.

Skreeeeeeee!…

Just a moment after the kubelwagen shoots out of the alleyway, Stripe throws the wheel to the side to avoid smashing through a home. Tires screech, and she quickly spins the wheel the other way to straighten out and avoid overcorrecting into another building. Zigzagging at a high speed, Stripe is throwing the wheel left and right like mad as they roll down the hill.

「We're moving!? We're moving without a horse!?」

The king shouts, clutching onto the windshield and the door for his dear life, wide-eyed while he's thrown left and right.

「Shut up, shut up, shut up! I need to focus!」

Stripe screams back while spinning the steering wheel…

…

A moment later…

Thump-thump-thump-thump!…

「…I don't think they'll catch up anymore!」

The bear remarks, looking over his shoulder while he and the cloaked men slink into an alleyway between the buildings. They trail one by one between the rotting barrels and stacked crates.

「Uhhh…」

The cat stops at a T-junction, and his head perks up. He turns his metal face towards the rest of the team as they approach.

「…Captain… I think we have a problem.」

The cat-masked man says to the wolf as he runs up.

「What's up?- Ohhh… Shit…」

The wolf man asks, turning his gaze towards the cars. The moment he realizes what the problem is, he turns away with his hands on his hips and hangs his cloaked head, tapping his foot. Despite his face being concealed, his pain is blatantly apparent to everyone by the cars.

「What's up!? Something happened!?」

Catching up to the rest, the bear asks as he slows down.

「Ahhhhhhh… Don't tell me…」

The bear tilts his head, audibly cringing as he looks at the empty space left by the missing car. The wolf turns back around, and the two look at each other.

「Even took our autowagon, huh?… We are going to get chewed out for this.」

The wolf-masked man says, then lets out a long, muffled sigh.

「You think?…」

The bear replies with a sarcastic tone, shaking his head as he approaches one of the cars.

「Alright. Everyone, mount up!…」

The wolf exclaims, waving his arm in a circle above his head.

「…Fox, I can't drive with a shoulder like this, take over for me.」

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

「Got it.」

He turns to the fox-masked man, and points at one of the cars. The fox nods back, and hops behind the wheel over the passenger's seat.

「I'm going to make another hole directly behind us.」

The bull declares, holding another large IED up.

「We'll pick you up when we hear the noise!」

The bear replies, jumping into his autowagon as the bull-masked man runs off towards the city wall, disappearing behind a corner. The drivers turn the keys…

…

A few moments later, in the capital's streets…

「Ahhh… Ahhhhh… It's slowing…」

Stripe lets out a sighs of relief as the car significantly slows down once it rolls off the palace hill into the rest of the city at its foot.

…Booooommmmmm!…

A distant explosion sounds out from behind them.

「Huh!? Another one!?…」

Stripe's head perks up as she looks in the direction of the explosion again. This time, she can see a faint puff of smoke rise into the air.

「You sound like you know what that was… What is it?-」

The king asks, and Stripe flicks her blade into his chin folds once more.

「You're getting on my nerves, pork! Shut up! Just because I want to bring you in alive doesn't mean I won't kill you if you get me angry enough! Got it!?」

Glaring at the fat man, Stripe shouts at him, pressing her dagger against his plump and fat-padded throat. He quickly nods his head, jiggling his cheeks.

Stripe pulls her dagger back, and before she realizes it, the car is completely stationary in middle of the road.

「Ah… Uhh…」

She looks down at the pedals again, and hesitates to press the noisy one. She looks up, and gives it a very quick kick.

Thud-Whir.

「Agh!… Okay. That's manageable.」

After a short impulse rocks both her and the fat man back into their seats, the car is left rolling forward at roughly the average running speed.

Thud-Whir.

She gives the pedal another quick kick, speeding up to roughly a horse gallop.

「Ah! I think I'm getting it! Okay! Easy!」

Stripe declares with glee, glad that she learned how an accelerator works, speeding through the city streets…

…

A few moments ago, nearby the city gate…

…Booomm…

「Seriously, where is Stripe? She's not stupid, surely she wouldn't walk herself into an enemy ambush… Right, Lily?」

Straf asks, glancing down at Lily at his side while the soldiers continue emptying out the last of the second supply wagon. The line of the hungry citizens doesn't appear to become any shorter.

「Hmpf… Are you perhaps worried, Straf?」

Smug, Lily smirks up at Straf with her clawed fists on her hips.

「As if. On my list of girls I'd worry about, she's second to last, and only because of you.」

Straf scoffs, smirking back.

「Y- You wouldn't?… You wouldn't worry about me?…」

Lily's jaw drops, and she furrows her brows at him with a deeply hurt expression on her face, as if Straf stabbed her and twisted the blade.

「Huh? Of course not… I don't think there's anything that could possibly be a threat to you. Why would I be worried?」

Straf asks, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.

「H- Heh! Of course!… Naturally! In this day and age, I have to watch my step to avoid crushing insignificant beings!…」

Crossing her arms, Lily lets out an amused huff with a smug grin on her face. After turning away, she pouts slightly.

「Yeah… As I was saying, Stripe is on the bottom of that list, along with you. She can handle herself. Then I guess next would be Lia…」

Replying, Straf shrugs, then rubs his chin as he thinks further.

「…She's kind of soft. And jiggly. She's not that tough, but if it'd come to it, I'm sure she could hold her own against most. Then there's Nona…」

Straf remarks, then glances over his shoulder with a pitying gaze at Nona. She smiles back, tilting her hatted head.

「…Honestly, you're on top of my list. I'm a little afraid to leave you unsupervised.」

「Unsupervised?」

She asks, blinking at him and pursing her lips a little.

「Yeah. Unassisted. It's seriously a mystery how you've managed to avoid the gallows for this long. I guess the sewer daycare had something to do with it.」

Straf nods, then shrugs again.

「There's a daycare in the sewers?」

Nona tilts her head, furrowing her brows.

「…Yeah. You must have never noticed.」

With a tight-lipped grimace on his face, Straf nods back.

「Gallows?」

Lily echoes, looking up at Straf with her brow inquisitively raised.

「Yeeeah… Nona here almost managed to get herself hanged for thievery. The whole city came to watch, and I ruined the show-」「Heh…」

Looking at Nona, Straf nods as he explains the situation to Lily. She lets out an amused huff.

「…What's so funny?」

He asks, furrowing his brows.

「…You unknowingly saved the entire city, Straf.」

Looking up at him with a smug grin, Lily replies.

「Huh? How so?」

Confused, Straf glances at Nona. She blinks her amber eyes at the little girl.

「Do you not remember, Straf? It was in the bestiary…」

Lily tilts her golden head. Her twin tails jiggle slightly.

「…Uhhhh, no. Remind me.」

Straf's eyes drift up to the sky, and he shrugs his shoulders with a quick, blunt reply.

「…Well then, let me ask you this… What do you think fiends are, Straf?」

She asks, raising her brow.

「Piece of shit pesky demons that get their kicks out of rape and murder?」

He replies with a quizzical tone. Lily glances at Nona, who tilts her head slightly.

「Hmpf… That sums it up, but there's more to it. Fiends are only partially physical beings. They have physical needs, like the need for rest and food, of course, but they cannot die. Not literally.」

Lily nods along with a little grimace, then begins explaining.

「What, you mean they're invincible?」

Straf scoffs, smirking.

「No. Their physical body is physical, naturally. It's just as vulnerable to being destroyed as anything else, but their essence remains. It returns to the source, and they await their return.」

She shakes her golden head, whipping her twin tails around.

「Ah, so it's like that… Once every thousand years, they all pop out, huh?…」

「No. Either a higher demon unleashes them, or they are physically reborn into another body… Or they find a way back into this world. This child presents the second example.」

「Huh? You mean Nona is into rape and murder too?」「Eh?」

Straf narrows his eyes, and his gaze snaps to Nona. Her confused amber eyes dart between him and Lily.

「No, Straf… What I mean is, if she were to die a violent death with negative emotions swirling in her heart, which I assume were there when she was on the gallows…」

Shaking her head again, Lily looks up at Nona. She turns her amber eyes away with a mixture of guilt and sadness in them.

「…A fiend's essence would have an easy way into her body. Everyone watching her die with glee would likely be ripped apart the next instant. Ironic, isn't it?」

Lily adds and grins up at Straf.

「Wait, so when her time is up, the gravedigger's gonna have to give her a whack with the shovel to keep her down?」

Furrowing his brows, Straf glances at Nona. She blinks her confused eyes at the two.

「Of course not. Negative emotions and a violent death are the key, Straf. If she dies peacefully, that's that.」

Lily lets out an amused huff, and shrugs, glancing at Nona with Straf. Her amber gaze darts between the two.

「He he… I don't really get what you're talking about…」

Tilting her head, Nona gains an awkward grin on her face.

「…That's why you're on the top of my list, Nona.」

Straf shrugs with a tight-lipped grimace. His brows furrow when she points at something over his shoulder with her eyes wide open.

「The cat la-! The cat!」

Nona declares. Straf looks over his shoulder.

「…How do I stop this thing!?」

Wide-eyed, Stripe shouts while the kubelwagen speeds towards the crowd of hungry citizens waiting for their stew.

「Huh? Eh? Why the fuck does she have a-? Oh fuck…」

Straf quickly looks at his own kubelwagen to verify its presence, then looks at the one speeding towards them. Greatly confused, he furrows his brows, then cringes heavily.

「…Seriously? That's what she was up to?」

He lets out a long sigh, and his shoulders slump. Stripe begins to stomp the pedals in panic.

WHIR!…

She starts with the one on the right, and the acceleration presses both her and the fat man into their seats.

「Wrong one!…」

She exclaims as she looks down. She raises her foot, and stomps on the leftmost one.

Thud!…

She looks up, and nothing seems to have happened. The crowd is getting closer and closer at a rapid pace.

「…Uh oh!」

Thud!

With no other option left, she raises her foot again and stomps onto the central pedal.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

The tires lock up and let out a deafening screeching sound. The starving citizenry finally notice that something is speeding towards them.

Crash!

「Waaaaaaaaaagh!」

Completely unprepared for the deacceleration, the fat king flies forward, smashing through the windshield's frame like a screaming cannonball.

The fat man's arms flap around like the wings of a particularly well-fed chicken. With his fists on his hips, Straf watches on with a tight-lipped grimace full of resigned disbelief.

「Woooooooooaaaaaghhhhh!」

Thud!

The king smashes into the line of his subjects like a bowling ball, rolling through them, knocking them off their feet just like bowling pins. Strike…