Back in the capital, well into the night…

「Phew! Finally! That took some fiddling, but I’ll need this soon, and then again down the line.」

Straf wipes the non-existent sweat off his forehead with great exaggeration, as he looks upon his crafted handiwork in the nearly pitch-black warehouse. Moonlight pours through the windows above at a convoluted contraption of drums and basins, a great many of gears large and small, and a lever with some nearby knobs. All in all strongly resembling the stamping-cutting printing press.

「I think this is my finest craft yet. So multi-purpose. I wish I knew how to power it with something else than just a lot of manatree bits. I ought to ask Lia how the dumb regular lamps work around here, what are they powered by?…」

Straf rubs his chin while looking at the prominent lever with his brows furrowed.

「Well. Regardless, the waste of manatrees aside, what do you think, Lily? Pretty neat, right?… Lily?」

Straf spreads his arms with a satisfied grin. Surprised by the lack of response from Lily, he turns his head towards her.

「Lily. Hey.」

Straf sighs when he sees Lily standing with her head hanging down, and her eyelids twitching lightly. Her eyes are almost fully shut, and only open ever-so-slightly to let him catch a glimpse of her eye color.

Snap. Snap.

「Hey. Wake up.」

Straf snaps his fingers in front of her face. The noise causes her to grunt in surprise and lift her upright.

「…Magic crystals, or something…」

Lily mumbles quietly, and sniffles. She wipes her pale lips with the back of her hand, and her eyelashes with the side of her finger as she reawakens.

「Huh? What are you mumbling about?」

Straf tilts his head and narrows his eye out of confusion.

「Magic gems, or crystals, or something like that… That powers the lamps, I think. I wasn’t sleeping…」

Still mumbling, Lily raises her drowsy, half-open scarlet eyes up and looks into Straf’s.

「Lily, if you’re that sleepy, you should have just went home. It’s pretty late past the last bell after all, isn’t it?」

Straf sighs and places his unbroken fist on his hip, looking at the sleepy little vampire with a pitying gaze and a slanted mouth.

「No… I want to see the results of your work. That, and…」

Lily looks aside at the floor, crossing her arms.

「…And?」

「…And spend more time with you. You’re now so busy, now that your puppet runs your kingdom…」

Lily pouts, voicing her complaints meekly. Straf blinks, looking aside with mild confusion on his face.

《Puppet? Who?… Running my kingdom?…》

Straf rubs his chin, and his brows shoot up while his eyes widen in realization.

「Lia? No no no no, Lily. You’ve got the wrong idea. Well, what I mean is…」

Somewhat flustered, Straf shakes his head and waves his hand in front of himself in denial, grinning nervously. He sighs, and places his fist back on his hip as he pauses to think for a moment. Lily tilts her head gently, observing his movements with curiosity.

「…H- Huh?」

「Look…」

Straf sighs out, and places his hand on Lily’s shoulder, looking her in her inhuman scarlet eyes with a gentle smile. Lily blinks, greatly surprised by Straf’s sudden, but not unwelcome contact. Her drowsy eyes open somewhat wider as they lock gazes.

「Lily, you see a lot of things others don’t. In me, and in others. You’re very sharp and see through things with ease…」

Straf looks straight into Lily’s eyes, speaking with a warm and kind tone she has not heard from him yet.

「W- What are you saying?…」

She timidly asks, almost entirely silently so. Unsure what to do, her vertically-slit pupils dart over Straf’s close face, his eyes, while also taking a quick peek at his neck.

「You are certainly a wise 1000-year old woman inside, Lily. That much I know for sure.」

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Lily remains silent as Straf’s unexpected praise coming from seemingly nowhere, causes an odd sensation from before again. She covertly lifts her clawed hand to her flat chest, to check what Straf’s soft eyes, gentle smile and kind voice have exactly done to her.

Her crimson eyes dart to Straf’s neck, causing her to subconsciously part her pale lips and reveal the tips of her sharp fangs. She blinks, and her eyes drift back to Straf’s lips, and she slowly starts closing her fangs towards them for a reason unknown to her.

Straf abruptly lowers his head and sighs, however.

「That’s why I need you to be completely silent about everything you notice, okay!?」

Straf lifts his head back up, staring at Lily with a serious, tight-lipped expression and sharp eyes. He nods for added emphasis as he pleads her with a raised voice, being especially loud in the quiet, disused warehouse.

「Huh? Uu- O- Okay.」

Lily blinks and her face jolts away from Straf. With her eyes wide open out of surprise, she nods and agrees before she even realizes what she agreed to.

「Seriously! You’re a walking spoiler! I bet you’re the type of girl to figure out the big plot twist at the first episode, and then the big reveal is completely boring to you! So I need you to not say a word to anyone about anything you see coming, okay?」

Straf pleads again, visibly clenching his teeth as his handsome jaw muscles bulge.

「Ah- Of course… Naturally, Straf. I will keep it all to myself…」

Lily slowly regains her composure and demeanor, as Straf returns to the self she knows well. Straf nods powerfully, and lets go of Lily’s heaving shoulder as she takes pointless, heavy breaths.

「Phew. I knew I could count on you, Lily…」

Straf sighs, and smiles down at Lily with a clearly exaggerated expression.

「Uhuhuhu… Naturally, Straf… I am a wise 1012-year old woman, after all…」

Lily smugly grins, mostly in an attempt to ease herself back into her regular demeanor, and flicks her golden hair behind her shoulder with her pale, clawed hand.

「…Aside from your extremely poor timing and choice of words around maids of all types, you’re really reliable. I don’t think you have failed me even once. Ahh, what a shame you’re not a 1018-year old vampire, Lily, you’d generate a lot of envy.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders, and his unbroken hand.

「I’m not sure what’s the difference, but I will be 1018-years old in a blink of-」

「No, Lily. It doesn’t work like that. Not for you.」

Straf shakes his head and looks at Lily with a troubled, tight-lipped grimace.

「Huh? But I will be-」

Lily tilts her head, blinking in confusion. She points her clawed finger at her chest, still missing Straf’s point.

「I know, Lily. But it doesn’t work like that. And I said you’re a wise 1000-year old woman inside because you’re clearly ahead of the curve. I didn’t say it to excuse some sick things, okay? Now with that being out of the way…」

Straf opens his [Portable Storage] and reaches in. He pulls out a large, squareish, rectangular box with a glass cylinder extending out of its wider side.

「What’s that?」

Lily looks at the unknown object in Straf’s hand with curiosity, but drowsiness is starting to return to her eyes, slowly making her eyelids heavier and heavier.

「This is a Derre- Derreau- Degere-?」

Straf looks aside as he attempts to remember something, but shakes his head and dismisses that thought. He holds it up so Lily can get a good look at it with her vampire eyes well-adjusted for darkness.

「This is a thing that freezes moments. I made it as a stepping stone to get the better stuff, but I thought we might want to take a commemorative photo, at least.」

「…Photo?」

Lily tilts her head at the new word, and Straf finishes fiddling with his thing that freezes moments. The late hour is taking a toll on her, and it takes a major effort for Lily to keep her eyes open.

「You’ll see in a second. Do a nice pose. Something you won’t be embarrassed about when people see it when you’re a 2012-year old vampire.」

Straf lifts the rectangle just below his eyes, pointing it cylinder-side at Lily.

「…Like this?」

Lily turns a little, having been facing Straf directly. She puts her her clawed hand low in front of herself at hip-level, and turns her head a little further away still. An overall unremarkable and somewhat boring, tame pose, albeit very fit for a royal portrait.

「Good enough. Try not to move much. Here it goes.」

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

Fwap!

The thing that freezes moments shines a bright light at Lily with a peculiar sound, forcing her eyes shut and making her wince. The rest of the warehouse momentarily lights up, then returns to the darkness once more.

「What was that? I thought I was staring at the sun for a moment.」

Lily cautiously opens her eyes, looking at Straf as he fiddles with his contraption. He pulls out a small plate, and inserts it into his new printing machine, turns a few knobs, then pulls the lever. The machine creaks into life, a linen sheet is dunked into one of the basins gently by a press, and a bright flash much like before appears inside the printer, albeit remaining contained within.

Hrrrcrk!

After a short moment, the machine makes a terrible noise, and spits out a hand-sized piece of fine linen. Straf takes it, and carefully examines it.

「Not bad. Craft.」

He says, and looks at a certain point in the space in front of him.

「Frame…」

He says, waves his finger through the air, then taps the thin air. A thin, rectangular shape roughly matching the linen piece appears out of nowhere in front of him, glowing in a golden light. The light subsides, and a photo frame drops into Straf’s waiting hand.

He carefully inserts the linen piece in, and secures it. He turns around, holding the photo frame up in front of his face while looking at Lily, still waiting for Straf to say something as she continues posing.

「Hmm… Yeah, not bad. You’re pretty photogenic, Lily. If you weren’t standing right in front of me in full color, I’d be convinced this is an old-timey photo of some rich guy’s daughter. You can stop posing, by the way.」

Straf looks at the black-and-white linen print of Lily. Aside from her dignified portrait-like pose, her half-open eyes staring off somewhere into the vast distance beyond the scope of the photo impart almost an ethereal quality upon it.

「Here. Take it.」

Straf hands Lily the photo frame, as she covers her yawn with her free hand. Her sleepy eyes widen when she takes a single glance at it.

「This is… Me?」

Lily looks at the photo, blinking in confusion. She glances up at Straf, before returning her eyes to the photo of herself.

「Yup. Pretty neat, huh? Theoretically this machine can print in color, but this is the best I can do with this camera.」

Straf smugly smirks, looking at Lily while she stares at the photo in silent awe.

「Is this magic?… Won’t you be taking this?」

Lily looks at Straf again, this time him holding her attention.

「Oh boy Lily. If you liked the quote about the abyss, you’ll like this one… Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.」

Straf leans in, propping himself on a nearby crate, and looks at the photo with Lily.

「I see… So this is technology…」

Lily looks at the photo in further awe, realizing the still replica of her was created by Straf’s hand with mundane means, and not through reality-bending magic.

「And no, keep it. I figure you and mirrors don’t work together well, if the vampire cliches are at all honored here. Besides, you’re already frozen in time. If I want to take a look at you, I can just go find you, right?」

Straf grins, he and Lily momentarily lock eyes, and the little vampire looks at him in awe like she was looking at the photo seconds ago.

「Haaaaaaaaaahhh…」

She quickly covers her mouth with the back of her hand as she yawns noisily, turning her head away from Straf.

「Seriously, go to sleep already, Lily. We’re done for the day, anyway. Let’s go, I’ll walk you back so you don’t space out and block an important road for the plebs all night.」

Straf exits the warehouse with Lily trailing closely behind, still frequently looking at the photo. They head through the mostly-empty streets towards the bell tower, and the red-eyed passersby bow their head low towards Lily as they walk past.

Lily does not as much as acknowledge any of them, which seems to bring most of the vampires great relief. Instead, she walks in silence beside Straf, looking in the other direction while pouting.

「Hm? Are you in a sour mood, Lily? I couldn’t really do anything about that flash.」

「No, I am feeling quite fine.」

Straf glances down at Lily, the moonlight lights up her pouting face barely enough for him to see. She insists with a completely normal tone, yet continues pouting and looking away.

「Well… If you say so.」

Straf shrugs, and returns his eyes forward to look down the road. Many vampires pass, bowing low, and the infrequent humans warily eye the baroness as they walk past, as far away from her and Straf as they possibly can.

An extended silence begins. The only sounds that fill the night are Straf and Lily’s footsteps, and the chatter of the vampires from the streets and alleyways. Straf glances at Lily a few times, after crossing multiple city blocks without saying a word. She continues pouting and looking away, holding the photo frame hugged close to her chest.

「You know Lily… You said I’m busy, and you’re absolutely right. I’m probably the hardest-working person in this whole kingdom. Everyone else slacks off, or hopes someone else will do stuff for them.」

「Mhm.」

Straf breaks the silence, walking beside Lily with his unbroken hand in his pocket. Lily simply replies with a slight nod and an acknowledging murmur.

《Yeah… She’s mad. But why? Should I have taken the photo with her? It’s a piece of shit camera, it doesn’t really work well for that kind of stuff.》

Straf groans quietly as he thinks, his mouth aslant in a troubled grimace.

「Yeah… Like that twerp with glasses. Lia sends them out to deal with some bandits, and he’s like, 「Hey! Do my job for me, okay?」 isn’t that kind of pathetic, Lily? How lazy are they?」

「Indeed…」

Lily once again returns a muted reply with a gentle nod. Straf groans quietly again.

「So I thought, maybe it’s my turn to be lazy now. So when I’m done and wrapped up with all my things here, I’ll get nice and lazy. I’ve got a surprise for you, Lily. Two, even.」

Straf pulls his hand out of his pocket, and grins as he speaks with his index finger extended.

「…Really?」

Lily finally looks up at Straf, still pouting slightly however.

《Okay! Alright, she’s not that mad. I can fix this.》

Straf sighs covertly while nodding his head.

「Yup. I’ll need to handle the stock business here, and go to a place a little bit away first, but then we’ll go and be lazy together, alright? In three, four days time, come find me. Or I’ll find you, whichever, whatever. I just need to get Lia to do something for me tomorrow, and I’ll be out of town for a while.」

Straf says, as they walk up to the wooden door of the bell tower. The workers already anticipate her return, and open the door ahead of the time.

「Very well…」

Lily takes a few steps towards the bell tower, and Straf snaps his fingers. Lily turns around to see Straf pulling out a ring out of his [Portable Storage].

「Before I forget, give me your hand.」

Straf says, and simply grabs Lily’s pale, dainty hand without waiting for acknowledgment.

「What are you-?」

Lily asks, looking at her hand with an unfocused gaze. Her eyes snap open when she feels and sees the ring slip onto her finger.

「There. This is for you too. It’s a little too big for you… Well, I can’t do much about that. Try to not lose it, alright? It’s a 『Ring of Storage』 and it works almost like my inventory, except it fucking sucks. It’s better than nothing, so I thought you might like it.」

Straf shrugs as he explains the power of the magic ring he looted off the village raiding bandit leader.

「A r- Ring? S- Straf, this is…」

Lily stutters, and loses her cold demeanor and composure in an instant the moment she takes a good look at the ring on her finger.

「Yeah, yeah, I know, my bad, it doesn’t fit well. You should be worried what I’m up to if it would. Anyway, if you’re in real bad danger, you could probably hop in there. Be careful though, you only get two uses per day, and I’m not even sure if time flows normal there.」

Straf dismissively waves his hand in a circle as he explains himself, and the ring further.

「Huh?」

Lily blinks, still shocked by the sudden gift.

「Yeah. You hop in for a few seconds, hop out, and then you realize 300 years have passed and everyone around you is dead, including the thing that was trying to kill you. Unless it was a dragon, or something. That would kind of suck. So, be careful with that, I’m not certain how it works.」

Straf shrugs, turns his back on Lily, and takes a step away.

「Well, see ya-」

Slap.

Just as Straf waves a quick goodbye, Lily’s hand shoots towards his, and tightly grabs onto it.

「Huh? What? I know as much as you about the ring now, so…」

Straf looks at Lily’s half-open eyes with his brows raised in surprise.

「…Would you like to stay over for the night, Straf?」

Lily looks into Straf’s eyes with a serious expression on her face, and Straf looks into her half-open, crimson eyes. They stare at each other in a momentary silence.

「…Hard pass! I’d never explain myself out of that one! Just wait a few days Lily, it’ll be worth it!」

Straf’s hand turns into a blur as he rips it out of Lily’s grasp, and takes a few steps back.

「…I see」

Lily nods, enters the orange light flooding out of the bell tower’s door, and slams it shut behind her.

Thud!

「…Yup, she’s definitely mad about something.」

Straf nods his head lightly as he thinks out loud. His eyes then snap left and right with an exaggerated angry grimace.

「I know you’re there! Come out! Don’t make me find you and drag you out!」

Straf shouts into the darkness of the night. Nothing happens. After a few seconds of silence, two maids from the palace emerge out of a dark alleyway with nervous expressions on their faces.

「What!? I’m not allowed to make sure she gets home safe, huh!? Is that it!? I can’t do that!?」

Straf snarls at the two maids, who immediately bow low in an apology without saying a word, and begin hastily walking towards the palace.

「Huh!? Huh!?!」

He continues irately shouting at them, long after the maids are gone…