Half an hour later, on the way to the Parnatau Gap, in a Redwing Kingdom village by a hill…

Vrrroooommm…

With the bulk of the forces remaining at a standoff distance, Straf drives the car into the village. A few terrified peasants peek out of their homes and watch soldiers march into their village, following behind an apparently self-propelled cart-like object.

Vrrrrtrtrtrt…

Straf flips the key and hops out. Just as the passengers are about to exit, he turns to Lily and holds his hand up.

「Uhhh, Lily… You might want to wait in the car.」

He says with a tight-lipped expression on his face, lowering his fists to his hips.

「Huh? Why?」

Lily blinks her crimson eyes up at Straf, the two red orbs being the only significant source of color on the backdrop of the dark, empty car.

「…'Cause if the people here find out you're a vampire, we'll have a hard time figuring out what's what. Just wait here for a moment, it won't take long.」

Straf glances at the already frightened villagers peeking out of their homes' corners. The sight of Lily sitting in the car both relieves, and somewhat confuses them while the two talk.

「Hmpf… Fine. Could I at least help you with something Straf? I grow tired of watching these humans do everything, when I could rip through your enemies with ease.」

She crosses her arms, pouting as she looks aside at the front line formations waiting for orders.

「It's not that kind of help that I usually need, Lily… Have some patience. What are you, actually 12?」

Straf lets out an amused huff as he places his hands in his pockets, and walks towards the village, joining up with Nona and Stripe waiting nearby. The group of infantrymen follow them.

「Ahh… Evenin'?…」

He says as he looks around. The peasants are all keeping their distance with nervous faces, so Straf decides to walk up to the nearest woman.

「Y- Yes…」

The peasant woman nods her head, nearly hugging into her home's log wall.

「…What can you tell me about that camp on the hill?」

With his hands in his coat's pockets, Straf asks, turning his gaze to the smoldering scraps of cloth and a few tents that somehow survived the apparently all-consuming fire.

「T- They're nice people… They were polite when buying our produce…」

The woman shrugs, forcing on a smile onto her face with a lowered head.

「Huh? So you like 'em more than us?」

Somewhat surprised, Straf tilts his head and narrows his eyes at the peasant. He glances over his shoulder at the infantrymen standing a few steps behind Nona and Stripe.

She looks at the two women and the soldiers behind them, and realizes none of them appear particularly upset, with possibly exception of the woman. The helmeted heads of the soldiers are swiveling, and their eyes are wary, but their expressions are rather neutral. The woman furrows her brows.

「Wait… Are you from Redwing Kingdom?…」

She asks, turning her eyes back to Straf. His head perks up slightly at the question.

「Yeah. What did you think?」

He shrugs, then glances at Nona and Stripe. Nona tilts her hatted head, while Stripe looks back at Straf with her arms crossed, and her mouth heavily aslant.

「Ahhh…」

With her hand on her generous chest, the peasant woman breathes out a large sigh of relief, and her shoulders slump in an instant.

「…They're ours! It's alright!」

She turns her head to the rest of the skittish peasants, and waves her arm with a shout. The reaction of the villagers is similar, or even mirrored, and the tension quickly dissipates as they jog up.

「When the camp started burning, and we saw you marching up, we thought we were done for!… We all thought they'd kill us as some sort of retribution!…」

The woman exclaims, now speaking candidly, almost burying Straf with a mountain of her pent up complaints.

「Those fucking bastards!… We heard they surrounded the fortress by the Gap. They didn't siege them, they allowed supplies through, or so we've heard… And true, a few came to buy things!…」

She adds, then turns her eyes to a gaunt, agitated peasant.

「They saw that I have cattle, so they came to my house, asked if I sell meat… I said I do, of course! I rear cattle!… So they said that they'll buy some beef for their meal tonight!…」

Straf nods along as the man speaks, pointing his thin hand at burnt out the remains of the camp, then in the general direction of his home over the villagers' heads.

「…So as it usually goes, I name the price… Not that much higher than what it usually goes for… So then he said half!… Outrageous, but that's how it usually goes…」

As the man continues telling the story of the meat-buying soldiers, Straf begins to grimace and tap his foot on the grass.

「…So I say「I'm not going to sell it to you for a half!…」and before I can even name another price,「You're either getting money, or getting no money, but we're getting the meat.」they said!…」

The man quotes the soldier, waving his arms about as Straf's lips narrow further into thinner and thinner lines.

「…What the fuck was I supposed to do!? I had to give it to 'em! Who knows what they'd do otherwise!」

Resigned, the peasant spreads his hands and shrugs his shoulders, before throwing his arms up in frustration.

「…Can I see that money?」

Straf asks, and immediately presses his lips back together.

「Uh, ah… Yes, of course…」

The peasant hesitates for a few moments, but then fumbles with his pockets and hands him a few folded up yellow bills.

「Pft…」

Straf sputters, stifling a grin and laughter as he looks at the poor imitation of a drake. Though it's apparently genuine Parnatau Kingdom currency, as so the slip of paper claims, it quite obviously borrows design elements from Redwing Kingdom's drake in a more or less brazen manner. It features multiple anti-counterfeiting elements, though they appear to be purely visual, and copied with no grasp of what they represent. Straf searches for the tumbled star shape in the circles on the bill, and cannot find it.

「…It looks like a fucking crayon drawing…」

He utters under his breath as his eyes shift to the drawing. The entire design is crudely stamped-on, presumably with hand stamps carved into an appropriate shape by someone of significant, yet insufficient skill. The image supposedly represents「King Teber Parnatau」on a small denomination bill, or so the text beneath the crude, simplistic, blurry profile portrait claims.

There is an additional fine-print information about the bill being redeemable in the king's treasury, wherever that may be, and a prominent warning against defacement or destruction of the bill.「Those found guilty of marring the king's image may be punished with a lifetime of labor in the mines, or even death. Willing destruction of the king's money may be punished with ten-year hard labor in the mines.」the text continues on, threatening with petty penalties such as lashings and caning for ripping the bill during handling.

「…Yikes. That was the worst deal in your life.」

Straf scoffs, and returns the imitation-gold banknote to the peasant.

「I know! They've ripped me the fuck off! I hope they fucking choked on it!…」

The peasant nods, throwing his arms up again. He puts the bill away back where it was, then shrugs his shoulders as he squeezes out of the crowd.

「So… What happened to the soldiers? Did they burn up?」

Straf asks, rubbing his chin as he looks at the tents. There seems to be no movement, other than the wafts of smoke rising up from something still burning away, and choked by its smoke.

「We saw them leave with a few carts towards the Gap. I don't think there's anyone left, that's why we thought you were coming to kill us.」

The woman replies to Straf, and the peasants nod along in agreement.

「Hm… Alright. I'll leave a small detachment here to watch the village and catch any stragglers…」

Straf says, then places his hands back in his coat's pockets and turns for the car. The idle infantry and the girls follow him, along with a trail of relieved peasants.

「Thank you!… Are you going into Parnatau Kingdom!?」

The woman runs after Straf as he returns to the car.

「Yup… We're kind of at war right now…」

He shrugs his hands, then hops into the driver's seat.

「I see!… Kill them all! Good luck!」

The peasants all gain a joyful expression on their face, and they circle around the kubelwagen. With her mouth aslant, Lily peeks out from behind Straf's seat and glares at them.

「V- Vampire!?」「Va- Vampire!」「Vampire!?」

The peasants' overjoyed expressions quickly turn into pale-faced terror when they notice Lily's red eyes stare at them from the dark. Stumbling over their feet, they run back into the village.

The soldiers' heads swivel around as they quickly take a defensive formation, but when they see Straf's nonchalant face, they slowly relax.

Vrrrrrrtrtrtrtr… Vrrrooooom!…

They watch Lily with troubled grimaces as the kubelwagen shakes violently back into life before it calms down.

「Hey! Return to the rest!…」

Straf calls out towards them, then drives off with the girls. The infantrymen look at each other, then head back towards the waiting caravan of carts and wagons…

…

Twenty minutes later…

Vrrrrrrooooooommmmm!…

Straf drives up the hill towards the remains of the field camp. He stops just by its edge, parking the kubelwagen sideways to the slope and letting it idle. He hops out.

「Okay… Whoever wants to come along and take a look, feel free…」

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He declares as he walks into the camp with his hands in his pockets. Lily happily jumps out and joins his side in a blur. Nona steps out, leaving the hammer in the kubelwagon.

「Tsk… Nothing better to do…」

After a moment, Stripe clicks her tongue and steps out as well. With a frustrated, tight-lipped grimace on her face, she follows after the three.

「How do you figure this started, Straf?… Perhaps one of the dimwitted scum fell asleep while keeping watch over a fire?」

Lily asks, tilting her golden head as she looks at the handful of charred bodies under likewise scorched tent poles.

「I dunno, Lily… Guess we'll never know!…」

Straf smirks as he shrugs his shoulders, though Lily doesn't see it, too busy taking in the death and destruction with glee.

「Hmpf… Anything is possible with these idiots, after all. Maybe they were in a heated argument on how fast cloth tents burn, and someone decided to settle it.」

With her arms crossed, she scoffs. She doesn't spare even a dead man from her cold glare as they pass by.

「That might be it, Lily.」

「You think?」

Straf quickly utters out, and Lily tilts her golden head in surprise as she turns her crimson gaze to Straf's face, whipping her twin tails around.

「Highly probable.」

He replies with a shrug of his shoulders, looking around the camp for something indescript.

「Tsk… Stop playing dumb. You ordered someone to do this, didn't you?」

Stripe clicks her tongue again, frustrated by Straf's attitude.

「Wow, look out, we've got a conspiracy theorist here…」

Straf's bored face gains a grin as he scoffs.

「…Got any proof?」

He asks, briefly stopping in his tracks to look over his shoulder at her, still grinning. Her frustrated grimace grows in intensity.

「Who killed the retreating soldiers ahead of us!?」

Stripe shouts angrily from behind Straf with her arms crossed.

「Bandits.」

He bluntly replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

「There were ballista bolts stuck in the dirt beside the road! The corpses were mangled! You ordered someone to do this!」

「Nope. Bandits.」

Straf insists, shaking his head without as much as glancing back.

「With a ballista!?」

She asks, outraged at the audacity of the claim.

「Bandits are pretty well-armed these days, you know?…」

Straf shrugs, and finally peeks over his shoulder at her, visibly smirking.

「…Come on. You really think someone could just sneak up on a camp like that, set it on fire, then disappear without a trace? I bet you think the world is flat, too.」

He adds, scoffing with an amused tone as he resumes looking around.

「…It's not?」「It's not?…」

Lily and Nona both ask at the same time, tilting their heads, while Stripe is busy processing Straf's reply. He stops and turns to look at the three.

「…Yeah, it's not. It's round… Like a big ball of dung rolled up by a beetle.」

He nods and shrugs at the two, then turns his eyes to Stripe.

「Wow…」

Nona says, apparently amazed by the new information.

「Hmpf… I have my doubts, but if Straf says so, it must be true… I'll believe you.」

With her arms crossed, Lily nods.

「Wh-? Are you stupid!? If it's a ball, then why aren't we sliding off!?」

Stripe throws her arms aside, shaking her head in mildly amused, yet outraged disbelief.

「Gravity, stupid. The same thing that keeps you from having an easy meal when you see a bird.」

Straf scoffs as he explains. Nona tilts her head further, while Lily furrows her brows while she listens.

「But things fall down! What stops you from just falling down off your stupid ball world, huh!?」

Stripe points her clawed finger down at the yellowed grass beneath their feet. Straf walks up to her.

Fwup.

He leans down and grabs her ankles before she can react, then quickly pulls her up.

「Wha-!? Hey! Put me down!」

He shouts, glaring at Straf with her golden eyes.

「…Where is down?」

Straf asks, smirking down at her face while holding her upside down. One of her pant legs flaps violently at its back.

「It's down!」

「Relative to who? You?」

「What are you talking about!?」

She shouts, and holds onto her cloth hat as it begins to slip.

「I'm asking where down is, now that your feet are no longer on the ground.」

Straf shrugs, grinning at the increasingly annoyed beastman. Lily's snide face peeking out from behind him isn't helping in soothing her anger.

「Down! You know where down is!」

Stripe shouts back, then clenching her bared teeth.

「Oookaay! I'll put you down!…」

With a greatly amused smile, Straf shrugs his shoulders with a little tilt of his head.

Fwap!

「What!?…」

Stripe shouts as Straf throws her into the air by her feet. The world spins in her golden eyes.

「… It's down, relative to you!…」「Heh. Serves you right.」

Straf explains while Stripe spins through the air, then reaches the peak of her trajectory and begins to plummet down. Lily watches her with an amused, malicious grin on her face.

Thfwap!

He catches Stripe into his arms, breaking her fall despite her awkward posture prepared for a hard landing on the ground.

「…And now you're down, relative to the world. How did you like that quick lesson on frames of reference?」

Straf asks, smirking at Stripe while she's staring at him wide-eyed. She blinks, too shocked to do anything.

Zzzap!

She splays her clawed fingers, but the very next instant, the collar on her neck activates.

「Agh! This damn thing!…」

Stripe lets out a pained grunt and clutches at it, wincing heavily. Straf lets her feet down to the ground. She looks at him with a tight-lipped grimace, too frightened to scowl.

「Next time, say that you want the bottom of your feet oriented towards the center of the planet…」

He shrugs, and continues walking into the camp.

「Straf…」

Lily quietly calls out as she walks beside him.

「Yes, Lily?」

He turns his smirk fading back into a bored expression towards her.

「…Can you carry me like that, too?」

She asks, turning her eyes away as she pouts.

「No. You're far too old for that.」

Straf nonchalantly replies with a shrug of his shoulders.

「So is she!」

Lily shouts, pointing her clawed finger at Stripe's face. Leaning away, she narrowly evades it just in time.

「That was different, Lily. I caught you, too. No special treatment.」

「Gnnnghnnnhhh…」

Straf replies, and Lily turns her face away to conspicuously make a frustrated grumbling noise with her arms crossed…

…

Around the same time, near a besieged fortress overlooking the Parnatau Gap…

Kneeling in the shadows behind a collection of boulders, a wolf-masked man lowers his spyglass and collapses it.

「…Looks like the survivors informed the rest. They can't do anything in the dark, but they're actually besieging the fortress now.」

He says, turning his metal face to the cat and the bull behind him. A few others watch the other way.

「What's the plan?」

The cat asks, sneaking a quick peek over the boulder. There are hundreds of small personal tents pitched all over the field surrounding the fortress, just outside the range of bows.

「Sergeant, get the signal torches.」

The wolf turns to the bull-masked man.

「…Is that wise, captain? That's our fortress.」

He asks in a calm, booming voice that echoes in his mask.

「Unless you've got a better idea, we've got orders. That's the only way to break the siege, and we're already behind schedule thanks to that mess… Let's go.」

Pat.

The wolf stands up, and taps the bull on his cloak-shrouded shoulder as he jogs away towards a nearby forest in a high crouch. The rest of the team follows…