Outside the clothing store, on the capital's streets…

Stripe is navigating the dense crowd, weaving past people while her hatted head swivels back and forth in search of Ministry agents. As she turns her head forward, her eyes snap to one of the shop doors opening. She notices a tall man exit, but more importantly, she sees a familiar face.

「Kuhh!… Why is she here!?」

She blurts out in a raised, yet hushed voice, ducking behind the crowd. Nona doesn't notice her and continues down the street alongside the tall, handsome man.

《And that man… I've seen him somewhere. But where?…》

Stripe narrows her eyes at the two. Her attention focuses on the man's face as she thinks.

《Wasn't he in that carriage? He must be someone important. Good thing she didn't see me…》

She turns away to head back, but then stops after a single step. Her golden eyes snap wide open, and she looks their way over her shoulder.

《…Wait. If he's someone important, who is she? What are they doing here? She's not in her uniform.》

Stripe takes a few steps after them, hiding behind the crowd as she peeks over shoulders to look at Nona and the mystery man. They are talking about something. While the mystery man appears bored or even displeased, Nona smiles a little while looking up into his eyes. The man visibly sighs, and the two continue walking down the street to somewhere.

《…This must be my chance! They haven't noticed me, and she's with someone important from the palace! I might learn something vital if I follow them!》

Her oval pupils narrow, briefly creating vertical slits before returning to their mostly round shape again. She rushes after Nona and the man, keeping her head low.

Meanwhile, completely oblivious to the fact they are being shadowed, Straf and Nona are searching around the street for a restaurant or an eatery.

「Straf, give me your hand…」

Nona says, looking at him with her sweater's collar covering her face.

「…Is this a robbery?」

He asks, smirking.

「Just do it!」

She demands, pulling the collar down with an intense tight-lipped grimace. Straf sighs, and pulls his hand out of his pocket.

Clap.

Nona quickly and loudly grabs it, clutching it tightly.

「…And?」

With his brows raised, he looks at her hand in his.

「…What?」

She asks, their eyes meet as she pouts at him.

「What did you want my hand for?」

「…People hold hands while on dates.」

Nona replies, and turns her lightly blushing face away.

「Ah… Yeah, I guess they do.」

Straf's gaze briefly drifts up to the sky, and after a moment of thought, he agrees with a shrug.

「Straf, why not there?」

She points at a building with「Dragon's Nest Restaurant」boldly painted in white on its window.

「Sounds good to me. Let's go.」

He looks at the distant restaurant on the end of the street, and with a light grimace, gently tilts his head in agreement.

Holding hands, they push through the crowd, Nona briefly taking lead when she finds a gap in the people, only for her to again fall behind Straf when he does the same. After a while, they finally reach the door. Straf pulls it open and nods his head towards it, letting Nona in first. Unlike the previous ones, this restaurant is packed, the decorations are very simple as they only consist of a few potted plants, and the establishment is clearly meant for the common people.

When they walk in further, Straf realizes no waiters are coming to greet him, in fact, instead of waiters, there is a long counter where a few people seem to be leaning over and speaking to someone behind it. His head swivels around to find at least one waitress, but he fails to find any.

「Uhh… Go have a seat there, I'll join you in a moment.」

Straf nods his head towards an empty table. One of the very few.

「Okay.」

She nods, and approaches the table, staring at Straf most of the way with a visibly troubled face, and visibly unsure how to act. Straf draws near the long counter and squeezes in through the people. A lone woman with a stack of small slips of paper in her hand is continuously writing something, then setting the papers down in the kitchen pass.

「Hey! When's my order coming!? I waited 15 minutes already!」

「Just a minute please, I'll ask the chefs…」

An indignant man at the counter shouts, and the woman only nods her head back, her eyes focused on the papers in her hand while she writes.

「Hey! Two pizzas for us! One with cheese only, the other with all the meat!」

Another man shouts, holding two of his fingers up for the woman. She gives him a brief glance then returns her eyes to the papers.

「…What is this, NYSE? LME for food? Come on.」

Straf looks around with his brows furrowed in disbelief at the shouting rabble, and shakes his head.

Slam!

「Hey! Get me two chef's specials! Tell 'em to go wild! Bring them to our table over there!」

He slams his hand on the counter, shutting the shouting down. The woman brings her eyes up to him in an instant, then follows his nod towards the table, briefly looking at Nona.

「…Yes sir, I'll let them know.」

「…And a drink, too. Something good. Can be strong.」

She nods at Straf, entirely at attention, then quickly scribbles down his order with the quill and sets it down on the kitchen pass. He slinks away from the counter, and the shouting resumes.

「Whad'dya order?」

Noan asks as Straf joins her at the table with a large sigh.

「Chef's specials.」

「And what is that?」

「I have no clue.」

Straf replies, and Nona tilts her head a little with a perplexed smile. He leans on his backrest with his elbow upon it, lazily looking around. He spots the woman from the store who seemed to look at him, sitting at a table across the restaurant. The coincidence causes him to furrow his brows a little in light surprise, mixed with confusion. He turns back to Nona.

「Hey…」

「Hm?」

She tilts her head the other way, smiling at him.

「…That woman you saw the other day, did she have long hair?」

「Hmmm…」

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

She humms, crossing her arms as she looks up. The mounds on her woolly sweater become more pronounced.

「…I wouldn't say. I don't really remember, but I'd probably notice if her hair was long. I don't think it was any longer than mine.」

Nona shrugs, and lightly pats the tips her fluffy, wavy, shoulder-length brown hair with a cheeky smile. A woman delivers a dark, brown glass bottle with a cork and two glasses to the table.

「Your order is being made right now, sir.」

She bows, and rushes back behind the counter. Straf grabs the bottle's neck.

Pop!

Glugluglugluglug…

The cork slips out with just a little tug of his hand. He gives it a quick sniff, and starts pouring golden liquid into his glass, stopping at roughly half-full.

「…What's the drinking age around here, anyway? You're allowed to drink, right?」

Gluglugluglug…

Straf asks as he pours half a glass into the second one, and slides it towards Nona.

「I dunno. Probably.」

She shrugs, and looks at the glass before her. Straf sets the bottle down, and takes his into hand.

「Well, I hope you're not the type of girl to break the law.」

He replies. They stare at each other in silence for a few seconds.

Tunk.

Straf splashes the contents of the glass into his mouth, and slams the glass down, grimacing a little.

「Well, I can see how the kingdom has an alcohol problem now… I don't drink much, but I've yet to come across an undrinkable swill.」

He remarks with his brows raised in surprise, looking at his empty glass like it will tell him a fortune.

「Mhhm…」

Nona simply quietly nods and takes a large sip, holding the glass with two of her sleeve-covered hands.

She winces, visibly pondering whether to spit or swallow as the liquid burns her mouth. Ultimately, she gulps loudly, and shakes a little.

「Good, isn't it?」

「Nh… W- Well…」

She shrugs with a small, awkward grin. Her amber eyes rise up from her glass to Straf's face and his slanted mouth.

「…Why did you ask about that girl now of all times, Straf?」

Nona meekly asks and forces a large gulp from her wide, short glass, then shakes again.

「No reason. Thought I saw her, but I guess I was wrong.」

Straf nonchalantly shrugs, adding a little tilt to his head while he does so. He leans on the table with his elbow, lazily looking around the restaurant again.

「Aa… Aahh… Okay.」

She nods, and a smile returns to her face. She takes another gulp, wincing heavily, and sets the empty glass down as she shivers.

Gluglugluglug…

「Ah.」

Her jaw drops when Straf immediately refills it with a noisy glug of the liquid pouring out of the bottleneck.

「I figured you'd like it too.」

He grimaces a little as he shrugs, then refills his own glass as well before setting the bottle down.

「Ahahah…」

《…I hate it. It burns my mouth and it tastes gross. But it makes me feel warm and nice inside, so I guess I understand why the shitty old man drinks so much of this stuff.》

She chuckles quietly in response, grinning as she reluctantly pulls the once more full glass closer. Straf splashes the contents into his mouth again, and sets the empty glass down.

Feeling pressured, Nona hastily starts sipping the golden liquid, wincing with each gulp.

Glugluglugluglug…

「Hey! How long do I have to wait!? My date is hungry!」

Straf shouts at the long counter as he's refilling his glass, causing the woman behind it to scramble to the kitchen pass and yell something into it.

「Good fuckin' grief… Some fuckin' service in this hole…」

He shakes his head, setting the bottle down. Nona simply quietly nods along, still sipping her drink. Straf splashes the entire glass into his mouth again.

Gluglugluglug…

While he's pouring another glass for himself, the panicked woman runs up to their table and sets two plates of stir-fried noodles with beef, mixed with colorful chopped vegetables.

「Two chef's specials-」

She meekly announces, straightening out.

「Pft. We waited this long for two stir-fries? How slow do they work?-」

Straf asks as he forks some of the noodles into his mouth. He goes silent, and nods his head a little.

「…Alright, I guess they're not bad. Still… Where the fuck is the owner of this place? Tell that bald fuck to get his ass over here or I'll rip his toupee off right in front of everyone!…」

He shrugs, then turns his scowling face to the tight-lipped, nervous woman beside their table. He yells at her, pointing down at the table.

「…I got a few things to tell him, and he's-!」

「I am the owner… Sir…」

The woman interrupts him, bowing politely to their table, looking at him with her lips narrowed into thin lines. Her eyes briefly dart to Nona when she's about to finish her drink.

Snap.

Straf snaps his fingers and points at the woman.

「…Alright. I was going to tell you some mean things, but you get a free pass for doing it all yourself. Shoo.」

He sniffs, and replies, nodding his head. He then waves the woman off, turning his attention back to Nona.

「Um, sir. Your total is 5 golden drakes. Two for the specials and three for the bottle. We accept payment in gold coins as well.」

The woman leans in to his side, attempting to be as polite as she possibly can be. Straf clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes, patting himself down for his pockets.

「Fuckin'… Can't just give me a bill…」

He grumbles quietly as he pulls out the stack of drakes from his pocket and takes a random one into his hand. Nona takes her fork into hand and slowly begins eating.

「How much is this?… Ah, whatever.」

Straf squints at one of the bills, then promptly hands it to the woman.

「Thank you sir, I will return with the change in just-」

「Fuck it, keep it…」

The woman bows her head and takes a step away, but Straf dismissively waves her off again. Her eyes snap open, and she looks at the drake with a visibly conflicted face.

「…Thank you sir.」

She bows low and returns behind the counter. Straf sniffs again, grabs his glass, then tips the entirety of its contents down his throat in one gulp.

「Pwah…」

He glances at Nona's empty glass in front of her and her smiling, flushed face. His eyes glance down at his own, then the bottle. He grabs its neck and starts pouring.

Gluglugluglug…

Straf fills his glass, then leans forward to fill Nona's. He tips it upside down, and only translucent, faintly yellow drops come out.

「Huh? Where the fuck did all of it go?」

He gives the bottle a little shake, then looks at its label with his eyes narrowed in confusion. The white label proudly reads「Adalor distilled malted barley, Draconis region」in black ink.

「Tsk… I've got my own bottle, do you want some more?」

Straf asks, looking at Nona. Her unfocused amber eyes look into his, and she lightly shakes her head with a light smile.

「Alright…」

He nods, and sets the empty bottle down. He peeks over his shoulder at the woman sitting across the restaurant, but just like before, she turns her head away before he can see her face.

Straf shrugs, and gets started on his plate, eating quietly with Nona in the loud restaurant while the shouting at the counter continues…

…

Twenty minutes later, outside the restaurant…

Stripe is peeking her golden eye outside of an alley. Straf exits, and Nona trails directly behind him.

「There they are…」

She says to herself as she watches them closely. Straf takes a turn down the street, placing his hands in his pockets.

《It's a shame I couldn't eavesdrop on them inside, but that's too much risk…》

Stripe thinks as she cautiously walks out of the alleyway and seamlessly merges with the crowd. Nona immediately latches onto Straf's arm, resting her fluffy head on it.

《…What is their relationship, exactly? Is that her husband?》

Stripe narrows her eyes, following them at a safe distance. Behind them all, a woman exits the restaurant, casually following Straf and Nona with nary a worry…