「Same height?」

「About the same.」

Lian nods at the merchant, shifting her hand around on her spear.

「Nope. Haven't seen him. If he was even close to being as freakishly tall as you, I would have seen him.」

The merchant crosses his arms, and Lian sighs. At the same time, Greaves and Alicia return to the marketplace.

「We asked at every single gate, nobody saw him. What a waste of time. He isn't here.」

Greaves explains as he walks up to Lian and Will. He crosses his arms as he complains with a frustrated tone.

「Greaves, shut up. You don't know that-」

「No, I agree.」

Lian interrupts Will as she shifts her weight around, propping herself up on her spear as she lets out a heavy sigh.

「Huh? Well…」

Will is mildly surprised by Lian giving up, and he adjusts his glasses.

「Um. When was the last time you heard of your brother's whereabouts?」

Alicia peeks out from behind Greaves, and meekly asks.

「Around the time the new year dawned. Last I heard he was around here somewhere, but it was already an out of date information by the time I have heard it.」

Lian says as she looks into the sky with an out of focus gaze.

「What places have you checked so far?」

Alicia asks, and Lian lowers her gaze to her with a slanted mouth, her almond-shaped black eyes peek out from over her fluffy furred bracers.

「It would be much faster and simpler to say where I haven't checked. Over the last year and up to this point I have been to nearly every single place there was to comb through. Where is this idiot lounging about…」

She replies, and sighs again. Lian's eyes drift off elsewhere as she mumbles under her breath.

「Then, Lian… What's the closest place you haven't been?」

Will asks as he adjusts his glasses, looking up at the tall spearwoman.

「Well… There's the capital. But I don't suppose he's there, I would have heard of him by now otherwise.」

Lian looks aside, down at Will. She speaks with a smug smirk, but there is visible fatigue hiding in her eyes.

「Why don't we go there, then?-」

Alicia chimes in, but Greaves interrupts her.

「Everyone goes to the capital. There aren't going to be any quests there.」

Greaves says, throwing up his arms with a very displeased grimace on his face and an annoyed voice.

「So? Maybe if we find him, we can help Lian out-」

Will adjusts his glasses, and Greaves interrupts him, too.

「Tsk. Help Lian, Help Lian… We set out to go on a quest and maybe save the world along the way, remember? Remember, Will?」

Greaves rolls his eyes. With his arms crossed and turned sideways to him, he asks Will.

「Yeah, I remember, Greaves. I also remember that it was your idea and I was perfectly fine with staying in the village.」

「Well, maybe you should have stayed there.」

「Maybe you should have stayed there too, Greaves! Instead of forcing Alicia to go along with you because we made an off-hand comment once!」

「I am not forcing anyone to come along! You, or Alicia!」

Greaves and Will begin arguing louder and louder, causing Alicia and Lian to sigh.

「Does this happen often?」

Lian asks, turning her tired black eyes to Alicia.

「More often than I'd like…」

She replies, looking aside as she sighs.

「Well maybe you shouldn't have stuck your nose out of your book-」

「Enough.」

Lian interrupts Greaves as he argues with Will.

「Whether or not you want to come with me is your choice. I don't consider you in my debt, I was just going about my way. I will be heading out towards the capital tomorrow. I suppose it won't hurt to look there.」

Though she speaks directly at Greaves, she addresses the entire party.

「Greaves, isn't being an adventurer about helping people? Lian could use our help.」

Alicia turns to Greaves, and asks him with a gentle smile.

「Now, I don't need your help… But admittedly, it does hurry things along.」

Lian clarifies as she turns her gaze to Alicia.

「Tsk. So we're supposed to just work for free, run around and ask everyone if they haven't seen a stupidly tall spear guy?」

Greaves clicks his tongue, rolling his eyes again.

「Greaves! We earned multiple gold coins because Lian was there! I figure that is enough of a payment for the time being!?」

Will shouts at Greaves again, who once again rolls his eyes.

「Naturally, I don't expect you to just follow me around in return for nothing. I'll help you along whatever silly tasks you find in your little guild. I still don't need more than enough to provide myself the convenience of an inn, and an easy meal for the day.」

Lian adds, speaking down towards Greaves with a serious face.

「See!? What kind of a supposed hero are you Greaves!? The first thing you ask when someone could use our help is what's in it for me!」

「Tsk. Fine! Stop yelling into my ear, Will! I'll come along with your girlfriend if that will make you stop crying about it!」

Greaves shouts back at Will, with his arms still crossed.

「What are you going to do when you find him, even?」

Greaves turns his head up to Lian, and asks with an exasperated, slanted mouth.

「Why, I'll take him back with me to the islands so we can continue the clan.」

「Wha-!?」 「Huh!?」

Both Will's and Greaves's eyes widen in shock at Lian's reply. They glance at each other for a second, unsure what to say.

「B- But… He's your brother?」

Will adjusts his glasses, stuttering nervously.

「Yes, what about it?」

Confused, Lian asks with her brows slightly raised. Will glances at Greaves again, both of them with an uneasy expression on their face.

「But… Um… You're not supposed to… Start a family with your siblings…」

Alicia meekly explains, looking down at her silver wand in her hands.

「Hm?」

Lian turns her head to Alicia, blinking for a few seconds in confusion with furrowed brows. Suddenly, they shoot up in realization, and she looks away with an amused smirk on her face.

「No… Not like that. Excuse my wording… What I meant was, I will take him back with me, so it's not just me and my family. If my brother isn't there with his family, that isn't much of a clan, is it? It's just a singular family.」

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Lian explains while gesturing with one of her hands. Alicia and Will sigh with relief, and he adjusts his glasses.

「So… Will you head back the moment you find him, Lian?」

Will asks meekly, unable to look Lian in the eyes. He adjusts his glasses again, so they don't slip off his nose as he looks down.

「Hm? No, I don't suppose I will. Not immediately, at least. I don't think my lovely idiot brother considered the future at all when he ran off. I don't imagine he had a change of heart, and found himself a strong woman.」

Lian looks down at Will, still smirking from the misunderstanding amusement.

「…And what about you?」

「Hm? What about me?」

「…Have you found one?」

Will asks, stammering. He adjusts his glasses constantly.

「A strong man? Who knows.」

Lian smugly smirks at Will, and starts walking off.

「Let's head back. The capital may not be that far, but it's still a decent way off.」

As she's walking towards the direction of the inn, Lian calls out to the rest of the party, visibly amused and very smug as the spear resting on her shoulder sways…

…

After long hours of traveling down a shady wooded dirt path, Straf and his party reach first sparsely placed huts.

「I understand you will be staying overnight at the inn here?」

Lily asks, no longer needing her parasol to feel comfortable as it rests far behind her head on her shoulder.

「Yup. Then it's off to find the sword.」

Straf shrugs his shoulders as he responds.

「May I ask why do you want to see the sword?」

「So I can pull it out. Duh.」

Straf shrugs again, and Lily almost bursts out laughing. She manages to regain her ladylike composure after covering her mouth with her clawed hand.

「Huhuhu… You may be joking, but I could see that happening…」

「Isn't that right!? I said the same thing!」

Lily says, and Cycelia chimes in from the other side of Straf. Lily glances at Cycelia with her brows snobbishly raised, and Straf's eyes jump between the two of them.

「When did I say I was joking? What did you think I wanted to stop by here for? Tourism? A sword in a rock sounds just like a free sword to me.」

《You are not pulling it out and I am not helping you pull it out. Abandon that idea.》

Athea's voice echoes across Straf's mind, making him instinctively look up and click his tongue with a disdainful scowl.

「Say that again when you want to get explicit.」

Straf speaks at the sky, receiving no reply.

「Huh?」 「Hm?」

Cycelia and Lily look at Straf, wondering who Straf was addressing exactly.

「Who are you talking to, Straf?」

Lily asks with her brows lightly furrowed.

「Ah, he talks to his… Girlfriend… Sometimes.」

Cycelia replies for Straf.

「Yeah, what's wrong with that?」

Straf asks, shrugging his shoulders as he looks at Cycelia.

「No, nothing! But…」

Her voice trails off, without completing her thought as she fiddles with her medallion.

「What? Girlfriend?- Ah. I see…」

Lily asks, but then comes to a realization as her brows momentarily rise. Her face gains a slight, pained, partial smile.

「I see you are well acquainted with loss as well, Straf…」

Lily says with a sullen tone, looking away as she holds both her hands on her parasol.

「Hm? Yeah, but…」

《What the fuck are they about? Am I missing some critical information?》

Straf wonders with one eye narrowed, as both the girls look aside to in the opposite directions in silence…

…

Less than an hour later, Straf and his party arrive to the village proper. The sun is close to setting, and the people look incredibly frustrated and annoyed.

「Straf, I will head back to my castle for the night. I don't want to cause you trouble if some vermin recognizes what I am by accident…」

Lily turns to Straf, twirling her parasol on her shoulder.

「Yeah? Alright. Goodnight then.」

Straf shrugs with his hands, and sets them back on his hips.

「I will return in the morning. I will be watching you. Well then…」

Lily does a little curtsy, and disappears into a black blur towards nearby treetops. The leaves rustle gently.

「She could word it a little better, to not sound like a stalker. Let's go, Lia.」

Straf looks at one of the trees, and shrugs. He and Cycelia head for one of the largest buildings in sight, and it happens to have a sign displaying a bed and a beer mug hanging above its door. They enter. The immediate obvious sight is, the tables are mostly empty aside from a handful.

「Ah. Visitors. Hello…」

The muscular innkeeper at the counter lifts his head up from his rag and a metal tankard, only to lower it as soon as he sees them walk in. Straf walks up to his counter with Cycelia.

「What bit everyone in town in the ass?」

Straf asks as he leans onto the counter with his elbow.

「Huh? Ah… Something burnt the forest on the way to Ossen down. We're a logging village, you see. Or were, at least. Now I suppose we'll be a charcoal village. The people are furious, and now we'll be forced to sell charcoal at chump change compared to timber and furniture.」

The innkeeper shrugs and sighs.

「Not a lot of clientele either, huh?」

Straf asks, looking around the room.

「Nope. Never was. Some tourists, some travelers. Mostly travelers, now. I think just about everyone saw the sword at this point.」

「I didn't. Where is it?」

「You didn't? Huh. Now ain't that rare… It's up the hill, just a little behind the Adventurers' Guild. There's signs leading to it, you can't miss it.」

「Cool. Tell me one more thing… You figure the manatrees burned down in the fire?」

Straf asks, leaning in further.

「Manatrees? Don't know. You'll have to ask the pissed off loggers about them. Last I heard, some kids killed a bunch of monsters where the grove was, the loggers were afraid to go there before. But that was a few days ago. Man, what a misfortune… It would bring a pretty coin to this shithole, if we managed to get some of those trees cut…」

The innkeeper lifts his head up, and sets the tankard away. He leans onto the counter as he speaks. He finishes gloomy, then takes another tankard in hand.

「Alright. Well, give us two rooms with biggest beds you've got.」

Straf says, and the innkeeper nods. He throws his rag away onto the counter, pulling out two keys from beneath it. He sets them down with a clank.

「I'd say give me two silvers, but I don't want to scare you away. You're likely the only customers I'll get for the time being. One silver.」

The innkeeper sighs and shrugs his shoulders as he wipes the tankard.

「What a bargain. We should visit impoverished shitholes more often, Lia.」

Straf grins, and places a single silver coin on the counter. He takes one of the keys, and heads up the stairs. Cycelia follows closely behind.

「Straf, are you not going to do the thing?」

Cycelia asks, looking down the stairs as she climbs them.

「What thing?」

Straf asks as well, with his hands in his pockets as he hops up each step.

「You know… The extra money?」

「Oh. No, Lia, you misunderstand. You do that when you know you can be treated better. You don't just drown poor people in money. When you subsidize poor people, all you get is more poor people.」

「…What?」

Cycelia tilts her head as Straf unlocks his door.

「I mean, come on. Look at this place. Everyone knows it's already over, and they're just going through the motions. Give it 10 years and this place will be just rotting, empty buildings. Urbanization is the keyword, Lia. Everyone loves cozy rustic villages, until it's time to live in one. Sleep well.」

Straf says, and closes his door.

Clunk.

「…What?」

Cycelia tilts her head and looks aside, trying to decipher at least a portion of what Straf has said…