Just a moment later…

Straf exits his room and finds Will leaving his as well.

Will locks his door and adjusts his glasses with a sideways glance as he heads for the stairs down, but then stops in his tracks and turns around.

「…What?」

Straf asks with his hands in his pockets when Will stares at him from down the empty hallway.

「What bit you in the ass all of a sudden?」

Will asks, adjusting his glasses with an angry glare directed at Straf.

「Huh?」

Confused, Straf narrows his eye and tilts his head.

「I know you're not a good guy, but why are you so terrible now? Why are you just mean to everyone? Why do you destroy everything?」

Will ask with an angry frown on his face, taking a few steps closer while Straf remains nonchalantly standing with his hands in his pockets.

「'Cause.」

「'Cause?」

Straf replies, and Will echoes his blunt reply with his eyes first narrowing in confusion, then anger.

「Yeah… Are you half-deaf and mostly blind? That sucks… No, really, it does.」

Nodding his head in response, Straf shrugs his arms, spreading his hands.

「So you don't care if you're hurting people?」

Will asks with his tone growing more and more irate with each question.

「If they're not meant to be hurt then maybe don't give them health bars. That's bad design otherwise.」

Straf shrugs with a lightly amused grimace as his hands snake their way back into his pockets.

「Health bars?- Ramblings of a madman…」

Will echoes back in hopes of a clarification, but gives up before even properly finishing his words, adjusting his glasses as he shakes his lowered head.

「…So you intended to hurt her majesty too?」

He asks, outright scowling at Straf.

「Huh? I didn't do shit to Lia.」

Straf replies with a disdainfully ridiculing grimace.

「Tsk… You're really pissing me off. I can't help her majesty if you treat her like this. She's too nice to do anything about you, but I'm not…」

Will clicks his tongue with his teeth clenched and stomps up to Straf, adjusting his glasses.

「…If you try to be nasty to Alicia or Greaves, you'll regret it.」

He looks up into Straf's eyes with a sharp glare and his fists clenched.

「Not a mention about your girlfriend?」

Straf lets out an amused huff and asks.

「Lian would make you regret it herself- She's not my girlfriend, damn it!」

Will replies on an impulse before quickly amending his response with an angry stomp.

「So… There's nothing between you two? Just two strangers, huh?」

Straf shrugs his shoulders with a snide, amused smirk on his face.

「We're- We're not strangers… We're just not in a relationship! Stop implying things!」

Adjusting his glasses, Will briefly searches for the right words, stammering before raising his voice just loud enough to not disturb others who might be resting.

「I'm not implying things. Quite the opposite, I'm implying there's nothing. Good to know-」

「If you try to hurt any of them in any way, you'll regret it!」

Will interrupts Straf, pointing his finger in his face while adjusting his glasses. Straf looks at him with a condescending look of pity.

「Yeah? And in what way?」

Straf asks with his mouth scrunched to the side.

「…I'll beat the shit out of you!」「Pft.」

As soon as Will replies with a look full of determination on his face, Straf lets out an amused scoff, turning his grinning face away.

「Stop laughing! I'm serious!」

「Kheheheh… Yeah, yeah…」

「Take me seriously! I'm turning 19 this year so I'm not a kid anymore!…」

Straf cackles under his breath while Will continues pointing his finger, growing intensely frustrated by Straf's lackadaisical reaction to his warning.

「…I know I might not be strong, I know I'll probably lose, but I'll slug you right in your stupid smug face! Sometimes a man has to take a losing battle!… How old are you anyway!?」

Will adds, adjusting his glasses with a determined glare, and points his finger at Straf again.

「A losing battle, huh?… Dunno. I'm as old as you'd like. You really think you could even hit me?」

Letting out an amused sigh, Straf asks with a bored, tight-lipped grimace.

「I'm getting tired of you underestimating me and thinking you're untouchable. We can find out. Right now. I was going to take a bath, but we can step outside and sort this out…」

With a scornful glare at Straf, Will points his thumb over his shoulder at the stairs to the entrance.

「…No magic. No trying to kill each other. Just fists until one of us can't or doesn't want to fight anymore.」

「Pft.」

He adds, and another amused scoff escapes Straf with a condescending smirk.

「Tsk… What!? Are you scared!? Don't hold back, either! I want to know how strong you really are without all your fancy magic!」

Will clicks his tongue in frustration again and throws his arm aside with a flap of his sleeve.

「Don't hold back, huh?…」

Straf echoes with an unimpressed grimace on his face.

「Exactly! I bet you're all talk without mana- Huh?」

「…I don't think you want me to not hold back.」

Will nods and adjusts his glasses, but Straf suddenly bends forward to match his height better. Slightly startled by his face's sudden proximity, he takes a step back.

「What? You think you're so tough? If not for your magic, I bet Greaves could-」

Placing his fists on his hips, Will straightens out. He gets distracted and confused by Straf's hand as it moves right in front of his face.

Thwip.

「Agh!」

Will grunts in pain as he takes Straf's finger flick to his nose, sending him flying backwards a few paces.

Thud!…Clackclack!

「Ungh!…」

With a grunt, Will lands on his back with his robe bloodied. His glasses land a few steps behind him, bouncing off the wooden floor. Confused, he first feels for his nose, which is bleeding massively onto his robe. When he realizes it, he pinches onto it to stem the bleeding somewhat. Straf straightens out and puts his hand back into his pocket with a nonchalant, bored grimace.

「…You coward!… Already using magic!?」

Will exclaims while spitting out blood flowing down to his mouth.

「I wasn't…」

Straf casually replies and takes a step closer to Will while he's still recoiling on the floor, wincing in pain from his injured nose.

「Huh!? Then how!?-」

「…I was holding back, you see.」

Straf adds, cutting Will off as he squats down just in front of him, slightly off to his side.

「…Huh? But-」

「If I weren't, your guts would be on the ceiling.」

Straf cuts in again, nonchalantly pointing his finger up, staring at Will with a bored grimace on his face.

「B- But you used magic! That's cheating!」

Will replies while clutching onto his still-bleeding nose.

「That's the thing, I didn't. I don't know what gave you the idea.」

Straf replies, spreading his hands. Will stares at him with deeply confused gaze.

「…I've heard about reinforcement magic enhancing strength, speed, senses, and even intelligence. Some even numb pain… Which I could use right now. Gahh…」

Will says after blinking silently at Straf for a moment, then lets out a pained groan while clutching at his nose while it trickles blood.

「And I didn't use it. I just flicked your fucking nose. That baldie I sent through the wall? Me flicking his forehead took off a quarter of his health bar…」

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Straf replies, gesturing by flicking the air in front of himself. Will furrows his brows in confusion.

「…Fairly sure a proper flick would kill you on the spot. You still think you could hit me? I could kill you, your friends, and anyone you point your finger at with ease…」

He continues speaking in a nonchalant tone with a bored face.

「…It'd be like stepping on an ant. But then you learn that the ant has friends, a favorite food, things it wants to do, and you figure there's better ants to stomp…」

Straf shrugs and stands up, placing his hands in his pockets.

「…Don't misunderstand me, it's not hate or anything. Corporations don't dump toxic waste into the drinking water because they hate nature or the people living there. They just don't care.」

He adds, and concludes with a lazy shrug of his arms.

Will stares up at him. He pulls his hand off his nose. Blood flows very weakly, dripping slowly down to his robes. He briefly searches for his glasses, and gets up.

「…And if I'd point at her highness?」

Placing his glasses on his bloodied face wit his clean hand, Will asks hesitantly.

「Lia's not that good at fighting. You could have asked about the dragon, or the Divine Whatever…」

Straf replies with his mouth aslant, shrugging again.

「…You missed a really good opportunity to point at me, by the way. That'd be pretty funny.」

He adds with a huff and an amused smirk.

「Now I definitely need a bath…」

Will remarks as he looks at himself. His entire robe is covered in blood nearly down to his waist, one of his palms is slathered in it as well, and his nose only now stopped bleeding.

「And a change of pants too.」

「Very funny…」

Straf chimes in, to which Will replies in a weary voice as he shambles for Alicia's door.

Knock knock knock…

He knocks on it, wiping some of the blood from his mouth and chin with his clean hand while he waits. The door opens.

「Will!?」

Straf watches as Alicia opens the door and jumps up at the sight of Will covered in blood.

「Yeah. Could I bother you to heal me? My nose feels pretty bad…」

Will asks, to which she quickly replies with a nod and moves out of the way to let him in.

「What happened!?…」

「I tripped…」

Alicia asks as Will steps in, pushing the door shut behind him with her brows greatly furrowed in worry. She and Straf very briefly exchange a glimpse of an eye contact.

With a shrug, Straf approaches Lian's door. He pulls his hand out of his pocket and turns his knuckles towards the wooden door.

Knock knock-knock-knock knock. Knock knock.

「…Who's there?」

Lian asks from beyond the door.

「Me.」

Straf casually announces, placing his hand back in his pocket.

「Go away.」

Lian's muffled voice replies in a sharply frigid tone.

Straf enters, causing Lian to take draw a frustrated breath and let out an exasperated exhale, lowering her small book down to her lap as she sits in a chair at a desk..

「…That means go anywhere but my room.」

Lian explains with a facetious smile, and casually returns to her book. Straf gives the door a shove behind himself, shutting it.

「I know.」

He spreads his arms, shrugging his shoulders.

「So you've your lost balance and drunkenly stumbled in here?」

She asks in a rather uncaring, nonchalant, almost jesting tone.

「I just thought that we don't interact much…」

Straf says as he idly wanders deeper into Lian's room, lazily looking over her equipment that's scattered all over, yet in an orderly manner.

「Yes, I'm rather fortunate…」

Lian nods and flips the page in her small book.

「…What are you reading?」

He asks, approaching Lian's desk and looking at her book.

「Nothing someone like you would find interesting. There's barely any swearing, all the violence happens in the first pages, and I assure you the rest is entirely boring to you.」

Sitting leisurely in her chair. she replies without lifting her black, almond-shaped eyes off her book.

Straf peeks in closer, almost cheek to cheek. Lian's lightly smug facade comes near cracking when her face twitches slightly. She decides to ignore Straf taking a closer look at her book.

「…Mystery shit, huh?」

He asks as he straightens out, nodding in slight approval.

「You know how to read?… That's the real mystery.」

She asks back, raising an inquisitive brow at Straf as he returns to looking around her room. He takes a brief look at her cloak folded on a chest of drawers, before moving towards her spear.

He takes her spear into hands. It appears like a typical eastern spear of a peasant serf conscript, perhaps used for boar hunting in peacetime. Two bars spread out from beneath its blade's base to ensure the spears itself does not dig itself too deep into the struck target. Other than that, it's very mundane, practical, and boring.

「You like spears, right?」

Straf asks as he walks back up to her desk, jabbing the air towards the center of her room with one-handed thrusts while his free hand remains in his pocket.

「I can use all weapons with ease, given a moment to familiarize myself…」

Lian replies with a normal, disinterested tone, and flips a page in her book.

「…I prefer spears because they let me keep things I don't want anywhere near me at a distance.」

She says with a blatantly facetious smile while looking directly into Straf's eyes. He lets out an amused huff at the clear, yet thinly veiled hostility.

Straf takes a moment longer to examine the spear, testing for its wobbliness and shaft strength, gripping it in both of his hands.

「Y'know, I've got a spear shaft for you to grab onto…」

He says with an amused grin as he props the spear up against a wall then returns his eyes back to Lian's face.

「…Hm?」

Straf's brows rise a little. Lian is smiling, but something is off about the way her eyes are looking at him. She places a string bookmark at the current page, then sets the closed book down.

「You want to get into a bed with me, right?…」

She asks as she stands up from her desk and heads for her bed. Lian jumps right in, bouncing slightly on the bed, then turns her eyes back to Straf.

「…Come.」

Lian says while lying on the bed, stretching her arms out towards Straf, who blinks at her in disbelief.

《Wait, what?…》

Straf thinks, tilting his head, still blinking at Lian while she tilts her silken-black head back.

《…Just like that? I go into her room, talk about nothing, and she's already up to turn this inn into yet another pleasure house?》

He narrows his eye and glances at the door.

「Well?」

Lian says, impatiently wiggling her fingers towards Straf, inviting him to jump in with her, or rather, on top of her.

《Is this really okay?… I mean… The first girl in the harem should do that, but…》

Straf rubs the back of his neck, glancing at the door again with a pensive grimace on his face.

《…Isn't it supposed to be a wish fulfillment bullshit fantasy? Come the fuck on. She's the only woman of non-questionable age with normal body proportions here. That's my fantasy.》

「Well, if you're offering…」

He shrugs, and helplessly spreads his arms as he approaches the bed with a resigned, yet pleased grimace.

《I really thought she'd be harder though. What is she? The Ice Queen of the Lake? Come and crack her thin ice?》

「…It'd be a little rude to turn it down.」

Straf adds as he crawls onto Lian's bed into her arms, right over her. She wraps her arms over his neck, and crosses her legs behind his waist.

《Damn. She's really into it too!-》

He looks behind himself at her crossed ankles locking him into their current position on the bed. Straf furrows his brows a little.

「Wait… Shouldn't we be undressing before we do this?」

「Ow.」

Straf asks, and Lian lets out a stifled grunt of pain as she forcefully pokes herself in her eyes with her bodysuit-covered thumb and index finger.

Her eyes very quickly redden, and she blinks rapidly as tears well up in her eyes. Straf's head perks up in surprise.

「Wait, did you just?-」

「Heeeeelp! He's forcing himself on meeeee! Heeeeelp! I'll be taken by fooorce!~」

Straf asks, but before he can even finish his question, Lian begins shouting as loud as she can towards the door, startling Straf.

「Heeeeeelp! My maidenhood will be stolen from me! Heeeeeeelp!~」

「Wha-!? What the f-!? Are you serious!?」

She continues shouting while Straf stares at her in utterly indignant, stunned shock.

「Heeeeeepfm-!」

She shouts again, but Straf forces his hand over her mouth, silencing her.

「Shut the fuck up! You'll give everyone the completely wrong idea!…」

Straf says with his hushed voice paradoxically raised, straining himself to be loud and clear while being quiet, shaking his free hand in exasperation as he attempts to explain.

「…What the fuck is wrong with you!? You literally-!」

Beneath his palm, Straf can feel Lian's lips twist into a grin while her reddened, wet eyes look into his with glee as she lets go, unwrapping her her arms and legs from him.

ThudthudthudTHUDTHUD!…

Rapid, stomping footsteps rush to the door, and it swings open, but not before Lian turns her gaze to the door as her face turns into an expression of teary-eyed fear.

…THUMP!

「Lian!? What's going on!?-」

Cycelia slams the door open with her shoulder, gripping her already half-drawn sword in her dainty hand while her massive emerald eyes blink at the bed.

With his eyes wide open, Straf looks at Cycelia, then at Lian, who is looking at Cycelia with tearful, pleading eyes. He looks at Cycelia again, then once again at Lian. He notices that somewhere in between her letting go and the door opening, Lian also managed to slip her wrist into Straf's grasp.

《…This woman is pure fucking evil!》

Straf thinks, turning his tight-lipped grimace back to the door.

「…Straf. What is going on here?」

Cycelia asks, drawing a little more of her sword as her eyes begin to glow golden at the sight of Straf over Lian with his hand on her mouth and grasping her arm…