Straf and Lily are walking through the capital's streets towards the palace. Lily looks up at Straf, then down at his arms.

「Where are we going, Straf?

「To the palace. There's been a change of plans.」

Straf replies, and sighs.

「I see…」

Lily nods, and looks ahead. It doesn't take her long to look at his arms again.

「…Are you sure you are okay, Straf? Your arms-」

She speaks with concerned tone, but Straf immediately cuts in.

「Yes, I am fine. Stop asking, Lily.」

Straf insists, with a somewhat frustrated voice, still looking dead ahead as he does.

「…Very well. I just want to say, that being a vampire makes you regenerate even limb loss very quickly-」

「I'm not going to change my race because my arms got a little dinged up, Lily. Stop being silly.」

Straf cuts Lily off again, looking at her with a wide, narrow mouth. A few moments of silence pass, and Strag glances at Lily.

「By the way, have you seen that guy hanging off the wall? Are you okay with that?」

Straf asks, and his brows rise lightly.

「Do you mean the vampire? Of course. That was my doing, Straf.」

Lily says with a proud smirk.

「Why?」

「He was behind the murder from the other day. I have to assert my authority, if I am to rule over the rabble.」

Lily explains, shrugging with her hands while grinning. A brief silence falls again as Straf nods.

「…Was my punishment metal?」

Lily asks, looking into Straf's eyes with a serious expression.

「Yeah, it was pretty fucking metal. That was my first thought when I saw him, actually.」

Straf nods, looking down at Lily. She immediately grins in great satisfaction, baring her long fangs.

「Naturally. I am metal, after all.」

Lily looks Straf in the eyes, her face still bearing a massive malevolent grin.

「…I think you misunderstand what metal is a little, after all. Whatever, it's fine.」

Straf furrows his brows at Lily's statement, then shrugs and looks ahead again. They continue onward towards the palace, with Lily clearing bulk of the crowd with her presence alone…

…

Greaves and his party are walking through the streets of a distant city in search of clues regarding the magic bandit gangs.

「Huh? Greaves, wait a moment!」

Will glances into an alleyway, and stops in his tracks just a single step short passing it by completely.

「Tsk, what? I want to get to the guild before all the best tasks- Where are you going?」

Greaves clicks his tongue and looks over his shoulder, instantly beginning his barrage of complaints before even getting a good look at Will. Will steps into the alleyway, and Lian quickly disappears into it right behind Will.

「Great. It's getting to the point where they're running off into secluded places together. Let's go, Alicia.」

Greaves sighs, looking at the alleyway with his fists on his hips, then nods his head at Alicia beside him to follow, as he walks towards it as well. As soon as he crosses the corner, he sees Will investigating something on the floor, with Lian standing over him, curiously looking on.

「…What do you think this is?」

She asks, leaning onto her spear as she looks at the ground.

「…I don't know, but it can't be anything good. Looks like a ritual-level spell.」

Will replies, rubbing his fingers stained by a red powder.

「What are you mumbling about, Will!? Planning a date!?」

Greaves struts into the alleyway, calling out towards Will in a loud voice.

「Tsk… Shut up Greaves! There's a fragment of a ritual circle here, and it's a huge one. It has to be as wide as the city, if not larger.」

Will scoffs at Greaves, looking up at him over his shoulder.

「…What does that mean?」

Keeping his fists on his hips, Greaves asks with furrowed brows.

「It means whatever it is, it has a huge radius of effect, and it's probably extremely dangerous, you muscle-head dumbass!」

Will gets up and shouts at Greaves, pointing his finger at him.

「You're the dumbass, dumbass!」

Greaves shouts back in indignance, walking closer to Will, almost headbutting him from the proximity. They begin shouting each other down once again. Lian retreats back to Alicia while the two argue.

「…It might not be bandits, but it sounds like bad news. Maybe we should go back and report it?」

Lian asks, looking down at Alicia. She then looks back to Greaves and Will.

「Um… I don't know, I don't really make decisions around here…」

Alicia meekly shrugs her shoulders, looking down at the ground. Lian sighs with a pitiful smirk.

「Alicia, men like when women have some initiative. Try stomping your foot for once.」

Lian imparts a wisdom from her homeland, then looks back at the circus unfolding in front of them.

「…And you don't even know what a magic circle is! Everyone knows that! Even people who don't know a single thing about magic!」

Will shouts in Greaves's face, forcing his spiky-haired head back with his forehead.

「Ahem!」

Alicia loudly exaggerates clearing her throat, causing the argument to abruptly stop.

「…Greaves, Will, don't you think we should maybe go back and report this to the queen? It might be important-」

Alicia asks, clutching onto her wand. Her gaze drifts downward, as her confidence slowly evaporates the more she speaks.

「Huh!? No way! I'm the legendary hero! If it's something bad, let's just deal with it!」

Greaves grabs onto his carrot-resembling hilt of his sword, and Will rolls his eyes…

…

Straf and Lily walk into the throne room, and Cycelia's brows rise in surprise.

「Straf? Back so soon?」

She asks, blinking in mild confusion.

「Yeah. This time it's me who has good news and bad news. Okay, so…」

Straf shrugs, spreading his hands.

「The bad news is, I'm going to need some military to help me out if I am to fix the sickly sister's problem.」

Straf sighs, looking at Cycelia with a tight-lipped grimace. Her head recoils in surprise, and she jumps out of her throne, hastily hopping down the steps.

「Wh-? Really? Straf, if you are having second thoughts, it's okay, I don't want you to take more risk than you are comfortable with-」

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She quickly grabs onto Straf's hand with huge, emerald eyes, looking straight into his. Straf winces as soon as she pulls his hand closer to herself.

「Ow ow ow…」

He mutters out quietly through his clenched teeth, still wincing.

「…Straf? What's wrong? Is your hand hurt?」

Her eyes widen, and Cycelia loosens her grip on Straf's hand, becoming far more gentle in handling it as she gently moves her fingers up and down his hand to check for bone injuries.

「…No…」

Straf says, looking aside with a facade of a nonchalant tone. Lily crosses her arms and sighs.

「…He injured his hand on a contraption-」

Lily explains, looking at Straf's arm with a frown.

「Lily!」

Straf raises his voice at the little vampire, and she looks up into his eyes, completely unfazed.

「There's also something wrong with his other hand, but I'm not sure what…」

Lily spreads her hands and shrugs her shoulders, before crossing her arms once more.

「…Straf, is that true? What happened?」

Cycelia takes her eyes off Lily to look deep into Straf's, with a greatly concerned expression on her face, still gently holding onto his hand.

「Tsk, it's not a big deal…」

Straf clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes as the two girls orbit him like worried moons.

「…Then, is it just a bruise? You can move your hands fine?」

「…No, they're actually broken, but it's not a big deal-」

Straf shrugs his shoulders as he admits, causing Cycelia's jaw to drop.

「Huh!? What do you mean it's not a big deal!? You need to see a healer! Or at least a doctor! There's one in the palace, let me take you to him!」

Cycelia exclaims, almost shouting, staring at Straf with massive, startled eyes.

「Lia, calm down, seriously. I'm fine. I can't really use my arms, but it's already healing.」

Straf insists with a calm tone, and it rubs off on Cycelia somewhat, calming her as well.

「But… But please at least come with me to see a doctor. If he says you're fine, I'll stop bothering you about it. We can talk about the rest of what you have to say afterwards.」

Cycelia pleads with large, green puppy eyes, blinking rapidly. Straf looks at her, trying to find a way to gently turn her request down, but he then finds it impossible.

《Man, she really can't be doing this unintentionally. She knows exactly what she's doing.》

Straf thinks as he rolls his eyes, then sighs with a tight-lipped grimace on his face.

「Fiinee. But I'm telling you, it's just a minor fracture, it's not a big deal.」

「Straf! Stop acting tough already! Come!」

Cycelia tugs on Straf's shirt to lead him, while Lily remains quiet the whole time with her arms crossed. They leave the throne room, and Cycelia leads Straf towards the doctor's study…

…

「Yup. This one's shattered to bits.」

「Huh!?」

Cycelia places her hands on her face in horror, as the elderly, partially bald man fondles Straf's forearm with his fingers. Straf looks on with a tight-lipped, annoyed grimace as he gets his arm examined.

「Now, while the minister's hand should heal fine without any intervention, I'll have to set his other arm and place it in a cast. Else it might heal wrong, and he might become a cripple.」

The doctor lets go of Straf's arm. Gesturing with his hands, he explains the situation to Cycelia, who covers her mouth with her hands, sitting on the same bed, only an arm's reach away.

「Mercia's grace… Straf! And you were pretending to not be hurt like this!?」

She exclaims with huge eyes at Straf, who has his mount aslant.

「I'm not pretending, Lia. I really am fine.」

「No you're not, young man, but you will be.」

The man says, grabbing onto Straf's arm again, and squeezing it painfully with his fingers, causing Straf to wince and grimace in pain again.

「Fuckin- Shit. Is this- Hold the fuck up, is this necessary?」

Straf grunts, groans, cursing under his breath. He yanks his arm away from the doctor's hands, and asks in a frustrated tone. Both Lily and Cycelia look on with worried and pitying faces.

「Oh yes, it is. Unless you want to be a cripple, that is.」

The doctor nods his head, and resumes setting Straf's arm. He begrudgingly sits out through the pain, and the doctor begins immobilizing his arm in gypsum plaster. After waiting roughly 15 minutes, the cast stiffens. Straf looks up in the corner of his vision, then rolls his eyes.

《Well, at least it cut the recovery time in half. I guess it's not that bad.》

Straf shrugs, then turns his head to Cycelia, who managed to calm down by this time.

「Alright… Lia, as I was saying, I'm going to need troops.」

Straf shrugs his casted arm wincing a little.

「Straf, you can't fight like this! Stop being ridiculous! You've already done more than enough for me! I'll let the military officers earn their pay-」

Cycelia energetically shakes her head, then looks at Straf with furrowed brows. She places her hand on her chest as she explains, but Straf cuts in.

「Lia, I'm not going to fight like this. I'm just going to order them around. I know how to get the situation under control with minimal losses. Trust me. Or do you want random peasants to die for politics they don't understand?」

Straf looks into Cycelia's emerald eyes with a slanted mouth and a bored expression on his face, and she lets out a quiet groan and looks aside, due to the uncomfortable decision laid out before her.

「…Do you promise you won't get hurt?」

She looks at Straf with eyes full of concern, and a frown on her face.

「Lia, it's impossible for me to get hurt. It's just peasants versus peasants. Relax.」

Straf scoffs, smirking confidently. Lily walks up, still crossing her arms.

「I will go with him, I'll make short work of the rebels-」

Lily announces, but Straf cuts in again, shaking his head.

「Actually… Lily, wouldn't that cause a diplomatic incident? You're kind of like a noble, if you meddle in human affairs, wouldn't that make Lia look like a puppet? That's a bad look for her, if you want to at least outwardly appear like the power dynamic isn't horribly skewed.」

Straf asks, and Lily's eyes widen. She clicks her tongue, and looks aside as well.

「…You're right. If I tore them apart, it would deliver a message that I am the real ruler of the kingdom. I have no interest in claiming that much power. Can you really handle it on your own, Straf?」

Lily sighs, and looks at Straf with a serious face. She attempts to appear unbothered, but there is very apparent worry in her scarlet eyes.

「Yup, I've played some strategies, I've got this.」

Straf scoffs in amusement, grinning at Lily.

「Straf, wars aren't chess. It's much different when the pawns bleed, and have their own lives to return to.」

Cycelia looks into Straf's eyes, taking a very serious, sullen tone.

「I wasn't talking about chess. Relax, Lia. Trust me, I've got this.」

「…Very well. What do you need, in that case?」

She sighs, and nods her head.

「Let's see… Some carts, some horses, about 50 or so hand-picked best soldiers, and as much infantry as you can spare me to deal with this. And some doctors-」

Straf looks up and aside, thinking heavily as he goes down his battle wishlist.

「Actually, fuck doctors. There's healers, after all. Just reserve me a couple of those. As many as the carts.」

Straf shrugs, smirking as he scoffs, not snapping his fingers or pointing at anybody.

「H- Hey. I may not be a healer, but…」

The doctor at his desk meekly tries to defend his honor, but his protests go largely unheard.

「Got it. It will take a day or two to assemble… You said there were good news, Straf? What was it?」

Cycelia nods her head, then asks, tilting her head ever so slightly.

「Right… The drakes will be ready by tomorrow morning. You'll be able to deliver the payment to those miners, and I'll be able to actually exchange them for coins. But that'll have to wait. Busy month, huh?」

Straf grins as he asks.

「Yes, incredibly so… I can't wait for a moment to rest.」

Cycelia nods her head, and sighs heavily…