「Tsk… Hey, bimbo! What is the fucking meaning of this!? I came all the way here on my free time for this?」

Straf shouts angrily at the ceiling while pointing his armored hand at the spiked dog collar on the pedestal.

「…Who are you yelling at?」

Greaves asks, tilting his head as he looks at the ceiling with Straf.

「Quiet, mongrel! You're not a part of this conversation!」

Placing his fists on his hips, Straf barks back.

「What conversation!? You're talking to the ceiling! Is your head alright!?-」

「Leave him be, Greaves… Just let him do it.」

Will chimes in, adjusting his glasses with a sigh.

「Stop pretending you're deaf!-」

Straf returns his eyes to the dimly lit ceiling above.

《Agghhh! Stop shouting already! What do you want!? Is it not a cursed armor piece!?》

Athea's frustrated groan echoes in Straf's head.

「A cursed armor piece!? A fuckin' cursed armor piece!?…」

Indignant, Straf spreads his arms at the ceiling. The adventurer party behind him all look at each other with a mixture of expressions, though all of them are disturbed by Straf's monologue.

「…You call this dog collar a cursed armor?」

He grabs the collar into his hand and shakes it at the ceiling in anger.

《It does exactly what you want! What's the problem!?》

「The problem is that I'm not putting this shit on myself!」

《That's your own choice! I warned you multiple times about this, but you wouldn't listen!》

Athea explains with a raised, echoing voice full of frustration.

「How about I put this shit on your neck and we'll see how you like it, huh!? That'll take you down a notch!」

Straf points directly at the ceiling, shouting loud enough for his voice to echo in the dark halls. Will and Greaves exchange confused, slightly unnerved glances.

《I'm busy! If you really don't like it, I can find you another piece, but stop yelling at me about it!》

「Tsk…」

She shouts back, almost audibly hammering her armrest with her fist. Straf clicks his tongue and throws the dog collar into his [Portable Storage].

「…Whatever, I'm out of here.」

Straf announces as he walks past Greaves and Will, squeezing between them.

「So, uh… What did you talk about?」

Will hesitantly asks while adjusting his glasses as the party follows.

「Tsk… I said mind your own business, mongrel.」

Straf barks back. He and the party backtrack up the stairs to the exit. The way to the surface is uneventful, and mostly silent.

「…Is this thing's blood magical? Is the body any special? Anything unique about it?」

As they climb up the steep dirt crater's slope to the surface, Straf asks the party in general a question.

「No, not really… Other than its size.」

Will shakes his head as he replies while cautiously using the holes Straf leaves with his armored hands and golden sabatons for footholds.

「…Fuck it, giant seafood dinner at a later occasion.」

Straf climbs to the top, walks up to the formerly living mountain's body, then lifts it up above his head after just a moment of straining. Will and Greaves glance at each other again.

「…You know, normally I'd be rubbing my eyes and pinching myself, but at this point this type of stuff is becoming rote.」

「…Yeah. What is with this guy? What is that hole?」

Will and Greaves watch Straf guide the enormous dead crab into an equally massive purple vortex, both with unimpressed, tight-lipped grimaces on their faces.

「With a catastrophe-level beast like this, the guild would probably request the queen to respond with a military force…」

Will remarks and lets out a fatigued sigh as most of the living mountain disappears within the vortex.

「…But he's like a walking catastrophe himself. Isn't it kind of scary to think about?」

「What?」

With his arms crossed, Greaves furrows his brows, glancing aside at Will.

「What I mean is… What is stopping him from taking over the kingdom by force? I don't know what kind of a relationship they have…」

He adjusts his glasses as the two look at each other while the rear of the giant beast's legs disappear within the whirl.

「…But doesn't it feel like he put the queen back on the throne on a whim? He never talks about duty, or honor, or anything like that. It's like he's just poking the world with a stick.」

「…Huh?」

Greaves tilts his head slightly, shaking his orange mass of hair. Will lets out a large sigh again.

「Never mind, Greaves. I forgot that you don't think much.」「Hey!-」

Will returns his eyes to Straf, adjusting his glasses once more. Greaves clenches his fist in anger.

「Crab legs, mongrels? Being so generous, I can leave a bite for you!」

With the living mountain's body in [Portable Storage], Straf shouts their way as he picks up one of its its severed leg over his head.

「No, thank you!…」

Will shouts back as he turns his eyes aside. Straf shrugs, and throws the leg into the vortex as well.

「More for me!…」

He nonchalantly declares as he picks up another leg, and throws it in too.

Clank clank clank!

Slamming his gauntlets together, Straf dusts his perfectly clean hands off and approaches the party.

「I'm heading back to the town, mongrels… By the way, a new company under the kingdom's management is opening up.」

Straf declares as he walks away, but stops after just a few steps and peeks over his golden pauldron.

「…So?」

Greaves asks, quizzically spreading his hands.

「Sooo… It's an easy way to make money. All you have to do is buy a few of its promissory bills.」

Turning around, Straf replies with a grin, returning to the party.

「No thanks, I don't care about this stocks stuff-」

「It's not stocks, mongrel. It's a promissory bill. Deferred payment. Investment. Call it what you will. I call it… The future of steel industry.」

Straf cuts in, interrupting Greaves and pointing his armored golden finger at him.

「…The future of steel industry? In what way?」

Will adjusts his glasses as he asks in an unabashedly skeptic tone.

「Heh… It's already producing more steel than we know what to do with, and it's outproducing all the other kingdoms! You think that's good enough? Think again, mongrel!…」

Scoffing, Straf grins and spreads his golden arms wide.

「…We're also coming up with ways to produce more and better steel, cheaper and faster! We'll make steel so cheap, only the rich will buy copper!」

He makes a lofty proclamation that echoes through the forest. A terrified bunny that was hiding in the bushes through the carnage takes its chance and runs.

「…If you're producing more than you need, isn't that a problem?」

Will asks with his brows furrowed and raised.

「Maybe if you're just trying to sell the steel, mongrel! We have bigger goals! The steelification of Redwing Kingdom! Everything will be made of steel!」

「Even the buildings?…」

Alicia meekly chimes in from behind Greaves and Will, tilting her head.

「Even the buildings!」

「…And the beds?」

She asks. Her brows furrow gently. Straf tries to snap his fingers, but to his annoyance, they only make a grating clattering sound due to his gauntlet.

「Tsk… Even the beds!」

After a brief flash of frustration, he replies with a confident smirk while pointing at Alicia.

「That doesn't sound comfortable…」

She remarks as she shrinks back behind the two. Straf grimaces a little.

「…Anyhow! It's the opportunity of a lifetime, and you're stupid if you miss out, mongrels! The auction will happen in the evening, right outside the bank!」

He shrugs and turns back towards the road, walking away as he grins over his shoulder. Will sighs.

「I'm not convinced, but what is the company even called?…」

Will asks while adjusting his glasses. Straf grins, chuckling.

「Strafsteelworks.」

He replies as he points at Will.

「Straf steel works?-」

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Will tilts his head, furrowing his brows.

「No. Strafsteelworks.」

Straf insists, scrunching his mouth to the side.

「…I don't get it.」

「You'll get it when you see it in writing, mongrel… If not, you're stupid.」

Straf nonchalantly replies, and shrugs his arms, departing towards the city and leaving the adventurer party confused.

「…Do we head back too? I mean, I doubt there will be any goblins around here.」

After briefly shaking his head, Will turns to the rest of the party.

「Yeah, let's just go. We can kill goblins if someone actually reports them.」

Greaves shrugs his shoulders and heads out onward towards the forest road. The rest of the party quickly joins his side.

「…This task sucks. I'm never doing searching type of stuff again.」

He adds, placing his arms behind his orange head.

「Yeah…」

Will nods with a lethargic voice. The party approaches the edge of the forest, leaving the massive empty crater behind…

…

A few hours later, in one of the capital's crowded inns…

Greaves, Will, Lian, and Alicia are sitting at a round table with nearly empty tankards. A large man in full armor approaches their table.

「Ah, Iron Will… We meet again.」

Roland the Wall says, standing over their table with his armored thumbs hooked in his belt.

「Roland the Wall… Can you just call me Will? I don't like that nickname…」

Will slowly perks up from his slouch and lets out a large sigh.

「Why's that? It's a good one!…」

「It's pompous. Grand. I'm just Will…」

「Ahh… So what if it's a little too grand for your liking? Might as well live up to it! Hahahah!…」

Roland dismissively waves his hand as Will drops back into his slouch on the table, before letting out a large guttural chuckle inside of his helm as if he just heard a good joke.

「…Word around the city is you drove a vampire off. That true?」

Crrreak!

He asks as he leans onto the table near Will. The table screams for mercy under his weight.

「Hm?… Well… I suppose it's true, but it's more like I barely survived while fighting a vampire. Iron Will my ass…」

Will replies with his head on his fist, staring into his nearly empty tankard.

「I see… I'm something of a vampire slayer myself, too… Though it's not one of my proudest moment.」

Crrrreak…

Roland nods his helmet, straightening out and giving quarter to the grateful table.

「Huh? Really?」

Will perks up again, blinking up at the armored man.

「Uh-huh… I was a young adventurer, just a little older than you and your friends… I was alone, since I wasn't about to split my measly earnings with anybody!… Anyway…」

He nods again, hooking his thumbs into his belt once more as he begins telling a tale.

「…I'm on this task to solve mystery murders in some no-name village pretty far from here. They happen at night, and almost all of them near an abandoned farm, so I thought… Bandits…」

Roland looks at everyone around the table, perhaps to gauge engagement in his story. Will and Alicia listen attentively. Lian is leaning onto her elbow, drinking with her brow raised.

「…I head to the farm. What's a couple bandits? I have my new shield, I'll beat the shit out of them!… I listen for a few seconds… Silence.」

He says, looking at Greaves who is just barely listening with his arms crossed. Roland once again glances at everyone before continuing after a prolonged pause.

「…Those damn bandits are sure disciplined, I thought. I was getting bad feelings at that point. Bandits? Sure. Brigands? Bad news. Fighting anyone with experience is bad idea…」

Roland shrugs his armored shoulders then leans onto his shield.

「…But I'm not heading back with my tail between my legs without a fight! I'm young and very stupid! Bring it!… I kick the barn door straight in!…」

Gaining energy in his voice, he mimics a rough kick. Greaves perks up and begins paying a little more attention.

「…And then I see no bandits. I see one guy sitting there. I'm confused, and he looks at me like he's scared shitless…」

Roland continues, everyone around the table furrows their brows for a moment as he pauses for suspense.

「…Then I look at his eyes and then I am scared shitless…」

He takes his shield back into hand, straightening out.

「…Turns out, it was a vampire. Long story short, I beat the shit out of it, but I wasn't exactly a vampire expert. I thought I was done with it, but the fucker kept getting back up!…」

Claclackclack…

The armored man throws his hands up. His armor clatters loudly while his voice reverberates within his helmet.

「…I smash his head to a pulp and turn around… He's getting back up! So I smash it again!… And he does the same thing! So I do the same thing!…」

Roland grabs his shield by the edges and acts out hitting something on the ground with its bottom while looking at the adventurer party around the table.

「…And this whole time I'm wondering… How the fuck do I keep this asshole dead for good!?… I didn't have a blade or anything, so I just keep smacking and pulping his face!…」

He continues mimicking for a few moments longer before abruptly stopping and resting his shield on the inn's wooden floor. Greaves and Will exchange incredulous gazes.

「…And, uh… I never really figured it out in time. I just kept caving his head in with my shield here until the sun came up. I was dead tired and too embarrassed to tell 'em at the guild.」

Bang bang bang.

Roland concludes, giving his shield a loving rough pat with his gauntlet.

「…Seriously?」

Greaves asks with his brows heavily furrowed.

「Seriously. I just told 'em it was a vampire, and that I dealt with it. Never told 'em how! Hahaha!…」

Roland nods, letting out another jolly laughter again as he grabs his shield.

「…So don't feel too bad about your fight. At least you brought a sword! Hahaha!… Anyway, I gotta head to the guild and see if they found a party for me-」

「Wait up, we'll go with you…」

Will declares, then quickly finishes the rest of his drink.

「…C'mon, Greaves.」

He nods his head towards the door as he grabs his propped-up staff and stands up. Alicia prepares to stand up, but he stretches out his hand towards her, stopping her.

「No, you two hold the table, we'll be right back. I'm just going to see if we can pick up our reward for finding the dungeon.」

He adds while Greaves stretches out and joins Roland's side.

「…Are you sure?」

Alicia asks meekly, slumping back down in her chair.

「I'm sure, relax.」

Will nods, and the three head for the door.

「You found a dungeon?」

Roland asks on the way to the exit.

「Yeah… I can tell you about it on the way, I'll try to keep it short…」

Will replies, adjusting his glasses as they leave the inn. Lian and Alicia stare at the door for a few seconds before looking at each other. Alicia can't hold the eye contact for long, and quickly turns her gaze down to her beer tankard. Lian lets an amused huff out of her nose and takes another gulp, then looks around the inn with bored eyes.

「…Are you not curious about the other universal thing, Alicia?」

Lian asks, smirking at her with a gently tilted head.

「Huh? Well, I am… A little…」

Alicia briefly raises her eyes to meet hers, only to quickly lower them again while anxiously tapping her fingers together.

「…What is it?」

She asks, finally managing to extend the eye contact for more than a few seconds.

「The first concept our people share is that men need to feel like they've won before they're ready to live a safe life and settle down…」

Lian replies with an amused smile as she turns her gaze aside towards nowhere in particular.

「…The second is, men will gladly throw their lives away to protect their women.」

She adds, turning her smiling face back to Alicia.

「…Huh?」

Her head perks up as she furrows her brows.

「…There is an unwritten agreement to ignore the retreating party and fight their men to death, no matter how many on your side could give pursuit.」

「But why is it like that?- What I mean is, I understand why fight to kill them… But why refuse to chase the enemy?」

Alicia asks, lowering her confused eyes back to her drink.

「Well… The idea is that if they left behind weaklings, they will be disposed of very quickly, and it'll amount to nothing. But if they left behind strong warriors…」

Lian pensively looks up at the simple candle chandelier hanging nearby the table.

「…You could say that it's a trade, one precious thing for another. Men inherently respect the decision to stay behind, knowing that they stand no chance to survive.」

She shrugs her shoulders with a casual, amused smirk on her face.

「But that's…」

「Stupid? Perhaps.」

「No, I didn't!… Well…」

Alicia shakes her head, but her voice trails off before she can firmly protest, and her shoulders slump. She ends up shrugging in meek agreement.

「It is stupid. A fight always goes smoother when fighting as a coherent group, but then on a retreat some men decide to stay behind instead of fighting as a group?…」

Lian nods, briefly looking aside towards nothing in particular again.

「…It is the height of stupidity. There is no objective reason to do that, and yet, as a child I've heard at least three separate stories like that… All from their women, of course.」

「And they just accept that they'll die?」

Alicia furrows her brows, greatly unsettled.

「Not only do they accept it, it's like they are constantly looking for the perfect opportunity to throw their lives away… Good grief. I tried it once, and that bastard refused…」

With her arms crossed and smirking lightly with her head lowered, Lian taps her finger on her bodysuit-covered arm.

「When? Who?」

「Doesn't matter…」

Alicia asks, and Lian dismissively shakes her head, jiggling her silken black ponytail behind it, smiling at her.

「…Ah. Here's a curious thing… Once one of the men does it, the rest will race to join. Then they'll beg for each other to retreat with the women. It's supposedly a pitiful sight.」

Lian's head perks up as she remembers a detail, once again lowering her head with an amused grin on her face.

「Eh?…」

Alicia blinks at Lian, still not any less confused.

「…But what I still don't understand is, why did you bring that up back then?」

Alicia asks with her brows gently furrowed. Another amused huff escapes Lian's nose.

「Greaves likes you, Alicia.」

She declares with a smug smile while looking straight into her eyes.

「…Eh? Eh!?」

Alicia's head perks up while her face rapidly reddens…