“Oh, Octavia. Let me introduce Chef Eskandar. He is the owner and chef of the maid cafe ‘Frilly Ribbon‘.“

  As Foreigner turned to Octavia and politely raised her hand with her palm facing upwards, Eskandar bowed to Octavia like a true gentleman. But all Octavia could see was a mountain of muscles moving while being covered by a thin fabric barely holding the inside together.

  “…Sup.“

  Octavia thought of offering a handshake, but she changed her mind after seeing the gigantic hand of Eskandar. Instead, she flicked her chin once towards Eskandar while being attentive to his motion.

  “It is my pleasure to meet you, Ms. Octavia. I heard a lot about you from Ms. Amonet, and I can already see why she has mentioned you as her role model.“

  Eskandar formally gave Octavia a greeting with a noble gesture. It was almost incongruous to see him maintaining his nobility on such a wasted street littered with trash and broken glass shards of an alcohol bottle.

  “Huh. She, ‘Amonet’, said that about me?“

  “Oh, I’m not sure where to even begin with! She always spoke of you as an elegant, reliable, and admirable person whom she’d like to be one day. I must admit, I have always wondered about your appearance, as Ms. Amonet praised your beauty, but I now see how justified her words were.“

  “Oh, my. That flatters me.“ Octavia finally found her wicked smile back as she eyed Foreigner, who was getting flustered at where the conversation was heading.

  “She also mentioned how she and you are on a journey around the world. How exciting could that be! I give my sincere respect to you for your initiative at such a young age. Only I wish I could have done the same when I was still wearing a younger man’s clothes. I—“

  Once Eskandar finished his words, there was an awkward moment of silence. Octavia thought there would be more for him to say as he dragged the last part of the sentence, but it abruptly paused as if he had chosen not to pursue it further. And the foolish-looking bucket with dents all over the surface on his head looked silly at first, but now it irritated her as it made reading his mind almost impossible through two tiny holes where his eyes glowed like a star amidst a dark night. Although she wished to drag the conversation further to tease Foreigner, she felt a need to find a new topic to escape the staring contest.

  “So, you are the chef at that maid cafe? I heard that being a chef is a tough job, but you sure do have a splendid physique for it.“ Octavia purposefully spoke in a sarcastic tone to capture any sort of body language, but Eskandar did not even flinch a finger and replied immediately while maintaining his noble tone.

  “Ah, thank you for noticing! It is all thanks to the health routine my granddaughter taught me. If you are interested in it, I would be glad to share it with you. In fact, if you wish to join, you two are more than welcome to! For starters, we will run two laps around Pasargadae to relax your muscles before the training. What do you say, gleaming gems of the new generation? Would you like to join me on the journey to obtain a healthy body for a healthy mind?“

  Eskandar flexed his muscle tightly, and a part of his sleeve got ripped away from the excessive amount of stress it had to endure throughout its lifetime. On his side was Foreigner, nervously laughing while giving an eye signal at Octavia to reject his offer, as she was not ready to lose her precious time roaming around in her dreamland. But Octavia, on the other hand, had a plan to screw her over.

  “Nah, I’ll pass. But Amonet once said that she really likes running.“

  And with a wink, Octavia settled the deal. Foreigner looked at her dumbfounded with her eyes and jaws widely opened, and suddenly she found herself standing in the middle of the court with a thousand balls being thrown at her at once.

  “Oh, is that true, Ms. Amonet? Why, what do you say to joining me tomorrow before heading to the restaurant? It will be the most refreshing start you would ever have!“

  Eskandar struck his own chest with his fist, creating a clear thump as if a rock of Foreigner’s size had been thrown off the roof. Foreigner panicked and sought help from the looming demise, only to find Octavia was holding onto her laughter out of Eskandar’s vision.

  “I—I—I—“ The stuttering intensified as her eyes darted all over the place except for where Eskandar’s eyes were, and suddenly, she pointed upward and shouted with all her might for the entire street to hear. “Bird!“

  Both Eskandar and Octavia followed Foreigner’s finger, only to see a white, dull-looking bird sitting on an electrical wire alongside two birds of different colors. In the confusion, both switched their attention back to Foreigner, whose eyes were trembling with a single bead of sweat dripping from her forehead to her cheek.

  “I need to feed those birds in the morning, so I can’t join you! I’m so sorry!“

  With yet another voice resounding within the street, Foreigner cried out loud as she lowered her head to conceal her burning face. She felt the blood rushing to her head and heating up with every second passing after her ridiculous excuse, and the fact that Octavia would be holding onto her mouth to keep the laughter in her lungs colored her ears fiery red.

  “Ms. Amonet.“

  Truthfully, Octavia was holding onto her mouth to keep the laughter in her lungs, but once she heard Eskandar losing a portion of the nobility that he kept with him throughout the contact, she took an empty gulp. In a swift, she shifted her gear from being a prankster to a hunter, as a preparation for what this giant of a kind could do.

  “Splendid!“

  Eskandar grabbed Foreigner’s shoulders with his enormous hands and shook her back and forth until her head could not keep up with it.

  “The way you sacrifice your time and sleep for those poor birds! I, Eskandar, am moved beyond the existence of this world! How foolish of me to ask you to stop doing your great deed and join me for my own pleasure of having a training partner! Please forgive me, Ms. Amonet. I humbly request your apology for my ignorance.“

  Eskandar bowed to Foreigner nobly, in a perfect posture that Octavia had only learned through a book. She was weirded out at how this gigantic Vaz bought that horrible lie and how Foreigner had her face up in a beaming smile as if she was proud of being able to refuse an offer in style. Soon, she saw Foreigner looking at her with a smirk and a cough to clear her dry throat from holding back tears. But surprisingly, Octavia wasn’t irritated at all, at least unlike how she expected herself to be.

  “Please, Chef Eskandar! Raise your head, for you have done nothing wrong. It is I who should be sorry for not being able to join the training.“ Even though Foreigner had a gentle smile on her lips, she was exclaiming internally to celebrate herself for saving her morning.

  “You are kind as always! I must say, you truly are the most idealistic maid that I have ever seen!“

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  Eskandar abruptly raised his head in order to get back to his straight posture and started to laugh out loud in the most honest way Octavia had ever seen. Soon, Foreigner joined the laughter, and Octavia became the odd one out of the three. Still, she did not join the trend and simply stood there with a blank face while staring at the wall on the other side of the street, begging for the misery to end soon.

  “Oh, dear! Look at the time; I need to get back to the restaurant to prepare for another upcoming week! My apologies, Ms. Amonet and Ms. Octavia, I must take my leave now. I wish for both of you to have a lovely rest of your day. And Ms. Octavia, please visit our place once again, and I shall welcome you with my arms wide open and promise you the best meal you could find on the continent. Then, farewell!“

  And along the wind, Eskandar left. By the time the trembling of the earth stopped from his unconscious stomping, Octavia called out to Foreigner in a joking tone.

  “Hey, Amonet.“

  But Foreigner did not reply. Instead, she turned around without giving Octavia a glance.

  “Hey, Ms. Amonet. I’m talking to you.“

  But Foreigner still did not reply. Instead, she walked to the entrance of the inn at a speed slower than usual, as if there was something she was waiting for.

  “Hey, Foreigner.“

  “Yes, Octavia?“

  Foreigner turned around to greet Octavia with a gleaming smile. In her world, she was triumphant today, as she was able to do something independently and gave Octavia payback for teasing her. Octavia knew this too well, and instead of trying to turn the tide, she kept her win as a win.

  “So, you are not going by Amonet?“

  “Ehhh, no. I’m borrowing that name. It’s not really mine.“

  “Whatever you say, Amonet.“

  “Hey! I just told you—“

  With Foreigner standing in front of the entrance door, Octavia passed her by and walked to the other end of the street. At first, Foreigner lifted her foot to follow where Octavia was heading by instinct, but soon halted before her toes left the ground.

  “Where are you going?“

  She asked Octavia with a worry submerged beneath the question, and Octavia replied as she waved at her with the back of her hand.

  “I have some unfinished business to take care of. I left some money on top of the table, so go eat dinner by yourself. And make sure to lock the door.“

  “Hey! Don’t treat me like a kid!“

  Foreigner yelled at the back of Octavia’s head and entered the inn without waiting for a response, then went straight up to the room without a break and slammed the door before checking the lock. With her back leaning against the exit, she slid down to the floor as she watched the empty room with no light other than the sunset entering through the small gap between the curtains. She lifted the sword she carried all the way from the weapon shop and unsheathed it slightly to view the blade, where she saw the reflection of herself with a melancholic shadow under her eyes.

  “I’m not a kid…“

  It was the dead of night, and the rain was pouring down from the sky.

  On the outskirts of the capital, an abandoned train station was resting soundlessly, with the only streetlight illuminating the area flickering in an erratic rhythm. The vast area that once served as the artery of the empire now slumbered, solitarily watching over the bright beam of light spreading from Siraf Station as the victim of the Emperor’s policy of abandoning the old. In a deserted place as such, there still were two places with the sign of life: a warehouse full of wooden crates and workers, and a rusted water tower with a single Demerii on the catwalk with her rifle loaded.

  Through the scope attached to the rifle, the Demerii observed the interior of the warehouse through a small open window. Within it, laborers were working to their bones, with sweat pouring down from the tops of their heads as they carried wooden crates on their backs and loaded them onto the truck. The only lightbulb working in the room was covered by dust and a swarm of insects, yet it was easy to read the minds of the workers, with the shadows drowned in their eyes and their mouths panting for oxygen and hope they lost a long time ago.

  With every minute that passed, the rain pouring outside got heavier and the trembling of the workers got fiercer. Still, the Demerii made no action on her part, only maintaining her sniping posture with her eyes stuck behind the scope. It had been five hours since she had chosen this water tower as her post, not a long time for a sniper to endure, but still an unpleasant amount under the heavy rain. And her patience started to bear fruit, as one worker fell down and fractured his leg, but most importantly, the crate he was carrying broke apart and the inside leaked all over the warehouse.

  Fine white crystalline rocks that almost looked like powder. As if the workers knew what substance they were working with, they all covered their mouths and noses with their sleeves, and no one dared to approach the man shrieking in pain.

  The situation escalated even higher as the workers turned to face one side of the warehouse with expressions of fear. They paved the way for someone to reach the worker on the floor, and the man on the floor with a bone sticking out of his leg crawled away to the entrance with a face drenched in agony. Still, he did not stop moving, as if he feared the figure everyone was saluting more than his own legs being carved away by the fine sand on the ground. Through the window, the Demerii finally saw a new person in her scope, and she placed her finger on the trigger. The one remaining problem was that only the tip of the pistol was visible so far.

  Suddenly, a young man, who seemed to have turned adult a few days ago, sprinted out of the crowd and stood between the pistol and the man on the floor. He yelled something that was silenced by the raindrops heavily falling from the sky, but the Demerii could assess the situation by looking at his face turning pale white as the pistol headed for his head. Then, the sound of blasting gunpowder pierced through the rain, followed by the vision of a youth falling on his back lifelessly and his skull cracking as the blood and cerebrospinal fluid created a river of his past. The Demerii looked into his eyes on the ground, containing the life and dreams he once had. But now, there was nothing left for him. Such was the fate of the hero.

  The man on the floor, who saw a glimpse of hope, came back to his senses and continued to crawl away from the pistol. Now, the pistol slowly moved forward, with the first glimpse of the owner being the well-shined shoes stepping on the corpse on the floor. Then his arm was visible, showing off the clean white sleeve of a suit from a well-known brand and a watch on his wrist that would be more expensive than the cost of the man he just shot. Then his chest, with a red tie that resembled the liquid he was stepping on and a lapel chain made of gold that served no purpose. What came next was his face, with a cigar in his mouth and a smile of gratification in his eyes. As he moved his finger on the trigger, the Demerii did so too.

  And there was only one gunshot echoing through the night sky.

  It was the dead of night, and the rain was pouring down from the sky.

  One Demerii stood in front of the entrance to the inn, with her hand laid on top of the handle. With a gentle push, the door would open, and she would be able to lay her tired body on the bed that was not soft but still comfortable, yet she stood there with her mouth closed tightly.

  Soon, she noticed a presence walking from her left. There was an Aranaim, trudging his feet within the darkness under the rain in a soaked cloak covering his body. Their eyes met together, yet no words were spoken. The Demerii finally opened the door to the inn, and the Aranaim followed her in. And the moment of silence other than the creaking noise of the floor alongside the footsteps followed them in the building until they stood in front of their room.

  The Demerii stretched her hand out to the handle of the door and saw a brown leather glove reeking of gunpowder with blood that was not hers dripping from the tip of her index finger. However, her breathing was stable, as she knew it was impossible for her to have blood on her hand. It was a vision. A kind of vision that she suffered from time to time. And it only went away once she took a sleep, where she remained alone on the crimson abyss filled with the voice that she never heard of before. Thus, she remained calm. As she already knew her fate was sealed for the night. Soon, she noticed the attention she was receiving from the Aranaim and finally made a move to open the door into the dark room.

  “Welcome back, you two!“

  However, the room was not dark. It was gleaming in the bright light from all the lamps in the room being turned on, and there was a delicious aroma circulating in the air. And Foreigner, whom the Demerii fully expected to be in bed, was welcoming the two with her arms wide open and plates filled with food in her hands. As the Demerii stood still in surprise, Pafnuty squeezed in from her side and walked up to Foreigner.

  “Marvelous. This sure does smell good. Have you made this, my friend?“

  “Well, duh! Who else would make them? This is a secret recipe I learned from Crescencia, so surely it must be good. Come on, Octavia, take a seat! Let’s eat together. I’m starving from waiting for you guys!“

  The Demerii watched the colorful scenery unveiling in front of her. There was Foreigner with a smile on her face and Pafnuty with a fork and a knife to dine at the feast that he very much needed. She looked back at her hand. There was no blood dripping, only a clean raindrop from the harsh weather outside. She took her gloves off and then threw them into the laundry basket.

  “Well, I suppose a dinner like this from time to time wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.“

  And then Octavia closed the door behind her. Thinking that perhaps, tonight’s dream will be just another dream.