"Psst! Andy!"

Andromeda ignored the call and continued to walk away.

"Andy! In here!"

"Andy!"

The vampiress rolled her pretty eyes. She looked to her right and saw Oluo and Derek peering from the storage room's door. The night made everything dark but the storage room didn't have its lights on. What the heck were those two doing in there? She approached them.

Oluo opened the door and let her in. "Be thankful, young miss, we'll let you in our little secret."

"And that is?" she asked with a cocked brow.

"Something really fun." The soldier held her by the shoulders and pushed her gently toward the far corner of the room. There, a single candle was lit on a small wooden table. Nifa and two other soldiers were seated around it. She believed the male soldier was named James and he was from a different squad. The other female was a blonde from Hange's squad. Her name was Barbara.

Nifa grinned at her. "Come join us, Andy."

Derek fetched her a chair and Oluo guided her to her seat. "Join you in what exactly? And don't answer me with something vague like "fun"," she demanded.

"We're gambling," the boy soldier answered.

Gambling? Gambling wasn't fun. Gambling was a fool's game. Besides, Andromeda, with her skills, could win any card game. Back in Aurum, her opponents despised how she would never lose and did everything to win against her. They even dared cheat. Fed up with their pettiness, Andromeda let them bet their lives and killed them in the end. Huh. Was that fun? Was killing a mosquito as it landed on your skin fun? No.

Fun was when you hunt knowing that you will capture your prey. Fun is when you drink prized blood, feel it in your system, and let it fill you.

Fun was when everybody worshipped you. Feared you.

"I'm not interested in any card game," she stood up and brushed Oluo's hand away. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your... fun."

"But we're not playing cards." Nifa took three small cubes from her pocket. "We're playing with dice."

"Yes. Playing with skill is kinda shitty. We prefer to leave everything to fucking fate." Oluo placed his hands over Andromeda's shoulders and coolly forced her to sit once more.

Nifa mumbled something about the soldier being annoying as he tried but failed imitating Levi, but Andromeda couldn't care less about that. Her mind was preoccupied. Never had the vampiress seen gambling using such small objects. She knew about races, card games, roulettes, and colored gambling tables, but... what was it? Dice? What in Aurum's name was that?

"Let me see that." She took the items from Nifa and inspected them. They had dots on them. Curious. "How do you play with these?"

The female soldier took the little objects back, placed them on the part of the table near her, and covered them with a cup. She shook the cup, shaking the dice within it. She said, "You do this then take away the cup. We all look at the number of your dice and add them up. Remember the number of each player. The one with the lowest number will be punished."

"With?"

Oluo showed her a bottle. It was beer. "You fill a cup with this and drink it."

A gambling and drinking game. Interesting. She actually would like to try playing with these dice. She flipped her hair. "Deal. Let's play."

Derek sat beside her and explained the rules of the game once more. He even offered tips she knew were useless. They began. She got a total of nine points. The lowest. The group grinned at her and handed her a cup filled with beer. Andromeda groaned, pissed that she was defeated.

"Drink!"

"Drink!"

"Drink!"

The soldiers repeatedly chanted as they urged Andromeda to empty the cup. The vampiress chugged the beer and placed the cup back on the table. "Next round!" she declared as the group cheered.

James lost the second round and then Andromeda lost again. With an irritating wide smile, Oluo handed her the cup of beer. When Oluo lost the next round, it was Andromeda's turn to smile. She filled the cup to the brim and gave it to the soldier. Round after round, someone lost and drank the cup of punishment. Shouting and laughing, the soldiers lost themselves in the game. Soon, they were all drunk. Never had Andromeda been so loud. Intoxicated, she laughed, screamed, and cheered with the soldiers.

"I didn't lose! My number was 14! Not the lowest!" Derek held onto Andromeda's sleeve. "Tell them, Andy."

Feeling groggy, the vampiress blinked her eyes and looked at the dice. True. If you add them, it was 14. "Derek's right."

"See! I told you--"

"What the fuck are you doing in here?" Levi's booming voice shook them. The Captain entered the storage room with a lamp in his hand. Anger etched on his face. "You're gambling and stealing beer?"

"This is not what you think it is, Captain Levi."

"I know what I see, Oluo." He turned to the rest of them and commanded everyone, "Now get the hell out of here and go back to your rooms."

The soldiers emptied the chairs and, swaying, left the storage room.

It was the first time in her life that Andromeda got this drunk. She tried to remain steady but her balance remained off. As she passed by Levi, her world swayed and she fell.

Strong arms caught her. "You shouldn't have drunk so much if you can't hold your liquor."

Levi was so close to Andromeda she could smell his clean sweat and manly scent. As her head swam, she thought the man was as fragrant as his blood. "You smell nice," she wasn't able to stop herself from saying.

The Captain got stiff, but he managed to put his arms around Andromeda and carry her, stepping out of the storage room. The vampiress' head lolled and Levi adjusted his hold to lean her head on his chest. Andromeda didn't have a choice but to rely on his strength. She thought, the man was often physically close to her and she was getting used to it.

They reached her room. Levi gently placed her on her bed. Andromeda felt the soft mattress underneath her as she allowed herself to go to sleep.

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"Wakey! Wakey!" Andromeda's curtains were parted and the harsh rays of the sun suddenly hit her beautiful face. Hange smiled as she stood near the vampiress' bed. "Get dressed, Andy. We're going to the market!"

"W-what? Ouch! My head..." It hurt. The vampiress put one hand on it and leaned forward to ease the pain. It didn't work. She felt sick and her stomach clenched and threatened to spill its contents. She instantly cupped her mouth, scrambling out of bed toward the table with a basin. There, she vomited. The scent of alcohol from the waste was strong and Andromeda hated it. "Ugh. I feel so bad. I'm never going to drink again," she swore when she had the strength to speak.

Hange said, "I doubt you mean that. Come on, now, we have so many things to do!"

"But... I can't. I should like to remain in bed for the rest of the day."

"That won't do. You will come with us."

"I don't feel good."

"Then you shouldn't have gambled all night and stole beer." She took Andromeda's arm and forced her to stand. "This is your punishment."

Damn. Sluggishly, Andromeda let the female soldier pull her out of bed. Hange left her as the vampiress cleaned herself and got dressed.

The marketplace was buzzing with people. Sick and sleepy, the group who gambled and drank the night before reluctantly accompanied Hange as she bought supplies for the Scout Regiment. Although not looking her best, Andromeda was still pretty enough to earn them discounts.

As they passed by stores, she noticed Derek stop in front of one. His eyes stared hungrily at an enormous swirl lollipop.

Andromeda told the group to stop and she approached the candy stand. For a whole minute, she flirted with the young male vendor and got the lollipop for free. She handed it to Derek who hugged her tight before eating the candy happily.

"You shouldn't spoil the kid, Andy," Hange told her.

"It's just candy."

They reached the arts and crafts section of the marketplace. On one of its sides, a shop sold ribbons, and in front of it was a store that displayed clothes and colorful threads. In Aurum, Andromeda hated it when she was forced to embroider and sew. She wanted to throw the yarns when she was ordered to knit. Regardless, she was a genius in everything. The most skilled seamstresses in the kingdom envied her skills. But what use were her skills? Knowing how to handle your needle didn't have anything to do with running a kingdom.

She wondered if it was different in this world. Were the women also forced to stay still and do nothing but play with yarns and thread?

They passed by an art shop. Andromeda stopped. Mesmerized, her feet led her into the store. Blank canvasses hung on its walls. The shop also sold paints and brushes. Ah. She remembered. She liked art. That part, she missed. If she wasn't reading books, training, or riding her horse, she dabbled with the arts. She was a skilled sculptor and painter. She liked filling a white canvas with beautiful things.

Especially Proteus. She had painted him a hundred times. Her hands clenched. Anger sizzled inside her and... sadness.

"Thief! Thief!" a series of shouts distracted her musings. She turned to where the voice was coming from and saw the art shop owner point at someone running away. "He took my store's bag of money!"

"Andy." She didn't notice the soldiers went inside the shop with her. Derek told her, "First to catch the thief can order the losers to do anything!"

"Derek!" Nifa shouted as the boy soldier dashed away.

"Yoshi! I'll order you guys to clean the toilet!" Oluo ran after the thief, too.

Andromeda smiled. Oh, how she loved a challenge. Her feet took her forward.

"Hey!" The vampiress heard Nifa complain.

Then, Hange exclaimed, "Count me in!" Even, James and Barbara joined the game, leaving Nifa with all they bought.

The Scouts ran through the market, searching for the thief. They were careful not to knock something or someone down. "Careful, Andy, we can't afford those!" Hange told her when she was about to bump into a cheap jewelry stand.

"I'm aware of that," she answered.

Using her vampire eyes, she searched the crowd and zoomed in on every human in there. Then, at last, she saw a rugged middle-aged man running away with a big brown satchel. He was the thief. "Got you." Andromeda doubled her speed. The other Scouts realized she found the culprit and dashed in her direction. Not long, she was able to jump on the thief's back and retrieve the satchel. Laying atop the man, she felt victorious. "I wo-- Ugh!"

Oluo jumped on her and so did Derek and Barbara. "Got him!" They said in unison.

"Hey, I caught him first!" Andromeda exclaimed.

But they argued she didn't. They bantered as they piled on the dirty ground of the marketplace. Hange and James just watched them.

"Everybody saw that I caught the thief first!" Andromeda huffed.

Oluo said, "We caught him together!"

"No, you absolutely didn't."

"Thief! Thief!" They all heard someone shout. Another thief. The soldiers looked at each other and smiled. They prepared for another chase.

Andromeda ran fast and searched the crowd once more. The Scouts ran with her. They helped each other, telling the others which way to go. Adrenaline spurred in the vampiress' blood and she found the chase exhilarating. It was unlike the hunts in Aurum, she didn't chase to kill and devour. She was chasing after a criminal to help a human. Weird. She never imagined doing something like this for a lesser being.

"Andy, that's him!" She saw the culprit and knocked him down. The people around them gasped and got curious about what was happening.

Oluo and Derek groaned as they watched Andromeda win the game. Hange repeatedly clapped her back. Barbara held on to the art shop thief, James on the other. Andromeda smiled wide and felt something nice bubble inside her. For the first time in a very long while, she felt... happy. Like this was all... fun.