“That looks plenty suspicious,” Claud muttered, his eyes on a small pyramid of barrels, which had been stacked against the wall. Simply casting his gaze around the area revealed three sentries, who were too much of amateurs to actually hide their true calling properly.

“That sweeper’s been sweeping the same area over and over, and there isn’t a dustpan,” Schwarz replied.

“That woman there isn’t actually carrying a baby,” Lily added.

“And that man looks around the area too many times to actually be a drunkard,” Dia completed.

“Three out of three, well done.” Claud clicked his teeth. “I’m not sure whether it’s because their covers were too badly done, or was it because you guys are fairly observant.”

“Considering the fact that they all averted their eyes from us, I’d say the former,” Schwarz replied. “What should we do?”

Claud frowned under his mask. That was a good question. If the enemy could spare three sentries to guard this place and warn against any incoming investigator, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the enemy had numbers on their side. Even if everyone here was a folder, some well-chosen skills and tricks could easily turn the tide. Being able to call upon mana was nothing in the face of schemes and traps.

“We should not engage first,” said Lily. “Right?”

Claud could feel her expectant gaze fall on him, and he smiled. “That’s right. We shouldn’t do this alone…although I get the feeling I’ve said this the second time.”

“But if we increase our numbers, the enemy would know,” Dia replied. “Like it or not, we are unlikely to get a second chance.”

“That’s correct, Claud.” Schwarz let out a small mouthful of air. “We’ll have to take the risk. The sentries have already seen us; it’s likely that they’ll try to cover their tracks once we leave this area. They spooked themselves too much for anything else to happen.”

“So, no choice, eh?” Claud shook his head. “Well then, what should we investigate next?”

“We stand here and wait for Caroline’s people to come running along,” Schwarz replied, a hint of wickedness in his words. While we’re here, they won’t do anything. If we pretend to hang around in this area under the guise of inspecting the walls, we can stall for time.”

“Instead of calling for even more help, we wait for help to come while playing on their fears…as expected of our scheming Schwarz. Truly, a brewer of drink who doubles as a specialist in manipulating people.”

“You make me sound like a villain,” Schwarz replied.

“One of the six heads of Licencia’s underworld.” Claud rolled his eyes. “If that setting isn’t villainous, then nothing is. You meet all the requirements as the man being the throne too; unassuming, kind…and a schemer through and through. I could write you into a book and people would love it.”

“R-really?” Schwarz hummed. “Wait, no. That’s not what I meant. Putting this aside for now, we should really work on looking busy. Claud, did you bring writing materials? We’ll need to seem busy and all.”

“I did bring some,” Claud replied, pulling out a bunch of papers. “There. Things for you to hold, while looking up at the sky with a majestic pose. Would you like anything else? Like a top hat, for instance?”

“What am I, someone from Istrel?” Schwarz tutted. “Go entertain the others.”

“Fine, fine.” Claud turned to Lily and Dia, who were talking about swords. He didn’t know how to join this rather foreign conversation, since Claud was of the belief that being attached to one weapon wasn’t of much use in a real fight. It was rather interesting to hear about the two ladies talk about such…nebulous concepts, however.

“What’s wrong?” Dia asked, her head turning slightly as she presumably glanced at Claud.

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“Yes?” Claud asked. “Something wrong?”

“You seemed very intent when you were listening to us talk,” Dia replied, “so I thought you might have an interesting thought or two.”

“No, nothing about that.” Claud glanced at the sword hanging off his belt. He had quite a few copies of the same sword, around ten or so, just so he wouldn’t need to get used to a new weapon whenever his current one was lost, destroyed or discarded.

“Speaking of swords, I was under the impression that you were the kind of guy who would have two swords on you at all times,” said Dia. “The second one as the spare, naturally.”

“I used to carry three around,” Claud replied, “but that proved to be cumbersome.”

Lily pumped a fist. “I win!”

“Darn it.”

“Win?” Claud tilted his head. “Win what? A bet?”

“While we were practicing with each other earlier this morning, we were talking about the number of swords you would bring around,” Lily explained. “Dia said you would bring two, but I bet with her that at some point in time, you probably brought more than two swords around.”

“And what was your reasoning?” Claud asked.

“One as a main weapon, one as a spare and the last one as the spare for the spare,” Lily replied.”

“That’s pretty much it, yes.” Claud chuckled. “Of course, now I rely more on small weapons. If my sword’s broken or I’m disarmed, I’m probably no match in skill of arms, so I would switch to other plans.”

“What plans…never mind.” Lily shuffled her feet. “That’s private information, right?”

“Yeap. Thanks for understanding,” Claud replied. “Those plans, however, probably bear a passing semblance to your favourite tools.”

“Oh!”

The two exchanged knowing glances for a moment, and Dia cleared her throat. “What are you two on about?”

“Nothing much important, really,” Claud replied. “Back to the main topic…or not. Looks like our reinforcements actually did rush over to us. But observe the sentries, who have been taken in by Schwarz’s serious acting.”

He paused and eyed the bartender, who had produced a bunch of string at some point in time, before correcting himself. “Very serious acting. In fact, the sentries are probably assuming that these people are here because of this stretch of wall. Phew.”

Making a mental note to himself that Schwarz had a Moon-given gift for acting, Claud watched as the reinforcements from the city administration drew close, and then narrowed his eyes as he recognised someone in the middle.

For some reason, Count Nightfall’s fiancée had showed up.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Claud muttered. “Why did she come by? Is she really that bored?”

“Do we need to protect her and everything too?” Lily added.

“Nightfall would truss us up by the legs if anything happened to her,” Claud replied. “We’ll take care of her. Schwarz and Dia will join up with the main force to suppress whatever motley crew that’s holed up here. Any issues with this?”

“Me?” Schwarz asked. “Why me? Why not you and Dia? I think she’ll need the protection that being around you affords more, given that she’ll be moving to attack with the rest.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t want to take the lead where possible,” Claud muttered. “But fine. You’re not useful as a combatant anyway. You and Lily watch over Caroline and be on alert at all times. Lily had some lessons from me, so you guys should be fine.”

“You do know he had some training with me, right?” Dia asked.

“Doesn’t stop him from being fairly useless in actual combat,” Claud replied. “Hmm. He does have a belt full of…uh, drinks, though. That could prove to be useful after we neutralise those rapscallions.”

“Yeah, stinky ones.”

“Alright,” said Claud. “Now that we’ve settled that bit…let’s go welcome miss Caroline.”

It didn’t take long for the remaining personal troops of Count Nightfall — which numbered around a hundred or so — to approach them. Earlier on, before they moved out, the Moon Lords had kindly informed Caroline that there was something suspicious about the city walls, before attaching their planned route to the letter.

The rest was easy.

“Claud, Lily.” Caroline walked up to them, her vision drifting from person to person. “Is something suspicious here?”

“Yes,” Claud replied, ignoring the fact that she was probably making some wild guesses. As he relayed the observations the others had made, making use of this chance to introduce Schwarz and Dia, he examined her expression, watching for any hint he could use.

“I see. That’s indeed rather suspicious.” She took a step back and then nodded at the soldiers behind her. “Arrest the people he spoke about, and then deal with that bunch of barrels there. There should be an opening or a passage; follow his instructions at all times.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The soldiers behind her dispersed, leaving only five people behind as they spread out. Their gait was slow and unhurried, as if they were taking a leisurely walk, and before Claud knew it, they had drawn close to the sentries. Without missing a beat, these sentries were captured and gagged, before being brought back to Caroline.

All in a matter of three minutes.

“…wasn’t that too easy?” Claud mumbled.

“That’s the power of the establishment,” Schwarz replied. “Get enough numbers, and anything’s easy.”

Claud looked at the soldiers behind Caroline and made a small sigh. Little groups like the Moon Lords had nothing on the Nightfall administration, this much was clear.

With a shake of his head, he cleared his mind of such thoughts and glanced at Schwarz. “Mind handling the interrogation?”

The bartender shrugged. “Sure.”