A strange light filled the courtyard of Moon Mansion. The light of the setting sun mingled with that of the rising Moons, but something like a grey shadow had been cast onto the world, a foreign touch that made Dia shiver. Instinctively, she understood that this pale grey was probably the result of the Third’s death. It was a physical phenomenon that transcended her imagination, a grey hue that muted even the light of both the sun and the Moons.

The tip of her sword trembled. There was something incredible about this grey hue that had dominated the period, not unlike the head-splitting pain that had assailed her when Risti’s aunt, Norn, revealed the origins of the Coloured Gods.

It didn’t seem to care about her, though. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Taking a deep breath, Dia forced herself to concentrate. She had stepped out of the mansion to practice some sets, since she couldn’t bring herself to relax. Too many things had happened today, and the only thing she wanted to do was to clear her mind with some proper swings.

Reading books just didn’t cut it today.

The blade of her sword was shimmering faintly with a pale blue. It was a sign of her weakened control, but Dia knew that the only way to progress was to push her limits incrementally. If the sword was blazing with blue flame, she was either about to unleash a decisive blow or her mana was out of control. Neither of these scenarios were really helpful in controlling her mana, however.

No, what was truly helpful was dancing on the borderline. Once her sword was glowing with a faint sheen of blue, all Dia needed to do was to maintain her output of mana and execute a few sets. Eventually, the glow would fade away, which would mean that she would be able to fully control that much mana.

She would then increase her output slightly, before repeating the whole thing.

It was slow progress, but there was at least progress.

Faint blue arcs sliced through the air over and over, and as she sank herself into the single-minded pursuit of greater control, Dia found herself replaying the events of today in her head. Those memories seemed distant, as if she was looking at pictures in a book, rather than reliving them directly. Her emotions muted, Dia’s consciousness sifted through the events of today slowly.

“Claud…”

A name rose to her lips, and Dia frowned. His behaviour was somewhat odd. From what she had understood from Lily’s words, Claud’s behaviour today was the result of some deep-rooted trauma. It was somewhat obvious that his unnatural, abnormal fixation on security stemmed from some childhood trauma, but could it account for his odd behaviour?

Her sword stabbed out once.

Now that she thought about it, Claud was quite a mysterious person. She hadn’t forgotten how he had all but plotted against Count Nightfall, making use of the assumptions and weaknesses of nobles. The man himself was quite the master at exploiting loopholes, but such a talent had to be honed from young.

Was he actually plotting something when he made the excuse to leave? After all, he had talked about his worries more than once. Everyone was expecting the Third Bearer of Destiny to do something in this very obvious trap; Claud could very well have tried to ambush the Third.

A small Moon lit up in her mind, and she sheathed her training blade.

“Schwarz?” Dia called out. “I thought of something, and you might like to hear it.”

The bartender popped out from a bush a moment later. A bunch of weeds were in his left hand, while his right was holding on to a pair of scissors. “I thought I was being sneaky. How did you find me?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“How could I not?” Dia asked. “I had Sword Sense on for the past thirty minutes. Even if I didn’t notice your approach back then, once I used it, your crawling figure was painfully obvious. Anyway, I thought of something.”

“About?”

“Claud’s odd behaviour,” Dia replied. “He was distracted the whole time, no? After he came back from outside. I think he isn’t telling us the whole thing.”

Schwarz eyed her, and then got up from his unbecoming position. “Oh?”

“He went out to check the inquisitors and their preparations, right?” Dia asked. “What if he, in the course of making sure that there weren’t any loose ends, came across the sight of Tot killing the Third?”

“Hmm.” Schwarz closed his eyes. “It does seem plausible, yes. Claud was indeed distracted when he returned. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that it was he who killed the Third, but if I situate his mindset in light of what you said…it does make sense.”

“Right?”

The two stared at each other, before Schwarz nodded firmly. “I think Claud has been traumatised from witnessing the Third’s death. I trust his abilities — he definitely managed to sneak out of the city. He would go to any lengths to ensure his and our security, so he wouldn’t simply give up when faced with a lockdown of the city gates.”

“That’s very him, yes.” Dia closed her eyes for a moment. It didn’t take much for her to conjure up the image of an ashen Claud stumbling away from the scene of the Third’s death, cowed by the sheer power Tot had used. “Shaking in his boots as he scrambled for safety, fearing for his life and everyone’s.”

“He’s an unlucky fellow, to be sure.” Schwarz sighed.

“I’m surprised he’s still sane, to be honest,” Dia replied. “If I had seen that attack up close, I might have just gone insane. An attack that split the sky into two…and the crater seems to have no bottom either.”

“You saw it for yourself, right?”

Dia nodded. “No person should have that kind of power. Even my skills have nothing on an attack of such might.”

“I wonder if we can help Claud somehow,” said Schwarz. “He’s improved over the past few months, but I fear that witnessing such an attack would have set back his progress and more. It might just worsen his paranoia.”

“I’m quite sure he’s already more paranoid now,” Dia replied. “Is there any way we can help him out?”

“Hmm. Well, he’s probably not going to listen to my advice in this regard,” Schwarz replied. “But what if we get Lily to help. Those two are quite close now. Maybe she can do something.”

“Lily, huh?” Dia nodded. “Makes sense, yes. Those two are quite alike, if you ask me. Each with their own issues to work out.”

She paused for a moment, and then set down the training sword in her hand.

Schwarz raised an eyebrow. “You’re not going to ask? I had a feeling that you were going to ask me about Claud and his history, really.”

“You’re not going to explain. And if I wanted to know, I would just ask the person in question directly,” Dia replied. “Maybe, at some point in time, everyone would open up to each other, but such a time could only come naturally.”

She smiled. Every single person had their own stories, their own history. Dia, naturally, wasn’t any different from the rest. However, if she asked about other people, she would open herself to questions too. Dia had no desire to lie about her past where possible, which meant that the only way out was for her to never broach the topic.

“That would be for the best, right?” Schwarz sighed. “Right, should I open Triple-D today? I think I might just make a killing.”

“Or you might end up wasting your time. I don’t think anyone’s going to be on the streets of Licencia today. Maybe the foolhardy ones, but that’ll be it.” Dia shook her head and took in the world, which had taken on a grey hue. “After seeing someone split the sky into two, would there be anyone in the mood to even drink in the first place?”

“Probably not, true.” Schwarz clicked his teeth. “And there’s this odd grey colour overlaid on the world. Gives me the creeps.”

“Exactly.” Dia stretched her aching arms. “If there’s ever a time to do some training, it would be this year. After all, the ominous prophecy tells us that next year’s going to be a huge mess. Better to strengthen ourselves and prepare for whatever chaos that’s coming, right?”

“Indeed. We do not have much time left, if we go by this little hourglass.” Schwarz got up. “Let’s make training mandatory for everyone, then. Wake up in the morning, spar with each other for a few hours, and then get started on work.”

“Let’s bring this up later, then.” Dia rubbed her hands, and then looked up at the rising Moons. “After all, we should always prepare ourselves in the face of danger.”

“Ruler Istrel, the inter-dukedom war, and now this great Dark.” Schwarz snorted. “What a fine end to this year.”

“What a fine end indeed…” Dia nodded with a pained smile.

[End of Book 4: In the Dark of the Moons]