“Do you actually read the names of the pastries you buy?” Claud asked, looking down at the vast assortment of breads with different condiments and fillings. “I just find myself just pointing at anything that looks interesting or delicious, so…”

Lily waved her hand. “Nuh-uh, it’s totally fine.”

Her long sleeves, which had some out-of-place frills on it, flapped around elegantly with that motion, and Claud smiled. The two of them preferred functional clothes — long-sleeved clothing with trousers, with a cloak or a coat — but it was the first time he had seen cute frills on what outdoor attire.

Claud glanced at his outfit, which was the same, save for the frills, and then replied, “It’s a bad habit, though. What if there’s something that’s actually icky and I didn’t notice it?”

“You have your anti-poison artefacts, so I don’t really see the problem…alright, maybe I do.” Lily picked up a sugar-covered donut and bit into it, liberating a dollop of jam that promptly splattered itself on her cheek. “Something like mustard filling or something probably won’t go well with me.”

Making a mental note of that particular dislike, Claud nodded along. They had spent around thirty minutes talking about random events that had occurred in Licencia while sharing a plate of little treats. For instance, Miss Caroline had issued an arrest warrant for the Monochromatic Twins, apparently for trespassing on her bedroom and doodling panda eyes on her. That, incidentally, meant that she was a snoring sleeper, although it would seem that no one around her had pointed out that little caveat yet.

Another amusing story was the developments between Holy Daughter Clarissa and the famous storyteller Colidra. Mister Colidra had been scared out of his life when the Holy Daughter strode into Triple-D, offering to book him for an entire year with one pure-ranked lifestone. The absurdly high price offered freaked the poor man out, and he tried to flee the city at night, having assumed she wanted to create a pretext in which he could be arrested for nefarious reasons.

Unfortunately, the city gates had been closed at night by order of the city administration, and by the time the sun was up, the Holy Daughter had caught wind of his attempts to skip town.

“Miss, I think you must have gotten the wrong idea about me! My services don’t need pure-ranked lifestones!”

Claud felt his lips twitch as the person he was just thinking about earlier showed up on the street. The Holy Daughter of the White God was pestering him like a jilted lover, and he exchanged stifled grins with Lily.

“Not enough?” the dignified voice of Holy Daughter Clarissa asked. “Fifty pure-ranked lifestones.”

Claud, who was initially smiling in glee, felt something sour in his mouth, and Lily broke into laughter.

“Is it really that funny?” Claud muttered darkly.

Lily took a deep breath and stopped her giggles. “The look on your face was. You should have seen the look on your face. I don’t even know how to put it.”

Claud reached out and flicked her nose lightly, causing her face to scrunch up. Picking up a little biscuit, he glanced at Colidra, who was trying to extricate himself from a potential crime of scamming a Holy Daughter who couldn’t read the mood. The storyteller didn’t accept her offer out of fear, since it was possible that the White Church would eventually learn that he had told their Holy Daughter some folktales in exchange for pure-ranked lifestones.

It was unfortunate that Holy Daughter Clarissa didn’t actually notice the dilemma the poor guy was in.

“Maybe we should help the Holy Daughter out,” said Lily, who was rubbing her nose with a rueful expression on her face. “Tell her to lower her price.”

“We could try that,” said Claud, “but I get a feeling we’ll be embroiled in something troublesome again.”

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“The nature of our work means we will get into contact with troublesome things anyway,” Lily replied. “Didn’t you uncover a smuggling ring two days ago? Or the serial killer four days back? Or how there was a bribed guard a week ago? I don’t really think you have much in the way of an excuse…”

“Urgh.”

“Come on!” Lily got up and grabbed his hand, dragging him towards the beleaguered storyteller. Claud, who by now was aware that he had a soft spot for her, could only allow himself to be led on.

Colidra’s face brightened up as he spotted a potential helper, and with an agility that belied his age, he darted towards Claud and hid behind him.

“Help me tell this insane profligate that I’m not interested in receiving fifty pure-ranked lifestones for a story!”

Claud felt his eyelids twitch.

“Ah, it’s you,” said the Holy Daughter. “Good. This is the person the Moon Lords recommended, no? Why is he so obstinate about not telling me the stories I want? Does he dislike the faithful of the White God?”

“I’m quite sure you asked him that question too,” said Claud, incredibly aware of the burning gaze on his back. Clearly, Colidra had pegged Claud as the person who betrayed him to the Holy Daughter, but there were no two ways about it. Fluffing himself up, Claud said, “He doesn’t mind telling you stories, but your payment is too high.”

“Isn’t that just an excuse to not serve a particular customer?”

“You’re offering fifty pure-ranked lifestones for his services. If the bigshots at the White Church heard of it, wouldn’t they get angry? They’ll then chase him down and demand for a refund. Maybe they’ll break a limb or two, or cut out his tongue and toss him out of the city.”

Colidra trembled.

“They won’t do that,” said Holy Daughter Clarissa. “That’s not how we operate.”

“I don’t think you can speak for your people in that regard,” said Claud, taking a glance at the two bodyguards that had been trailing her in the shadows the whole time. If he remembered correctly, they were called Alf and Dio, although he didn’t quite know who was who.

“Are you questioning my words?”

“Am I not allowed to do that?” Claud asked mildly, tilting his head. “Anyway, if you want him to speak, just lower your price. Something like silver, or a bottle of booze will do.”

“How profane,” said the Holy Daughter.

The sincerity and devoutness in which she said those words was somewhat disturbing, and once again, Claud was reminded of that nauseating pity that she had whenever she talked down to others. Oddly enough, however, that pity had weakened, as if she had mellowed out through her interactions here.

For an old monster who was someone in the same era of Count Nightfall, this timing felt a bit odd. Either that, or she rarely ventured out of the White Church for such a long time.

That also felt odd in its own right, given her age, but Claud wasn’t dumb enough to bring up such a question.

“Sometimes, being excessive in generosity can harm others,” Claud replied. “Even if the White Church doesn’t do anything, once the news that Colidra has obtained fifty pure-ranked lifestones from you gets out, he’ll be in danger unless he uses them on the spot, and even then…”

“I see.”

Colidra poked his head out. “So…a silver or two?”

“I’ll treat you to a good meal,” said Holy Daughter Clarissa. “Will that suffice?’

The storyteller let out a sigh. “Yes, of course. That is good enough, really.”

“All this drama could have been avoided if you had properly articulated your thoughts to Holy Daughter Clarissa, though,” Lily pointed out. “Now the entire city knows about this little affair, even though it just started last night. Do you want to know about the more savoury rumours?”

“…No, thank you.” Colidra shivered. “Never bring that up again.”

Lily giggled. “Alright, now that we’ve helped someone in passing, we should also get going. There’s something we need to do now, so we can’t stay for—”

“You guys can come along too,” said Holy Daughter Clarissa, before hurriedly saying, “If you want to, of course.”

Claud and Lily exchanged glances. They had things to do, and it wasn’t like they had all the time in the world. However, the prospect of freeloading a meal didn’t sound all bad, so he wasn’t quite sure of what to think of this offer.

“What do you think?” Claud asked, directing his question at Lily.

“We have work to do, but I want to listen to a story,” Lily replied. “And I think we might be able to learn more about this great Dark thing too…Mister Colidra, do you have stories about the great Dark?”

“Not many,” Colidra replied. “Mostly a collection of folk tales and old, old legends. Nothing substantive. I’ve been brushing up on that ever since the bigshots started asking about the great Dark.”

“Business is booming, I take it,” Claud replied.

“Yeap.”

He nodded at Lily, who nodded back.

“Alright,” said Lily, “we’ll be imposing on you, then. Thanks, Clarissa!”

The Holy Daughter of the White God blinked thrice, and then nodded. “My pleasure.”

Claud stole a glance at the imposing guards behind her, who were definitely more than just bodyguards. None of them seemed to have any opinions of this impromptu development, which was good news for the two of them.

Within moments, their little party was headed towards the poshest restaurant in town.