Slipping out of Moon Mansion, Claud and Lily made a beeline for the city guards. The recent news about mad monsters with black mist shrouding their bodies had alarmed Caroline, who was too bogged down with work and recent reports of bi-folders in Licencia. As a result, this nasty assignment had been passed down to the Moon Lords, which meant that Claud had to go out and check on those beasties.

Given the lack of sightings in the day, Claud had a feeling that they were going to go back empty-handed, though.

“Still, if there’s probably going to be no danger, why did we bring so many artefacts along?” Lily asked.

“Well, there might be a few mana-users who’ve set their eyes on the Moon Lords,” Claud replied. “Even if we aren’t facing a bunch of nasty beasts, we still need to be careful and everything. Only the Moons know just how many people want us dead or at least disabled.”

“We’re the good guys, right?” Lily asked.

“Yeah, don’t worry. We’re probably the good guys.”

“Probably?” Lily repeated the word.

“I can’t be certain. Perhaps Count Nightfall is hiding some deep, dark secret under his palace, and those infiltrators are trying to bring the truth to justice. In that case, we’re the bad guys, right?” Claud chuckled. “But well, it’s never wrong to protect the peace of this place.”

“I think you’ve been reading too many novels.”

“Oh, come on…”

The two of them approached the guardhouse, where the guards on duty waved upon seeing them approach. Claud waved back with Lily — the guards in general had gotten familiar with the two of them — and then walked into the guardroom, where Captain Blake was on duty today.

“Hey there.” The captain looked up as they strode in, a big grin on his face.

“Good morning.” Claud squinted his eyes. “You look particularly happy. Why, did something good happen? Did Schwarz hire you at last?”

“Shh!” The captain looked around. “No, it’s something else. This captain you see here is now the permanent leader of the guards of Licencia. Apparently, the big shots in the White Church wrote to the City Guard in Grandis and commended my work, so they promoted me up to becoming the permanent guard captain of this city.”

“Nice.”

“You bet. I now get a salary of five low-ranked lifestones, and one middle-ranked one. I’ll become a mana-user soon enough!”

Claud thought back to the sheer amount of low and mid-ranked lifestones he had to ingest for saturation, and then decided not to say anything. The ability to dream and to be happy was something crucial in remaining sane and focused, so the master thief wasn’t going to reveal that over two hundred low-ranked lifestones and the same number of middle-ranked lifestones were required to hit the saturation point.

Of course, he didn’t need to hit the saturation point, but only by doing so could one increase their lifespan by 125 years, which would fund the construction of the first mana circuit for most people.

“Congratulations in advance, then,” said Claud.

“Yeah, well done on your promotion!” Lily added. “Anyway, we’re here to check on the reports about black monsters.”

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“The darkened animals?”

“Is that the term we’re using?” Claud asked.

“Yeah, orders from above. Apparently, we aren’t alone. A few days back, multiple territories throughout Grandis were attacked by darkened animals. Some of the smaller towns lost a quarter of their people overnight, since something like a…monster tide formed.”

“Monster tide, huh?”

“Yeah. Never thought I’d see them, since they’re supposed to be ancient history, but…” The captain shrugged. “Anyway, Licencia has nice huge walls. We’re unlikely to come under attack, and there’s a sizeable regiment of archers here anyway.”

“We’ll still need to investigate, though. What if something like a horde of darkened bears come knocking? We’ll be screwed in that case,” said Claud. “Better pre-emptively strike at any forming hordes…well, the two of us are just going to report their locations to Caroline, though. Let the tri-folder lay the beatdown on the darkened animals; we’ll cheer on the side-lines.”

“Sounds very much like you, I guess,” said Lily.

“Alright, enough horsing around,” said Claud. “Can we have a look at the reports?”

“Sure, sure.” Captain Blake fumbled around in his desk, and then pulled out a file. “Want some tea to go with it? We have freshly-baked bread too, complete with cheese sauce to dip in.”

“Well, if you don’t mind…”

Lily nodded along. “That sounds great to me.”

“You two are helping us solve problems that might appear in the future,” said the captain as he got up from his seat. “I think feeding the two of you is pretty much the least we can do.”

Within a minute, Claud and Lily were sitting together and munching on bread, their bodies hunched over a bunch of documents. Most of them were reports of growling from outside a lit perimeter, although there were cases of people vanishing after they walked into the darkness to relieve themselves.

“A few deaths here and there, then,” Claud muttered, letting out a depressed sigh.

Lily patted his head. “It’ll be best if the city guard issues warnings about staying together in a lit area.”

“We’re already doing that,” said Captain Blake. “Still, Claud, do you know these people personally? Why are you so down?”

“No, just…” Claud cast around for an excuse. “You know, sad at how fragile life is.”

“Yeah, true.” The captain sighed. “I knew one of the missing merchants. Name’s Nash. Transported sunrice. I usually bought a few kilograms from him, but now…well, someone else is probably going to fill the gap. Mark up the price too, or something.”

Captain Blake shook his head. “Well, if you need help, we’ll be there to assist. Find those damn monsters. We’ll do the stabbing. Free of charge.”

“I’ll leave that decision to Caroline, though,” Claud replied. “And besides, everyone here put together probably can’t rival a few mana blasts or whatever from here, right?”

“True.”

Claud turned his attention back to the report about those darkened animals. First, the observation that they didn’t appear in the daytime and had a nasty reaction to bright lights agreed well with each other. Second, they made more appearances on the eastern side of the city, where a lush forest stood.

“Let’s check out the forest,” said Lily.

“That sounds like a solid plan, yes.” Claud returned the documents to the file and handed it over to Captain Blake. “We’ll drop by and tell you any findings, and then you can liaise with Caroline.”

“Okay,” said the captain. “Good luck, buddy.”

“Thanks,” said Lily. “Hopefully we’ll bring back some news of these monsters or something.”

Claud nodded. “Maybe we might be able to find out the truth behind this darkness or something.”

“You’ll probably be invited as a very esteemed guest of the Coloured Gods if that happens,” said Captain Blake. “How you want to interpret my statement is entirely up to the two of you, though.”

The three laughed, before Claud followed Lily out of the guardhouse.

Waving goodbye to the guards, the two of them made their way out of the gate, before heading east. Licencia only had two gates, in the north and in the south. Given the volume of trade with the territories to the north, the guardhouse was situated there, with most of the guards familiar with the common trading goods that passed through the gate everyone so often.

A dense forest appeared in their vision after walking for around half an hour or so, and Claud felt something in him tingle. His hackles rose as they continued towards the forest; his instincts were warning him of some danger hidden in the forest.

Or was it his skills?

“Let’s check our equipment one last time first,” said Claud. “I’m getting a feeling that we’ve hit the jackpot here.”

“Okay. Ten Barrier Rings, three Warding Bracelets on each arm, a Pendant of Poison Immunity, an Early-warning Armguard and an Armguard of Projectile Deflection.” Lily looked up. “All set. Did you bring the Road-Maker?”

“Good. You’ve remembered the basic explorer kit. And of course I did,” said Claud, who had just gone through his thirty or so artefacts in that same time. “Now that we’re set…”

He took out a machete. “Let’s get down to business.”