Farah stamped her seal down on a sheet of paper, popped it on a huge pile of similar-looking papers, and let out a long, tired sigh. “We need someone who can investigate crimes really badly.”

Dia, who was testing her sword’s balance, glanced at the countess. After the shocking incident in which one of the city guards had been killed, the two of them had spent the next few days holed up in the palace. Farah was busy handling paperwork, and judging from the complaints about needing an investigation specialist that she had been saying the whole morning, it was clear that she was currently handling the issue of crime.

Even for an agrarian territory, it would seem that there was still crime. Granted, they seemed like petty things, although Farah would occasionally talk about a missing person or so.

“But you’d need someone from the City Guard headquarters to come down to train a bunch of such people, right?” Dia asked, recalling some of the little details she had come across. “And you need to pay money too…”

“Yeah.” Farah rubbed her head. “We’re building walls now, so we don’t exactly have the kind of spare gold to invite an Eye of Grandis over. If we could invite one to work here, that would be even better.”

“That’s only something really rich dukedoms do, though. Most of the Eyes don’t even show their faces. Other than the fifteen official Eyes…” Dia shrugged. If there had been an Eye of Grandis overseeing Ruler Umbra’s death, the chances of her being framed would be pretty low. However, enough time had passed; the culprit, with their prodigious might and resources, had almost certainly cleaned up the scene entirely.

“Right, you follow the princess all day long. You definitely know about them!” Farah perked up. “Is it true that most of the hidden Eyes of Grandis have been investigating the Celestia Ruins?”

Dia blinked. “I’ve never heard about that rumour before, though. Where did you hear it from?”

“Oh, that’s what Lloyd said two days ago, when I was talking about an expedition to check out the Celestia Ruins,” Farah replied.

“You still haven’t given up on that?” Dia chuckled.

“We all have to be young at some point, right?” Farah replied. “I’ve been working hard for the past twenty-odd years. I want to act my age for once. Now’s the time for me to explore and adventure, not sit in a palace and moan over a lack of money. If I have enough money, I won’t need to moan; everyone will be able to lead a nice life!”

“Money, huh?

“Yeah. Moonwheat is great, but it’s not going to sell at an extraordinary price. But if I manage to grab something like those fizzy drinks that came from Lostfon, my people are going to make merry all day long,” Farah replied.

“Yeah, I know.” Dia flipped her sword around and sheathed it in one smooth motion. “But like I said, it’s best if we wait out this year.”

“I don’t think we have the leeway to wait, though,” said Farah. “Today, when I was staring out of my bedroom’s window, I saw a mirage. I get a feeling that huge changes will soon come. This year might be the last year of peace we’ll ever get.”

“Last year of peace?” Dia straightened her back. There were rumours about things, like how seeing the day’s colour meant a great day ahead, but a mirage? “Elaborate.”

“Well, I saw lots of darkness and fire. Of course, it might just all be a dream or something, but…” Farah sighed.

“That’s a scary dream, not to mention a mirage.” Dia rubbed her head. “If everything’s going to fall to chaos, what’s the point of working this hard? Best not to dwell on visions too much.”

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“True.” Farah picked up a new document and looked through it. “Oh. Another missing case.”

Dia thought back to Lily’s explanation about Julan Barony, and how people went missing them for some odd reason. “Say, Farah, is it possible that someone’s kidnapping your people for some insane purpose? Like what happened at Julan Barony?”

“I thought of that too, but my people aren’t rich. They don’t really have much to offer in the way of ransom, and if we were talking about making enhanced Experiential Potions, the only experience my people have is about farming,” said Farah. “Why would anyone need an Experiential Potion for that?”

“True.” Dia frowned. “But missing people…maybe there’s some nefarious group hoping to make use of them somehow. Like, I don’t know, drawing out their lifeforce or something.”

“Eh? That’s scary!” Farah looked at Dia, her brows furrowed. “Has that happened before?”

“Officially, no, but Istrel Dukedom has a record of mysterious disappearances. After all, all kinds of skills exist; who’s to say that there isn’t one that can draw out lifeforce or something?” Dia replied.

“…Now I’m not going to get any sleep at night,” said Farah.

“I’m just pulling your leg,” said Dia. “It’s just that there are certain processes that can make use of living people as a power source; it’s just a simple substitution of mana with life. After all, anyone can become a sub-folder, so…”

“…I’m going to look into it a bit more, then.”

“You do that.” Dia walked over to the window and looked out of it. Now that she was back in a familiar element — a palace where administrative work had to be done — things like this came to her more easily. It was hard to think with such cold precision when surrounded by warm people like Schwarz, Lily and the others. Here, however, in an atmosphere that never failed to remind her about her past duties, exploring and pushing the boundaries of logic was a lot easier.

After all, administrators of territories were usually removed from the people they ruled. It therefore stood to reason that they didn’t abide by what usually was common sense either.

“If you’re looking for your aunt, she’s sampling some meatballs in the kitchen.”

“But breakfast was three hours ago,” said Dia. “How can she still be there?”

“Tell that to my unfortunate meatballs,” said Farah. “Maybe they’ll show some sympathy and deny your words. Incidentally, we ran out of whipped cream last night, since she decided to help herself to our rather short supply of them. In addition, the brown sugar Lloyd uses to make pancakes has gone missing too…”

“…I’ll pay for them,” Dia muttered.

“Oh, she left a bag of gold coins behind, no biggie,” Farah replied. “My point is that we’re out of sweet pastries, which is why meatballs were for breakfast today.”

“Yeah, I was actually wondering about that,” Dia replied. “Mystery’s cleared up, at least. I’m going to look for my aunt now. See you for lunch.”

“It’s still meatballs, though.”

Dia felt her lips twitch, and then wandered off. Her mind was filled with Farah’s suggestion, though. Heading over to the Celestia Ruins actually did sound like a good idea, since the possibility of finding something really useful there was high. Given that the great Dark was going to descend by year’s end, having something like that would be really handy.

She had a feeling that Claud, for all his paranoia, would agree too. With the restraining bolt of the Moon Lords taking such a stance, even if Dia didn’t say anything, Claud would almost certainly head over to the Celestia Ruins within the year.

It was just a matter of when, and once Farah brought it up, it would be a set matter.

“Well, he and Lily are probably going to go together, though,” Dia said out loud. “I’m just going to continue my training or something.”

Directing her feet down a flight of stairs, Dia eventually arrived at the kitchen, where her aunt was busy squatting down and examining meatballs.

“What are you doing?” Dia asked, curious.

“Just comparing two meatballs.”

“…Why are you comparing two meatballs, then?” Dia asked, rubbing her forehead. No one around her was normal, it would seem. The others were fans of the person called Princess Dia, Schwarz had some odd obsession with making ultra-alcoholic drinks, and the less she thought about Claud, the better.

“Because I’m bored. Can’t Istrel hurry up and move his ceremony ahead by one day? I’m totally fine with that, really.”

“It’s just tomorrow, and he’s going to come by two days from now,” said Dia. “And besides, Farah is a good host. Are you in a rush or something?”

“You do know that I’m a Named, right? A mana-user with quite a few achievements and deeds under my belt?” Aunt Lumine asked. “Of course I have things to do. Lots of jobs and requests. Duke Lustre wants me to send a very strong message, but after that, I need to hunt down this rogue tri-folder off in Voidum. The Emperor’s also asking Named folders to help in the exploration of the Celestia Ruins and—”

“Celestia Ruins?” Dia pricked her ears up. “Why? Is there anything going on there?”

“Oh, you’re interested?” Lumine returned to her standing position. “Well, some lucky fellow from Lostfon found a passage leading to another fragment of Celestia. Everyone now wants to explore it. Full of treasures, or so I hear.”

“Another what?”

“…Let’s start from the beginning.”