“Huhu. I did not know you had Schwarz’s booze here.” Nero filled up his goblet again. “Magnificent, magnificent! Barrels and barrels of it. More than enough to make me smile, really.”

Dia glanced at the count, whose lips were twitching. The others didn’t particularly care for Schwarz’s ultra-pure water, save for the maker himself, so the only ones who were engaging in this particularly weird conversation were the three buffoons whose livers were hardier than steel.

Wait, Schwarz didn’t actually drink his own booze, because he was scared of affecting his liver. In that case, there were only two buffoons who had steel livers and the guilty manufacturer that had damaged the livers of so many other people.

“You can just purchase more from me, though,” Schwarz pointed out. “It’s a bit odd to see my creations placed with centuries-old wine.”

“None of them give the kick I want,” Nightfall replied.

Farah glanced at them. “Putting aside centuries-old wine, where is Count Daybreak anyway? Isn’t he a visitor here? It’s odd that he isn’t around.”

Nightfall’s eyes flickered. “Well, he has a nasty tendency of walking into the wrong rooms, so I gifted him a barrel of Schwarz’s booze. He’s a sleeping drunk, so a cup is enough to knock him out for a day or so. After a while, his schedule looks like this: he wakes up, washes up, gets a single meal, and then drinks a cup of Schwarz’s booze.”

“…Okay, and?” Farah asked.

“The next day begins?” Nightfall replied, his expression one that indicated his bafflement at Farah’s question. “Did I miss out something by accident? I think I implied it clearly enough.”

“So how many hours of the day is Daybreak sober?” Farah asked.

“Around…” Nightfall’s fingers flickered. “Three hours? Anyway, he’s an absolute treat to have around the place now.”

Dia couldn’t help but note the complete contrast between his earlier and current judgement, and she had to turn away with a smile.

“Ahem.” Risti cleared her throat. “Still, what’s the status of his palace’s reconstruction?”

Nightfall’s face straightened up. “Don’t worry about that. We’ve reached an agreement on a new cooperative agreement regarding specialisations. Count Daybreak has all the manpower I want, and I have all the jobs he needs. Countess Farah, for some reason, also caught wind of this agreement, and she’s agreed to enter an agricultural arrangement with both of our counties.”

“So everything’s worked out?”

“In a sense.” Nightfall frowned. “But how is Countess Farah even aware of small things like this? Last I checked, the Farah County was focusing inwardly, and their ruler is in seclusion…”

No, she isn’t. She’s actually eating in your home too and freeloading off their food…Dia glanced at Farah, and then took stock of the others sending her surreptitious looks at their own pace, before hiding a smile.

“Maybe she’s a lot closer than you think,” Farah replied.

Dia wanted to swear at her, but revealing Farah’s identity here was stupid. Somehow, Farah had managed to prevent anyone else from finding out her identity, and she probably put hard work into making that possible. It would not only displease her if anyone blurted that out, not to mention the danger she might face from Nightfall afterwards.

Risti picked up a glass and sipped from it elegantly. “Anyway, I hear you’re funding Daybreak’s reconstruction.”

“I’m still not that sure what destroyed his palace, though,” Nightfall replied.

“Neither am I.”

“Ri—”

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Everyone froze, and then turned to the source of the voice, which had spoken from behind Dia’s chair. As she turned around to look at the source, an earth-shattering aura burst out from behind her, and the palace shuddered madly. An explosive force sent Dia flying a moment later, and the entire banquet turned into a mess. Red light towered to the heavens immediately afterwards, the resulting pillar shattering the ceiling of the banquet hall and piercing into the skies.

A second source of divinity erupted into existence a moment later, and a tri-coloured human appeared in mid-air. “What is the meaning of this, familiar spirit? This is my territory!”

A red figure of light gestured once. “Sooth, Emissary. My master has dispatched me to investigate the death of his Holy Son, which has been terminated here. I know the Holy Son visited Daybreak County, and then fled here upon pursuit by your masters. When I was tracking his traces, my teleportation went awry and I appeared here, just in time to hear those words.”

The Moon Emissary waved his hands once, and tri-coloured light filled Dia’s eyes. A moment later, she was back in her seat, the ceiling was alright, and the banquet was still as unspoiled as ever. The familiar spirit now stood at the head of the table, within arm’s length of the Moon Emissary, which was prime material for a good show.

No one, however, would dare to reach out for food to go with this good show now, however.

“The Holy Son was executed on the spot for falling to corruption,” the Moon Emissary replied. “You can ask my masters that.”

“Falling to corruption.” The familiar spirit’s words as it echoed the Moon Emissary was flat. “And what drove him to corruption?”

“It seems to be a residue from a failed ritual elsewhere,” the Moon Emissary replied.

“It happened at Daybreak County,” the Red God’s familiar spirit replied. “And there are people who are aware of what happened at Daybreak County.”

“You can ask my masters that.” The Moon Emissary waved his hands once. “This is not a place you can be. The terms of your entry have been long fixed. This will be the first and last violation.”

The Red God’s familiar spirit looked at Dia, Risti and Nero, and his eyes blazed once. “Naturally.”

“Begone.” Tri-coloured light spilled out into the wall, and the familiar spirit vanished. The Moon Emissary snorted once a moment later, and a shimmer of red appeared in the air, hanging for a few seconds, before shattering entirely. Letting out a few more snorts, the Moon Emissary raised a hand.

Tri-coloured light pulsed outwards, rippling through the walls of the Nightfall Palace and into the world beyond. After giving out one more snort, the Moon Emissary turned on the spot and vanished.

Only then did Count Nightfall curse. “Damnit, the Red God’s familiar spirit. What the heck?”

“He arrived really quickly, didn’t he?” Schwarz asked. “I thought he was a few days away or something.”

“The God of Precision had a hand to do with his familiar spirit suddenly appearing here,” Nero replied. “Happy accidents that happen to yield the best outcome, perfect setups that cannot be stopped…that is the God of Precision, Shuddh.”

As the Holy Son of the Black God officially revealed the name of the Red God, something like a rumble seemed to enter Dia’s ears, and she swayed. At the same time, what seemed like a pendulum swinging back and forth at a perfect cadence appeared in her eyes, and Dia swayed.

Nero clapped his hands, and the hallucinations vanished. “Sorry, but I figured that this was the best way to make use of the familiar spirit’s remnant divinity. That is his holy symbol, by the way.”

Dia didn’t quite understand what a swinging pendulum had to do with what seemed more like luck than precision, but who was she to complain about the Red God’s holy symbol? In fact, she had a feeling that if she actually complained, bad things would happen to her on a regular basis.

It was far better to just perish the freaking thought.

“We must be careful to not speak too much, then,” Schwarz muttered. “Anyway, what’s this corruption thing?”

“Not sure,” Nero smoothly replied. “Anyway, don’t think too hard about it, guys. We’ll finish off this banquet, go back and take a rest, and then stay in Moon Mansion. We can’t afford to head out of Licencia now, not with that person locking onto us.”

“Yeah…”

Dia felt a bit disappointed, but Nightfall’s following words about paying them handsomely to stay in the city made her feel better. With any luck, everyone would advance to a tetra-folder before the Moons descended and bedlam truly broke loose. She could, however, only hope that the Red God’s familiar spirit would be forced to leave before he came across any clues or the like, but they would need to make preparations.

“How are we supposed to prepare for a familiar spirit, though?” Nightfall wondered. “The Moon Emissary seems to be his equal. Even if we participate, we won’t be able to do much again the familiar spirit.”

“We’ll just need to hunker down and spread the news,” Schwarz replied.

“Spread the news?”

“Instigate some conflict, essentially.” Schwarz grinned. “Leave this to me, the pro. I’m also hoping that we’ll be able to tell Claud of our current predicament. If there’s anyone amongst us who might be able to come up with a plan to protect ourselves, it’s Lord Paranoid.”

“…Okay, sure. Sure.” Nightfall looked at him. “Sure, I guess. Just be careful, okay?”

Dia rolled her eyes and returned to the banquet.

As she continued to feast, a small thought wormed into the front of her mind. Why did everyone brush off today’s encounter so easily?

That thought, however, vanished a moment later as Risti stole a chicken thigh from her plate.