Over the past few days of building up his fifth mana circuit, Claud had observed something surprising about the people in Lostfon. While they had indeed reacted to Lesser Half’s descent with a healthy, sensible amount of caution, this caution had tapered off after everyone realised that Lesser Half wasn’t going to screw this city in particular, and everyone went on with their daily lives.

Lily’s hand in his, Claud went downstairs to check out the tavern, which was not that crowded anymore.

“Hello there, Lord and Lady Primus. Breakfast?” The old man waved a spoon around.

“We’ll like that,” Lily replied. “Two usuals, please.”

“Huhu. Lady, you look particularly dazzling today.” The old man pondered. “Ah, I see. You must have had a good night.”

“…I suppose it’s indeed a good night, yes,” Lily replied.

Claud immediately felt the gazes of all the damned men in the tavern fall onto Lily, and he shifted himself subtly to block their gazes. For one, they had no business to be inquiring into their private lives, and secondly, everyone here would be crapping their pants if they realised that what Lily meant by ‘a good night’ was her completion of her third mana circuit.

Engaging in a round of mental abuse against those things who thought with their lower half, Claud continued to shield Lily from their wolfish gazes, before musing that being a woman could be very hard at times. Truly, men could be asshats.

“You look like you’ve come across an epiphany or something,” Lily observed as they took their usual seats. “Something wrong?”

“Just reinforcing my understanding that women have it very tough at times due to my kind,” Claud replied.

“Huh?”

“Don’t think too hard about it.” Claud poked her cheek, which got him a poke in return too. Within seconds, the two of them engaged in a round of cheek-poking, which lasted until their breakfast sets were served.

“So, have you decided what we’re going to do?” Lily asked, looking down at the usual breakfast platter of eggs and sausages.

“We relax or something. How does shopping sound? I feel like buying all sorts of artefacts. Maybe we can walk around the place or something.” Claud paused. “I get a feeling I might have missed out something.”

“Missed out something?”

“Just a thought.” Claud shook his head. “We’ve been running down this path of strength, but surely there has to be a reason why the nobles chose to take it nice and slow, right?”

“Their mana circuits?” Lily asked. “Well, there’s something like a directive, I suppose. Active heads of a family aren’t allowed to surpass a particular number of mana circuits.”

“Which means that the leader of a sovereignty shouldn’t complete their sixth mana circuit, then,” Claud replied. “Fine and dandy, but who’s going to enforce that? I mean, if the three rulers back then decided to become a hexa-folder together, the Emperor definitely can’t take them down. And to begin with, why does the Emperor not…”

His voice trailed off.

“Claud?”

“You know, I sometimes wondered what Emperor Grandis was doing,” Claud replied, his mind churning. “I mean, the Moons and the Dark are fighting over his territory. However, Emperor Grandis, Rulers Nihila and Voidum have vanished from the stage. One would wonder what they’re up to, but if you think about it…maybe they’re doing the same things as us. Gathering power.”

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“The same thing is probably happening in the other continents, then.” Lily bobbed her head. “I can’t imagine the other continents just lying down and taking all this.”

“That said, you know what happens when you place a lid on a boiling pot of water, right?” Claud asked. “Eventually, if you force the lid to remain on for far too long…”

Lily clapped her hands once. “It blows up.”

Claud nodded. “All this silence is just a prelude to a greater conflict.”

He shook his head. “In the midst of this all, we’ve already forgotten about a particular issue, have we not? The murder of Ruler Umbra still goes yet unpunished nor solved, and in fact, it seems like the events of the past year have entered into distant memory.”

A tremble ran through Lily. “What’s all that supposed to mean for us?”

“Moons…uh, Dark if I know,” Claud replied. “Probably not something good, though. Come on, let’s hurry up and finish eating before the breakfast gets cold. Say ahh…”

After having fun by feeding Lily little bites, the two of them left the tavern and wandered the streets of Lostfon. As usual, most of the streets were deserted. Food stalls were few and far between; people simply preferred to eat at places that had a roof over their heads. Besides, there weren’t enough people to warrant a street stall now…

Claud couldn’t help but feel a bit lonely at that thought.

“It’s a lot lonelier without those little shadows running around,” Lily muttered. “I wonder if little Zin has returned home.”

“Let’s visit him then,” Claud suggested. “Upon looking around, it’s clear that we won’t be getting any artefacts today. No shops are open for business…I wasn’t paying attention to the streets outside.”

A complicated expression popped up on Lily’s face, and after a while, she shook her head. “Never mind. Let’s just go up to the city walls and relax up there for a while instead. We shouldn’t disturb the count and everything.”

Claud looked at her, and then nodded. “Hold on tight, then.”

Holding her in his arms, Claud activated Flight and took to the skies. After a while, they arrived at the top of the city walls, where soldiers once patrolled diligently. He could still recall the time when an army gathered to repel the forces of the great Dark. It wasn’t all that long ago, but now, no one would have believed such an event actually happened.

Impressive, in a way.

Lily looked around the battlements. “It’s dusty around here. Let me take care of that.”

Mana gushed out of her hands, stirring up a cloud of dust that she sent reeling off into the distance. Rather than actually dusting the place, Lily had just transferred the excess to the neighbouring segments of the walls…but who was Claud to complain?

“You must have waited for this, right?” Claud asked, a grin on his face.

Lily chuckled, and then looked around the place. “We can see Voidum from here.”

“Reminds you of that night, doesn’t it?” Claud sighed. “The night after I blasted an entire army into oblivion. I’m still not proud of it, to be honest, and…I know I did a lot of wrong that day.”

Lily looked at him. “You didn’t know.”

“Yeah. We still don’t know a lot about the Moons and the Dark,” Claud replied. “But even if this war is one ordained by destiny and fate, the people doing the actual fighting do indeed have their families and loved ones to take care of. They’re not faceless enemies that we can kill without reason.”

He paused. “But it’s going to happen soon. Those little kids we saw running around…how many of them will be missing a family member when all this is over?”

Lily grimaced, and Claud jumped. “Sorry. I didn’t, you know, mean to do…”

“Do what?” Lily shook her head. “I agree with you. It sucks to lose family. I…well, I suppose both of us really feel very strongly on this point. That’s why we can’t die, right? Not just because that’s the end of everything, but also because of the people that we’ll leave behind.”

Claud thought about the him of another reality, and then nodded. “Yeah. Don’t die. That’s just it.”

“You make it sound simple…right, did you bring any food?” Lily asked. “Probably not, right? Well, I’ve good news for you! I’ve brought some food as well as a stove of our very own…plus a cauldron. Stew for lunch?”

“We’re already thinking about lunch, huh.”

“Well, the best stews take time to make,” Lily replied. “The last time we did this outside, we only had a lunch hour of sorts. This time, it’s going to be the full course!”

Claud nodded. “I’m going to be very shameless for once and just ask you to produce your masterpiece.”

“Yes, yes, many chefs spoil the broth. I’m glad I don’t need to dissuade you for once.” Lily rubbed her hands. “Still, I wonder if the others would scold me for not sharing if they ever found out.”

“If,” Claud replied. “And this is definitely a perk I want to monopolise. So it’s fine! Work your magic, Lily. I’ll sit here and admire your craftsmanship.”

“It might be a bit boring, though,” Lily pointed out.

“Don’t be silly.” Claud smiled. “I want to enjoy this as much as possible…after all, we’ll be heading back into danger tomorrow. Things like watching you cook is what I’m living for nowadays.”

“Alright then.” Lily looked up at the sky. “Just in case, but can you set up a few barriers around the place?”

Claud nodded and pulled out a few artefacts. “Ah, like that time…”