Claud and Lily were sitting down for a light breakfast when Schwarz strolled into the living room and tossed a card over. Unfortunately, he and the others were practicing their swordplay at the same time, which resulted in the casual flick flinging out some tears, blood and sweat at the same time.

A faint blue shimmer intercepted the icky drop of body fluids, and Lily caught the card a moment later. “What’s this?”

“It’s an invitation to indulge in a drink with the Blue Moon of Wisdom,” Schwarz replied. “Unfortunately, I know not whether if the drink itself is alcoholic or not.”

“A meeting with the Blue Moon, eh?” Claud picked up the card, where a singular symbol had been drawn on it. At first glance, it looked like a moon, round and plump, but within a second, Claud could feel a whole bunch of information entering his mind. The sensation was uncomfortable, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t bear, and after a while, the entire message unfurled in his mind.

Lily took the card out of his hands and glanced at it once. Her expression shifted a second later, but like him, she could interpret the entire message without too much pain or other reactions.

“Uh…are you two fine?” Schwarz asked.

“Fine?” Claud tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, doesn’t it hurt?” Schwarz asked. “Everything spins when I look at that picture, and my head begins to throb badly.”

Claud thought for a moment. “Well, it was a bit uncomfortable, but I suppose it’s that thing Dia talked about last night. Lots of information and everything. There should be a trick to this, though. How about looking at the symbol piece by piece, rather than the whole thing? The information will trickle down slower, but it shouldn’t hurt that much.”

“It’s just the amount of information stuffed into your head at once,” Lily added. “I mean, I look at it real slowly…”

“Sure doesn’t seem like that’s the only factor, though,” Schwarz muttered.

Claud hid a smile. It was probably the number of mana circuits, but…if they were going to see the Blue Moon, wouldn’t Plota immediately notice that the two of them were mid-rank folders? No matter how he sliced it, there was no way he could hide from the discerning eye of a divinity.

“You have an annoyingly superior look on your face right now,” Schwarz muttered. “I’ll forcefeed you a bottle soon enough, if you don’t drop that expression.”

“Why are you threatening me?” Claud asked, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, is there any way I can get out of this meeting? I’m just going to stay in my room and everything, so—”

“What, you have some secrets you don’t want the Moons to pry out?” Schwarz asked. “Don’t be silly. This territory is that of the Moons. If they really wanted to know your secrets, they can look at you anyway.”

Claud paused.

“That’s a very good argument, actually,” Lily noted. “Alright, we’ll just pop in and say hi. What sort of refreshments does the Blue Moon provide?”

“Refreshments?” Schwarz raised an eyebrow. “In what world does a divinity see fit to offer us paltry mortals some refreshments? You must be joking.”

Claud thought about Lesser Half. It would be nice to visit him with Schwarz and company in tow one day, when all this was over, just to see his stupefied face. Other than that, though, Claud knew that he could not afford to reveal the fact that he was something like a friend to Lesser Half.

From the way Lily coughed, it was clear that the same thought had flickered across her mind. She smoothed over the awkwardness by picking up a piece of toasted bread, before offering it to Claud with an exaggerated gentleness.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

On cue, Schwarz groaned audibly. “I’m going to wash up. You lovebirds keep spoiling each other.”

“Heh.” Lily eyed the departing bartender, and then turned back to Claud. “Say ah…”

Claud nibbled the little offering full of love, and then let out a small sigh. “I wonder what he’d say if he knew about…. Yeah, you know.”

“Hehe.” Lily bit an edge of the toasted bread. “It’ll be interesting, to say the least. Anyway, it seems like the others are actually treating the training seriously. I suppose it’s the aftereffect of nabbing so many lifestones and prana jades.”

“No one wants to waste all that lifespan due to a lowered Mana Control Proficiency,” Lily replied. “And on that topic…are we going to say anything about that? I have a hunch that your current mana control is actually fairly insane, even as a…”

She lowered her voice. “As a penta-folder.”

“Nero definitely has nothing on me, even if he’s a mighty fine cheater with the help of the Black God,” Claud replied. “I only wish I had such an existence pushing me up in the ladder of individual might, though. The freebies from random deaths just don’t really cut it…sometimes.”

Lily looked at him. “I dare you to say that again, I dare you.”

Claud laughed. “I’m just kidding.”

Lily puffed out her cheeks. “I’m glad you know that you’re treated specially too…but…”

She didn’t complete her sentence, but Claud didn’t need her to do so either. After all, it had always been lingering in the back of his mind. He was getting so much free stuff for practically nothing, but nothing in the world was free. What price was he going to pay? What exactly was required of him, the so-called Omen? What was his destiny?

He’d seen an iteration of his destiny before, one in which he lost everything that mattered and gained everything else. This time, however, things were definitely going to change…but if it was a future that he didn’t know about, this itself was cause for concern.

Claud shook his head. This was not the time to scare himself into inaction. Besides, there were lots of things to fear — his identity exposed, some artificial life uprising from the Celestia Ruins, a rogue familiar spirit blasting land and earth randomly…the list went on and on. While he was very cautious, there was a limit to such things.

Lily rested a hand on his head. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine.”

Before she could lean closer, however, Nero traipsed into the living room, before pausing awkwardly. “Sorry. Did I…uh, interrupt something?”

“Nothing, really,” Lily replied. “And I can pat his head whenever I like, so it’s very fine.”

She played with his hair. “See?”

“Yeah. Totally do.” Nero looked at the two of them. “How’s breakfast?”

“Excellent,” Claud replied, before popping a hand to sandwich Lily’s hand between his own and his head. “How was your morning exercise?”

“Dia’s a slave driver, as usual…right, Schwarz came back first, right? Did he pull out a drink?” Nero asked. “I’m craving for a bottle or two.”

“He’s probably washing up,” said a voice from behind him. “You should do so too.”

Farah wormed her way into the living room, and then raised an eyebrow. “What are you two doing? Is this some game I’m not aware of?”

“It’s called a handwich,” Claud replied. “A portmanteau of hand and sandwich, and I’m sure you can see why.”

“Uh, okay.” Farah shook her head. “Come on, Risti, Dia. Don’t wait outside for too long or something.”

Everyone shuttled into the living room, sweaty and tired. Only their instructor remained as spirited as ever, but their gazes were beginning to sting Claud’s face slightly. However, the master thief had no desire to end his handwich; it was a matter of who was giving ground first, and he sure wasn’t going to step aside this easily.

Dia eyed them once, and then rolled her eyes. “Out of the way, out of the way! You three can exchange stares with the two lovebirds. I, on the other hand, will be taking the wiser action of just washing up happily. You lot can carry on. Or not. I don’t really care.”

“What she said,” Claud added, watching as Dia stalked off, muttering under her breath furiously the whole time.

“…I get a feeling that I just conceded in something very important, though.” Farah shook her head. “Ugh.

“Me too,” Nero added. “It’s like I lost in something. I don’t get it. What did I lose to you guys in? I don’t even recall signing up for some quarrel or competition!”

“Can we just move? There are things to do, and those two have a visit to make soon, remember?” Risti cut in. “Now, if you’d excuse me, I’ll go and wash up. I have some…people-watching to do. Nero, go and get a drink, and then find me in the study. Gotta ask you some questions.”

“Ah, right.” The two of them left.

Under the combined power of Lily and Claud’s gaze, Farah eventually backed down and fled.

“Alright, we just need to do this a few more times, and they’ll get used to it,” Claud muttered. “Now, for the second-most important thing of the day…”

The two of them looked at the small card.

“…Should we wear something nice for this?” Lily wondered, asking the question that was echoing in Claud’s head the whole time.