“You are courting the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny, a Dark-aligned Bearer.” Lily looked at Nero, her expression refreshing to Claud’s eyes. That expression on her face was quite familiar to Claud, and he reminisced on how it felt like to be bludgeoned by absurd events. “Really now?”
“Is there a problem?” Nero tilted his head.
Claud opened his mouth, and then closed it. There were, naturally, a whole bunch of problems that went with it, but as someone who had found his soulmate, he didn’t want to dissuade Nero and make it such that he couldn’t be with someone he liked. Lily clearly thought the same way, because she backed down three seconds later, mumbling about potatoes and cheese.
“I know you’re worried about things like her position, but I assure you, we’re matched in terms of social status,” Nero replied. “And…well, the Saran Supremacy sucks. And I want to give Kemata happy memories.”
The scythe floating behind the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny did a weird, cute loop, and Claud hid a smile. That scythe was relaying its mistress’ emotions incredibly well, better than any mere facial expression, and Claud decided to give up on that topic. It would seem that the two of them were fated to be lovers or something, and Claud wasn’t going to stand in their way.
“Yeah, I suppose that’s how things should be.” Lily smiled. “I’ll be rooting for you two, then.”
“No…further objections?” Nero tilted his head. “Why does everyone seem to behave the same way?”
Claud glanced at the scythe floating behind Kemata once, and then said, “Right, you three went to the Trial of Aeons, right? What happened there? Did Tot really make an appearance? Dia, is your mistress going to return home soon? Will you be joining her?”
“Slow down, slow down.” Farah chuckled. “But as expected of you, I suppose. You asked the same things as we did.”
Lily stuck out a tongue, and then shifted closer to Claud. The reassuring warmth was enough to cover the small, faint fear in his heart, the heart that had been trembling as it met the people that stood the highest chance of uncovering his identity. Claud had been wondering for a long time if he should confess his identity or something — Dia was apparently a fated nemesis or something, but he had no desire to kill her. He was also fairly confident that she wouldn’t kill him if she knew about his identity, but…
There was a small part of him that felt scared of telling them the truth. How would they look at him when they found out? Their Dia had been, by all accounts, wronged by Claud himself, and he was the main reason why she and her mistress had to flee their home.
How would the others react when they found out he had been hiding things from them all along? Important things that would decide the future? He didn’t want to find out. Fortunately, he had used Absolute One to supercharge his Presence Nullification; if he hadn’t done so, the others would definitely have noticed him at some point in time.
They were too familiar with him to not know his mannerisms. In fact, now that he thought about it, the Risti in his Second Tutorial did mention something about everyone seeing him during the Trial of Aeons…
Lily nudged his side, and Claud jumped. “Sorry. What did I miss?”
“I was just talking about the Thief of Time…you do know that you’re the one asking, right?” Dia eyed him critically.
“S-sorry. My bad. Do continue.” Claud rubbed his nose.
“You are forgiven. Now, as I was saying, the Thief of Time was…odd, I suppose.” Dia folded her arms. “The guy had this supreme confidence oozing from all over him. Like he could kill everyone present with a single attack. It was something I’d seen from the Blue Moon when we met Plota back then; the sheer confidence that no one could stop him.”
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She made a face. “I don’t like that feeling, but only an idiot would go up to Tot at that point, see? And then, when Phase 3 started, the mana that seemed to gather around him was completely insane. It felt like an entire ocean had just flooded the place…it was the same type of power that had killed the Third Bearer of Destiny back then.”
Claud found himself intrigued. He had never been on the receiving side of Absolute One for very obvious reasons, but now, here was a chance to ask someone who had faced it and lived.
“What did it feel like, facing that ocean of mana? How did you react to it?”
“We just froze on the spot,” Nero muttered. “If I had been drunk before the Fourth Bearer of Destiny used his skill, that thing would have shaken me sober…I’m just kidding. I can’t get drunk.”
“Really?” Kemata asked.
“Really,” Schwarz replied, nodding seriously. “This guy can’t get drunk at all. He can chug away bottle after bottle with absurd ease. It’s unbelievable, to be honest. Like a minor miracle or something.”
“Don’t make the Lord’s blessing sound like an alcoholic’s favourite drink,” Nero replied. “Anyway, it was really intense. Like…if Schwarz was there, he would probably be on his knees and sobbing.”
“Oi.”
“What? It was really that intense, alright?” Nero shook his head. “I’m using you as the unit of badassery. You should be happy, not sad.”
“Yeah, well…”
Farah and Dia sighed, and then shuttled over to the Blessed of the Blue God, who looked a little left out. The three of them began a quiet conversation on their own, one that Claud couldn’t be bothered to eavesdrop on, and he made use of this lull to polish off the rest of his breakfast.
The affected parties were clearly affected by that traumatic event, and Claud couldn’t bring himself to probe any further either.
“Well, are you two done with your commission or whatever?” Schwarz asked, his eyes alight with a weird radiance.
“Let’s not talk about that,” Lily replied. “It was a complete waste of time.”
Claud, of course, had prepared a new story. While the two of them had left the small little house by using a summons as an excuse, they would need to follow up on that story. However, faking a request wasn’t easy; it was far easier to turn it into a malicious prank and brushing the whole thing off afterwards.
“Yeah, it was a fake summons,” Claud added. He was telling the truth; the only thing that was missing was the fact that it was the two of them that had sent the fake summons. “Not sure what they wanted to do, but when we got here…well, there were very good reasons for us to just hunker down and wait out the rest of the Trial. After all, the Blue God and the Red God were forced to descend.”
He made a noise in his throat. “I wonder what made them descend.”
The others glanced at Sara, the Blessed of the Blue God. Claud, however, found the possibility of a Blessed knowing anything about an event this tumultuous rather unbelievable. Sure, they were important, but the descent of a Coloured God was probably so high up the information pole that they wouldn’t know much about it.
“Don’t worry too much about it,” Schwarz muttered. “Anyway, does that mean you’re going back with us?”
“Yeah,” Claud replied. “If you don’t mind, of course. If you mind, the two of us can continue our honeymoon…is there anything you want us to do in particular?”
“Tch. I knew you’d say that.” The bartender clicked his tongue. “But no, there’s nothing in particular, really. But I think we will all be a lot safer if we travel together, right? You two are hexa-folders, after all.”
Claud fell silent. The Frozen Emperor…if he wanted to avert a tragedy, it would be best if he did the opposite of whatever the Frozen Emperor did.
“Let’s go together, then,” Claud replied, making up his mind. “As long as you don’t start cursing me and Lily.”
“I’ll be fine now,” Nero cut in.
“Oh, screw off.” Schwarz glared at him. “But fine. I’ll just do literally anything else when the two of you start making out or something.”
“I don’t think we do that in public, though…”
Lily made a face at Schwarz, and then said, “Still, now that the new era is officially here, what’s going to happen? Like, the Trial of Aeons is over, right? Are the gods going to start killing each other now?”
“Presumably so. There is but one bridge, and everyone wants a piece of it.” Nero clicked his teeth.
“Tot. Popular.” Kemata paused. “His death will be…profitable.”
“Many people want the guy dead now…” Schwarz tilted his head. “What do they gain?”
“Aeon Folds. Thirty of them,” Kemata replied. “Pathway to skill: Divinity Aspirant. Qualification.”
“…Is it me, or is the censor not working now?” Claud asked.
“The Trial of Aeons, probably.” Schwarz folded his arms. “What’s going to happen now?”
“Even I don’t know. We’ll have to play it by ear,” Nero replied. “For now, though, they should be gathering their strength. It’ll be safe…for the time being, anyway. We’ll have to be careful henceforth.”
Claud heartily agreed with that.