“You two are going to attempt the Third Tutorial here?” Schwarz asked. “Are you serious?”

“Well, it’s safer that way,” Claud replied. “Right now, the outside world is a mess. We have random roving bands of militia, familiar spirits, Moon Emissaries and Dark Heralds looking for the legendary, super-strong Thief of Time.”

Lily shot a glance at him, but Claud’s skin was thick enough that he could accept praising himself. After all, who would insult themselves voluntarily if there weren’t any pressing circumstances? Besides, the Thief of Time was pretty much a folk hero already, judging from the random comments on the first floor of the tavern, which had reopened for business after the Seekers of Life booked it for a day.

“You two…aren’t doing it on purpose, right?” Dia asked, suspicious. “I mean, if you really think we’re going to be a hindrance to your lovey-dovey life, you can just lay it upfront. None of us are going to take any offence at that.”

“Well, that might be a factor, but our main concern is that travelling right now is really dangerous. And we really want to grow stronger before anything else untoward happens.” Lily bobbed her head, before placing a hand on Claud’s shoulder. “Still, it’s pretty much just us. You guys can go on ahead first.”

“…You aren’t hiding anything from us, right?” Dia asked.

The suspicion on her face seemed to grow, and Claud had to suppress a frown. Instead of responding to her question directly, however, Claud simply said, “Our main goal is to grow stronger for now. You know how we are like.”

“Yeah, you corrupted Lily,” Dia muttered.

“I enlightened Lily,” Claud corrected. “Staying alive is the best thing anyone can hope for. And being cautious is a very good trait. Preparation is key, and those who fail to plan…”

“Plan to fail,” Lily completed his words. “I’m not sure about you guys, though. I don’t think you guys will be entering the Third Tutorial anytime soon, right?”

The others exchanged gazes.

“Yeah, thought so.” Lily folded her arms. “Still, we can’t just leave Risti alone in the little house. Even if some of you guys want to stay here…”

“Never mind.” Farah folded her arms. “I believe in you guys. I’ll go back.”

The others soon agreed that Claud and Lily didn’t need any protection, so it was fine if they just returned first. Besides, as Dia put it, the other Seekers of Life had been dragging down Lily and Claud in terms of speed anyway. Since the two of them were hexa-folders, their travelling speed would be far superior to the others, and there was a significant chance that the two of them would catch up to Dia and the others before they returned to Monsville.

Schwarz and Farah made more faces at that assertion, but it was quite possible indeed. The Second Tutorial lasted only a day for him and Lily. Sure, the Third Tutorial would take a bit more time, but it would only take three days.

On a larger scale, it probably didn’t matter if everyone stayed for another three days or left, but Claud had just previously talked about the possibility of some nefarious danger brewing in Vacuos, something that the others fortunately hadn’t brought up yet. Claud wasn’t concerned with that, since Lily had lots of Flight skillstrips, but the same wouldn’t be able to apply if eight of them — seven, actually, since Sara was staying behind — were stuck here.

Claud had enough Flight skillstrips for two people to use for ten hours, but if he had to give everyone some skillstrips, everyone would have roughly three or so skillstrips.

There would also be other issues, like the possibility of Schwarz realising an inconvenient truth from nearly two years ago…as well as how someone could leave Moon Mansion and blow up a Moon Emissary within an hour or so.

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It was imperative that his ownership of Flight remained a secret. If they had been stored in skillsticks, it wouldn’t be that bad, but people usually created skillstrips to store their own skills.

“For some reason, I got the feeling that we were just hurting ourselves,” Nero observed, a disgruntled look on his face. “Can we really not match up to the defences and emergency measures you two normally use?”

Lily glanced at Claud, who scrunched up his face. He didn’t know how to answer the Holy Son of the Black God in such a way that he wouldn’t feel insulted, but such things were quite hard to accomplish.

Winking at him once, Lily turned back to Nero and said, “Do you value your pride?”

“…Ah. I get it.” Nero made another face. “Thanks for trying to not hurt my feelings, but I get what you’re saying. I don’t have anything called pride either; I was turned into a thrall for three years and made to do all kinds of shady things. It’s fine to tell me lots of things outright.”

“Right, the Third…” Claud sighed.

“The Third?” Kemata walked over. “Story. Tell.”

Nero glanced at everyone else. “I’ve a story to tell to Kemata, so I’m going to take my leave first. See you guys tonight or something, yes?”

The others chuckled or made other similar gestures, and Claud watched on with approving eyes as the proto-couple vanished into the depths of the inn. “Not bad for him, but doesn’t Schwarz feel some pressure or something?”

“Pressure?” Lily asked. “About what?”

“You know, a relationship…” Claud touched his chin. “Right, Risti’s going to be shocked when she learns about Nero getting engaged, heh.”

“Shocked is too strong a word, I think. And anything that doesn’t concern Princess Dia probably won’t faze her all that much,” Lily replied.

“Right, the princess.” Claud looked at her bodyguard. “I’m going to give some skillsticks to Dia, just in case she needs it or something. How about you?”

“Some smoke bombs, I suppose.” Lily touched her pockets, and then started to look for her hidden weapons. “And maybe some extra-special ones. These ones, for instance, produce a blinding light. This one, marked with a cloud, releases stinking gas, and this creates a fog that blots out half a town.”

“Half a town? That’s oddly specific…”

“You don’t want to know what happened,” Lily replied. “Anyway, we should give them to her before she decides to do something and we miss them when they leave.”

“True.”

Dia, Farah and Schwarz were complaining about a certain lovey-dovey Holy Son when the two of them walked over. The Blessed of the Blue God had left; she needed to find her companions or something. Claud wasn’t too sure about her circumstances, and they were pretty much strangers anyway, so he didn’t give that too much thought.

“What’s up?” Schwarz asked. “Don’t worry, we aren’t cursing you or anything, heh. We’re busy complaining about the lack of love or something.”

“Is that really a valid complaint, considering that Dia and Farah are perfectly good partners?” Claud asked, glancing at Schwarz and Farah. “Anyway, we’re not here for you, we’re here for Dia.”

“Me?” Dia asked.

“Yeah,” Lily replied. “You saw the news, right? Emperor Grandis pardoned everyone involved in the heist at Duke Istrel’s treasury. Your mistress is probably going to return soon.”

“Oh. Right.” Dia had a complicated look on her face. “Anyway, what about that?”

“Well, if you ever wanted to leave…we prepared some things for you,” Claud replied. “Skillsticks from me.”

“And some bombs from me!” Lily pulled out a small bag. “Here. These red ones are high explosives. The dark grey bombs are smoke bombs. The light grey ones release blinding light. The dirty-green ones are stink bombs. And this black one is a fog bomb.”

“…What have you been doing?” Dia muttered.

“Making bombs, why?”

“…Never mind.”

Claud patted Lily’s head as she passed the bag over happily, before pulling out some skillsticks. “Here’s three skillsticks for Flight. There’s three of them for Cleanse too. They’ll save your life in a pinch, so make sure to have them on standby whenever.”

“Flight?” Schwarz glanced at Claud. “Those are really fricking rare.”

“Well, it can’t be helped,” Claud replied. “They’re lifesavers, and I paid a nice sum for them. So don’t go use them to explore the moon or something.”

“I won’t,” Dia replied. “Thanks, guys. Still, why did you two give me these things now?”

“Well, just in case you leave for home before we return,” Claud replied. “Possible, right?”

“Yeah. And these things are life-savers. If something happens while you guys are travelling back…well, these might help too,” Lily added.

“You guys…how about you two?” Farah asked.

“We have other ways,” Claud replied. “Don’t worry about us. Know that we’re more worried about you guys during your travels back.”

“Not very reassuring, but thanks anyway.” Schwarz grinned. “Do you have any more such lifesavers that you can spare?”

“Nope.” Claud glanced at the bartender. “You definitely have a nice huge stock anyway, so why are you asking? Sheesh. What a miser. Anyway…we’re going to prepare for the Third Tutorial. We’ll send you guys off at night, and then begin afterwards.”

“…Right.” Schwarz patted his shoulder. “Good luck, buddy. And you too, Lily.”

The two of them nodded.