“Hmm. Should you go first this time?” Claud asked. He and Lily were sitting on a nice huge bed, with some cards sprawled around on it. “I did my Second Tutorial first, after all.”

“Nope.” She folded her arms. “Don’t even think about it. You promised me to go first, right?”

“Only because you would probably fail it on purpose if I failed, right?” Claud asked. “What makes you think I won’t feel the same?”

“But you’re the O-thing. You can’t fail,” Lily replied. “That’s why you should go first. I won’t feel any psychological stress at all.”

“You do know that's not really true, right?” Claud eyed Lily. “Being the Omen doesn’t exempt me from failure.”

“True, but there’s the possibility that you might be able to help me if I fail, right?” Lily smiled at him. “You can’t help me as a mid-ranked folder, but if you step into the ranks of a septa-folder, you might have a solution at that point. You’ll be able to protect me better, if nothing else.

Lily’s words felt like she was clutching at straws, but was it wholly wrong? Claud frowned. In the Second Tutorial, he had indeed managed to disseminate lifeforce to a few hundred people. It was possible that he too could nullify any problems caused by failing the Third Tutorial. Besides, Absolute One seemed like it was a multi-use skill. If he forcibly extracted lifeforce from himself and used Absolute One to transmit it to Lily…

Of course, he would need to learn how to manipulate lifeforce first, but Claud believed that he could do it anyhow. There would be time to test it out in the Third Tutorial anyway.

“Meep!”

Three shapes bounded onto Lily’s head, disrupting his thoughts. They hopped onto his shoulders a moment later, meeping continuously the whole time, and then Lily said, “They also want you to take the Third Tutorial first.”

“Really?” Claud asked, looking at Crown, who seemed like the ringleader for this particular mission.

Mission? Bleh. I’ve been too used to those stupid things popping up in my face recently…Shaking his head, he popped the little guy onto his head.

“Meep…” His hair shook as Crown burrowed inside. “Meep. Meep! Meep.”

Claud could vaguely tell that Crown was indeed confirming his guess. The first meep definitely had something to do with feeling comfortable. The second one carried content words that he couldn’t decipher, but the third one was an emphatic affirmation of his guess. The fourth one was some complex sentence…

“Seems like it, I suppose.” Claud picked up the five-pointed star and the sphere. “How about you guys?”

“Meep?” Throne rolled over to Sceptre, who promptly shook itself. “Meep.”

“Is it me, or did they really establish a hierarchy or something?” Lily muttered. “Anyway, it seems that even your Crown agrees that you should go first, so there. I’ll be fine, but if you’re worried, maybe try to find some way to deal with the outcomes of failing the Third Tutorial. Not like I would fail, though.”

“I’m sure you won’t,” Claud replied. “I’m actually worried about the others.”

Lily’s confident expression withered slightly, and she nodded. “Risti failed, right? It’s…I’m scared, just by hearing your description of her in your Second Tutorial. I’m not too sure about the others either, but it’s also possible that they would fail or something. You have to find something, okay?”

“Yeah.” Claud nodded. “I don’t think I’ll find a solution in the Third Tutorial, but with all the power I have right now, I’m confident that I can deal with this problem somehow. Maybe we can ask Lesser Half or something.”

He glanced out of the window. “Let’s go downstairs and send the others off first.”

Lily rolled off the bed, before extending a hand to Claud, who took it. “Alright. Are you going to talk about…”

“What I saw in the Second Tutorial?” Claud asked. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. For one, it won’t make sense to them, since their Second Tutorials are probably closest to yours. Dia might be an exception, though, but I’m scared of giving her an impetus to think about me in a different way.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“How about I do it?” Lily asked.

“Possible, but do you think it’s a good idea?” Claud folded his arms. “I’ll leave it to your judgement. Maybe you might be able to think of something, but…Dia’s that Salvation Star thing. I cannot see her failing the Third Tutorial either. I’m more worried about the guys who slipped through the cracks…”

He frowned. “Fortunately, Dia’s the only one who can reasonably expect to begin her Third Tutorial. The others don’t have a high Mana Control Proficiency…”

Lily made cute little noises as he squished her face. “And my method seems to work on you quite well…”

“Well, it’s easy to feel the flow of mana if we’re cuddling without any clothes on,” Lily replied. “And you were quite…”

She cleared her throat. “Anyway, you’re only allowed to do that to me and no one else. Especially other women. Of course, you’re the only one allowed to do that to me…”

“Funny how shifting a few words around changes things, but I’ve always promised to care about you and you only,” Claud replied. “That hasn’t changed, and that won’t change.”

He rubbed her cheeks again. “So adorable.”

The tavern was full of customers as they went down. Apparently, buying out the first floor yesterday had done massive wonders to stir up interest by the natives or something, since everyone was busy buying food or something.

Everyone else were walking around town or hanging out together. Schwarz, for instance, was hanging out with Dia and Farah. Nero and Kemata were off walking around town and trying out new drinks — while Kemata couldn’t quite hold her liquor Nero-style, she was still more resilient than almost everyone else.

This meant that the two of them were actually quite the good match, although Claud was half-inclined to find the Holy Daughter of the White Church and tell her that Nero’s partner was just like him. He remembered something about drinking alcohol being bad for a baby, so those two mirrors that reflected off each other endlessly needed an older sister (by around three hundred or so years) to guide them back onto the sober path.

He couldn’t help but frown slightly, though. Sure, they wore couple clothes, but—

“It seems like there’s no trouble yet,” Lily whispered to Claud.

“Yeah. I think it’s a long-term scheme for someone,” Claud replied, before tapping his chest twice. “I’m dead certain that the people who had laid that weird trap two days back are looking for a certain group of people.”

He checked the Looped Encryptor. It was probably useless against the Red God’s prying, but the little thing would at least give a warning before anything else.

“Hmm?”

“And besides, He must have ascertained particular traits about the target. It’s lucky that she acted that day…” Claud shook his head. “If only there’s a way to talk or trade with other peo—oh!”

“What did you think of?”

“The Trading Board!” Claud checked his belongings, and then retreated to a shadowy area to use his storage ring. Pulling out a non-descript board a moment later, he said, “Schwarz has one of these too. We can use this to communicate with the Lacuna Dukedom.”

“Oh, right!” Lily looked at the board. “I forgot about it after we popped it in the storage ring.”

“You were having fun with it, though.”

“Blame your Second Tutorial for that,” Lily replied. “Anyway, we should make use of this more…right, you should also use the Second Shadow to inform Risti that the others are going to come back soon.”

“I did that yesterday evening,” Claud replied. “You were hugging me happily, remember? Albeit while drunk, I suppose.”

“…Look, literally anything else!” Lily puffed up her cheeks. “Like the others over at the gate!”

“At least don’t tell me you’re changing the subject,” Claud replied. “It looks like they are quite ready to leave, though. What did they buy?”

Nero and Kemata were wearing matching outfits, which Claud promptly took notice of. It would be nice to wear them together on a peaceful day…

Schwarz was fiddling with some sleek artefact. The others had explored Celestia during Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the Trial of Aeons, and they had apparently brought quite a lot of artefacts there. They looked like collectibles more than anything else, though, since they didn’t seem to be used widely. If they were more useful, the, uh, NX-1 Energy Pistol and Energy Knife would have been more widespread.

Schwarz really liked the knife-like artefact, though, judging from the way he was playing with it. Dia was holding on to her sword, although the scabbard that housed it looked really luxurious. He could see the words ‘Mastercraft Blacksmith’ emblazoned on the scabbard in what looked like solid gold too…

Farah was carrying two bags.

“Well, they sure did enjoy themselves.” Lily walked up to them. “Come on, Claud.”

Schwarz stowed away the knife as they approached. “Well, we’ll see you soon. You two…good luck. Show that Third Tutorial who’s boss!”

Dia and Farah patted Lily’s head, and Claud felt his mouth twitch.

“Don’t worry about failure,” Nero added. “Historically, there are ways to deal with the hollowing of lifeforce. I can ask my Lord for help too, at worst. He will definitely help.”

“Can the Black God really do this?”

“…Probably?”

“Okay, I get it.” Claud rubbed his head. In short, it would be for the best if he did it alone. “I’m not sure how to conduct send-offs, though. So…safe travels, guys.”

“That, I think, is good enough,” Farah replied. “See you guys soon.”

“Right!” Lily handed Schwarz the Trading Board in her hands. “We got one too. You’re a Profiteer, right? Maybe you can talk to us using this!”

“Alright, give me a moment.” Schwarz pulled a Trading Board out. “How did you get one anyway?”

“Oh, it’s a long story…”