Dia tucked away a lock of stray hair as she plopped down on a nice stone, whose surface had been nicely warmed up by the campfire burning not too far away from it. Sliced pieces of meat, impaled cruelly by merciless skewers, emitted a meaty fragrance as Schwarz cooked them lazily. The others eyed the unfortunate pieces of meat, waiting for their prey to be done on the fire.

It was quite the cruel world.

“Well, now that you’re out” —Schwarz looked at Dia— “I suppose I can break out the bad news.”

Nero glanced at Schwarz. “What happened?”

“Explain.” A certain person’s scythe spun once.

“You two remind me of that idiot couple,” Schwarz muttered darkly. “But it’s to do with them. Claud just failed his Third Tutorial. He’s currently resting in Vacuos, and is unlikely to return home for the next month.”

Dia stared at the bartender. “What.”

“Yeah. Surprising, yeah? He failed.” The bartender frowned. “Lily just told us to not embark on the Third Tutorial just yet. Claud’s in bad shape, that idiot. His lifeforce has been hollowed out…”

He shook his head. “I don’t know if he’s going to die soon, but Lily says that they’ve found a way of sorts to counter this hollowing, so they’re going to do some research in Vacuos.”

“He failed his Third Tutorial, huh.” Dia looked at the fire. “Sounds unbelievable. But at least it sounds like he isn’t in any grave danger for now, right? Or else Lily would have been asking us to return or something.”

“That’s true,” Farah agreed. “I think it isn’t that bad, but…something doesn’t quite add up, though. If that’s the case, why would Lily tell us not to start our Third Tutorial?”

Nero took out a bottle of booze, but before he could open it, Kemata had taken it from his hands, stuffing it down her clothes. Nero made a funny face at her, and then turned back to the fire. “This came in after the announcement of the Fourth, right? Maybe…Claud tried to advance after the announcement, and ran into…shall we say, an alteration in the Third Tutorial?”

“What?” Farah turned to the Holy Son of the Black God. “The gods did something to the Third Tutorial?”

“Possibly,” Nero replied, his brows furrowed together. “It’s possible. They may have that power. But…well, I guess they did something to the Third Tutorial the moment the saboteur became the biggest winner of the Trial.”

“Sneaky, yes.” The scythe spun once. “Powerful.”

“Thanks for that insight,” Schwarz muttered. “So, the gods did something to the Third Tutorial, and Claud got screwed over.”

“Really unfortunate, if nothing else.” Farah gestured at the meat. “Is it done yet? I’m starving here. Right, how did you find out that Claud failed the Third Tutorial? How did Lily tell you?”

Schwarz pulled out a small board. “Food is done, and this is the Trading Board. It allows me to exchange messages and knowledge. Lily and Claud somehow got their hands on one too, which makes them a Profiteer…anyway, there’s nothing we can do for them now.”

“Let’s just drink to them,” Dia replied. “We should hurry back too. Risti’s been watching the house for nearly two months, and she has to be bored by now.”

“True, but we need our rest too. We’re only a day away, after all.” Schwarz chuckled. “What we should worry about more is our resident Bearer of Destiny. Are you sure the Moons won’t go after you.”

“Saboteur. Forced allies.”

“Okay, so what happens after the Fourth is killed?” Dia asked.

“…Trial is over. Both must survive,” Kemata replied, and Dia found herself letting out another sigh. The Holy Son of the Black God had chosen a partner who was so economical with words that talking was tough. Talking to her was a bit of a challenge, especially since she generally replied with what was necessary and sufficient.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Even if it meant forgoing just about everything else.

“Okay, so mutual survival? Or is it dependency?” Schwarz wondered out loud, before shaking his head. “Well, none of our business…okay, maybe it’s our business after all. We have Kemata here now, so it’s our business. And you know what our resident walking dose of paranoia says about things like this, right?”

“That resident walking dose of paranoia is currently suffering from a hollowed lifeforce,” Nero pointed out. “But I get your point. We need to gather more intel too.”

Schwarz removed the skewered meat sliced. “The question lies in how. Alright, we’re done with the meat. Can someone check on the stew?”

Kemata drifted over to a pot that had been placed on the embers of a small fire. “Bubbling.”

“Okay, so dinner’s ready.” Schwarz leaped to his feet and started serving the food with practiced movements. “Also, Lily sent more warnings back. Vacuos is apparently going to play host to every single bigshot in the three continents.”

“Did you say ‘every’?” Nero, who was about to bite down, looked at the bartender weirdly.

“Yeah. Other than ground-level administration, every single member of the Nihal Senate is headed this way,” Schwarz replied. “The Saran Supremacy’s Imperial Court has taken leave of their senses too, and they’re all going to camp out at Vacuos or whatever location the divinities and gods are pointing out.”

“…The world’s gone insane.” Nero turned to Kemata. “We’re going to just stay at our little house for like until they leave. That fine with you?”

“Overjoyed.” The scythe behind her spun rapidly.

“Excellent.” Nero raised the little piece of meat to her mouth. “Open wide!”

As the two of them displayed one of the reasons why Dia was absolutely happy to not see Claud and Lily around, Schwarz cleared his throat. Dia glanced at him once, and immediately felt some camaraderie with the bartender, who looked like he was sick of lovely-dovey acts or something.

“You wanted to say something?” Farah asked.

Under the backdrop of soft chewing sounds, Schwarz said, “Lily also said something about the three continents joining together.”

The scythe that had been moving around happily abruptly stilled.

“How.” Kemata turned to look at him jerkily. “How did…she know?”

“It’s true?” Schwarz asked, turning to look at the Dark’s last Bearer of Destiny. “Wait, as in, it’s actually a thing? The Dark is intending on squishing continents together?”

“Everyone.” The scythe began to move once more. “Secret. How?”

“She said something about hearing it on the streets,” Schwarz replied, his expression troubled. “What kind of streets are we talking about here, then? Maybe she’s referring to something else. The Trading Board is a channel of information, and maybe she traded information there…uh, Farah, can you pour me another bowl of stew?”

“You were speaking the whole time, so how did you finish your soup this quickly?” Dia asked.

“I’m good, that’s how.” Schwarz fiddled with his Trading Board, and then frowned. “Seems like she got it from there. Someone’s publicly posting some rather interesting information about the Fourth Godsfall…isn’t there like, Authority or something?”

“It’s weakened drastically,” Nero replied. “Once the Cosmic Egg was created, this world really isn’t all that useful anymore. I’m not sure how, but within the next few thousand years, we’ll all be in a new world or something.”

“Next few thousand…we’ll probably be pushing up the daisies, alright?” Dia rolled her eyes. “Anyway, with the two lovebirds not around us, and the war having come to a pause for now, I think we’re safe, right?”

“For the time being. Let me guess, you want to go back to the Lustre Dukedom?” Schwarz asked.

“Yeah. I mean, I—my mistress was pardoned, after all. Maybe she’s there or something,” Dia replied, before mocking herself mentally. She still hadn’t told the others about her identity — in fact, it was apparently a bigger secret than her being the Salvation Star.

Really unbelievable.

“Maybe. I hope she’s there.”

Dia paused for a moment. “Farah, Schwarz, would you like to come with me? I’ll invite Risti too.”

“Can we?” Farah asked, her eyes glittering.

“Wait, how about the two of us?” Nero asked. “We aren’t invited?”

“While the Moons and the Dark are temporary allies, I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring Kemata into their domain,” Dia replied. “Besides, two people alone in a house…it’s definitely more exciting than whatever we’re up to.”

“Don’t do anything funny in Claud’s house, though,” Farah added. “Just make a small house with the barrier artefacts.”

“What do you mean, something funny?” Nero asked, tilting his head. “Is there a problem with me just doing all this with Kemata?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

“Huh?”

Nero blinked. “Why do you three sound so surprised?”

Dia looked at the Holy Son of the Black God, and then frowned. As a noble, she was exposed to the finer parts of a physical relationship, but those two weirdoes — Kemata definitely didn’t know anything about babies either — clearly lacked her upstanding education.

Schwarz made a noise in his throat. “You two do know where babies come from, right?”

“Of course. Something about a stork?”

The scythe stilled, and the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny coughed twice. Dia couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing either, especially since Nero was very knowledgeable about the gods and all. However, now that she thought a little harder about it…

“Schwarz, you tell Nero the basics.” Farah held her head. “Kemata, you…somehow didn’t talk about all this?”

“Abstinence. Uh…” she fidgeted once.

“From alcohol?” Nero asked. “What’s that got to do with babies?”

Schwarz got up, his movements jerky and stilted. “Nero, let’s go talk elsewhere for a moment. I think I need to teach you what the Black God’s priests didn’t…”