Dia shivered once as they stepped across a weird film of light and into a cold world.

“What is this place?” Farah whispered. “It’s so cold. Is this really a city? Really? Why would Emperor Grandis design a cold city?”

“It’s not fatally cold, though,” Risti replied. “Just cold enough that wearing clothes will make you feel more comfortable. It's a nice enough temperature once you get used to it.”

“Well, you got used to it real fast, then,” Farah mumbled.

Beth let out a little sneeze.

“Oh dear,” Dia muttered, before plopping down her backpack. Pulling out some spare clothes, she draped them piece by piece onto Beth, whose sniffly little demeanour brightened with every piece she placed on her body. Before long, the baby had stopped shivering, and surprisingly enough, with every piece that Dia added, her face grew happier and happier.

“…Best not to have you wear too much, though,” Dia muttered, before looking at the little furball. “Let’s have you walk for a while, shall we?”

“Okay!” Beth grabbed her hand as Dia stood up, and then looked around curiously.

“How’s Beth?” Kemata asked, her shining eyes on the wrapped toddler.

“Adorable and warm,” Dia replied. “Do you want to hold her hand?”

“Can I?” Kemata asked.

“Go on,” Dia replied. At those words, Kemata promptly pulled Nero over, and the two of them took the little toddler’s hands and guarded her like a pair of mother hens. Dia observed for a few seconds, and then nodded.

Their little group headed deeper into the city. Dia couldn’t remember all that much about Grandia, but it didn’t really matter, because Risti actually did.

“We’re in Segment 2 now. If we press on straight and then go up, we’ll end up in Segment 14, which is the Grandis Palace.” Risti looked at Farah. “You made an appointment, right? Where do we need to head to?”

“The palace, yes,” Farah replied. “To be more specific, the Grandis Court of Noble Law. I’ll complete the banishment there and then. After that, the two people I’m forced to call my parents for now will show up there and contest my claim, at which point I bring out all my evidence.”

Risti nodded. “Do you care for your parents at all?”

“Uh. What do you mean by that?”

Risti paused for a moment, and then bobbed her head. “My apologies. That sounded like I was questioning you. Allow me to rephrase. Do you care whether your parents die or not?”

“Uh. They’re pretty much strangers to me,” Farah replied. “I do wish they actually did carry out their parenting, though.”

“Hmm. Okay.” Risti paused. “You might be a bit sad if they end up dead from a mysterious accident, so I shall refrain from that. Nonetheless, go ahead and press your case. We’ll make sure that these two colonies of scummy squirming insects won’t get close to you at all.”

Dia nodded. “Irresponsible fellows.”

“At least they left me a workable staff,” Farah replied. “And I don’t think they’re evil or bad. Just utterly and thoroughly irresponsible.”

“Mhm.” Risti nodded. “Well, don’t worry.”

“Yeah. We’ll have your backs.” Schwarz flashed a set of thumbs-up at her. “Anyway, I’m famished. Why aren’t there any street stalls? What kind of city doesn’t have street stalls?”

“The kind that is a mobile fortress,” Risti replied. “Let’s go find an inn…sorry, they call ‘em hotels here, and then get some grub.”

“Alright!”

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Dia gazed at the weird buildings as they walked on and on. Tall buildings that touched the ceiling above and seamlessly connected into it were placed in regular, neat intervals. These buildings were residential ones, although there were others that were commercial in nature.

It was easier to spot the commercial buildings; these buildings were the ones that had decorations and advertisements in…some sort of weird artificial light that looked right at home in the Celestia Ruins. In fact, the more Dia observed, the more commonalities she found between the Celestia Ruins and Grandia. She hadn’t noticed them back then, since her memories of this place was blurry and the Celestia Ruins were highly dangerous, but now…

“Phew.”

“What’s wrong?” Risti asked.

“Just wondering about the similarities between this place and the Celestia Ruins. It feels like the Emperor carved out part of the ruins or something.”

“Well, we could also do that, probably.” Risti paused. “No, I’m just kidding. Don’t look at me like I’m insane. I think the Emperor sent a bunch of professionals to check out the more built-up areas in the ruins and then got them to replicate it here.”

“Oh.”

“Either that, or he picked up a super treasure from the ruins,” Risti added. “My pops said that the Emperor might have picked up an entire expandable city from his exploration of the Celestia Ruins.”

“Serious?” Dia gulped. “Damn. I want one too!”

“You and everyone else, maybe.” Risti chuckled. “Well, if we keep looking and scouring the ruins, we might eventually get our hands on one of these babies, see?”

“Totally can see it,” Dia replied. “Totally.”

“…Meh. You’re no fun.” Risti looked around. “Alright, I think we spotted our target. Follow me! There’s a hotel that I remember staying in. Good service, good food!”

Everyone hurried along after her, and Nero took the chance to carry the little baby. Kemata and Nero were a bit inexperienced, but between the two of them, they soon worked out how to carry a toddler.

“Probably good practice for the future, right?” Dia muttered, before thinking about her father. With so much love — and pressure to get married — surrounding her and Farah, Dia had to give proper thought towards the notion of finding a partner…but what kind of partner would satisfy her? She knew the stories — tragic stories where a vanilla and a tri-folder were matchmade, only for the marriage to fall apart due to differences.

Of course, her main complaint was that the vanilla fellow should have been stuffed full of lifestones whether she liked it or not, so it wasn’t that realistic. However, other than lifespan differences, strength was also a great deal too. A tri-folder and a hexa-folder probably wouldn’t enjoy their time in bed together, from what Dia could glean from hushed talks.

Most importantly was their outlook to life. Dia couldn’t quite tell what her own outlook to life was, though, which made it a lot harder. What did she want from her own life?

It was a question that she hadn’t had the chance to contemplate yet. It was nice that she hadn’t seen the need to either, but Dia knew that she would eventually hit a wall of sorts some fine day.

Now, though, wasn’t that day.

The Seekers of Life hurried into a luxuriously decorated building. It was grand, but not ostentatious; the walls were finished with a perfection, but not full of overly grand structures, pictures and other little decorations. The floor was a smooth metal wood that was devoid of dust and had minimal coverings.

The grand double doors had thin and elegant gold filigrees on them. Nothing too obvious; one had to examine them closely to see them.

“Not bad,” Dia pronounced. “The owner is probably a high noble who knows his or her decorations well.”

“What makes you say that?” Nero asked.

“The little things, really,” Dia replied.

Kemata nodded. “It’s quite muted, though. These decorations. Saran is a bit more obvious. Money and power must be apparent at first glance.”

“Is that some kind of cultural precept?” Dia asked, curious.

“Prevent unnecessary conflicts,” Kemata added. “No one expects the weak to have a keen eye, so the strong must be obvious.”

“I think Claud would disagree with that,” Schwarz muttered. “But it is the Supremacy, after all. Different culture, different notions…”

“True,” Kemata replied.

The six of them plus Beth, who was busy holding onto Kemata and checking out her clothes, entered the hotel proper. The staff that were standing around burst into motion immediately, forming two lines that led up to the counter. They didn’t waste any time checking for obvious signs of paucity; it was clear that the people here had been trained to treat every guest equally.

Dia eyed the clerks and other staff as their little group headed towards the counter. There was something to be said about their discipline and uniformity; the owner clearly put a lot of emphasis into ensuring that his or her staff were all the epitome of neatness.

“Here are the prices for the various rooms,” the clerk at the counter said. “How long will you be staying?”

Farah glanced at the prices once, and then paused. In that pause, however, Risti cut in and said, “We’ll have a suite. For a month. Do you take payment by lifestones?”

“Y-yes.” The man at the counter paused. “These are the prevailing exchange rates.”

Risti took out two lifestones. “For our stay and our meals. I believe it’s freeflow, yes?’

“Freeflow, yes.” The man nodded. “This is the key. These cards are to access the buffet area.”

Risti passed around a bunch of cards. “Okay. Thank you. There’s no need to send someone to accompany us.”

The man froze. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Alright.” Risti beckoned at Dia and the others. “Let’s go.”