Dia, who had been blinded by the pop-up of over a hundred blue screens, couldn’t help but feel some fear when Claud and the attendant with them made her sit down on the floor. A small fear had taken root in her heart at this moment of helplessness; it was a vulnerability that she had never experienced, especially a vulnerability in the public eye. If someone were to fire an arrow at her or something right now, she would be unable to stop it at all.

Forcing herself to remain calm in this sudden incapacitation, she regulated her breathing, casting out her senses to feel the world around her. Claud, who had saved her by using two valuable skillstrips, was now pacing around her warily, presumably worried that someone would strike in her moment of weakness.

Her heart was still pounding when the deluge of screens vanished. Like snow in the spring sun, they melted away a few minutes later, revealing the world around her once more.

“Done?” Claud asked.

Dia looked at the mana-user, and then accepted the hand he extended. “Thanks.”

As she got up, Dia couldn’t help but notice that Claud’s nose was bruised and bleeding. “What happened to your nose?”

“It kissed the back of your head very hard,” Claud replied, a faint — if pained — smile on his face. “Can’t say that I enjoyed the experience. Well, I suppose this will be a good object lesson for you, either way. Be careful of someone trying to kill you with this method; the wrong skill activating at the wrong time might just end you.”

Dia considered his words for a moment. “Yeah, you’re right.”

She knew what he was referring to. Earlier, when the assassins had abruptly vanished and she was fending off a storm of arrows, Dia had destroyed a skillstick that Claud had tossed at her. He had done it with good intentions in mind, but she wouldn’t be that lucky all the time.

“Good that you know.” His face took on a hint of excitement. “Let’s go up into the middle areas. I rarely go on a shopping spree; I might as well spend my remaining gold on gearing up.”

For some reason, Claud was oddly enthusiastic about buying equipment. It reminded of those…friends she’d made when she was still the princess of the Lustre Dukedom; the way they took to any new developments or trends was similar to Claud.

At the thought of home, her chest hurt slightly. Despite the way her father acted, he probably had found it hard to take action too. That would explain the half-hearted measures he took to apprehend them — now that she had enough time to think through the whole thing, the idea that he had allowed her to escape to seek out the real culprit was very possible.

But…

Father, I don’t think I can do it after all. Tot is a monster from before the Third Godsfall. How am I supposed to capture such a person? Dia took a deep breath, before dispelling whatever worries she had. There was, of course, another road of survival available to her — a life of fleeing from the Shadows of Grandis. Her brother was safe, this much was already a given; so long as she remained alive and at liberty, there was still hope.

“Say, Claud.”

“Hmm?”

“What’s the most important thing when it comes to pursuing one’s hope and dreams?” Dia asked.

For a moment, Claud paused, clearly thrown off by the sudden non-sequitur. Wiping the blood on his nose off, he smiled. “Easy. The most important thing is to stay alive. And free. With life comes hope, and all else follows. Why do you think I’m so eager to spend on defensive artefacts? Because they help in ensuring that.”

“With life comes hope…” Dia nodded. “Let’s go up and check out those defensive artefacts.”

“Mind leading us?” Claud asked.

The attendant nodded. “I must really thank you for the sales. I gain a commission of them, and today’s sales have been very, very fruitful.”

“Yes,” Claud replied testily, “I knew that from like last year, Holtman. Right, what happened to the boss?”

“Off searching for Tot.”

Dia could see Claud’s nostrils flare, as if he was reprimanding the absent person for his recklessness. A moment later, he shook his head and lowered his volume. “Tell him to abort the search. The latest intelligence we have tells us that the Thief of Time is a monster from before the Third Godsfall. He is capable of taking on divine-backed ritual magic and emerge unharmed. Oh, and he does charity.”

“Are you serious?” Holtman asked, leading them to a small room. Dia had seen rooms like these before; they were called elevators, a composite artefact that allowed rapid vertical movement. Punching a few buttons, the door closed behind them, which was when Claud saw fit to continue his words.

“Yes, I am.” Worry clouded his face. “You can check with the master at Triple-D. He’s likely to have more information coming in too.”

“A monster from the Third Godsfall engaging in charity? That’s something right out of a folktale,” said Holtman.

“Colidra’s stories are rarely wrong, though.” A hint of bitterness flashed across Claud’s face. “I wish he was wrong for this part about the Third Godsfall bit, but…”

Dia could understand why he felt that way. The Third Godsfall was an age of unprecedented strife, a millennium of war and death. Seven thousand years ago, nine mortals stepped into the ranks of ennea-folders — nine-fold mana-users — and waged a war against the heavens.

Over a thousand years, the Six Gods of Virtue — Hope, Kindness, Diligence, Temperance, Patience, Humility — were defeated, their Divine Kingdoms scattered into the winds, in the same way these six gods conducted the Second Godsfall to usurp the Primordial Pantheon.

But that was history best explained later. In the course of the Third Godsfall, the Coloured Gods recruited the strongest folders of their age, beings second only to them in power, and tore through the heavens. Most of them died, their sacrifice reciprocated by the newly-ascended gods through a bloodline benefaction, but some of them had made it through that epochal period.

After the great battle, the surviving eight-fold mana-users became the Chromatic Lords, guardians that cut down any who would pose a threat to the new order…or so legend went.

“I’ll send word to my boss,” said the attendant. “Thanks for the warning.”

“Empty words don’t do me much good. Tell him to prepare some fun artefacts for me to buy, and I’ll be happy.”

The attendant rolled his eyes. “Boys will be boys, I guess. Always loving those new toys.”

The elevator doors slid open a moment later to reveal a considerably more packed area. A few customers were milling around a silvery wall, where swords of all shapes and sizes were hanging on.

“Why are so many people looking around at that wall?” Dia asked, curious.

“Swords are the mainstream weapon of this age,” Claud replied. “And besides, they look cool. Even if you don’t use them, having one hanging off your side is great.”

Dia thought through his words. “That sword hanging off your belt…by chance, is it for show?”

“Not really, although it’s not as good as my trusty knives,” Claud replied.

“Knives?” Dia noted the plural form of the word. “How many knives do you have on you?”

“You don’t want to know,” Claud replied.

“R-right.” Dia cleared her throat. “Anyway, what did you want to buy again?”

“Defensive artefacts,” Claud replied. “Something you should definitely invest in, given your dreams and aspirations.”

“Right away. Please, follow me.” Holtman gestured to his left, and then led the way down a rather spacious aisle, where he began his explanation. “We stock ten different defensive artefacts here, which—”

His words were interrupted by Claud, who had grabbed one of each artefact. “I’m done.”

“You didn’t listen to my explanation.”

“Barrier, barrier, localised wall, wind wall, skin-level barrier, barrier, barrier, barrier, anti-projectile field and a projectile deflection field.” Claud paused. “Did I get that right?”

“How do you know all that?” Holtman asked.

“I did my research.” Claud rubbed his neck. “What were you expecting?”

“If you’re so worried about your own safety,” Dia found herself asking, “why did you only choose to buy defensive artefacts now? You could have done that a lot earlier, right?”

“Well, that was before I heard news about the Spear of Fate making his way here,” Claud replied. “And before those guys came for you. What were you expecting?”

Shaking his head, he wandered off towards the counter on this floor. Dia watched his silhouette retreat, and then turned her attention towards Holtman. “Tell me about those artefacts.”

“Of course, ma’am. This here is the…”

Pointing and gesturing, the attendant soon completed his explanation of the ten types of artefacts sold here. It didn’t take long before Dia settled on getting three artefacts — a Blooming Petals Ring, an Armguard of Projectile Deflection and a Spherical Sentinel. The first one created a wall of mana, the second diverted any arrows and weak attacks off at an angle, and the third created a shield that covered all directions.

It was quite an excessive line-up, in Dia’s opinion.

That opinion was retracted a moment later when she saw Claud return. The enigmatic fellow was now surrounded by multiple barriers, enough to make him look like a walking moon or something.

“That’s…”

“Isn’t this great?” Claud asked. “I feel more secure than ever now.”

Dia didn’t know how to reply to that, so she made do with making payment at the counter. After forking over three hundred and ninety gold, she followed the others down to the ground floor.

Trouble, however, seemed to be waiting for them there.