Thankfully, Claud’s little quivering heart wasn’t affected by the next two directives that came spewing out of that Moondamned bartender’s mouth. The second one was to locate and then “politely ask” any foreign mana-users over for a cup of tea in the Nightfall Palace, where Nightfall’s fiancée would handle the, uh, pleasantries. It was just an extension of his original duties, and more importantly, he was the best person for the job.

So far, Claud hadn’t met any privileged person who didn’t like to be flattered.

The third directive was investigating the owner of the Absolute Domination skill, but since Claud didn’t want to let the others know about his own name for that thing, he had gone along with their previously-agreed on name, ‘Enhanced Domination’.

That task was almost certainly a waste of time, however, since Claud was fairly confident that the skill needed less than a day to bring out its effect. That said, investigating anyone who came into contact with Rodrio was probably going to result in some discoveries anyway, so this matter would fall onto Risti and Schwarz.

“Anything else?” Claud asked.

“Right, the count’s aide will be arriving at Moon Mansion soon. He’ll be helping me to draw my mana circuits,” said Schwarz.

Worried, Claud asked, “Do you have enough lifespan for this? Are you aiming to become a one-folder or a sub-folder?”

“One-folder,” Schwarz replied. “Apparently, one-folders can pump mana into skills to make them stronger. That’ll be a great help to me.”

Like him, Schwarz didn’t reveal what his skills were. Generally, people who were in a close enough position to ask Claud about such things would refrain from doing so, since they understood enough about him to know that he wouldn’t answer. For Schwarz, however, a terrifying legend about how people woke up with pounding headaches after asking a certain bartender about his skills had spread throughout Licencia…and arguably the Istrel Dukedom itself.

“Alright. We should stay here for the next few hours, then,” Claud replied. “Just to watch over you.”

The others nodded. Lily got up a moment later. “Want to play some games? It’s not like we have anything to do now, since the two of you worked hard this morning.”

Schwarz tilted his head. “Sounds like a good idea. You know what they say about all work and no play, after all. Turns Claud into a dull boy.”

“Why are you using me as an illustration?”

“Because you’re convenient?”

“Now that just sounds totally wrong…” Claud rolled his eyes. “But playing some cards might be fun. Didn’t you order a rather interesting game called Old Maid from Lostfon? Those cards are a refreshing take on the usual hearts and clubs, and the instructions look fun too. After we’re done with the usual bar games, let’s try that out.”

“Old Maid?” Farah asked, sinking into contemplation a moment later. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s something that was unearthed from the Celestia Ruins. Remember that punk from Lostfon? Yeah, he found a whole bunch of items there, including fizzy drinks and everything.” Schwarz clicked his teeth. “He’s part of the Profiteers, now that I think about it.”

“Celestia Ruins?” Claud rubbed his nose. “That’s like the fourth time I heard about it. What’s that place exactly?”

“Huge, vast ruins from an old age.” Schwarz lowered his volume. “They apparently predated the Second Godsfall.”

Claud blinked. “Uh. When was the Second Godsfall?”

“Sixty thousand years ago, give or take a couple hundred. It’s a really neat place, apparently. The ruins are…kinda free-floating, I guess. They move around and items randomly drop out every so often.”

“Drop out? Move around?” Claud tried to imagine the ruins through the bartender’s description, but ruins that could move around just didn’t make sense to him at all. “How does that even happen?”

Lily sauntered back into the room, a bunch of games in her hand. “Would it make sense if I say ‘Celestia, the floating sky ruins?”

“Floating—” Something like an explosion shook his mind, and Claud found himself trembling. “A floating ruin?!”

He gestured randomly, making some wriggly motions with his hand.

“Yes,” Lily replied. “It’s a floating island that moves from place to place. It has been floating above Grandis for the past few decades, and when it moves, things can fall out.”

“Which is how some lucky fellow from Lostfon got his hands on lots of odd things,” Schwarz added. “Simply being known as a relic from the past gives them so much value that I feel that my alcoholic drinks are under-priced.”

“You sound jealous,” Claud noted.

“How could I not? I’ve analysed some of the liquors that fell from Celestia, and they’re no different from my drinks. Why, then, do they command upwards of a few thousand middle-ranked lifestones, while mine are just around five or so gold?” The bartender sighed. “I’m jealous.”

“Hard not to,” Claud muttered. “Should we find some time to follow Celestia around when we have time?”

He didn’t mention anything about flying to the ruins, however. That was actually an option, and the more Claud heard about it, the more he liked that notion. However, the danger was equally huge — if he didn’t guess wrongly, there were probably a bunch of incredibly strong mana-users in Celestia. After all, flight was not something any random person could learn — only the crazy or the privileged could take to the sky.

Claud, as someone who knew that the best way to flee was up, was the former. For the likes of Count Nightfall and Zulan Patra, were the latter. Therefore, his trip to Celestia, if it ever happened would be fraught by overwhelmingly rich and thereby snobbish people, or insane fools like himself.

It was not for the normal people sitting around him.

His eyes fell on Lily, and he struck one name off the list of normal people.

“Are you thinking something rude?” Lily asked. “You have a very punch-able expression on your face right now, and my fists are aching.”

“My face muscles cramped up for some reason,” Claud replied. “Probably because Schwarz gave us very weird missions and directives. Like the one that tells us to find Tot.”

“Hmm. Makes sense.” Lily glanced at the cards in her hand, before tossing it over to Schwarz. “I’ll forgive you.”

“Since when was having an odd expression on one’s face a crime?” Claud muttered.

“It isn’t, but the crime for making me want to punch you is!” Lily laughed.

“You’re just bullying me at this point.”

“Alright, alright, the two of you. Calm down.” Schwarz, who had been shuffling the cards expertly for the past minute, began to hand out the cards. Before long, the deck of fifty-two cards had been split into four. “What are you, kids?”

“Not me.”

“Nope.”

Claud and Lily exchanged glances, and then looked away. Farah rolled her eyes at that sight, before saying, “Let’s play Bluff. I need to practice my diplomatic skills.”

“Um, sure. Go ahead.” The master thief decided not to think too hard about why bluffing and diplomacy were related to each other.

Farah placed four cards, face down in the middle of the pile. “Alrighty then. Four fives.”

Everyone eyed her, but no one dared to call her out. After a while, Schwarz cleared his throat and placed down a single card. “One five.”

Claud blinked, as did Lily. Every deck only had four of the same number, so how were there five fives already? The two of them exchanged glances once more, but Claud was hiding some consternation in his face. He didn’t have a four, a five or a six — players could only play cards that were plus one, minus one or equal to the previously played card.

Steeling his expression, Claud said, “One six.”

“Bluff.”

“Bluff.”

“Bluff.”

The three of them called out the same time, and the master thief felt a vein in his head twitch. Without even waiting to show what card he had actually played, he grabbed the small pile and stuffed it into his hands.

“Wait a minute.” Claud examined the new cards. “You two cheaters.”

“Not our fault if you didn’t say anything, is it?” Farah had a shit-eating grin on her face, and Claud abruptly empathised with how Lily was probably feeling a moment ago. Farah had tossed down four random cards, each of them definitely not a five.

Who the heck lies on the first round? Feeling aggrieved, Claud started by placing four random cards in the middle.

“Bluff!”

As three voices yelled the same word in unison, Claud found himself doubting his entire life, of which half was definitely spent in really shady circumstances. He had ample experience in fooling others, so why?

Muttering darkly under his breath, Claud decided to play it honest for now. One day, when Risti and Dia came back, he would be able to shine.

Probably, anyway. However, from how this round started, he had a sinking feeling that he was going to place last…