“Rise and shine, Dia!”

Dia rubbed her eyes blearily. Faint sunlight trickled through the trees, and as the scent of the forest registered once more in her nose, she abruptly remembered her current location.

“Risti?” Dia rubbed her eyes once more, but that action was enough to dislodge her from a delicate balance. Leaves, twigs and her life flashed before her eyes, and pain shot up from her bum as she fell from her makeshift bed.

“Ow! That hurt!” Rubbing her sore posterior, Dia looked around the forest, which was faintly illuminated by light trickling in.

Risti shimmed down the tree a moment later. “That looked like it might leave a crack or two.”

“Whose bum doesn’t have a crack?” Dia asked. “Urgh. What am I even saying? Whatever. Let me wash up a bit, and we can be on our way.”

After the two of them were done, they set off on their journey home once more. The journey from Nachtville to Licencia was two-thirds complete; Dia and Risti would soon arrive home. It would be an understatement to say that she was looking forward to going back.

“Ah, the joys of civilised life.”

“Tell me about it,” said Risti. “I haven’t been able to do anything of actual substance ever since we left Licencia.”

“You helped solve a murder, and that isn’t anything of actual substance?” Dia asked. “I’m useless, even as a, um, body double.”

“You don’t sound all that worried for your mistress,” Risti observed. “Do you know something we don’t?”

Dia froze. “Let’s just say that she’s as safe as me right now, and leave it at that. While I remain at freedom, she will not be captured by the Shadows of Grandis or whatever.”

“What is she doing right now?” Risti asked, her eyes glowing.

“L-living a very ordinary life,” Dia replied.

“An ordinary life…” Risti had a sombre look on her face, but she soon discarded it. “Better that than being captured and everything. Still, how is she able to evade my scouring skills and networks? I don’t really get it. I know she teleported away from Lustre, but even then, there should have been reports of a really rich person walking around in the next day or two, right?”

Dia thought back to the chain of effects that had occurred shortly after her escape, and decided to toss out a morsel of truth. “Something happened right after she reappeared at her destination.”

“Something happened?”

“Yeah,” Dia replied. “An unexpected turn of events that hid her well.”

“Really?” Risti tutted. “Well, at least the Shadows of Grandis are barking up the wrong Moon. For some reason, Istrel dispatched another group of Shadows to Licencia yesterday, saying that the princess was in the city.”

“They must be after me,” Dia replied. It was unlikely for them to have figured out that she was the true Dia masquerading as a fake one, but since she had clashed with the Shadows a few times…

“An amusing thought just struck me,” said Risti. “What happens if I, Lily and Farah were to go with you to face those Shadows? We’re all bodyguards of the princess. They should then realise that they were just following a bunch of fans.”

“Amusing, yes.” Dia thought about Count Nightfall’s face when she and Risti had gone over for a banquet some time ago. The count, back then, had probably thought them as some crazy, hardcore fans of Princess Dia, if his expression was of any indication.

Admittedly, however, she didn’t know that there were actually other people who actually thought looking like someone else was a great idea. Before they met the Dusk Daggers, Dia had assumed that it was just the oddballs in the Moon Lords, but if it was a legitimate lifestyle…

“I should do more research on this phenomenon,” Dia muttered.

“On what?”

“On the, uh, Shadows! Why can Istrel move them around? Things like that,” Dia replied, in a voice that was just slightly smoother than velvet. “Didn’t Schwarz or someone say that the bunch I offed were actually under the command of the duke and not the Emperor? Where did he get a new batch of flunkies from?”

Risti patted her back. “Dia. You’re thinking in terms of years. But Duke Istrel has been alive for sixteen centuries. Even if he made a contact in high places once every two years, that’s around eight hundred such contacts. Sending a few Shadows to replenish his losses isn’t going to be all that much.”

“Oh.” Dia frowned. “I thought something like that should be far more serious, though. An inquiry from Emperor Grandis, and…”

“Well, the tri-folder that was killed by Count Nightfall did elicit an enquiry, but judging from the state of the administration, he’s probably going to be questioned next year or something.”

“Next year?”

“Yeah, that’s how it’s like in the continent centre.”

“What’s it like in Grandia?” Dia asked. “Don’t try to hide it from me. You’re someone from the continent capital.”

“Who’s hiding anyone from you?” Risti replied, rolling her eyes. “It’s just to everyone, I’m Risti, not the daughter of the Association President. A Moon Lord, not some high-class lady from the capital. Besides, I literally said that I was the daughter of the Association President, right? I said that from the very start. It’s just you lot who think I was hiding something.”

“Sorry.” Dia looked around at the forest. “It’s just that I still find it very hard to take in. Our Risti, the daughter of someone awesome…”

“That’s not the way I want to be known by, though,” Risti replied. “I don’t like it, bluntly speaking.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Dia looked away, just in time to notice a low-hanging branch. Ducking under it, she straightened back up just to see Risti shrug.

The two continued to mana-walk for three hours or so, until the first hints of exhaustion appeared on Risti’s face. Her superimposition value was lower than Dia’s, which was why she ran out of mana first. This was a usual sight to Dia, however, and it just so happened that it was lunchtime.

“The soles of my feet hurt,” Dia grumbled, before removing her boots.

“When do they never hurt?” Risti replied. “Look, we are based in a city. We’re not like the Dusk Daggers, who spend their whole life walking around the continent to solve issues. It’s natural to grow soft after spending months lying around and everything.”

“At least I keep up my practice, though,” Dia replied. “But the rest of you guys are deskbound most of the time.”

“Yeah.” Risti took out a biscuit and nibbled on it. “Want one?”

“Oh, thanks.”

The dry, crumbly biscuit made Dia think about the sumptuous dishes that were waiting for her in Moon Mansion, but as they were right now, resting would increase their overall progress better.

Nibbling on a second biscuit, Dia was about to lean on a nearby tree when the sound of hooves rang through the forest. It was a fairly large squad of knights, each of them bearing the insignia of the Istrel Dukedom on their chest. This was the third one that had passed them by so far; by the looks of it, a troop or two was gathering in Licencia.

“Looks like it’s finally starting. Do you think the three dukes would go so far as to siege cities and towns?” Risti asked.

“Probably,” Dia replied, thinking about the history of Grandis. “For the first time in millennia, Emperor Grandis hasn’t sent out a supervising squad to oversee the entire war. This can only mean that he wants to see an unrestricted conflict. I wonder what brought up this change.”

“Maybe this war is too big for him to adequately supervise,” Risti suggested. “After all, we’ve never had a war between dukes before. The history of the Grandis Empire is too small for that, so he’s being very cautious.”

“True.” Dia nodded. “Besides, the observers the Emperor dispatches are people who are well-versed in all laws. There can’t be that many of them who are both able and willing to come over here. It’s too big a conflict to moderate properly.”

She thought for a few more seconds. “In that case, why moderate at all? The Emperor could just wash his hands of the whole thing and be done with it. After all, the city guards will stop any atrocities from being inflicted on the common people.”

“Your theory makes sense, but there’s one problem.”

“Problem?”

“Yes,” Risti replied. “And it’s that the entire administration has to bend over backwards whenever he gives an order. Even the three rulers cannot do anything but obey. Therefore, whether he has enough people or not is not the issue.”

“He chose not to moderate this conflict on purpose?” Dia asked. “What is the Emperor thinking?”

“My father wishes he knew too.” Finishing up the biscuit, Risti got back up onto her feet. “Come on, let’s go. We’re still some distance away from the city, and I don’t like walking around at night.”

“Alright.”

Dia sent another gaze at the knights shrinking in the distance. Before long, they, the Moon Lords, would take over the defence of the city, and the safety of the ordinary people within.

It would be their greatest test yet.