Four people sat around one of Moon Mansion’s many garden tables, their faces lined with worry. Dia had told them all about the Experiential Potions, and how one could make use of brain matter to create more potent variants. The others, who were all great at drawing connections, had immediately linked Zulan Patra’s grotesque death to the creation of Experiential Potions, like she intended.

Dia’s earlier reports about how the murderer named No.12 boasted of overwhelming skill with a spear probably had a part in it too, along with how spears thrown from outside the city had killed more than people.

“It’s been two hours,” said Schwarz. “We should move out and look for them before anything bad happens. The murderer might have set their eyes on the two of them, and since he could kill Zulan Patra…”

“That shouldn’t be the case,” Farah replied, cutting him off. “The bodies were in an advanced state of decay. It is unlikely that the murderer is still here, especially given the possibility of a furious retaliation by the elites of the White Church.”

“Better to be safe than sorry, though,” Schwarz replied. “Besides, the culprit killed—”

“If you ask me,” Risti interjected, “I don’t think Zulan Patra was killed through brute force. I think it’s possible that he was schemed against. Wasn’t there a report about him stealing a mana herb from some monster? After ditching his pursuer, he must have tried to ingest the herb immediately. From the arrogance he displayed above Licencia, it was entirely possible that he didn’t see the need to secure his surroundings.”

“Sneak attacks, then.”

“Yeah. Shortly after Zulan Patra vanished, the first victim of those spear attacks came, right? In fact, he never showed up after that single tussle with the Tri-head Snake, no?” Risti drummed her fingers on the bench. “The timing fits quite well, if you ask me.”

“So Zulan Patra robbed a mana herb, fled somewhere to ingest it, and was subsequently ambushed and everything. His brain was popped out to help create a whole bunch of Experiential Potions, and a few were given to the murderer behind the Nachtville cases.” Schwarz clicked his tongue. “In that case, what was the point of bringing his corpse here, into Licencia?”

Everyone fell silent.

Indeed, if everyone went by that theorised timeline, Zulan Patra would have been long dead. Why, then, would anyone see the need to lug a corpse to Licencia, secure a house, and then do all kinds of perverse actions to it?

“Maybe…he was alive?” Dia ventured.

“Ah, Dia. So adorable.” Farah chuckled. “If I ever laid my grubby hands on a hostile tetra-folder, you can bet my whole county that I’m going to kill him off first, and then think about other things later. Why would anyone leave him alive, and then cart him into a place with city guards?”

“M-maybe Zulan Patra was still alive when they began to use his brain?” Dia ventured. “In the first place, how much brain matter is required to make an enhanced Experiential Potion?”

“We just had breakfast,” said Schwarz. “There’s no need to bring stomach-churning topics like this up, okay?”

“If I throw up, I’m aiming the contents at you, Dia.” Risti pretended to heave in her direction, and then rolled her eyes. “I suppose I could ask my aunt that, though. She might know something about those enhanced Experiential Potions, although drinking bits of brain matter isn’t really helping my imagination.”

She got up. “Let me write a letter to her.”

Moments after she entered Moon Mansion, two familiar figures popped up at the booth, and the two of them entered sequentially. Dia let out a small sigh at that sight, as did everyone else. Nothing bad had happened to them in their little jaunt outside, contrary to just about everyone’s expectations here.

No one could blame her for those thoughts either — the last time Dia stepped out to open a bunch of bottles, she had been attacked by the Shadows of Grandis. However, now that she was using the Band of Duplicity to hide her lifeforce and mana signature, things were a lot more peaceful.

She was expecting them to be attacked or something, though. Dia hadn’t forgotten how their foray in Nachtville had gone — being assaulted by a fear-inducing skill even before they entered the city made for very…vivid memories and expectations.

“Lily!” Crowding around her with Farah, the two of them checked her from head to toe. There weren’t any injuries or whatnot, although her skin was oddly cold.

“Are you shivering?” Farah asked. “Did Claud dump some ice on you?”

“Wait, hold up. Why did you jump to that conclusion of all things?” Claud, who had been shoved away, protested. “Besides, if I did dump ice on her, her clothes would be wet, right?”

Dia glanced at Lily’s outfit, which was as dry as a bone, and then tilted her head. “In that case, why is her skin this cold?”

“We went inside a very cold room.”

Farah directed a wintry smile at Claud. “And pray tell, what kind of room was that?”

“Not one that a mind in the gutter might conjure up, that’s for sure.” Claud rolled his eyes, before a touch of seriousness settled on his face. “Captain Blake, the vice-commander of the Licencia city guards, wanted us to follow along while he reported the murder to the count’s fiancée, Caroline. After some twists and turns, Caroline got us to enter this really cold room with an odd, box-like artefact in the middle, and then activated it.”

“The Comms Console…” Farah narrowed her eyes. “Why did she bring you two there? It’s a top-level secret for counties, meant for confidantes and stand-ins to contact other people.”

“Yeah, that was precisely Claud’s question,” Lily replied. “Caroline used this skill called Sudden Inspiration this morning, and then found out that it would be to her benefit if we knew about that odd box…even if we don’t actually know how to use it.”

“Do you know how to use it?” Claud asked.

The way Farah squirmed at his question was somewhat interesting, and after muttering to herself for a while, she said, “W-well, counts like me or Nightfall won’t see the need to use it, though. I think I told some of you guys before, but us nobles have a shared information space we can use to talk to the others…although I haven’t used it ever since I arrived at Licencia.”

This was the second time Farah had mentioned this shared information space, and Dia found herself growing curious. If a countess like Farah had access to this space, whatever it felt like, her father would definitely have access too, no? Could Farah contact her father and…

Dia arrested that line of thought and cut it into shreds. Such thoughts were self-defeating — it would only bring disaster onto her, Farah and the others if the countess really agreed to her request. She just needed to hang on and let the Emperor work out that no one could have stopped the Thief of Time, and therefore no one should be at fault.

She was beginning to lose hope, though.

A small tap fell on her shoulder. “Dia?”

“Hm?” Dia looked up. “What’s wrong?”

“You looked troubled,” Lily replied. The others nodded, but fortunately, none of them accosted her with questions she couldn’t answer.

Farah rested her hand on Dia’s other shoulder. “Did those murders scare you? If you can’t sleep, or if you’re suffering from nightmares, I can double your workload. Once you’ve tired yourself out, you should be able to sleep soundly.”

“Stop trying to offload your work on Dia,” Schwarz’s voice rang out. “But I came up with some new drinks. You can try them — you’ll be fast asleep in minutes.”

“Stop trying to offload your failed creations on Dia,” Farah shot back.

“Failed? How dare you—”

“Alright, alright. Enough, the two of you.” Claud rubbed his head. “What are you, children? Farah, might I trouble you not to speak of his alcoholic experiments? The good master is overly-protective of his failed creations, and though it might displease you so, do spare him thought for his innumerable failings.”

Dia stifled a giggle. Whether Claud was actually defending Schwarz or not was up in the air, but the way he had abruptly broken into some flowing prose was rather indicative of which side he leaned to.

“Which novel did you pick that up from?” Lily asked.

“Learning to be a smooth talker is key to getting past guards,” Claud replied. “Didn’t I show you my skill back then? Come on. I know that I might act like a ruffian at times, but don’t ever look down on people’s ability to speaking smoothly…”

The anxiety-filled atmosphere had scattered at some point in time. Maybe it was the relief that everyone felt upon seeing the two of them returning back safely, but Dia found herself smiling faintly at the peaceful sight.

Even if this peace was a transient one.