As a general rule of thumb, the battlements of Licencia’s city walls were a restricted area, accessible only to guards and other authorised personnel. Claud and Lily, who were one of these newly authorised personnel, were currently standing on the battlements and busy observing something.

The skies around Licencia had been blocked off by metal nets, in a fashion similar to the dome that protected Moon Mansion. Unlike the dome, however, these nets weren’t taut — they were somewhat saggy to trouble potential attackers who intended to cut those nets. It was a suitable measure against people who were fond of aerial methods, if nothing else.

“What a beautiful sight,” said Lily, who was holding on to a bag of candies. “Want one?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Claud replied.

The two of them were talking a stroll around the battlements. Claud wanted to check on some of his stealthier arrangements, which included sneaky ways to detect equally-sneaky actions done against his painstaking arrangements, as well as the backdoors he’d set for himself here.

“It’s a pity that the nets do block part of the view, though,” Lily noted. “Also, we can’t exactly shoot arrows through these nets, can we?”

“We still can,” Claud replied, “and our archers would enjoy the advantage too. They just need to come really close and shoot through the net directly. Incoming arrows might be deflected by the webs here.”

“Really?”

“…Probably, anyway.” Claud tapped his head. “It’s all theory until a hostile army rolls up to test our defences, at which point a few mana-users or skills might just tear the whole thing apart. But this is a cheap way of preventing sneaky fellows from coming through the sky.”

After teaching Lily how to check those nets, the two of them left the battlements. There wasn’t much to do there, save for the daily checks that nothing was amiss, and the guards saluted once more as he returned to the guardhouse to sign out.

“That’s about it, really,” Claud replied. “Normally, I would take a walk around the perimeter too, but apparently the guards have already done that today for some reason.”

“Why did they do that?” Lily asked. “That sounds suspicious. Maybe you should check it out. I mean, they didn’t do that yesterday or for the past few days, right?”

Claud, who was about to go back, paused. For some reason, he had found it natural back then, when the guards told him that they had patrolled the perimeter, but now that he thought about it…

“Huh.” His eyes flickered from point to point. “You do have a point. That is suspicious, now that I think about it. Why did they decide to do that? It’s not like they gave me a good explanation or anything, and the fact that they didn’t is indeed equally suspicious.”

“Maybe they were using a skill like Hypnosis or Compulsion,” Lily suggested. “The way you did it to the others. Is it possible?”

Claud thought about it for a moment, but his mind was a tad foggy. “Give me a moment.”

He produced a skillstrip that contained Cleanse, before tearing it into two. The fog in his head — which he hadn’t even noticed right until Lily brought it up just now — cleared immediately, and Claud forced down a gulp.

Something had been done to him mentally. Artefacts that guarded against mental attacks were really rare — he’d tried looking for them after the whole hoo-ha about Absolute Domination to no avail — which was a fatal opening for him. Therefore, he had tried to limit interaction with outsiders as much as possible, but to think that something like a compulsion skill had been used on him earlier on at the guardhouse…

“Well, I feel better, that’s for certain.” Claud grimaced. “There’s clearly a spy or two amongst the guards in Licencia. Some rapscallion, even. To think that I didn’t notice my oddity…thanks, Lily.”

When they arrived at the guardhouse earlier, Lily had chosen to remain outside to observe the guards and their training. However, that didn’t automatically exclude the people outside from guilt. If that mental skill could be used once, it could be used again and again, and even with a proxy. Influencing a person to control another person wasn’t something only a genius would come up with.

“How troublesome,” Claud muttered. “That said, they’ve left us an opening. The perimeter of the walls, right?”

Lily nodded. “At the risk of being exposed, the enemy tried to dissuade us from checking the base of the city walls. There’s probably something that’s…time-sensitive.”

The expectant gaze she gave Claud was enough to let him know that her words were chosen on purpose, prompting him to roll his eyes. “Really?”

“Oh, come on.”

The two bantered for a few seconds, before Claud let the smile slide of his face. “However, there’s one thing you’re wrong about, and that’s your suggestion to investigate.”

Lily’s face fell.

“By the two of us, that is,” Claud added hastily. “You did a great job in letting me know that there was something wrong with me, so thank you for that!”

Her face lit up like a moon, and after sparing a moment to muse on how readable Lily was, Claud said, “We shouldn’t do this alone. We’re the Moon Lords, and there’s some Moon muscle for us to use.”

“Dia?” Lily tilted her head.

“That’s right,” Claud replied. “She’s our best fighter; what’s the point of not getting her to come along if we’re going into danger? Maybe we should call Risti along too. She’s good at investigating things, and…”

Lily held up her hand and cleared her throat. “I have a better suggestion. Instead of dithering on who to bring, why not just take everyone along with us? The more the merrier, and there’s safety in numbers.”

Claud rubbed his nose. “That’s an awfully good suggestion, but for Farah’s sake, I suggest we leave her out of this. She’s already overworked to the bone, what with trying to sneak some dough outta Istrel’s plate and whatnot.”

“Okay, that’ll work fine too,” Lily replied. “Come on, let’s go back and give those buggers a nice surprise! That’ll teach them to use a skill on you!”

For some reason, she seemed more peeved than Claud himself at the fact that he had been attacked by some mental skill, which made him feel all warm and cosy inside. After indulging in that sentiment for a few minutes, Claud thanked her again, before returning back to Moon Mansion.

Dia and Schwarz were sparring with each other once again in the small garden. The difference in skill was so painfully obvious that Claud felt bad simply by spectating; Schwarz was an ordinary bartender and nothing else. Getting him to face off with a mana-user trained in the sword as a child was nothing more than physical abuse, and he found himself wincing whenever wood met flesh.

Heck, Schwarz was emitting blue light all over his body, but he still couldn’t react to Dia’s assault properly.

Another resounding crack blew past his ears, and something brown arced across the sky. Schwarz, whose hands were now empty, was staggering and heaving heavily.

“Lost control of your mana at the end there, eh?” Dia said. “Don’t push your limits too much, since it’s just a waste that way. You’ll deplete your mana a lot faster too, if you go above your controllable limits.”

“I understand.” Schwarz straightened his body slowly. “Thank you for your guidance.”

“Remember to practice your control at all times,” Dia replied, her voice emanating a stately, solemn quality. “Can you go for a fifth round?”

“Not today, I’m afraid.” The bartender’s words were formal, much like a student addressing his teacher, which was a novel sight to him. “There’s something they need, and I’m not in a good condition to fight another round.”

“Hmm?” Dia’s imposing presence deflated like a punctured ball as she turned around. “Oh, it’s you two! Did you need me for something?”

Claud felt his lips twitch at how her demeanour had diminished, but only fools would point that out. Instead, he said, “Yeah, we need some combat power. Right. Did something good happen today? You’re in a good mood for some reason.”

Dia thought for a moment. “Am I? You must be overthinking things.”

Claud exchanged glances with Lily, who looked back with a little smile on her face. He didn’t quite get what she was trying to convey, but he knew that she didn’t want him to press the topic. “Maybe I am, then. Now, we’ve come across something odd, so we were looking for you and the others to swing by — Schwarz, don’t even think of skipping this one out.”

The bartender froze. “Wait, I just finished training!”

“So did Dia,” Claud replied, “and she looks fine and dandy. Besides, I’m not expecting you of all people to fight; it’s just that I think I might need your input on whatever we see later.”

“…Fine.”

Claud nodded in satisfaction. “Now, where’s Risti?”

“Busy as usual…”