“Uwah.” Dia looked at the metal carriage. It looked like any old carriage, save for the fact that there weren’t any horses to pull it. Rather, at the back of the carriage, there was a small, box-like device that was linked to its rear wheels. To the sides, four seats had been lined up against the carriage walls, and adorning the top of the bronze carriage was a cheery, yellow canvas. “So this is a carriage that can move on its own?”

“That’s right,” Caroline replied. “Nero, you just need to sit here.”

She pointed at a seat in the very front, a seat placed behind the odd object that looked like a wheel on stilts. “That’s the steering wheel. Once there, you sit down here and channel your mana. The seat will suck it out of you.”

“What’s that drumstick like thing?” Nero asked.

“Don’t bother about it. That’s the speed setting. But too fast, and you can’t react in time. I’ve set it at the optimal setting for new drivers like you,” Caroline rattled on. “Don’t touch that. Next, to move forward, press down on the right pedal with your right leg. To bring the carriage to a halt, press down on the left pedal, the one painted in bright red. Be aware that if you step down on the halting pedal while you’re travelling really fast, the carriage is likely to flip over, and then I’ll kill you.”

“The carriage is going to kill me?” Nero asked.

“No, I will kill you,” Caroline replied. “This thing is expensive, so I’ll kill you and sell your corpse to someone who has an interest in dead young men.”

“…Okay. I won’t damage it. Sheesh.” Nero shook his head. “Even for a joke, that’s too dark.”

“But I’m not joking. Clarissa has personally promised to help kill you if you damage my mana wagon,” Caroline replied. “It better be in one piece when you drive it back, or I’ll use you as a power source, and then sell you off to some lonely person who wants a dead young man for company.”

“Stop mentioning that last bit!” Nero jumped onto the wagon. “I get it, okay? Don’t damage your mana wagon.”

“You better.” Caroline made a little snort, and then slipped to the side of the mana wagon. She murmured something, and Dia drew just close enough to hear her praise the chunk of steel and everything.

“Uwah,” Dia muttered. “We have a mana wagon fanatic here. Is there anyone who’s not a fanatic of something?”

She looked around. The two Holy Children were obviously off the list — they were zealots of their respective gods. Schwarz was devoted to his pursuit of profit and making booze, while Farah and Risti were fanatics of Princess Dia. Farah’s butler took care of Farah the way a servant would treat a god, so he was no good either.

Lily was either devoted to the princess or to Claud. Judging from how Claud decided to go on a honeymoon despite it being unsafe outside, it was clear that he was also devoted to Lily.

Therefore, and in a most startling conclusion, Dia came to the realisation that she was the only person that wasn’t devoted to something fanatically.

She caressed her sword gently, wondering if she had cleaned it today, and then shook her head. It sucked that she was the only sane person in this little house of lunacy, but at least everyone was devoted to something that wasn’t so bad. The Moon Lords needed someone with a clear vision and objective mind — it would seem that person was her.

“Alright, enough screwing around,” said Clarissa. “Nero, you understood my instructions, right?”

“Yeah,” Nero replied.

“Good boy,” Clarissa replied, rubbing his head. Nero squirmed, but Clarissa’s hands continued to pat his head, unabated. The oddly maternal sight made Dia think about her own mum for a moment, who would have been around the same age as the Holy Daughter of the White Church if she were still alive.

Letting out a small sigh, she climbed up the small steps at the right of the wagon and settled down on one of the seats. Her bag had been stuffed with Schwarz’s HELPS — his High Energy, Large Portion Servings — as well as some of the super-sweet energy bars that Dia had fed her aunt with. Other than that, there were also a few slabs of salted roast meat and some biscuits.

This was enough food for an entire week, but their expected trip was at most two days. Apparently, Nero had enough mana to operate the mana wagon continuously without any break for the whole journey, but Schwarz had prepared more anyway.

“In that case, you two should prepare to move out. Time is of the essence, and the White Church is the closest church to the appearance of the Moon Emissaries. Anything we detect could help us interpret the situation and relay essential information to the other churches.” Clarissa closed her eyes for a moment. “The Coloured Gods’ Bearers of Destiny will soon make a move; whether we can protect the peace from the Moons and the Dark might very well rest on this matter.”

“It will,” said Caroline. “Sudden Inspiration told me so. Why did you think I took out a whole bunch of skillsticks for Nero?”

“Hopefully. For the sake of peace…” The Holy Daughter of the White Church let out a long sigh. “You two should go now. Take this chance to get familiarised with the mana wagon and everything too.”

Nero took a look at the wagon and gulped. “Okay. I won’t spoil it…promise.”

Looking like a soldier that was headed off to the frontlines, he hopped onto the wagon. A lot of people were staring at the two of them — the mana wagon was left at the booth that governed entry into Moon Mansion — and Dia felt a bit conscious from all the attention directed at her.

Fortunately, Nero’s seat proved to be more prominent, and the mana wagon began to move as the odd, box-like machine at the back of the wagon hummed to life.

“Whoa,” Nero’s voice came from the seat at the very front. “This is cool.”

“Better wave goodbye while you can,” Dia replied, her left hand waving at the others.

“Nah, I’m fine. This is really cool,” Nero replied. “So, I just need to keep stepping down on this pedal, right? Okay, gotta be careful, me. I don’t want to be killed and sold to some shady fellow…”

The streets turned into a nice blur, but Dia could still easily make out the details of every shop. Within moments, they had turned out of Moon Street, and the mana wagon clattered on merrily to the north gate. For a moment, Dia wanted to ask the guardhouse if they did see Claud and Lily leave and if so, in which direction. It was possible that they could still catch up to them with this neat mana wagon, if they went along the same route, but Dia dropped that idea a few moments later.

For one, Claud wouldn’t bring Lily southwards, since there used to be a certain Moon Emissary waiting in that direction. Second, the huge gate meant for horse carriages had already been cleared — presumably by Caroline, who had probably suspended all entry by horse carriages until the mana wagon left — which meant that Nero had sped through the gate in a blur.

Whoops.

Either way, however, the two of them were now trundling on the main road south. Their route onwards was simple — travel to Farah County first, and then head further south from there. The area in which the Moon Emissary was killed lay between Daybreak and Farah, a vast prairie that was now apparently a ruined place.

Incidentally, Farah had intended to sabotage Daybreak County in the event of war, but it would seem that the Moon Emissary had done the job for her…and then doubled down, since whatever power that had struck it down had also destroyed the roads leading out of Daybreak.

On the plus side, the white humanoids that had occupying Count Daybreak’s territory had left the city. Apparently, the foot soldiers of the Moons had departed the county to the attack, but since the attack had covered an enormous area, Dia was confident that they could make it there, have Nero do whatever he was supposed to do, and then scram back home before anything else happened.

“Wow, we’re travelling at unimaginable speeds,” Dia noted. “What’s it like on your end?”

“Thrilling,” Nero replied. “Can I whoop out loud? I really want to yell and scream. This thing travels faster than a leisurely mana-walk, and I like it. It’s fast enough, it’s not a drain on my stamina, and I get to sit back and things fly past me.”

“Now I feel like trying it.”

“It’ll drain your mana within two hours. Go and digest the pure-ranked lifestones Clarissa gave you and become a bi-folder. Once that happens, you’ll be able to operate the mana wagon for eight or so hours.”

“What happens if I damage it?”

“…Never mind. Let me continue to operate it. I get a feeling that she won’t believe me if I told her that it was you who damaged it,” Nero replied. “Just…go and focus on becoming a bi-folder. It’ll be good if you become one before we arrive at our destination.”

“Alright.” Dia took out the small sack of lifestones that Clarissa had given her and focused her mind.