Carriages continued to flow out of the city, while families pulled carts and wagons behind them. From afar, Claud could tell that these carts and wagons were filled with food, clothes and necessities for living. In the end, despite so many reassurances, the people of Lostfon were fleeing their home, making their way to safer areas.

“Do you think they’ll come back?” Lily asked.

“The frontlines are in this very dukedom. I suspect they won’t even have a home to return to,” Claud replied quietly. “I’m sure this city will be destroyed or damaged in the war that is bound to follow.”

The only thing stopping them from venturing into neutral territory was the threat of the Moons hanging over Claud’s head. Lily wasn’t going to abandon him either, so, in the end, the best possible ally that Claud could ask for was the great Dark right now.

Fortunately, at least, he hadn’t killed a Dark-aligned Bearer of Destiny yet, or else they would be fleeing to the wilderness or something.

The two of them fiddled with the emptied bowls of porridge for a moment, before getting up together. The old man nodded at them in thanks as he received their cutlery, and then let out a sigh. “You two…are you two really staying here? It’s dangerous. See all these people leaving the city? They’re clever people. And you said it yourself earlier, boy.”

He pulled out three cups. “Want some? On the house.”

“We’ll pay for it,” said Lily. “Running a place like an inn when the city’s bleeding people is going to be tough.”

“Nah.” The old man poured out some orange juice. “Young’uns, Count Lostfon has waived all tax and rent costs for anyone who chooses to remain here. That’s why there’s profit to be made here, but who dares to make it?”

Claud took a sip and licked his lips on instinct. The orange juice was well made; the pulp had been strained out and he could tell that there had been a conscious effort to make the whole things slide down his throat. “Merchants in debt? This is good orange juice, by the way. Have you considered mixing the famous fizzy drink with it? Turn it bubbly and everything.”

The old man raised an eyebrow. “What does that taste like?”

“This,” Lily replied, “but with a nice kick.”

“Maybe we should get some here,” Claud commented, his eyes on Lily’s drooling lips. Reaching out to wipe the corner of her mouth, he finished off his drink before she could reach out for it, and Lily looked at him with a sad light in her eyes.

“You two are cute,” the old man replied. “I suppose the young missy here would want another cup, yeah?”

Claud took out a silver coin and handed it to the old man. “A few more, I think.”

“A man of good taste!”

“Comes with good drinks,” Claud replied smoothly, before plucking the newspaper out from Lily’s hands. “Is there any…uh, unofficial news from the Quies Dukedom?”

“You’re asking me this?” The old man eyed Claud once. “I don’t really care about what goes on in the neighbouring county, let alone a dukedom, but if you really want to know…there’s a Profiteer friend of mine still staying in the city.”

“Oh, a Profiteer?” Claud felt his spirits rise. The Profiteers were a guild dedicated to the enterprise of earning lots of money; they had a network that spanned the entirety of Grandis…and if Schwarz was to be believed, the entire world too. “Where is the Profiteer?”

“You two know of them, huh.” The old man blinked. “Funny. Usually, people blink three times and ask me what’s a Profiteer, but I suppose people with good taste also have a good swath of knowledge. Anyway, if you want to find her, she’s currently staying in this very inn.”

“Lucky us.”

“She’s quite the heavy sleeper, though,” the old man replied with a chuckle. “Might have to wait for the afternoon or when her stomach rumbles. You two younglings go make out in a corner or something; if you need a curtain, I can pull one out for you.”

“Innkeep…”

The old man laughed at the two of them. “Ah, it’s good to be young.”

After messing with the two of them for a little while longer, the old man sent them away, with the excuse that he was too old to watch youngsters flirt.

“Still, if he saw Count Nightfall and Caroline, would he still say the same thing?” Claud wondered, before stopping beside a bed of flowers. The city square was mostly deserted, and many mobile foodstalls had been arranged neatly in the middle of the place. The juxtaposition of wheeled foodstalls and an empty area was enough to make Claud worried once more, but before he could voice his doubts yet again, Lily took out a small sweet.

“Here.” Lily unwrapped the sweet for him. “Open wide!”

A nice, chocolatey taste filled his mouth, and Claud felt the inside of his mouth water up immediately. It wasn’t just sweet; sweetness could be nauseating at high enough levels, but this was just right.

“You’ve improved,” Claud forced out, before returning his tongue to the more important duty of savouring that little ball in his mouth. Regretfully, however, the thing began to melt after a while, and a sour aftertaste followed.

“How does it taste?”

“There’s a sticky and sour aftertaste,” Claud replied. “Might clog up the throat if someone’s unlucky.”

“Aftertaste…it might be the core, then.” Lily took out a notebook and scribbled in it. “Alright. Let’s go with the next one, then. How about this?”

They spent the next two hours testing sweets. It was nice to see Lily keeping with her ambitions and hobbies even in trying times, especially since he didn’t have much in the way of hobbies himself. Claud’s ambition was to live forever and admire whatever random flowers he saw on the way — which was a metaphor for anything interesting — but with the dark clouds right about to let loose a torrent of rain, that didn’t seem quite possible right now.

While a part of Claud was angry at how they were seemingly wasting time, another rational part of his mind was already pointing out that his Mana Circuit Superimposition was already at 3.95; Crown had stopped him from advancing any further.

As for the reason…until Claud learned how to interpret fifteen meeps in a row, there was no way he would know the answer. It probably had something to do with the tribulation, but until Claud learned what exactly this so-called tribulation was, he wasn’t going to go near it with a kilometre-long pole.

If only Crown could be a bit more…articulate.

His pocket stirred a moment later, and Crown rolled out from it, falling onto the bench with a little thud. “Meep?”

“I didn’t even say anything!” Claud replied hastily, his voice quiet and hushed. “How did you wake up?”

“Meep.”

“Shhh! Before Throne wakes up too!”

Lily laughed. “We should just go back to our room. Throne’s stirring awake, and I can have you do my tests there instead.”

“But it doesn’t feel like a date when we’re in the room. I feel pressured to make more tools, and you’re going to continue burning your mana circuits,” Claud replied. “I want today to be a rest day for the both of us, especially since tomorrow is going to be insane.”

“I wish I know what’s going to happen next,” said Lily. “What happens when the great Dark descends? They’ll launch an immense offensive against the territories held by the Moons, right? What happens during that offensive? Will we humans be slaughtered when the Dark gains control over the outer areas? And will that barrier fall?”

“You sure give this more thought than me,” Claud mumbled.

“Which is quite unlike you, really,” Lily replied.

Claud paused, and then lowered his head. “Yeah. I’m just frightened, really.”

He wasn’t just frightened of the enormous dangers that would befall the world; this much he knew. The fear within him was also directed at something else, but he himself didn’t know what that something was. If he had to liken it to something or someone, it would be a shadow, lurking in the corners of his eyes.

Something.

Someone.

Claud didn’t know what that thing was, but he knew that it existed.

Lily shook him gently, and then offered him a bottle of water in silence. Patting his shoulder slowly, she hummed, a lilting tune that her mother sang to her when she was a child. He had heard it quite a few times in the past few days, whenever he couldn’t sleep.

Despite himself, Claud laughed. “I’m not a child.”

“But you definitely want to lie down on my lap and rest,” Lily replied. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’re afraid of, and it’s because I can’t hear it. I wish I can become stronger, better able to share your burdens, but…”

With a little leap, Crown hopped onto Claud’s lap and spun on an edge. “Meep!”

Lily glared at Crown and flicked its top, knocking Crown over. “Hey! Way to spoil the moment!”

“Meep?”

“Urgh.” Lily picked up the little box and then patted it. “Fine. I can’t even get angry at you, can I? Claud, pop this guy back before Throne wakes up and they start meeping together.”

“I think we should just go back and let them meep away happily, rather,” Claud replied, amused at how she had taken up his position from earlier. “We also need to make plans for tomorrow too. I think it’s too dangerous to observe the armies of the great Dark in person; we should put our spoils to good use…”