Claud’s mind whirled madly as he led the teenager down the road. His goal was simple; he was supposed to impose order upon this tribulation by, according to his quest description, laying down an unerring foundation for the Frozen Emperor’s forces to eradicate all other contenders on the Aeon Span.

It sounded neat and easy, to be honest, but a simple glance would reveal two problems.

First, what did ‘unerring foundation’ mean? What defined an unerring foundation? Second, and more importantly, what exactly was this Aeon Span? This was the second time he’d come into contact with that word; the first time he had come across it was during the death of three Colour-aligned Bearers of Destiny.

Given the chronological setting of this world, it was clear that the Trial of Aeons had ended long ago. Perhaps it was something that followed the trial itself, but…

“My lord?”

“I’m new here,” said Claud. “Strong, but still new. And you know what they say. The Moons up high can’t outshine a candle at home. I need to know about this place, Rimestar. Tell me about this place.”

The young man nodded. “Yes, my lord. Rimestar City is the place built by the Seekers of Life following the abrupt appearance of the Frozen Emperor and his beloved’s passing. Legend has it that the Frozen Emperor killed every single remaining Bearer of Destiny that had gathered around his home on that day, but even with all his power, he couldn’t revive his beloved. He could only preserve her last breath, and then sought to become a god to bring her back.”

“That’s…a lot to unpack.”

The young man cleared his throat. “It’s an epic.”

“An epic…what, a play?” Claud rubbed his nose. “This whole thing—hm. It seems that there are people approaching us. A lot of people, in fact.”

The young man blanched immediately. “My lord, you must leave immediately. These people are probably Justus’ backers!”

“Justus…?”

The young man made a frustrated noise in his throat. “That boy you scared away earlier! He must have brought reinforcements back! My lord, you should leave first. I’ll delay them and lead them down another — ah!”

“Stay put here,” Claud replied, irritated. “I don’t know about you, but I’ll be better off choking on air if these fellows can even harm a single hair on my head. Now, do you mind going on with your story? Why did Rimestar become a place where strength alone was celebrated?”

The young man looked at the alleyway, and then back at Claud. “My lord, this isn’t the time for legends and history lessons!”

“Urgh. You aren’t going to tell me anything as it is now, right?” Claud muttered. “What’s your name, kid?”

“My lord! This isn’t the time for that!” the young man protested again. “In this city, the strong do as they please and the weak do what they must. And when you meddle with the kid, the elders show up! They’ll demand that you kneel, break your arms and legs and crawl out of the place! You won’t make it out in one piece!”

“Relax,” Claud replied. “Chill.”

He looked at the snowy ground. “Which, when I think about it, is a very appropriate word to use given the weather.”

“My lord…”

“Like I said, relax.” Claud listened to the closing footsteps, which were hurried. “What’s your name, by the way? I’ve been calling you ‘scrawny boy’ because of your size, but I would very much like to know your name.”

Before the young chap could answer, the approaching bunch of people had arrived before Claud.

“Kneel!”

Before Claud could respond to that demand, three fellows had been thrown onto the ground, the dim streetlights reflecting their horrible wounds on their face. Claud looked at the sight for a moment, and then eyed the young man, who had been struck dumb by the surreal sight of three bruised faces kneeling before them.

After a second or so, a young woman stepped out, moving with a grace that Claud associated with nobility. Stopping right behind the three kneeling bundles, she curtsied once. “Sir, I am Aurelia Cadenza. I apologise for the unruly behaviour of our family scions and their misbehaviour.”

Her black hair and overall appearance reminded him of Dia or Risti, who were both lookalikes of the same person, but that was it. The Moon Lords had been destroyed, from how their name had failed to spread, and Claud didn’t know why.

“Oh?” Suppressing a touch of sorrow, Claud shot a mischievous glance at the young man, who was now completely stunned by the turn of events. “I am told that it is usual practice for you people to demand that I kneel, break my arms and legs and crawl out of the place. What’s the meaning of this?”

The woman quivered once, and then steeled herself. “Tales of certain families and how they deal with outsiders have been greatly…exaggerated. The Frozen Emperor himself would not condone such behaviour. While the strong are welcome, that does not justify killing or oppressing the weak, although some families do believe the latter.”

“Damn right he doesn’t,” Claud replied.

Everyone stared at him, shocked, but no one dared to say anything after Claud mobilised a bit of his mana. Unfortunately, that was pretty much all he could do. Ever since he regained awareness of himself taking the trial, Claud had noticed that he could stir nearly every single mana circuit at once, but nothing else. In actual combat, he would have only four mana circuits to use.

In other words, he was just bluffing.

That said, his Mana Control Proficiency was at the level of Transcendent. While he had no idea how good that was, Claud could tell that he could move his mana with overwhelming ease, to the point that every blip of his mana carried a far greater potency than normally possible.

If it came down to a fight, he was still very confident.

Wait, I should secure my own safety first, at least…where can I get more defensive artefacts? After making a mental note to procure the necessary artefacts, Claud let out a long sigh, and everyone froze up again.

Was there something wrong with everyone?

“S-sir.” The woman took a deep breath. “We would like to invite you over to show our sincerity in pleading for forgiveness. Of course, and Sir Luce too.”

Claud pondered for a moment. He didn’t expect the world generated by this scenario to be this realistic and comprehensive; he’d thought that he would have to massacre a few families or something in this world before someone paid him his due respect as an ennea-folder —albeit a fake one — and listened to what he had to say.

Or was it this tutorial trying to give him some modicum of foundation to stand on?

“Alright. Very well. On account that you guys actually seem to be decent.” Claud shrugged. “Come on, kid. Let’s see those three get their comeuppance in a more comfortable place.”

The young woman let out a sigh. “Bundle those three imbeciles up. We’ll let the family head deal with his own child later.”

Claud raised an eye, but said nothing else. Instead, he turned to the stupefied young man, and then cleared his throat once.

“D-do you want me to continue, my lord?”

“Go on. You stopped at where the Frozen Emperor sought to become a god, right?”

“Yes, sir. Due to the nature of his grudge, he created something that would strike down anyone from the Moons, the Dark and the Coloured Gods,” the young man replied. “And in time, the city ruled by the Seekers of Life became a safe haven for survivors of the Istrel and Nihila Sovereignty.”

“A safe haven, huh?” Claud thought about it. Clearly, the newcomers were just like lice that were hanging onto someone big and warm. In other words, the Frozen Emperor was just a figurehead, which made sense, since the previous him spent most of his time dreaming about better times.

In other words, practically no one knew the Frozen Emperor and his personality. There wouldn’t be any problems there, but the next course of action would require Claud himself to personally take the stage and lay down foundations…but here was where the largest problem came from.

He had absolutely no experience in this sort of thing. Claud ran through the legend again, and then found himself stuck on three words.

Seekers of Life.

It was definitely an organisation, but…something definitely happened to the others, seeing as how the Moon Lords didn’t rise to prominence. Maybe they managed to pass the torch down to a new generation or something, but something didn’t quite add up.

Claud shook his head, before thinking about the Seekers of Life. They were probably the best bet if he intended to turn this city into one that could truly stand up against the rest of the world.

After all, what really mattered was that he laid down an unerring foundation.

Nothing more, nothing less. Once this quest was complete, this illusory world would fade away, and he would return back to reality with a new mana circuit ready to be formed.

In silence, he followed the trembling kids towards their home, a relaxed smile on his face.