Breakfast was a generous helping of soup, but by now, everyone else who was sitting at the dining table was staring at Claud with a huge helping of awe and fear. Clearly, the fact that he was the Frozen Emperor in the flesh had leaked out, and even the children were looking at him with wide, wide eyes.

Truly adorable.

As Claud finished his soup, a tiny little toddler broke free from her restraints — a woman that sported a nice head of red hair — and wandered around the place. No one seemed to mind much, but again, she was just toddling around the place randomly.

The tiny girl reminded him of the little babies that wandered the streets of Lostfon, and Claud smiled.

That smile, however, seemed to attract the meandering child, and faces changed as she changed course to Claud. Before anyone could react, however, the little baby had waddled up to Claud, her arms open.

“Hug!”

Claud glanced at everyone else, who had frozen up, and then rolled his eyes. From the way they behaved, one would think that he was a merciless tyrant who would kill even a baby. Reaching out for the little kid, Claud picked her up by the armpits.

“Upsy-daisy…here you go, kid. Whose child are you anyway?”

The little kid squealed happily as she made a place on Claud’s thigh, and he smiled again. Poking her cheeks, Claud leaned back and thought about his plan to wipe out the enemies that were situated in Istrel. For some reason, this little kid had triggered him to think about that particular bit, and Claud found himself hesitating.

The baby on his thigh was more than enough to remind him that the Moonlit that had settled there were almost certainly civilians. If he really attacked Istrel with his full might, everyone there would die. Even if there wasn’t anyone important in the list of casualties, which meant that the Moons who have to turn a blind eye, Claud knew that he couldn’t do the same.

Yet, another part of him, desired to put an end to this trial. This reality, where most of his friends were dead and the remaining were eking out a fatigued existence, was not a reality he wanted to stay in. If he could end this trial like this, he would very much want to do so.

The voice that put forth this particular argument that all was illusory resonated in his mind, its cool touch contending against the fervent warmth of his own conscience.

As the little baby clutched his finger, Claud found himself wavering again. This was an illusion; there was no doubts about that. Everything here was just an illusion. He should have no qualms killing off illusions to end this trial and this world, and yet…

“Auh!”

The little toddler tilted her head, before opening her mouth. Fortunately, before she could chomp down on his finger, her caretaker had managed to overcome her fear and rescued his finger with a swift hug.

Claud watched as the little baby zeroed in on her caretaker’s shoulder and chewed on it happily. The red-haired woman grimaced once, before bowing to Claud and returning to her original position.

He glanced at the baby, who was still chewing her caretaker’s shoulder, and turned his face away. The absence of the little bundle made his cold heart feel even colder, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it anyway. Letting out a small sigh, Claud played with his empty bowl of soup and returned to thinking about the day after next.

The darker half of his heart told him that there was no issue with slaughtering countless civilians, since nothing here was real. For one, everything here would end once he finished dealing with the people in Istrel.

Claud could tell this much, at least. His instincts and something even deeper were telling him that the unerring foundations for Rimestar to rise once more lay in two portions: the presence of nine-folders and enough space for humanity to regrow once more. By simply fulfilling this two, Claud could tell that he would meet the requirements to end the Second Tutorial. No one would be killed in reality, and he would return to the real world.

It was a quick and easy solution. In a sense, this would be the ‘order’ that he and the Frozen Emperor decided upon, but…

He got up from his seat and left the room, before leaning against the window. Right now, as he was right now, he hated the idea of killing innocents, even if this was against his very goal. But…

The calming chill in his heart slowed his thoughts, and Claud decided to put the philosophical issues aside. No matter how his rational self looked at the situation, this was no time for ethics. Even if he ignored the fact that this world was an illusory world and therefore his choices didn’t matter here, the people here needed all the help they could get. If he could secure more farmland, more space for people to live in and a place to get away from the cold, Claud knew that he had to put this conscience of his aside.

Shaking his head, Claud wandered around the mansion and eventually stopped at a garden of flowers. Of course, they weren’t real flowers — the climate was a bit too cold to support that, and the only form of artificial heating lay in the form of the warm soup that filled his stomach.

Like the climate, the metal flowers transmitted a cold touch to his hands. There was nothing delicate about the flowers in his hands; they were shiny, hard and firm. They lacked the soft touch of life; they were mere imitations of the real thing.

He looked at the flowers and drifted into a stupor as he felt the flower in his hand absently. Time seemed to flow past him in silence, and before he knew it, someone had called out to him.

“Claud?” Risti’s voice spoke from behind him. “It’s nearly time.”

He lowered his hand and released the flower in his hands. “So it is.”

“I find myself doing that all the time too.” Risti laughed. “On some days, I just look up at the ceiling and think about something for a few hours on end. Sometimes, I don’t even think at all. I just let memories flicker past my eyes and enjoy them.”

Claud looked at her. “Dreaming of bygone times.”

“Indeed.” Risti sighed. “The earlier years of my life were the happiest ones. Now, I can only think of those who have died, and those that will continue to die. If we don’t do something, eventually, we will strangle ourselves to death. Eventually, if you were to ever awaken from your slumber again, you might just find an endless stretch of ruins where Rimestar used to be. A cold world, abandoned by its citizens who gave up both their hopes and dreams.”

“That’s why I awakened,” Claud replied. “I do not have much left, other than my vast lifespan. This, I offer to the city.”

Risti nodded. “Come on. Let me lead you to the Rimestar Secret Hall.

Following her out, Claud inquired about the name behind that hall, and she let out a heavy sigh. “It’s called the Rimestar Secret Hall because everyone’s an idiot, that’s why. The Frozen Emperor must have chilled their heads or something, since they couldn’t remember the original name.”

“What do I have to do with them not remembering?” Claud asked.

“Ah, sorry.” Risti cleared her throat. “But you better get used to it. You’ve replaced the Moons in everyday conversation, and people regularly invoke your name to curse, as exclamations of relief and to make anguished declarations of love.”

“I really hate this city,” Claud muttered.

“You were the one offering them protection,” Risti replied. “And don’t think I can’t see that sheepish, half-proud smile on your face, alright? You like it, even if your mouth says otherwise.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Claud breathed in slowly. “So, about this secret hall thing…”

“We’re close to it,” Risti replied. “Just down this staircase…and we’re out of the manor. The streets here were a replica of our original plan back then.”

“Original plan?” Claud asked. “To do what?”

“It was shortly after you two left,” Risti replied, “when we decided that we needed more security against the threat of the Moons and the Dark. We’d seen some of the most insane attacks, and we knew that the city could be easily destroyed if someone decided to attack it with a huge, sweeping beam of mana.”

“And…”

“The original plan was to build an underground city,” said Risti. “Schwarz had already started on a prototype under Moon Mansion without us knowing, and he had expanded it to around half the city when everything turned mad. He led us and most of Licencia underground to wait out the mad war between the Dark and the Moons, which was why we survived the destruction of Istrel.”

She let out a sigh as a huge open space came into view. “It’s just a shame a lot of us never made it to the Frozen Coffin.”

Claud took in her words as the two of them approached the podium in the centre of the space. Around one hundred young men and women were seated around the place in deep mediation, their faces taut with expectation and fear.

Risti produced a small bell and rang it. “Announcing the arrival of the Frozen Emperor.”