After discussing a bit more about scary-ass familiar spirits that seemed bent on seeking out a group of murderers, the Seekers of Life dispersed to do their usual jobs. While Dia had been foisted the annoying duty of city security, most of the relevant responsibilities had been tossed over to the actual city guards, which meant that she was free.

She was about to use an excuse of inspecting the repairs done to the net that protected Licencia’s airspace when Nero and Risti caught up to her.

“Free now? We’re going over to Nightfall Palace to discuss appropriate countermeasures.” Nero shook a bag of snacks. “There’s food.”

“What am I, a child?” Dia replied, rolling her eyes. “Still, let’s see what snacks you have here…”

After affirming that his offerings were indeed fit for a princess, Dia nodded. “Sure, it’s not like I have much to do anyway. Most of my job has been taken back by the competent city guards of Licencia. So, what are we going to do at Nightfall Palace?”

“We’re going to use a nice ritual spell to locate Princess Dia,” Risti replied.

“We’re going to convert Nightfall into a believer of the Lord.”

“Stop trying to pull my leg.” Dia led the way out of Moon Mansion. “It’s something related to that again, right? Did something happen? Do we need to do that and that?”

She drew a finger across her throat.

Nero looked at her. “Nice guessing. Yes. One of our people has discovered and captured someone who has been corrupted by Limbo. Normally, we would have just killed the person on the spot, but since we’re initiated two people into our ranks, I decided to have the execution…delayed.”

“Delayed.” Dia narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to witness an execution?”

“Deterrence. And a warning to members in our ranks about the dangers and temptations of Limbo,” Risti clarified. “Not just about the execution, but the…thing you become when you are fully taken over by corruption.”

“I see.” Dia took a deep breath. While her voice was still calm and steady, it was a bit hard for her to stomach that the other members of the Eternal Bulwark had captured an offender. “Right, is there some…official name for people corrupted by Limbo?”

“Let’s just say that we weren’t very imaginative back then,” Nero replied. “Anyway, we used to call them negative mana-users, but that name was a bit too long and was a bit too broad. After all, we of the Eternal Bulwark also can draw power from Limbo, so we aren’t that different from the actual idiots. After some quarrelling, we decided to drop the topic and stick with Aberrations. Incidentally, we call ourselves Watchers; no prizes for guessing why.”

“That’s…cool, at least. The names.”

Nero shrugged. “I am told that some people found both names too dramatic, so there was a quarrel of sorts.”

Risti chuckled. “I bet the quarrel must have been legendary or something. Anyway, we’ll drop by the palace and pull Nightfall out by the ear. We’ll scare you two into the middle of next week afterwards, and then we’ll go back home. How’s that sound?”

“You don’t really need to be blunt, right?” Dia replied.

“An article on Princess Dia has her talking about being direct and straight to the point, though. I remember she wrote something about the need to cut out fanciful words and everything,” Risti replied.

“…is that so?” Dia racked her brains and tried to figure out if she actually did say something like that. It was very possible that quite a bit of it was just pure embellishment, but given Risti’s prowess at stalking her idol, the chances of her being wrong were only slightly above zero.

“Yeap, yeap.” Risti nodded, pleased with herself.

Their little group stopped at a streetside stall to buy some pastries. After handing one to the adorable little Moon toddler that was staring at them with teary eyes, the three of them proceeded on to Nightfall Palace.

“I wonder if he’s actually free, though,” Nero muttered. “It’s an impromptu visit, and I didn’t even bother to send a calling card.”

“Eh, it’ll be fine. You’re a tetra-folder and the Holy Son of the Black God. What’s he going to say to you, no?” Risti rolled her eyes. “He’ll come running back if you show up at his gates.”

“That only works if they’re not well acquainted, though,” Dia pointed out. “Since we’re all friends and members of the same ancient conspiracy, he’s probably going to take his own sweet time receiving us. Besides, he must be pissed at all the madness that’s currently going on. I won’t be surprised if he takes his own sweet time to receive us.”

Nero nodded. “Makes sense. And isn’t his fiancé, Caroline Lostfon, from Lostfon itself? Last I checked, some huge bauble of power just descended there. She might know about it too.”

“Okay, and…”

“The count might be trying to reassure her and everything, naturally. Telling him that he has to follow us out to watch an execution is actually a bit crass, now that I think about it.” Nero folded his arms. “Well, I won’t bring it up unless I think it’s fine. We’ll just go over and share with him some news and warnings about a certain familiar spirit.”

“Works for me,” Dia replied.

After Risti agreed, the three of them headed towards the Nightfall Palace. Most of the people in the city were still living their peaceful lives, with the most notable events being a bunch of ruffians getting beaten up by a housewife with a pot and a brawl between two children escalating into an all-out battle between two families.

Dia eyed a bunch of city guards as they tied up the young and the old and led them to prison or something, before shaking her head. Licencia was still quite chaotic, despite the city guards doing their best, but she hadn’t seen any blood spilled y—

“Ah! My arm! You broke my arm!”

Everyone looked at the swindler who had thrown himself into the way of a carriage, and then decided to just move on to the palace.

“Seriously. There are little toddlers everywhere!” Risti sighed, glancing at one such toddler being fed a biscuit by two stall owners. “Why can’t these idiots be more sensible?”

“It’s just life in a city,” Dia replied, sidestepping two Moonlit children that were holding hands and waddling around the place. “But it’s a nice city, isn’t it? So full of life and vitality.”

“True.” Nero sighed. “When I was a child, I was raised in the Central Cathedral. It was completely boring there. Silent, clean…children simply walked in silence and read the scriptures, while the priests sat in silence and read the scriptures too. The only place that was remotely lively was the lunch hall, but even then, most of the liveliness came from debates.”

He smiled. “Doctrinal conflicts, scripture conflicts…well, it’s quite stuffy there. Now that I’m out and about, I can see why most priests who are raised in the Central Cathedral never come back.”

“What about you?” Risti asked.

“I’m the Holy Son. I have no such restrictions, which was why I was already out and about after fifteen years of strict training,” Nero replied. “I…had a small team of trusted people with me too.”

“Had…”

“Yeah.” Nero sighed. “Had. Once all this is over, I’m going back to Nihal to tie up whatever loose ends remain. There’s just this stupid barrier and everything, you know.”

“You’re leaving once the barrier goes down?” Risti asked.

Nero looked at her, a thoughtful expression on his face. He bobbed his head for a few seconds, and then smiled. “Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve made new friends here, after all. And it’s been three years. I’m probably dead in their records or something…well, I’ve probably been resurrected after Holy Daughter Clarissa sent news of me, but still.”

His smile took on a touch of loneliness. “I think I’ll be happier here, and there’s definitely a second Holy Son already appointed. I don’t think I’ll be needed over there anymore.”

Dia had no idea how to respond to that, and Risti’s silence was indicating the same thing too.

Nero burst out laughing. “Oh, come on. You’re supposed to poke fun at me at this point!”

“How can we do that?” Dia asked. “I’m here and alone, and Risti’s left her family to carve out her own influence too. Everyone in the Seekers of Life is lonely, one way or another. None of us can bring ourselves to poke fun at each other, since we’ll end up stabbing ourselves too.”

“Except for Claud and Lily, probably,” Risti chimed in.

“Ah, those two…”

Everyone sighed in concord, and then continued on their dreary trek to Nightfall Palace. As they plodded on, Dia couldn’t help but feel a touch of isolation amidst the lively city and its people, and then felt a touch of sorrow.

The Dark had descended. Soon, the Moons would follow suit, and then the Trial of Aeons. Would this city be able to protect itself when the time came?

Dia didn’t know, and she really didn’t want to find out either.