Gaius left the Lorenze residence after breakfast. Isabelle and Nakama were well aware that he wanted to go somewhere today, and after making some promises to bring some souvenirs back from the Southern Assembly, the boy was able to leave.

He wanted to check up on someone like him. Flynn, one of the many bosses of Elinaris’ underworld…and if rumours were true, a toymaker with a great deal of fame and political influence. As for how these words were even able to be placed together…well, one of the reasons behind his visit was to find this out.

The sunlight stung his eyes as a cloud drifted out of the sun’s way, and Gaius was suddenly reminded of his desire to get a pair of sunglasses. Attacks by anyone stronger than a Knight were fairly bright, and if not for the fact that this sudden blinding was indiscriminate, he might have died some time ago.

“Are there are artefacts that can weaken incoming light?” Gaius asked. “I’m been wanting to get one forever, but I keep forgetting about it after a while.”

“Ah, those sunglasses, hmm? You probably won’t need an artefact for that.” Nexus, who was inside his shirt as usual, answered. “Although…if you were intending to darken the light shows that happen every time you enter a battle, you’ll need something stronger than that.”

“So, any ideas?”

“Just drop by the artefact shops and see what they have,” Nexus replied. “You can’t be the only one who had this problem, and it’s probably more common than you think.”

“Then why isn’t anyone using them?”

“Maybe…wearing something like spectacles can be rather uncomfortable?” Nexus wondered. “Or maybe being unable to judge the intensity of an attack through light…”

“Urgh.” Gaius slammed through a cloud, plunging out of it with a few droplets of water hanging off his barrier. With the God of Water’s passing, meteorological events like rain, rain and more rain had become fairly frequent. Passing through clouds now had a good chance of coming out drenched, if one wasn’t prepared…

“Figures,” said the boy, after making sure that none of his clothes were still wet. “Maybe something that only activates if the emanating light is above a certain threshold?”

“Still doesn’t help, though. After all, there’s no benchmark for attack strength in relation to the intensity of light,” said Nexus. “And the point of being able to see emitted light in the first place is to make a snap judgment based on a composite assessment of your senses.”

Gaius ran through the artificial intelligence’s words, and then nodded. When it came to battle, other than a grasp of combat fundamentals, having a good instinct and being able to trust it was almost necessary.

“Light…” The boy shook his head.

“That’s a problem, isn’t it? It’s both necessary and a hindrance. It’s the million-gold question that has plagued even the gods, who usually operate with the same senses as everyone else.” Nexus chuckled. “It’s both useful and problematic at the same time.”

“Ugh.” He decided to give up on this intellectual pursuit. The walls of Elinaris was in sight now, but there was significantly more air activity above the city now. Most of them weren’t flying all that fast, even those who were leaving the city, which meant that the Dynamo had entered the Southern Assembly’s civil society. And the next thing that would follow would be laws and regulations on flying, but that wasn’t Gaius’ concern.

But this was a stellar example of how technological advances eventually trickled down to civilian life. The first use of the Dynamo was in the North’s war with the Holy Temple, but it was now seeing use in everyday life, despite the fact that two years hadn’t even passed yet.

Small groups of fliers were leaving and entering the city without even going through the checkpoint, but Gaius could see why these people were able to. Like many of the smaller cities, the city lord of Elinaris was a Knight, which meant that Squires were pretty much first-class citizens.

Gaius knew his perception of Orb’s power balance was skewed. Within a year or so, he’d come across Knights, Lords, Paragons and even freaking Demigods. To fight with people across all realms within such a short period of time had to be an achievement on its own.

Shaking his head, he entered the city proper. Looking down from above, Gaius began to look for Flynn’s home, the warehouse he went to previously…and then found himself somewhat speechless. The warehouse was gone, but in its place was somehow a fenced-up, giant field, where people of all ages worked slowly to produce…toys.

And in the middle was a tall tower.

Judging from the looks of it, the toymaker Flynn was probably employing the slum dwellers. As for the details, Gaius believed that he also took pity on the underprivileged. The man wasn’t probably going to pay them Orb’s equivalent of minimum wage or something.

More importantly, by the looks on the workers’ faces, they didn’t look unhappy at all. But Gaius would reserve judgement on that later.

He looked around once more, and then descended from the skies. Somehow, he had a feeling that the political centre of Elinaris had been shifted here, since there was a rather modest queue of well-dressed men and women waiting in the shade. Most of them were admiring the uniform, careful process of how Flynn’s employees were creating the toys, their eyes fixated on every detail.

“I suppose I have to wait with them, eh?” Gaius mused. “No fast card for me.”

“Even though they’re small fry, you still respect the host’s laws. I can go with that,” said Nexus. “Though I’d have expected you to bully them out of the queue or something.”

“Am I that kind of person to you?!”

“Who knows.”

Nexus stopped talking as they approached the small queue. Talking through their mental connection was somewhat tiring, and the artificial intelligence had told him that it didn’t feel that comfortable talking that way. There was probably some complex, ethical reasoning it had, and Gaius was happy to keep it that way.

He settled himself down at the end of the queue. Closing his eyes, he was about to fall asleep when someone called out.

“Lord Gaius?”

The boy opened his eyes. Somehow, someone had recognised him, and it would be rude to not respond, even if he didn’t feel like opening his eyes at all. He turned to look at the speaker, and then furrowed his brows as someone familiar entered his eyes.

“Miss Cassandra?”

It was a woman, dressed in blue and green. Like most others in the Southern Continent, she had golden hair, and the subconscious grace that melded with her very movements. More importantly, she had been the one to escort Gaius when a killing spree targeted at the scions of the Southern Houses took place in Elinaris…the culprit being Gaius himself.

“As I thought, it is you.” The woman glanced at Gaius. “Odd. Usually, I use ‘Lord’ as an expression of courtesy, but I’m getting a feeling that it’s the correct way to refer to you now. Like I thought, you’re someone important. And more importantly…how is that possible?”

Gaius laughed shallowly. “Maybe you’re overthinking it. No matter my background, I am still a child, after all.”

“True. Still, I can’t help but think about the Lost Star. Lots of children who share the same name as you have been put under public scrutiny, especially those from the major Houses. If there’s a kid as monstrous as that, you being a Lord isn’t really that surprising anymore,” said Cassandra.

“Let’s put that aside for a bit. What are you here for?” Gaius asked. “Just toys?”

“For my nephew, yes,” said Cassandra. “Although I need to bring up some policy papers to him too.”

“Policy papers?”

“Yes,” replied Cassandra. “Ah. I see. You know him on a personal basis, not an official one. Well, he’s the current city lord of Elinaris, so any policies and proposals House Varita has must go through him first.”

“City lord…” Gaius blinked. “Not bad. I guess I’ll have to prepare a better gift. So, what policies has City Lord Flynn come up with recently?”

“Law and order, basically. He decided that the slumdwellers needed help and support from the city administration, so he kicked it off by having his working place in the very middle of the slums,” said Cassandra, a faint smile on her face. “It’s impressive to see someone actually walk the talk.”

“Oh?” Gaius nodded. “Sounds like you approve.”

“Very,” said Cassandra. “As a general rule of thumb, the poorer folks distrust the Houses, and I’m ashamed to say that they have very good reason to be that way. Fortunately, City Lord Flynn is someone who came from the slums and climbed up to his current position with his own ability. He is part of them, and part of us. The bridge between both worlds, as you might say.”

“I see. And I suppose this scene is part of his efforts too.” Gaius waved a hand at the workers. “He walks the talk, that’s for sure.”

“Yes. He is…a very earnest person, unlike most of us.”

The queue moved, and as the two drew closer to the tower’s door, Gaius could almost sense a romance in the making. The boy blinked once, and then promptly decided to give Flynn a little helping hand. “If he’s that sincere to them, I can only imagine how eligible a bachelor he is.”

“B-bachelor…”

Gaius saw an opportunity and pushed on. “He has to be quite the catch, right? Measure someone by seeing how he treats those lower in station. If he treats his workers this nicely, imagine being his girlfriend or wife…”

Cassandra looked at the door. “True. I didn’t consider things from that point of view. He would make a wonderful husband, right?”

“Exactly,” said Gaius. “The only problem left is if he’s attached already. That would be a blow to the wonderful ladies of Elinaris.”

“H-he’s not,” said Cassandra. “He never had a partner, even before he entered the public eye.”

The boy wanted to point out that by simply knowing the answer to that question, she was already interested in him in the first place. But it was probably going to backfire, so Gaius settled with saying, “There’s still a chance, then.”

“C-chance?!”

“Yeap. Gather up your courage and ask him out,” the boy pressed on. “Strike while the iron is hot. What’s there to lose? Nothing. And if you succeed, you get the man of your dreams. Why not?”

She glanced at the tower’s door again. Fortunately, the others in the queue were also too busy chatting to notice Gaius and Cassandra, or else Gaius had the feeling that the Knight would want to find a hole to bury herself inside.

“Yes, I should give it a try, right?” said Cassandra. She ran her hand through her hair, before patting Gaius on the head. “Children really see things on a different level than us. I’m glad you didn’t hold back when talking to me.”

“Always happy to be of service,” said Gaius. “And besides, this is the time to seek out happiness. The Great Divide is about to fall. But it would be beyond sad if you didn’t live out your life fully, no? Seize the day, seize your love! Remember, you have nothing to lose!”

“Spoken like a true m—child.” Cassandra was now willing to try, and the boy congratulated himself on a successful case of matchmaking…well, on Cassandra’s side anyway. But the boy had read enough of the Knight’s character to know that she was a good person, someone worth spending one’s entire life with, so he was sure that there wouldn’t be much issues on his side.

The line continued to shorten. Gaius, who was well aware that failure was a part of life, was now trying his hardest to make sure that she wouldn’t take rejection harshly, if that even occurred. For some inexplicable reason, the boy wanted to make at least one person’s love come true, especially if it had been hidden from the surface for some time.

It didn’t take long before it was Cassandra’s turn, and with a thumbs-up, the boy saw her off into the tower. His eyes focused on the closing door, Gaius looked around and smiled to himself. Good luck, the two of you!