Three angry-looking men struggled against bindings of mana, but Risti was a tri-folder. There was no way they could actually break out her newfound power, and unfortunately for them, Risti wasn’t even going to give them a chance to speak.

As Dia and Nero trailed after the triumphant Risti, Nero sidled over to Dia and whispered, “Aren’t we actually really bloody useless here?”

“Don’t sweat it. She’s the investigation professional,” Dia replied. “Last Words is incredible. So, what do you think Count Nightfall’s reaction will be like when we return? Barely six hours, and we caught the perps.”

“He’ll probably lose his mind,” Nero replied. “Or maybe just beg Risti to help him from now on. Who knew that it was that easy to find a bunch of murderers? Not me, definitely. Maybe he’ll offer her more lifestones and everything.”

“Yeah, I feel bad about taking his reward. We just stood there menacingly…”

Risti cleared her throat, before sending the three bound men away from her. In a whisper, she said, “In the first place, Count Nightfall thought that this might be a Limbo incident, so he got the three of us down. He’s a bit paranoid after seeing what happened last time.”

“Are we going to witness the birth of a new Claud?” Dia wondered. “Maybe he’ll be investing in Limbo-detection artefacts and—”

Nero cut her off. “He shouldn’t do that. Our defences against that place is the absolute lack of knowledge and our constant attempts to curb their infiltration. To make artefacts that target them is simply spreading the knowledge out. Our world will be in far greater danger.”

“We’ll have to tell him that,” Risti added. “I…pity the poor count, actually. Nobles who learn of Limbo tend to grow paranoid and mad very quickly, apparently. The knowledge that anyone in their territory could easily turn into one of those monsters and kill a whole bunch of people cannot be nice to live with.”

“It’s one of those times when ignorance truly is bliss.” Nero sighed. “Dia, you seem very lackadaisical about this.”

“Huh?”

“Even after knowing what you know, you don’t seem to care much. Do you not worry that the stranger walking past you might be someone infested by parasites from Limbo?” Nero asked. “That your loved ones might just be a carrier?”

Dia looked at him. “That…I never thought of that before.”

“Well, it’s good, I guess. Parasites — those Aberrations that can maintain their human form and sanity— while very dangerous, are the rarest enemies. Only people with huge populations under their belt will worry about things like this, but it is part of their job scope.” Nero yawned. “So, three murderers, huh. What were they up to anyway?”

“Villain stuff. Kill, rape and pillage. Nightfall will be happy to just execute them,” Risti replied.

“Hmm. Do executed people create prana jades?” Dia wondered.

The two of them looked at her.

“What?” Dia asked. “It’s unnerving when the two of you look at me like that, alright? I’ll be scared out of my skin or something. At least look at me normally.”

“Then say normal words,” Risti replied. “You sounded very much like a villain earlier on, did you know that? Anyway, prana jades form when people die en masse with heavy emotions. That’s why low-ranked folders can’t consume them. The remnant will would drive them mad.”

Nero shivered. “And don’t even think about putting prisoners together and getting them to fight to the death. That’s just inhumane.”

“I’m just asking out of academic curiosity, alright?” Dia replied, offended. “Why would you think my thoughts would stray into that direction? I’m not a bad guy.”

“Everyone’s the hero of their own story,” Nero answered.

Risti nodded. “Sometimes, the worst atrocities are not conducted by the ones who know, but the ones who don’t know. Innocent curiosity can blind one to ethics…anyway, don’t explore such a line of thought. I’ll tell you the answer. Yes. Depending on how executions are conducted, they can yield prana jades. But it’s more efficient to just find an ancient battlefield and harvest the prana jades there.”

“Right, since you guys want prana jades, why bother heading to the battle between the Moons and the Dark?” Nero asked. “Do you guys really want to look for Claud and Lily this much?”

“We’re more concerned about Lily,” Risti replied. “She’s a very good girl. I can’t help but think that Claud might bully her or something.”

“Lily also has a talent for explosives. If we don’t rein her in, she might end up blowing up a battlefield here and there.” Dia shook her head. “And Claud, that idiot, might just think it’s the perfect way to protect himself too and pick up that very skill too. When they come back, we’ll have two itchy-handed bombers waiting to blow up something.”

“…Alright, I think we might actually need to head there, then.” Nero shivered. “I like Moon Mansion.”

“Well, we still have some time to think about it. Besides, we can check with the count if we can get more resources,” Risti replied. “Still…the count is still a tri-folder, right?”

Nero squinted his face. “I think he said something about being very close to completing the fourth mana circuit. He seems very talented too. Resourceful and talented. He’ll rise very quickly; for all we know, his awareness of Limbo might be the impetus for him to take that final step.”

“Hmm.”

“Maybe he’s already advanced sneakily,” Dia suggested. “Won’t put it past him, anyway. No one knew about him become a tri-folder until a fight broke out, after all.”

The three of them talked about a certain sneaky count as they continued to head towards the palace. Most of it, however, was just Risti recounting whatever she knew about Nightfall to Dia and Nero. Unfortunately, a great deal of these stories was quite anecdotal; not many people actually knew the count that well to begin with. Whatever Risti had gathered was through hearsay and random rumours, rather than something that was actually concrete.

Before long, they arrived at the palace gates, where a few guards were standing around. Dia sent a glance at the non-descript building, which was the actual place where most policies and decisions were made, before taking a step back and letting Risti take over.

“We’ve captured the perpetuators behind the murders the count commissioned us to handle.” Risti indicated the floating men. “You can take over from here, but I didn’t injure them or anything, so be careful.”

“Alright, thanks.” The first guard retreated back into the palace, while the other guards drew their weapons. Smiling deviously, the two other guards walked up to the bound and gagged murders, before whispering into their ears menacingly. Before long, any sign of resistance melted away, and the three murderers turned into very quiet fellows.”

“Ah, the good old Intimidate skill,” Dia murmured. The Intimidate skill was something favoured by guards, since it helped with scaring a rowdy crowd and sending them into a state of ‘Why in the name of the Moons am I here?’ and ‘Am I in danger?’. It helped to calm people down by scaring them, and its effectiveness depended on quite a few factors, like the words used during the skill’s activation and the target’s current circumstances.

In a case like this, where the murderers had been bound up by a tri-folder, Intimidate was probably very, very effective.

“Do you think we can use Intimidate on Count Nightfall?” Risti wondered. “I’m just kidding, of course, but we should do more empirical testing on skill effects. Farah and Schwarz would definitely agree with me on this, that much I know.”

“They’re the fellows who like data a lot. Not that different from you, to be honest,” Nero replied.

After a while, the first guard returned with a small squad, who immediately took up positions around the three quivering murderers. Risti released them on the spot, and before long, they had been carted away by the guards.

“Death penalty?” Risti asked.

“Probably. Depends on why they killed so many people, but I’m almost certain that it’s the death penalty, really,” the second guard replied. “Anyway, I suppose you guys will want to tell Count Nightfall, right? Follow me. He’s talking to a Moon Emissary.”

Dia glanced at Nero and Risti, who shrugged. Neither of them seemed to have much in the way of objections, which probably meant that it was fine.

“Lead the way, then.” Risti yawned. “What’s with the Moon Emissary, though?”

“Not sure, but he’s been paying a visit quite frequently as of late,” the guard replied. “Something about the war, I suppose. No skin off our backs, though. They can fight all they want; I only care about picking up my baby boy when I go home.”

“Ooh, a child. Congratulations,” Risti replied.

Dia and Nero joined in too, which made the guard laugh.

“He’s adorable. It’s a shame we can’t bring him here for a bring-your-kid-to-work day, but it’s kinda funny whenever we walk around the city.” The guard grinned. “Those Moon babies seem to take a shine to him.”

“Moon toddlers finding babies adorable, huh…” Nero bobbed his head. “Now, isn’t that interesting? Do they try to pat his head?”

“…Actually, my baby boy does the patting.”

Dia thought about the absurd, adorable scene and smiled.