The interior of the odd, square building was also yellow as well, as if the Verdant Interrogator was compensating for the general darkness that seemed to be a common theme right now.

“It’s cheery,” Norn explained. “It might look odd at first glance, but after a while, you’ll start to like it a lot. Even if you’re favoured by the great Dark, you’d eventually feel very gloomy and everything, what more for normal people like us. However, with this super-cheery house, everything becomes brighter!”

“What, are you trying to sell a product to us?” Claud laughed. “Anyway, you’re Risti’s aunt, huh…”

Norn’s eyes flickered. “Interesting, though. I met her coincidentally during Full Moon last year, a bit more than half a year ago. Knowing her personality, she would only have talked about the meeting to her friends only around that time period, so…you two must be part of her group around that time, yes? The Moon Lords, if I recall correctly.”

Claud twitched, but he relaxed a moment later. Since Risti had told her aunt about the Moon Lords, it could only mean that Norn was indeed trustworthy — she was unlikely to bring them harm.

“We’re part of the Moon Lords, yes,” Claud replied. “Still, this is quite the coincidence…”

“It is. I left Umbra…uh, Istrel shortly after the Third’s passing, visited some important areas and then realised that a barrier had been erected around Istrel Sovereignty afterwards. You two must have left right before that happened, I suppose?” Norn’s eyes twinkled. “Or you left through the only exit out of the place. Well, whatever. What are you guys doing here?”

“We’re planning on looking for more artefacts and other things,” Claud replied.

“So basically that guy who got lucky from selling fizzy drinks, then,” Norn noted. “That’s quite normal…but now, of all times? The world’s in a frenzy, and you guys are just having fun here?”

“Better now than never, though,” Claud replied, thinking about the thick bank of shadow that had surrounded the Celestia Ruins.

“I see.” Norn paused. “Ah. Hmm. You don’t look like a bartender, so you must be the other guy, Mister Paranoid.”

Lily burst out laughing.

“Bah.” Claud sighed. “That’s how some people describe me. That’s not my actual name.”

“Yeah. I know. Claud, right. And you are…who are you? I’m told that the other members of the Moon Lords are either men or lookalikes of Princess Dia,” Norn asked. “You sure don’t have black hair.”

“I’m Lily,” Lily replied. “And it felt odd to look like the princess when I’m with him, so I dropped the disguise.”

“Ah, I see where this is going now. It’s that, right?” Norn asked. “Ufufu. Anyway, did you guys just arrive?”

“In a manner of speaking,” Claud replied evasively. “We were aiming to set up a new base at the top of this building” —he indicated the large building in front of the city square— “when we came across your dwelling here.”

“At the top? Why?” Norn asked. “Isn’t setting up one here more accessible and convenient? It’s dangerous up there, after all.”

Claud pondered for a moment. “Well, setting up camp here seems a lot more dangerous to me. What happens if there’s an enemy or something? It’s such an open area. At least, in that building, there are only a set number of routes to reach the highest floor; I can cover and guard against enemies with these routes.”

“…You sure are Mister Paranoid, I guess.” Norn shrugged. “Well, it seems like this isn’t your first romp here, so whatever.”

Claud looked around. “Still, you can modify this place, huh. I thought there was something that prevented people from disturbing, changing or damaging the place.”

“Oh, it’s just an addition. As long as you don’t destroy things or change established structures, anything is fine,” Norn replied.

“Really?” Claud glanced at Lily. “Hmm. Maybe we can just set up a base here instead, then. I actually brought a Dome Shield here…we just need to infuse it with more mana and we can create a shelter for ourselves.”

“How much would it need?”

“Not enough for me to care about,” Claud replied, before turning to Norn. “Thank you for your suggestion.”

“Eh, no biggy.” Norn waved her hands airily. “Anyway, do you two have news on my adorably cute niece?”

“On Risti? Well, she’s having fun and enjoying herself,” Claud replied. “When we left, she was very safe.”

In fact, she was so safe that two hundred years down the road, she was a hexa-folder that had managed to outlive the vast majority of humanity. That was truly an impressive feat, all things considered, so Claud really wanted to ask her how she actually accomplished such a feat.

…Maybe he should have asked her in the Second Tutorial.

“That’s nice…still, maybe I should go and check on her.” Norn nodded. “Anyway, are you two busy? If not, how about staying for some lunch? My party members should be returning soon, and they’ve gotten really bored from seeing me all the time. A few new faces should cheer them up.”

“Is that okay?” Lily asked. “I mean, we’re effectively strangers.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Norn replied. “So? It’ll be nice to have you guys for lunch today, and I cooked extra anyway.”

“It’ll be rude of us to decline, but I must insist that you and your party members join us for lunch tomorrow in return,” Lily replied.

“Sure!”

“In that case, we’ll just set up our base first, and then pop over. Are there any dangers in staying long-term in this city square?” Lily asked, her question drawing lots of approval from Claud. “Any place to avoid…things like that!”

“This square is safe from most dangers, from what I can tell. We’ve been poking around this city for some time, and up to now, nothing has happened to this square.”

Claud and Lily exchanged glances once, and then nodded.

“Good enough for us, then.” Claud got up. “We’ll pop over when we’re done then.”

“Sure, have fun!”

Thanking her, the two of them left the yellow building and looked around the square. It was huge enough that Claud could probably stuff a few houses inside, but since there was no need to be too extravagant. Their plan to explore the place was quite simple; just blockade themselves inside and use the Second Shadow to look around the place. While the Second Shadow couldn’t use mana or had any fighting capability to speak of, any place that required them to use mana to pass was probably too dangerous anyway.

“Anywhere is pretty good, I suppose,” Lily concluded. “Let’s just set up our camp near Norn’s own base.”

“Okay.” Claud pulled out a Dome Shield, raising the little bowl-like artefact into the sky. A faint stream of energy surged upwards, shooting into the air before spreading out to form a staunch curtain of transparent energy. Before long, the namesake dome appeared, and Claud condensed a firm cube of mana in his hands.

Manifesting mana was possible at when one’s Mana Control Proficiency was at Intermediate, but the longevity of the product wasn’t anything impressive. However, Claud could tell that his mastery now was more than enough to make that cube of mana last long enough that it would run out first before it lost its form.

“Ooh.”

“Just need to keep working on your Mana Control Proficiency,” Claud replied. “And with this…done! Now all I need to do is to change the colour…bright blue will do.”

“You’re too lazy to think of any other colour, right?” Lily asked.

“Ahem.” Claud cleared his throat, before looking at the size of the dome. “This should do fine, but I suppose having a few more rooms for our baser needs are required.”

He pressed down on the Dome Shield, which immediately increased in size a few more times. After setting up a few partitions, the two of them got around to making a toilet of sorts, as well as an artefact to continually generate fresh air and regulate the temperature.

“…I think we overdid it,” Lily muttered.

Claud looked at the dome, which now covered a space that was larger than two rooms in Moon Mansion combined. “Well, it’s free, so I don’t really think that’s a problem.”

“True…but this doesn’t feel like camping anymore, does it?”

“Well, you are free to answer the call of nature and shower in the open if you want to,” Claud replied, “but I don’t really like the idea of doing either of them outside. There’s all kinds of dangers.”

“Don’t we have the Refresher for baths?”

“I’m trying to be luxurious here, okay?” Claud chuckled. “Anyway, don’t you like this place? Look, we even have a nice bed we can bounce on.”

“It’s just a barrier artefact built to absorb shock,” Lily replied.

Claud eyed her, and then held her hand. “That’s only because you haven’t tried it yet.”

“Eh?”

With a tug, Claud pulled her onto the bed and held her close. “See? It’s not inferior to the real deal, right? We can do anything on it…care to test my words? It’ll be—”

“Claud! Lily! Lunch is ready!”

Claud froze. “Ah. Right.”

“There’s a time for everything, okay?” Lily rolled her eyes, before leaning into his embrace. “Let’s fill our stomachs instead.”

“Okay…”