“That’s one really riveting tale.” Dia chewed on her lower lip. The God of Hope was the second-last God of Virtue that fell in battle; by that time, he had already sunk into the depths of despair. With his brothers and sisters dead, and the ascendent ennea-folders that would eventually become the Coloured Gods closing in on him, the God of Hope fought to the bitter end to buy time for his believers to flee.

“Tell me about it,” Schwarz replied. “What happened to his believers, though?”

Nero looked at them. “They probably fled to the landmass called Saran. They were eradicated in the Heretic Hunt five thousand years ago, though.”

“The what?” Farah asked.

“Heretic Hunt. Basically, it was an operation meant to erase all traces of the Six Gods of Virtue.” Nero paused. “You must know that the long reign of the Six had resulted in…odd things. In fact, researchers from the Black Church are of the opinion that in the century leading up to the Third Godsfall, the Six had inverted their own values and wills.”

“Inverted?”

“What it means, literally. The Six were embodying traits that were the antithesis of their original ideals or something, and as the war dragged on, the phenomenon became worse and worse. One of the reasons why their collapse was so sudden was due to spontaneous rebellions by their troops and believers.” Nero paused. “The God of Hope at least had a good ending of sorts. The rest…well, that’s not much to work from.”

“Ideals…”

“Which is why the Coloured Gods chose to rule over a domain, rather than to embody an value. Having seen the results of sticking by a value and having it turn upon itself, they decided to limit their domain to governance, rather than guidance.”

“Is that a difference?” Schwarz asked.

“Well, the Coloured Gods don’t go around preaching a way of life, for one thing. They’re more of…administrators. Governors of this world, much like the Primordial Gods. Of course, one of the criticisms levelled at the Primordial Gods were how they seemed to ignore all injustice in the world, and that they should act like gods and enforce their visions and ideals, so…”

“What, a cycle?” Schwarz poured out a drink for Nero, who, in an uncharacteristic display, looked at it thoughtfully.

Picking it up, he swirled it around for a while and said, “Something like that, I guess. The Moon is brighter across the ocean…”

“How true is that phrase anyway?” Dia asked. “Are the Moons really brighter here than in Nihila?”

“…I’ve been stuck as a thrall for three years. I am in no way capable of recalling if the Moons are actually brighter here.” Nero let out a sigh. “Anyway, what do you guys think?”

Schwarz looked at the others. “Well, I think we should go for it, at least. We don’t have much time left, and this year might be the last year we’ll get to do something like this without much risk.”

“What do you mean by that?” Farah asked.

The bartender glanced at Risti once, who nodded. “Once the Moons descend, we’ll probably be roped into the fighting too. We won’t have much time for ourselves.”

“We?” Dia paused. “When you say ‘we’, do you refer to us specifically?”

“The Seekers of Life? Yes.” Risti sighed. “All evidence points that way. We can blame the great Dark for this one, though; they started it by hiring mercenaries, prompting the Moons to do the same. Now, they’re conscripting mortal armies…I’m not sure what it’s like in the other continents, but I’m told that similar things are occurring them.”

“What are the Coloured Gods doing about this?” Dia asked, looking at Nero.

Nero shook his head. “I’m not sure. In fact, asking me and Holy Daughter Clarissa is pointless. The Black God and the White God are not part of the Fourth Godsfall, which is why there’s no Bearer of Destiny for either entity.”

“…And who the heck decided that?”

“The five grand skies,” Nero replied. “Alright, that’s all I can say on this topic. Anyway, I really suggest that you guys head out to look for more resources too. We’re all poor people…”

“Incidentally, how much years of lifespan do you guys have left?” Farah asked.

“I have 113 years,” Dia replied.

“Let’s see…42 years,” Schwarz replied.

Risti paused for a moment. “214 years.”

Nero rubbed his nose. “You guys won’t want to know.”

Everyone looked at the Holy Son of the Black God, and then exchanged glances. No one dared to refute his words, and after a few seconds of awkward silence, everyone turned to Farah.

“Oh, we’re not asking…I have twelve years.” Farah twitched. “Yeah, I know. It’s not a lot, yadda yadda.”

Dia found the whole thing a bit odd, though. Farah didn’t fail that many times, compared to Schwarz, so how did the bartender have more time left? For obvious reasons, however, no one was going to ask that question, and eventually, the topic shifted back to the expedition towards the God of Hope’s graveyard.

“We should plan really thoroughly for this trip, though. Claud left us a small book on what to look out for, but…Dia and I, who have read through this booklet before, will do the planning.” The bartender folded his arms. “As for what booklet I’m talking about…well, it’s one that turns all who read it paranoid.”

Dia glared at Schwarz, who met her gaze calmly. “Am I wrong?”

“…I didn’t read that book,” Dia replied. “My aunt did, though. And she went ‘oh, this poor guy’ on and on.”

“Ah yes, I remember.” Farah laughed. “But I think we should all read his booklet anyway. How many pages is it? Can’t be that long, right?”

Schwarz pondered for a moment. “Fifty pages. Per section has three sections: life in civilisation, life outdoors and life at home. Claud made an extensive record of the dangers and warns against them.”

“That’s quite the arbitrary number,” Nero noted.

“It is. In the foreword, Claud stated that those dangers he recorded were common ones or uncommon ones that tended to pop up due to happenstance often. He noted down fifty of them and recorded their frequency on the sides,” Schwarz replied. “Funny, isn’t it? His will to live extends not only to himself, but also to us. Otherwise, he would never have written this booklet. All that time spent on it could have been better used on making more skillsticks.”

“To us?” Nero asked.

“To be more precise, to anyone he cares about,” Schwarz replied. “Claud is paranoid because he cherishes life. He wants everyone he cares about to be cautious, at the very least, because he doesn’t want to live alone.”

“Deep.” Dia paused. “I never did see him that way, though.”

“Because he spent most of the time cooped up or running around with Lily?” Schwarz laughed. “If you’re wondering what Lily saw in him, that’s probably your answer.”

Something seemed to ripple in Dia’s mind at those words, but like a fish that had escaped its hook, the thought fled towards the depths of her mind, vanishing forever.

“Something wrong?” Risti asked. “You had a very odd look there.”

“N-no, nothing.” Dia shook her head. “So, what should we prepare for, Nero? What do we need to look out for there?”

“There are a few things, but with me around, they aren’t a danger.” Nero paused. “Random surges of mana, for one. That, I can block. Sometimes, spectres of the past reappear, recreating the battles between the pious of Hope and the coalition army. We’re talking serious stakes there; mid-ranked battles. We must keep our eyes out for such incidents. Finally, the sunset of Hope — the battle where the human named Schizel struck the final blow and turned into…”

He chuckled. “It’s dangerous, and the sunset of Hope is not something even I can withstand. Fortunately, one just needs to keep one thing in their heart — respect.”

“Respect?” Schwarz asked.

“Yes.” Nero didn’t elaborate on this part and finally picked up that cup of his. Taking a sip from it, he leaned back and closed his eyes slightly. “Be that as it may, as long as you guys don’t court death by not listening to me, we’ll be fine. Everyone here is a folder, after all, and the battlefield is pristine to the point that we can search near the entrance and it’ll be fine.”

“…Entrance?”

“You’ll understand once we get there.” Nero chuckled. “Alright, I’m going to take a walk around town. Anyone wants to tag along?”

Risti chuckled. “I want to buy something, so count me in. The rest of you guys should stay here, just in case a certain familiar spirit comes calling.”

The mansion had artefacts that detected divinity and grounded space, preventing teleports. As for why there were artefacts that detected divinity…well, Dia had asked Schwarz, but the bartender simply shrugged and said, “Well, Claud was probably worried about the divinities and their servants.”

Whether that was the real answer or not was anyone’s guess, though.

Shaking her head, Dia followed the others as they prepared for the expedition.