“Leaving so soon, huh.” Farah shook her head at Claud and Lily. “What, were we interrupting your two-person lovey-dovey time?”

“Circumstances,” Claud replied. He had a feeling that she was partially right though — the two of them didn’t want the others around, but not for that reason solely. Rather, the Trial of Aeons would soon begin, and since he didn’t know what would happen once the countdown ended, it was best for him to be far away from the others.

Of course, he also didn’t like the fact that everyone else would be giving him the stinkeye whenever he did something perfectly normal. In fact, just because he was feeding Lily, Schwarz would tell them to get a room, and the others would just look at him with an awful gaze.

In that particular instance, Farah was probably more correct than he would care to admit.

He patted his backpack, checked that the three little meepers were sleeping inside, and then nodded. “We’re going to go now, then. Stay safe, everyone. Don’t do anything stupid. We’re not part of the Last Godsfall. Keep your heads low, always have a few barrier artefacts, and have your trump cards ready at all times.”

Claud turned to Schwarz. “It was a bit rushed, but I prepared a manual just in case. It documents all the modifications I did to this house. Nothing fancy, but you can withstand a siege and hunker down here for around a year with the supplies I’ve stashed.”

“A year?” Schwarz looked at him. “That’s not half-bad, considering you were on a honeymoon…”

“It’s not as good as Moon Mansion, but it’s definitely better than nothing,” Claud replied. “More importantly, you should also work on making this place tougher.”

He turned to Nero next. “I’ll be counting on you to guide them.”

“You say that like you two don’t need guidance yourself.” Nero rolled his eyes, before taking out a small book. “Catch.”

Claud caught the book. “What’s this?”

“I’m not sure. But a descent happened to me last night, and when I woke up, I was told that this had to go to you two,” Nero replied. “I didn’t look, but there’s also a letter inside.”

Everyone looked at the Holy Son of the Black God, who simply shrugged. “I also don’t know.”

“Y-yeah…” Claud looked at the book doubtfully. “Sure. Thanks, Nero. And whoever gave me this.”

“Also, I was told to pass you one of my artefacts,” Nero added. “It’s actually attached on the cover. It’s currently activated, sealing the book and preventing it from being used against you. Otherwise, you’ll probably dig a hole and leave it underground…” Nero touched his chin. “I’m not sure why you would do that, but that’s what the instructions told me to avert.”

Claud narrowed his eyes, before suppressing the urge to check his Looped Encryptor. Whatever the case, the person who had sent this book had clearly accounted for his…oddities. It was either a display of sincerity or someone trying to screw him over, but he couldn’t tell which was which.

“Told by who?” Claud asked.

“…Did you not hear me say that there was a descent? My lord, naturally.” Nero paused. “I’m not sure why he’s looking at you, though. Do you have something special on you?”

Claud’s eyes flickered once. It went without saying that he was the Omen, but the Black God shouldn’t be able to know that. However, that was just him making a bunch of assumptions, and it was very possible that the Black God, the White God and the five grand skies knew his identity to begin with. After all, the duo wasn’t part of the Last Godsfall — it was very possible that they were actually administrators of this age’s Godsfall.

“Maybe.” Claud touched his nose once. “I’ll have to see what this is, at least.”

He could feel Lily’s hand touching his back, and with a jolt, Claud realised that he was shivering slightly.

How much did the Black God know?

“Yeah, you should.” Nero shook his head.

After another round of farewells, the two of them headed out of the small mansion. Claud held on to the book tightly as he walked through the garden gate, staring at its cover.

“Damn it.” Claud looked at the book. He felt like throwing it away, but this had been a very thoughtful present. For him to throw it away without even taking a look at it wasn’t his style.

“Don’t worry.” Lily held his hand. “The Black God and White God are not part of this Godsfall. They should be separate…”

“I know, but I’m scared.” Claud looked at the book. “I saw the Second Tutorial for myself. Who’s to say that these two didn’t tell their peers? I—”

He took a deep breath and controlled himself. “Sorry. I lost control.”

Lily rubbed his head. “It’s fine. I’m here. And this book…I suppose you should start reading it first. This is definitely something that’s for you, right?”

Claud nodded and flipped open the book. The first thing he saw was a white envelope, which Lily fished out immediately and opened. “Let’s see here…”

She cleared her throat. “To the you who sees this now, I am glad that you have made it this far. As planned, I will now hand the token over to you. Remember not to let it leave you from now on.”

Lily looked at Claud. “Planned?”

“Don’t look at me. I’m also lost.” Claud took the letter and looked through it, but there wasn’t anything else on it. “What’s this supposed to mean?”

He raised the letter to the sun, trying to see if there was some hidden message, but there wasn’t anything new. After returning it back to the envelope, Claud turned his perplexed gaze to the book and flipped through the pages.

“What’s this now?” Lily asked. “Is this even a book?”

“A book of weird patterns, probably.” Claud rubbed his head. “What’s this even supposed to be?”

The book’s pages were filled with one weird pattern each. They were all circles with varying distributions of black and white, and none of the pages carried the same, unique pattern. Other than another warning that exhorted Claud to hold on to the book no matter what, there was nothing else at all, and he found himself frowning a few more times.

“So, a book that I can’t make sense of, and a message that is annoyingly vague. What the heck does the Black God want to tell me?” Claud complained. “And to think that the Black God went through such pains too. What should I do?”

Lily gazed at him once. “Keep this book on you at all times.”

“That’s clearly the Black God’s goal, yes.” Claud frowned. “The problem is…”

“I know, but the Black God had specifically made arrangements for you. Maybe there’s some bigger plan…”

“Yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Claud replied. “There’s a plan, and I’m a pawn in it. Am I going to be safe while the whole thing plays out?”

The two exchanged glances, before Claud tucked the book and the envelope into his clothes. “Fine. I’ll keep it on me. I still can’t help but feel a bit worried, though. What’s exactly the Black God’s game here?”

“We’ve encountered lots of mysteries,” Lily replied. “Won’t hurt to leave yet another unsolved, right?”

Claud laughed. “Yeah. You’re right. And if the Black God wanted to do something to me, I’d probably be dead by now.”

“You’re just trying to make yourself feel better at this point…” Lily held his hands. “And if I have your entire body to myself, there are a lot of things I’d want to do too. Just putting it out there.”

Claud couldn’t help but feel that his lower half was in danger for some reason, and he cleared his throat to get rid of that weird feeling. “Ahem. Anyway, you should—”

“All my defensive artefacts are already on me,” Lily replied. “Don’t worry about that. Rather, you should worry about yourself. You’re still quite out of it, aren’t you?”

“…Yeah.” Claud took a deep breath. “I’m still quite shaken by everything that’s happened so far. I sure didn’t expect the Black God to appear in this. To be honest, I just want to curl up and hide.”

“Well, we kinda can’t, not until we reach the Lacuna Dukedom. And even if you want to, you only can curl up for a month at most,” Lily replied. “There’s not much time left, after all. We’ve gone through life without knowing everything so far. It’s fine to just add another thing to the list.”

“Yeah.” Claud took a deep breath. “I wonder why I find myself agreeing with you, though. Maybe it’s because the Black God even made the arrangements in a way that’s more palatable to me?”

“Or maybe because he governs the mind.”

“Which is equally possible, yes.” Claud stopped as Monsville’s gates appeared in front of him. “Hmm. We’re here.”

“Are we going to sneak out? Or leave openly?” Lily asked.

“Openly, naturally.” Claud took a deep breath. “Normally, I wouldn’t have hesitated, but it’s just me acting up here. No worries.”

He squared himself. “Alright, let’s go!”