“Two long days…” Dia rubbed her face as the familiar city gates of Licencia rose up in her vision. They had been mana-walking for hours on end, only taking breaks to sleep and to refresh at small towns.

The journey from one continent to another was shorter and easier, since they were tapping onto their mana freely, and other than the short hold-up at the barrier that prevented random people from entering the Istrel Sovereignty, their approach had generally been smooth.

Of course, moving at such speeds meant that there really wasn’t much time to explore the surroundings or to admire the scenery, which was sad. After all, they had been forcibly brought over to the Moons’ base camp back then, so Dia and the others never got the chance to explore anything.

“Well, it’s good that we got here at record speeds, though,” Schwarz replied. Yawning once, he motioned at the short queue that was forming at the gates, and then said, “Let’s queue up first.”

“Queue?” Risti made a sound in her throat. “Don’t wanna…oh, look, Moon babies. Let’s queue.”

Dia looked at her as she walked over to the queue. There were quite a few toddlers lining up as well, which made for an amusing sight, considering how Count Nightfall wouldn’t have asked them to queue up anyway.

The little Moon toddlers noticed their arrival, and Schwarz beamed. However, for some reason, they ignored Schwarz and Risti, and instead chose to form circles around Dia.

“Uh…guys?” Dia looked at the Moon babies, who had enclosed her in a small circle. They were holding hands and imprisoning her in a very adorable manner, but Dia didn’t quite know why they did that.

“How did you do that?” Schwarz asked. “Why did they ignore me?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Dia replied, before squatting down. “Alright, you, stop moving.”

The rotating ring of toddlers stopped as her hands fell on one of the little toddlers, and Schwarz made a sad noise. Ignoring that idiot, Dia said, “What are you guys doing?”

Bright eyes looked back at her, and then Dia remembered that the little toddlers didn’t know how to speak. However, she could feel a palpable excitement from those tiny little fellows, an excitement that made her smile.

“D’aww. What’s up?” She squished the cheeks of the closest toddler. “Anyway, we need to queue up, and my friend here feels jealous, so cheer him up, right?”

They tilted their heads for a few seconds, before walking over to Schwarz and Risti, who promptly started to play with them. By the time the duo decided to join Dia, Schwarz had a kid sitting on his shoulders, while Risti was holding on to a toddler’s hand.

“Well, it seems like you guys had—oh.”

Dia looked at the small hand that had grabbed her fingers, and then smiled. “Yeah, you can have my hand too. Anyway, there’s a lot of you little fellows queuing up…do you guys toddle out of the city in the day and return back at night?”

The little kid tilted a head at Dia, and she smiled. “Alright, never mind.”

After thirty minutes, it was their turn. The guard standing there looked at Dia as they walked up, and then at Schwarz, before frowning. “You guys look familiar.”

“Of course. We did help out at the guardhouse quite a few times, remember?” Schwarz walked to the forefront of the little group. “We’re from the Seekers of Life, or the group formerly known as the Moon Lords.”

“Oh!” The guard jumped. “Now I know why you guys look so familiar. You’re the group that has a lot of Princess Dia lookalikes, right? And there’s the paranoid security guy who made our lives a major pain! Oh, and of course, the demon bartender that makes the best drinks in town!”

Dia didn’t know that was how the people of Licencia saw the Seekers of Life, but it wasn’t like she could complain. After all, Claud was paranoid incarnate, their group really had a bunch of people who liked to dress up as her, and Schwarz was well-known for killing people with alcohol intoxication.

She had a feeling that one of those thoughts were a bit off, but Dia was a bit too tired to think that hard about things.

The guard complained for a few minutes as he checked their documents and got them to walk through a doorframe, before referencing their faces against the local registry books.

“Do you guys do all this for non-residents too?” Risti asked.

“Yeah, it’s standard protocol.” The guard paused. “Sorry, it’s the standard protocol for the past two weeks. After a while, everything changes again, so we end up having to learn new stuff. We’re always a bit stressed out for this reason.”

“Claud did mention something about changing things to keep the tension up…did we bring his little book with us?” Dia asked.

“Damn it. I think we left it in the house.”

“Oh.” Dia turned back to the guard. “Uh, yeah. Not our fault, either way. Have to ask the big guy in the middle of the palace of this city, see? We’re just doing our business.”

“Yeah, figured. My job is so much more tiring. In the past, we could just nibble on apples and oranges, but now, we need to assess everyone. Do you know there’s even a separate route for people who look sick? Something about the plague.” The guard shook his head. “Anyway, you guys are clear, so go on ahead.”

The three of them nodded, and then headed into the city. Dia had missed the safe little capital of the Nightfall County greatly, and she missed her little room even more. After all, she had been staying in either a room made from barriers or the one-man barracks in the Moons’ base camp so far. And as for the Trial of Aeons, she had to stay awake for an entire week…

She hadn’t slept on her own bed for a long time.

“Ah, it’s so reassuring to be back home.” Schwarz looked up. “Can you still see the net that Claud suggested? I can still see it. I wonder if Count Nightfall is going to buy a huge barrier artefact too. Something that can prevent anyone from entering at all.”

Dia looked up, and then at the lively streets of the county. Even though it was rather late at night, all sorts of shops and stalls were still open, and business was booming. People didn’t gather and huddle together in fear of divine portents, and Moon babies waddled around happily, illuminating the darkness with their faint light.

At the forefront of it all was the Nightfall Palace, who radiated a pale, comforting light that seemed to weaken the darkness. For some reason, the palace now had something high above it that seemed to be a mini-Moon, making the place so much easier to navigate.

“We’re back, yes.” Risti looked up. “We won’t be staying for long, right? We’ll be heading over to the Lustre Dukedom soon enough, after all.”

“Maybe a week or two, I suppose. Gotta wait for Farah to handle her business,” Dia replied. “If we went there ourselves, she’s going to make a fuss and everything about how we didn’t wait for her.”

She paused. “Besides, I really miss my bed and my room. I’m going to snuggle up underneath my blanket for a long time.”

“Right, the staff are still taking care of the place,” Risti muttered.

“Of course.” Schwarz chuckled. “We pay them good money to make sure that Moon Mansion’s always ready for us to return, you know. Just so that we’ll always have a home.”

“Home, huh…” Risti looked down. “I wonder where my dad went after the Trial of Aeons. He’s alive, right?”

“Probably looking for Tot with Emperor Grandis,” Dia muttered.

“Yeah. I’m very worried.” Risti let out a heavy sigh. “I hope my dad knows that he’s outmatched when faced with the Omen, the Godslayer…”

“I’m sure he’s going to be very cautious. Besides, can’t we just ask Claud to help? He’s our resident incarnate of paranoia. If your dad is looking for Tot, he’s the best person to protect them from Tot’s wrath,” Dia suggested. “Don’t we have the Trading Board? We can ask Lily and Claud for help.”

“You do know Claud is…well, in a fix right now, right?” Schwarz held his head. “Let the dude rest.”

“A few questions won’t hurt,” Dia replied. “I’m sure he’ll be happy to help. Why not give it a try? It’s not like they’re doing anything much in particular, other than running a shop…what business are they doing anyway?”

“Skillstrips, I think.” Schwarz shook his shoulders. “A good choice, since unique skillstrips are always in vogue…but what skillstrips would Claud sell? What skills does he have?”

“…Now I want to go back and find out,” Risti muttered.

Dia looked at the scattering Moon babies, and then rolled her eyes. “I think not. Let’s just head home first, and then rest for the next few weeks…”