“Miss Anthea, thank you so much for your help,” said Claud, who was clutching a small wristguard. “You cannot imagine how much something like this means to me.”

“You too cannot imagine just how important being able to secure this sale is to me either,” Anthea replied. “The boss has turned desperate, even mad, I’d say.”

“Right, what’s with this sudden drive for lifestones?” Claud asked. “Why are all these shops collecting them like mad?”

“Hmm…can you keep a secret?” Anthea asked, playing with her pink hair.

“As well as the Moons,” Claud replied.

“You do know you just made an implicit vow of sorts, right?” Anthea asked.

“What of it?” Claud grinned. “I have to show you my sincerity, right?”

She mulled on it for a moment, and then shrugged. Beckoning Claud to come over, she leaned into his ear and whispered, “It’s apparently Count Nightfall’s order.”

“Order?”

“Something like that. He’s offering the rights to run the trade route between Licencia and Lostfon. Shops that contribute more lifestones will be given a bigger share of the profits,” said Anthea.

Lostfon…a city in the north, run by a count of the same name. Claud rubbed his nose. “Why would a count offer such a prize…oh. Right. Count Nightfall must be preparing to become a tri-folder. But wasn’t he quite happy to be a bi-folder up until now?”

Anthea drew back from her posture. “Well, if you think about recent developments…”

“Oh right, Tot.” Claud heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Can he just leave this city already? I’ve heard that the Spear of Fate is on his way here. We’ll all be doomed if they start fighting.”

“‘We’ll all be doomed’? Do you…know something we don’t?” Anthea asked, her eyes glittering. “Share it, share it!”

“Well, it’s something I heard from a bar,” Claud replied. “Apparently, the Thief of Time is someone from a previous era. The storyteller who came earlier today said that Tot survived ritual magic backed by the White God. Only someone like a monster who came from the Third Godsfall could have survived that.”

She let out a small whistle. “By the Moons…well, I think I’m going to take a nice extended break from this city when this Spear of Fate guy drops by. Still, that title sounds really familiar…”

“He’s a Blessed of the White God,” Claud helpfully replied.

“Then I’m totally taking a week or two off.”

“Funny, I was thinking of leaving town too.” Claud hadn’t quite decided on what he would do after the Spear of Fate and other bigshots gathered at Licencia. From the hints that Anthea had dropped, Count Nightfall didn’t particularly like the prospect of having so many mana-users gathering in his city, which was why he was snapping up lots of lifestones.

For normal mana-users, becoming a one-folder took a hundred years of lifespan, while becoming a bi-folder from a one-folder took around two hundred. Burning three hundred years of life was quite the turnoff for even many smaller nobles, which explained why bi-folders were a lot rarer.

Tri-folders…well, Claud wasn’t going to think about them too much.

Of course, every ascension brought with it huge benefits too, although for the life of Claud, he couldn’t quite tell what else could having huge amounts of mana be useful for, other than making the act of killing easier. Increasing the number of mana circuits didn’t give any returns in the form of lifespan, so…

Just how many lifestones did Zulan Patra waste in pursuit of more mana? Claud didn’t want to know.

“Something wrong?” Anthea asked.

Claud jumped. “Sorry. I was just thinking about something related to the Spear of Fate. Just how many lifestones did he use to even get that much lifespan to become a tetra-folder?”

“Lots of pure-ranked lifestones, that’s for certain. Probably emptied out a small county’s mines or something.” Anthea sighed. “What a waste! That’s so much money burned, just to make killing people easier.”

“Well, at least we agree that it’s a waste.” Claud sighed. “And now, people capable of burning whole cities into the ground are coming along to a piddling county capital to search for some monster from the Third Godsfall. Count Nightfall’s probably going to have his hair turn white anytime soon.”

“Oh, a bit of it is already white, according to my boss.” Anthea rolled her eyes. “I wonder why.”

That last bit was tinged with enough mockery that it would make one of those ostentatious, run-of-the-mill nobles give a thumbs up. Claud patted the wristguard he was wearing and filled up his empty cup. Eyeing the bubbly liquid he’d just poured out, Claud finished the whole cup and licked his lips.

“Right, where did you get this drink from?”

“From Lostfon. It’s a relatively new invention, something called a fizzy drink,” Anthea replied. “It’s sold at a premium right now.”

“Lostfon again?”

“Some gentleman with a rather rare skill moved into Lostfon recently, which is why trade’s been picking up in the past year. He’s churning out fun stuff every month or so,” said Anthea. “A key reason why trade with Lostfon is proving to be more and more profitable.”

“And a testament to how desperate Count Nightfall is now, eh? If he’s letting someone control the trade route, that’s a whole bunch of revenue gone,” said Claud.

“He’s making up for it by imposing a higher tax on all businesses here. It’s not a big deal to the businesses who moved here recently; they don’t have all that much money invested, so they can pull out immediately. But to the ones like Brilliant Green, it’s quite a serious matter.”

“…Why are you working as a lifestone shop’s assistant?” Claud chuckled. “You would probably become famous if you joined Count Nightfall and his administration.”

“I already did, but I didn’t like the culture there,” said Anthea. “This little shop is a lot more familial to me.”

“Well, to the gifted goes the choices.” Claud rubbed his neck. “I suppose you have a vested interest in keeping Brilliant Green afloat, eh?”

“Maybe.”

“Well, if you can get me more artefacts like the Windwall Wristguard, I might patronise your shop more,” Claud replied. “Your boss seems to have rather good connections.”

“We have a wide variety of customers, who each have needs that transcend items that can be purchased with mere gold.”

“A very fancy way of telling me that pure-ranked lifestones are sold not through gold, but with items that you can resell at a marked-up price.” Cluad filled up his cup again, and savoured the bubbly sweetness it contained. “Would you take a middle-ranked lifestone for a lifetime supply of this drink to my apartment?”

“That, customer, is probably the most extravagant way of doing me a favour.”

“I didn’t say it was a favour to anyone, but really, this drink is great. I could spend days drinking it, and not get bored. So, what do you say?”

“Wait, you’re serious?”

“Yes, Miss Anthea.” Claud finished his drink. “I want a lifetime supply of this beverage for the cost of a middle-ranked lifestone. That should be more than enough, no? I know how shops operate quite well.”

“Given the current situation…well, if you really aren’t kidding with me, I can call out the boss. We can draft an agreement and all, but customer, are you serious about this deal?”

Claud thought back to the lifestones he hadn’t finished absorbing, and then nodded. “Anything for a good drink.”

This wasn’t the first time he’d splurged on drinks, anyway. Barrels of apple juice were still sitting around in his house, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t get other drinks either. Besides…would mixing apple juice and that thing called a fizzy drink produce a beverage that was greater than the sum of its parts?

“You sound like a professional at this. Do you do this often?”

“Not enough to be called a professional, regretfully.” Claud sniffed. “If I had enough money, I wouldn’t limit this to just drinks only. My dream is to live forever, with good food and drinks at the side.”

“That’s a very admirable dream.”

“Admirable?”

“Definitely better than people who dream about ruling the world, or killing Emperor Grandis…violent things like that. Can’t we all get along?”

Claud didn’t quite know how to reply that, so after fobbing her peaceful dreams off with some grunts, he downed another cup of the fizzy drink and got up. “When will your next batch of artefacts come in?”

“Depends, I guess. It’s not something I have control over, regretfully.”

“That’s a pity, but I’ll just drop by once in a while to see if there’s anything nice.” Claud looked at the wristguard he’d gotten, before fixing it on his left wrist. Keeping the skillsticks he got as a freebie — five of them were Future Sight, while the other five were Fool’s Fortune — he nodded at Anthea.

“Yes, please do.”

Leaving the shop, Claud headed back to his apartment, which was still a mess from the aftermath of becoming a mana-user. Cleaning himself up with the Refresher, he sat on his bed — which was now just a mattress and nothing else — and began to narrow down his targets.

The little box rolled out, spinning on a corner with glee.

“Good job staying quiet, Crown.”

It jiggled happily and rolled over his hand, before nuzzling it twice.

“What a cute little pet…”