The others were standing politely when Dia escorted Caroline into the living room, and after a round of greetings, she immediately zeroed in on the opened barrel.

“Is that what I think it is?” Caroline asked. “That’s from my home, right? Fizzy drinks manufactured in Lostfon? Man, those things are so popular that even my family doesn’t get more than a barrel every month. Where did you guys get this from?”

Dia looked at Claud, as did everyone else, and the punk chuckled. “I made a little deal with a supplier some time ago.”

“Ohh.” Caroline rubbed her hands. “Can I have a cup?”

Schwarz got up and retrieved a golden cup for her. “Here, Your Grace.”

“People who share drinks with me don’t need to use titles or honorifics,” she replied. “Caroline will do.”

“Very well, mi—”

“Ca.Ro.Line.” She smiled. “Don’t go throwing random prefixes or titles on me. You don’t do that to buddies who share drinks.”

She turned to Claud. “Thank you for sharing this treasure trove.”

“It’s nothing, really,” Claud replied smoothly. “You are our colleague, in a sense. Sharing drinks like this is pretty much part of the package. If you like, I could sell a barrel to you.”

“Really?” Caroline’s eyes glittered. “Five middle-ranked lifestones, then.”

“What—”

“Oh, too low?” Caroline thought for a moment. “Right, of course it would be too low. One high-ranked lifestone then. That should be more than enough, and then some.”

Claud opened his mouth, clearly torn between the desire to be honest and his desire for lifestones, and then nodded meekly. Dia stifled a smile at that sight — clearly, that barrel had cost far less than one high-ranked lifestone — and she continued to eye him expectantly.

How would he react?

“Your—”

“Nuh-uh,” Caroline interrupted. “It’s Caroline to you.”

“Caroline,” said Claud. “Three barrels. For one high-ranked lifestone. I’ll be a bit honest here. It feels like I’m making a small gain here at your expense, even at this price.”

“I’m a noble. Letting people make gains at my expense is something reserved for my friends. And you guys, who shared a drink with me, count as friends, right? Besides, you even offered a fairer deal to me.” She leaned back. “That’s good enough for me. Here, catch.”

She tossed a lifestone to Claud. “Remember to send three barrels over!”

“Will do, Caroline.”

Dia’s intuition, however, informed her that Claud had still profited massively at Caroline’s expense. To be honest, it was somewhat expected, since drinks and food usually didn’t go for even a middle-ranked lifestone, but Caroline had upped the ante by tossing a high-rank lifestone out.

It was nice to be rich, if nothing else.

Dia’s childhood wasn’t an opulent one — the fact that she learned swordplay and had to help in pushing papers was fairly indicative of that. Frugality — for a noble, anyway — was the name of the game, and other than treating herself to some little snacks whenever she snuck out into town, Dia generally didn’t splurge on anything.

Besides, there were only so many occasions one could wear a dress in, and as Duke Lustre’s daughter, who was going to scorn her for wearing the same thing all the time?

Schwarz filled up everyone’s cup once more, and then cleared his throat. “Caroline, to what pleasure do we owe this visit?”

“Sudden Inspiration told me that I should sit down in this meeting,” Caroline replied. “See? I get three barrels of fizzy drinks, and I get to sponge off this currently open barrel. That’s reason enough for me, if nothing else.”

Her smile faded slightly. “More importantly, I really wanted to discuss the murderer. At the rate in which the Knife of Karma is used, the murderer will probably arrive here in the next two days or so. We should be adequately prepared for someone who is capable of killing Zulan Patra, if nothing else.”

“Isn’t that the Holy Daughter’s job?” Claud asked.

“She and her guards will do the actual killing, yes. And I will, too. You guys can enjoy some snacks at the side.” Caroline cleared her throat. “But we should still prepare for his arrival somehow. Ambushes and things like that. Maybe a way to keep an eye out — if Zulan Patra’s murderer is actually a thrall, we must keep an eye out for the Third, who will likely make a move on the Holy Daughter.”

“I’ll handle that bit,” Risti volunteered.

“You’re…Risti, right? I’ve heard about your skillset,” said Caroline. “They happen to be really useful for this situation, so let me thank you in advance. Right. As this is an ad-hoc job, it’s actually different from your regular employment contract with Aran, so there’ll be renumeration simply by being involved in this whole thing.”

“There’s more to this, right?” Farah abruptly asked. “There’s also extra payment for being involved in handling threats stronger than us too. Is that already factored in?”

Caroline smiled. “Right. I’ll add that in, then.”

After haggling over payment for a few more minutes, Caroline plopped six high-ranked lifestones on the table and smiled. “Keep the change. It’s a tip, okay?”

“Many thanks for your generosity,” Claud replied, a grin on his face.

Caroline chuckled for a moment, and then straightened her face. “Unfortunately, we don’t have any records about the Third so far. However, the possibility of there being an ambush on Holy Daughter Clarissa is very high, given the methods that had been employed by the Third in the past. A report sent by Isolde — I mean, Dia — suggests that Zulan Patra died some time ago, and his brain was used to make enhanced Experiential Potions. We don’t know how many such potions can be created in such a fashion, but it will be safe to assume that if there’s an ambush, spears falling from the sky would make up the bulk of it.”

Everyone thought over her short speech for a moment.

“Wait,” said Dia. “Back then, the only reason why the murders were so successful was due to the use of Black God’s Gaze. Hitting a target paralysed by fear is far easier, and it also hints at the limitations such a method has.”

“Don’t rule out the use of Black God’s Gaze yet,” said Caroline. “For all we know, this might be one of the many battles between the Coloured Churches. And there’s probably a bunch of skillsticks with Black God’s Gaze lying around too.”

“How troublesome,” Risti noted. “Back then, we dealt with the combination of Clairvoyance and Black God’s Gaze by blocking off the skies, but if it’s a direct confrontation, mere eye contact will do, no? What a troublesome skill.”

“Why else would it be called ‘Black God’s Gaze’?” Caroline replied. “It’s a skill the Black God has magnanimously imparted to his flock. Skills of the Coloured Gods are incredibly versatile in use and potent in effect. Going up against the Coloured Churches without making ample preparation is simply asking for it.”

“How overpowered…”

Dia let out a small puff of air. She essentially had two skills that couldn’t be used, now that she thought about it. However, if she was outside of a city, really far away from trees and other vegetation, using Domain of Swords wasn’t entirely out of the question. It was better than Sword Fall, anyway. That skill could devastate any structure, and if used on flat ground, probably create a pit huge enough to render a trading route inoperable.

Huh. Maybe I could cut off trade to the Istrel capital by launching Sword Fall a few times around it. Wouldn’t that solve most of my problems? After spending a minute or two to entertain a thought that would probably burst a blood vessel in Claud’s head, she grabbed her cup and sipped from it.

“Anything?” Caroline asked. “Suggestions welcome, really. I’m quite stumped too. How do we deal with such a skill? In fact, how does it even work?”

“That’s a good question. Still, would a mirror work?” Schwarz asked. “If it does, we could get the inquisitors to wear something nice and reflective, so using Black God’s Gaze would affect the users too.”

“That’ll be a very sad weakness of all eye-based skills if your suggestion works, but I suppose it’s worth a shot.”

“We can also get them to equip artefacts that deals with abnormal mental states. Or skillstrips that have such skills — that should work too, right?” said Claud.

“I know,” said Lily. “Why not prepare an arena of sorts, one that is hard to look into from the outside, and lure the murderer to fight inside?”

“We have a bunch of ballistae here too,” said Farah. “Just get them to fight in the air, and we can shoot them down with it.”

Suggestions continued to spill forth, and as the sun continued to labour on through the blue sky, Caroline eventually decided on the more passive method of equipping the inquisitors with a bunch of skillstrips that would hopefully protect them.

“That’s all for now, then,” said Caroline. “I’ll update you guys once we see the target. Have a good day!”

With a small sigh of relief, Dia watched on as Schwarz led Caroline out of Moon Mansion, before rubbing her throbbing head,

Who knew plans were hard to come up with?