“Anyway, you must be careful,” said Nero. “Many people have died from being exposed to the wrong types of information. Yelling the right words in battle can do as much harm as a well-timed skill…you will not believe how many people have died from being exposed to the wrong information at the worst of times.”

“Information as a weapon?” Claud asked, interested.

“I had a feeling that you of all people would be interested in asking,” Lily chimed in. “Glad to see that I’m not wrong.”

“It’s nice to see that someone understands me to such an extent,” Claud replied.

“Yeah, I had a feeling you wanted to learn some sneaky move too,” said Schwarz. “I just fear for the lives of your enemies.”

Claud rolled his eyes. “Have you ever seen me make an actual enemy before? I don’t make enemies. That just doesn’t make sense. Everyone tries to be good friends with each other; isn’t our soon-to-be Ruler Istrel visiting the dukedom capitals of Lustre and Schwa? Even for someone as important as him, he still has to give these two areas respect by placing them last on the visiting list.”

“Only because they’re all penta-folders,” Schwarz replied. “But still, you do make a good point. He’s not snubbing Duke Lustre or Duke Schwa, so I presume that it’s a signal that things haven’t quite gone past the point of no return yet. Maybe the two of them would just throw some benefits at Ruler Istrel and be done with it.”

“Sure doesn’t feel like it, though,” Risti mused out loud.

“Politics is the same everywhere, huh?” Nero bobbed his head. “Rulers, Dukes…it’s not too different from the politics of Nihal. Just different names and things.”

“Yeah, which is why your First Lady is unlikely to get along with our Emperor,” Schwarz replied. “And the same’s likely to hold for Lacheln too.”

“Lacheln’s worse,” Nero replied. “The current Supreme, Supreme Saran, holds total sway over his continent. The people complain about the high-handedness and callous disregard for human will and life by the Nihal Senate, but that is nothing compared to the Saran Supremacy’s institutionalised slavery.”

“Slavery?” Everyone stared at Nero.

“Yeah. They don’t let us know too much, though. Apparently, a lot of senators believe that if their people learn about the problematic way of life the people of the Supremacy are forced to endure, the people would band together and demand for the Senate to take action.” Nero shrugged. “No one knows, though. After all, I’ve been told that the Grandis Empire is an antiquated system propped by on the basis of power alone. Neo-slavery in the form of fiefs and nobles isn’t all that better than the Saran Supremacy.”

“I think that’s an unfair characterisation of our Grandis, though,” said Schwarz.

“I agree,” said Nero. “For one, the booze here is awesome, unlike those fake watered-down piss that Nihal taverns serve, yet dare to call number one under the skies.”

“Right?” Schwarz nodded eagerly. “Disappointing. It seems that there’s not going to be much I can learn about alcohol from Nihal. But do they have good non-alcoholic drinks there?”

“Oh, yes. Definitely. Nothing as good as your fizz, though,” Nero replied. “I’m going to be sad when I have to return home. I’ll definitely miss your fizz.”

“I’ll give you a barrel before—”

“Excuse me?” Claud cut in. “You’re just going to bug me for one barrel and give it to him, right? At least give me credit where it’s due.”

“Who said I wasn’t going to give you credit?” Schwarz replied. “Besides, he’ll be stuck here for some time. Nero’s going to find out that you’re the guy with the fizzy drinks, not me.”

“Actually, Clarissa told me to get a barrel from you,” said Nero. “She’s willing to pay six high-ranked lifestones for it, the same price the count’s fiancée paid.”

“You do know that—never mind. Sure,” said Claud. “I’ll get you a barrel later. Still, you’re acting as her gofer? That’s a sound idea. She has lots of experience as the Holy Daughter. But don’t emulate her frozen face, though.”

“She’ll smack you if she found out you said that,” Nero muttered. “It’s a point of pride for her, do you know that? She’s actually really expressive too, but due to the many devious elderly men and women in the White Church, she has to be very stoic.”

“And your Black Church isn’t any different?”

“The Lord places emphasis on the domain of emotions and feelings,” he replied. “Why would we stifle our true thoughts and emotions? Only by being liberated in spirit and mind can we face the trials and tribulations sent by the five grand skies.”

“The five grand skies…”

“Not telling,” Nero replied hastily. “You will die a horrible death. So no. Not now. Your authority increases when your mana folds increase, so work hard and get there quickly.”

“You make it sound easy…” Rolling his eyes, Claud got up. “Anyway, I’m going to mull on some things for a moment, and then do my usual checks on the city gates. You lot have fun.”

“Oh, okay,” said Schwarz. “Have fun, I guess.”

Lily stood up. “How long do you need to mull for?”

“Around thirty minutes or so,” Claud replied. “I’ll see you at Breads and Buns.”

Lily nodded. “Remember to bring some money, okay?”

Claud smiled. It was her treat yesterday, so it went without saying that it was his turn to stuff her full of little savoury foods. Even though he wasn’t all that rich, this was something he could at least do. “Of course not.”

Smiling, he returned to his room and locked the door, before taking out little Crown, who had been twitching and nudging his thigh ever since Claud thought about checking the rest of his skills.

His status popped up a few seconds after he sat down.

Name: Claud Primus

Lifespan: 250 years

Active Skills: Presence Nullification (8), Flight (5), Binding Order (7), Cleanse (6), FiBoD;A??? (0), FiBoD;A??? (0)

Passive Skills: DiL???C, Mana Organ, Omen, Understanding

Mana Circuit Superimposition: 1.78

Mana Control Proficiency: Intermediate

Comments: detected. Adjusting in progress…

With Crown’s help, he had burned forty-two years of his life to complete another forty-two percent of his mana-circuit. Normally, burning a second circuit required two hundred years of lifespan, but thanks to Crown, that number had been cut down to half. Whether it would stay the same for the next few folds Claud had no idea, but this was yet another reason why he was so incentivised to stay alive. As long as he stayed alive, becoming a truly mighty folder would be around the corner; he had an unparalleled advantage in this regard.

Still, what exactly was Crown?

The little box bounced onto his knee as that question came to mind, and Claud focused on the skill that he had forgotten about after a long time.

[Skill: Divine Life Companion

Skill effects: You are the lifebound partner of a Divine Life Existence.]

Claud stared at the small rectangle, and then frowned. There was nothing else to it. Just a small description that did absolutely nothing at all.

“Say, Crown.”

The box hopped once and turned to him, before tilting to one side. “Meep?”

“Well, I am told that you are something called a Divine Life Existence,” Claud continued. “I, unfortunately, have no idea what a Divine Life Existence is, although it does sound related to the gods.”

Crown spun on an edge for three seconds, before falling onto its side. “Meep…”

“Not useful, eh?” Claud frowned. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep searching. There’s got to be something about this.”

“Meep!”

Claud laughed, before scooping up the little box and placing it on his shoulder. “Still, I’m your lifebound partner, eh? How does that work? You’re so awesome, so why didn’t anyone try to be your lifebound partner in the past?”

He tried to recall the circumstances in which he got Crown, but the memory of the whole thing felt a bit off. Back then, when he was sneaking into Duke Istrel’s treasury, his Presence Nullification seemed to have worn off at a bad timing. Although he made up for it a moment later by snapping a skillstick, one of the automatons on guard had noticed him in that infinitesimal moment in which he was exposed. Therefore, he was forced to flee with the little Crown and the Pure-Life Gem, which he had to ingest to prevent anyone from tracking him down with it.

From that, it was possible that someone had noticed the ability of that non-descript box to nurture Pure-Life Gems. However, that assumption was problematic; no one would have left Crown there if they knew that it possessed such an ability. In that case, the newly-formed Pure-Life Gem…

“Urgh. Did someone really steal an old Pure-Life Gem and stuff a new one in its place?” Claud rubbed his head. “That was supposed to be a fricking rumour, but it’s come full circle now? My head hurts.”

Crown hopped onto his head and rolled around on his scalp, which was, to be honest, a rather useful remedy. Before long, his headache had subsided, but Claud had lost all interest in checking his other skills. He had a feeling that if another stupid mystery popped up, today’s work could be called off.

Placing Crown back into his pocket, he got up and left Moon Mansion, heading towards that little shop that he had agreed to meet with Lily at.