Count Nightfall played with the cup in his hand as he settled down on his seat. “Right, my apologies. We haven’t met for a few months, and the first thing that comes rolling out of my lips is a request to do something in return for payment. I probably sound like a scumbag or something.”

“No worries, count,” Schwarz replied. “Besides, isn’t this an indication of how bad things are?”

Count Nightfall and Caroline fidgeted together, and Dia had to hide a grin. For some reason, the duo’s actions were quite similar, as if they had somewhat changed to make things that way, and she wondered if couples invariably converged together in terms of mannerisms and actions.

“I wouldn’t call them bad,” Count Nightfall mused.

“Nothing the Moon Lords can’t handle,” Caroline added.

The count cupped his chin. “It’s just an issue of station and position. Too many people are watching us, so we really can’t act effectively.”

“That’s why we came to you guys, who are already our agents in all but name.” Caroline took a sip from her cup. “We’ll pay you handsomely, of course.”

Risti sidled over to Dia as Schwarz helpfully informed the duo about the change in the Moon Lords name, and as the couple made little noises and tittered about the meaning behind ‘Seekers of Life’, Risti said, “Is it me, or are these two very, very in sync? I swear, they seem to be the same person saying the same thing! It’s a bit scary.”

Nero nodded and joined the conversation. “Would Claud and Lily be the same when they come back? That’ll be rather tiring. Imagine talking to one of them and the other starts helping. And they’ll be stuck at the arms too.”

He paused. “Incidentally, I’m a young and eligible bachelor. Anyone here interested in me?”

“Is this really the right time to bring that up?” Risti asked. “And no, I don’t really get that love-struck feeling when I think about you. You’re like that kid brother who needs some help to get rid of an alcoholic addiction.”

“D-do I actually drink that much?” Nero asked, and then turned to Dia. “How about you?”

Dia blinked. “Uh, a kid brother, I guess. Sure, you’re eligible and everything, but you don’t move hearts for some reason. Like there’s a barrier between you and me.”

“That’s odd. I did at least go out with you for two days to handle the investigations back then,” Nero mumbled. “Didn’t I seem reliable or anything?”

“…Do you want me to put it nicely, or say the truth?” Dia asked.

“I think my heart can’t take it,” Nero replied. “Never mind.”

“What brought this on anyway?” Risti asked, curious. “What, did the news of Claud and Lily as well as the lovely coordination between Count and Countess Nightfall move your heart or something? You weren’t this anxious, last I checked.”

“It’s just something I thought of randomly,” Nero replied. “Don’t think too hard about it. Still, I do need to get closer to you guys. I don’t know you guys all that well.”

“Isn’t that the same for us all?” Risti asked. “We don’t exactly know what your life experience was like. You were a bit distant earlier because you didn’t know anything behind our formation, right? You simply joined us because there wasn’t exactly a better place to go.”

“And Schwarz’s brews were good too.”

“I really want to check your judgment on that,” said Risti, “but I realise that you’re a hardcore drinker that would prefer his crazy alcoholic brews over his finely-made non-alcoholic fruity fizzy drinks.”

Dia nodded. “He has normal alcohols too, but he doesn’t bust them out.”

“Really?” Risti asked. “Go on, tell me more…”

While Farah and Schwarz handled the issue of their name change, Dia launched into a short description of the brews that Schwarz busted out the last time she needed some counselling, and by the time she was done, Risti had a contemplative look on his face.

“So, why doesn’t he use those normal brews?” Risti asked.

“You ask questions that perhaps only the Moons can answer,” Dia replied. “Maybe we should get him to cough up the answer. Weren’t we talking about how we should all get closer or something?”

“We were?” Nero asked, confused.

“Probably. It’ll be nice if we found some time to talk about little fun issues like that,” said Dia. “Never had one ever since you came around and joined us, after all. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“It’ll be interesting to learn about the life of a Holy Son and his upbringing, yes…”

“Is it really that interesting?” Nero asked, perplexed. “It’s quite boring, in my opinion.”

“That’s what many people would say,” Schwarz abruptly cut in, “but in truth, everyone’s life is interesting. It just depends on whether the speaker is willing to be in-depth about an explanation of his or her lives after all.”

“Really?” Nero asked.

“Trust me on that, buddy.” Schwarz patted his shoulder. “Sorry to break up the nice socialising atmosphere here, but Count Nightfall needs to talk about the issue threatening the city.”

Everyone turned to the count, who nodded at Schwarz. “Thanks. Once again, I extend my apologies, and…well, I’ll skip the pleasantries. Now, with the barrier isolating the sovereignty from the rest of Grandis, some of the other nobles are feeling a bit…frisky. Knight families who see an opportunity to dispose of certain baronets or barons and take their place, for instance, have started to make their moves. In the same vein, some subordinate barons, who have been gathering power and resources, want to claim a pie of their boss’ territory.”

He took out a dossier and handed it over to Schwarz. “And of course, fellow colleagues who want nothing more than to suck some resources away from the city. Countess Farah has been mediating in seclusion for over a year already; I suspect she’s going to become a tetra-folder.”

Remarkably enough, Dia managed to muster up enough willpower to not burst out laughing or look at the actual Countess Farah. Somehow, the others also managed such a superhuman feat too, and Dia forced herself to focus on Count Nightfall.

“Count Daybreak has been reeling from the impact of having a Moon Emissary summoned in his city; a blood sacrifice was conducted there, after all,” Count Nightfall continued, unaware of the fact that everyone from the Moon— Seekers of Life had just withstood the urge to laugh or make an odd noise. “He won’t go after Countess Farah’s territory, since it is small and the countess might emerge as a powerhouse of this era. The only target, therefore, is us.”

“What has he done so far?” Schwarz asked, smoothing over any display of awkwardness by them with that question.

“He has, to date, tried to assassinate me and Caroline five times,” Nightfall replied.

“In the past month,” Caroline added. “The way he did it was rather…questionable too. People would show up at the gates, yell a bunch of insults, and then challenge us to a duel. Halfway during the duel, something would happen, like a bunch of arrows or energy projectiles flying towards us. Immediately afterwards, the challengers would immediately surrender and claim that they had been forced to do such a thing.”

“So we have to stuff them in our dungeons, but we’re talking about folders and trained mercenaries here. It’s possible that there’s a scheme revolving around the huge numbers of trained killers in my dungeons, and to make matters worse, we can’t exactly kill them.”

“What will you have us do?” Risti asked.

“Return to what you guys did previously. Intercept any folders and force them to stay away from the Nightfall Palace,” the count replied.

“Claud was the one doing that the whole time, though,” said Dia. “I don’t know how he did it, and he didn’t leave arrangements that would help us set such a function up.”

Inwardly, Dia felt a bit tired. This would mean that she would need to make a trip out to the guardhouse. So far, nothing problematic had come up, so most of Claud’s arrangements had been running on their own, but…

“Can you guys do it?” Nightfall asked, his words blunt.

“We’ll need some manpower,” Dia asked, her mind running through the arrangements Claud had left behind. She didn’t want to disturb them at all, and since the count’s personal guards had returned, using them instead would work fine too. “And I think a squad of trained archers would be very useful in convincing any newcomers.”

“I see.” The count’s eyes glittered. “We’ll do it your way, then. We won’t affect the current arrangements and bring a new batch in. Okay, now that’s settled, we have a few more issues. We need some people to cause trouble in Daybreak County too, but we can’t do it as sloppily as Count Daybreak. It’ll be best if a few of you guys went there in person and—”

Schwarz cleared his throat. “Dia, leave the planning to me. You take Risti and Nero with you, and do some troublemaking at Daybreak County. That fine?”

“Eh?”

Risti pondered for a moment. “That’s probably one of the best ways to allocate manpower, to be honest.”

“That makes it the third time I went out, though,” Dia muttered. “Don’t get me wrong, though, it’s better than handling something like security.”

“Then it’s decided,” Count Nightfall replied. “I’ll give you guys a bunch of lifestones to make sure your time there is a bit more productive. Remember, for bi-folders and beyond, it’s alright to take things slowly. Don’t think drawing mana circuits will be easy.”

“No rush. Count Daybreak is a tri-folder, but he can’t really fight,” Caroline added.

The two added a few more warnings, and eventually, Count Nightfall got up.

“We must be going,” said Nightfall. “I really want to stay, but there’s a lot of work to be done.”

Caroline nodded, but before they left, they took a nice tankard of fizzy apple juice with them, leaving behind a peeved Schwarz, whose eyes had turned into daggers.

There were just some people one couldn’t say no to…