Little shadows had filled up the seats of the tavern when Claud and Lily went down, each of them drinking what Claud hoped wasn’t alcohol and swaying from side to side. They weren’t drunk; the old man had pulled out some stringed instrument to play, and the shadows were swaying in tune to the pleasant melody.

The two of them took the impressive sight in for a while, and then settled into an open table. Not every single table was filled up, naturally, but as the two of them sat down, a few child-sized shadows slid off their own seats and ran over to Lily.

“Uh, Claud?”

“I think the kids like you,” Claud replied, glancing at a particularly brave shadow. The shadow in question had reached out its hands, like a child wanting a hug, and Lily scooped the little fellow up.

“So soft,” Lily muttered, patting the shadow’s head.

Another shadow clambered onto Claud’s knee, and the master thief looked at the featureless little kid, who was somehow giving off a sense of cuteness that shouldn’t quite have been possible.

“Odd. Why do I find these little kids so cute?” Claud muttered, picking up the brave kid that had climbed on his knee and raising the little guy to eye level. There were no discernible features or anything; these little toddlers were just the height of his knee and waddling around in silence. And yet, their mannerisms were more than enough to make him smile.

“It’s how they act and behave,” Lily replied, placing the toddler-shaped shadow she’d carried back down on the ground. “Let’s see if they respond to sweets…uwah!”

The shadows lined up in orderly queues the moment Lily pulled out some of her sweets, and the old man manning the counter guffawed. “Lord and Lady Primus, I’ve trained them to line up when they see food. Adorable, aren’t they?”

“It’s a bit quiet, though.” Claud poked the cheeks of the little guy on his knee. “How’s business today?”

“Silence, with lots of shadow babies,” the old man replied. “Want anything?”

“Yeah, one lunch special.” Claud glanced at Lily once. “Make that two specials, sorry.”

“Apple juice?”

Claud nodded his head. “Apple juice.”

Smiling, the old man continued to play the stringed instrument in his hands — Claud didn’t know what that instrument was — while Lily gave out her sweets. The little toddlers waddled back to their table after they received a sweet, which meant that their chances of winning the most well-behaved children award was really high.

“Ah, the joys of raising children without needing to think about the messier bits,” Claud commented, watching the last shadow toddler return to its seat.

“Discovered anything?” Lily asked, her voice quiet.

“They don’t have organs, apparently,” Claud replied. “Used my mana to scan the little fellow that climbed onto my knee, but they’re like solid blocks of some odd power given sentience.”

“…Huh.”

“Right?” Claud looked at the child-sized solid shadows occupying the seats. “They are really different from us.”

He found the fact that these little guys would soon be caught up by the fires of war somewhat depressing too, although he wasn’t going to bring that up right now. It would just worsen Lily’s mood and bring back the fact that the two of them weren’t living in a vacuum.

What would these little kids be doing a year from now? Heck, when the great Dark descends? Would they be made to grow up overnight and sent to fight? Was that how the armies of the great Dark were born?

“Are they even alive to begin with?” Lily muttered.

“What’s your definition of alive?” Claud asked. “I don’t think they have a heartbeat or share the same organs as us, to begin with, so we can’t use that category. And…well, we bandy that term around quite freely, since everyone has an unspoken definition of life to begin with.”

He looked at the children swaying in tune with the old man’s playing. “What about them? Do you think they’re alive?”

Lily pondered for a moment. “I don’t know. But I think that they are indeed alive. Or feel, as the case may be. What does the great Dark plan to do with these children?”

“Raise them as soldiers, possibly.” Claud shook his head. “Haven’t you noticed? Most of the adult-sized shadows have vanished. The ones here are now little toddlers waddling around and everything. Presumably, the adults have gone off for war.”

“Right you are,” said the innkeeper, bringing a tray over to them. Two sizzling black plates sat in front of them a moment later, giving off a smoky aroma that made his mouth water. The lunch special for this inn was a hotplate dish, so named because the plate could still cook the food while it was being served.

The innkeeper had recommended it once when Claud was lamenting about food long ago, and he had never looked back since. Lily liked it a lot too, especially after cold nights, and last night had been quite chilly.

To be fair, almost every night in Lostfon had been rather chilly, so this was practically saying that the two of them ate hotplate chicken with spiced rice every afternoon.

“You saw them leave?” Lily asked, and Claud pricked his ears. The two of them had focused on the arduous task of burning new mana circuits, and while Claud had run smack dab into the unofficial limits of 3.95 for his Mana Circuit Superimposition, Lily’s rate of increase could only be described as a crawl.

Therefore, while Lily had focused on burning her mana circuits, Claud had chosen to drill with his mana. Barely a year had passed, and he was already infinitely close to being a tetra-folder. However, he had no intention of stepping into the next boundary without the complete understanding of what the so-called Second Tutorial or tribulation was.

Whatever scant pieces of information he’d gleaned from the Trading Board hadn’t been that illuminating either, but in its defence, there weren’t that many tetra-folders in the world. How many tetra-folders were Profiteers too? Claud didn’t know, but he had a feeling that the number couldn’t be more than the fingers on either of his hands.

“Oh yes,” said the old innkeep. “They marched out three weeks ago. Never saw them after that. And from then on, when more shadows descended from the sky, they would form up into neat contingents and march out of the city.”

“Does that mean that those little children aren’t actually raised to be soldiers?” Lily wondered. “I mean, the soldiers of the Dark simply appear from the sky.”

“Maybe. They’re a lot more intelligent and curious too,” the old man added. “I can think of a few possible reasons behind the presence of these little children. They’ll make good officers, capable of independent thought and judgement, for instance.”

“Or they’re civilians of a sort, the kinds that will eventually grow up to be capable enough of running a town,” Claud replied. “They look intelligent enough to do that, for sure.”

One of them slipped off its seat as Claud said those words, plopping onto the floor and shaking its head. For some reason, the master thief felt his face smart at that sight, and he had to tear his eyes away.

The little toddler got back into its seat a few seconds later, but the damage had been done.

“Alright, putting aside comments on their intelligence,” said Lily, “why else would the Dark send down those adorable little babies? Are they, perhaps, trying to win us over with sheer cuteness?”

“That’s probably the least likely possibility.” Claud looked at the little toddlers, who were now stretching their little adorable limbs. Were they going to have a nap here, of all places?

“Really?” Lily asked.

“P-probably.” Claud tore his eyes away from the little fellows, who were placing their heads down on their tables. “Who knows?”

“Well, you two can keep discussing, but any longer, and your food is going to cool down,” the innkeeper replied.

“Right.”

He hobbled away a few seconds later, which was the cue for the two of them to start digging in. For a few minutes, nothing could be heard save for the clinking of cutlery on metal — silence was of no issue to the two of them — and Claud savoured the flavourful mix of rice, spice and grilled meat.

This was their usual peaceful day whenever they had nothing to do, but since both of them had worked up the courage to step out of the inn to look around today, they had come to a non-verbal agreement to leave the speaking and interactions for their foray outdoors.

After finishing their meal, Claud and Lily stepped outside. The hollow, feeble daylight that had covered the city on the day of the Dark’s arrival still covered the city, illuminating the deserted territory slightly better than the Moons. If Claud really had to compare it with something, it would be an overcast sky, but even the light that made it through had some…life.

The radiance that lit up Lostfon was dead.

Hollow.

Perhaps it would be better to use the Second Shadow instead, but the two of them had been cooped up for far too freaking long.