“…Will people really fall for this?” Claud rubbed his nose as he sat on a wagon with Lily. A nice strong horse pulled the wagon laden with two people and some goods along without any complaint at the same time, thereby proving the pecking order amongst all life on Grandis.

“You’ve heard what Count Lostfon said,” Lily replied. “They’re probably going to rob anyone who has the emblem of the great Dark stuck on them. We’re only two people, one horse and lots of goods. We’re an easy mark.”

“Too easy,” Claud replied. “Considering how everyone knows about them, two people and a wagon have to be a trap, right? Only the confident would do such a thing now.”

Lily flicked his forehead. “Silly Claud. Not everyone is as cautious as you, alright? Many people are desperate for food and money, while others simply just don’t think that hard. In fact, some people don’t actually think when they act!”

“Impossible,” Claud refuted. “How can anyone not think when they do something? That’s not possible!”

“You should walk the streets a few more times…there are really people who don’t think things through, or even at all.”

Claud shook as the first half of the sentence slapped him merrily. Usually, he was the streetwise fellow, the guy who knew everything about common sense. Today, however, he had been told to walk the streets a few more times…

What was this odd feeling in his heart?

“I mean,” Lily pressed on, “there are some people who act according to instinct, right? They do things without thinking things through, and they go to places at the drop of a hat. The only thought that pops into their head at that very moment is probably going to be somewhere along the lines of ‘I want to go there’ and absolutely nothing else.”

She folded her arms. “Can that be counted as thinking too?”

Claud fell silent. Her words indeed held merit, but if people didn’t spend all their time thinking about what to do and how they should approach their goal, what did they think about?

He voiced that question out loud.

“Dinner, probably,” Lily replied. “I’m a good example, right? We’re still on a job, but I’m already thinking about what we should have when we return and everything. Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that these attackers probably aren’t thinking in really long terms. Think about it! They actually dare to attack convoys outbound from Lostfon itself. There’s probably nothing they won’t dare to do.”

Claud puffed up his cheeks, but Lily made a ton of sense here. “Alright, we’ll just bring this wagon over to the next city then. If it fails, we can sell the goods there…I bet we’ll make a profit anyway.”

“I know the two of us just became Profiteers, but you don’t really need to be that eager about it, alright?”

The dark fog swirled around them as they left the city, clashing against the tri-coloured moonlight that illuminated the world. The darkness, however, didn’t cover their wagon or the two of them; it simply remained swept past them like how a river would ignore a few stones here and there.

“It’s probably the emblem, right?” Claud asked.

“What are you talking about?” Lily asked. “The reason why the dark fog is avoiding us?”

Claud nodded. “Quite mystical. I mean, I just hung this emblem on, but I didn’t expect it to have such a potent effect.”

Claud and Lily looked at the complex insignia, which was made out of multiple hexagons overlaid on each other. Complex words that didn’t have anything related to the letters and words Claud knew should have been scribbled in the small spaces, but he didn’t know how to draw them well enough to make good copies.

Folding her arms, Lily said, “I think it’s more of the flag, though. We’re carrying Count Lostfon’s flag, and the count is already an ally of sorts to the great Dark. Isn’t it natural that the fog would avoid the Lostfon county and the people allied to it?”

“Wouldn’t that be a bit too easy for people to abuse?”

“Probably. Which is also a reason why these robbers haven’t been captured by the forces of the Dark, right? Our targets probably wore something that identified themselves as people from Lostfon, which hampered and tied up any possibility at retaliation by the Dark.” Lily sighed. “That’s why they’re more than willing to break down this alliance, since it’s hampering them.”

“No wonder they wanted us to capture these people alive,” Claud replied, thinking about the secret add-on that had been tossed onto them at the last moment. It would seem that the count and the Dark were preparing to make examples out of these people. “What can I say to that? They’re unlucky?”

“They knew what they were doing, alright?” Lily rolled her eyes. “These people knew what they were doing when they attacked the convoys of the great Dark and the merchants heading out. They were taking advantage of a good-faith contract and dire circumstances through and through.”

Claud still had a few doubts. After all, the Dark Herald, Dust, had phrased it in an intriguing way. Apparently, the root of this incident lay in ‘humans with nefarious intentions and unknown purposes’ instigating other people to act, so it was possible that they would encounter enemies with actual strength and everything.

He didn’t voice them out loud, however, and simply got Lily to check through her equipment. On the off chance that there was actually someone stronger hidden in the little fishes, that someone and their friends would definitely go after the weaker party first, which would apparently be him.

Lily was still leaking out some mana, due to her inadequate control over it. Considering that it had only been a month or so since she became a bi-folder, this wasn’t particularly surprising, but right now, anyone closing to around ten metres of her could sense a formidable presence.

The horse neighed a few times as it pulled the wagon the two of them sat on, and Claud took this chance to cuddle up to Lily. His days here, though peaceful, were still very capable of generating lots of stress, and this mission was one of the many reasons why. Claud was very aware that the outcome of this mission would affect how the great Dark and its Heralds would engage with Lostfon henceforth, and while he didn’t feel any particular affection for the man himself, his daughter had helped them quite a bit.

Claud hoped Caroline and her husband would protect the Moon Lords; this was but the only way he could manifest that little wish of his.

That was all.

The horse abruptly whinnied, and Claud straightened his body. A few seconds later, ten or so rough-looking men appeared on the road, their eyes blazing with malice and other dark feelings. Catcalls followed as the men at the front laid eyes on Lily, and Claud felt something hot bubble in the pit of his stomach.

“Hey you.” The leader of these men, a burly fellow who looked like he had been through a few fights, “that wagon is mine now. And that woman too—”

Blue light flashed once, and the burly man fell onto his bum as fine needles of blue light stabbed into his body. He screamed for two seconds, before falling back into a dead faint. Claud lowered his hand and slipped off the wagon, taking long deliberate steps as he approached the trembling group.

“This would have been a lot less painful if you guys didn’t cast designs on my Lily.” Claud tilted his head. “They told me to bring you back alive, but…”

He looked at the man at the very front, and then at those that had catcalled. Did he really need to keep these people alive? They seemed very experienced with what they had done, and it was possible small merchant convoys had been devoured entirely by them.

By the look on this fellow’s face, the captured men had probably been killed, and the women dragged away. That realisation made him shake once. If these people had been tri-folders, or if Claud and Lily really were just merchants and nothing else…

His stomach twisted.

He was lucky to have this kind of strength, but what about the common people? The merchants that had met these people?

In that moment, Claud found himself thinking that killing them was actually fine, despite all his misgivings about karma and other things. He looked at the nine other bandits, who had fallen to their knees and were currently begging, and felt a bit sick.

Before he could raise his hand, however, Lily held on to his arm and shook her head. Claud trembled once, and then let strength drain out of his left hand.

“If you want to live,” said Claud, restraining his anger, “bring me to your hideout.”

Lily placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled sadly. “It’s not your place to do this. There are due processes. Don’t burden yourselves with anymore deaths where possible.”

He accepted Lily’s intentions with a small sigh, and the bandits trembled. One of them mustered the courage to stand up, and with a trembling voice, bade the two of them to follow him.

Lily took Claud’s hand and guided him along, and the other bandits followed in silence.