After shaking the fainted count back to life, the Holy Son of the Black God decided to extort the poor, trembling fellow for fizzy drinks, good food and lots of alcohol. It wasn’t a really outrageous request...normally, anyway. Nero, however, had kindly requested the count to be the server of the next meal as a way of showing penitence to one of the Coloured Gods’ chosen.

Also included in the bill was a request to dress up as a butler, but whether Count Daybreak was happy or not was anyone’s guess, really. On one hand, he got to make amends for his choice of words and general disrespect to the Holy Son of the Black God, but on the other hand, his dignity as a count had been thrown aside in favour of being the absolute best attendant in the Daybreak Palace.

One might argue that it was a step-up, and as an extra, Risti produced an Image Crystal to record down the proceedings of their dinner for posterity and for Count Nightfall to admire.

Daybreak, naturally, didn’t dare to say anything about that.

“Alright,” said Nero, patting his stomach. “That was a nice meal. Thanks, Daybreak.”

“Do call me Lucius,” the count chirped.

“Alright, Lucius.” Nero glanced at Risti. “Uh, you want to do anything? I think he’s made up for his general disrespect to me, but nothing has been done to you yet.”

“…That’s fine, really. Maybe he can just up the number of lifestones or something. He has lots of mines in his territory anyway.”

“Yes, I can definitely do that, Miss Risti! Is there anything else you’d like?”

“Some artefacts useful for this mission, I guess,” Risti replied absently. “Maybe some of your records and books too…do you have a carriage? You should prepare one for us, with a coach of course. After we’re done here, we’ll go back home, and walking is a pain.”

“Your mercy is very much appreciated.”

“Alright, alright.” Dia clapped her hands, annoyed at the blatant abuse of power. It was downright galling to see the two of them abusing their authority and station, especially when Dia herself couldn’t do the same, so she had to put an end to it before things escalated.

That thought process was probably a bit odd, when Dia examined it on hindsight, but she wasn’t going to care too much about the process at this point.

“Hmm.” Count Daybreak turned to look at Dia. “You really remind me of the princess of the Lustre Dukedom.”

“Well, duh. She’s her double.” Risti rolled her eyes. “The real princess has vanished entirely. No one’s seen her for months.”

“I didn’t know she had a double, though.” The count folded his arms. “Well, whatever. It’s not like doubles are common knowledge, after all.”

Dia, who was a bit nervous about this particular topic, cleared her throat. “Now that we’re done with this, can we move on to the actual topic? We’ve wasted quite some time on this—”

“Don’t worry. While we were having fun and relaxing here, I got Lucius to send out his people. Daybreak County doesn’t have the mana sensor that Count Nightfall has, but they have small, portable versions that work off a limited range. They’re already out and checking the city,” Risti replied.

“Is there any way we can expand the range?” Nero asked. “This place is so darn huge that I don’t think the guards can cover it fast enough. What’s the range of those artefacts anyway?”

“Two kilometres.”

“Then we’ll be stuck here for some time,” Nero concluded. “Count Daybreak, do you have children? I feel like babysitting a kid for some reason.”

“Right, speaking of children, there aren’t any Moon babies waddling around here. What’s with that?” Dia asked. “I thought these little walking packets of cuteness and adorability were everywhere.”

“We did kinda forget about that, yes.” Risti paused. “Must be the atmosphere here. Count Daybreak probably didn’t govern his county well enough, so it’s innately predisposed to doom and gloom. Ai. What a pity.”

“Like I said, it’s capital and talent flight, alright?” Count Daybreak asked. “And for some reason, neither Nightfall County nor Farah County had a Moon Emissary show up. So everyone’s now whispering that my Daybreak is the funnel for ill luck.”

He sighed. “And not long after that, did you know the Moon Emissary that descended here was killed? We were all freaked out when the giant explosion bloomed between the borders of Farah County and my territory. The armies of Moon soldiers were completely flattened and everything, and the aftershocks even shook some nearby towns.”

Dia pricked her ears. “You saw it?”

“Yeah. It was incredible, in fact. A lance of prismatic light just came from the north. It fell upon the armies of the Moons and scorched them ashes. Not even the Moon Emissary could withstand a blow from that strike.” Fear flickered across Count Daybreak’s face. “A tenth of the power in that would have killed us all. If it hadn’t been concentrated on that area, the excess mana would probably have washed across the county and murdered us all.”

“Lord preserve us all,” Nero muttered.

“What did it feel like, being so close to death?” Risti asked, an odd curiosity lining her words. “When so much power fell close to your domain?”

“…It was cold.” Count Daybreak lowered his head. “In that moment, I felt myself reliving my life. All my regrets, all my sorrows…everything that I wanted to redo, appeared in my head.”

“Based on your judgement, how many mana circuits would be required to launch such an attack?” Dia asked.

“…Seven? Eight? Nine? I have the feeling that not even the Emperor himself could have done it. I don’t know.” The count shivered. “Let’s not talk about this now. I’m feeling very scared right now. Imagine if that thing was aimed at my city. Everyone would die.”

With that, the intriguing topic of the Moon Emissary’s death was closed. Dia found it a pity, but such an evaluation…would the Thief of Time really need to rob anything with such power?

“Probably a passing kind-hearted person…ah! Maybe it’s one of the Chromatic Lords,” Nero muttered. “Won’t put it past them to do something about the Moons…but why stop at one?”

He shook his head. “We’ll have to leave this morsel of information behind first. Count Daybreak, we’re going to take a rest first. Do inform us once more information is discovered. We’ll act swiftly and contain the suspected Bearer of Destiny.”

The count grunted. “I’ll send people to bring you over to your quarters. How should your arrangements be like?”

“Me and Dia will bunk together,” said Risti.

“I’ll have a room to myself,” Nero added.

“You don’t need to be this cautious here, you know...” Daybreak shrugged, before clapping his hands. A middle-aged woman, dressed in the frilly robes of a traditional head maid, appeared. She swept her gaze around the room once, curtsied to Count Daybreak, and then approached the three of them.

“Please,” said the head maid, “follow me to your lodgings.”

“I’ll leave the esteemed guests to your hands then, Lisa.” Count Daybreak took a deep breath. “I’ll be monitoring the situation from my study. If there’s anything, just tell it to my head maid. She’s the most capable person in my castle.”

“O-okay.”

Dia nodded at the maid, who smiled back at her. After reciprocating the non-verbal greetings the others also gave, she led them into a glittering passage. Golden stones were inlaid all around them, and their gazes didn’t go by unnoticed.

“Sunstone,” said the head maid. “It’s a local produce that can illuminate hallways after absorbing sufficient light in the daytime.”

“Sunstones, huh.” Dia examined the golden gems. “Not particularly useful for anything else, but I’m sure a certain paranoid person would love them.”

“Why would Claud like them?” Risti asked.

“He’s all about banishing the shadows and everything, right? I figured something like this would make him smile.” Dia paused. “I wonder how Lily and Claud are spending their lives now.”

“More importantly, when are they coming back?” Risti asked. “I’m going to rough Claud up if he bullied Lily or something.”

“Heh. Count me in.”

“I wonder how they actually got together, though.” Nero folded his arms. “I mean, two people don’t go swearing their lives together easily, you know.”

“We’ll just press them for details once they come back. They can’t be staying out for that long, right?” Risti grinned. “And we’ll tease them the whole way. Maybe ask about babies and everything. I wonder if they’ve picked up a Moon baby or something.”

“If we’re going by the established patterns so far, yes. I’m sure the two of them would have picked up a Moon baby…or they’re busy restraining themselves from doing that.”

Their conversation stopped shortly afterwards as the maid led them to two rooms.

“Please,” said the head maid, “do call for me if there’s anything you need.”

“Thanks.” Dia bobbed her head once more, and then chose a room.