“Ah, you’re finally back. And you, Lucius Daybreak. Long time no see. What brings you here?” Count Nightfall stood at the gates of his palace, a grin on his face. Caroline was leaning against a wall and reading a book, only glancing up once when Nightfall spoke.

Dia blinked thrice. This didn’t really fit the image of Nightfall in her head, but again, he was indeed expecting an old friend and enemy. She glanced at the others, who were showing similar signs of surprise, and then turned to the count that was going to freeload off Nightfall for a while.

“It’s been some time. Your fief is really prosperous…” Daybreak had a conflicted look on his face, and Dia felt a touch of pity for him. Even Farah County, which had been bankrupted due to Farah’s parents, had more money than the poor count right now.

“Jealousy isn’t a good reason to assassinate me, though.”

“I was desperate,” Daybreak replied. “And besides, you were out of contact for nearly an entire year. I was already half-mad with poverty.”

He shook his clothes. “This set was brought four years ago, you know.”

Caroline’s book fell onto the ground at those words, and everyone glanced at her. Her face still a mask of granite, she bent over to pick up the book in silence and continued to read her book.

Her message was a bit obvious, however, and Dia smiled uncontrollably when she saw the hint of pity in Nightfall’s eyes. In the end, even Nightfall couldn’t even fathom the idea of wearing clothes that were four years old; considering how quickly clothes frayed and turned ragged, Count Daybreak had preserved this particular set well.

Eyes lingering on a few frayed parts of the poor count’s attire, Dia slid over to Risti, who was also watching the exchange with amusement. Nero was a bit skittish — he probably wanted to zip off to find Schwarz — a sentiment that Dia could somewhat sympathise with, since there was a little Moonlit toddler wandering nearby.

While she wasn’t that affected by the little fellow, Dia still had to contend against the urge to pick up the little fellow. Controlling herself, she turned back to the interesting conversation between Nightfall and Daybreak, who were now talking about paying an official visit with gifts and everything.

“An apology, huh?” Dia noted.

“Seems like it. It’s not that obvious, and besides, Count Nightfall was actually annoyed by the constant harassment from Daybreak, not vengeful,” Risti analysed, before turning to Nero. “If we’re lucky, they might invite us in for some booze too. What do you think, Nero?”

“That’ll be lovely,” Nero replied. “I’ll think of it as an appetiser before the real deal, I suppose. Unless, of course, the count breaks out the bartender’s best works.”

“And give everyone else other than you alcohol poisoning? I don’t think so,” Dia replied. “Anyway, it’s a bit absurd to place Schwarz’s alcohol over the collection of a count, alright?”

“It’s an individual thing.” Nero folded his arms. “So there. It takes even better than prana, I’m telling you. The rush of energy into your body is addictive, but nothing’s better than the intoxication from Schwarz’s drinks.”

Risti frowned. “Prana jades, huh. Their provenance is spooky, though.”

“Well, if you don’t like how they were formed, just let them settle for a few dozen years,” Nero replied. “They’ll separate into multiple lifestones. They’re the renewable equivalent of pure-ranked lifestones, remnant wills arising from moira that have been purified and condensed.”

“Remnant will?” Dia asked, intrigued. She had heard this before, but Nero had—

“I’ll tell you about this when everyone’s assembled. Besides, this isn’t a good place to talk about secrets and darkness,” Nero replied, before glancing at the two counts conversing. “More importantly, I think we’re done here.”

Dia followed his gaze to see the two counts hugging each other like old friends, and then shrugged. It was common to see aristocrats who recently hired assassins to kill each other hugging like this, but at least there was actually sincerity in the way the two counts hugged.

“Maybe I should draw this or something,” Risti muttered, pulling out her sketchbook. “Drawing wildlife does get a bit monotonous.”

“Right, I haven’t finished looking through that sketchbook yet,” Nero replied. “I’ll return it when I can.”

“If you’re studying it at the same intensity I drew it at, you’d take months or even years, okay?” Risti rolled her eyes. “Just keep it with you. Don’t let it get damaged or anything, you hear? Hmph. I suppose it’s better than just having the hobby of drinking…I’ll draw more sketches for you next time.”

Nero laughed. “I’ll keep it on me where possible, then.”

After exchanging a few words of farewell, Dia, Nero and Risti decisively abandoned Count Nightfall and made for Moon Mansion. Crossing through the same familiar streets for the second time, Dia looked around and wondered if the two lovebirds had returned home yet. It had been quite some time since they left, and she was wondering if that Claud was bullying Lily or something.

“Do you think they’re back?” Dia asked.

“If they were, I think the security at the gates would have been amplified even further,” Risti replied. “After all, Claud would definitely feel some insecurity from being out for a long time. And don’t forget that Lily’s also learning from him all sorts of useful and not-so-useful tricks too. They’ll be a handful when they return.”

“Maybe they focused their efforts on making Moon Mansion even more impenetrable?” Dia suggested, before looking at a middle-aged man, who was squatting down and patting one of the Moonlit babies. The man was dressed in a very formal style, but it was one she didn’t recognise. Instead of the opulent suits and long coats, the man in question wore a simple black set of pants and an odd cloak.

He also wore a white, button-up inner shirt that could be formal wear in its own right, and a small ribbonlike thing was tied around his neck. Most catching, however, was the odd, black hat on his head. If Dia had to describe it, it looked like a black cylinder stuck to a black disc.

“Maybe it’s…something wrong?” Risti asked.

“Just looking at that man there,” Dia replied, motioning at the oddly dressed man. “What manner of dress is that?”

“Top hat, a suit…and a bow-tie.” Nero clicked his tongue. “It’s formal wear from the Saran Supremacy. What’s someone like that doing here?”

Dia blinked. “The Saran Supremacy? The…name of the nation that rules Lacheln, right?”

Nero nodded. “That’s odd. Supreme Saran laid down laws preventing travel out of his domain long ago. How did someone from Saran appear here?”

“Maybe it’s just his clothes?” Dia wondered.

The middle-aged man glanced at them once, and then patted the Moonlit baby one last time. Upon that sight, Dia felt that the man probably wasn’t from the Supremacy, and the urge to yawn overcame her for a moment.

Rubbing her eyes, she yawned again and said, “Let’s just go back. I’m a bit tired. Still, that manner of dress is pretty cool…maybe we can adopt it or something. Imagine everyone wearing that! It’s full of style, right?”

“That’s for men only, though,” Nero replied.

“What do we wear, then?” Risti asked, curious.

“Normal gowns?”

Dia thought about it for a moment, and then said, “Well, this is not the Saran Supremacy. And who’s going to charge us for wearing something that stylish? The fashion police? Besides, men wear dresses too…sometimes, anyway. And we women definitely can pull off wearing clothes designed for men too.”

“We’re bi-folders. We’ll string up anyone that prevents us from wearing whatever we want, you hear?” Risti grinned.

Chatting about clothes and whatnot, the three of them made a beeline to Moon Mansion. The stall owners and the residents of Moon Street did double-takes as they passed by, their hands usually occupied with the action of feeding Moonlit toddlers that had taken a liking to their food.

While that might seem like a money-losing prospect, those stalls that were currently hosting Moonlit babies had more business. In fact, Dia even felt like queuing up to watch those little fellows eat, but it was just a whim, so—

“Farah’s buying some food,” said Risti. “Over there! Let’s go surprise her!”

“I think she’s actually buying food to feed that Moonlit toddler,” Nero replied. “And there she goes. From how practiced her actions are, I think she must have done the same thing a few dozen times already.”

“What happened to our thrifty Farah?” Dia muttered, before reminding herself that she too also wanted to watch those adorable kids nibble on food.

“The same thing that happened to you,” Risti replied. “Now, we can only hope that Claud and Lily have a kid when they come back or something. At this rate, we’ll all be very unproductive…”

Dia really wanted to dismiss her words, but for some reason, she couldn’t bring herself to disagree.