“So, where did this news come from?” Dia asked, looking at the three sausages that had been thoughtfully left for her. “I mean, if a familiar spirit of the Coloured Gods wants to enter Moon territory, you’d think that they would be a bit sneakier about it, right?”

Schwarz, who was holding on to a bottle and drinking from it unsteadily, hiccupped and said, “The familiar spirit was lining up at the only entrance to the sovereignty.”

Dia patted her ear twice. “Sorry, please say that again. I—”

“You did not hear it wrongly.” Schwarz hiccupped once more, and Farah reached out to take the bottle from him.

After smacking his shoulders once, Farah said, “Apparently, familiar spirits can’t really sneak around the fiefs of claimed by the Moons and the Dark. I’m not sure why, but according to Nero, it’s due to differences between a substantiated familiar spirit and one that descended upon a human.”

Nero nodded. “The familiar spirits are supposed to extol the glory of their respective creators. For obvious reasons, they can’t really hide their divinity when walking around in the commonfolk. Even people like me have a touch of divinity that observant mana-users can pick out; if you see someone catching your eye like no other, there’s probably some divinity in them.”

“So familiar spirits cannot handle clandestine stuff?” Farah asked. “Well, at least the chance of them wreaking havoc here and in my county isn’t going to be that high…”

“Yeah, the Moon Emissaries are more likely to do that instead,” Schwarz pointed out with one more hiccup, and then returned to sobriety.

Dia had no idea what was up with Schwarz today, since the bartender rarely drank to the point of inebriation. She hadn’t noticed anything odd with him earlier too, so it was probably something that happened while she was cleaning up.

Farah took a look at Schwarz, shook her head once, and then said, “Anyway, we’ll need to think of countermeasures. Nero, Risti and Dia, both of you head over to the palace later. Nightfall wants to talk to you three regarding the death of the First.”

“…Maybe the three of us shouldn’t be chased or something,” Nero muttered. “How troublesome!”

He pouted, and Dia was abruptly reminded of Nero’s age. The Holy Son of the Black God was slightly older than twenty, and he had lost three years of his life when acting as the thrall of the Third. Now that she thought about it, Nero was remarkably mature for his actual age, which was probably proof of how solid his education as a child was.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I just remembered your age,” Dia replied truthfully. “Especially the fact that you lost three years to being a thrall…”

Her words sent a ripple through the table, and Schwarz followed up by saying, “I’m sure the count won’t mind if you don’t go. Let the two old ones go instead.”

Schwarz shivered a moment later as Dia turned to look at him, her actions in sync with Risti. He forced a grin onto his face and said, “I meant the two, uh, wise ones.”

“…You really think that’s better?” Risti.

“S-sorry...” Schwarz looked around and said, “Right, me and Farah need to do some work now, right Farah? Right?”

Farah looked at him once and sighed. “Did you drink too much again? You know you’re not supposed to be drinking much. You said it yourself! Come on, guys, do forgive Schwarz. I think he broke out the booze today for some reason, and is a bit uninhibited now. His emotions are tending towards extremes.”

“Fine,” Dia muttered.

“Nero, give me a hand here and help me carry him to his room. I think he needs to rest or something.” Farah sighed. “I wonder what’s wrong with him…if only Claud was here. He’d definitely be able to explain why Schwarz is so out of it.”

“Claud…where exactly is he anyway?” Dia muttered. “The honeymoon has lasted three months! The Dark is going to fully descend by Half Moon! There’s not much time left, and he’s still keeping Lily to himself!”

“I’ve been looking for traces of him or Lily,” Risti replied. “But it’s like they’re gone. Like Princess Dia. They left Licencia and vanished entirely.”

“Maybe the princess picked them up?” Farah wondered. “I mean, if they’re just as unaccounted for as the princess, maybe there’s a connection there.”

No, there’s no such thing, alright? Dia retorted in her mind, before clearing her throat. “If such a thing happened, I would have known.”

“Really? I mean, I don’t think the princess reports to you about her daily life. She probably has a few subordinates doing things for her, but you don’t know anything about them either,” Risti pointed out. “Else, you would have already headed over to find your mistress.”

Damn this Risti and her sharp wit. Dia forced out a smile. “That’s…possible, I suppose.”

“Right?” Risti patted her shoulder. “Still, the question remains: how did the two of them meet up with Princess Dia? Maybe we should have gone travelling after all.”

There were so many things Dia wanted to point out, but she was already getting used to it. Letting out a small sigh, Dia speared another sausage and nibbled away at it with a practiced grace. That said, these two did have a very good point. Just where did they go? Dia could tell that Claud and Lily were the types to probably flirt openly, so looking for couples that spent all their time hugging each other or something was definitely a good place to start. Furthermore, Risti was even dedicating part of her attention to this task, along with Schwarz.

If their efforts combined weren’t yielding fruit…

Did something happen to them? Dia entertained the thought briefly, before shaking her head. Claud and Lily had evolved into a horrifying duo of cautiousness and preparedness, if their jaunts to ensure the city’s security were of any indication. Furthermore, Dia had a feeling that if something really happened to them, there would be a lot of destruction involved.

“Oh well.”

Farah and Nero returned a few minutes later, chatting about the friendship between Claud and Schwarz.

“I wonder what’s their story like,” Nero muttered. “I mean, we do know that Claud tried to trick Schwarz when they were younger, and they seem like rather close friends too. It’s a shame we don’t know anything else, though…what about you three and Lily? Were you guys really fans of Princess Dia before meeting up?”

“I’m a double, the rest are fans,” Dia replied.

“Oh…yeah. Double. I wonder what happened to Cornelius.”

“Who’s Cornelius?” Farah asked, curious.

“He’s my double,” Nero replied. “Stands in for me when I’m too laz—tired to show up for public functions. Being the Holy Son has its perks, but you have so many ceremonies that even the Church is forced to give you a stand-in at times.”

“What ceremonies are we talking about here?” Farah asked.

Dia tilted her head. “Uh, Apotheosis, for one. That’s the one where all dukes and above are invited to for a blessing, but this year is a special year for obvious reasons.”

“Right, Apotheosis.” Nero wiped his forehead. “That’s one of the worst festivals. Do you know how tiring it is to perform ritual magic for all the damn Senators in the Nihal Assembly? And I can’t even perform for a group either, although the efficacy doesn’t change; they want personalised services. I’m usually wiped out after that.”

Dia and the others crowded around Nero and patted his head.

“There, there.”

“It’s all under the bridge now.”

“You’re here, and you can’t leave. Isn’t this a good holiday for you?”

Nero twitched. “You remind me of the sisters in the Church. They also do the same thing after a long day of services and rituals…I wonder if they’re still worried about me. Did Sabrina get married? She must be mad that I wasn’t there to officiate for her…”

“Crap, he’s now in the mood for fretting.” Risti looked at the distraught Holy Son. “Farah, go and act like a motherly figure while we go settle some issues with Count Nightfall.”

“What? Why me?”

“You can take my place if you want to, then,” Risti replied. “I’m all for it.”

“Ugh. Fine, you guys go. I’ll go fetch him some drinks or something and listen to him speak,” Farah replied. “Better make some dignified excuses for Nero, though.”

“Got it, got it.” Risti shook her head. “C’mon, Dia. Let’s go find the count and discuss some countermeasures. Nero, you relax for a while. I think you’re stressing yourself out too much.”

As Farah tilted her head, Risti pulled Dia away. After grabbing a few artefacts, the two of them walked to the booth that allowed entry and exit, and then Risti paused. “Nero’s probably acting like this due to you and Count Nightfall.”

“Us?”

“Yeah. He used his two quotas, after all.”

“What does that have to do with his mind?” Dia asked.

“I’ll explain at the palace,” Risti replied. “For now, just follow me.”