“Looks like your time at Eo-Seu and Feng-Lang has destroyed your body clock,” said Isabelle. “We just had dinner, so why are you still eating?”

“It’s some fruit. Surely that won’t hurt,” Gaius replied. “I get antsy if I don’t get some fruit into my stomach at this time of day. It’s the only way I can curb my stomach from ordering my brain to get some barbequed meat into it.”

He rolled on a rug, which had been laid out on Sundown Residence’s lawn, and stretched. After dinner, Gaius had suggested that the four of them — himself, Nakama, Isabelle and Nexus — have a picnic of sorts at night. The rest had agreed enthusiastically, except for Isabelle, who gave in after a few sad faces from Nakama.

A flower petal drifted by, dancing in the air for a few seconds, before it landed onto Gaius’ nose. “Do sakura trees blossom at this time of year? I thought they bloomed in March or something.”

“They bloom in summer, Master Gaius,” Nexus replied. “They are particularly impressive around now, in mid-August, in what we call the flourishing of the dying summer.”

“That sounds like something right out of a funeral parlour,” Gaius muttered. “Which, considering the on-going battles in the East, West and the North, isn’t all that wrong either.”

“Not sure if the war’s a bad thing for certain individuals, however. Like the one who’d gotten two Crystals of True Restoration and two Engines,” Nexus quipped. “But putting you aside for now, rumours about incredible figures showing up the frontlines are spreading like wildfire. Nakama was talking about them last night, because her teacher mentioned it.”

“Oh, like the one about the Nine-nine-nine Knight, the Demon Sniper and the Pint-sized Railgun?” Isabelle asked. “These three apparently killed over five hundred Knights during the fall of Eo-Seu, which bought enough time for Feng-Lang to set up their defences properly. Talk about honouring these three heroes is flying around Seireiden now.”

Gaius shuddered, and the apple in his right hand leapt out awkwardly.

“Oh, you know them?” Isabelle asked.

“I don’t just know them,” said Gaius, his face twitching. “All these aliases are referring to the same person. And that person’s me.”

“You?”

Three voices echoed into the night air, and Gaius rolled his eyes.

“Yes, me.” Gaius folded his little arms. “What of it?”

“Gaius is a hero?” Nakama looked at him. “Can I boast about it? Please? The others are going to be really jealous when I tell them that?”

“Please do not do that, my little ancestor.” Gaius pushed himself into a sitting position. “I just came back from the warfront with a few expensive treasures. You tell them about my identity, we’ll have a lot of visitors in the next few days.”

“Oh…” Nakama made a sad face.

“That isn’t going to make me yield, Nakama,” Gaius replied quietly. “It’s a matter of your safety. This world is full of desperate people. Even if they can’t do anything to me, it is possible that they would target you or Isabelle.”

“You’re scaring her, Gaius.” Isabelle interrupted.

“Sorry.” Gaius reached out to ruffle Nakama’s hair. “But this is something that could place us all in danger.”

She nodded mutely, and Gaius heaved a sigh. It seemed to him that his little sister was entering a rebellious phase of sorts, a development not wholly unexpected, given that she had finally returned to a normal life of sorts. Fortunately, Nexus had somehow gained her confidence, although the boy suspected the bond between them was more complex than that of a girl and her doll.

“How did you earn these weird titles anyway?” Isabelle asked. “Like Nine-nine-nine Knight? No one’s going to connect that with you at all.”

“Oh, that was a reference to the fact that my kill counter had reached nine hundred and ninety-nine, and I didn’t turn these points in, because it would break their system,” replied Gaius.

“How about Demon Sniper and the Pint-sized Railgun?”

Gaius quivered, and then took out the Moonshot. After unfurling it into its long-range form, he passed it over to Isabelle, who immediately understood why the boy meant. Nakama, however, clearly wasn’t, and the little girl tugged at Isabelle’s clothes for an explanation.

While the two were talking, Nexus rolled over to Gaius. “Earlier, you talked about an assassin or robber, right? And you mentioned the presence of an intelligent artefact?”

“What about it?”

“I forgot to mention, but people with intelligent artefacts tend to be, or are connected to, people from Earth. Even if we exclude my previous masters and people we’ve confirmed to be from Earth, most pioneers in the areas of public service and science had something like an assistant in the past,” said the artificial intelligence. “In fact, it seems to be in your world’s culture to have someone like me to help them.”

“…if there was such a culture, I wasn’t part of it,” replied Gaius.

“You’re saying that when you have me by your side?” Nexus shook its head. “If you counted my previous masters, the ratio of otherworlders who have an intelligent artefact to those who don’t are more than four to one.”

Gaius didn’t have anything to say to that, so he rolled over, his back now facing the artificial intelligence’s. “Who were those, err, pioneers then?”

“I could name a few, I guess. In the Northern Continent: the founding father of the currently ruling Mortal Light Dynasty — the Brilliant Pinnacle, Anya. In the East: the rebel leader who created the third Territory, Feng-Lang —Xie Baole, no alias appended. In the West, the Ancient of Intelligence, real name unknown, who pioneered the feudal system.”

“How about the South?”

“The South and the Central Continent, as historical strongholds of the Human God, often bring people who are too…innovative, influential or ground-breaking into custody, under the guise of heresy,” Nexus said quietly. “And people from another world tend to fit this mold. Easily.”

“What happened to those who were captured?”

“Guess.”

Gaius rolled to the other side and glared at Nexus. “Out with it.”

“They were never seen again. But after enough of these heretics were sniffed out, the priests of the Human God were able to locate more would-be heretics…and disappear them,” said Nexus. “Most of them delved into the Intersection and Heritage to escape. Where did you think the first founder of the Library of Ancients came from?”

The boy stared into the night sky. “From the South?”

“The Central Continent. The guy was the son of…I think a Cardinal of the Holy Temple. He wasn’t in the house when the Inquisitors came, so when he came back, there wasn’t a house at all.”

“That’s…”

“A really good thing why the Holy Temple fell, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t say that. I cannot condone mass murder.”

“Right.”

The moon continued to rise, and it was only when Nakama flopped onto Isabelle’s lap, sound asleep, did they pack up and return to the house.