“Even the sunny decorations look wilted now,” Lily observed, gazing at the bright, yellow décor. Normally, they seemed a bit gaudy to Claud, other than being awfully cheery for the situation everyone was in, but today, these sentiments had been kicked up by an entire notch. The juxtaposition between sunny yellow and bleak shadow was a bit too painful for Claud to bear, especially since the bright decorations now seemed like a literal shadow of its former self.

“It’s like someone grabbed a can of grey paint and painted on my eyeballs,” Claud muttered.

“No, it’s not. And that’s a very horrifying analogy,” Lily pointed out. “You’d go blind; do you know what they put in paint?”

“Poison, insect poison, animal poison and human poison again,” Claud replied. “Why?”

“…Okay, so you do know, then. If someone were to toss a bunch of paint at your face, I’m sure you’ll be affected in more ways than just having the colour stick onto everything you see,” Lily replied. “Still, at least these sunny decorations are doing their best to fight back.”

“Go, sunny decorations! We’ll cheer for you!”

Claud felt a bit stupid doing that, since there was an amused guard watching them fool around. That said, trying to get the Lesser Half to back him up was rather stupid in the first place; rather than balancing the scales, Claud figured that it would be better to just try to pump himself up or something.

“Do you think the Lesser Half likes decorations like this?” Lily wondered. “It’s quite cheery, which is in contrast with the doom and gloom motif ‘round these parts.”

“On the surface, yes, but don’t we have an adorably cute little shadow here?” Claud asked, gesturing at the little guy, who had been staring at a yellow statue for the past minute or so. Maybe it was the aesthetics or something, but the adorable yellow duckling had clearly piqued the little fellow’s attention.

“True. It’s pretty much us, right?” Lily replied. “I mean, I used to think that anyone important in the Coloured Churches are solemn and serious individuals who were dedicated to their faith, and then we met Nero.”

“I like how you turned that last statement into a self-explanatory one.” Claud laughed. “I wonder what he’s doing now. Either he’s begging Schwarz for more booze, or he’s lazing around and eating peanuts or something.”

“I can’t really imagine him doing work, though.” Lily rubbed her nose. “But I’m sure he has a hardworking side too.”

“Everyone has a hardworking side. It’s just who it’s applied to, that’s all. For ins—”

Claud stopped talking as another guard popped up in front of them.

“Gus, bring them to the count,” the first guard said. “Thanks for coming out here all the way.”

“Thank you for giving me an excuse to leave the room,” Gus replied. “I was getting frightened there, Mei. I’m going to hang out with you later, if you don’t mind. There’s no one else in the barracks, and the shadows are getting to me.”

“Only if you let me hang out here during your shift.” Mei nibbled a biscuit. “Also, want one?

“Thanks. Also, deal.” After bumping fists, the guard named Gus beckoned for Claud and Lily to follow, and Lily took the little shadow’s hand again.

“So, uh. Visits, huh.” Gus rubbed his nose.

“Yeah. How’s the count doing? Any serious issues? If there are, do tell us. I’ll just turn around on the spot or something,” Claud replied. “I’m totally fine with that, you know. Safety first and everything.”

“He’s fine.” Gus lowered his voice. “Just scared.”

“So basically normal, then,” Lily noted, passing the tiny toddler’s hand to Claud. “Any oddities around him? Any random desire to start worshipping the great Dark or something? Or is he selling his palace, renouncing his claim to the territory and packing off to some remote destination you’ve never heard before?”

The way Lily rattled that off was a bit too smooth for her to have come up with it naturally, which begged the question of why she was so familiar with the sentence. After making a note to ask what novel that came from, Claud watched as Gus tried to wrangle with her questions.

“…Ah, we’re here!” Gus pointed at a small room. “My master is inside. Don’t ask why he’s inside, though.”

He marched up to the door and rapped it twice. “Milord, one Lord and Lady Primus have arrived.”

“Ah, excellent.” The door opened, revealing a gaunt-looking man. Nothing seemed to have changed in terms of his complexion or his body shape, but Claud could see it in his eyes. Lostfon’s gaze now carried a touch of fear in it, and yet, paradoxically enough, there were more positive emotions hidden within.

What was going on?

Countess Lostfon and a young child poked their heads out a moment later, and Claud blinked. “Your family’s all here?”

“I’m letting the Lesser Half occupy the main throne room and everything,” Count Lostfon replied. “Needed accommodations that fitted its status.”

“…So you know, then,” Claud muttered. “Anyway, we’re here for a variety of reasons, but the first of which is this tiny fellow here, who didn’t return home with the others. We’re looking for Dust to bring this guy back.”

“Did someone say my name?” Darkness gelled together, and the familiar shadowy figure appeared. “What’s wrong, Lost—huh. Heya. Your mum’s worried sick, Zin.”

The little shadow jumped and looked at Dust.

“Right, right. Of course.” Dust rubbed the little fellow’s head. “Hmm…are they treating you well?”

Small hands gesticulated as the little shadow seemingly spoke, but Claud couldn’t hear anything. This wasn’t the first time that had happened; back when he used the Second Shadow, the shadows had tried to communicate with him. He couldn’t hear them, but they could actually “hear” something from his actions. It was a baffling mystery that he hadn’t gotten around to solving, purely because there were lots of things to do.

“…So, these little fellows really can communicate,” Countess Lostfon replied. “What do you think, lord husband?”

“I think they’re perfectly adorable, but…Dust, can you tell us why they’re actually here now? Why did so many juvenile Shadowed Ones step into our world, and why did they return afterwards? Wouldn’t there be issues like kidnapping or anything?”

“Don’t worry. My masters made sure that nothing untoward happened towards these children, physically and mentally,” Dust replied. “They are here just to experience life in this world, that is all. Society here is more spontaneous, freer. As a matter of fact, we have children who descended in both the Saran Supremacy and the Nihal Senate; it is also an assignment understanding the best ruling structure for humans.”

“Why do you guys care about that?” Lostfon asked.

“You’ll find out,” Dust replied. “Anyway, little Zin here seems to be happy with you two…especially the person he calls Miss Candy Giver. That’s you, I presume? Miss…uh, Madam Primus…I didn’t get your name wrong, yes?”

“No, you did not,” Lily replied. “So, what are we going to do with little Zin?”

“The channels have been closed. Getting him home is not easy, but we’ll do it anyway. Lostfon, you’ll take this little chap in. My master might be intrigued to see a child running around too. It’ll make his day better.”

Making a mental note that the Lesser Half was best addressed with male pronouns, Claud watched with some sorrow as the count picked up little Zin and lifted him onto the table. He felt a bit said that this little guy was going to leave, but again, most meetings had their own ends.

One day, they would part. That was it.

A small hand patted his back, and Claud turned back to look at Lily, who had a touch of sorrow on her face too. That single glance was enough for the two of them to affirm each other’s thoughts, and after giving her hand a small squeeze, Claud turned back to look at Zin, who had been passed over to Countess Lostfon and the young man, who was presumably the duo’s son.

He didn’t know that Caroline had a brother, though, but again, she never did bring up much about her family back then.

“So, now that the issue of a lost child is settled, what other business have you come for?” Lostfon asked.

“Can’t we just come to visit?” Claud asked.

“No one in their right mind would come to visit me for fun with the Lesser Half having just descended on my territory,” Lostfon replied. “Either you have dire business with me, with the Lesser Half, or the both of us. And I’m sure you’re not just here to send a child over, yes?”

“…Before I make a decision, I’ll need to ask Dust some questions first.”

“About my master, I presume,” Dust replied.

“I’m not that presumptuous.” Claud narrowed his eyes. “However, if one sought to gain the great Dark’s protection, how would that person go about doing it?”

“Protection? From whom?”

“We would like to answer that question,” Lily replied, “but it will be very problematic.”

She glanced at Claud once.

“I have a few guesses, but you will need something that can stir someone like my master to action. Information. Items. Perhaps even fealty…but you probably won’t be counted.” Dust shook her head. “It will be hard. What, though, is my role in all this?”

“We just need an audience with the Lesser Half,” Claud replied. “That’s all.”

“…Done.”

“That easy?”

“My master will not turn down a request to talk from someone who helped a little Shadowed One,” Dust replied. “That’s why. But you should prepare yourself somewhat. There are rites to be observed…”