“Clothes made from mana?” Lily looked at him. “Hmm. Okay, outer clothes made with mana?”

“You didn’t need to ask the second question, really…” Claud tugged at the energy given both form and substance. “It’s really good, isn’t it? At the very least, it can block most attacks, and it’ll help to cover up our mana circuits. It’s hard to tell how many mana circuits we have like this, after all.”

“Is there really a point to hiding this when we’re in Moon territory?” Lily asked, before twirling once. Blue light fell around her, creating a lovely dress that would have been very appropriate for meeting someone like Emperor Grandis. “I think I look good.”

“Understatement of the month,” Claud replied. “You look positively fetching. That dress is really cool…do another twirl?”

Lily laughed and spun on the spot, and his eyes glittered once, prompting Claud to clap.

“I wish I could do something like that too,” Claud replied. “But there’s no swishy bits that would fly around stylishly when I turn once. Bummer.”

“How about cutting a pose?” Lily asked.

“Ooh.” Claud thought for a moment, and then pretended to straighten his gloves, freezing up at the most elegant point — in his estimation, anyway. “How’s this? I call this ‘Claud, after a heist’.”

“Looks good, but…” Lily tweaked the angles of his fingers, before making him push out his chest slightly. “Kyah! This looks great! It’s like you’re some elegant thie…you know!”

Claud laughed. “Give me a few more scenarios! I’ll try to pose for the occasion!”

“Alright! Let’s see…the next theme, ‘Glorious Victory’!”

The two of them spent the next ten minutes in such a fashion, and when Lily reluctantly ended the suggestion and position session, Claud could faintly feel that his suaveness and confidence had increased slightly. Of course, he reported those findings to Lily, who promptly harboured the desire to be on the posing act too, but…

That would have to wait.

After straightening the long coat made from mana, Claud checked the rest of his artefacts and equipment, before getting Lily to adjust his clothes once more. It was a shame that most of his artefacts were…well, obviously artefacts — it would be nice if he had artefacts that were shoes, clothes and other not-so-obvious items.

“You look serious,” Lily noted.

“I just thought of something,” Claud replied. “Lily, do you know how to make explosive clothes? Like shoes, for instance. Or small accessories that can create explosions or belch out smoke?”

“Clothes as bombs?” Lily muttered. “Oh, that is quite sneaky of you!”

“You know me,” Claud replied. “And enemies will be less guarded against someone who’s just wearing clothes, right? And if push comes to shove…imagine kicking your shoe at an enemy and turning around to run. That fellow is definitely going to laugh at that…and then kaboom!”

“Come on, there’s no way any enemy that can threaten you would be killed by that, right?”

“But it’s funny…”

“Alright, alright. Stop messing around.” Lily paused. “I’ll try to make such a shoe for you, so let’s leave the room. The others are probably wondering if we’re up to anything lewd here already.”

“We were just posing and having fun, though…jealousy is a nasty, nasty thing.” Claud made a small snort. “Still, I suppose we need to straighten up a bit, right? Gotta show our dignified selves to the Blue Moon…”

He let out a breath, and then placed a hand on the doorknob. The Blue Moon had specifically requested for them to make an appearance, and he didn’t like the idea. Even if it was something ordinary and routine — the others had been invited for a small talk too — Claud couldn’t help but feel some alarm at the thought of talking to a divinity directly.

“Don’t worry. It shouldn’t be any different from that personage. Neither of them…”

Claud nodded. “I know. It’s just that the heart thinks otherwise. I’m quite the loser, aren’t I? In fact, even if I have ten mana circuits, I’m sure I’ll still be as cautious as ever.”

“I can seriously see that, yes.”

Chuckling, he twisted the doorknob and went out into the living room. The others, who were doing random things like playing games, mixing drinks and lying on the ground in a sprawled position, looked at them.

“About time you guys came out,” Schwarz commented. “Here, have some liquid courage before you guys go. It won’t make you drunk, but it’ll definitely improve your current complexion. You guys look like frightened quails. Especially Claud.”

“Oi.”

“Just take it already, dumbass.” Schwarz rapped the table. “And have an early lunch too. I don’t think the Blue Moon prepares meals for its visitors.”

Which was another demerit mark in Claud’s opinion; Lesser Half was far more friendly and hospitable.

“Hmm. Where’s Dia?” Lily asked, looking around.

“Now that you mention it…” The bartender frowned. “Maybe she went out for a mission or something. Odd, though. I swore she was just here an hour ago or something.”

“She probably went out to practice or something,” Farah chimed in. “You know, swish swish something something.”

“Is that really how you should describe her swordplay?” Claud muttered.

“Well, it’s not a big deal.” Nero yawned. “This is Moon territory, after all. You guys should be worrying about yourself now. Shoo, shoo! Don’t keep the Moons waiting.”

Claud made a noise in his throat, but Nero made a lot of sense here. In essence, the two of them were trying to stall for time, but now that it had been laid bare…

There really weren’t anymore excuses left for them to use.

“Alright. Fine…” Claud shook his head and took Lily’s hand. “Come on. Let’s go visit the Blue Moon of Wisdom.”

The two of them left the small house. Here, outside the domain of the great Dark, the sky was clear and no different from the skies from a year or so ago. There was nothing that indicated a vast change, nor were there any signs of disaster impending.

“It’s peaceful,” Claud muttered.

“But only because the frontlines moved away from us,” Lily replied. “Otherwise, it would still have been a mess out here, don’t you think? We’ll have lots of soldiers blocking the view, other mana-users glaring at us in a way similar to the others, and people generally being a prick.”

“Can you not phrase things so realistically?” Claud replied. “I just wanna escape from it all, to be honest.”

“Me too, but we have to face reality once in a while.”

The two of them sighed and followed the instructions on the card. Claud took the chance to scout out the camp too; while the RECON worked wonders, seeing things for himself was rather important too. As a whole, the camp was in the shape of a really large square, which was divided into nine, roughly equal segments. The one they had been in earlier was the area that seemed to be reserved for the mana-users, and the one they were currently in, the centre segment, was the logistics area. The segment directly south was their destination; it was the furthest away from the battlefield…

And apparently, the throne which the three Moons occupied.

He could feel their influence as he stepped into the southernmost sector, emanating from a tower that seemed to pierce the heavens themselves. Could someone else have felt it? Claud didn’t know, but the Moons were subtle in their emanation of power…in a sense.

“The Moons were showing their own way of restraint too,” Lily whispered. “I can’t sense their true power outside, but…”

She looked at the small dividing line that marked the boundary between the logistics sector and the sector they were currently in, and Claud nodded ruefully. The true might of a divinity stifled the entire place, drowning all superfluous noises and amplifying whatever that remained.

If Schwarz and the others couldn’t feel such a change, it could only mean a few things. For instance, the Moons had chosen to withdraw their natural might. It was also possible that they weren’t sensitive enough to such things, but Claud didn’t really believe that, and—

A small square card appeared in front of them, and Claud’s thoughts vanished. The symbol on it began to glow a moment later, dyeing their surroundings in a gentle blue light. Before either of them could react, the area around them rippled into a mess of colours, before coming together once more to form an opulent, large room.

There, in the very middle, were three floating seats, each of them both ordinary and eye-catching at the same time.

A massive presence radiated from the leftmost one, and the image of a blue sphere, peppered by craters, appeared in Claud’s mind as he glanced at it once.

This was Plota, the Blue Moon of Wisdom, and in that moment, Claud couldn’t help but recall the first time he had felt so small. Yet, in the depths of his heart, he couldn’t help but wonder if the Blue Moon could withstand his strongest blow.

Suppressing those thoughts, Claud bowed once with Lily. “We greet the Blue Moon of Wisdom, Plota.”