A pot of soup simmered above a weak flame, and Claud sniffed the air appreciatively. Over the past two weeks, he had tried his hand at fermenting soybeans to create this weird paste, the key ingredient for Rimestar’s key source of food. It was now yielding rather good results, and Claud couldn’t help but hum.

“I’m drooling,” Lily muttered. “Right, does this go well with bread?”

“It’s soup. Of course it does,” Claud replied, before turning to their visitor. “Anyway, Risti, what brings you here?”

The Princess Dia-lookalike, who was busy squatting down and examining some ants, glanced up. “The atmosphere at the base camp was getting to me, so I took some time off. The others are still fine, don’t worry.”

“What kind of atmosphere are we even talking about anyway?” Claud asked, curious. “You sound very stifled.”

“They’re just drilling and marching, marching and drilling. I could hear them shouting and things like that,” Risti replied, irritation lining every word. “Even at night! No, especially at night! I know that the Dark prefers attacking at night — it’s in the name — but people need to sleep, alright? None of us have been sleeping well for the past three weeks, and it’s getting to us.”

“Oh.” Claud paused. “Maybe I should prepare more beds. How many rooms do we have that are unused?”

“Three in total. I suppose Nero and Schwarz could bunk down in one room, and the ladies in the other?” Lily tilted her head. “There’s still one extra room, so you guys figure it out.”

“Hmm…” Risti looked genuinely tempted by the prospect of living outside the base camp, and Claud rubbed his nose.

“Ahem. Isn’t that going to be a problem?” Claud asked. “I mean, you guys are currently contracted to the Moons, right?”

“But there’s literally nothing for us to do. It’s a ceasefire now, and the only thing us staying there is currently accomplishing is driving us crazy. All the missions have dried up, and a good number of the mercenaries that we knew had died thanks to that stupid Bearer of Destiny.” Risti let out a sigh. “Anyway, I’m bunking in that spare room for the night. It’s settled.”

“For this night?”

“For a few nights, I suppose…” Risti made a face. “Anyway, we don’t need to be concerned. Once the Trial of Aeons start, everyone’s attention will be drawn away to wherever the damn thing is held at. Everyone’s going to stare at the place, whatever it is, and violence will temporarily stop.”

“As people make their own preparations to assassinate the people there, I suppose?” Claud muttered. “Anyway, do you know anything about the Trial of Aeons?”

“Hmm…I know that Nero doesn’t know anything about the Trial of Aeons,” Risti replied. “And the Moons haven’t seen fit to tell us anything about that either. How about your side?”

“Nothing much so far, but I think we might be able to get an idea sooner or later,” Claud replied, thinking about the card that Lesser Half had given him. Now that he had a plausible excuse, he couldn’t help but think that asking the divinity might yield some dividends here or there.

It was nice that Lesser Half was a really sociable fellow. In the past few weeks, Lesser Half had asked him and Lily about really random things, like recipes for bread to drinks that people liked and how to celebrate birthdays. It was really weird, but it was also proof that Lesser Half was learning more about humans.

“Ahem.” Claud shook himself. “Anyway, give this a try. I made it out of fermented soybean paste.”

“Soybean?” Risti blinked. “Huh. Did you work on this with Schwarz? He was also working on some soybean underground farm when we left back then.”

Claud glanced at her once, and then shook his head. “I didn’t know he was working on them. But I was looking at the taste; Lily’s sick and tired of eating lifestones, that’s all. This soup is the savoury and rich kind, so I brewed it for her.”

“Oh. How boring.” Risti let out an exaggerated sigh.

Claud rolled his eyes.

Inwardly, however, Claud couldn’t help but feel that some things were still going the same way as the Second Tutorial. Indeed, the Seekers of Life were already looking at soybeans when the Trial of Aeons descended. While he wasn’t sure what exactly happened to them afterwards, Licencia had been destroyed, and they, along with the other survivors, eventually formed Rimestar.

Would this part come true too? Or had he averted it somehow? Claud couldn’t be too sure of the future, especially since the details were very fuzzy when the Risti there related it back to him. She too wasn’t too sure, and Claud couldn’t blame her for that.

“Risti, are you really planning on staying the next few days?” Lily asked.

“What, you don’t want me here?” Risti placed her hand over her heart and pretended to stagger. “What did I do?”

“Oh, stop playing around,” Claud cut in. “Right, the soup’s done, so after you two finish your little play, come over and get some for yourself.”

“Okay!” Lily turned back to Risti. “And no, it’s not that I don’t want you here. It’s just that the others will be mad if you stay here without telling them about the rooms.”

“Bleh.” Risti filled her bowl with some soup, and then sat on the ground. “I’ll think about it. Still…right. It’s possible that you guys will have a new visitor bunking in. For the time being. My father is a bit worried about me, and he told me to stick with him while the Trial of Aeons play out.”

Claud tilted his head. “What does that have to do with a new visitor bunking in?”

“I told him that one of the Seekers of Life has a fortress in a nearby town, and that he should join me instead,” Risti replied. “He seems to be quite happy with that idea, so I expect him to show up tomorrow or something…you don’t mind, right?”

“The president of the Folders’ Association is strong, so I do not mind,” Claud replied. “Might need to build a new room or something, though.”

“Don’t worry on that front,” Risti replied.

“That does, at least, explain why you’re staying her for the next few days,” Lily muttered. “What’s your father like?”

“You’ll see.” Risti puffed up her cheeks, looking like a squirrel with its cheeks full of nuts. “Hmm. I should really tell the others to come here too, shouldn’t I? I mean, the Moons probably wouldn’t care anyway, now that there’s a ceasefire and we’re just loitering around pointlessly.”

“Yeah, you should bring them here or something,” Claud chimed in. “The more the merrier. And I’ll never turn away more manpower for doing chores and other stuff.”

“What are we, your servants?”

Claud chuckled. “This is my house, after all.”

More importantly, Claud wanted everyone to gather here. Anything that deviated from the future he saw in the Second Tutorial sounded like a good idea, and with more people around, the chances of Lily coming to harm after the Trial of Aeons concluded would be drastically lowered.

However, Claud still hadn’t figured out why the Red God had targeted Lily and him in the Second Tutorial. There was definitely something working behind the scenes, or perhaps it was pure coincidence, but now that Claud knew a possible future, he could work to avert it from the very start.

In a sense, the fact that he knew how a certain future would play out allowed him to avoid it.

Risti’s eyes narrowed slightly, and her gaze turned to Lily. “Lily, has Claud been preoccupied with really important matters recently? I get a feeling that he’s…contemplating a lot more things now. Compared to the time you two ran out for a honeymoon.”

“It’s called maturity,” Lily answered with a grin.

“Uh…okay. Whatever you say…” Risti started on her soup. “I’m going to drink my soup.”

“Don’t you want to hear more?” Lily asked.

“No, thank you very much.” Risti turned away from Lily. “And you should have some soup too.”

Lily made a small noise in her throat, and filled the remaining two bowls with soup too. “Here!”

“Thanks.” Claud took the bowl, his hands shrouded with a thin layer of mana. As he gulped down the soup, his mind started to wander.

Would the president of the Folders’ Association know many secrets? Would he be happy to share them? Given his position, Claud knew that the Association President definitely held a lot of critical information. If he could make use of this contact in the few days he had before the Trial of Aeons began…

He shook his head. This was Moon territory. It was possible that the Moons had some sort of mechanism that would trigger if someone spoke about the Trial of Aeons, especially secrets related to it. Even if the mechanism only drew attention to the speakers, it would be a problem, since the Trial of Aeons weren’t all too far away.

Shaking his head, he looked up at the skies. The silvery sheen that illuminated the world, night or day be damned, hadn’t subsided yet.

For better or worse, the five grand skies were still holding sway over the world.

[End of Book 10: Destiny Divine]