“You know, I’ve never thought of myself as not a liberator of wealth and a dispenser of fortune to the poor,” Claud muttered.

“What brought that on?” Lily asked. “And that’s surprising, given your moniker. Your deeds are known throughout Istrel, and you tell me that you don’t mentally associate yourself as a thief?”

“Don’t make it sound so petty,” Claud replied. “It’s master thief. Not just your everyday thief. No. Anyway, when I look at the skills I employ in my everyday life, the first thing that comes to mind is not my nimble fingers or my ability to hide.”

“Huh?” Lily looked at him. “Really?”

“Really, really.” Claud eyed his house, which was just a minute away. “Rather, the first thing I think about is my ability to act. And when I mean act, I mean to put on a show to mislead people into thinking that I’m a harmless little fellow.”

“Which doesn’t work on President Cadenza.”

“Yeah, but that’s not because my acting sucks,” Claud replied. “That’s because he’s cheating.”

“I think you’re more of a cheater than him, though. You began your path as a mana-user just a year and a bit ago, right?” Lily asked. “And here you are, a mighty hexa-folder, someone on the verge of activating the Third Tutorial. Now that’s a cheater. But what brought these words on anyway?”

“Well, we’re going to be putting on another act soon.” Claud smiled sadly. “It’s a bit painful to lie, and it’s not even something I can wave it away by saying ‘it’s for your own good’. You get what I mean?”

Lily thought for a moment. “Well, they are our friends, after all. This is what I’d call a necessary burden. Good friends don’t see a need to tell you if they helped you out, unless it concerned you directly. This applies to us.”

“Good friends, huh…” Claud looked at Lily and smiled sadly. “I suppose this is the only comfort allowed to us.”

Leaving behind these words, the two of them approached the gate of the little house. Without putting on any airs, he reached out to the small box where he had placed the letter earlier, and then pulled it out. Checking through its contents with Lily, the two of them walked into the garden.

“I wasn’t paying attention just now, but what in the name of the Moons are the others doing?” Claud asked, turning his attention to Schwarz, Nero and President Cadenza, who were seated solemnly on the large table placed in the middle of the garden. Their right hands held onto a glass of bubbling liquid, and in unison, the three of them raised their cups and downed its contents.

“It’s a bit too sweet, in my opinion,” President Cadenza began. “Lay off the sugar.”

“There’s not enough alcohol inside,” Nero added.

“I’ll score this seven out of ten.” Schwarz lowered the glass, and then picked up a bottle sitting in front of him. The others did the same, drinking from the water and washing their palate with it. “Next?”

He pulled out another bottle.

Before he could continue, Claud cleared his throat. “Are you guys having a tastetest?”

“Oh, you’re back, Claud.” Schwarz nodded. “We decided to brew up a bunch of random drinks without tasting them initially, and are now judging their merits. See that box there? Yeah, that’s all the brews we randomly came up with.”

“…Huh.” Claud fanned himself with the letter. “What type of drinks are we talking about?”

“Mild alcoholic fizzy drinks,” Schwarz replied. “Made with fruits too, in case you were wondering. This one, for instance, was made haphazardly by President Cadenza with some lychees. Fancy a drink?”

“I would,” Claud replied, “but something bad just came up.”

He indicated the letter in his hands.

“Something bad?” Schwarz got up, worry written all over his face. “What does that letter say?”

Before Claud or Lily could reply, President Cadenza said, “It’s a noble’s summons. Addressed to the two of them in particular. Something must have happened, and these two have been summoned by name. It’s not something they can back out of.”

Claud turned to look at the origin of the unexpected assist, but Lily was already a beat faster. Her right hand played around with Claud’s own, and he held his tongue as Lily asked, “Is there no way around it?”

“Not unless you want to lose your noble title,” President Cadenza replied.

In that instant, Claud understood what it meant to be surpassed. Lily’s mind had already moved five steps ahead — instead of doing the usual spiel of explaining and whatever, she had simply placed herself and Claud into a position where she was already casting doubt and asking for help. This was a masterstroke if he’d ever seen one, and Claud applauded in his heart merrily.

“Bummer,” Lily continued. “Hmm. Let’s see…to the Lacuna Dukedom, huh. That’s quite far…”

“An entire dukedom away,” Claud continued. “Is there really no way we can say no?”

“Unless you want to lose a title, I suppose.” Lily made a face. “We should hurry and prepare.”

Claud nodded.

“Damnit. We just reunited, and you two need to leave again.” Schwarz let out a sigh. “Really? Is there no other way?”

“This noble title was hard to come by, after all,” Claud replied quietly. “And…never mind. Sorry for being a party pooper. Anyway, where are the others? We owe them a proper explanation, leaving like this.”

Dia and Risti poked their heads out of their house.

“It’s fine,” Dia replied. “We heard you. And there’s really no two ways about things, so I suppose you have to leave. Emperor Grandis…well, he’s in closed-door training now, but I hear that his castigations are very serious. Don’t make him come after you!”

“You’ve seen him castigate someone before?” Lily asked, a touch of genuine curiosity in her words. “What was it like?”

“Not in person, no. Uh, I heard that his scoldings were like thunderclaps and everything. You’ll be called into his morning court, made to kneel for the entire session, and then…” Dia shuddered. “Yeah. Not a fun experience. And it’s not like you can escape…”

While this wasn’t a real summons, Claud couldn’t help but think that they had screwed up somewhere when they faked their identity of a knight. If the fellow who made their new identities was really competent…

“Ugh.” Claud let his real thoughts slip out for a moment.

“Yeah. That’s rough, buddy.” Risti let out a sigh. “You two should hurry and prepare for your trip out.”

“Y-yeah, sure.”

Risti and Dia opened the door for them, and the two of them hurried into the house. Heading to their room, Claud closed the door behind them and then turned to look at Lily, before letting out a sigh.

“That was surprisingly easy,” Claud observed.

“Yeah.” Lily frowned. “I thought we would need to try a lot harder…maybe we got lucky. President Cadenza’s assist sure came in handy. We didn’t even need to say anything, and we had him and Dia doing the explaining for us. Sure makes me feel less guilty about the whole thing.”

“It’s a misunderstanding, I suppose?” Claud tilted his head. “Still, we better start packing. Since they’ve already laid out the groundwork, let’s strike while the iron is hot. After all, the best way to con someone is to have them come to that conclusion themselves. Lay out the little bits, and lead them into figuring it out.”

He looked up at the ceiling. “After all, people rarely doubt themselves.”

“Yeah.” Lily looked at him. “Unless it’s you.”

Claud was about to rebut her, when he stopped. “Yeah. I need to doubt myself more.”

He hadn’t forgotten the pre-emptive strikes he had launched on the armies of the Dark and the Moons. Back then, he was so certain that he was in the right, that these soldiers were just mindless automations that could be killed.

A cool set of hands clapped his cheeks. “Don’t think about the past already. There’s nothing you can do, and…I’d say that it wasn’t solely your fault either. If you knew, you wouldn’t have done that, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” Claud closed his eyes. Whenever they moved to this topic, Lily would try her best to cheer him up, but he didn’t want to be this pathetic in front of her either. “Anyway, let’s pack up and prepare to leave.”

He injected some false bravado into those words, and then turned back to look at Lily. “Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m sure I’ll be able to do something for those I’ve wronged once all this is over. For now, I just need to be doubly careful. That’s all. There’s nothing else I can do right now, anyway.”

Lily scrutinised his face closely, and then nodded slowly. “Alright. Don’t go entering your depressed mode randomly anymore, okay? I mean, I like taking care of you, but it also breaks my heart.”

“It’s not your fault, though?” Claud tilted his head, smiling despite himself. “Anyway, let’s pack up. I wonder if the Lacuna Dukedom has anything interesting…what’s their local specialty like?”

“Oh, I heard something about a publishing house…”