Thief of Time

“That’s not really true, though.”

Dia glanced at her uncle, who had remained silent all the way until they arrived at the city square. Soldiers were being dispersed at regular intervals, returning to report to the commander taking care of them.

“What’s not true?”

“That one can change the world without being a noble or a person of authority,” Uncle Rubia replied. “That’s wrong. In the first place, there was never a requirement for a noble, especially one that governs a territory, to be a mana-user. The Emperor invests power in certain individuals regardless of their power to govern; we are proxies of Emperor Grandis. Our ability to change the society comes from tradition and the rule he established, not power or wealth.”

Farah nodded. “I agree. It is hard to verbalise what we nobles do, but we are essentially extensions of the ruling authorities. No matter what nation we’re talking about, there are always proxies of the central government. Therein lies our ability to change the world.”

“And not power?” Dia asked, curious.

Farah and her uncle exchanged glances briefly, before she said, “It’s complicated. Power can shape society, but the way it’s applied will drastically affect both duration and outcome. There are numerous dimensions to it, beyond one’s ability to fight and kill. And…let’s be honest, attempting to rule with power when there’s a stronger person around is asking for it. You’re still very immature for things like this.”

Dia bobbed her head. “That I do acknowledge. I mean, I do want to throw this annoying thing away…”

“Such an attitude…it reminds me of my own parents,” Farah replied. “They just wanted the name and the prestige, but none of the responsibility. You’re different in that you want none of that at all.”

The others snorted in amusement, and Dia rolled her eyes. “I know my limits, alright?”

“Fine, whatever.” Farah let out a sigh. “Didn’t you take lessons in politics about the foundations of ruling? Taxes, enforcement, collaborators, spoils distribution?”

“…I think I did? But I never handled such stuff. I always threw them to my brother.”

“Well, this does explain why you don’t seem that familiar with the intricate stuff, then.” Farah held her head. “Anyway, I suppose we should put this aside first. As I recall, we’re supposed to be hunting your brother down.”

“That’s phrased in such an extreme way I don’t even know how to rebut it,” Dia muttered. “We’re not hunting him down. We’re just escorting him really firmly back to the palace so he can be reinstated as the heir, damnit.”

“Oh my, the princess just swore like one of my guards.”

Dia eyed her uncle, and then said, “Well, you’re used to it, right? I mean, the guards swear all the time too. Moons take it, you’ve probably used the more…elegant words too.”

“That’s different. Your father doesn’t swear like a guard.”

Dia folded her arms. “Sure, he doesn’t. Right. Totally.”

“I’m not lying, really.” He shook his head. “But I suppose we should really focus on what’s important right now. First of all, we need to find that idiot.”

“We can’t even remember his name or his face, though,” Dia replied. “All we’re relying on is his mana, which hasn’t moved from the same spot for nearly an hour.”

“Well, we’ll need to find him anyway. Not that much of a choice here, in my opinion.” Her uncle let out a sigh. “There’s definitely a conspiracy. Or your brother is asleep.”

“Sleeping here, of all places?” Dia shook her head. “Not to mention that he’s leaking mana like a used sponge.”

“You know what a sponge is?” her uncle asked. “I thought you never liked the scullery and the kitchen.”

“We’ve taught her a lot of things,” Schwarz replied, a proud expression on his face. It was, unfortunately, an expression that only stirred up Dia’s desire to beat someone up, but Dia had matured enough to know that violence wasn't always the answer.

She felt tempted enough to deem it the answer for this particular instance, though.

“Alright, enough. Schwarz, did you forget that you’re supposed to be asking Dia to offer you a job at the dukedom? You know? That exclusive bartender thing? What happened to pleasing your future boss?” Risti asked. “You’re not supposed to make her mad, okay?”

“Uh…”

“Well, I think it’s dangerous to have Schwarz as the palace’s exclusive bartender,” Dia replied. “Have you seen the patrons of his bar?”

“Not for the past two years or so,” Risti replied. “Why?”

“Well, his customers are practically addicted to his brews, even though they probably suffer from all types of liver ailments as a result,” Dia replied. “In fact, I was skimming through some random report on Farah’s desk when we came back. Apparently, public health has improved drastically ever since Schwarz stopped working at his own bar. It’s safe to say that the people he hired to run it know how to not create alcohol that would probably kill someone from poisoning.”

“Hey! It’s just proof that I’m really good, alright?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say.” Dia rolled her eyes at the bartender, and then turned to her uncle. “So, are we going to go after my brother now?”

As Schwarz made a few excuses at the side, her uncle nodded and said, “No time like the present, I suppose. All the arrangements will be completed by the time we arrive at the target location. Follow me first. I’ll brief you guys on his current location.”

Dia and the others followed her uncle to the middle of the city square, where maps of the entire place had been laid out. Blue little figurines were placed all around the city, forming multiple circles that seemed to focus on a single spot at the end.

“As you people may have guessed, that’s where her brother is hiding in,” Uncle Rubia continued, pointing at the small house that Dia was staring at. “We’ll head towards that place. If he doesn’t flee, good. If he managed to escape, we’ll fire a signal flare, which will have all the outer soldiers create a barrier to trap him in. The soldiers at the outermost layer will maintain constant contact with the ones doing the trapping. After that, they’ll move into the barrier and search everywhere. At the same time, we’ll continue to track his mana…let’s hope he doesn’t run, though.”

Dia nodded. “Actually, I’m hoping he’ll run, because that probably means I can use force.”

“You’re planning on beating your brother up?” Risti asked. “Really now. You were a lot more graceful when…never mind.”

“Spent time with you guys, so it’s your fault,” Dia replied shamelessly.

“That’s not an excuse,” her uncle replied. “Anyway, I suppose you can punch him a few times…let’s go.”

The soldiers near the square waved at their little group as they headed off. Dia found herself looking curiously around the street that her uncle was leading them down — she never had the chance to look around the more distant streets of Lustre, since there was a person back then who leaked her location to her uncle every time she snuck out of the place.

As for actually visiting the more seedy parts of Lustre?

That was never going to happen, so this was actually her first time visiting the darkest parts of the city…probably. Dia remembered that there really wasn’t any really problematic streets or alleys.

Or at least, according to the reports that made it to her table back then. Her brother and father probably got the more…truthful ones.

Either that, or the capital was really well-policed. Whatever the case, though, Dia wasn’t going to miss this chance to look at the things she had never seen before. Her father treated her and her brother like treasures, ever since her mother passed away, and the two of them rarely left the palace…probably.

She wasn’t too sure about her brother now. For some reason, she, along with the rest of the world, had largely forgotten about her brother, other than the fact that he existed, was her older brother, and was a genius or something.

Dia really wanted to regain that lost memory of hers, and the same went for everyone else who was taking part in this.

Their quick march soon brought them to a small little house. There was nothing special about it, but…

“He’s here.” Her uncle stretched his arms and fingers. “According to his mana, anyway. There’s a constant source of mana being emitted here. Only a living person could do that…or the right artefact, but why would he do that?”

He squared his shoulders and walked towards the door. Placing a hand on it, a pulse of mana surged out from his palm, and the door broke into pieces. At the same time, Uncle Rubia shouted, “Your Highness, don’t resist! We’re going to bring you back to the palace right now!”

Dia and the others entered the house a moment later, before following her uncle to a room.

“Brother?” She looked at the…person sitting on the small, cushy bed. “Is that you?”

“It has been some time, Dia.” A silvery silhouette nodded at her. “Long time no see.”

“…Brother? What happened to you?”