Thief of Time

After making fun of Farah and commiserating with her at the same time, everyone moved on to the main topic of the day. Halfway through, it had become quite evident that Count Nightfall only brought this topic up in order to lighten the mood; in Dia’s opinion, he was about to break out a bunch of bad news for everyone.

A teapot bubbled merrily in the middle of the cleared table as the count cleared his throat.

“Now that the little things are over, it’s time to talk about the real stuff,” Nightfall began. “Some of our crises may be over, but there are always new things popping out. For one, Emperor Grandis has signalled to a few select nobles that we should look at the possibility of war with the other continents. The moment the new world forms and we’re all transported over is the time when we are all at our weakest.”

“War?” Dia asked.

“War.” The count nodded heavily. “I don’t like it, personally, but there are a few reasons why we’re all so…enthusiastic about this. First, this war will result in the rise of new divinities.”

Dia felt her head spin, and the others exhibited similar signs of surprise. They'd already known it, but to be enunciated so...openly was something completely different altogether. She couldn’t blame them either; becoming the next generation of Coloured Gods was no different from eternal life.

Who didn’t want to live forever?

“Divinities?”

“Yes.” Count Nightfall pondered for a moment. “Remember those Terra Jewels? These babies can form the foundation of a Divine Kingdom, the exclusive territory of the gods. The more Terra Jewels the Emperor can gather, the greater the number of subordinate gods he can create.”

“Did the previous gods and divinities all use the same thing?” Schwarz asked.

“That’s a…pretty good question. However, that should be the case,” Nightfall replied. “I’ve checked the records. The Coloured Gods, the Gods of Virtue and the Primordial Gods all fought for territory at one point or another.”

“Okay, nice and all, but what about the existing Coloured Gods, who seem to have this Bearer of Destiny deal going on?” Farah asked, supplementing Schwarz’s questions.

“I don’t know.”

“Meh.” Farah folded her arms. “Well, I suppose you don’t. But…what did you guess?”

“The same as you, Countess Farah. After all, you are versed in the ways of nobility. What happens when an inheritor shows his or her ability to rule and govern?” Nightfall asked.

“According to Dia and her brother, said heir will immediately attempt to disinherit him or herself,” Farah replied.

“These two are weird wackos that don’t appreciate the confluence of fortune. They should be disowned. Let’s not talk about them,” Nightfall replied.

“Excuse me?” Dia retorted. “What’s that you just said?”

“What? Am I wrong?” The count rolled his eyes. “But you can’t be disinherited anyway. The Duke isn’t letting you run away at this point of time.”

“I told him to get remarried already,” Dia muttered. “I mean, he could just crook a finger and all the women in Lustre would run over to him.”

“Father complex?”

“Screw off…” Dia was about to shove a middle finger in his face, but she abruptly remembered that there was a toddler watching the whole thing, so she restrained herself.

Still, I’ve…grown. Well, not in the right way, probably, because Father would probably faint if he knew what I was about to do…but whatever! And Brother too…huh.

Her spirits dipped as she thought about her brother, and Dia forced herself to turn back to the conversation, which had returned to the onset of war. Nightfall had already explained the force disposition of the theoretical army that was being formed right now, and he had come to ask the Seekers of Life if they were going to participate.

“Well, you do know what our name signifies, right?” Schwarz asked. “You know, Seekers of Life? Fighting and putting our lives at risk really isn’t in our book, you see.”

“But it also signifies the struggle to live forever,” Nightfall replied.

“But gods don’t live forever,” Schwarz replied. “Every cycle, the old gods are killed, their corpses the stepping stones for the new ones. Rather, those that stand on the side and choose to pursue eternal life in a more roundabout way are those that are still living. Just look at the existing Chromatic Lords.”

“…Well, he might make it an order,” Caroline added.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Risti replied. “Besides, he has no ground to order us around. To give in now is to forfeit the right to negotiate in the future. After all, as long as we remain free, we’re a group that can tilt to any side, right? The side that offers the most—”

“Becomes your contractor,” Nightfall completed. “Mercenaries. Always so interest-driven.”

“That’s how it is nowadays,” Risti replied. “Anyhow, I’d advise you to never sink in too much in this. It’s fine to gather some troops, but don’t go taking the frontline. You’re not that strong, after all.”

“Tch. That’s only because I have so many things to do that I can’t even eat lifestones…why are you guys shuddering?” Nightfall asked, his eyes sweeping Dia and the others.

The others glared at Dia, but no one said anything. Nightfall hadn’t realised it, but he had accidentally triggered some traumatic memories of being force-fed oodles and oodles of lifestones while they were at a certain dukedom. The ultimate goal, of course, was for everyone to become a hexa-folder, which was almost a done deal by now. Of their group, only Schwarz was still a penta-folder; Risti and Farah had formed their sixth mana circuit shortly after the great Distortion ended.

All that was left was for them to become a high-ranked folder.

Nightfall and Caroline, however, didn’t know about these changes. Schwarz and Risti had suggested that they keep these changes secret, just to surprise anyone that had ill intentions. Other than the Seekers of Life, Dia knew that the only person who knew the true extent of their might was her father and no one else; if her father did things the usual way, the people that had helped to forcefeed them lifestones had already forgotten about it altogether.

“No reason in particular,” Schwarz replied blandly. “So, recruiting us for this war…let’s put aside our consent for a while first. There are more practical aspects to address first. For instance, how is this war going to happen? We’re talking about three separate continents that take absurd lengths of time to travel to. No way this is going to work.”

“Unless the divinities will it,” Caroline replied very quietly. “Or if there are no ‘three continents’ in the next world. Who knows?”

“…Who knows, huh.” Farah thought for a moment. “I thought it would be a copy, though? Like how my county should still be there? I’ll be mad if something happened to my carefully planned city.”

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not that sure of the details myself. At any rate, the Emperor wishes for me and a few others to begin building up combat power.”

“Yeah, that’s the last part. Why you?” Dia asked, thinking about the whole thing. “After all, if he’s asking people to prepare, he could just tell the three rulers and they’ll mobilise everyone else top-down. Why would he contact you personally?”

“Huh?” Count Nightfall blinked. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“It’s supposed to be obvious?” Dia asked. “I sure can’t see it!”

“…Right. You’re all kids. True.” The count folded his arms. “Isn’t it because the Istrel family really isn’t the sharpest knife on the dinner table? We have Ruler Istrel and Duke Istrel, but those two buffoons haven’t done anything of note at all. There’s not even a peep from them.”

He sighed. “We’re supposed to be following Duke Istrel, but the younger Istrel seems more interested in sampling the maids of his father’s ex-station. And if you haven’t guessed it yet, the elder Istrel is interested in sampling the maids of his current position. There are literally brothels in existence, professionals in the trade, and those two buffoons…urgh.”

“There’s some squick factor in there too,” Schwarz noted wryly.

“Pigs.” Dia glanced at her sword, which was hanging loosely off her waist. Would it be nice to run Duke Istrel through it? Her father would definitely approve, right?

“It’ll be nice if the Thief of Time came to kill a ruler again,” Risti muttered. “Or maybe I’ll tell my dad.”

“You do that,” Schwarz replied. “Maybe your father can convince the Emperor to do something about all this.”

“…Wow.”

Everyone turned to Nightfall, who blinked a few times.

“What?” Nightfall asked. “I mean, I’m just expressing my wonder. You guys are supposedly a mercenary group, but from your words and everything, I keep getting the feeling that you’re a gathering of bigshots in one way or another.”

“Which is true,” Caroline added in tandem, “but there’s only one mystery here, isn’t there?”

“Only because we aren’t counting Claud and Lily, dear,” Nightfall replied. “But putting them aside, the impression I had of the Seekers was that this was a gathering for people with power to conspire in the night together.”

“Right?”

“Stop putting on that sickly sweet two-person act,” Schwarz muttered. “I’ve had enough with the lovebirds that are not here. I don’t need you guys to play the part now.”

“Yeah, yeah. But that’s about it for now.” The count got up. “Also, the Blue Moon might be paying a visit to you guys in the next few days. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“The what?”