Thief of Time

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“I wonder if the others did something huge while we were off having a break.” Claud looked at the warm bowl of thick porridge, before rubbing his jaw slowly.

“They were also probably just resting, waiting to defend themselves when a new maelstrom strikes,” Lily replied. “You feeling better?”

“Still as frail as ever, but I’m more than capable of moving right now. It’s just that my reflexes are a bit slow, and my movements sluggish,” Claud replied, moving his body around. “And I feel like I’ve been tenderised.”

“That’s because you were tenderising meat yesterday.”

“Well, I have to contribute too, right?” Claud asked. “I can’t keep getting you to care for me like an invalid. Surely you have things of your own that you want to accomplish.”

“And letting me make dinner isn’t going to be an issue to that,” Lily replied.

“We’re supposed to do things together.” Claud rolled his eyes.

“So you say, but you’re the one who’s working actively to avert my death,” Lily replied. “I’m supposed to play a bigger part in stopping that too.”

“Which you have,” Claud replied. “Don’t think you’re not doing anything, okay? You’re doing a lot more than you know.”

“I mean, physically. Not as emotional support…”

“Well, you’re helping me deal with my infirmed body,” Claud replied. “That’s been the main thing dragging me down for the past few seasons. There are days when I just want to close my eyes and let all this drag me down into oblivion, you know. Only your presence is preventing me from going into the quiet night early.”

“…That’s mostly my fault, though.”

“It’s not, and don’t go thinking of things that way either,” Claud replied, before rubbing her head. “…I suppose you can feed me?”

“Really?” Lily rubbed her hands. “Alright, say ah…”

A set of gentle knocks filled the house as Claud savoured his fifth spoonful, and Lily made a displeased noise. Schooling her expression a moment later, she got up from the seat and opened the door.

“Hello, bishop.” Lily nodded at Nero’s caregiver. “Good morning to you.”

“A good morning to you lovebirds. I am told that you two are leaving today,” the bishop replied. “I wonder if you can help me send some letters to Nero.”

“Sure,” Lily replied. “We’ll deliver it to him without fail. That said, we do intend to visit the sites you recommended first, so it may take some time.”

“That is very fine with me,” the bishop replied. “After all, travel across the ocean is still very much limited. And it is only right and fitting for travellers from a distant land to appreciate the places we of the Senate are most proud of. Where are you hoping to go to?”

“The Senate building first,” Lily replied. “Where the Nihal Senate meets.”

“…You two really like good food, huh.”

Claud chuckled. “We’re only having porridge for breakfast for a reason, you know.”

The bishop chuckled. “True. I should have guessed that the moment I saw your breakfast. And after that…wait, let me guess. An ancient battlefield, right? The one where the Black God slew the Goddess of Hope.”

“How did you guess?”

“Not hard, considering why you’re here. You must be looking for traces of His apotheosis,” the bishop replied. “Some companions of mine also head to that particular battlefield to do some on-field theological studies, but we aren’t that strong. It’s a shame, but not a lot of us could venture deep inside.”

Claud nodded. “With our strength, I believe we can penetrate the depths of the battlefield and maybe pick up on some things too.”

“Do tell me the results,” the bishop replied. “We all yearn to be closer to the Lord, after all.”

“Of course.”

The bishop laughed. “Well then. Here are the letters. I will rather not disturb you two from your lovers’ breakfast any further, so please excuse this old man as he leaves.”

“Don’t be so cold,” Lily replied. “But have a good day. We’ll make sure this gets to Nero.”

She picked up the sealed envelope, wrapped it with even more mana, and then slid it into the backpack lying next to the table. “Let’s finish the breakfast, then.”

“Can’t impose on him any longer, after all.”

Bowls and spoons let out gentle clinks as they dug into the porridge in earnest. Before long, their breakfast had been scoured clean, and Claud got up to wash the dishes.

“Claud?”

“Come on. I’m not that sickly,” Claud replied, before feeling a bit bad at Lily’s expression. “Okay, let’s just do it together.”

“That’s better.”

It didn’t take long before they were all done with the dishwashing, and Claud looked around the small house. They hadn’t lived in it for that long, but it was still necessary to return it to its owner, who had rented it to them at a low cost, in a pristine state.

Thankfully, cleaning up with mana was a lot easier, and after sweeping the place with gentle waves of mana that captured all stray motes of dust, Claud bobbed his head at Lily.

“Alright. We’re done here, then.” Lily helped Claud wear his backpack, and then fitted her own onto her back. “Let’s go!”

After one last check, which included making sure that the three little meeplings were happily secured in their pockets, the two of them left the house for the final time.

The bishop was seated in the garden outside when they emerged. A bunch of little birds were hopping around him happily, chirping as they played around him.

“You’re done, then. It has been a pleasure hosting the two of you.” The bishop smiled at them. “Also, thanks for cleaning up the house. The last time Nero used this place, I had to clean it up myself.”

“He’s a lot more mature now,” Claud replied. “Don’t worry.”

“I’m glad to hear that. I hope you two enjoy your tour of my nation. Have a safe trip back, the two of you.” The bishop chuckled once. “Now then, you should be going. Time is tight for us all.”

“Yes.”

The two of them walked out of the garden. Since the house was also in Kabir, there was no need to fly to the Senate building proper; all they had to do was to walk towards the centre of the gigantic city and take in the sights.

“Street stalls, huh. I don’t think Grandia has street stalls,” Lily muttered. “Let’s go grab some edibles!”

“We need to save space for the Senate’s menu, though!”

“Let’s be honest, that menu isn’t going to fill our stomachs.” Lily rolled her eyes at Claud. “And we digest food so quickly that we can eat the whole city…”

“Fine…” Claud sniffed. “I’m hungry too.”

After buying a small bag of fried fritters, the two of them continued on their merry way. It was hard to tell if Kabir had been affected by the Last Godsfall, since the war had been put on hold while the world searched for the handsome, skilled and incredible Thief of Time, who had bonded with a Cosmic Egg.

For now, the whole world was still at peace…kind of, anyway. However, Claud was certain that there were probably a few small Distortions in the capital, but these things probably didn’t have a long shelf life. After all, after the first successful attempt at getting rid of these Distortions — which was by the two of them — the three nations had worked out their own methods to deal with Distortions now.

Those things weren’t that much of a threat to skilled folders. Rather, the actual threat came from the possibility of mana-users, high-ranked ones that had gone through the Third Tutorial, turning into monsters of mass destruction. It was one of these things that had killed Lily in the previous iteration, and Claud was rightfully wary of such an incident.

However, how would one deal with such a thing?

“Claud?”

“I’m just thinking of something,” Claud replied. “Mana-users transforming into monsters. How can we avoid this? Stop people from becoming hexa-folders?”

“That’s one way.” Lily paused. “Wait. The Chromatic Lords…I vaguely recall that there was something about a law against people becoming high-ranked folders, right? They killed anyone who completed the Third Tutorial, right?”

Claud sucked in a breath. “Was that…”

“Something the Black God did?” Lily thought for a moment. “Maybe it wasn’t to deal with the threat of high-ranked folders turning into monsters, though. I mean, we don’t know when this…vulnerability in the Third Tutorial existed.”

“True. But in a way, these guys probably helped…but they can very well be ticking timebombs too.” Claud glanced at Lily. “No, not literally.”

“I know. There’s no need to look at me like that. So, what do you have in mind?”

“…Maybe we should get rid of all high-ranked folders,” Claud muttered. “While the White God and the Black God might have done something, it might not be wholly perfect. Better play safe.”

“Do you know what you’re saying?” Lily asked. “You’re going to kill what literally are the strongest people in this world!”

“It’s worth a shot.” Claud contemplated for a few moments. “Yes. It is.”

“…Let’s discuss this more thoroughly first.”