Thief of Time

The ancient battlefield where the Black God defeated the Goddess of Hope, or as the Black God himself put it, the inverted Goddess of Hope, was located in a desolate prairie. Grass attempted to grow there, and the hardier vegetation managed to survive, despite bordering the site of such an upheaval, but the actual ancient battlefield itself was completely barren of life.

Claud gazed at the ancient battlefield from afar. There was a faint boundary that divided it from the outside world, although the boundary was probably nothing more than a token one now. Camps and buildings had been erected next to the boundary, which could only mean that this ancient battlefield was being actively exploited.

From the Seekers of Life’s earlier exploration of a similar place, Claud knew that ancient battlefields generally had lots of prana jade and very pure lifestones within. There were also some threats, but the threats seemed to vary from place to place.

For instance, the inverted God of Virtue’s grave was filled with shadowy beings that were more than capable of using mana. They were strong foes, spectres of deceased warriors, that guarded whatever remained of their legacy.

“Do you think we’ll face problems when entering?” Lily wondered.

“That’s a good question, but I’m sure we can intimidate a whole lot of them just by walking up,” Claud replied, before allowing a grin to crawl up his face. “With all our mana circuits running, naturally.”

“Oh, you cunning little fellow…”

“Meep!”

The meeplings hopped around Claud, clearly in agreement with Lily, and he rolled his eyes. “Go crawl around Lily instead, okay?”

“Meep!”

Other than Crown, the others rolled over to Lily, who promptly enjoyed the feeling of being nuzzled by tiny little shapes. Crown, however…seemed a little odd.

“Meep.”

“Huh.” Claud cupped the little box. “What’s wrong? You sound a little depressed.”

“Meep. Meep…” The box fell to one side. “Meep.”

“Oh.” Claud made a face. “Well, someone has to know what you are eventually. Sure, the Black God doesn’t, but what about the great Dark and the Moons? They might know something about you. And…well, I might be able to ask myself eventually.”

He thought for a moment. “Yeah. All my previous iterations probably had you guys too. I saw you three in the Frozen Emperor’s memory, after all. I’ll figure out your origins eventually, alright?”

“Yeah,” Lily added. “Count on us, okay? And we aren’t fussed about your origin at all. No matter who you are, you’re Crown to us. And that’s it.”

Those words cheered the little guy up, and Claud watched as Crown scampered over to Lily. The meeplings were very much aware about his frailty, so they generally tried to avoid too much contact with Claud. It was a thoughtful gesture on their part, but still…

“Let’s descend, then.” Claud checked his equipment.

“I’m all set.” Lily squished her cheeks once, and then said, “Do I look intimidating?”

“Adorable, cute and pretty, yes. Intimidating?” Claud poked her cheek. “Sorry.”

“Bah. How about you?” Lily asked. “Show me intimidating, okay?”

“Can’t do that either. We’ll have to make do with our mana circuits. Besides, there probably aren’t any hexa-folders here either. At most, newly promoted ones.” Claud tried to crack his knuckles, but he couldn’t quite complete the motion. “Well then…”

A few people milling around the camp stared at Claud and Lily as they landed, and the two lost no time in driving their mana circuits. Any trace of outright hostility vanished a moment later as the nearest loiterers gazed at them warily, and Claud nodded to himself.

In concert, the two of them walked up to the fenced camp’s entrance, where there was a small gate. Instead of barging through it directly, however, Claud simply smiled and waited at the gate, before looking at the other strangers that were staring at them.

Lily, who was holding his hand gently, chuckled once. “We come in peace.”

The others in the camp glanced at each other for a few seconds, before one of them ran off. Shortly afterwards, the person returned with a hooded person in tow, and that hooded person did a doubletake.

“You are…I know you two.” The person pulled back her hood, revealing a head of black hair. “I’ve seen your pictures before.”

“You know us?” Claud asked, thinking about the news of their success in dealing with a Distortion.”

“Yeah. My niece told me about you two,” she replied. “Uh, Risti. Anyway, nice to meet you two. I’m Norn, Risti’s aunt. I’m also known as the Verdant Interrogator, although this system of Names is getting a bit rusty when there are so many new mana-users popping up in recent times.”

“The Verdant Interrogator…” Lily thought for a moment. “Oh, you met your niece and Dia at Nachtville, right? Years ago.”

“That’s me, alright. The rest of my party are inside the ancient battlefield at the moment,” Norn replied. “What are you two doing here anyway? Last I heard, the famous Seekers of Life who dealt with the Distortion accomplished that particular deed in the Grandis Empire, not the Nihal Senate.”

“We came here to find out some answers,” Claud replied. “And to this battlefield specifically.”

“Oh?” Norn paused. “Wait. You two just travelled here? How?”

“How…well, we just did?”

“I don’t think flying ships are operating across continents, though. And sea travel has not been a thing ever since sea monsters appeared,” Norn replied. “How did you two get here? By the sounds of it, you two must have just arrived recently.”

Claud rubbed his head, but there was no dodging this question. Besides, the fact of the matter was that she was an acquaintance of Risti’s, apparently, and he couldn’t quite leave her here if she requested for it…

He glanced at Lily, who was shooting glances at him, and then nodded with a grimace.

“We flew here on our own,” Lily replied quietly.

“…Are you two heading back?” Norn asked. “As in, to Grandis?”

“Yes.” Claud had long seen where this conversation was headed, but he at least had to have some hope. “Why?”

“Can you bring us back with you?” Norn asked. “Me and the other Seekers of Truth have been stuck here ever since the Fourth Godsfall began and this madness started.”

“Seekers of…”

“Seekers of Truth,” Norn replied. “Not Life. The Seekers of Truth is what we call ourselves.”

“R-right…” Claud rubbed his nose. “Well…it’s not impossible. But I’ll need some time to think it through, okay? And we might need you people to do some things too. It might be a tiny bit unpleasant, but you know. Trade secret.”

“Okay.”

“That reply was a bit too fast,” Claud muttered. “Anyhow, we’re actually here to do some sleuthing, touring and investigating. I wonder if you can let us in now?”

“Sure. This camp is mine, anyway,” the Verdant Interrogator replied. “Welcome to this nameless camp, where all I have are prana jades and lifestones, and the only thing I miss is a way back home. What do you two intend to do next?”

“Enter the ancient battlefield,” Lily replied. “That’s what we’re here for.”

It was a coincidence through and through. Perhaps, if he hadn’t made his way here, they would have been stuck in Nihal for a mind-bogglingly long time, but it just happened that the two of them arrived here.

“Yeah. There might be problems with prana jades,” Claud added. “We’re here to investigate that.”

“I see…wait, what?” Norn looked at him. “Problems with what?”

“Prana jades,” Claud replied slowly. “We’re trying to investigate those things after following an ancient enigma that came from eons ago.”

“…Crap.”

“I suppose it goes without saying that you guys used them, then.” Claud rubbed his head. “Well, it probably isn’t that big of an issue if you aren’t swallowing them rampantly, and there are problems if you do that to begin with.”

“We’re here to investigate their origins and all. Nothing’s confirmed yet,” Lily added. “Don’t be in a hurry to panic or anything. All is still quite fine, if nothing else.”

The others in the camp didn’t look that convinced, which wasn’t that bad. It would be for the best if they stopped using prana jades for now, if nothing else. And even if these prana jades actually created problems, the actual extent of these problems was unlikely to be actually dangerous.

After all, the divinities would have done something substantial if prana jades were that big of a deal…

Probably, anyway.

He looked around the camp. “So, what’s this camp thing about? If I recall correctly, the Seekers of Truth don’t number all that much.”

“Well, it’s a long story that starts with us being here and ends with even more of us here after the Moons and the Dark descended,” Norn replied. “Nothing particularly riveting.”

The tone of her voice implied a reluctance to actually elaborate more, so neither of the duo pursued the issue.

“I see.” Claud paused. “Well, we’ll head inside, then.”