Chapter 262: Pandemic of paranoia

"I know I said feel free, but taking everything seems a bit overkill." Count Nightfall rubbed his head. "Well, I won't think too hard about it. It's not like we're exactly in a master-subordinate relationship, are we not? And I won't need so many artefacts either."

"They'll probably be lying unused in the treasury anyway," Caroline added. "You guys might as well make full use of it."

Count Nightfall shrugged. "Still, what's more important is investigating how the Monochromatic Twins actually got inside. They got inside my treasury, a top-secret room and even my bedroom. I don't want them to show up in my toilet."

Everyone laughed.

"Yes, that is a mystery," Schwarz wondered. "Maybe they have some special skill?"

"Like the ability to walk through walls?" Dia asked.

"Okay, but how do we counter that?" Farah folded her arms. "What, do we need Boundary?"

"What does that do?" Schwarz asked.

"Oh, Boundary designates a set of lines that cannot be crossed for thirty minutes," Farah replied. "It's quite the useful skill, but it's a shame I don't know its acquisition condition. The more useful skills have very esoteric conditions, now that I think about it."

"Well, it'll be a problem if you picked up powerful skills by breathing, right?" Count Nightfall replied. "Why, I had to spend months to acquire my individual skills too. And then spent even more using them every day for no good reason."

He shook his head. "But if it lasts only thirty minutes, I don't really see the point in learning such a skill."

Caroline laughed. "If we're lucky enough to come across a Bearer of Destiny who has something like Absolute Boundary, we could consider asking that fellow about it."

"Considering how Bearers of Destiny seem to be troublemakers, I'm not going to. At most, I'll find holders of the Boundary skill and get a smith to forge an artefact with that skill. I'm sure that'll be useful." Count Nightfall cupped his chin. "I'm going to draw up an edict or something."

"S-sure, you do you," Schwarz replied, before stifling a yawn. "Man, the food's too good. I'm really sleepy now."

"Oh?" The count chuckled. "If that's the case, I won't keep you guys here any longer. Caroline, can you help send them off? I also feel really sleepy, and I think I know why too."

Yawning loudly, the count promised to visit Moon Mansion tomorrow, before ambling off unsteadily. Caroline looked at him with some worry, and then ushered everyone out of the castle at top speed, before bolting back. Dia could tell that she was probably worried about Count Nightfall, and for a moment, she wondered how two fellows three centuries old could be this…passionate.

Her father seemed a lot more distant, and he was just a hundred years older.

"Hmm."

"Something wrong?" Schwarz asked.

"Well, they kinda behave like us, even though they're far older," Dia replied. "I'm not too sure what to think about this. Like, if I hadn't consciously reminded myself of their actual age, I would have thought that they were in their mid-twenties too."

Schwarz blinked. "Hmm. Maybe they lied about their age?'

Everyone eyed him, and the bartender laughed sheepishly. "I'm just kidding. But given that many nobles live for a long time, it's safe to say that the usual things that make people mature like the passing of a loved one don't occur early in their youth. Rather, I'm more impressed at the fact that they're getting married this later. Phew."

"Oh, right. True." Farah laughed. "Normally, nobles marry around twenty-five to forty, but again, unless someone volunteers the information or you do some sleuthing, everyone looks like a young adult."

"How about you, Farah?" Schwarz asked. "Any lucky fellow caught your eye yet?"

"I don't have a family pressing me for an heir, so no," Farah replied. "And to be honest, in these troubled times, finding love seems to be a huge chore. I'm busy with all sorts of things, and so is everyone else."

She turned to Nero. "How about you, Nero? Which Holy Daughter are you going to be attached to?"

The Holy Son of the Black Church jerked once. "What? Well, we, uh, haven't had that talk yet. No one had marriage in mind when I became the Holy Son, and well, I vanished. I'm not sure what's going on in the Black Church now; did they find a replacement Holy Son? If not, am I to resume my post and everything?"

"True. The giant barrier around the Istrel Sovereignty isn't making things easy for us either," Risti nodded. "Both Schwarz and I can't receive any information from the outside world at all, but if the Moons are moving…"

"Then the Dark is likely to be moving too," Schwarz completed. "Do you know if these two groups are active on the Nihal Continent?"

"Nope," Nero replied. "To be honest, it feels like we're watching a legend unfold right now. The Moons and the Dark descending, the darkened monsters and the foot soldiers of the Moons, and even the Emissaries."

"Watching a legend unfold, huh." Risti folded her arms. "Considering that this might just be the age of the Fourth Godsfall or whatever, you might be right. If you follow the patterns closely, the years leading up to such changes see the mobilisation of the world's strongest beings making a mark. Other things include an increase in instability, as well as massive political upheavals."

She closed her eyes for a moment. "In the years before the Second Godsfall, the Heavenly Kingdom of Three Realms crumbled apart, as the administrators of what would be known as Grandis, Nihal and Lacheln declared independence and struck at the royal family back then."

"But the only political upheaval we've seen so far is the death of Ruler Umbra," Nero replied.

"True, but this can just be a sign, right? What about Lacheln and Nihal? Did anything huge happen there?" Risti pressed on. "I'm willing to bet that something happened in the past year in the other continents too."

Nero twitched.

"The Holy Son of the Black Church went missing, a Blessed of the White Church died…there's probably other incidents too, right?" Risti folded her arms. "Things are going downhill really quickly, and that's why I took so many artefacts from Count Nightfall."

"Don't try to justify it in that manner," Dia replied, rolling her eyes. "But everything's unfurling before us. The Moon Emissaries and how they're going to snatch the Terra Jewel of the Istrel Sovereignty, for instance, is a pretty huge thing. The only reason why the Emperor hasn't blown his top yet is due to this barrier, but when it comes down…"

"The Coloured Gods probably won't stand by as the Moons and the Dark duke it out either," Schwarz added. "And—"

"Wait, wait!" Farah rubbed her nose. "Can we not speak of such sensitive matters outside the mansion? I don't want to draw attention! And to be honest, there's nothing we can do about these changes, unless you want to dig a bunker half a kilometre below ground and shelter there for the next millennium."

"…Claud might like that," Schwarz replied. "I can actually see it in my mind."

"Eh?"

"Yeah," Risti chimed in. "Now that I think about it, it's quite the good idea. Why should we care about what happens outside? We should just dig a deep bunker and maybe even build a small city in the depths of the earth. Did you not see how the Moon Emissary died? A giant spear of light washed the surface clean of any lives. If we're underground, we might be able to make it through lots of disasters."

"What about the budget?" Farah asked.

"Who cares? If the entire city is destroyed, no one will press us for debts," Risti replied. "Schwarz, I recommend that we dig nice and dig. Bring in some artefacts, find a way to produce water and sunlight down there, and then plant some food."

"I was somewhat kidding," Schwarz replied. "How are we going to dig that deeply anyway? Farah said a kilometre deep, but that's impossible."

"Find a professional builder," said Risti. "And how many attacks can dig that deep into the ground anyway?"

"Maybe we should get Count Nightfall to join us in this set of preparations," Farah wondered. "But are we really going to do this?"

"Who knows? But it does sound like a good idea," Dia muttered. "An underground city is likely to stay safe, more so than on the surface."

"It's equally impractical, though. If you ask me," said Schwarz, "I think a bunker ten or so metres underground is good enough for the few of us. We'll just need to make space, store lots and lots of food, and occasionally go up to the surface to fight. Artefacts can be quite convenient…but the cost of digging something this big and preparing the architecture can be rather prohibitive."

"But we aren't really lacking money, if you think about it…"

Schwarz and Farah sighed, and the latter hung her head. "Fine, we'll think of something. Is everyone catching Claud's paranoia or what?"

No one answered her question.