Chapter 263: Moments of contemplation

The scenery outside Lostfon didn't look all that different from Licencia. Roads led in to it, there weren't any forests nearby — Caroline had turned the one near Licencia into a nice farm — and the city itself was located in the middle of a nice vast field.

Other than say, the ocean of shadows that were creeping their way forward, as well as the vaguely visible dent in the ground far, far away, the terrain didn't look all that different from Licencia. In fact, it felt a tiny bit like home.

"Didn't know home was made out of four translucent barriers and fluffy cushions of mana," Lily replied, her words carrying objection in them.

"Meep!" Crown, who was twirling around on her outstretched palm, paused to bounce up and down twice, before resuming its leisurely spin once more.

"See?" Lily looked at the little velvety box. "Even Crown agrees!"

"You know what they say, right? Home is where the heart is," Claud replied. "Even if our current lodgings are made out of a transparent cube and some fluffy clouds of mana. Besides, it's nice to just lie down at this early-warning site and get food from runners. It's free, it's convenient… I guess the only issue is not being able to wash up, but that's what the Refresher is for."

Lily mulled over his words for a moment. "True. Also, monologuing in the middle of a game doesn't make sense. It's been your turn for ten minutes."

Claud returned his attention to the game of Moon Phase they had going on. Most of their pieces had been revealed; they knew each other too well to actually read each other's moves and piece placement. What remained was just pure tactical ability, and Claud had been on the backfoot for some time.

At those words, he decided to move anyway, and as Lily started chewing him apart piece by piece, Claud found himself assessing his partner once more. Over the course of the past year, she had experienced loss, gotten over it, learned a lot from him, turned around and won his heart with it, and then decided to follow her heart.

It was a growth that not many would envy, but Claud found himself admiring her strong heart that had weathered these storms. Even now, she remained as sprightly as ever, and—

"Ah, I lost." Claud rested his head on the rock behind them. "Nice game, Lily."

"I think you're just tired out or something," Lily replied. "You don't look that good."

"Do I?" Claud frowned. "I don't feel the urge to brutally murder a Bearer of Destiny, and we're just slacking off and watching the army of the great Dark squander their advantage. How can I not be anything but good?"

"It's because our enemies are so close that you can't exactly relax," Lily replied, flicking his nose. "I know you well."

Claud grinned, and then pulled her over gently. Pieces spilled around as they held each other, and Crown took the chance to hop onto Claud's shoulder.

"Claud?"

"Guess what I'm thinking now," Claud replied, the ends of his mouth rising even higher. He hadn't done it much. Coupled with the fact that the atmosphere and his actions were quite suggestive, Lily was bound to get the wrong idea, at which point he would tease her or something.

Lily tilted her head, and then brightened up. "I know."

Without a word, she laid her head down on his lap and looked up at him. "Did I get that right?'

"I only did that twice to you, so how did you guess?" Claud asked, annoyed, before smoothing out her hair. "That's just plain unfair."

Crown nodded along, and then hopped onto her stomach. The little fellow bounced off her armour a moment later, and Crowd emanated a feeling of sorrow.

"Don't go jumping onto us," Claud replied, placing Crown on Lily's forehead. "We're fully armoured."

"Crown's really silly at times," Lily noted. "Anyway, it's quite obvious, right? If you wanted to get frisky with me, both of us would have to remove our armour. There's no way that's going happen outside, especially with an enemy. And you're the type who values our privacy."

"…Fine, you win." Claud squished her cheeks gently. "Am I that easy to read?"

"No, actually. It's just that I knew how you'd think and everything. You always place safety first," Lily replied. "And you'll probably think along the lines of 'We can do it in a more comfortable place' too. I haven't forgotten your alarm back then…"

"Let us not speak of that," Claud replied. "And to be honest, I didn't know everyone would feel pain on their first time…"

Crown, who was spinning around on Lily's nose now, stopped and tilted to the side at the word 'pain'.

"N-no, it's nothing to do with you," Claud replied. "And spinning on her nose is probably a bit uncomfortable."

"Meep?"

"Meep," Lily replied, and Crown spun back up to her forehead once more. "Is Crown the only one of its kind? Sometimes, I feel like he's lonely or something. It makes me feel bad, especially since we have each other."

"It's hard to actually do anything about it," Claud replied. "Duke, uh, Ruler Istrel will definitely feel suspicious if I saunter up to him and ask about that divine treasure I ran off with. And besides, I don't think he knows much about it either."

"What does he know about it?"

"That it's a divine treasure?" Claud cupped his chin. "Maybe he knew it was able to create Pure-Life Gems. But I'm not sure. If he knew about such a thing, he probably wouldn't have left Crown there, but I'm not him. I don't know what he was thinking."

It wasn't the first time he had wondered about Crown either, and his suspicions and thoughts had turned into a muddy mess. Pure-Life Gems grew on their own; Claud had a whole bunch of them on him, but how quickly they grew he didn't know.

The couple and the box mulled over the issue for a moment, before the low call of trumpets shattered the comfortable silence. A huge army, tens of thousands in number, marched out towards the south, surging towards the city of Lostfon.

Duchess Lacuna's army had arrived on the scene, and Claud breathed out a small sigh. His attack had bought Lostfon enough time, having forced the shadows of the great Dark to reorganise after that devastating strike.

"You know, I think I deserve a few accolades for my heroism," Claud muttered, stroking Lily's head at the same time. "I destroyed an entire army of the Moons and the great Dark. And two Bearers of Destiny. Someone should really give me a pat on the back and a medal."

Lily looked at him, and then held his hand. Bringing it to her lips, she said, "I can't give you a medal, but what about a kiss?"

"That's definitely better than a medal, yes," Claud immediately replied.

A small entourage broke off from the army and headed into the city directly, while the main body skirted around the city and made their way to the makeshift defence lines. The sounds of clanging metal soon filled the air as small towers appeared, with shiny, small ramparts filling the gap between these towers.

It would seem that these fortifications had been prepared in the march there, but Claud didn't understand why they would do such a thing. If he hadn't fired off such an attack, having so many clunky things…

"Hmm."

Lily and Crown turned to him, and Claud cleared his throat. "I was simply wondering why they brought prebuilt fortifications along, since, you know, the shadows might have overrun the city while they were travelling here."

Lily's eyes flickered. "They were going to build a small stronghold to block off any further encroachment from Lostfon, if Lostfon fell."

"Yeah." Claud took a deep breath. "It sems that they don't have any intention to actually recapture lost territory yet. I think they intend to gather their strength here, and then, after a successful counterstrike, force them back into the Quies Dukedom. But…is that advisable?"

Lily shook her head. "I don't know too. But at any rate, we aren't professionals. It'll be hard for us to make an appropriate judgement."

"Meep!"

"You do know that I can't quite discern your complex thoughts, right?" Claud asked, patting the little fellow on its head. "But our time here is over, I think. Now that the duchess is here, with a whole bunch of soldiers, the situation where contributions are the only currency should have been suspended."

"We'll be able to purchase supplies normally." Lily smirked. "A shame for those who fled the city, though. They probably never knew that a Chromatic Lord took action, and lost their property as a result."

Claud eyed Lily, and then sighed. "Stop making fun of me."

"But it's cool, right? Thief of Time! Chromatic Lord! Are you going to add another title to your collection soon?" Lily asked.

"Let's hope that won't be the case," Claud replied, before the smile he was suppressing broke free.

"You enjoy being called those names too, I see." Lily got up from his lap, catching Crown as the little fellow rolled off her forehead. "I can totally see the appeal. But…"

"But?"

"It's a shame we can't recount your new titles to the others," Lily replied.

Claud rolled his eyes. "Lily, dear. Knowing Schwarz and the others, they'll almost certainly tease me. And a certain princess lookalike might decide to haul me over to Ruler Istrel."

"She wouldn't," Lily replied. "Probably. I think she wouldn't, anyway."

"That's not very reassuring." Claud gave her a hug. "But thanks for the thought anyway. I'll believe in you, who believes in her."

Lily hugged him back. "Thanks."

Breaking the hug, Claud got up and eyed the sky. "It's noon, now that I think about it. And you know what that means? Our mission is over! Let's go back and prepare for our foray into Lostfon!"

"Why do you sound this happy?" Lily asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Don't you want some fresh food too?" Claud asked. "And we can get a room and wash ourselves properly too. The Refresher is useful, but…"

"Uwah. True…"