Chapter 284: Establishment of neutral ground

The crowd continued to gather under the elevated platform that Duchess Lacuna was standing on. For some reason, however, the duchess was abnormally still, as if she wasn't quite alive.

"Like a doll, even," Claud muttered.

"A doll?" Lily followed his line of sight and then nodded. "I see what you're referring to. Maybe she's zoning out or something right now. I mean, who wouldn't? A bunch of shadows just rolled up to the city gates and talked to her."

"I'd be freaked out too, true." Claud looked at the still duchess and admired her stoic demeanour. "Truly, those groomed for leadership are exemplary to the extreme."

"Is that some regret I hear?"

"I never regret things," Claud replied. "But I do wonder how things would have changed if I did a few things differently. Perhaps I might not be here today, as I am now. Maybe I might have been sitting in a house and wondering what's going on."

"What things would you have wanted to do differently?" Lily asked.

A barrage of images forced their way into his mind at those words, and Claud winced. "I should have been a more attentive child. Always took my mother for granted back then. Wish I didn't do that."

Lily looked at him. "Your family…you only had your mother, right? You told me that you were pretty much abandoned and everything."

"Yep." Claud looked up at the skies. "From my point of view, it was weird. Why did the other kids have a father too? Why did I only have a mother? At times, my curiosity would get the better of me, and I would ask her about it, but she would never say anything. She would just rock me gently on her lap, and when I grew older, she would come back from work and play some small games with me. Never once did she complain."

Another rush of memories followed, and for a time, he could hear the shuffling of small game cards, the clacking of game pieces, and his own, delighted squeal whenever he won.

Lily patted his head, a gentle smile on her own face. "It's a beautiful memory, isn't it? I know that smile on your face. It's all too familiar to me. A smile filled with memories of a bygone childhood, when you still had someone to protect you, to guard you. When she watched over you and hummed a lullaby. When she placed you on her lap and patted you to sleep. I know that smile."

"That makes the two of us, then." Claud looked down. "And yet, if I had been a bit more attentive…"

He sighed. "I know it's not my fault. And yet, I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I just paid a bit more attention to my mother."

"That's how things are," Lily murmured. "But you were a child back then. How could you have done anything?"

"Yeah. If only the me right now could go back…"

Lily paused. "I do wish I could do that too."

She took a bite from her half of the tart, which had been neglected when Claud found himself thinking about the past, and then raised an eyebrow. "You sure eat quickly."

"The sugar got me," Claud replied.

Lily looked at her half of the little treat, and then offered it to him. "H-here."

Claud chuckled. "I can see your emotions. It's fine. I'll just make more with you later! And besides, you did promise to teach me how to make these little things. And those sweets."

"I won't stand on courtesy, then."

As Lily chewed on whatever remained of her strawberry tart, Duchess Lacuna finally stirred to life.

"People of Lostfon, my beloved citizens, brave soldiers who answered my call to arms, a time of great change is upon us all. The Moons and the entity we call the great Dark has awoken. Within two seasons, they will descend upon the world and extend their influence in our lives proper. Today, we have but seen a fraction of their true might, and while we have backbone, I must consider your lives and the reason we fight."

The duchess shook her head. "For reasons unknown to us, the Nihila Sovereignty has turned into a battleground. Istrel and Voidum has been occupied by the Moons and the Dark respectively, and to be honest, I don't know if being occupied or being a battleground is better or not."

She paused. "Ruler Nihila has left the sovereignty to seek an audience with the Emperor, and with the recent actions of both powers, the last neutral ground will soon be in Vacuos County and the Lacuna Dukedom capital."

Murmurs broke out in the area.

"What about Lostfon?"

"The Dark Herald has requested for Count Lostfon to cede his Terra Jewel, promising upon its progenitor's name that nothing will happen to the residents of Lostfon. Similarly, the Moon Emissary has requested for Count Cava to cede his Terra Jewel too, swearing on the Moons that nothing will happen to the people there. The occupation will begin the morning after tomorrow."

Duchess Lacuna paused. "To prevent needless conflict, and to establish neutral ground, I have agreed on their behalf. Anyone who wishes to leave for Vacuos County or my personal territory is welcome, and will have their migration subsidised. That said, their guarantees that no one will be harmed will almost certainly be upheld, so this is a choice of your own choosing."

She nodded once, and then stepped off the stage. As the crowd seethed and bubbled, Claud turned to Lily. "What do you think?"

"Me?" Lily shook her head. "On a personal basis, given such a promise, we…should probably stay here. Cava County has been occupied by the Moons, right? It'll be a problem if something actually happened when we went back."

"No change to our plans, then." Claud assessed the crowd. "But we can't say the same for those fellows. They're probably going to flee the county together and head to the dukedom capital itself."

"The latter might be a problem, though. The dukedom capital isn't as large as a county; it's usually a very well-maintained and regulated city with the best trained troops sitting around. As for the sovereignty capital…"

"Follows the same pattern, right?" Claud asked.

"Got that right. A smaller city where only two kinds of people exist — the upper-class and the servants that serve them. It's worse than your average dukedom capital," Lily replied. "The two of us won't even qualify to get through the gate."

"You're challenging me, aren't you?"

"No. And it's too dangerous, so don't even think about it," Lily replied, a hint of rebuke in her words.

"Fine…"

Claud had a feeling that she would insist on coming along if he insisted on going to pay a visit to the exclusive city of Ruler Nihila, which was a perfectly reasonable response if he had to be honest, and therefore, to pre-empt her from doing such a thing, he had to give up on the idea itself.

"That's better. We'll just pass the time here, okay?"

Claud nodded. Besides, only an idiot would try to break into the home of a penta-folder, especially the actual home of said mana-user. His attempt at breaking into a fairly unused treasury of the then-Duke Istrel had gone badly enough; there was no need for Legend of Tot — Remastered or whatever.

"Yay."

"You don't sound that enthused, though," Claud pointed out.

"Well, this city would soon be in the territory of the great Dark," said Lily. "And there's still lots of things that we don't know about yet. The Trial of Aeons, for instance. What exactly is that?"

"Moons if I know," Claud replied. "But it's probably a bad thing."

"You state the obvious with the loveliest tone ever," Lily replied. "So, this year has three really bad things descending, and then a really bad war occurring. What did we do wrong?"

"Maybe we didn't celebrate the previous year correctly," Claud joked. "Should have spent the last day of Full Moon bashing drums and ringing bells in every single city in Grandis. Maybe in the other two continents too."

"Hmm. I wonder if the other two continents are also affected by this," Lily wondered.

"Probably. Grandis isn't special enough to have two legendary entities wage war in it alone," Claud replied. "A war to unite the whole world! Or something like that, I guess. I haven't forgotten about the Celestia Ruins, after all."

Lily nodded. "An empire that transcends the dark sea and spans the stars...is that even possible?"

"To be fair, we didn't think that the Moons or the Dark descending was possible either, but we already have a warning in our minds about this event," Claud replied. "At this point, I'll say that anything and everything is possible."

He glanced at the stragglers making their way out of the city square and followed suit, motioning at Lily to follow. As they made their way to the inn, Claud stretched and said, "Who knows? The Dark might even decide to hand out free food and items tomorrow morning, once they fully settle into Lostfon."

"And they might even be polite about the whole thing too."

"Yeah…"