Preparing the encirclement

Claud placed the last of the defensive artefacts into a box and stretched his body. "All done. We're just missing the bows and arrows."

"Oh, Caroline sent word over to us about that," Schwarz replied, without looking up. The bartender was poring over the maps of the local area one last time, comparing it with the notes he had the lower echelons of the Moon Lords gather for him. "The troops will bring their own weapons along. We're expecting a hundred and eighty-eight archers."

"What a specific number…"

"Well, that's all we can fit underneath those canopies, though. Too much, and we'll be obvious too," said Schwarz. "Clairvoyance is too useful a skill to not store, after all. Right, Risti, how's the surveillance going?"

"The target is around six hours away, hiding in the nearby forest." Risti, who was leaning back on a chair with clouded eyes, let out a small groan. "My eyes hurt. This Cord of Cause is too painful to look at directly."

"Too bright?" Schwarz asked.

"Too bright, yes." Risti rubbed her eyes. "I'll check on the progress again an hour later. Let's hurry up and haul those things over to the Holy Daughter, shall we?"

Dia got up from her chair and grabbed the box full of artefacts and weapons with seeming ease. "I'll haul this over, then."

"It's good that we get to stay on the sidelines," Claud commented idly as Dia left the room. "Is this what it feels like to be protected?"

"Probably," Lily replied. "Can't say that I know the feeling, though."

She paused. "Oh, come on. I'm just pulling your leg, okay? There's no need to put on that 'Oh, Moons' face whenever I bring up such a topic."

The brilliant smile on her face only served to make Claud roll his eyes. "Stop playing with my heart. It's fragile, you know."

"You spoil her too much," said Risti. "What happened to your bold claims that no one was ever going to get any more fizzy drinks from you? So much bluster, and see what happened next."

Claud cleared his throat. In Moon Mansion's stores were three barrels of his drinks, which had been wheedled over by Lily's constant pestering. To be fair, his room was about to be overrun by these barrels, and it wasn't like he was giving them away for free either. And besides, he didn't like to see Lily sad. She had chosen to end her family, doing it in a personal fashion, and Claud respected her for that.

He couldn't help her walk out of her deeds, but he could at least keep her happy. Eventually, enough time would pass, eroding both her emotions and the memories of the incident, but before then…

"Oh, shut it." Claud rolled his eyes. "Besides, I was running out of space. And Lily volunteered to help me carry them here, so I don't really see the issue."

"Yeah, yeah." Risti chuckled. "So, what's his house like? Did he do anything funny there, Lily?"

Lily shook her head. "His house is…cramped. Too many barrels."

"There's a reason why I'm sleeping in Moon Mansion every day," said Claud. "Although I should really tell the suppliers to send these drinks to a warehouse or something. Do we have an empty one open?"

"Only if I get to experiment with your fizzy drinks," said Schwarz.

"Deal, but whatever results you serve to us must not contain alcohol," Claud fired back.

"Gah. You drive a hard bargain." Schwarz made a little growl. "Fine. I'll create some results that don't have alcohol. Commercially—"

"A quarter of the cost price is mine," Claud replied. "It's a very reasonable price; don't even think about haggling. I trust that you won't sneak bites out of my pie, right?"

"Yeah, sure." Schwarz let out a small noise. "Still, you sure know your bargains well."

"Stop complimenting yourself," Claud replied, rolling his eyes. He had picked up those little tricks from Schwarz, so any praise lavished actually went to the bartender…in his head, anyway.

"You two aren't making much sense," said Risti.

"It's an inside joke." Claud looked around the room. The countess was hard at work, as usual. From what he knew, she was doing lots and lots of brainwork — Farah and Schwarz had been entertaining merchants and other important people in a smaller building of the Moon Lords for the past two days. Decent-looking merchants, shifty ones, clever, spectacle-wearing fellows…all sorts of businessmen had entered and left the new building, called Moon Mind.

As for why Moon Mansion wasn't used, it was due to his insistence once more. Now that almost everyone was sleeping and living in Moon Mansion, it made little sense to expose their living area to any possibility of harm. Therefore, rather than the headquarters of the Moon Lords, Moon Mansion had turned into the living quarters of the Moon Lords.

Any official functions would have to be moved off-site. Naturally, Schwarz was peeved by these suggestions, but Lily was a living example of while work and personal life should be separated. One reason why she could access the Julan mansion so easily was due to the fact that anyone with a modicum of money and a drought of compassion could waltz in and try to sell someone for a good amount of money.

Of course, the stereotypical noble pride also played a huge part, since it blinded them to the possibility of reprisal, but Claud's point remained as persuasive as ever. The risk of someone doing something in their house was too salient for Claud to bear, and Schwarz was also keenly aware that Moon Mansion was pretty much a favourite target.

Unfortunately, this also meant that there was a short window for harm to occur, when traveling from Moon Mansion to Moon Mind. The chance, however, was low enough that simply leaving the house for some food probably had a higher risk.

"Where's Farah?" Schwarz asked.

"She's busy working out a theorem or something," Risti replied. "I'm not sure what it is, but she's cackling madly and cussing out Istrel at the same time, as if afflicted by some supernatural glee."

"H-huh. Okay, then." Schwarz glanced at Claud, who wriggled his shoulders by way of reply. "She seems very engrossed in intellectual work recently, so let's lower our volume."

"You seem abnormally considerate," Claud replied. The bartender, ever since last night, had taken it upon himself to be more proactive in bringing out the dishes and making small talk. Maybe it was because Colidra came along last night for the usual stories and information-sharing, prompting Claud to bring Lily over for a visit. Given that she had willingly tossed aside her own peace of mind for the sake of the people in Julan, Claud was willing to offer some little bits of aid here and there.

That said, there were many issues that came with a direct plea for help, so maybe asking the old storyteller about stories and legends about Grandis' selfless heroes would have to suffice.

"Do I?" Schwarz tilted his head. "You must be overthinking it. Bartenders are supposed to be abnormally considerate to begin with, and it so happened that I was running the place until two last night."

"How was business?" Lily asked.

"Booming, as usual. Everyone misses my really intense drinks," Schwarz replied, his face as bright as a Moon. "I knew you guys were just overexaggerating it."

"Really?" Lily made a little sound. "I don't really buy it, though. Most of your patrons look too out of it to actually pass judgement on the taste."

"True, but those that don't pass out like it enough to order a few more tankards," Schwarz replied. "I've been told that for the past week, some of my patrons have been unable to sleep well due to a lack of drinks from my bar."

"That sounds like addiction," said Lily. "Right, Claud?"

"Yeah," Claud replied. "Maybe they got addicted to the deadly levels of alcohol you dish out all the time. Aren't you scared that your patrons might pass away early from ill health?"

"You're just exaggerating at this point," Schwarz replied. "Right, Risti, are you done with the skillstrips for Skyward Eye?"

"Almost," she replied. "Just waiting for the skill to be off cooldown once more. I can't believe I'm giving out a bunch for free, though. Do you know that a single skillstrip for Skyward Eye can cost up to five gold?"

"A skillstrip that's worth five gold?" Claud whistled. "Moons. How about a skillstick? How much would that cost?"

"As a surveillance skill that's essentially a trump card, I'd say fifty," Risti replied.

"Why aren't you selling skillsticks, then?" Claud asked. "Selling a bunch of them would make you wealthy. Incidentally, how do I learn such a skill?"

"Hmm. Well, my father found a really, really rare object that allowed me to learn it," Risti replied. "A Skill Crystal."

"Alright, forget I asked," said Claud. "That thing sounds really expensive."

"Yeah. Three tri-folders died for it."

"Three Count Nightfalls, huh." It was Schwarz's turn to whistle. "Well, thanks for giving them to us, though."

"Think little of it," Risti replied. "It's not like I can use it for my hobbies now, after all."

She mumbled something under her breath, and then sighed heavily.