Settling in

Barely three seconds after daybreak, Risti's eyes flicked open. Dia, who was reaching out a hand to wake her up, froze on the spot, before reminding herself that she wasn't playing any prank on Risti. As such, there was no point in feeling anything close to guilt; she had nothing but the purest intentions in mind.

"You're up," said Dia, hiding an ink-stained finger. "It's time to get to work."

"Let me wash up a bit first," said Risti. Vanishing into the depths of the house, the sounds of rushing water filled the air for a moment. Dia, who had been up the whole night, didn't feel particularly sticky or anything, and instead opted to take out one of the processed meals Schwarz had prepared for them.

A set of polite knocks sounded out before Dia could pull those premade meals out, and she muttered some words her father would have smacked her on the head for saying, before getting up from her chair. Heading over grumpily to the door, she pulled it open to reveal a pair of young guards.

Ones that couldn't be a day older than eighteen. Furthermore, they were pretty much identical twins, save for the hairdo. Brown eyes, brown hair…both of them sported little delicate features that looked like they had been painstakingly crafted by one of the Coloured Gods.

"What are you two little fellows doing here?" Dia asked. "Are there any updates you need to brief us on?"

"No, Y-your Excellency." said the twin in front. Her hair was cut short, and Dia's eyes wandered over to the nametag on her chest, which read 'Olivia'.

"We're here to deliver your rations, Your Excellency." said the other twin, who was sporting fairly long hair. Her name was Sophia, and unlike her short-haired sister, there was a look of interest on her face.

Both twins were carrying a bag of food each, and after declining Dia's offer to take them herself, they skipped into the recently-cleaned house. Olivia was keeping her eyes down, in contrast to her livelier sister, who was looking around the place without any semblance of restraint whatsoever.

"Something wrong?" Dia asked, as Sophia took in the scene for the tenth time. "Does this house have an issue?"

The twins jumped. A heartbeat later, Olivia's hand flashed out and smacked Sophia's head really loudly. Pressing Sophia down into a full bow, Olivia followed suit and wailed, "We're very sorry, Your Excellency! Please don't do anything to us!"

"Dia?" Risti walked out at that very moment, only to pause at the odd sight. "What, are you in the middle of punishing them?"

"Where did you get that impression from?" Dia asked, rolling her eyes at Risti. "Do I look like such a bad person?"

"Oh. True. So your mistress' charm must have rubbed off on you, then…"

"Why is that your default conclusion of all things? And how does that make any sense?" Dia rubbed her forehead. "Anyway, stand straight, the two of you. I'm not going to do anything, alright? Big sister here is a good person! Just ask Sister Risti over there!"

The two bowing twins straightened their spines cautiously, as if any fast movement would trigger an unstoppable rage from Dia or even Risti. It took them ten full seconds to complete that simple movement, which was simply proof that these two adorable twins feared Dia for some unknown reason.

Maybe it's because I'm standing up straight? Dia rubbed her nose. She could vaguely recall that squatting down when talking to children was better for them, since the speaker would come across as less threatening that way.

That was for children, though.

Dia struggled with herself for a moment, and then made do by sitting on a chair instead. To her relief, the twins didn't seem to have any panicked reaction when she sat on her chair, so Dia leaned back and relaxed.

"Now, where was I? Right. The house. Any issue with it?" Dia asked. "Why would you keep looking around it otherwise?"

"We're…" Olivia paused.

"Just curious," Sophia continued the sentence. Pulling away from her nervous sister, Sophia set down the two bags of what presumably was food, she stretched her arms.

"Sister?!"

"It's alright," Sophia replied. "Her Excellency's friendly!"

She turned to look at Dia. "Right?"

Her confidence would have been very reassuring if not for the fact that she too was trembling. It was a false bravado, but normally, people didn't react to mana-users with this much fear. Unless…

Dia glanced at Olivia. Did she come into contact with mana-users that were—

"Yes," said Risti, interrupting her thoughts. "We're good people. Good mana-users. Be at ease, the two of you. Okay?"

Risti glided over and rubbed their heads with one hand each. A gentle smile adorned her face, but Dia could sense a deep sorrow in that expression of hers. Clearly, she knew something that Dia could only guess at.

"Y-yes, Your Excellency," said Olivia.

Sophia made a little snort, before rolling her eyes at her twin.

Dia sent an exasperated look at the smug twin, an action that was mirrored by both Risti and Olivia. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, as everyone save for Sophia noted that everyone else — again, excluding Sophia — was giving off the same expression and thoughts, before the three of them turned away and made some polite noises.

To Dia's satisfaction, that little moment had probably helped to convince Olivia that Risti and Dia weren't bad people after all, although the very salient possibility that Olivia had suffered at the hands of mana-users had dampened that little glow.

"Thank you very much for sending the food over," said Risti, who was the earliest to recover. Her expression a careful mask of neutrality, she rubbed the twins' head once more. "The two of you shouldn't return, though. The murderer has struck in broad daylight for the past few days. If you two go out, you might be at risk."

"I appreciate your sentiment," said Olivia. "But, uh…we should really be going. Don't want to get in your way. And we might get punished, even if you say something…"

Risti pondered over her words for a moment, and then nodded. "True. You two should hurry up and return then."

Ushering them out with all due haste, Risti sat down on the ground and produced a small stack of skillsticks and skillstrips. Tearing apart one of the skillstrips, she said, "Prepare to move at my command."

Dia nodded mutely. Once again, her instincts were telling her that offering any resistance would probably make Risti angry, but she could understand where Risti was coming from this time. Risti herself knew that their current course of action would almost certainly result in the death of their bait, but now that one of those baits included the little pair of twins…

This wasn't the time to be wondering about Risti's thoughts, though. Making sure that her equipment was ready and present, Dia prepared to move out at any time. Fortunately, the twins at least knew what the recent murders were like; if one of them were stricken by abject terror, the other should know.

Furthermore, none of the guards had been targeted by this murderer. The fact that they were guards were probably the biggest protection against things like murderers — the city guards were technically the Emperor's people. To harm them was to oppose Emperor Grandis himself, which was why no one dared to cross them seriously.

The above aspects were quite theoretical, however. That said, her father did have an explicit policy that anyone — even family members — who tried or did harm the city guards of any city were to be disowned and exiled. Duke Lustre did not want to risk angering the Emperor. The rulers he appointed were not dispensable, but that same protection did not extend to dukes.

Risti's expression softened slightly as Dia walked over to the bags of rations that the two had carried over. From the looks of it, the two twins were probably safe in the guardhouse by now, which was why she had eased up slightly.

Dia glanced at her once more, and then began to sort out the rations that had been given to them. Most of the rations were meat that had been cooked, before being liberally dried and salted. It was a staple fare for bounty hunters, thieves, or generally anyone who wanted to travel without the need for cooking.

Unsealing a packet of dried meat, she placed it in Risti's hands, before grabbing one packet for herself. Chewing on their breakfast, which was probably also going to be their lunch and dinner, Dia prepared herself to move at any time.

To be honest, they didn't need to go this far. Schwarz had laid it out explicitly; they were there for the sake of being there.

It could have been a lot easier if they chose to abide by Schwarz's suggestions, but the two of them, in the middle of their travels, had reached a silent accord to help. Dia did not know what Risti's motivations were, but for her, it was quite simple.

She couldn't stand by and watch as people died.

That was all.

The others might laugh at her for that childish thought, but…

Dia shook her head and finished off the last of her breakfast. That act was seemingly a cue, as Risti's eyes flicked open a moment later. "Dia, C-Three. Go!"