"Can I not go?" Claud asked, his expression grumpy. "I don't see why you need me to follow you along to the Nightfall Palace. And in a similar vein, I question your wisdom in not bringing Farah along. She's a smart one; anything to do with politics should be in her arena and everything, right?"
"Stop your whining," Schwarz replied. "We can't have Farah going there, can we? Just because we're at home doesn't mean your brain can stop working or something. She's a countess, the ruler of Farah County. If we bring her along, Nightfall might just discover her identity and freak out."
"Oh." Claud rubbed his nose. "Right. I forgot. She hadn't talked much about Farah County before, so I kinda forgot after a while. What's the point, though? She was the one who spearheaded the establishment of the Moon Lords, so isn't it a bit pointless to hide her?"
"Dumbass," Schwarz replied. "Right now, she's busy looking like the princess of Lustre. The count won't notice her, unless we pull her into Nightfall's vision, at which point he would get suspicious about Farah. After all, how many one-folders are called Farah? Not many, that's for sure!"
"Really?" Claud asked.
"Really, really. Look, mimicking a noble or a Named is a hobby of the rich," said Schwarz. "For fringe cases, maybe. It's no secret that the Lunar Ladies are all fans of Princess Dia, but since mimicry is a rather…odd hobby, most people tend not to pay too much attention to these cuckoos."
"I dare you to call Lily that," Claud replied. "Fine, but why are we bringing Lily along? She's the heiress to the Julan Barony; wouldn't bringing her along be an issue or something? The count would notice her, right?"
"It's not like we need to introduce ourselves with our full names," Schwarz replied. "Do you know my full name?"
"Of course! It's…eh?" Claud blinked. "Huh. You make a very good point, actually. I don't know your full name…to begin with, is 'Schwarz' your first name or your last?"
"Or is it a name I made up?" The bartender grinned. "I'll leave you to find out, okay? Have fun!"
"Damn the Moon that brought you here," Claud muttered. "Now I'll spend sleepless nights wondering what your Moondamned full name is, shitty bartender."
"Get back here!" Schwarz took a swipe at Claud. "No one insults my alcohols!"
"What? Your alcoholic drinks are horrible! You should switch to apple juice!" Claud took a step back and dodged his swipe. "I'll buy a barrel every day if you do!"
"One more word out of you, and I'm raiding your stash of fizzy drinks. Don't think I don't know you've quite the fine collection of these new baubles!"
Dodging a few more swipes, the two exchanged a few more barbs about failed dreams and drinks stashed, before Lily popped out of Moon Mansion. Claud glanced at her, and immediately froze up at the backpack she was wearing.
"What's wrong?" Schwarz asked, having noticed Claud's abnormal behaviour. "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing much, really." Claud turned to Lily. "Um, just to make sure, but what's in that backpack of yours?"
"Some general goods, why?" Lily replied.
"You're capable of defining explosives and bombs as general goods," Claud replied. "Are you planning to blow up the Nightfall Palace too?"
"No?"
"What's in your backpack, then?"
"Just contingency measures, in case something happens," Lily replied. "I mean, walking into the palace of a count doesn't exactly feel same to me. It's reasonable for me to make sure that I'm able to escape, right? As I recall, there's no provision to disarm when entering the Nightfall Palace. Better to be safe than sorry; what happens if he doesn't want to let us leave?"
Claud nodded his head, convinced. Lily was right to bring bombs along; he hadn't been considering things from her point of view. To Claud, so long as his trump card was up, busting out of any building was no big deal, but he couldn't say the same for Lily and the others. "Good point. I forgot to consider your point of view."
"Hold up, the two of you," Schwarz cut in and stared at Claud pointedly. "Claud, have you led Lily astray? Why is she repeating the same drivel as you? It's good to have a paranoid person around, but two? I'm going to go insane."
He turned to Lily. "Backpack. Now."
Lily wilted under his intense gaze and handed her backpack over. Schwarz frowned as he opened it up, revealing a bunch of little packages. He picked up one such package by the edge, before turning to Lily. "What's this?"
"A one-use door-making artefact," Lily replied.
Schwarz's eyebrows twitched, before he took out a small globe. "How about this?"
"The same thing, except it's for making a huge window," Lily answered.
"And this— wait. Let me. Skylight-making artefact. Cave-making artefact. Sound-making artefact." Schwarz looked at the backpack full of little packages, before shaking his head. "Lily, all these are explosives, aren't they?"
Lily mumbled something in reply.
"Oh, come on. We're in Licencia. Count Nightfall isn't going to imprison us or anything. Didn't I tell you that he called us over to tell us about his examination of Rodrio?" Schwarz rolled his eyes. "Place these artefacts somewhere safe. There's no need for them here, at least. The last thing we need is to be stopped at his security guards or something."
"…Fine." Lily stomped back into Moon Mansion. She came out a minute later, the backpack noticeably absent. Schwarz glanced at her, and then turned away, mollified.
There was a small, suspicious lump in her trousers, however.
"It's alright," Claud replied. "I'll blow a way out if we really get into trouble."
"Please don't do anything stupid," Schwarz snapped. "Hurry up. Better for us to be early than to be late."
"Yes, yes."
The two followed Schwarz out of Moon Mansion's compound. Once outside, Moon Street looked the same as ever. There was no indication that over twenty people had been poisoned to death a few days ago, during a food distribution for the poor.
Claud looked around quietly, trailing behind Schwarz. Farah had been depressed for the next few days after the incident, which was probably a really good reason for Schwarz to not bring her along, now that he thought about it. To his side, Lily was also looking around, a sombre expression on her face. She hadn't been present when the poisonings occurred, but she too had seen the toil these events took on the countess.
"The count had better find the culprit," Lily muttered. "Or I'll blow his palace up!"
"I'm sure Farah would appreciate the sentiment," Schwarz replied without looking back. "But please keep your volume down whenever you're voicing such disturbing wishes. Got it?"
"You're so cowardly," Claud replied.
"You're the last person who has the right to call me that!" Schwarz let out a sigh, but his gaze was still as resolutely straight as ever. "Look, this is the count's territory. In the past, such remarks may go unnoticed, but we are counted as minor celebrities now. Our usual utterances will be scrutinised and looked at, over and over again."
"Maybe it's because I'm nervous or something," Claud replied. "I don't know. I've been a bit jittery ever since you wanted to drag me along to the Nightfall Palace. Am I losing it?"
"You've lost a lot of things in the past twenty-six years," Schwarz replied. "I don't think there's anything to be concerned about."
"That really hurt," Claud muttered.
"I also felt it, even though your words were directed at me," Lily added. "Moons. You should consider putting your oratory skills to the test. It would be far better than your ability to make alcoholic drinks."
It was Schwarz's turn to stagger. "Lily, did Claud corrupt you? Come back! Return the Lily I knew? Darn it. I knew I shouldn't have let you run off with Claud to Julan."
"You make it sound like we eloped back then," Claud replied. "Anyway, you should really keep your volume down, whenever you voice such disturbing wishes. Got it?"
"Turn my words on me again, and I'll stuff my drinks down your throat. You will not like the experience," Schwarz replied.
"Well, at least someone's self-aware…wait! It's a respectable quality, so put down that bottle!" Claud slipped behind Lily. "Put down that bottle! You'll kill someone with it!"
"Don't worry, it won't break on contact."
"Who the heck cares about the bottle! I'm talking about the drink inside! Stop! We can talk this out nicely!"
The ruckus continued for a minute or two, before Lily finally stepped in. Folding her arms, she said, "Alright, children. Let's just go to the Nightfall Palace and be done with it. Everyone knows who you are, Schwarz. You're going to end up remembered for the wrong reasons if you keep it up."
"Fame is like a shackle…"
Lily glared at Schwarz. "Any more nonsense and I'll blow you to pieces."
Schwarz sighed. "Just where did the quiet Lily run off to?"
"One more word, and I'll throw a door-making artefact at you!"