A blazing white light descended upon Licencia, and screams filled the air as the blinding light turned all caught in it into charred bodies. Beings of pure radiance rippled into view a moment later, scattering the dark night and illuminating the crumbling walls of the city.
Dia watched on in horror, her hand reaching out as she watched from the sky. It was a feeble gesture, and—
"Excuse me," said an annoyed voice, "but where do you think you're touching? I know we're the same gender, but that doesn't mean sexual harassment isn't a thing in such a case."
At those words, the nightmarish scene fell apart, revealing the dawn sky. With a jolt, Dia realised that her hand was stretched out and holding onto Farah's chest lightly. "S-sorry."
"Well, at least you didn't squeeze, but still…" Farah rubbed her right breast. "Nightmare?"
"Yeah," Dia replied. "Licencia was burning. Spirits of light were marching on the city. Horrible all around."
"You should freshen yourself up," said Farah. "You're still slurring and all."
Dia, Farah and her butler, Lloyd, had left the city the day after Ruler Istrel visited Farah County. Farah herself had set many affairs in order, up to and including the handover of her amazingly competent butler's duties. After that, she told the next person she could find that she was leaving the county once more, before the three of them fled the county. The haste involved in the departure was to prevent a situation in which Farah's citizens would grab her, sit her down on a platform and presumably worship her or something.
And if they could do all that to make sure their beloved countess wasn't going to run away, Dia had no illusions about what they would do to her seeming abductor — the imposter of Princess Dia who was actually the real deal — and her enabler, Countess Farah's loyal butler.
Therefore, the three of them had to cover a lot of distance in the first three days; it was only yesterday that the three of them finally had more than ten hours to sleep in.
Splashing some water on her face, Dia rubbed her neck and body, which were aching badly. Walking for more than sixteen hours in a row was a tiring affair through and through, but it wasn't all that bad, since their pace wasn't impossibly demanding. After all, Farah's old butler was with them.
"Dia, there's news," Farah, who was tossing some branches onto the fire they set up last night, called out.
"News?" Dia repeated. "What kind of news?"
"Both good and bad. I'll spare the cliched question and just give it to you straight. The good news is that Ruler Istrel's war has been aborted. I'm not sure what Duke Schwa did, but apparently, two days ago on the ruler's last visit, another penta-folder showed up, greeted Ruler Istrel deferentially, and then vanished." Farah chuckled. "And then after he called off the war, Emperor Grandis issued a personal summons in the nobles' information space and reprimanded him. Apparently, he was displeased that Ruler Istrel broke his own promise."
"Promise?"
"Not too sure what promise it was, considering Istrel didn't exactly vow to purge the old ruling families of the two families," Farah replied. "More likely, the Emperor was angry at how Istrel mobilised a whole bunch of nobles and soldiers, only to dismiss them before they could do anything."
"…the latter's a perfectly reasonable reason, though," Dia noted.
"I know, but don't go saying this out loud. The Emperor can be quite unpredictable, so let us not pass judgement on his august choices."
Dia let out a small, contented sigh. Somehow, the inter-dukedom war that had been building up for the past few months had been ended in such a farcical manner. Granted, it stank of the slick politics that she had witnessed and read about in the Grandis Empire, so she shouldn't have been really surprised by all this.
Still…
Shaking her head, Dia asked, "What's the bad news, then?"
"Bad news, huh. Yesterday afternoon, multiple large-scale rituals took place in almost every single county in the Istrel Sovereignty," said Farah. "Fortunately, Farah County was spared from this."
"What about Licencia?"
"It seems that the original preparations for the ritual in Licencia were disrupted. As a result, a fanatic of the Moons embarked on a rampage and tried to kill people to forcibly start it, only to be stopped by Claud and Lily. The fanatic tried to activate the ritual with his blood and life as a sacrifice, but due to the lacking preparations, Caroline was able to interrupt the ritual."
Farah paused. "From what the others are saying, it seems that preparations are required to make the ritual to call down…Moon Emissaries. Huh. I thought they were legends."
"Moon Emissaries?" Dia blinked. "That term sounds familiar. I think I read about it in a book before."
"Go on."
"Something about dispensing justice and granting boons," Dia replied. "I don't know. I'm sure I read it in a book, and people do know about them in the same way we cry out 'Moons' whenever we're surprised. But that's it."
"Okay, so not useful." Farah rolled her eyes and raised her voice. "Lloyd?"
"Milady." The old butler scuttled into view. "Regretfully, I don't know much about these Moon Emissaries, although I think you forgot to mention one last piece of bad news to Dia."
"Eh?"
"Right. Stupid me. Okay, so there's a huge barrier that's blocking off the Istrel Sovereignty from the other two sovereignties. This barrier also extends to the information space I've been using, which means that the Emperor and the other two rulers have no idea what's going on right now." Farah breathed out slowly. "At last count, seven Moon Emissaries have appeared. Three each from the Lustre and Schwa Dukedoms, one from the Istrel Dukedom."
Dia took a deep breath and forced herself to focus. "That one Moon Emissary is from…"
"…The county that no one seems to think much about. Count Daybreak. Funny. I thought you knew him for his county's sunrice." Farah shrugged. "We aren't sure what to do now, though. There wasn't any ensuing slaughter after the Moon Emissaries were summoned; for all we know, they might have regarded those murders as just a cost to summon them."
"Like…they aren't hostile?"
"Yeah. Count Nightfall has a rather bold claim; these Moon Emissaries are here to set up a base of power, from which the great Dark can be fought back from," said Farah. "It's just that they don't really care about the people who die in this fight. The other theory is that the Moon Emissaries intend to purge the darkened monsters here, spreading their influence to drive out the darkness."
"They don't seem mutually exclusive," Dia noted.
"It can be both, but it's only been a day since these Moon Emissaries descended. At any rate, however, we have confirmed that their sense of morality and justice is alien to our own concepts, so a general order to give them a wide berth has been sent out." Farah rubbed her nose. "And these Moon Emissaries seem to be making their way to the sovereignty capital."
"What for?"
"To speak with the top dog. At least they are actually aware that the best way to achieve their goals is to speak with Ruler Istrel, although I'm not sure what's going to happen when they finally arrive."
"When will they arrive?" Dia asked.
"This evening. Not hard to track, since they're walking pillars of silver light," Farah noted. "We just need to stay out of their way, and that would do."
"Okay."
"Milady," said Lloyd. "I've already prepared for this. When you told me that you were bringing me along, I went ahead and purchased a Boundary Crossing skillstick with my personal stash. With it, we can return to Licencia anytime."
"That miraculous?" Farah asked. "It's a waste, though."
"Given the prevailing circumstances, milady, we can't afford to be in the wilderness right now. The presence of these Moon Emissaries may very well create more abnormal phenomena," Lloyd replied. "We had darkened monsters. It is possible that something like moonlit monsters might exist too."
"…Point taken."
"In that case, milady…let us return to Licencia now." Lloyd took out the skillstick and passed it over to Farah.
"Very well." Farah gazed at the skillstick, and then snapped it into two.