"What's up with Licencia now?" Nero muttered, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Security checks and everything," Dia replied, poking her head out of the mana wagon. "Still, did we need that many papers to leave and enter the city before? This seems very, very redundant. We have really important news, and here we are, stuck outside the city."
Caroline popped out of the city gate moments after Dia closed her mouth, making a beeline for the mana wagon. Hopping on it, she looked around for a few seconds, and then nodded to herself, satisfied. The trip there and back had been short, which probably contributed to the absence of any damage…hopefully.
"How was it?" Caroline asked. "Did you get what I asked for?"
"Obviously," Nero replied. "Reached into the past and took down the moment when the disaster happened. Be careful, though."
"Careful?" Caroline repeated. "What, was it scary?"
"Really, really scary," Nero replied. "The attack that killed the Moon Emissary tore the sky into two and turned the ground into a smoking mess."
"Those words aren't doing it justice," Dia pointed out.
Nero nodded. "I suggest looking at it outside the city, far from any prying eyes. I — and I'm certain when I say I speak for Dia — would not want to witness that heart-stopping view again, if given the choice. I'm too young to have my spirits doubly broken."
"The fact that you're focusing on this issue, rather than the death of the Fifth Bearer of Destiny, is quite telling, yes." Caroline rubbed her head. "I'll take that advice in mind. Now, Nero, get off the driver seat and let me take the steering wheel. We'll skip the queue entirely this way."
"Oh. Okay." Nero got up obediently, vacating the seat for Caroline. "Don't worry. I drove it really careful. Nothing happened to it."
"I can tell," Caroline replied.
As the mana wagon went through the city gates, Dia asked, "What's up with the city security today? It seems that entry and exit has become rather troublesome, and I don't know why."
"Claud's final instructions, apparently. Something about shaking up the usual routine by adding some new things and extra supervision," Caroline replied. "Schwarz ran it past me, but if it keeps the city safe, I'm in."
Her tone of voice had an odd touch to it, and Dia narrowed her eyes. "Did something happen last night?"
"Two Bearers of Destiny died, with a Moon Emissary as a sidenote. I'm now staring at two different hourglasses in the top left of my screen. A lot of things happened last night." Caroline patted her shoulder. "Well, some one-folders tried to sneak into the city, only for our guards to spot them at the last moment. I made a move, capturing all three of them. Schwarz and Risti are currently debating on what to do with them."
"Oh." Dia exchanged glances with Nero. "That sounds rather…eventful."
"From how you said that last word, I have a feeling that your own experience kicked it up a notch. So, tore the sky into two, eh? What type of attack does that?" Caroline rubbed her nose. "Anyway, I've been following the story of Tot. If what you say is true, it's evident that the Thief of Time has regained a great deal of his strength. From surviving ritual magic invoked with the White God's name and escaping, to something as…well, you know. We might be in for a nasty surprise if he regains his full power."
"What makes you say that?" Nero asked.
"You do know that there are still six other Moon Emissaries on the loose, right? Sure, the Istrel dukedom doesn't have any Emissaries, but what's stopping one Emissary from the other two dukedoms from coming over?" Caroline shook her head. "Clearly, Tot has some beef against Moon Emissaries. If they come here, they might die again."
"Beef, huh?" Dia looked at the familiar streets once more, and then bobbed her head. "What kind of beef would Tot have with the Moon Emissaries, then? Why would Tot kill them?"
"That is a question that probably even I cannot hear the answer to," Nero replied.
"And how, exactly, do you know that?" Dia asked.
Nero looked at her directly. "Why, Dia, just think about the question for a moment, and behold the fear that follows."
"The fear that follows?"
"Yes," said Caroline. "Hm. Bi-folder, right? Yes, you indeed can now…feel things for yourself. Just think about the question in your heart, and feel what the world tells you in return."
Dia glanced at the two of them, and then closed her eyes. Why would anyone want to kill the Moon Emiss—
A chilling touch ran down her spine, a touch that reminded her of an icy blade. Somehow, her intuition was telling her that if she ever dared to hear the answer to the question, to keep it in her head, her heart will give way. Her head would literally explode, blown apart by the weight of the information.
Freezing drops of sweat appeared on her forehead, and Dia gasped for air. The sensation of death overpowered her senses a moment later, and she started to retch over and over again. Falling out of the seat, Dia coughed over and over again, nausea gripping her tightly.
"Hah, hah, hah." Damp hair fell all around her face as a blue screen appeared in her vision. She hadn't seen it for a very long time…or if at all, even. Dia couldn't remember the previous time she saw such a thing.
[By thinking of a question, you can roughly tell the information load of the answer required. Conveniences of a mana-user discovered: 4/5.]
"What is this?" Dia got back up slowly. "Why does this even exist?"
"Don't dwell on that question either," said Caroline, offering her a handkerchief. "Go and tidy yourself up a bit. You look like a right mess. There are some things we mortals weren't ever meant to know. Or at least, until we grow strong enough. As it is, however, I suspect only a penta-folder, or the Emperor himself, might have the full answer to that question."
"Information has its own price," Nero added. "You cannot carelessly speak of it either. To voice out certain things, the speaker's Authority must be sufficient, or injury awaits. In severe breaches, death follows…but thankfully, that is never the case."
Dia rubbed her head, willing the pounding hammers inside to scram. "Why's that the case?"
"If you can listen to information without dying, you can tell them to others without dying too," said Nero. "Isn't that basic knowledge? If you could withstand the penalty for hearing secrets that are higher than your authority, you can withstand the penalty for saying them. The same applies to death…but again, it's a stupid premise. If you're dead, you're dead."
"Maybe someone has a skill to cheat death," said Caroline.
"I won't put it past a Bearer of Destiny to have such a skill, to be honest," Nero replied. "But who's going to use a skill that can cheat death to relay sensitive information? And what's the point of doing so?"
"Yes, that would make absolutely no sense at all," Caroline replied. "Besides, who would such a person say that to? If it was to someone stronger, there's really no point in that Bearer of Destiny to act as a message courier. Or to at least speak. Why not just write it down or something?"
"Still, why would such a thing exist?" Dia let out a small breath. "My head's hurting, I've lost my appetite, and all my joy from becoming a bi-folder is now ruined. I'm going for a hot shower and straight to bed."
"No can do, Dia," Caroline replied. "The others will want to question the two of you. Clarissa's definitely going to ask you for your opinion. And you should really get down to creating a soul-bound weapon. I checked with the others last night, and you somehow don't have one yet. Better get one done soon."
"Why?"
"Why not? It's more convenient, after all. Being able to summon a weapon at will, distance be damned, is a really important thing for you guys now," said Caroline. "Our enemies will be waiting for us in our greatest moments of weakness. Being able to summon a weapon can serve many things."
"Go on?"
"Claud has listed quite a few ways, which is rather surprising, considering he hasn't had a soul-bound weapon yet either. For instance, you guys could support a bell with your soul-bound weapon, in such a manner that summoning the soul-bound weapon will make the bell fall onto the floor," said Caroline. "It'll alert the others to the fact that the summoner is in danger."
"That's really inspired," Nero noted. "Now that I think about it, it's a really useful failsafe, huh?"
"Of course, he made sure to note that this wasn't a foolproof method, but that's not really the point," Caroline replied. "Besides, being able to summon a soul-bound weapon at any time is very important. If you're locked up, having something sharp is going to be…"
As Caroline nagged on about making a soul-bound weapon, Dia felt her head hurt. It would be great if the mana wagon moved a tiny bit faster…