“Special guests?” Schwarz tilted his head as they followed after Minister Cicero.

  “You people know them,” the old man replied. “Hmm. Usually, I would give a customary reply, but within your company are Countess Farah and the heiress of the Lustre Dukedom. Maybe you two will have certain insights when it comes to interacting with His Eminence?”

  Countess Farah rolled her eyes. “We did that once already, and the Emperor was more than happy to dispense with it.”

  “Excellent. It seems that he likes you lot, then.” The old man chuckled. “Tis a shame I did not witness your first meeting with the Emperor. I was out on an inspection of the southern battlefield…”

  “Ministers of State do that?” Nero asked, looking at the old man. “I thought you guys would just get other people to do that in your stead. That’s what the bishops of the Black Church do…along with all the other Coloured Churches, anyway.”

  The old man chuckled. “The Holy Son of the Black God sure speaks from experience.”

  “I’m not really His Holy Son anymore, though,” Nero replied. “My status in regards to that is really murky right now, and I can’t quite give a good answer to that yet. I’ll need to make a visit soon to find out.”

  The old man smiled. “I bid you good luck, then, little Holy Son. And your lover too.”

  The scythe that was restraining itself behind Kemata jittered up and down for a while, and the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny hid behind Nero.

  “How adorable.” Minister Cicero chuckled once, and then gestured at the door in front of them. “In you go, then. There’s no need to be formal, since His Eminence has allowed it.”

  “You can also be relaxed too, right?” Risti asked. “It’s

  “Little Risti.” The old man smiled. “Right, your father…”

  “You know this old, uh, Minister Cicero?” Farah asked, raising an eyebrow. “Oh, right. Your father. Ah. I see now. Of course you do. Rather, why did you take so long to speak up?”

  Risti hummed. “Well, for one, it was a bit hard to interject during the conversation, you know. And besides, Uncle Cicero needs to greet me first! I haven’t forgotten that bet!”

  “What bet?” Dia asked, intrigued.

  “Ahem.” The old man cleared his throat. “Just a bet from a fun game, ladies and gentlemen. Now, then, we really shouldn’t keep His Eminence and his guests waiting.”

  “Hmph.” Risti pouted. “I sat on his lap when I was a child, alright?”

  “Yes, yes.” Minister Cicero rubbed his nose. “Anyway, your father left you a message. He’s currently in Nihal now to contact the Senate. He left directives that if he didn’t communicate with us for more than twenty-eight days, we are to tell you about his current situation. It seems that he left something with you.”

  The air around Risti changed immediately. “…Okay. I will get to that once we return.”

  “I leave this matter to your judgement.” The old man turned to the double doors, which had a blazing sun emblazoned on them. “Please, enter.”

  Risti snorted once and pushed the doors open, before leading the way in. Dia and the others followed swiftly, before coming to an abrupt halt.

  “You guys…” Risti stopped. “Claud? Lily? What?”

  Dia looked at the couple that were standing together, before resisting the urge to rub her eyes. Making sure that Beth was safe in her arms, she blinked a few times at the impossible sight. What were they doing here, in the Grandis Palace of all places?

  “Well, hello there.” Claud, who looked like he had fully corrupted Lily into his cowardly ways, raised a hand. “Nice to see you guys after all this. Phew. Oh, and there’s our resident baby!”

  “Yeah.” Nero looked at him. “How was your trip? Did you see the Lord?”

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Got to see him,” Claud replied. “Learned some stuff. Got some answers. Thanks, Nero.”

  “Wait.” Emperor Grandis, who was standing behind the two of them, cleared his throat. “You two went to see the Black God?”

  “Uh huh,” Claud replied. “What about it?”

  Dia watched as the youthful-looking Emperor fell silent, and then assessed his attire all over again. The sovereign of the Grandis Empire was not wearing his battle regalia right now, so looking at him didn’t sting her eyes or anything. That said, there was still a unique air around Emperor Grandis, one that was far greater than the commanding air her father had.

  “Never mind.” Emperor Grandis chuckled. “As promised, I have reunited you two with your companions, although I must point out that your guest has not been introduced yet.”

  “Guest? There’s more?” Risti asked, before bouncing over. “Hi, Uncle!”

  “Ris-Ris.” Emperor Grandis smiled at her.

  “Ugh. Can you old fogies not? That’s a nickname for a child. Don’t be like my father,” Risti complained. “Anyway, what guest are you talking about?”

  Claud sighed. “Well, it seems like you have some ulterior motives, Emperor. But so be it.”

  He gestured behind him, at the table laden with food, and everyone directed their attention there. Dia hadn’t noticed it earlier, but there was actually a black cube that was currently sucking the food on a plate into a black rift.

  “Oh, another one of those guys?” Risti asked.

  “No, He’s not a meepling,” Claud replied. “Lesser Half, my companions are here.”

  “Ah, he’s Lesser Half.”

  “I see.”

  “Oh, another one…”

  Dia blinked once, and then felt her head heat up. Lesser Half? Of the great Dark?!

  Dia felt something in her head explode a moment later as the ramifications of what Claud just said hit her, and she took a step back. The others made surprised sounds at the same time, and—

  “Stop! Don’t draw your weapons! He’s friendly!” Claud shook his head. “Besides, this is just a fragment of his conscious will. The actual Lesser Half is still confined in Lostfon Palace by his sister.”

  “Uh.” Dia patted her head. “I didn’t quite catch that. Mind repeating your words again?”

  “Yeah, I thought I heard something ridiculous,” Risti added.

  “Like throwing out alcohol,” Schwarz added.

  “Auh…” Beth flipped around again, presumably in surprise.

  Probably.

  Claud sighed. “The actual Lesser Half is still confined in Lostfon Palace by his sister. This guy here is harmless. He just wants to experience what it is like to be human and everything, get it?”

  “…So, a family affair.” Dia mulled over the surprisingly human Dark, and then glanced at the others. “Okay. Fine.”

  A snort seemed to come from Emperor Grandis, but when she turned to look at him, he was standing still, his imposing presence radiating out as ever.

  “You guys adapt quite quickly.” Lily leaned on Claud. “Anyway, now that we’re reunited, I suppose we can leave or something now, yes?”

  “There’s still a lot of food, though,” Schwarz pointed out. “And lots of alcohol. Let’s not waste Emperor Grandis’ hospitality.”

  “Yes, indeed,” Emperor Grandis added. “It would be a shame if they turned and left minutes after arriving at my palace, not to mention how rude it would be. Of course, I suppose you two don’t need to care about social niceties at this point.”

  Lily brushed a lock of violet hair with an innocent expression, and Dia felt a bit suspicious. Why would these two buffoons who only ever had cowardly ideas be beyond social niceties? In fact, the fact that it was Emperor Grandis himself who said such a thing just made it even more suspicious; did they have some blackmail material on the Emperor?

  It would be nice if these two did.

  “Alright!” Schwarz clapped his hands, and then walked towards the table laden with food. “Let’s dig in, then!”

  “Um. You do know that Lesser Half is eating too, right?” Farah muttered.

  “Who cares. He’s with Claud and Lily,” Schwarz replied. “There’s no need to be polite with him in that case. After all, these two aren’t the politest tool in the shed either. Just dispense with any caution and eat first. An adorable black cube isn’t going to harm us anytime.”

  “Excuse me?” The black cube in question paused. “What?”

  “Just go back to eating,” Claud replied. “Schwarz tells it like it is.”

  Dia watched the two bemusedly, and then decided to eat something. She was indeed starving, after all, and like what Schwarz said, this black cube really probably wasn’t going to harm them. Settling Beth into a small, baby chair that was laid out thoughtfully for them, she looked at the entire scene, and then decided not to think too much.

  After all, Claud was a cautious fellow. He would never take anyone dangerous with him.

  Lily’s soulmate was a cowardly fellow, but that spoke volumes to his ability to perceive threats…

  “Let’s just dig in.” Dia stretched. “We’re talking about Claud, after all. That is a pretty damn good argument, you know.”

  Schwarz raised a thumbs-up, and then picked up a small goblet. “This wine is exquisite. Let it not go to waste, people. Hurry over!”

  Emperor Grandis laughed. “Yes, indeed. Today is a day of reunion for everyone in this city. It is only fitting that you savour this fortuitous date and let loose your inner emotions of missing each other.”

  “You sound like you’re not part of it,” Risti muttered.

  “I do not think I am part of the Seekers of Life,” Emperor Grandis replied. “And the life of this party would be dampened with my presence. Worry not about me. At most, you can come by another day, little one.”

  “Fine!”

  Dia hid a smile as a nice, familial scene played out before her, before she shivered once.

  If only she could say this for her own family…