Thief of Time

"Congratulations! You were the fastest to complete all three tasks! Now, all you have to do is to answer a question of mine within three seconds, and you'll get a drink!" Dia clapped her hands, and the other people booed and jeered at the fellow who was the first to stand up, do a handstand, and then raise his hand. They were, naturally, all hoping that he would answer the question wrongly, so that they could get another chance to get a cup of the alcohol in her hands.

"Bring it!" The lively contestant, whose face was quite flushed, punched the table beneath him.

"Alright! Tell me, now…what year is it?"

"What year?" The man froze, but Dia wasn't going to give him any leeway at all. Before he could repeat those words again, Dia began to count down, and the man panicked.

"Three, two…"

"6119!"

The crowd burst into laughter, and one of them stepped out. "Hah! You dimwit! So fast, but for nothing! It's 6120 now! The new year just passed!"

The crowd's laughter intensified, and the contestant's face turned even redder. "Damn it! That was a trick! Darn!"

Dia coughed. "Too bad! Now, next question! On my mark, ladies and gentlemen! For one cup of my exquisite booze, the first person to complete this one action gets a shot! And the action is…"

Time seemed to freeze as she paused dramatically, before Dia shouted, "Sit down!"

The tavern turned into a mess, but Dia had already picked out the first person who had sat down. "Yes, you! Congratulations!"

A tough woman cackled madly, and then danced to the front. "Well, what's the question?"

It was in this fashion that Dia, who had gotten everyone addicted to the booze that she had imagined, collected bits and pieces of information. It was hard work, since she could not afford to make herself seem suspicious. The year, recent developments, the divinities, rumours…these things slowly built up as the night slunk by slowly.

By the time the tavern was full of drunken people, Dia assessed herself to be ready. The more drunk people got, the easier it was for her to squeeze information out of them, and it also helped that she had even bought a few rounds of drinks for everyone while the little game was ongoing. The end result was a bunch of drunken fellows sprawled all over the table, and a nice bag of packed skewers for her.

"It's so peaceful," the old man at the bar commented. "Do you want anything else, miss?"

"I also need some preserved food," Dia replied, thinking about the yucky stuff she didn't want to imagine, before running through the information in her head once more. What she had learned was very, very surprising.

Nearly an entire century had passed, for one. This scenario had deposited her a hundred years into the future, and of these hundred years, the first few had been the most tumultuous. As per what she had seen in the initial vision, the Red God had slain someone close to the Omen, creating extreme changes in the world. Of course, from the perspective of the people here, what had really happened was the Red God provoking extreme changes in the weather itself. The temperature dropped drastically, and the mild climate turned frosty overnight.

A dispute appeared afterwards. Some of the older folk claimed that the Red God had angered a new god of the Last Godsfall, the Frozen Emperor, and the Frozen Emperor slew him afterwards. Not content, the new god turned his blade against the Blue God and the Violet Goddess afterwards, making use of a divine artefact that had been named the Frozen Coffin.

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Others claimed that the divinities and the gods united and attacked the Frozen Coffin. The Frozen Emperor, who in this recount was slumbering after a traumatic awakening, awoke long enough to slay not just the abovementioned gods, but also the Blue Moon and the Lesser Half of the great Dark. After scaring them away, the Frozen Emperor returned to his mourning, and never stepped out again.

It would seem that the greatest threat to her was currently asleep, but what was most concerning was the intelligence that the Frozen Emperor was raising forces in this city of his, a city called Rimestar.

For now, she would have to stay out of that city.

"Miss, here you go." The bartender handed a bag of food over. "Right, are you new around these parts? The Red Moon decreed that everyone, newcomer or not, must attend the weekly sermons of his familiar spirits. If you are going to make your way to another settlement, remember not to be late."

"Eh?"

The old man nodded. "I thought the Red Moon was joking too, but just last week, someone was hung and beaten for non-compliance."

"I-I see. It was a lot less stringent where I came from," Dia replied, her mind spinning rapidly. Not for nothing was her initial experience as Isolde and then as the body double of herself.

The old man nodded, satisfied. "Be careful, young'un."

"Sure." Dia looked at the drunken fellows, and then mulled over the old man's words. The Moons and Greater Half had strengthened control over their respective domains, and while Grandia was still standing, the once-mighty Grandis Empire had ceased to exist.

She walked out of the tavern and closed her eyes. In her enhanced senses, she could vaguely tell that the people who were truly valued were the only demographic that didn't exist in the slums, the demographic that could only be found in the walled city of Monsville.

Children.

In fact, one reason why many people outside the city proper were depressive drunks was due to the fact that the Moons had forcibly taken their children from them, opting to raise the next generation in Monsville. Those who were willing to subject themselves to a test to prove their faith in the Moons and passed said test would be allowed into the city too, but that was it. Children born in the slums were taken away, and people who didn't want to worship the Moons were left to their own devices.

This was the Moons — and presumably the Dark's — way of creating a loyal populace. A few decades later, and these people would be dead. In their place would be a populace who only knew the Moons and nothing else of the past.

It would be a lot harder to blend in once that happened, if nothing else.

Dia stared at the walled city. She had ten years to play around, and as long as she didn't court death, things would probably be fine, right? It would be good if she at least made an effort to prepare for what was going to come. What kinds of things did the Moons teach here? If she didn't know…

"Well, whatever." Dia frowned. For now, the Frozen Emperor was literally invincible. There would be no point in trying to chase after him just to offer her life up. It would be better if she focused on trying to uncover the identity of the Omen.

After all, the Omen had only transformed because someone close to him had perished. Dia's job, right now, was to figure out who that person was, and—

[Decision locked in.]

A bunch of question marks popped up in Dia's mind as she registered the presence of these words in her vision. What was this supposed to mean?

[Clarification: For the sake of the Salvation Star's mind, all decisions will be executed autonomously to prevent cognitive overload. Only when your life is in danger or when there is a crucial turning point will you regain true awareness. Information gained during the decision execution phase will be transferred automatically.]

"Damn it," Dia muttered. "They even had something like this to prevent me from learning too much?"

Dia could guess that there was definitely going to be a filter here and there, but before she could even think of anything else, her consciousness began to waver. It was time for this period, in which her body would move on its own while her awareness stayed intact, to kick in.

To be honest, Dia was a bit glad that there was such a thing too. That way, she could at least not forget about the others; ten years was a long period to spend in an insane world like this.

The others would be relieved too, at the fact that she probably wouldn't go insane from these visions.

Her vision blurred out, but Dia could still feel her body moving on its own. How would it move? How would it behave? She didn't know, but there was no point worrying about this right now.

She would only reawaken when there was a real threat. What a real threat was Dia didn't understand just yet, but she knew that when that time came, it would probably be an actual fight for her life.

Ah…well, I'll awaken soon, right?

As that last thought danced through her mind, darkness covered her vision, completely overwhelming her ability to think at all.