Thief of Time

After scaring Lily with a promise of a store's worth of lifestones, which sounded absolutely awesome to Claud, Emperor Grandis glanced at him again and motioned at his pocket.

"So, how did you come across Lesser Half?" Emperor Grandis asked.

"We rescued him from his sister," Claud replied.

"…What?"

"Family business, you see?" Claud added, pulling out that useful card to prevent the nosy old but youthful-looking man from peering any further into the matter. "Big black cube and small black cube family matters."

"Is there, perhaps, some innuendo hidden in those words?" Emperor Grandis asked.

"No. And I'm making an assumption that Greater Half is an extra-large black cube, which by all accounts, is inaccurate. Greater Half is a huge eye," Claud replied, before forging on with his non-sequitur. "How these two entities are related is anyone's guess, though."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't be silly. They don't need parents, and they definitely didn't have them either."

The two of them bantered back and forth for a while — Lily had picked up on his unspoken message to not touch on this rather touchy topic of Lesser Half's elder sister — before Emperor Grandis cleared his throat.

"Ah. My apologies, Emperor Grandis," Lily replied. "We got sidetracked there. Now, we were talking about renumeration, yes?"

"Yes." Emperor Grandis let out a faint sigh. "That said, your companions, the other Seekers of Life, requested to be moved to the northern camp to fight against the forces of the Dark. Since they received some boons from the Moons, they felt that it was inappropriate to turn their blades against the Moons just yet. Thus, they requested to be moved to the northern camp. The two of you, however, probably have no desire to fight with the Shadowed Ones."

Claud patted the pocket that Lesser Half was hiding in, and the divinity flew out. The look on Emperor Grandis' face, which was full of surprise at the fact that a certain black cube had obeyed his pats, was something worth seeing, and Claud had to hide his glee for a while.

"You called?" Lesser Half replied.

"Rather, you shouldn't just hide in my pocket after that first round of talks, though," Claud replied. "And you're a bit bigger than the others…there was a weird, suspicious bulge in my clothes when you were hiding there just now."

Lily snickered.

Claud rolled his eyes at her, and then said, "Anyway, what do you think is going on in your sister's mind right now?"

"Investigating the new divinity," Lesser Half immediately replied.

"New divinity?" Emperor Grandis asked.

"Classified information," Claud replied. "Pay up if you want to hear it, I suppose."

"Is this really how you treat your emperor?" Emperor Grandis asked.

"You told us to dispense with the formalities, though."

Lily sighed and tugged at him. "Don't take that literally. Most nobles and royals are liars, you know."

"You two are definitely up to something," Emperor Grandis noted. "This is not the first time two people have put up a skit for me, to be honest. What do you two exactly want?"

Lily hummed for a moment. "We're not really keen on the idea of fighting, to be honest. And if it wasn't to find our companions, we wouldn't have revealed ourselves either. It feels like we got a bad deal here and there…"

"Do you not want the lifestones?" Emperor Grandis asked. "Like I said earlier, I have a whole storeroom's worth for you two."

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Lily made a face. "How about you try eating a storeroom's worth first, and then get back to me."

"W-well, some spoilt tastebuds are nothing much in the face of getting stronger, though," Emperor Grandis replied.

Lily hemmed and hawed for a while, and then said, "Well, we also interacted with the Moons before. It's awkward for us to fight any side, if we have to be honest. Besides, there really isn't much in the way of war right now. Both sides have retreated out of fear that the Thief of Time would kill them."

"Is that so?" Emperor Grandis asked.

Lesser Half nodded. "That is indeed true. In fact, given that you are one of the key pillars of the current status quo, you should also consider yourself a target of the Omen. Instead of hiring these two to guard against my younger brethren, you can consider hiring them to protect yourself…"

"Against the Thief of Time, a godslayer?"

"Yes." Lesser Half paused. "Hmm. What's with that cool title, by the way? I have never understood why the Omen is more popularly known as the Thief of Time."

"Hmm. That is a good question, indeed. But it is a cool title."

Claud couldn't help but agree, but…

Was he not fighting to preserve whatever time remained for Lily? Everything he did was to stall the day of her destiny. Of course, it wasn't as if anyone knew this, and if he had to be fair, the only reason why he got that moniker was because he was busy stealing a whole bunch of stuff right until that weird incident with Ruler Umbra and Duke Istrel's treasury.

That said, it was probably a good reminder that he should continue to maintain this nice title by stealing more things.

Although he was already stealing time from fate and destiny itself…

As he stewed on his thoughts, the divinity and the emperor got a bit more comfortable with each other, and Lily nudged him as Lesser Half began to ask about the intricacies of being a ruler.

"…different?"

"Hmm. I wouldn't call our systems that different. Fundamentally, all three nations revolve around a single figure," Emperor Grandis replied, giving off the air of a scholar as he gestured. "All that differs is where our resources are flowing to. Supreme Saran and I are people that can suppress entire rebellions on our own, so we spend less money on making sure that the military is happy, and more on supporting public sentiment. In contrast, First Lady Cecily has many interest groups by virtue of being an elected democracy, but these groups are competing for her attention, so while she has more groups to maintain a stranglehold on, the resources used are far lesser."

Claud wasn't too sure what he was talking about, but he did understand bits and pieces of it. It would seem that they were talking about how the various sovereigns maintained their grip on power, but…

All this was a bit abstract, right?

Lily, however, nodded thoughtfully at the side, and Claud paused. He felt like a bad student, the kind that the teachers would sigh at and try to coach, which was not a good feeling whatsoever.

"What do you think of the existing power structure of the divinities, then?" Lesser Half asked.

"The divinities and gods maintain power through sheer strength. It's mostly an equal power structure, is it not? Or is there something else that's not so evident?"

"Not everyone is equally strong," Lesser Half replied. "Which is why these two had to rescue this part of me."

"I-is that so…" Emperor Grandis cleared his throat. "Still, it is very surprising to know that Lesser Half of the great Dark is very interested in us humans. I thought you gods and divinities won't care about us too much."

"In a sense, all humanity are my children," Lesser Half replied. "It is normal for me to check up on my children, yes?"

"Children?"

"My sister and I represent various parts of humanity," Lesser Half replied. "The lesser spark and the greater eye. The base instincts of humanity and their ability for higher cognition. That's us."

Emperor Grandis looked at the table thoughtfully. "So, our creators, in a sense."

"We don't claim credit for everything, though," Lesser Half replied. "It is a bit unpleasant, but your mortal coils are products of other divinities. However, you should understand my interest now. How have lifeforms driven by both instinct and conscious thought developed? What lessons can I derive from this?"

The black cube paused for a moment. "And what can I do with these lessons, when the time comes for the Cosmic Egg to hatch?"

Emperor Grandis let out a sigh. "I heard from my advisors, but this world is really coming to an end?"

"Indeed. Like it or not, we have to move. Within a few centuries, life will cease entirely. Stillborn babies, dying vegetation…life cannot be maintained here for long." The black cube sighed. "But none of us dare to start the relocation, not with the Omen having total control over the Cosmic Egg."

"Why does that matter?"

Lesser Half didn't answer that question, and instead floated over to the table. "I am hungry after all that retching. Please get me some food."

Emperor Grandis stared at the cube for a moment, and then clapped his hands once. He didn't say anything as servants filed into the room with more dishes, but Claud could tell that he was reflecting on this conversation deeply.

But again, who wouldn't reflect on such a conversation?

Perhaps only muscle-bound, sword-wielding fanatics wouldn't…

"Let's put this aside for now," Emperor Grandis murmured. "The troops from the northern battlefront have returned. I must address them. Please rest here for now. Once all this is over, I will bring your companions over."

Claud nodded. "Thank you."