Thief of Time

With a team of quadruplets behind him, Claud walked over to Triple-D. For some reason, these women looked particularly familiar to him, but there were many lookalikes of famous people hoping to use their appearance to make a quick buck. A team of four mana-users definitely had to have some fame behind them, which an enterprising fellow might use to leech some cash off fools.

“You’re a local, right?” The first one, who looked the more experienced of the bunch, asked. “Right, my name’s Isolde.”

“I’m Claud,” Claud replied. “What brings you to the City of Trades?”

“We came to look for a scamp wanted by Emperor Grandis,” Isolde replied.

“Ah, the famous Tot?” Claud replied. “But he’s here?”

“Apparently,” Isolde replied. “Of course, the rogue might have fled the City of Trades already; we can’t be sure. By the by…are you leading us to Dragon Drinking Desserts?”

“Oh?” Claud stopped. “You went there already?”

“Obviously.”

“In that case, it would seem that you didn’t get anything good out from there. What did you do? The master there’s an easy-going fellow; grease his palms a bit and you’ll…”

“Oh. You must have acted all high and mighty.” Folding his arms, Claud gestured off to the side. “I won’t send you off, then.”

“What do you mean by that?” The quadruplet beside Isolde asked, her voice carrying a displeasure that Claud associated with people used to authority. “Are you telling us to leave?”

“You insult a friend of mine,” Claud replied. “And you expect me to help? Do you think that I don’t have dignity?”

“You—”

“In fact,” Claud continued, “you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone willing to help you, once they learn that you’ve offended the master at Triple-D. You might as well end your search in Licencia. My advice would be to stake out the city’s entrance peacefully…there are powers here that can take one-folders into custody with ease.”

Their eyes flickered. The arrogant quadruplet, the one wearing a gown that looked entirely unsuitable for combat, asked, “Vanillas taking us into custody?”

“Yes.”

The four looked at him, and Isolde nodded. “Very well. We’ll take your words into account. Please forgive us for disturbing you. We shall think of other ways instead.”

“Whatever you do, at least rein in the kinds of arrogance we often get used to,” Claud replied. “This is Licencia, a city where mana-users don’t walk out from if they offend the wrong people. Especially if they happen to be rather…charming women.”

“Noted.”

He nodded. “Right, how did you tell I was a mana-user? I had the impression I was hiding it rather well.”

“Are you a mana-user from common origins?” Isolde asked, clearly intrigued.

“Yeah, I burned my mana circuits around a month ago,” Claud replied, lying through his teeth. “Without any teacher…”

“Hmm…” Her eyes flickered. “I need a guide to this town. And you need a guide in training mana. I see a deal to be made here.”

Claud’s eyes drifted over to the arrogant quadruplet. “I don’t mind, but…I’ll help you do the information gathering. If I bring you guys into Triple-D, and you guys are still as arrogant as ever, I won’t be able to help. I can always find another teacher with money. But friendships, once broken, will never be the same.”

“…you have conditions?”

Claud nodded. It was nice to talk to people who were smart, which unfortunately for this group of four, seemed to have only one person. “Even if you want to make a deal with me, there’s only two ways going forward. Either I act as a middleman for your information gathering, or I act as a bridge to reconcile you with the bartender. You could try the latter yourself, but given your group, I don’t think it’ll work.”

“And what,” said the quadruplet in a gown, “do you mean by that?”

“That your attitude stinks,” Claud replied.

“You—”

“Farah, enough,” Isolde said. “In a way, your attitude’s really not suitable for bounty hunting. He’s telling the truth here.”

A complex light shone in Farah’s eyes. “You…also think that way.”

“Not as a personal insult, but my honest opinion,” Isolde replied. “He’s not lying. In fact, if he’d said anything else, I would have been suspicious, but he’s really telling the truth.”

One of the other two quadruplets spoke. “If you don’t want to change, then at least take a step back during Isolde’s interactions with other people.”

“You also think that way, Lily?” Farah breathed out and turned to the last quadruplet. “How about you, Risti?”

“Do you really want my input on this?”

“…I’ll take a step back, then.”

Claud nodded in approval. “Well, as to whether you want to work with me—”

“We’ll do it under your arrangements,” Isolde replied. “Having a local like you help us would be far better, given that we don’t know how the undercurrents of this city works.”

“Hmm…”

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Isolde asked.

“Are the four of you actually quadruplets? Or were you picked up and adopted into the family?” Claud asked, curious. “Or is it Miss Farah who was adopted? I really can’t tell…”

“Your whole family’s adopted,” Farah shot back. “We’re just—”

“Why did you stop?” Claud asked. “I really want to know which family can have such beautiful children.”

“B-beautiful?” Farah twisted. “Well…”

“Stop teasing her, Claud.” Isolde rolled her eyes. “Anyway, where did you get enough lifeforce to burn a mana circuit into your body? I didn’t think commoners could actually get that many lifestones to fuel the burning process.”

“Struck a huge vein of lifestones while walking around,” Claud replied. “I just used it all.”

“That’s it?” Isolde asked. “How’s that possible?”

“It is.” Claud thought back to the times where he “struck” huge amounts of lifestones by “walking around”, and then nodded twice. “You just need an absurd amount of luck to do it.”

“It’s like catching Tot while he’s drunk,” Isolde muttered.

“Exactly.” Claud smirked. It was a tad interesting to be with a group of mana-users who wanted to catch him; in many ways, this was the safest place to be. “Anyway, do we have a deal? Do you want me to help you out with the bartender?”

“Yes. I’ll compile some tips and tricks for you as to how a mana-user should train and progress,” said Isolde. “Plus some interesting news about them.”

“Fair enough. Come on, let’s go. It’s the middle of the night, and this is when the bartender’s most amenable to things,” said Claud. Beckoning them to follow once more, he slipped to Isolde’s side and asked, “So, what did you guys — or rather, she — do to piss off the bartender? He’s a pretty nice guy, so I cannot imagine it most of the time.”

“She took out a sword and pointed it at the bartender.”

Claud slapped his face. “That’s a personal offence. So? What happened next?”

“The two argued, and then in the end, Farah stormed off,” Isolde replied. “We chased after her, talked about the whole thing a bit, and then we saw you, a mana-user and a local, come in from the city gates.”

Claud shook his head. “I thought you were randomly calling out to people at that time.”

“We were looking for the first mana-user who would produce identification papers of a local at the gates,” Isolde replied.

“She was the only one looking for that,” the quadruplet named Lily piped up.

“I actually wanted to sleep,” said Risti. “It’s midnight…”

“Yeah, well, if someone gets Tot while we’re sleeping, that’ll be it,” Farah replied. “We’ll never get the rewards.”

“I don’t really care, I just want him brought to justice,” Isolde muttered. “So why am I putting in the most work here? Now I have to write some tips for this stranger I just met.”

“We’ll chip in,” said Lily, “so don’t feel that bad.”

“Besides,” said Farah, “it’s his honour to help the four of us.”

“You do know that I’m still here, right?” Claud rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it a bit rude to say these things in front of me? You really need to take a class in diplomacy or something.”

He turned to Isolde. “Are you sure your parents let you guys run around like this without any help? She looks like the kind who would bring trouble to the rest of you with just her words alone.”

“Listen up, punk, you—mm!”

“Yeah…I can see it.” Isolde flashed a professional smile, releasing Farah’s mouth only when she stopped talking. “But she has that kind of pride, you see?”

“Just make sure that she shuts up when we reach Triple-D, got it? She might need to make a sincere apology too, so you guys go prepare her for that,” Claud replied. “The master’s a pretty easy-going guy; show him respect and he’ll show you yours. Pissing him off is really, really hard. I’m astounded at how your…sister managed it.”

Shrugging, he continued to lead the way to Triple-D.