Chapter 129: Columbina: Don’t like motor oil? Then next time, I’ll switch to gasoline (Patreon)

Sandrone suddenly grew excited — if she could just find Dottore, she could save Piers.

"Pulonia, bring me the toolbox. And bring the replacement parts for hand-joint damage while you're at it."

Since both her hands were damaged, Sandrone couldn't repair herself directly — she'd have to fit a spare arm first, then use that arm to repair her original ones afterward.

Meanwhile, among the Frostmoon Scions, Lauma looked troubled when Lumine and Paimon came asking for the Moon Marrow. She didn't hide the truth, though she didn't give a name either — she only said the Moon Marrow was in someone else's hands, and they'd have to wait five days.

After lunch, Piers kept pressing Aino to practice her adeptal arts, while Ineffa started the day's cleaning. The workshop was fairly large, so it still took her a while.

"This is so hard. I just can't do it."

Aino slumped weakly into her chair.

"How can that be? I picked this up in an instant when I first learned it. You've been at it for two hours now — you really don't feel anything at all?"

Piers frowned, puzzled, half-wondering if he'd taught it wrong somehow. When Guizhong had first poured the basics of adeptal arts straight into his mind, he'd grasped it in an instant.

Sure, some of that came down to talent, but Aino was his own blood sister — by rights, she shouldn't be that far behind him.

"Aino, are you sensing it the way I told you to? You really don't feel any of the adept power naturally drifting through the air around you?"

"Nope. And I'm starving right now."

Aino slumped over the back of her chair, looking like she'd given up on life entirely.

"Didn't you just eat?"

"Heh, I had way too many sweets this morning — I could barely finish my lunch."

"You, seriously." Piers rapped a knuckle against her head.

"Never mind, you're still young, no rush. We'll pick the adeptal arts back up later. Oh, right — have there been a lot of Fatui showing up around Nasha Town and the Frostmoon Scions lately?"

"Huh? No idea, I haven't left the workshop since yesterday afternoon. It's fine though, I'll ask around for you."

"Come here for a sec." Aino got up and walked to the door, calling out an order to a little cube-shaped robot wandering outside. The obedient little machine hopped right over.

"Tell me — have you been outside recently?"

A symbol lit up on the little robot's screen — probably meant as a nod. Aino went on.

"Have there been a lot of new Fatui showing up around Nasha Town or nearby lately?"

The same symbol lit up on the little robot's screen again.

"Brother, you're amazing, there really are! How'd you know without even going outside — wait a second, didn't you say the one who tried to kill you was the Second of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers? Don't tell me these are all here looking for you — they actually tracked you all the way here! I'm going out to punch every last one of them flying!!"

Aino's fighting spirit was blazing — she wouldn't stand for anyone bullying her family, not for one second.

"Wait, Aino — the Fatui outside are probably here looking for me, yes, but it should be my own people. I disappeared without a trace, so that's probably why they're searching."

Piers figured this was Sandrone, unable to find him, sending out this many Fatui soldiers to search. But the more of them there were, the more it meant he couldn't reach out to her.

If he made contact and the search parties suddenly withdrew, [Il Dottore] would surely notice — and all his effort would go to waste.

"So..." "Just ignore them. And don't tell them where I am."

Ugh... Kitty, I suppose I'll just have to let you worry a while longer. I'll make it up to you when I get back.

"All right."

Five days went by. On the third day, Aino finally managed to gather adept power into a small orb using the method Piers had taught her — and even then, only because Piers deliberately released his own adept power to thicken the concentration in the air around her.

It drove home for Piers just how hard adeptal arts really were for an ordinary person. Vision-holders already counted among the finest of mortals, and even so, it had taken three full days of careful, step-by-step teaching from Piers — an adept who'd once been human himself — before she'd managed even that much.

"Aino, I need to step out for a bit later. Stay home and go over everything I've taught you."

Piers said this to her over breakfast.

"Huh? Didn't you say you needed to avoid being found? Why are you going out now?"

"If there's something that needs doing, I could handle it for you."

Ineffa stood off to the side.

"As long as no one deliberately gives me away, the Fatui here wouldn't spot me even if I walked right down the street. So it's fine. Besides, what I need to do — I have to go in person."

The moment he finished eating, Piers set down his knife and fork — and the very next instant, he vanished into thin air.

It gave Aino a genuine start. It was the first time she'd ever seen him teleport, and for a second she thought something terrible had happened to him.

Luckily, Ineffa traced the adept-power signature and figured it out — otherwise Aino probably would have mobilized every robot in the workshop to go hunt him down.

Piers quickly arrived at the Frostmoon Scions' territory. There were far more Fatui around than before, but even so, he strolled right past them without a hint of concern — an adept entering the mortal world had to master the art of dampening one's presence as a matter of course.

He made his way to where Lauma lived and knocked on the door. The next instant, a hand shot out from inside and yanked him in.

Just as he'd expected, Lumine and Paimon were there too.

"Piers?! What are you doing here? Don't tell me the Moon Marrow is with you?"

Paimon caught on fast this time.

"You two... know each other?" "We've crossed paths a few times."

Piers answered Lauma, then turned to face Paimon.

"That's right. The Moon Marrow really is with me."

"Argh, of all things, the Moon Marrow's been with you this whole time, and you never even told us!"

Paimon stamped her foot furiously in midair.

"It belongs to someone else, though. I couldn't just lend it out without their permission. Besides, even if I had lent it to you, you wouldn't have known how to use it — you'd still have had to come find Miss Lauma."

"I guess... that's true."

At that, Lauma tightened her grip on Piers's hand, her eyes suddenly much more serious.

"Mr. Piers, what exactly have you done? Nearly every Fatui garrisoned in Nod-Krai is asking around after your whereabouts."

"You didn't go and expose me, did you, Miss Lauma?"

Piers said it half-jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"If I'd exposed you, it wouldn't be the Traveler and Paimon standing here right now — it'd be a Fatui guard squad."

"My thanks for not giving me up, Miss Lauma. Truth is, I'm one of the Fatui myself — same as Columbina... or Kuutar, as you know her. They're looking for me."

Hearing that Piers was Fatui, Lauma did pause for a beat. She'd sent plenty of little animals to track down where he lived — they'd never spotted him at the Frostmoon Scions or in Nasha Town, but they had recently caught sight of him at the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop.

Mostly, though, Piers was so unlike any Fatui she'd ever encountered that the thought simply hadn't crossed her mind.

"What, having second thoughts about leaving the Moon Marrow with me, Miss Lauma? Worried I might make off with it?"

"No. Once I entrusted the Moon Marrow to you, I chose to trust you — whatever your true identity. The fact that you came here today, risking discovery by the Fatui, only proves you're worth that trust."

At that, Piers glanced around, puzzled. This much time had passed — by rights, knowing Columbina's personality, she should have already come bounding out. Instead, everything was oddly quiet.

"Miss Lauma, where's Columbina?"

"I settled Kuutar in the Silvermoon Hall. Honestly, I still feel it would be improper to have a deity lodging under my own roof. But don't worry, Mr. Piers — I've arranged for the little animals to bring her food from Nasha Town."

After what had happened before, Lauma had finally come to understand that even a deity needed to eat.

"I'll go check on her first, then — just a few minutes. Please wait for me."

The instant the words left his mouth, Piers vanished. Even Lumine and Paimon, who already knew he was an adept, were startled. Lauma's expression barely shifted, but inwardly she was just as stunned — though it did suddenly explain what her little animal scouts had meant about him vanishing into thin air.

Piers appeared abruptly amid a sea of pale-blue flowers in the Silvermoon Hall.

On a massive, moon-shaped slab of stone, a Moon Spirit playing an instrument was surrounded by a cluster of other Moon Spirits — and mixed in among them was one Columbina.

Sensing an unfamiliar presence, the Moon Spirits scattered in fright, and in the blink of an eye only the music-playing Moon Spirit and Columbina were left.

Columbina caught the trace of Piers's presence below the stone slab too, and hopped lightly down.

"You look like you're doing better. Come on..."

Piers was just about to bring out the Moon Marrow so she could top up, when Columbina suddenly pressed right up against him, sniffing at him from every angle without pause. Anyone who didn't know better might've thought she was about to eat him.

"You didn't bring anything to eat?"

Columbina squinted at him, the little wings on her head drooping in obvious disappointment.

"Not this time. Get your strength back first — you can go anytime after that."

Piers drew the Moon Marrow out of his own body, a little exasperated with himself — he'd forgotten to tell Lauma to send enough food for at least two people. This Little Dove was clearly underfed.

The Little Dove reached out toward the Moon Marrow. The instant her hand made contact, a thread of pure Lunar Force sank from it into her body.

"There. Give it a while longer to acclimate to this Moon Marrow, and you'll be able to fully absorb it into your body. Then you won't keep growing weaker."

True, if things followed the story as it 'should' go, Columbina would eventually become the Goddess of the Three Moons — far stronger than just absorbing a single Moon Marrow. But... none of that mattered. Not to Columbina, anyway. Power meant far less to her than a plate of Nasha Town's honey-glazed grilled meat.

Speaking of the story, though, it suddenly struck Piers that the timeline seemed to be running a bit late — Lumine should have gone looking for Lauma right after leaving the Clink-Clank Krumkake Craftshop.

And that same night, she should have been lured to wherever the Moon Marrow was being stored — though that part had almost certainly never happened, thanks to Piers's interference. After that came the search for the Moon Marrow itself.

Piers did the math quickly. In just these five days, the story had already reached the point where, originally, the Traveler would have taken the Moon Marrow from Sandrone. Which meant... the Moon Hunter had already emerged. Its power, presumably, wasn't up to much yet.

With the Force transfer done, Piers turned to leave, but Columbina called after him.

"Piers." "Something else?"

"Something feels off about Nod-Krai."

Truth be told, even Columbina wasn't entirely sure what it was — she'd just been sensing a strange force lately, and wanted to give Piers a heads-up. It only confirmed what he'd already been thinking: the Moon Hunter had likely already gained self-awareness.

"Don't worry, I know. It'll be dealt with soon. Just stay put here for now — I'll have Lauma send more food. Oh, right, and one more thing."

Piers had already been about to leave, but he suddenly leaned in close to Columbina and flicked her sharply on the forehead.

"I kept forgetting to bring this up — you actually had the nerve to pour engine oil into my drinking water."

He hadn't held back much, either — Columbina winced, clutching her forehead with a wronged look on her face.

"You didn't like it? Then next time... how about gasoline instead?"

That wasn't remotely the point of what kind of oil it was!

Piers laughed — not because it was funny, but because he'd run out of options. Natural airhead plus Demon Orb... wasn't that just a natural-born Demon Orb?

"Put anything else in my drinking water again, and I'll make you drink it yourself."

He reached out with both hands, gave her cheeks a tug, then turned and vanished, thoroughly satisfied.

After Piers left, Columbina lingered in place for a moment, as if lost in thought. Then, all at once, the little wings drooping behind her head shot upright, and she muttered to herself with an air of sudden realization.

"Can't put it in the water, huh. Does that mean I should put it in his food instead? I'll try that next time."

Back in Lauma's room among the Frostmoon Scions, Piers appeared out of nowhere — startling Paimon wide awake, who'd been drifting off from sheer boredom.

"Aiyah!! Could you please stop vanishing and popping back up out of nowhere?! You're going to scare someone to death!!"

"It's just more convenient this way. If I came in from outside, I'd have to watch out for the Fatui around here. Anyway, here's the Moon Marrow — go ahead and use it."

Piers drew the Moon Marrow he'd just tucked back into his body back out again.

What followed was some sort of ritual unfamiliar to Piers. Back when he'd played through the main story, he'd had a god's-eye view of it all — but now, all he could see was Lauma and Lumine sitting face to face, eyes closed.

At the same time, back in a room at the Kuuvahki Experimental Design Bureau, Sandrone was directing several small robots to fit new parts onto Pulonia.

"Still no sign of him?" she asked whoever had come in to report, her eyes never leaving the parts being fitted, fully focused.

"Not yet. There's no lead at all so far. And... Lady [Marionette], most of our people out in the wilds have run into Wild Hunt attacks. For some reason these monsters have been especially aggressive lately — at Starsand Shoal, they've even built up into a sizable swarm."