“So long story short, the orb talks, we’re all perverts with classes, monsters are after the orb and it’s our job to protect it from them, and now we don’t know if there’s anyone we can trust with that information?”

Elaina nodded. Tira had the right of it, mostly. The large strokes. She looked over ot Carline, the girl seated on Tira’s desk chair while Elaina sat on the bed and Tira paced the room. She was blushing at the pervert comment, face almost as pink as the room’s decor, and she hadn’t offered up her class name to Tira either. It was going to come up eventually, but Elaina would let her keep the privacy for now. 

The two were going to be staying the night in Tira’s room, their own still without a window and rain still a possibility for later in the evening. They weren’t the only ones with damaged rooms, even though most other break ins happened on the first floor, and the school had waived the rules against sleeping in other rooms for the time being, even if curfew was being strictly enforced otherwise.

“If I may add something,” the System.

“Sure,” Tira said, “go right ahead, oh mighty System.”

“Hmmm.” Normally that buzzing sounded like thinking, or annoyance, but for some reason Elaina detected a hint of superiority this time. “It is not technically your purpose to protect me, but mine to protect you. Unfortunately, due to the small number of current System Users and my weakened capabilities, I am not able to fulfill my role as adequately as I should. Additionally, the Red Order is not the only threat facing us today. There are more mundane cosmic entities that may come, as well as threats from your own planet.”

Carline perked up. “Oh, right. System, before all of this you were telling us about another of your cores that was being hunted by crystal poachers.”

Elaina had almost forgotten. That conversation was only right before the attack, but it seemed so much longer ago. “I can go now. My mana is restored enough, and—”

“That subcore has been captured by the individuals in question.”

The words hit Elaina’s chest like a kick from a horse. “Damnit… I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Do not be. You valiantly protected me here against great odds, and the people who have that core currently are no match for the party of three for sure. It should not be difficult to retrieve, though I would advise against confronting them head on via a teleportation, as that would likely cause unnecessary human bloodshed.”

“Hmmm,” Elaina said, only half conscious that she was picking up that strange humming the System would do. “If we can’t teleport in, then what do we do?”

“I mentioned before that the core was not physically far from us, and that remains true. Currently, it is actually moving closer to us as well, towards the school, or more likely the castletown on the outskirts.

“The town?” Elaina said. She’d seen it briefly as she’d rode by in the carriage, but it wasn’t a long glance at all. 

“Indeed. It is likely that a more subtle approach to retrieving this core will be necessary.”

“I’ve been into town before,” Tira said. “It’s not terribly large, so shouldn’t be too hard to find the thing if you can track it like it sounds you can.”

Not terribly large? It was the largest town Elaina had ever seen, but it wasn’t the time to argue semantics. “We’re supposed to be allowed to go in on the weekends,” Carline added, “but I’m not sure how that’ll pan out with the stricter curfew. I also, uhm, don’t really know what we’re supposed to do? Like, we can’t just steal it, right?”

“Sure we can,” Tira said, grinning. “They’re poachers anyway, right? Should be fun.”

Carline looked down, obviously uncomfortable with the idea. I’ll talk with her about it later. Elaina thought about offering to let her sit out, but if the fight with Myriala had proved anything it was how valuable Carline was to the team. Had she been there, it would have almost been easy. Too easy, even.

“System… How strong was Myriala? In comparison to other Red Order members, I mean?”

The question hung in the air, the three girls staring at the orb sitting on Tira’s desk. “She was likely a low level commander, a scout for the Red Order surveying potential targets. It is still a great accomplishment that two of you alone were able to defeat her, one you should be proud of.”

“Yeah,” Tira said, sighing. “That’s what we were afraid of.”

Carline nodded. “There are much stronger members to deal with in the future… I don’t think we can do this with just the three of us.”

“We don’t have to,” Elaina said, doing her best to project confidence. “Myriala mentioned that she was arrogant, tried to take the System without alerting her superiors. We have time to train, find more Users.”

“Except the pool of potential Users is fucked,” Tira said. “Once someone’s Awakening, they can’t join the System without a compatible party, right? There can only be so many perverts like us at school, after all.”

Elaina stood up. “We’ll find people. And we’ll train. And if we can find even just a few people who haven’t Awakened yet, we can start building more parties, right?” She turned to the System. “I mean, that’s my job, I think.”

“Correct. That is the ultimate responsibility of the System Administrator.”

“It’ll be hard, Elaina,” Carline said. “Every noble that can access an Awakening crystal awakens on their birthday.”

“Well, a day or two later nowadays,” Tira added. “The things stopped working on our birthdays proper for some reason.”

“Indeed. That actually brings me to one more thing I must discuss with you three.”

Elaina sighed. It was always one more thing with the System. “Go for it.”

“There is a disturbing development in what Elaina has referred to as ‘celestial drift,’ the confusion surrounding your calendar dates and the actual celestial dates. After first hearing of this from Elaina I started a background analysis to determine the validity and cause of the phenomenon, and I am ready to share my findings. There are indeed measurable differences from what should be expected this long after my rest, and I have even been able to measure change in the short time since I’ve been active, small though the change may be. In short, your planet’s orbit and rotation are shifting, slowing down.”

“Freaky,” Tira said, sitting down and leaning in. “Why would that be?

“Your planet is kept in order by many natural forces. Small deviations over time are normal, but such a significant change over merely a decade is cause for concern, indicating that outside influence is afoot. In planets that possess it naturally, crystal is a major influence on the ecosystem as a whole. As such, I believe the most likely cause for the drift is excess crystal energy usage and mining.”

“Like from the poachers?” Carline asked. 

“Potentially, though it seems unlikely to me. Most options seem unlikely, to be honest, as drawing forth this much energy without the aid of the System is near impossible, but it is almost certainly a single, concentrated effort, likely by one of the most powerful nations.”

Tira coughed. “I know you haven’t been around for a while, System, but, well, there is kind of only one powerful nation right now. Us, the Kingdom of Endrin.”

“Then it is likely your nation is causing the celestial drift.”

The System said it so matter-of-factly, clearly not meaning any judgment by it. Despite that, Elaina could tell it made both of the other girls uncomfortable, Carline deeply so, that same pursed-lip look on her that she’d had when the System had spoken of the Night Wars to her previously. 

Elaina herself wasn’t really that upset though. It wasn’t news to her that the kingdom might be doing some shady shit in secret, and it just didn’t really seem like a huge change to her. “It’s only two days off over ten years, right? I mean, it kind of messed with me specifically cause of my Awakening, but that was just bad luck I think, so it shouldn’t be too big of a deal.”

“Incorrect. Especially as the drift continues to grow, the results could be catastrophic.”

“Okay, but like, how? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“If the rate of change remains the same, it would still be near negligible in the grand scheme of the cosmos. If it continues to grow, however, it would spell the end of your world.”