Land of the Lustrous (宝石の国)

Well...

time for work.

Ah, right.

Phos! I know you're here!

Phos!

Master Kongo is looking for you.

Why is that?

Beats me.

Wait, you don't think...

maybe Master wants me to join you all in battle.

I highly doubt that.

I see even an ace like yourself is worried about what I might be capable of!

"Might" be capable of?

Do you still not have a job?

Morga!

Goshe?

We don't have time for this!

There's sunspot activity in the sky to the south.

It's small, but we need to alert Master Kongo!

All right.

In that case, let's just fight them off ourselves!

What?!

Don't go getting haughty!

It'll be fine!

We need to cut the Master a break sometimes.

That one is older than appearances suggest.

You hurry on back now!

Jerk.

Acting busy and all that...

Okay!

Today's the day, then.

Ah! Gotta make the right impression.

Perfect! Cute!

Dignified!

Phos is as lively as ever, huh?

I just hope Phos won't cause trouble.

Reporting!

Come.

You called for me, Master Kongo?

Yes.

Phosphophyllite, I at last have a job for you.

We can handle this.

Yeah.

Oh!

Master, just a little while ago, Morga and Goshe said they saw one of the Lunarian sunspots.

But since it was small, they both...

Master?

What?!

That didn't stop it?!

And look at the color of those arrows...

That's got to be from when they captured Heliodor!

How could they do that?

It's perfect.

Let's take back every last piece!

They come to harvest us as jewelry.

While their hunters sweep down in countless numbers from the moon,

there are but 28 of us.

The skilled among us work in pairs. Some keep lookout.

Some fight.

Each of them has their own skills which they use to fulfill their goals and help one another.

But you seemed fit for none, and I was at a loss.

With your physical condition and incomparable clumsiness,

I could find nothing to rely on you for.

Why not just have me fight, then?

Fight, you say?

Well, I mean, that's the only thing we've never tried, right?

You would do best to give up on that.

Yikes.

Looking out for your elders, are you?

Here it comes! Fall back!

It's far too early for that!

You fools!

Oh dear.

You are particularly fragile.

You have a hardness level of only 3 and a half.

Simply brushing into someone is more than enough to break you.

And what's more, you're a peppermint color the Lunarians are fond for.

To overcome all those weaknesses,

you would need to be able to wipe out an entire army in one fell swoop.

You would need to be stronger than myself.

Not gonna be doing that!

Which is why I decided...

That you should compile our encyclopedia.

Wha-?

What?!

You're going to spill!

That sounds so boring!

Quite the contrary.

By compiling an encyclopedia, you will both preserve the present and prepare for the future.

It is an important role which requires both creativity and intelligence.

The key to battle is a keen eye.

If you wish to fight, first train your eyes through this task.

I know you're just trying to trick me into it!

You're just about the only one who would dare talk back like that.

You've sure got nerve for someone who does nothing around here at all.

Who asked you!

But it is that very frankness of yours that is needed for this task.

I am counting on you.

Need any help?

Nope.

You put my legs on backwards last time, so no thanks.

Hmph, haven't forgotten that, huh?

Hey! Stop!

Don't you have an encyclopedia to write?

No one's ever going to need it anyway and it's just a pain to deal with.

Sounds just like you!

Oh, shut up!

Tell me, Rutile...

What is it?

Helio got turned into all of this, but if we get all of the pieces, you can reform them, right?

Of course.

Our very bodies are home to microscopic organisms, you see.

Thanks to them, even if we break into pieces,

as long as we collect enough parts, we can be put back together.

It's a wonderful characteristic of ours seen in no other living being.

But thanks to that, we have grown completely incapable of giving up on anything.

There you are. Good as new.

Let's head back out there, then.

Watch it!

You're the one who would break if we bumped into each other, you three-and-a-half!

Oh, I'm quite used to it, O Great Seven.

Take me wi-

Absolutely not!

You have to!

If I hadn't told Master Kongo, the both of you would be out on the moon right now!

Don't forget it!

Rutile, you sure you can't make Phos' body as strong as the mouth and vice versa?

Come on, just get me out of this awful job, would you?!

You really hate it that much, do you?

Of course! I want a cooler job!

Want to trade places, then?

I'm not quite so pitiful as to take what does not belong to me...

is what you probably thought I'd say!

You were mistaken!

That's heavy, you know!

Maybe this will teach you a lesson.

I just finished putting you back together...

Oh, thank goodness!

I didn't think you'd really take it!

Hey...

You were hoping it would hit me, weren't you?

You got me.

Jeez. All right.

Fine then.

My only friend here...

is you.

Right, so...

Let me guess, "What is an encyclopedia anyway?"

Woah, it's blank?!

Don't peek!

You put all your effort into not doing it, huh?

I'm amazed.

No! I'm just working out a greater overall concept!

I heard that encyclopedias are supposed to categorize everything in nature itself.

Goshe!

Like how, though?

Maybe recording all the bugs and plants along the shore?

Gonna need more than that.

I guess we already know about all the important stuff, so maybe the unimportant stuff?

Almost there, give me more!

We aren't really all that familiar with this stuff, sorry.

Lookouts like us always have our eyes on the skies...

Cinnabar might know, though.

Cinnabar...

Why don't you go ask?

I can't do that!

I can't even get close to Cinnabar!

We've never even spoken to each other!

But Cinnabar might know more than us.

Anyway, good luck on your wild discoveries, Master Scholar.

Master Scholar...

All right!

Idiot.