Yes, I've noticed as much as well. [ Half-murmured, half said to himself as what could almost be an afterthought, if it wasn't for this being a topic Claude's chosen to bring up on his own. ] It's curious to me that a nation which seems to have formed so that each city could benefit from each other has yet to totally fulfill that here, at least from what we can see.

[ There's things going on none of them would be privy to - that much Claude knows from running a nation himself, but it's also not the sort of topic he's about to casually reveal. Easier, in some ways, to just be a guy who needs help fixing a clock he can't figure out but might be able to next time thanks to watching Viktor work from disassembly to reassembly. But some habits are hard to turn off. ]

Quilleth... I've heard her name before. At the art walk, maybe, since I met Alucard there as well. [ That's an important possible connection to consider. Something to keep in mind if things advance to a point where he has actual plans consisting of something to present for larger and grander things, but it's a start to see what can be done now while rebuilding starts its slow process of moving forward. ] Thanks, Viktor. Both for that information and for fixing the clock, since I think my roommates would've been upset if I took it apart only to break it in the end.