Chapter 1: Chancellor

If asked where I began, I can answer without hesitation. Ide, the Thief of Wood’s Essence, began in this very Viaysia Castle. A thousand years ago I served as the chancellor to the Kingdom of Viaysia. This place, which I guarded until the World Restoration Array ended everything, was always the place I considered to be my soul’s true home. And now I had returned to that home.

I gazed upon the throne room, perched at the castle’s pinnacle, lost in recollection. Unlike the throne rooms of other nations, the walls and floors of this chamber were thickly covered in ornamental plants. They were special plants enchanted with magic; channeling mana through them would capture any infiltrating spies. Several double-height windows flanked the room, with simple chairs arranged below them. A crimson carpet stretched from the main entrance to the highest seat, where the throne of our Sovereign Queen Lorde stood. Behind it, the cherished coat of arms of Viaysia fluttered in the breeze. The layout remained unchanged from my memories. The only difference, perhaps, were the desks that had been brought in and placed behind the thick pillars lining the room.

Moreover, unlike before, it was very quiet. Now, the Northern Alliance was shaking up the world order. At the very top, there were only three people in positions of power.

First, a quiet girl sat on the throne, her face bowed low, long black hair draped forward to conceal her features. Beside her stood a lovely girl with shorter, flowing golden hair. No, calling the black-haired girl quiet was a mistake. Calling the blonde girl lovely was equally wrong. Right now, the black-haired girl was asleep, and the blonde girl was possessed. They were merely deprived of their freedom of speech, afflicted by a very strange condition.

But perhaps I, standing beside a desk behind the pillar, was no different. Like those two girls, I too was already—

Having ended my communication spell, Tree’s Contact, I clenched my fist tightly. Then, as if to shake off the thought that had surfaced in my mind, I slammed my fist on the desk before me. Ignoring the vibration that sent the stacked documents tumbling off the desk, I pressed my hand to my forehead, lamenting the queen’s madness.

“Sovereign Queen Lorde... Why?”

Just moments ago, I’d spoken with the real Sovereign Queen Lorde, not the fake one sleeping here. From this throne room, I conducted a magical communication all the way to the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill, exchanging greetings with my queen for the first time in a thousand years. Yet beside our queen stood the knight who had betrayed us a millennium ago, the detested Kanami the Founder. My queen was not with me, but with that man...

Why did the Sovereign Queen Lorde still act alongside that traitor? Why did she refuse to accept the plan I proposed?

“I don’t understand...” I gazed up at the ceiling, murmuring to myself. I feared that if I didn’t say it aloud, I might retract those words. But saying I didn’t understand was a lie. I already knew the truth. Such words nearly slipped out. If I admitted it, my Sovereign Queen Lorde would vanish from this world. Naturally, the chancellor who’d stood by her side would disappear too. So I had no choice but to pretend I didn’t understand.

I was the chancellor. If the chancellor that I was were to vanish, nothing would remain. I had to continue on this path, even if I had to feign madness. Otherwise, I would become something far more terrifying than death: meaningless. That was why I kept pushing on.

A book had fallen from the desk to the floor. I clung desperately to the image of the chancellor described in that history book written a thousand years ago.

Amid this, a voice reached me from afar. “Professor!!! Dr. Ide, are you here?!”

The voice was calling me “professor.” I remained silent, continuing to envision the chancellor from a thousand years ago. The chancellor who followed that great Sovereign Queen Lorde. There was no sight more magnificent. There had never been a more splendid life. There had never been a more splendid self. Therefore, that foolish child who yearned to be something like a professor no longer existed. I had become the chancellor, not the younger brother. So no longer would I—

“Professor?! Your face is blue! Breathe properly! Breathe!!!”

Breathe...?

The term “professor” was unbearable, but the rest of her words reached my ears. Understanding their meaning, I frantically moved my lungs, sucking in air in a single gasp. Fresh air filled my lungs, slightly easing the abnormal suffocation I’d felt moments before.

Ah, it seems that I somehow stopped breathing. Was I thinking too hard? The duel with Kanami the Founder was approaching, and perhaps I was nervous about it.

I came to this conclusion as I regulated my breathing and looked around. Before I knew it, a Jewelculus girl was standing behind me.

She was a girl with a faint blue pigment in her hair and eyes, clad in Viaysia’s military uniform. I recalled that she was a Jewelculus who had completed her treatment and volunteered to assist the castle clerks. Her name was... I’m sure it was...

It wouldn’t come to me. If I thought hard enough, I might recall it, but I couldn’t bring myself to do so. “Ah, you are... Um... I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name...”

“Jewelculus Proto X, Quess. No need to apologize, professor. There are many family members in this castle who look similar, so it’s understandable. More importantly, right now, you should be...”

Quess? Well, whatever. I would probably forget it again anyway, so trying to remember was pointless. Right now, there was something more important.

“Excuse me, please don’t call me ‘professor.’ Call me Chancellor Ide.” I corrected her mistake as I picked up the documents that had fallen onto the floor. Then, I picked up the most important book among them and clenched it tightly. It was my book.

The historical text, The Sovereign Queen Lorde and Chancellor Ide, chronicled the war between the North and South a thousand years ago. This was definitive proof that I had lived. Tucking it into my robe, I faced the Jewelculus, who nodded, her expression tinged with disappointment.

“I’m sorry...Chancellor Ide.”

“Thank you.” I was grateful for the correction. At the same time, I was grateful to the historical records of my past. I’d found this book a year ago, after witnessing the resolution of the long-standing feud between Palinchron Regacy and Aikawa Kanami at the center of the World Restoration Array and after taking charge of Hitaki, the Thief of Water’s Essence, who could replace the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

Since being summoned as a Guardian to this world a thousand years later, I had nearly forgotten that I was a chancellor. Yet this book contained everything I had failed to remember about my past. Though the memory loss from my summoning delayed my memories, I would not stray from my path anymore. I was the chancellor of Viaysia.

“I am sorry. Being called Chancellor Ide just makes me feel more comfortable,” I explained to the bewildered blue Jewelculus as I stowed the book deep within my body. The clearest proof was this: The instant I’d proudly declared myself chancellor and was addressed as such by my subordinates, power had surged through my body. So it was true. This was the nature I had been born with.

My element was Wood. My magic power specialized in nurturing others. My personality, too, often elevated others; I never fought alone. Yes, the sorcerer named Ide could survive on his own. But only when there was a Sovereign Queen Lorde and I could prove myself as chancellor would I finally be able to breathe.

It was becoming clear again. That’s right. I remembered now. I had become the Thief of Wood’s Essence within this very castle to become chancellor, and I continued to aim for that pure-white place—

“That pure-white place?” A voice of doubt rose from my own lips at the words I had conceived. As my thoughts circled around the Thief of Wood’s Essence, I caught a fleeting glimpse of the scene. It was not the throne room of Viaysia Castle, but some other, vaster place.

What was that place? That whiteness was from a Pieris Aicia tree. It felt so familiar and yet somehow made my chest ache. No matter how deeply I searched my memories, I couldn’t recall it. This was likely due to the memory loss caused by becoming an Essence Thief a thousand years ago and being summoned a millenium into the future. Unlike the others, I had received a detailed explanation from Apostle Regacy just before becoming the Thief of Wood’s Essence, which was why I could somewhat grasp the meaning of this current scene. To understand its significance, even if it took everything in me...

“Prof—Chancellor Ide? Is something wrong?” The blue Jewelculus girl was beside me before I realized it, and she peered up into my face as she interrupted my thoughts.

“No, nothing is wrong. I am fine.” Perhaps because she’d called me “chancellor,” I managed to force a smile. I couldn’t recall the scene from earlier anymore, but it wasn’t worth making a fuss over. It would be strange to remember everything as if it were yesterday.

Though my body remained youthful, I had already entered old age. Memories from childhood? Impossible. Memories of life in the orphanage? Hardly any remained. If I could remember anything, it was likely only memories from when I was already chancellor. For instance, a voice I’d heard a thousand years ago while walking the corridors of Viaysia Castle.

“Tch, that man is to serve as chancellor? That pathetic fool?”

It had been deliberately loud enough for me, walking by, to hear.

“Many must find it hard to accept why he was chosen.”

“The Sovereign Queen Lorde’s lackey? He’s nothing but a heavy shackle.”

I had heard countless voices refusing to acknowledge my position. Everyone in the castle had whispered that I was unfit for the role.

Even if I could not recall my childhood memories, I could still remember those bitter days. For some reason, they were as clear as if they had happened yesterday.

◆◆◆◆◆

A thousand years ago... There were recollections from long before I became the Thief of Wood’s Essence. Our Sovereign Queen Lorde sparked a revolution and brilliantly repelled the invasion from the South. Furthermore, her skill in peacefully guiding the Northern nations, which had been on the brink of collapse, was recognized, and she became a queen acknowledged by other countries as truly worthy. From that point, to build up the nation’s strength, a struggle centered on politics rather than war had begun. However, there was one problem that arose.

It was my own appointment—Ide’s appointment as chancellor. Everyone unanimously declared that installing a young upstart, whose name nobody even knew, as chancellor was insane. The Sovereign Queen Lorde stated she had chosen me as chancellor based on merit, but few believed her. After all, I myself was far too weak. I was worlds away when compared to the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

Precisely because I understood this better than anyone, I resolved to accept the criticism around me and work tirelessly, even sacrificing sleep. To be a chancellor worthy of reliance, I strove to do everything within my limited abilities.

At one point, I even tried to train my body. Though my position meant I never saw the battlefield, the prevailing attitude back then was that without a minimum level of strength, people would look down on you. But laughably, even after spending about a year on that effort...

“It seems swords still aren’t your forte, Master Ide.”

That single sentence ended it all.

“I can still do it, General Vohlz!” In the lush courtyard of Viaysia Castle, I shouted back while kneeling on the ground. I had gone through this training specifically to get time with the seasoned general, but in the end, he shook his head.

“No, Master Ide; you’re far too clumsy. Holding a blade is actually dangerous for you. If you still wish to master martial arts, then bare-handed combat is your only option. But using your fists on the battlefield is simply... If possible, I suggest you learn another way to fight.”

I understood immediately that he was implicitly telling me to give up. He was telling me to stop pursuing things beyond my reach and to focus only on people and books.

“I’m sorry, General Vohlz. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule for me.”

“Even if martial arts are impossible, if there’s anything else I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. I owe you two siblings a debt I can never repay.”

Reynand Vohlz’s words didn’t reach my ears. Blood dripped from my clenched fists as I walked back into the castle. I’d known it already. Fighting wasn’t for me. The only way I could contribute to the country was through knowledge. I needed to use my head, find my own strengths.

“But that alone won’t be enough...”

Given my origins in a remote village, the education I’d received was vastly inferior to that of others working in this castle. The nobles of the capital had manners and etiquette drilled into them from childhood and had studied specialized subjects under renowned scholars. Catching up to them wouldn’t be easy. And even if I did catch up, the incredible gap in family background could never be bridged. The connections they’d likely built since childhood? I couldn’t surpass those even if I spent my whole life trying. Being on the same level just wasn’t enough.

I needed so much more power. Power that silenced everything—birth, knowledge, connections, everything. Overwhelming power like my sister’s!

“I’m her brother, so why do I lack the talent she has?” I bowed my head, wishing I had at least one-tenth of her talent. “No, there’s no point in demanding what I don’t have. For now, it seems I can only do what I’m capable of.”

I shook my head and lifted my face.

And so Ide, the founding chancellor, never faltered. I kept looking forward and working hard. Though inexperienced, I worked cautiously, pushing forward with all my might to avoid mistakes as I carried out the duties of my position. I never gave in to despair, always taking the best course of action available. I knew that if I showed even the slightest weakness, those plotting my downfall would swarm me, trying to drag me from the seat of chancellor.

If I ceased to be chancellor, I could no longer stand beside the Sovereign Queen Lorde. That would mean reverting to an existence as a nameless sorcerer.

Trembling in fear of that dreadful future, year after year, Chancellor Ide was consumed by state affairs. From the season of pink blossoms to the season of yellow blossoms. From the season of red blossoms to the season of white blossoms. The unstable seasons unique to the North repeated over and over again.

Perhaps aided by the favor of the Sovereign Queen Lorde, I somehow managed to cling to my position. My body gradually grew larger, surpassing the Sovereign Queen Lorde’s in height. My eyes had sunk deep into their sockets, my features becoming utterly hideous. It was surely because I had maintained my power as chancellor through nothing but underhanded schemes. I had become a figure far removed from the noble chancellor I had once envisioned.

Even so, I continued striving to be a chancellor worthy of standing beside my Sovereign Queen Lorde. However, what awaited at the end of that mediocre effort was a harsh reality. Around the time the Sovereign Queen Lorde had pacified the Northern Continent and many nations began to stabilize, she began particularly focusing her efforts on education.

“We cannot rely on the same generals forever,” she said. “Education is essential to cultivate worthy successors.”

I found this entirely reasonable. At the same time, I knew she was speaking of me. If this policy continued to succeed and time passed, a more suitable chancellor would surely emerge. Unlike the Sovereign Queen Lorde, who had become a near-immortal being by becoming an Essence Thief, I would age. Eventually, I would have to hand over the position. I would relinquish the seat of chancellor to someone else and watch it happen as I grew old.

That future was too terrifying, too tragic. Perhaps because I had worked recklessly until then, I hadn’t even noticed such an obvious truth. It was only when the topic of educational policy arose that I finally realized it.

How long could I remain chancellor? How long could I stand beside the Sovereign Queen Lorde? This turmoil began to affect my work. Fearing I would become a burden to the nation if things continued, I consulted the person I trusted most.

“There is no need for such worry, Ide.” Having carved out one-on-one time, we were alone in the Sovereign Queen Lorde’s private chambers when she told me clearly that it was an unfounded worry. At that moment, I felt liberated from years of anxiety. If the Sovereign Queen herself said so, it must be true—I was utterly devoted to that belief.

But the words that followed from her mouth were not what I had hoped for.

“I shall guarantee your livelihood. You may do as you please. You need not worry about us in the slightest.”

I felt that what I wanted to convey hadn’t been understood, that something had become distorted and twisted. I had intended to voice my anxiety about whether I could truly serve as chancellor in the future. And the Sovereign Queen Lorde had said there was no need to worry, so I’d assumed she had some brilliant plan for me to continue as chancellor indefinitely. But now, it felt as though...

“Well, then. How about spending the rest of your time running an orphanage or something?”

“Huh?” My breath caught.

With a very pleasant smile, as if it were a brilliant idea, she proposed a different job for me. It felt like I was being told I was unnecessary to our country, and I suddenly couldn’t breathe. My lungs, my throat, my face all froze, unable to move.

“Hmm, yes, it’s a fine idea, I must say. If you cannot keep up with the duties of this kingdom, how about becoming the director of an orphanage? You would surely make an excellent one. Prepare and await me there, creating a wonderful place of belonging like the orphanage we ourselves lived in. There, we shall spend our final days...”

Perhaps from the lack of breath, my chest grew tight. At the same time, my consciousness blurred, and the world I saw receded. Naturally, the words of the Sovereign Queen Lorde also faded away. I couldn’t understand what she was saying. No, I didn’t want to understand.

“Ide, if possible, prepare a place for us to return to...”

I thought I would die if I listened to this conversation any longer. Only the book chronicling my own story would reach its epilogue, its life measured in mere pages. While her story would continue endlessly, my name, Ide, would never be spoken again.

That image flashed through my mind, and in that moment, I suddenly murmured. “Yes. That might be a good idea. Just give me a little more time to think.”

It wasn’t a metaphor—I truly felt like I was losing myself, like I was dying. An overwhelming urge to hang myself seized me. I fled the room like I was running away.

“I...see. Take your time to think it over. Whatever choice you make, I will always support you.” Even those final words the Sovereign Queen Lorde called after me were too painful.

Staggering out of the room, I walked the castle’s corridors. People passing by saw my face and spoke to me with concern. But none of it mattered anymore. I couldn’t even muster the energy to earn points from others to remain chancellor. Unable to respond, I ignored them all and returned to my own room.

Reaching my room, I stood frozen, unable to accept reality. I had managed until now only because Sovereign Queen Lorde had told me I could remain chancellor. In other words, I, Chancellor Ide, existed only because of her. This body was dedicated to her and specialized solely for her. There was no way I could live any other way now.

Just like when I’d passed people in the corridor earlier, I became someone who couldn’t utter a single word, not knowing what kind of person I was. Without the role of chancellor, I was a weakling who didn’t even know how to live.

And yet, an orphanage? Me, as its director? There was no way I could do that! No, even if I could, I wouldn’t want to! Absolutely not! I was terrified of a future where the Sovereign Queen Lorde moved forward with someone other than me.

Who would it be? Another Essence Thief? A talented and powerful one like her? A man stronger and wiser than myself, truly worthy of being chancellor?

I would watch those two depart alone from the sidelines. That was still acceptable. The emergence of a powerful young man to aid the Sovereign Queen Lorde would be a welcome thing.

It was fine. It was fine, but just...what form would I be in then? Would an aged me be watching the young and beautiful queen? That wouldn’t do. Then I wouldn’t be able to fulfill that promise. I’d come this far solely for that promise.

I let out a moan. I had reached my limit. My body, strained beyond its abilities to maintain the appearance of a chancellor, was screaming. I’d always known my limits well, precisely because I was mediocre.

I wandered through the halls of Viaysia Castle, searching.

“Someone...please...help me...”

What should I do to fulfill my role? I wanted to discuss it with someone. But there was no one I could trust. Most of my former orphanage companions had already left the castle. The only ones still remaining besides me were the Sovereign Queen Lorde and Master Seldra. Yet I couldn’t consult either of them. Both were too powerful. They couldn’t possibly understand the troubles of weak humans. Indeed, the queen didn’t understand.

So I searched for someone who understood my weak feelings. Searching, searching, searching, searching on and on, until I finally arrived.

With all the intelligence gathered as chancellor up to this day, meeting that person was easy. It didn’t take long to summon him and be alone with him in my private chambers.

I faced the child with brown hair in my room. He radiated an authority that didn’t match his small frame and appearance.

“I have a message from Apostle Deiplachra. He says he’s sorry. He says he acted recklessly, and that’s why he’s been tormenting you two siblings all this time. He said he’s truly sorry, and he apologized over and over.” The child bowed his head, apologizing on behalf of his associate.

This seemingly ordinary boy with short hair was none other than Regacy, one of the legendary Apostles. I’d known. I’d known these Apostles were selecting those who could become Essence Thieves from across the land. Apostle Deiplachra was the one who had made my sister the Thief of Wind’s Essence long ago, and the boy before me possessed that same power.

“Master Regacy, I want to become like my sister...” Without thinking, I simply wished for it. Before meeting him, I’d considered various bargaining chips. But the moment I faced him, all of that vanished into thin air.

I suppose I’d reached my limit. And to transcend those limits, I craved the magic power that appeared in fairy tales. I desperately clung to a child barely half my height.

“Please. I want nothing else. If necessary, I’ll become your slave. I’ll lick your shoes. I’ll do anything to prove it. So please...”

This was my true beginning. The beginning of the legendary Chancellor Ide, whose name would be passed down through the ages.

“Please... Please make me an Essence Thief too...” I wanted the right to walk eternally beside my Sovereign Queen Lorde.

“Ide, brother, do not fret. In fact, you already meet the conditions. The world has already accepted you. That’s why I’m here now.” Apostle Regacy looked troubled, then quickly nodded.

But I, who could no longer trust anyone’s words easily, continued my plea. Desperate not to anger this Apostle no matter what, I sold myself hard. “I’m prepared to sacrifice this life! Do with this body as you please! I wouldn’t even mind selling my soul to the world! Yes, take everything! I can even offer myself as the price!!!”

I understood that a contract required a price. I also understood that this price would be great, that I might even lose myself.

When I conveyed this, the Apostle looked slightly surprised. “Truly, you are the final Essence Thief. Unlike the others, you understand well. Were you researching this on your own for that sister of yours? No, it doesn’t matter either way. After all, the price was already decided. You just need to let what you’re about to lose fall into the same place as your sister’s did.”

The price had already been decided? Let it fall into the same place as my sister’s? Well, if it was the same place as hers, then I supposed it didn’t matter. In fact, that’s what I wanted.

“I don’t think you need an explanation of Essence Thieves, but I’ll give you one anyway. Seems like that’s my job.”

“Then I can become one? An Essence Thief?”

“You can. It seems the world has lost to your passions.”

Those were the words I wanted to hear. I exhaled the breath I’d been holding, my face breaking into a smile. But then the Apostle cautioned me.

“But first, I’ll ask. You can still turn back now. Ide, are you sure you want this? Frankly, I don’t recommend it. Unlike the other two Apostles, I couldn’t care less about work, so I’ll be blunt: Becoming an Essence Thief is practically a scam. Basically, everyone who’s become one has ended up miserable. So far, it’s a laughable one hundred percent misery.”

“Even so, please.” I answered immediately. I charged ahead anyway, despite knowing the warning was true. Even if it meant unhappiness, I would be there. If it was alongside the Sovereign Queen Lorde, then even unhappiness was fine.

“Damn. Even so, huh?” The Apostle seemed genuinely shocked by my immediate answer, instantly shrinking back and taking a step away. Then, squinting as if dazzled, he looked at me and resumed speaking from a slight distance. “I have high hopes for you. Even if I demand the most spiteful price ever, I wonder whether you can pay it. I will put you to the test.”

Even hearing it called the most spiteful price ever, my resolve didn’t waver. I’d expected something like this from Apostle Regacy, rumored to be irresponsible. Still, he didn’t seem as wicked as the rumors suggested, so I was surprised.

Looking closely, I felt he was directing a favorable gaze at me. Though he was an Apostle of higher standing, it seemed he was beginning to admire the Essence Thieves.

“I will not go back on my word, Apostle.”

“Understood, brother Ide. I will certainly make you an Essence thief. From now on, you have the misfortune of becoming the Thief of Wood’s Essence, chosen by Apostle Regacy. Well then, first I must crush that heart...”

And so, on that day, I committed suicide. I crushed my own heart. Under the Apostle’s watchful eye, I performed the contract and became an Essence Thief like my sister.

This marked the beginning of Ide, the Thief of Wood’s Essence and the the end of Ide, the younger brother. From that point onward, I completely missed out on certain precious moments. At the same time, I forgot a certain important promise.

I, too, fell into the trial faced by all Essence Thieves. Yet I felt neither fear nor anxiety. Simply knowing that the Sovereign Queen Lorde stood beside me meant that I could keep fighting forever.

That was the beginning of the story of Chancellor Ide.

◆◆◆◆◆

It was supposed to be the beginning. As I thought back on the details of becoming an Essence Thief, I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.

“That is one thing I will never forget.” That day I followed in the footsteps of the Sovereign Queen Lorde, crushed my own heart, and became the Thief of Wood’s Essence. It was all for the sake of becoming the best chancellor for my queen.

“Professor?”

I could hear that voice again from far away. In response, something in my heart shook its head, telling me that was wrong.

If I was just a professor, I wouldn’t be able to protect my country. I was a chancellor, so I could stand beside my queen. Even now I thought so. I wanted to stand beside the Sovereign Queen Lorde as her chancellor.

I wanted to stand beside her forever! “My sworn enemy, Kanami the Founder, has appeared...”

But now there was another man standing at her side. He was an Outworlder, yet was called the Founder of this world.

“Sovereign Queen Lorde...why are you with that man once again?” I ground my teeth together as I cursed the present circumstances. No, I was jealous. I knew that. No matter how pretentiously I spoke about it, I knew that was what it really was. “If you just hadn’t shown up... It’s your fault I’m all alone...”

As I thought about Kanami the Founder, it brought to mind my final moments from a thousand years ago.

After all, I hadn’t been next to the Sovereign Queen Lorde when I died. Despite the fact that I’d sworn nothing else mattered during my lifetime, she hadn’t been there in the end. On the contrary, according to the price I paid, not a single person who understood me was there. I was alone to the very end for my country of Viaysia.

“Professor, we’re here! Get a hold of yourself!”

Someone vigorously shook me by the shoulders as their voice rang in my ears. How annoying. How thoughtless to call me “professor”! Especially when they didn’t know anything.

“It’s the professor! Please, everyone call for him! It’s happening again!”

“Got it! Everyone who can use Recovery magic, use all you’ve got! I don’t know the cause of it, but it’s bad!”

“Please wake up! Professor, everyone is waiting for you!”

Before I realized it, I was surrounded by Jewelculi whose names I didn’t even know. Everyone had gathered with the girl from earlier...whose name had already slipped my mind, the blue haired one. The other Jewelculi were all ones I had finished treating, who had then wanted to work in the castle. They were all, in general, too young to do so, but they were too strong to live in the castle town, so I had prepared a place for them. It wasn’t just in this castle either—I had put the entire continent to rights so that they could continue living.

Because of that, their numbers had increased and they’d grown attached to me without me realizing it. Aiding the Jewelculi had been my sole purpose, but I had never imagined it would come to this.

Why had I helped so many Jewelculi in the span of a year? Even I didn’t know the answer to that. Why? Was it because it was the Jewelculus Wyss who’d finally reached Floor Forty and called me to this time? She was a Jewelculus just like Miss Nosfy, so was I interested in her as a researcher? Was I merely sympathetic to her circumstances?

Unlike a thousand years ago, I could remember the events of a year ago. When I’d been summoned to this time period, I had applied myself to the medical treatment of that white Jewelculus. Then, as part of the treatment, as I listened to the stories that Wyss had to tell, I’d begun to understand this time period a little bit.

After that, I remembered discovering the location of the research facility dedicated to creating Jewelculi, revealing the truth of it, and then razing it to the ground. I recalled becoming furious upon learning that humans were being produced solely for the purpose of oppression.

That’s right. I wanted to save the Jewelculi because I was angry. Then the first Jewelculus I saved was named... That’s right, it was Rouge.

It was just a little, but I felt the fog in my brain clear slightly.

“Professor! We’re here, so please say something! Please don’t bear this whole burden alone!”

“Huh? Oh... Yes...”

From the mist that cleared extended a hand, and I came to my senses. I was able to look around me, and I remembered I was in the throne room of Viaysia Castle. A crowd of Jewelculi surrounded me. One among them was grasping my right hand tightly. I wondered if that was because she worried about me when I got lost in thought and didn’t respond. Her hands were quite warm.

“I’m sorry. I was in a bit of a...daze...”

However, when I looked at her lovely hands, I again felt that something was wrong. It wasn’t supposed to be these. Her hands looked like that girl’s, so I was...

“Please listen to us. You’ve been acting strangely recently, professor. You’re always in a daze. You have all of us here, so please tell us about your problems.”

“Yes, I am relying on all of you. I was not troubled by anything just now; I was merely reminiscing, so there’s nothing to worry about. I’d just been talking to someone from my past.”

“That’s fine...I suppose...”

It didn’t have anything to do with the girls. As I tried to brush it off with some flimsy excuse, one of the Jewelculi spoke up.

“Oh, um, professor, when’s the next study meeting? We haven’t done it in a while. We have lots of things we still want to learn from you!”

After carefully considering how to refuse, I quietly shook my head. “There’s still so much I wanted to teach you... I’m sorry, but I probably won’t hold another study session. My time is up.”

“Huh? But we were all looking forward to it...”

I kept shaking my head at the persistent Jewelculus. There was no time for childish games of pretend anymore.

“This is no time for that. I want to conduct the activation test for the castle immediately.” From here on, I would think only of defeating Kanami the Founder. I had to stake everything I’d built until now in order to defeat that man.

“You’re going to activate the castle? It is indeed ready, but why so suddenly?”

This castle was the Northern Alliance’s final trump card. Activating it meant that the blue-haired Jewelculus’s reaction was only natural.

“The enemies we created it for are drawing near. Tell the townspeople that the Southern Alliance’s main force is advancing, and urge them to evacuate.”

“Enemies? Are you referring to the ones we discussed earlier? Are those people at the level of an enemy nation’s main force?”

“No. They are incomparable to that toy army. They are two legends who threatened the entire continent a thousand years ago. Anyone will die instantly if caught in their battle.”

“Legends from a thousand years ago? Like the Sovereign Queen Lorde and the Apostles?”

“Yes. Therefore, you must evacuate too. The castle should be emptied.”

“No, wait! We’ll stay and fight alongside you professor!”

“Only the Essence Thieves and Apostles will remain here. Frankly, any other combatants would only be a hindrance.”

After the explanation, the blue-haired Jewelculus looked sad and gripped the hem of her robes tightly. Looking closely, the others around her were in the same state. They bit their lips and nodded one after another.

“Understood.”

I knew the meaning behind their expressions and emotions better than anyone. That was precisely why I found myself starting to wear a similar look. But there was no doubt they’d be a hindrance in the battle against Kanami the Founder.

Calmly turning my back, I issued instructions in a matter-of-fact tone. “As decided, please proceed accordingly. The situation is Crisis Pattern Twelve. Evacuate swiftly.”

“Understood. I’ll relay this to everyone immediately.” The reply was equally matter-of-fact. That made me feel a little relieved. The surrounding Jewelculi exchanged glances, released the hems of their robes, and dashed off toward various parts of the castle.

“Well, things are about to get busy. First, I need to explain the situation to the apostle.”

Finally alone, I immediately turned my gaze toward the throne. There sat the black-haired queen, Aikawa Hitaki, her eyes closed. Beside her, Diablo Sith, who housed the Apostle within her body, was talking one-sidedly to the queen. They both seemed completely oblivious to the argument the Jewelculi and I had just had nearby.

As usual it was the pair of them. They were always together. All Dia ever did was talk to the sleeping Hitaki. That was how I guided them with magic and skill.

Approaching the two, I called out, “Dia! Excuse me, but could you please switch places with Sith?”

Dia, who had been chatting away with the sleeping Hitaki, glanced over at me. It seemed being called by name finally drew her attention to me.

“Hmph. This is my time now.” She pouted, trying to reject my request.

“I am sorry. It is urgent.”

It was heartwarming to see the ill-fated Dia show an expression befitting her age. But today, I couldn’t back down.

“Well, I suppose I have no choice. But finish quickly. I have business with Sieg later.” Sensing the urgency, Dia obediently closed her eyes. Simultaneously, the tension drained from her body, and the quality of the magic surrounding her shifted.

Soon after, Dia lifted her face, flashing a venomous smile she would never normally show. Noticing the change, I addressed the person I originally intended to speak with.

“Apostle Sith, you are finally here.”

“I was awake inside, so I heard everything. Finally.” She answered in the same voice as Dia, but the tone was distinctly different. The one standing here now wasn’t the pure, harmless girl but the legendary Apostle Sith, whose name had once echoed throughout the world. “But it’s been a while since I saw Ide get so worked up. Declaring a duel against a sworn friend... Do you really think you can win?”

Sith gave a light greeting to the black-haired girl beside her, then stepped back from the throne. By switching places like this, she was freed from the magic and skills I had placed upon her, allowing Diablo Sith to act freely. We had made it work that way.

“I estimate our odds are fifty-fifty. Honestly, it is a win rate that makes me reluctant to engage in battle. But I must prove to the Sovereign Queen Lorde that I am superior to that man by defeating him. Therefore, I absolutely cannot back down.”

“I never said you had to back down.” Sith shook her head casually and began playing with her hair. Her demeanor made it clear she held little interest in my battle.

“With this castle, I can somehow make my attacks land. A thousand years ago, I ended up using it against the Apostle Deiplachra, but it was originally meant to defeat beings like the Founder. At last, I can show you my true form.”

“You’ve been nurturing it all this year. You plan to unleash it all in a duel?”

“Yes. This is the only power I can truly be proud of. Using the castle, I will fight Kanami the Founder head-on.”

“But if you use the castle for a single enemy, the capital’s forces will naturally be depleted. If the Southern Alliance strikes there, they’ll easily seize the Northern Alliance for themselves, you know? After all the effort to build this war up until now, are you sure about that?”

“I don’t care. Even if this ends the war, as long as one Sovereign Queen Lorde remains, we can start over. No matter what the Southern Alliance does now, it won’t affect the bigger picture.”

“Well, that might be true for you, Ide. But will the other nations in the Northern Alliance accept it? Isn’t that a bit unfair to them?”

“The opinions of those nations using Viaysia as a buffer are utterly irrelevant. They lack both the power and the guts to question our actions. Preparations to annex all Northern nations, should the need arise, are already complete.”

“What, already? Really, this border war—no, this entire continent is right in the palm of your hand, isn’t it, Ide?”

“Normally, things would not go this smoothly. But both sides were left with huge holes after the Great Calamity a year ago. Since there were also many legacies from a thousand years ago, including yours, we could settle most of it through diplomacy alone. Honestly, it was incredibly easy.”

“Easy? That sleepless, nonstop daily grind was easy? I didn’t really understand since it’s outside my field, but you’re truly incredible. I finally get it now.”

“Not at all. I am just an ordinary person. But more importantly, Kanami the Founder is the priority right now. From your perspective, Sith, do you think the castle will work on him?”

“Since it’s the magic that sealed Deiplachra, I think you can be confident in it. If it succeeds, it should be able to trap even a sworn friend. Of course, that’s only if it succeeds.”

“Yes, I will make it work. I will not make a mistake. Absolutely not. Not anymore.” I retorted vehemently. With the odds evenly balanced, hesitation would make even winnable battles impossible.

Swearing to make it succeed at all costs, I glared at Sith. Seeing that, her eyes widened slightly in surprise before she gave a small laugh.

“This is rather amusing. You’re getting so serious. It’s like watching a little brother trying to compete with the boyfriend his big sister brought home.”

Hearing this deeply unfair assessment, I was taken aback. I immediately set the record straight. “Little brother? No, that is not right. This is more like rivalry between colleagues. As the Queen’s subject, I refuse to lose, and as chancellor, I cannot afford to lose.”

“Hmm. As chancellor, huh? Quite the career competition. Well, if that’s how it is, then so be it. If that’s what you want, I’ll support you with all my might. That’s what the contract is for, after all.” Sith deflected my words with mature grace, reaffirming the promise made a year prior.

Indeed, the crucial thing was the contract. There was no need for her to understand my thoughts.

“Yes, the contract is for precisely this moment. Sith, please delay the true Sovereign Queen Lorde alongside Hitaki, the false Sovereign Queen.”

“Understood. I promise not to let that meddlesome big sister interfere in your quarrel. But I do have one small request.”

“What is it? Please do not hesitate to speak freely. We are your allies, after all.”

“Before we fight, may I speak with my former allies? Just for a moment.”

I frowned at this unexpected request. “You wish to see them? Ideally, I would prefer to keep irregularities to a minimum.”

“I want to urge them to surrender before we fight. See? I’m a pacifist, after all!”

I narrowed my eyes and glared at Sith. I didn’t believe for a second that the woman before me was a pacifist. Just as I had my own motives, she surely had hers. And if I forced her to stop now, she would undoubtedly act on her own. That was just how Apostles were. In that case, it was better she did something reckless while still within my sight.

“Fine. But if it gets dangerous, I will intervene immediately.”

“Thank you. Well then, I‘d better hurry and get dressed up too. Heh heh, things are about to get busy.”

With that, Sith closed her eyes again. Just like before, the strength drained from her body, and the switch occurred. Dia’s masculine mannerisms returned, replacing Sith’s bewitching gestures. Her eyes snapped open, and she clicked her tongue.

“Tch. That Sith just goes and decides things on her own. Now my schedule’s all messed up. We were supposed to go to that new restaurant in town together tomorrow!”

I felt a little soothed by her adorably angry expression as I gently rebuked her. “I’m sorry. I expect the enemy attack to take a few days, but there’s a possibility they could come tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. Sieg, let’s go get ready. Come on, give me your hand.” Saying this, Dia extended her hand to Aikawa Hitaki, who served as both the stand-in for the Sovereign Queen Lorde seated upon the throne and the stand-in for the Dungeon Diver, Sieg.

“Mmm.” Hitaki reacted faintly, taking the offered hand and rising to her feet.

With unsteady steps like a sleepwalker, she followed behind Dia. Astonished by the talent of the Thief of Water’s Essence who could move so much even while asleep, I called out to the two girls’ backs once more.

“I’m counting on you to protect the Queen, Dia! Once outside the castle, who knows what might happen! Please, protect her!”

“Ah, Sieg is my comrade. I won’t let him come to harm, nor will I let go of his hand.” By invoking what must be protected, the magic and skills binding Diablo Sith were stimulated, yielding a clear response. As if to honor those words, Dia firmly grasped Hitaki’s hand and left the throne room.

And so, only I remained behind. Without a moment’s delay, I too began moving to prepare. Exiting the throne room, I walked through the corridors of Viayisia Castle and stepped outside. My first destination was the workshop built into the castle’s side. There, a massive forge supplied all the metalwork for the entire castle.

The workshop’s exterior resembled a tower, though it was only one story tall. Its high ceiling featured countless horizontal windows. It was designed to allow indoor temperature adjustments according to the work process.

Within the workshop, the people I had trained were fully displaying their talents. One of them spotted me and happily ran over, immediately greeting me. “Oh, professor! Things are going great today too! Please watch!”

While searching for my objective, I spoke with the brown-haired Jewelculus. “You’ve made quite a lot again.”

Numerous metal items lined the surrounding workbenches. Moreover, their quality made it immediately clear that the Jewelculus’s skill far surpassed anyone else’s in the workshop.

“Every single one is a masterpiece made without cutting corners! Thanks to the Blessed Iron Smithing technique you taught me, all these metal items will last a long time!”

“Yes, I suppose so. You were a very quick learner. You have a natural talent for craftsmanship.”

Unlike me, the Jewelculi were multitalented. Honestly, seeing them master things in days that took me years to learn made me feel a little torn as their teacher. But it had paid off— Now, the weapons and armor of the Kingdom of Viaysia were among the finest quality on the continent.

“Thank you, professor! Lately, thanks to our work finally being recognized, we’re getting so many orders for leylines from all over that it’s becoming a problem. It’s a happy problem, I suppose.”

I distinctly remembered instructing them a few months ago to review flood control measures and the leyline systems in each town. It seemed the impact of that had reached quite far. If I left it to them, the foundation of life in this Kingdom of Viaysia should be secure.

“Is that so? Um, could I also take a look at items besides the leylines and metal goods? We have come to need weapons.”

“Weapons? Um, the custom-made ones for you, professor, are over there, I believe.”

The brown-haired Jewelculus dashed around the workshop, gathering equipment. First, a pair of rough wooden gauntlets landed on the workbench.

“Gauntlets? Is this armor carved from the Yggdrasil in the garden?” I asked. It was a special weapon crafted using the Blessed Iron Smithing skill, yet it contained not a single trace of iron. It was a weapon made solely for the Thief of Wood’s Essence.

“This is the one you commissioned a long time ago, isn’t it? Did you think I’d forgotten about it? Come on, how could I forget? It’s your fault for not coming to pick it up!”

I laughed awkwardly. Lately, my memory had been failing me. Work-related things were fine, but when it came to personal matters, I just couldn’t seem to manage.

“Thank you. This time the enemy is someone with high-level Swordsmanship. With this, I can feel at ease.”

Facing Kanami the Founder, there was no way I could feel at ease no matter what, but I put on a brave front for the Jewelculus who’d prepared my armor. The one in front of me handed me the gauntlets with a delighted smile, her eyes sparkling. Even without words, I understood what she wanted. Reluctantly, I put them on, moved to the open space in the workshop, and did some light warm-up exercises.

“Right, excuse me for a moment.”

I practiced the basic form General Volhz had taught me long ago. Just as I’d been taught a thousand years ago, I went through them one by one, methodically—swinging my arms down with force, rotating my hips, cutting the air with my feet, thrusting both hands forward from the waist.

“Amazing! You’re too fast to see! You really are strong, professor!” The Jewelculus clapped her hands in praise.

It was indeed better than I had expected. Still, even so... “No, no, that’s too much.”

“No, it’s true!”

I was too weak. A professor being strong? Unheard of. Even if I could defeat everyone in this castle using Martial Arts, if I competed among the Essence Thieves, I’d lose every single time. It was doubtful it would work against even the weakened Kanami the Founder now. Even if my Martial Arts stats surpassed his, there was a chance he could overtake me during the fight.

“Oh, I’ve also prepared wooden rings and bracelets that match your magic, professor. But please test the magic in the garden. It might catch fire here.”

“Yes, thank you for everything. I’ll head to the garden.”

“All right, see you later!”

While I was reviewing my martial arts forms, she must have gathered all the equipment for the Thief of Wood’s Essence from the workshop. Taking it all, I left the forge, and walking along the corridor, I began putting on the gear.

After slipping a plain wooden ring onto my finger, I pulled the specialized leather gloves on over it. I threaded the bracers and gauntlets onto my arms, then fastened the chest guard beneath my clothes. Along the way, I passed numerous subordinates at work.

The castle of Viaysia housed people of all kinds. Not only did age and race vary, but it was filled with people like Jewelculi and even slaves. Such a situation would be unthinkable in the castles of other nations.

Those passing by greeted me. “Good morning, Your Excellency, Lord Ide.”

Some were long-serving pillars who had worked at the castle for years. And unlike in my memories from the past, the voices addressing me were filled with goodwill.

“Lord Ide, it’s another fine day today, isn’t it? Days like this make our work progress smoothly.”

“Lord Ide, I’ll have the girls bring you the report on the recent expedition later. Please take a look.”

“Ah, speaking of which, there was something I wished to discuss with you another day. The reform proposal from some time ago is now complete, and I would like your opinion, Lord Ide...”

Responding to those voices as chancellor, I continued walking until I reached the castle’s inner courtyard. It was a garden at least ten times larger than the throne room.

The garden had no ceiling. Beneath the open sky, numerous plants grew and thrived. Not only were there colorful flower beds, but there were rows of many different kinds of trees as well. The trunks and leaves of these trees served as walls and ceilings, creating a sort of maze.

The maze was three-dimensional. Bridges were built by connecting planks between trees, and there were wooden staircases leading to the tops of the trees. In the center of this maze was an open space covered in lawn. This place served as both a garden and a training ground.

I made my way to the special training area, stopped, and looked around at the figures there.

The courtyard was filled with many people: subjects, researchers, foreign guests. Some tended to the trees and flower beds while others trained on the lawn. Despite it being a training ground, some had brought tables out and were sitting around chatting and laughing. And then, in the corner of a flowerbed, were people holding apparatuses for magical experiments.

One of the Jewelculi near the flowerbed noticed my arrival and called out to me. “Ah, professor! The test on Plant No. 111 is complete! Look at this!”

Their voice alerted the others to my presence as well. The murmurs began announcing that the professor was here. Feeling a slight resentment at that title, I returned their greetings with a forced smile.

“Yes. Good morning, everyone.”

Immediately, one Jewelculus ran over with a delighted expression and reported the results of their work.

“Professor! We’ve gotten one step closer to the ideal tree again! With seeds this cold-resistant, we can definitely help the people suffering in the far north! And above all, the fruit size is incomparable! This will fill our bellies!” The Jewelculus pointed to the fruit-bearing tree growing in the corner of the garden.

Within the garden flowerbeds lay an area that could be called a field, where improved grains were growing. In other words, this place also served as an experimental field. Most of the seeds had been improved using my power as the Thief of Wood’s Essence.

“Impressive. Entrusting you with their care was definitely the right choice. But while that tree that fills your belly is important, are the other plants okay?”

“Of course! They’re growing just fine over there too!”

The Jewelculi guided me to a flowerbed in the opposite corner. Spreading out before me were vivid flowers in red, blue, purple, and yellow. It was a cluster of poisonous plants rarely seen in everyday life. I had once used them to supplement medicinal treatments, but now there was no need to tend to the Jewelculi anymore. The time had come to transform all of this into items useful for combat.

I also confirmed the presence of other harmful plants, like carnivorous species and those that reacted to magic, and thanked the Jewelculi who had tended them. “All are in splendid condition. However, though I feel bad since you have cared for them so well, the time has come to use all of this.”

Hearing that, the smiles on the Jewelculi’s faces froze. But I relentlessly conveyed the reality.

“I know some of you may have already heard, but an enemy has arrived who requires us to use the castle and liberate this entire garden. Therefore, this place is now closed.”

“Yes. I just received word about the garden too. But...but...is it true that the enemy is so formidable that we have to close the park? Honestly, I can’t believe there’s an enemy powerful enough to require using the entire castle...”

“It is true. He is undoubtedly the greatest enemy I have ever faced. Even using everything we have, it is a battle where I might barely stand a chance. Therefore, everyone, please hurry and evacuate.”

I emphasized that the Jewelculi were an unnecessary hindrance in this battle. My tone was sharp.

“Yes, understood.” Sensing this, the Jewelculus nodded, head bowed. But she quickly lifted her face to ask about what came after the battle.

“But once that battle ends, everyone can come back to the castle, right? Everything will be normal again, right, professor?”

“Yes. Once everything is over...” Facing Kanami the Founder would likely result in the collapse of the castle and the garden. Even so, I nodded back, determined to protect this dream of the Jewelculi. “We will live together again. There is still work left for us to do.”

“Yes! Then I’ll get ready! I’ll wait for you to come back, professor!”

The Jewelculus flashed a bright smile, gathered the others in the garden, and began the evacuation. I felt relieved as I watched them scurry away. I’d expected someone might insist on staying behind in the castle, but they were more understanding than I’d anticipated.

Everyone believed I could defeat the enemy. Since they didn’t know true power like Kanami the Founder, they mistakenly perceived this weakest person as strong. But thanks to that, the nuisances smoothly disappeared from the garden.

Now, there was no need to be mindful of others or have others mindful of me.

I could concentrate and refine my magic.

After confirming the garden was empty, I placed my hand on one of the great trees. It stood out as the largest and thickest in the garden, its majesty preserved despite being covered in thick green moss. It was clearly an ancient tree that had weathered long ages.

This was my trump card: Yggdrasil.

Unlike the first one I’d used a thousand years ago, this second one had no flaws whatsoever. Though small now before activation, unleashing its full power would make it larger than the first. This time, it might swallow not just a castle, but an entire country.

If it succeeded, I was confident it could defeat any Essence Thief.

I channeled magic through my trump card, directly linking and synchronizing it with Viaysia Castle.

“Wood Growth.”

The basic wood-attribute enhancement magic activated, and the whole garden pulsed with a thud. The dry crackling sound of snapping wood echoed as Yggdrasil began to move like a living creature.

Or rather, it only appeared to be moving due to its tremendous growth rate. In an instant, the trunk swelled to several times its original size, branches splayed infinitely outward, and roots began to protrude, unable to stay buried in the ground. The surrounding plants were also affected in sync with Yggdrasil’s transformation. They too began growing at speed, swelling to several times their original size.

Every plant in the garden grew, spreading its roots, not only throughout the space but also invading the stonework that formed the castle. Roots ran through the walls, taking hold like spiderwebs in the castle’s corridors, rooms—every single thing. This was the power of the Thief of Wood’s Essence.

If things continued this way, the castle would be swallowed whole by the garden. The spot where I now stood would become its heart, transforming it into a living castle in every sense. Thick trunks would be its bones, sprawling roots its blood vessels. Thick moss and leaves would form its skin, making the rebirth of the once mighty moving Tree Folk possible.

Of course, even this remained insufficient against Kanami the Founder.

A massive colossus was merely one card in the deck. The castle’s activation test must conclude swiftly so preparations for the next phase could begin. I uttered the spell’s name, urging its completion.

“Wood Ymir Kingdom.”

Honestly, the martial arts demonstration alone left me uneasy about its effectiveness. I had to also consider its compatibility with other spells and remake various plants. I wanted to prepare new seeds for the duel and consult with her about the spell inscriptions I’d commissioned. There was still so much to do.

While piecing together plans in my head, I checked on the enemy.

“Trees’ Contact.”

I channeled magic from the Pieris Aicia in the garden down into the ground, extending my magical senses to another Pieris Aicia tree far away. I probed the movements of my distant duel opponent. I’d already memorized his magic. As long as the Pieris Aicia trees existed—planted across nations over the past year—I could track him unless he was in some remote wilderness.

Closing my eyes, I sensed two immense sources of magic on the southern part of the continent. Dimension magic and Wind magic—without a doubt, the Founder and the Queen.

The movements of those two magical energies were strangely swift. I could tell they’d left the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill by carriage or something similar, heading straight north. They must be using every ounce of money and power they possessed to reach me as quickly as possible.

Beside those two magical energies, I also sensed the magic of Lady Snow, who seemed to be the primary commander of the Southern Alliance. And there was one more unusual magical energy. Its attribute was...Astral?

“Noir? No, Rouge?”

It seemed one of them was accompanying and guiding Kanami the Founder.

I pondered the reason for that for a moment but quickly decided it didn’t matter.

A year ago, the two had been constant companions, but lately, I’d hardly seen them. They must have grown in ways unknown to me and acquired new values. That was all there is to it.

In fact, this was rather convenient. With them being famous figures in the Northern Alliance, irregularities along the way would decrease, making the enemy’s arrival easier to calculate.

Even if they appeared as enemies alongside Kanami the Founder, it wouldn’t concern me. The silly pretend games of professor and student were over now.

“Come if you dare, Kanami!”

What I should be thinking about now was the enemy. The only thing I needed to focus on was defeating Kanami the Founder. And to report to the Sovereign Queen Lorde that I had grown stronger again this past year. To prove that I was worthy to stand beside her as her chancellor.

Ah, yes. My lingering attachment as the Thief of Wood’s Essence was to be a chancellor worthy of standing beside the Sovereign Queen. I would not think of anything else.

“I am Viaysia’s chancellor... I am the chancellor...” I murmured to myself in the heart of the castle. I transformed my body into a dryad, roots spreading from my feet, branches extending from my arms, connecting to the castle, merging body and soul with Viaysia’s plants. I thought as both the heart and the brain of the castle.

“I will win. This time, I will challenge you and show you my victory. And I will prove that I was not mistaken in being the chancellor. Otherwise, I... I will no longer...”

Knowing full well that my voice wouldn’t reach Kanami the Founder, I still continued to speak. Repeating the word “chancellor” over and over, I waited in the land of Viaysia, abandoned a thousand years ago by Kanami and the Sovereign Queen, for the return of both.

“Kanami... Kanami the Founder... Sovereign Queen Lorde...hurry...hurry...” I continued to murmur, praying it wouldn’t be too late.

Chapter 2: The Duel of Viaysia Castle

After leaving the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill, we headed straight north without taking any detours.

That meant crossing the contested border between the Northern Alliance and the Southern Alliance—right through the heart of the war zone. But with Dimension, it wasn’t much of a problem. I’d passed through similar battlefields a year ago, and besides, this time I had two reliable allies.

Rouge was from the Northern Alliance and Snow was from the Southern Alliance. By cross-referencing the information these two possessed, we could avoid dangerous areas. Though we passed through military encampments and checkpoints manned by soldiers along the way, we weren’t detained once thanks to them.

Traveling through the battlefield in a single carriage was unsettling, but it turned out to be a journey with surprisingly few obstacles. It only took us a few days to reach the heart of the Kingdom of Viaysia, and it was only a little farther yet to Viaysia Castle, where Ide waited.

From the driver’s seat of the carriage I was in, I gazed out at the highway and the vast plains of the country. Unlike the ravaged battlefields we had traversed up until yesterday, the road we were now on was a beautifully paved highway built for trade. Perhaps because we’d moved away from the battlefield, the plains themselves seemed even more stunning. The deep hues of the vegetation, contrasting with the road’s pale beige, were a welcome sight for the eyes. That view confirmed we’d successfully bypassed the fiercest combat zones.

Rouge, sitting beside me, seemed to sense this too, and she let out a deep sigh as her tension eased. “All right, I think we’re past the worst of it now. Aikawa Kanami, you don’t need to keep casting your detection magic.”

“Got it. We got through the checkpoints smoothly thanks to you. That was a big help.”

I thanked her for using her connections during the journey and then scaled back Dimension, which I’d spread out to avoid running into third parties.

Viaysia was mostly flat, and the roads were easy to remember. From here on, I’d rely on the map in my hand and focus on recovering my MP. Having made it this far, just following Rouge’s directions as a local should get us to the royal capital.

I’d been handling the carriage driver and reconnaissance duties the whole way, but it finally looked like I could take a break.

But just as I was about to relax, a voice came from inside the carriage. “Hey, hold on! Are we really out of the war zone? You’re not lying to me, are you?” Titee peered out the carriage window with a worried look, scanning our surroundings and double-checking everything meticulously.

Rouge and I couldn’t help but look puzzled.

“We’ve already passed through all the dangerous areas. Didn’t we get through several checkpoints yesterday? That was the end of it,” I replied.

“Um, sis, is something bothering you?” asked Rouge.

That joint response made Titee settle her scanning gaze and take a breath. “Oh, right. So that’s the war ‘now,’ isn’t it?”

From her reaction, I realized there was a gap in our understanding. Come to think of it, the war I had seen when recalling Titee’s memories in the Dungeon was only the period when she had been overwhelmingly victorious as an Essence Thief. I hadn’t actually seen the true nature of the war from a thousand years ago.

“Ever since we started moving, we’ve only passed through nice towns and villages. Even in the same country during wartime, it’s like night and day compared to a thousand years ago...” Titee seemed relieved, yet she smiled faintly, her expression still holding a hint of dissatisfaction.

“Is it really that different from back then?” I asked.

Honestly, every town and village along the way seemed filled with unease and a palpable bloodlust. Some villages were completely destroyed by the war’s devastation. We’d been passing through places that felt anything but nice to us.

Even so, Titee nodded. “Yeah, very different. Frankly, with quarrels of this scale, a single Essence Thief could settle them instantly. They’re that weak.”

She was probably the most battle-hardened person in this land. If she said so, it must be true.

“This...scale?” Rouge gaped in astonishment at her remark. While I could rationally understand Titee’s words, she clearly couldn’t.

“Mm-hmm, at this scale. There’s far too little hatred. Honestly, while passing through the warzone, I even doubted a real war was happening. Though wars come in different forms, you’d do well to understand this situation is abnormal.”

“I only know this war, so it’s hard to process. But if my sister who lived a thousand years ago says so, I guess it must be true?” Rouge couldn’t argue strongly against someone so much her senior in war experience, and she muttered as much with a hint of disappointment. It was as if she’d just been told their own war was nothing but child’s play.

“I recall Ide mentioned he was active in the Allied Nations and the Southern Alliance at first...” Titee mused.

“Ragne said that, right?” I responded.

“Then, Ide’s influence undoubtedly reaches the top echelons of the South. They’re waging a war calculated to perfection, with mutual consent from both sides. But will this half-hearted war really result in humanity’s so-called sorcererification? If they’re trying to select the talented ones, it should be a far more brutal slaughter...”

Titee sank deep into thought as she muttered to herself. She seemed desperate to somehow grasp her brother’s reasoning. To help her, I tried drawing everyone else into the conversation.

“So, what do you think, Snow?”

“It’s possible they’re making backroom deals to avoid mutual destruction. Did Ide coax over the Senate of Whoseyards to become the top of the Southern Alliance? Maybe he was even negotiating with Lady Lastiara.”

Snow mentioned officers higher in rank than herself, the acting commander in chief. She seemed to acknowledge that information existed which wasn’t shared with those fighting on the front lines. Titee’s suspicions were starting to feel more plausible.

“Even you think so, Snow?” I asked.

Surely Ide wanted to prolong the war to preserve Titee’s stage for action. The Southern Alliance had likely agreed to it because they stood to gain something of significant value.

Following Titee’s example, I too pondered, trying to understand the thinking of those waging war.

Just then, Titee, who’d been grumbling quietly in the back of the carriage, suddenly lifted her head. “Huh? Is it getting a bit noisy outside? What’s going on?” She must have caught the sound of something unusual in the distance. She had pretty keen ears.

“Ah, we’re approaching a town. I think this will be the last town we can stop at. If you want to rest, shall we go in?” I asked.

“No, I don’t need to rest...but let’s go in. The atmosphere feels a bit different from before.” Titee, with her sharp senses, seemed to feel something was amiss about this last town.

“Different atmosphere? Understood. Rouge, if anything happens, I’m counting on you.” Entrusting Rouge, who sat beside me and was well-connected within the Northern Alliance, with any emergencies, I turned the horses’ heads toward the town.

Scanning the town with Dimension ahead of time revealed it wasn’t particularly large. It stood isolated on the plain, with just over a hundred houses. Perhaps because it was closest to the royal capital, it didn’t feel rustic. Every building was solid brick, surrounded by stone walls. Like the Allied Nations, it had a leyline running through it and even featured a cobblestone main street.

The surrounding fields suggested livestock farming, but the land wasn’t large enough to sustain a livelihood solely based on that. I kept up Dimension to observe the area, wary of traps and snares.

At the edge of town, I found an unusually large house, filled with an enormous amount of food. Perhaps it served as a trading relay point. It was possible the town itself functioned as some sort of warehouse. Or maybe...

“Huh? There are a lot of people...” While investigating, I noticed the number of houses didn’t match the number of townspeople. This area was outside the war zone, and there weren’t many soldiers stationed here. I couldn’t figure out why there were so many more townspeople than expected.

The carriage arrived as I was lost in thought. As expected during wartime, someone resembling a soldier ordered us to halt for inspection. However, once Rouge spoke up, we were immediately waved through. Even considering her past as a close aide to Chancellor Ide, her extensive connections never ceased to amaze me.

Thanks to Rouge, we entered town with the carriage intact and proceeded through the streets while I scanned our surroundings. Just as Titee had heard from afar earlier, the town center was strangely bustling.

Even Rouge seemed unsure of the reason. “Wait here, Aikawa Kanami. I’ll go ask around.”

I considered gathering information myself via magic, but considering the duel was imminent, I decided to leave it to her. Ideally, I wanted to head to the duel with my MP fully replenished.

Rouge left the carriage, spotted a familiar face walking through town, and called out to her. From the look of it, the other person was also a Jewelculus. Her clothes had an air of dignity about them, suggesting she held an important position.

“Hey! What’s going on here?” Rouge asked.

“Huh, Rouge? Didn’t you say you were heading south about a month ago to meet that witch? Why are you here?” The Jewelculus, dressed incongruously for this town, tilted her head in surprise.

Rouge answered with a smile. “I met someone even nicer than the witch, so I was just about to head back to the capital. But why are you here? You’re supposed to be working in the castle there, right?”

“Mmm. I guess you could call it an evacuation drill?”

“Evacuation drill? At a time like this?”

“Yeah. Under the pretext of conducting a castle activation test, a previously scheduled plan was put into action. So everyone from the capital is basically renting lodgings in the surrounding towns.”

“Activating the castle... But if it’s just a pretext...”

Their voices trailed off. They tried to keep it between themselves, but I could hear them thanks to Dimension.

“You have a right to know, so I’ll tell you: The capital is currently in what they call Crisis Pattern Twelve. People with real authority know this is a genuine evacuation.”

“So it’s Crisis Pattern Twelve, the one Dr. Ide predicted...meaning the enemy’s main force is approaching.”

Saying that, Rouge looked at us. She must have realized that we were the danger comparable to that enemy force. Understanding the reason behind this strange evacuation, she cut the conversation short.

“Thanks. I get what’s going on with this weird situation now. I’ll evacuate too, right away.”

“Okay. I have work to do keeping everyone together. See you later.”

Rouge immediately said goodbye to her acquaintance and returned to the carriage. As she climbed up to the driver’s seat, I asked her about something I hadn’t understood earlier.

“Hey, Rouge, I kinda get that the castle folks are evacuating, but what’s this castle activation experiment?”

“It’s about Viaysia Castle in the royal capital. But it’s not just a castle. Its true nature is that of a massive magical artifact powered by tons of magic circuits and plants. Looks like the professor is activating that castle in preparation for his duel with you,” Rouge explained with an intensely serious expression.

I recalled the Viaysia Castle that had been hidden behind floor sixty-six in the Dungeon. But during my battle with Titee, it had never once showed any signs of activation. Come to think of it, when Nosfy’s scheme had engulfed the back side of floor sixty-six in flames, the castle alone remained unscathed. So, when Viaysia fell a thousand years ago, had the flames of war never reached it? If so, what had truly happened to it?

I glanced briefly at Titee, who had been listening nearby, but she shook her head, indicating that she didn’t know either. She must not have clearly witnessed Viaysia’s end, having left the front line mid-battle.

“Be careful, Aikawa Kanami. If that castle activates, the professor will become the Tree Folk Who Pierces the Heavens from the legends of Whoseyards. Its power is exactly as the legend describes.”

Despite Rouge’s warning of the danger, I still couldn’t fully grasp it.

“Wait, you mean that tree big enough to crush a city? That thing was actually Ide?” Titee immediately answered my question. “Hold on, that thing was just a lowly treant, a variant of a dryad! It shouldn’t be able to grow that big!”

“More accurately, it becomes Viaysia-Castle-fused-with-the-Professor. Anyway, it becomes something so unbelievable it’s hard to put into words. They say the Professor fought the enemy army in that state during their final battle a thousand years ago.” Rouge answered Titee’s objection with everything she knew. Apparently, the vague descriptions stemmed from her never having witnessed the activation herself, only hearing about it from others.

But Titee and I accepted that. It wasn’t an impossible story, I supposed.

“Hmm. It seems like a spell Ide devised alone after I vanished,” Titee murmured.

In other words, it was a spell unique to Ide. During that war a thousand years ago, after the Sovereign Queen Lorde had vanished from the Northern Alliance, I could imagine just a little what Ide had been thinking as he kept fighting. Even if he was left alone, he had surely sworn to protect the people of the North no matter what. At the end of that vow, thinking and thinking, thinking it through to the very end, he might have devised the spell to fuse with the castle.

But it felt a bit sad—like he’d clung to the remaining Viaysia Castle because there was no one left he could rely on.

“The castle, huh? But from what I hear, it’s magic meant to be used against entire armies, so it might not be a problem for us.”

“Huh? Not a problem? But it grows huge enough to reach the sky!” Rouge said.

“If it’s just big, it’s only a bigger target. Titee over there could probably destroy it with a single kick.”

Maybe it would also be weak to Distance Mute. If Ide truly fused with the castle, just touching the edge could potentially extract his soul.

Seeing my casual attitude, Rouge seemed to realize I wasn’t lying. She leaned back, creating a little distance between us. “Well, well, you truly are legendary heroes. Come to think of it, the millennium-old tales mentioned something about splitting the earth with a single fingertip...”

Titee, who had a prior record of splitting the land, answered with a hint of pride. “Hmm. Something close to that is possible for me.”

Rouge looked anxious and pleaded toward the carriage behind her, “Um, big sis, if possible, please keep the town below the castle safe...”

“My apologies. If we fought seriously, you wouldn’t come out unscathed. Honestly, I think even this town is too close for comfort.”

“Huh? The shock waves from the capital would reach this far?”

“Mm, faintly.”

Rouge fell silent. Realizing the power of the legends she’d dismissed as exaggerated fairy tales was real, her body trembled. Titee seemed to recognize that feeling as fear. Showing a consideration she likely wouldn’t have had a short while ago, she spoke gently to Rouge.

“You don’t have to force yourself to come with us. Staying here in town is an option too, you know?”

“No. I’m going. I absolutely have to go. Because I have something I want to tell the professor too.”

It was a resolute answer. Even though she felt fear, it seemed there was something even stronger than she couldn’t give up on.

After seeing Rouge’s resolve, Titee nodded and turned her eyes to me. She seemed to be seeking my opinion too. If safety was a priority, leaving Rouge in this town would be best. But I immediately nodded in response.

“I agree with Rouge. Actually, I want her to come. I’m sure there’s something only she can do.”

I believed Rouge would be essential for the battles ahead. The reason was the power of the Future Sight spell I’d activated yesterday while we still had time. I’d learned from my battle with Titee that using your strongest magic before the final showdown was crucial, so I’d used it early on our journey—and seen.

However, unlike when I’d fought Titee, I wasn’t paying the price of the incantation, so the future I could see was narrower than before. Without that incantation, even if I expended all my current magic power, I could only faintly glimpse the future of my comrades here. Beyond that, it merely made the best choices leading to victory a little easier to discern.

Though this magic had proved devastating against Titee, its true nature was ambiguous. Most of its effects were merely a vague sense of understanding, offering no real reassurance.

Yet, even so, one thing was certain: Beside the victory glimpsed in that hazy future, Rouge’s figure was undeniably present. Titee, who knew firsthand the effect of the Future Sight spell, nodded back with an air of trust, telling me she understood.

And so, the conversation about the castle and Ide ended, and the carriage instantly fell silent. I could feel the tension rising in everyone as the battle drew near.

Naturally, the voices of the townspeople began drifting into the carriage as it moved quietly through the streets. The voices of those living in Viaysia’s present.

Feeling slightly curious, I tried listening in with Dimension, recalling the voices of those who had lived in Viaysia’s past, whom I’d met in the Dungeon. Most of the conversations concerned Viaysia’s current situation. First, I heard the voices of middle-aged men who seemed to have been military personnel in the capital.

“Hey, should we really be leaving the capital empty at this time? Even if Her Majesty the Sovereign Queen Lorde is protecting it, isn’t this dangerous?”

“You’ve never seen her power, have you? I’ll tell you this for sure, with Her Majesty the Sovereign Queen Lorde there, the capital is safe.”

It was just everyday chatter among patrolmen—one worried about the situation, the other dismissing it. But hearing the words “Her Majesty the Sovereign Queen Lorde,” I frowned. Because that Sovereign Queen Lorde probably wasn’t Titee but my sister, Aikawa Hitaki.

“I was in that naval battle six months ago. I saw Her Majesty’s power with my own eyes. The power that froze the enemy’s great fleet in an instant. That woman can wage war single-handedly. Even if the Southerners attack us from behind now, as long as Her Majesty is here, we’ll be fine.”

“I’ve heard that story before. Is it true? If it’s not a lie, with the current Sovereign Queen Lorde being the reincarnation of the Sovereign Queen Lorde from a thousand years ago, as told in the North, then that starts to sound legit...”

Just as Lastiara and the others had said, the Sovereign Queen Lorde, Hitaki, seemed to possess overwhelming power. Still, I felt uneasy about my sister awakening and wielding that power as the Sovereign Queen Lorde. If I recalled correctly, in the memories of Kanami the Founder from a thousand years ago, it was said that Hitaki would awaken only after reaching the Deepest Level. Could the presence of Ide, the Thief of Wood’s Essence change things?

While pondering the state of the sister I would soon meet, I continued listening to the men’s conversation.

“As long as Lord Ide is by her side, the possibility of her being the real one exists. After all, Lord Ide is undoubtedly the Chancellor of the North from a thousand years ago...”

“The real Chancellor of the North from a thousand years ago? What do you mean by that?”

“A year ago, there was talk of the master swordsman from the South appearing in the territories Brawl, right? Lord Ide is the same kind of being. Even our enemy, the Southern Alliance, acknowledges that, you know?”

“Ha! The master swordsmans being resurrected? That’s just territory nonsense, right? Who knows how much of it’s true.”

“Well, I can’t blame you for thinking that. But you’ll understand once you see Lord Ide. He is the true chancellor from the tales of the Sovereign Queen Lorde passed down in the North.”

“Nah, I’ve known our chancellor is incredible even without meeting him over this past year. Thanks to him coming here, we’ve finally gained the upper hand against the Southern Alliance. Because of him, we can laugh and live like this now. Honestly, whether he’s the Chancellor from the North a thousand years ago or not doesn’t matter—to us, he’s the real deal.”

“Well, yes. Either way, Lord Ide is our chancellor. As long as Lord Ide and Her Majesty are in the castle, we can rest easy.”

“Guess I was worrying too much after all. It’s what that chancellor would do. Meaning, there’s a guarantee of safety, right?”

And with that mutually satisfying conclusion, the two men laughed.

The presence of the overwhelmingly powerful Sovereign Queen and the chancellor seemed to provide an absolute sense of security. That was why, even with their nation’s capital left empty, people could laugh with ease and the town remained bright.

Next, voices chimed in cheerfully from the right and left. A young semifer woman and a girl who appeared to be a Jewelculus were chatting amiably in front of a house. It seemed the Jewelculus was helping with a large pile of laundry using Water magic.

“Wow. Your magic really is convenient.”

“I studied in the royal capital, so I’m confident in it.”

“Royal capital students really are amazing. I’m sorry to make you use such important magic for this...”

“Not at all. Please feel free to use me even more. It’s only natural, since I’ll be assisting during castle activation experiments.”

“Well then, I suppose I’ll ask you to handle that over there next.”

“Leave it to me!”

After watching the Jewelculus cheerfully accept the next task, the next things I heard were the voices of children walking along the road. Seeing them stroll along, happily moving their animal ears, gradually revealed the true nature of this town and country.

“Hey, do you think that big castle really moves? Will we get to see it?”

“Hmm, I’m not really interested. Honestly, I wish they’d spend more money on food instead of experimenting with moving castles.”

“Huh? You eat so much all the time, and you still want more?”

“Lately, maybe because I can finally eat until I’m full, eating has become my whole reason for living. I just want to eat more and more delicious things, no matter what!”

“More delicious things, huh. Oh! That new fruit that arrived from the capital the other day was delicious too. I heard we might be able to grow it here in town next year...”

“Huh, really? Where? Which fields?”

“Shall we go see now?”

Their voices carried no hint of the capital’s turmoil, let alone war. As I watched the children run off energetically, voices drifted over from the carriage. It was Titee and Snow.

“Ide’s influence is really strong near the capital, isn’t it? He’s earned the people’s trust. This absurd evacuation proceeding so smoothly is surely down to his efforts.”

“While I was commander in chief, I heard about Ide’s exploits many times from the traveling merchants. Rumors spread everywhere about his benevolent rule.”

It seemed both of them had heard the same stories. Thinking about it, everyone except me was a semifer with strong blood. The pair’s senses surpassed those of humans, so they couldn’t help but hear the town’s voices.

We passed through that final town, listening to the voices of the Northern people.

It was a quiet town. There wasn’t anything strange going on, and we made our way through without our carriage being stopped once.

“After this, it’s just the capital where Ide is waiting,” I told the group after we got back on the main road outside of town. On the map, this town and the capital looked like neighbors.

Realizing our journey was nearing its end, Titee began reflecting on the current iteration of Viaysia. “It’s very green, and it seems to be a pretty wealthy nation. Doesn’t it seem like there’s a lot more Jewelculi and semifer here compared to the Allied Nations?”

Rouge, a citizen of the present version, was the one to speak up in response to these evaluations from the ruler of the past. “It happened naturally because the professor favored those with such special backgrounds.”

“I see.” Titee gave a brief nod in return, leaning out the carriage window as if taking one last look, imprinting the scenery of Viaysia upon her eyes.

Following her example, I, too, gazed at the surrounding landscape from the driver’s seat. The weather truly was splendid today. The sky was blue, the breeze cool, and the sun warmed the body just right. It felt like a perfect day for travel, making it hard to believe war raged nearby. Simply riding the road felt refreshing and invigorating.

A river so clear it was practically transparent flowed through the open plains, dotted with Pieris Aicia trees and their white blooms. If one could forget the proximity of the nation’s border, it was clearly a blessed land, and it bore a striking resemblance to Titee’s homeland, the one I’d seen in the Dungeon. Because we’d shared those memories through Connection, I understood a little of her feelings as her long, emerald-green hair fluttered behind her in the wind. Her gaze, scanning the plains as if searching for the homeland she’d once known, seemed a little wistful.

“Titee, are you feeling nostalgic?”

“Ah, a little bit. But while it’s nostalgic, it isn’t quite right. It’s completely different from that empty plain. Back when I was a child, there wasn’t a single splendid town like the one we saw earlier. There were only a few tiny settlements, barely even villages.”

Before arriving here, we’d glimpsed what Titee called “nice towns and villages” from afar. Naturally, compared to a thousand years ago, the area was simply larger and the culture was more advanced. That made sense—it wasn’t the same. This wasn’t Titee’s Viaysia.

“Kanamin, this is the ideal Viaysia. You could say it’s a country that needs no further work. There’s no hunger, no discrimination. Wars with the South? They might as well not exist. Frankly, it’s too different from the Viaysia I lived in. Of course, I’m not saying that’s bad, and I truly believe it’s for the best. But still, I wouldn’t want to return to this one, because it’s not my home.”

She shook her head, confirming her feeling that Ide’s wish to start over here was wrong. Those were words that had been unimaginable when she was in the Dungeon. She must have grown up. Titee would never again throw a tantrum and try to escape into a false world. Not even if it was her brother’s request—no, it was precisely because it was her real brother’s request that it wouldn’t happen again. From her words, I understood she was heading back to her real home. She was aiming for a home just for her and Ide, one unrelated to things like kingdoms, queens, or chancellors.

And so, the carriage moved across the plain. Along the way, I left the driving to Rouge and did some light warm-ups and confirmed the spells I’d use. With the Quadragesimal Guardian awaiting us, we were now no different from the divers who stood just before floor forty. Like proper divers, we’d already finished our battle plans. I’d shared the information gained through Future Sight on our journey so far and decided on responses to unforeseen circumstances.

Rocked by the carriage’s movement, I finished my final checks with my companions...and then, we arrived. First visible from afar were the walls. Encircling an area as vast as the re-created city of Viaysia within the Dungeon, wooden walls stood on the plain’s horizon.

These dark-brown walls stretched horizontally, resembling a row of watchtowers. Their roofs, stained green by natural foliage, might lead the uninformed to mistake the plain for a strange, sprawling forest. The walls weren’t particularly high, yet they completely enclosed the vast royal capital.

But the infamous castle towering over the center of the city was clearly visible. It looked exactly like the one we’d seen in the Dungeon. Immovable and impregnable. Its sheer size made it obvious at a glance that destroying it would be no easy feat.

Carefully searching for differences from the thousand-year-old castle, we approached the capital and reached its entrance. The massive wooden gate stood wide open, revealing the city within. It was eerily quiet. I couldn’t hear a single voice.

The scenery inside was more prosperous than the town found on floor sixty-six of the Dungeon. As befitted a royal capital, many elaborate, tall houses stood in rows. The sight reminded me of Whoseyards in the Allied Nations. The difference, if any, was the gentle architecture integrated with nature, where the scent of the town’s planted trees and soil seemed to reach even beyond the castle walls.

On the gravel boulevard were the characteristic leylines of this era. Those leylines stretched straight ahead, reaching all the way to the towering Viaysia Castle at the center.

Facing this sight, Titee murmured first, her voice heavy with emotion, “We’ve finally arrived.”

Yeah, finally. Put into words, it was short and simple. Yet the depth of emotion she felt, having endured a hellish thousand years, couldn’t be easily grasped. A little over a thousand years had passed since she’d last fled Viasiya Castle, and now, at last, she’d returned.

“But this place has changed quite a bit. What’s with these walls? Sure, with Ide’s power, they could be cheap and improvised, but wouldn’t they burn like kindling in a fire attack?” Titee chuckled, tossing out a lighthearted joke.

To avoid casting a shadow over the end of our journey, I stopped the carriage with a bright expression.

“These are made with Wood magic? It’s the first time I’ve seen wooden castle walls.”

We disembarked cautiously before the gate. Then, recalling the sensation from the previous layers where Guardians had waited, I cast my usual spell. “Right, let’s scan for threats before entering. Dimension.”

Having conserved my magic all day, my condition was perfect as planned, and my MP fully charged.

Using that magic, I filled every corner of the royal capital. As my prior intel stated, no one was there. No people in the houses or inns, none on the main street or shopping district—not a single person anywhere to be found. The evacuation of all townspeople was complete. It felt strange seeing a town I knew to be rich and bustling where not a single human voice echoed.

“There really is no one here. The only ones in the castle town now are—” While scanning for threats, Dimension detected moving figures, which startled me, cutting me off.

There was a café situated along the main avenue leading to the castle. Two people sat boldly at an outdoor table on its terrace. One was a girl with short blonde hair that was tied back. The other was a girl with long black hair that hung loosely. Only those two were relaxing, looking like girls enjoying an afternoon tea party.

The blonde girl wore no sword at her waist, instead sporting a cute dress and a distinctly feminine expression. The black-haired girl wore a tunic that seemed anachronistic for an Outworlder, her eyes half-closed in a melancholy gaze.

Both outfits were unfamiliar to me, but I couldn’t mistake the people. That would be absolutely impossible.

“Dia! Hitaki!” Calling out their names, I tensed my legs, ready to dash forward.

“Wait, Kanami!” Before I could move, Titee shouted, stopping me. She’d used my proper name, not her usual nickname for me, and her voice was extremely serious as she sought confirmation. “This is just a guess, but once you go deeper, there’s no turning back. This might be our last chance to talk properly.”

“It’s fine. I finished all my preparations along the way.” I wasn’t pushing ahead thoughtlessly. I felt no hesitation now. My mind was clear, my HP and MP were full. I was facing the next Guardian battle in the best condition I’d ever been in. “I have no intention of retreating—or of losing. I’ve decided I will bring the two of them back. Titee, is it different for you?”

“Hmph, seems I’ve caused a pointless delay. Well then, that’s fine. Snow! You continue protecting Rouge! The fighting should be left to me and Kanamin! We’re going in!!!” Titee’s lips curled into a combative smile. Though she’d confirmed it, she clearly had no intention of holding back either. She lined up beside me, and together we charged forward.

We passed through the wide-open gates of the royal capital, traversed the highway, and reached the café observed by Dimension...toward a reunion.

Seeing us emerge from the south, Dia rose from her seat to welcome us. “Over here.” She beckoned with a cheerful expression. The wind made the hem of her thin beige dress flutter, revealing glimpses of her supple limbs. This figure was so different from the Dia I remembered.

“Dia?” Without thinking, I called her name.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. Kanami.” She called my name back. Just that alone felt so nostalgic, my body trembled.

At the same time, a chill ran through me, because there was no trace of agitation in Dia’s expression as she said my name. I had expected it, but something was clearly off. This was our reunion after that unwanted parting in the port town of Cork a year ago, yet she was far too calm.

I immediately snapped my fraying thoughts back into focus, reminding myself that I wasn’t reuniting with a friend in the city streets but facing a Guardian’s trial.

With that in mind, I slowly approached. “Dia, are you okay?”

“Hm, I’m fine, you know? Actually, I was the worried one. Since you never showed up, I thought something might’ve happened to you.”

She smiled casually and started walking back to her seat on the terrace. It was the kind of ease you’d expect meeting an old friend after a few weeks apart, an attitude hardly fitting for a reunion after a year.

“But I had people I needed to protect,” she continued, “so I couldn’t come see you. Sorry, Kanami.”

I turned to face the other girl at the table. The name of the black-haired girl in my line of sight was Aikawa Hitaki. My little sister.

Hitaki sat frozen like a statue at the white table. Judging by her half-open eyes, she didn’t seem to be asleep.

“Hitaki...” Just like with Dia, her name slipped out naturally. Then, my feet moved on their own, drawing me closer. Right before my eyes now was the most important thing in the world. Ever since waking in the Dungeon, I’d been searching for her endlessly. My sister, more precious than anything else. My only family. The thing I’d come so close to reaching during the battle with Palinchron yet failed to grasp.

If only I had Hitaki, I could say my battles in this other world were finally over. She was my ultimate goal, my very destination. And now she was right before me. It was only natural that my body moved forward on its own, reaching out to my sister.

“Huh?” Sensing the emergence of hostile Ice magic, I let out a voice of confusion. The fingers on my outstretched hand were freezing over. I instinctively leaped back, retreating about five paces from the white table to reassess the situation. Just now, the spell activated because I was about to touch Hitaki.

It was likely the basic ice-element spell Freeze. But it wasn’t just any Freeze. A Freeze capable of instantly freezing warm human flesh required magic power on the level of an Essence Thief.

My constantly active Dimension confirmed it. This Freeze was a spell constructed by the seated Hitaki. My heart leaped at the fact that my sister had attacked me with magic.

Seeing my agitation, Dia spoke up. “Kanami, are you okay? Sorry, I should’ve told you first.”

She approached Hitaki, drawing closer than the distance I’d been frozen at earlier and cradled Hitaki’s head.

“Sieg, these people aren’t enemies. Calm down,” She stroked my sister’s head like she was soothing a baby, calling her by the name of Sieg.

“S-Sieg? No...Dia, she’s my sister. Sieg was an alias I used; it’s not Hitaki’s name...”

“Kanami, what are you talking about? Kanami is Kanami, right? And Sieg is Sieg.”

I tried to correct the mistake from afar. But what I got from Dia was a look of utter bewilderment. Little by little, the true nature of this abnormal situation began to dawn on me.

“No. The girl standing there is my sister, Hitaki.”

“Hitaki?” Dia tilted her head as if hearing an unfamiliar name.

I was certain I’d explained about my sister to Dia during our voyage a year ago. Yet, this reaction meant there was no doubt about what was going on.

“Hey, Dia, could you leave me alone with Hitaki for a moment? There’s something I need to talk to her about.”

Before speaking, I wanted to gain what information I could, so I pointed at Hitaki and moved closer. This time, even if she cast another Ice magic spell on me, I intend to handle it calmly. But before I could get close, I was rebuffed.

“Sorry. You can’t do that.” Stepping between me and Hitaki, Dia began monologuing with a stern expression. “I’m the only one allowed near Sieg. The only one allowed to speak to her, to touch her, is me. Because there’s no one else left. I won’t let anyone take Sieg. I won’t let her go again.”

I felt Dia’s sanity, which I had already doubted, peel away in an instant. Simultaneously, the shape of her supple right arm began to distort. Like kneaded clay, the form of her hand shifted away from that of a human. As Dia’s emotions crumbled, it became clear that her limbs were fake.

First, the part of her right arm from the elbow down completely lost its shape, transforming into particles of magic that glowed pure white. Then, the light swelled, increasing in volume until it became mist. That mist of light slowly enveloped Hitaki, who sat nearby. It was as if a giant’s hand was gently clasping her. Dia seized all of Hitaki with her own magic, fulfilling her earlier declaration of never letting her go, as she continued speaking.

“But don’t misunderstand me, Kanami. Of course, I trust you. It’s just that I can’t afford even the slightest chance of something happening anymore. I don’t want to lose anything precious again. I just want to protect her. Yes, I just want to keep protecting her. From now on, forever, until I die, I will keep protecting Sieg! I won’t allow a single scratch! I won’t let you go anywhere! I won’t let you talk to anyone—that’s what I swore! That’s why!”

I listened patiently, clenching my fists, probing with my words. “Dia, does that mean I’d be hurting that black-haired girl standing there? It’s okay. That will never happen. So, can I just talk to her a little?” This time, I asked without mentioning her name.

But suddenly, Dia’s expression turned tearful, and she glared at me with a look of sheer madness. “Kanami too?! Are you taking Sieg away from me? Why? Why does everyone try to take important things away from me? Why? Hey, why? Why does everyone bully me? It’s weird... Weird, weird, weird. It’s weird!!!”

Little by little, the light faded from her eyes, and it became impossible to tell where she was looking. Simultaneously, her magical power swelled.

The brilliance of the light intensified, and now her left leg, too, began to lose its shape just like her right arm had. It was the part Maria had burned during the battle with the Apostle a year ago. From the knee down, that leg turned into particles of light, just like her right arm. Crumbling, crumbling, crumbling, it took on a new shape.

This time, it wasn’t mist but countless feathers of light. Light feathers scattered from her leg, increasing in volume like spreading wings. In an instant, the streets of Viaysia were filled with light and feathers.

Those streets, dyed in immaculate white, became a sight that could only be described as sacred. It was beautiful, yet anyone with even a shred of understanding of magic would be overcome by terror first and foremost. It was a sensation similar to facing Titee at full power. The girl murmuring before me now possessed the same force as the Demon Queen—the power to make all manner of beings bow down without question.

“Ah, this is wrong! I won’t allow it! I will protect us! I absolutely won’t allow it!”

Dia erupted with magic power as she looked at me and started screaming. From the color of her eyes, I felt she no longer even knew who I was. Right now, there was only one thing in her mind. To never let go of the being she must protect—Sieg.

With those same empty eyes, Dia stepped forward. The immense, sacred magic filling our surroundings began to move, following its master. Hostility swelled, intent on eliminating me, the intruder. Further conversation was impossible. Before we could speak more, I had to restrain her.

Dia opened her mouth wide and, as if switching off a power source, dispersed all her shining magic like mist. She bowed her head, and the swelling hostility vanished. I had seen this sequence before, so I calmly watched the transformation.

Dia suddenly lifted her face, grinning broadly, revealing an expression entirely different from before. That look, far from innocent, confirmed to me that a different person stood there.

Apostle Sith spoke casually. “Well, I’m at my limit. Anyway, that’s how it is. Oh, and by the way, if Diablo and Sieg get too far apart, they both go berserk, so be careful, friend.”

“Long time no see, Sith...” I’d known she would show up from the start. Calmly confirming the switch, I quieted the excitement I felt at Dia’s and Hitaki’s appearance.

“Long time no see, dear friend and Snow. Oh, Rouge is here too. And, it’s a pleasure to meet the real Sovereign Queen Lorde for the first time.”

To us, it felt like greeting old friends, but to Titee alone, Sith bowed respectfully. Greetings wrapped up quickly, and we moved on to the main topic.

“Well then. Shall we try peace negotiations before the duel? After all, peace is best for everything. Surely you aren’t the kind of cruel people who would lay a hand on a military envoy, are you?” Sith asked. She turned her back to us as if testing us, then moved to the large white table where Hitaki sat and took a seat. She beckoned us over, inviting us to join her at the white table.

Without hesitation, I took my place at the table. My three companions followed silently. We had decided beforehand that if there was to be a conversation with Apostle Sith, I alone would conduct it. Now, Sith and Hitaki sat facing the four of us, creating the appearance of a debate about to begin between two teams. With everyone at the same table, I was the first to ask a question.

“Sith, what was that about Dia earlier? Explain yourself.”

“Don’t get so angry. I’ll explain properly. We are friends, after all.” Sith picked up a cup from the table and took a sip of tea with an elegant gesture. “Just as you feared, Dia thinks my dear friend Hitaki is ‘Sieg.’ Interesting, isn’t it? It was easy to make her think that. Since the body truly is Sieg, you could even say it’s more accurate now. Thanks to the skill Overprotection targeting Sieg, it was surprisingly simple. It’s not quite at the level of the Essence Thieves of Darkness and Light, but for me, it’s a masterpiece.”

To me, manipulating someone’s heart was the most unforgivable act. But I suppressed my raging emotions and focused on gathering information. For Dia’s safety, I had to stay as calm as possible when talking to Apostle Sith.

“Why did you do that?”

“Because I had no other choice. For the past year, Diablo kept chipping away at her own heart, chipping and chipping until her personality was on the verge of collapse. Before that collapse happened, I prepared something precious to her to stabilize her mind. Actually, I’d rather you praise me for stopping her collapse...” Sith glanced at my expression. She genuinely seemed to want praise, just as she said.

From her demeanor, her true nature gradually became clear. This woman was a champion of justice. A champion of her own slightly skewed sense of justice, but she undoubtedly loved justice above all else and was trying to protect this world with foolishly sincere dedication.

“So, while treating her, I also tried embedding some new spell formulas. I worked hard to create them to forge an alliance with Ide. It’s a rule-based spell formula: ‘If anyone tries to harm Hitaki, Dia’s light will pierce the enemy. Conversely, if anyone tries to harm Dia, Hitaki will freeze the enemy. They protect each other completely.’ That’s why Dia overreacted earlier. With the status boost from the skill Overprotective too, it’s really something else!” Sith explained the situation in a joking tone. All the while, she kept poking Hitaki’s cheek playfully, emphasizing that she herself was perfectly fine.

Unlike when I approached, Hitaki merely squirmed as if tickled. But even then, her eyes remained half-open. She didn’t look awake, nor did she look asleep.

“Hmm, worried about Hitaki? Right now, she’s sleepwalking. To be blunt, she’s totally asleep.” As I speculated about Hitaki’s condition, Sith, sensing my thoughts, resumed her explanation. Her consideration made it clear that she genuinely intended to explain things for my sake.

“Is she really asleep? She used magic just now while sleeping!” I said.

“Well, of course. I mean, it’s Hitaki, right?”

I didn’t understand the implication of that immediate reply. I’d never seen anyone use magic while asleep before. Seeing my confused expression, Sith raised a questioning eyebrow but quickly realized the cause and resumed her explanation.

“Ah. So my friend here has never seen Hitaki fight, then, right? For Hitaki, who possesses four unique mental skills, being asleep isn’t a handicap at all. Using magic deftly while doing something else is her specialty. She’s probably the most skilled magic-user in the world.”

My sister’s abilities in another world. I couldn’t even begin to imagine them. To me, Hitaki was the very symbol of our original world, the embodiment of peace itself. I couldn’t picture her using magic, so being told she was so skilled at it just didn’t register. Was it even appropriate to describe magic performed while asleep with a single word as skillful? Yet Sith believed it wholeheartedly. Far from lying, she boasted about Hitaki’s awesomeness as if it were her own achievement.

Various doubts swirled in my mind, and I found myself frowning involuntarily. Seeing my expression, Sith smiled gently. “Calm down. Shall we talk while we slake our thirst? The tea and cake here are delicious, a luxury we couldn’t have afforded a thousand years ago. Oh, there’s no waitstaff, so I’ll pour for you.”

Conversation was welcome, but her obvious behavior made it feel like a trap. I remained wary as Sith served tea to everyone and sliced the cakes lined up on the tray.

Feeling my suspicious gaze, her expression darkened slightly. She might have genuinely prepared this tea and cake as a token of affection. “My friend, I truly desire a peaceful resolution. I learned from our conversation a year ago and prepared an even better proposal this time. You dislike how they treat Dia with contempt, don’t you?”

“Yes...”

Leaving the tea and cake untouched, Sith moved on to her main point. “Listen carefully. I’ve brought a proposal that can save Dia and also fulfill my demands. It’ll take a little while; is that all right?”

Once more, I nodded, urging her to continue. Sith cleared her throat once before speaking of her desires as an Apostle.

“First, I want you to understand the fundamental premise: I’m acting to save the world. That’s absolute. The Apostles are messengers of peace born from this world. There’s only one condition for an Apostle to be born: when the world is on the brink of destruction.” Sith gestured emphatically, desperately trying to convey her feelings. I could tell she was explaining it to me, given my lack of memories, with the utmost care. “Without a doubt, the world is heading toward destruction right now. I want to stop that.”

She spoke of worrying about the world’s fate and wanting peace. That story, too beautiful to be true, seemed suspiciously fishy. But Sith, right in front of me, was serious. My observational skills, honed through long battles, and my Dimension magic, both told me so.

“By the way, a thousand years ago, the world nearly ended too. That’s why the three of us—me, Apostle Deiplachra, and Apostle Regacy—were born.”

“By ‘nearly ended,’ you mean the World Restoration Array?”

“No, we wouldn’t call that the world’s end. What we Apostles fear is the dark cloud filling the skies above the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill now at the mainland’s center. When that cloud engulfs the world, every living thing will be infected by magicbane and turn into monsters. Ultimately, the human species will vanish. The monsters will kill each other instinctively, and in the end, no one will remain in the world. Stopping that is our mission.”

Only now did I finally understand her purpose, which had long been unclear. The Apostles were not bound by individual values. They sought to save the world, transcending even nations and continents. It was a purpose one might call noble.

“But Deiplachra and Regacy ignored that mission...so now, I alone carry on the master’s will. Yes, I am the only remaining Apostle of Justice! That’s why I can’t back down. I can’t lose. I won’t yield to anyone!”

“Wait, you have a master? What kind of being is he?”

“My Master existed long, long before that queen over there lived a thousand years ago. Far, far in the past, she was the first of the winged race to reach the deepest level of the world. At that time, my Master took the world’s poison upon herself and sealed herself away with her own hands. She is the true Guardian of this world.”

A winged race from long, long ago? In this other world, even a thousand years ago was treated like a myth, so anything before that was hard to imagine. From what I recalled researching in the Allied Nations’ library, there wasn’t a single document about what kind of culture had existed back then. It was likely a realm where it was doubtful humans could have even lived properly.

“Thanks to my master’s sacrifice, the world, which had been on the brink of destruction by the magicbane, gradually began to prosper again. However, even my master was originally just an ordinary girl you could find anywhere. After over ten thousand years passed, her spirit reached its limit. She realized the poison sealed within her was leaking out, spilling onto the earth. Seeing her own body, now cracked and full of gaps, she decided a replacement was needed.”

This story about the so-called Master of the Apostles was also hard to imagine. The scale was grand, but could I think of it as just another common story about a human being with a divine attendant, like those in my world? From what I’d heard, that winged-race girl also seemed like a victim.

“To find a replacement, my Master mustered her remaining strength and sent three apostles—copies of herself, you might say—down to this land. That was the beginning, a thousand years ago. That’s how the story connects. My friend has forgotten this fundamental truth, which is why things got so twisted. So, what do you think after hearing this? Don’t you want to hear more? Don’t you want to cooperate with me?” Sith finished her explanation and smiled smugly.

“Yeah, I want to hear more. I’ll listen quietly, so go on.”

“Good. If even this failed, we really would have started killing each other right here. My friend truly understands me, huh? Heh!”

I still kept my sour expression, not lowering my guard. But Sith narrowed her eyes happily, looking relieved, and began digging into the cake all by herself. That sight only made me feel uneasy. Sith’s personality was showing through her actions far too much. And that exposed personality was far too...

“A thousand years ago, the magicbane spread, and the birth rate of semifer... Ah, back then they were called sorcerers. The birth rate of sorcerers skyrocketed. An increase in sorcerers is proof the world’s end is near. Ten thousand years ago, not a single sorcerer existed in this world. Naturally, there were no monsters either,” Sith continued.

She seemed convinced I wouldn’t interrupt her anymore and proceeded to recount the world’s history.

“We Apostles, born here a thousand years ago, sought to swiftly create beings capable of digesting and circulating the magicbane. You were the first experimental subject,” Sith said, pointing at the green-haired Titee.

The Essence Thief had been an experimental creature. Beside me, Titee showed no change in expression. Perhaps she had already suspected as much.

“By absorbing an excessive amount of magicbane beyond its natural capacity, a being under our control—an Essence Thief—was born,” Sith said. “To put it in terms you’d understand, we succeeded in removing the level cap. Confirming this success, we proceeded to select and cultivate a second and third Essence Thief. However, by the third one, the flaws in this method began to show.”

Sith took a bite of cake, washed it down with tea, and continued her story. It seemed like she was just making small talk.

“Lorde Titee, Tida Rands, Alty. The hearts of these three were just...so weak. We realized that no matter how much time passed, the hearts of these three Essence Thieves never grew. We wanted them to mature into beings capable of becoming replacements for our master, but we came to understand that they could never achieve that.”

Unintentionally, the order in which they’d become Essence Thieves had been slightly revealed. After all, given her age, Titee seemed to have been the first one.

“That’s why we tried from the start to prepare someone from elsewhere who was both strong-willed and talented. The condition for summoning them was ‘someone stronger-willed than anyone else in this world.’ The one called then was this Outworlder, Aikawa Hitaki. We believed that if it were Hitaki, she could gather all the magicbane in the world into herself and reach the same realm as our master...but the result is as you know. Even now, I still don’t understand the reason for that day’s failure.”

Sith sighed regretfully, patting my shoulder. But it looked like nothing more than slight disappointment, like a favorite toy had broken, and my expression, which I was trying to keep calm, began to twist.

“D-Don’t glare at me like that, friend. Please understand! It was all for the sake of world peace... I beg you...” Sith cut a new slice of cake, offering it my way while apologizing. Her desperate expression made it clear this was meant as an apology gift.

To an Apostle, cake and human life might be equal, with no difference at all. I felt a slight sense of despair at that difference in values, and my angry energy drained away.

“For world peace, we truly tried all sorts of things. Next, Apostle Deiplachra summoned the Outworlder Aikawa Kanami and completed the Level Up ritual to convert the magicbane into power. Apostle Regacy, collaborating with Saint Tiara, completed the magic petrification ritual to extract the stone containing the magicbane. But both were just stopgaps. Honestly, the only thing that truly worked was my World Restoration Array!”

That was why she was insistent that she was great. Sith’s face grew smug again, and she snorted. I didn’t sense any malice there. Precisely for that reason, the gap between us only grew wider.

“And so, splendidly, the World Restoration Array succeeded! A few million people died along the way, but...it was a necessary sacrifice.”

“You—!” Until now, world peace had been the premise, so I could tolerate certain things. But her flippant disregard for human life was slowly becoming unbearable.

“You... You were angry a thousand years ago too. Don’t be so angry. You did kill me a thousand years ago, so shouldn’t that settle things?”

I could tell from her expression that she genuinely believed it was settled. It was the only reaction I could muster, realizing that this was simply how Apostle Sith was. I suppressed my anger and adopted a posture of listening to gather information.

“After that, I was killed, and my World Restoration Array plan was inherited by my allies, Kanami the Founder and Saint Tiara. Thanks to them, the World Restoration Array Plan changed its name to the Dungeon Plan and survived until this era—though, to be clear, its goal wasn’t world peace or creating a replacement; it seems it was for reviving Aikawa Hitaki.”

In other words, the Dungeon was originally a space for selecting humans to serve as replacements. It had become what it was now because I’d continued tinkering with it for my own personal amusement.

“I see... I’m starting to understand your purpose too. So, how do you plan to prepare this replacement thing from now on? What do you want me to do?” I asked.

“My purpose, now as in the past, is to prepare a replacement for my master. And the means to do so are already in place. The Level Up ritual that transforms troublesome magicbane into power, the magic petrification ritual that crystallizes human souls entirely, the vessel Diablo to contain it all, and the Dungeon as the stage to execute all these things! Yes, everything is ready! So what I ask of my friend is truly just a little thing. A small favor.”

Here, it seemed Sith’s earlier mention of a plan that saved Dia and also fulfilled her own demands came into play. However, even from what’d been said so far, it was clear that my way of thinking differed too greatly from hers. Without expecting much, I listen to the request.

“What I want is help with leveling up Diablo Sith. But if we level up normally, she’ll end up like Hitaki. So we’ll need a lot of magic gems from Essence Thieves in order to remove the level cap. And I want plenty of magic gems packed full of magicbane. So first, I need you to raise your level. Using the magic gem of the Thief of Earth’s Essence over there should get you safely to just shy of Level 60. I’ve already confirmed this limit through Hitaki, so it’s a sure thing. Just look at her stats.”

I did as I was told and used Analyze on Hitaki. At the same time, I also took a look at Sith’s Status, since I knew we’d be fighting soon.

[STATUS]

NAME: Aikawa Hitaki

HP: 587/587

MP: 2812/2812

CLASS: Diver

LEVEL 59

STR 16.78

VIT 17.11

DEX 40.21

AGI 29.86

INT 60.76

MAG 132.55

APT 0.79

[STATUS]

NAME: Diablo Sith

HP: 741/741

MP: 3412/3412

CLASS: Apostle

LEVEL 59

STR 15.11

VIT 13.55

DEX 9.45

AGI 10.67

INT 39.91

MAG 177.22

APT 5.00

I let out a hiss. I’d expected it, but the absurdity of the numerical values in their stats was too much. Last time I’d seen them, Hitaki had been at Level 1 and Dia had been Level 20. But now, both of them were more than twice my level. My year’s delay was starkly laid bare in numbers, yet I immediately reminded myself that stats were just that—numbers. They were merely metrics created by my past self. I’d learned the hard way time and again that nothing was absolute.

“You’ve seen it, right? So, once both Aikawa siblings reach their limits, they’ll die and become magic gems. Naturally, that includes the Demon Queen over there and Ide too. You’ll unify the world with Ide, then cleanly turn into magic gems. That way, I’ll have five magic gems: Dimension, Water, Earth, Wind, and Wood. Five magic gems of the Essence Thieves, packed with massive amounts of magicbane!” Sith spoke casually of our deaths and declared that she would take the magic stone of Lorwen at my waist too. “Then Diablo will swallow all five, converting all the magicbane into power! That will definitely make her body strong enough to withstand the Deepest Level—reaching the Level 99 cap. The strongest body, combined with an Apostle’s spirit! Truly perfect! Meaning, I myself can offer a vessel to replace the master who created me! That will stop the world’s magicbane from leaking out, reduce the number of semifer who’ve broken free from human bonds, and eradicate ferocious monsters from the world! See? It’s a wonderful plan, isn’t it?!”

Sith genuinely seemed to think this outrageous proposal was a great idea. She leaned forward from the table, more excited than ever before.

“And you seriously think I’d agree to this?” I asked.

“Is it not good? Dia is still alive, after all. As the ultimate being.”

“Of course it’s no good! It’s no good from the start, because both Hitaki and I would be dead!”

“Huh? But... But, Hitaki and all of you could be remembered as saints who saved the world. You’d surely be passed down as saviors, praised for all eternity. Isn’t that the ultimate existence for a human? The highest honor. Above all, you could die proud and content, knowing you served the world! This time, your death wouldn’t be meaningless! Your journey would be complete through a meaningful life and death! There’d be nothing left to complain about, only satisfaction and fulfillment! See? It’s a perfect story where everyone ends up happy, right?!”

“You...” I was stunned, speechless. No wonder my thousand-year-old self had snapped. Talking with Sith felt like being forced to endlessly solve an incomplete puzzle with no end in sight, and my frustration just kept building. It was unsettling how we shared the same language yet couldn’t share the same conversation. The moment I realized this was a discussion with no endpoint, I found myself unable to respond.

Seeing me remain silent, Sith started looking a little uneasy. “I-It’s really no good? Are you sure? But this could contribute to world peace! As a human being, isn’t that the most meaningful life possible?”

From her expression, it was clear she genuinely believed everyone should gladly sacrifice themselves for world peace. I also understood that she had respected my opinion in her own way when coming up with this plan. The only thing I could grasp was that even if she died, Apostle Sith would remain unchanged.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t cooperate with you. The one I’m taking to the Deepest Level is Hitaki. I decided that long ago.” I cut off the discussion, stating only the nonnegotiable part. There was no other choice.

“My friend! You can’t take Hitaki to the Deepest Level. The child has too many innate uncertainties and mysteries. It’s safer for me to go, since I know the world’s mechanisms best. And I’ve already proven my mental fortitude. I’m the most suitable candidate!”

“You might be the right person. But don’t use Dia’s body without permission. You might want to be a replacement, but Dia surely doesn’t. Dia’s dream is still to be a great swordsman!”

“But Dia agreed with me... After I explained everything thoroughly, she said it was okay to give up her dream and become a replacement.”

Indeed, a year ago, there’d been hints that Dia had consented. I recalled the last time I’d spoken with her. It had been when Ide’s condition recovery spell allowed me, Lastiara, and Dia to regain memory fragments from a thousand years ago. Back then, Dia had said we’d done terrible things to Kanami and the others and that we must at least atone for our sins.

In other words, Sith felt as though what she’d done to us siblings a thousand years ago was her own sin. But that was absolutely wrong. There was no way Sith and Dia here could be the same being. Since it seemed Sith was just conveniently using the kindhearted Dia, there was only one thing for me to do.

“Even so, I won’t let you take Dia to the Deepest Level. If it’s about the world ending, then it could be done alongside treating Hitaki, but the solution will be decided by discussing it with your master, not with you, the substitute. So you should give up for now.”

“You discussing things with my master? That absolutely won’t do. Only those with a vessel capable of becoming a replacement may touch my master now. Only beings strong in heart and body, who can perfectly control the world’s poison. That’s not you, my friend.”

The discussion finally reached a deadlock, each side merely stating their demands. I’d known this would happen from the start. Having extracted all the necessary information, what followed now wouldn’t be a discussion, but savage a battle.

“Is it really not good, my friend?” Sith still clung stubbornly to the negotiations, seeking my confirmation.

“Yes. It’s impossible.” I answered her with a fighting spirit, rising from my seat.

“It really is impossible, then. But friend, you cannot defeat me. Even if you defeated Ide, you absolutely cannot defeat the two of us here. It’s a law of the world. It’s decided. Still want to fight?” Her voice was full of warning.

But if I could be stopped by words like that, I wouldn’t have come this far in the first place. Without hesitating, I stood up and placed my hand on the sword at my waist. Seeing the end of the discussion, Sith showed emotion for the first time that day.

“This time, I explained everything to you. Why won’t you understand? I’m an Apostle. I’m the chosen one destined to save the world. So why?” She hung her head, overcome with sorrow. But the reason for that sorrow was simply that others wouldn’t willingly die for her sake.

The chasm between us seemed impossible to bridge now. I’d truly wanted to resolve things through discussion. That hadn’t been a lie. But now that I knew it was far too difficult, I’d prioritize Dia’s safety. Right now, even my sister, Hitaki, had been taken. So there was no choice but to fight.

I reached to draw my sword. At that moment, the entire continent shuddered as if sinking several centimeters, and my vision blurred. An earthquake, as if timed perfectly, assaulted us with a thunderous roar. And through Dimension, I grasped its cause.

“Ide!”

On the hill ahead along this road, something moved. The world shook as the immense mass at the center of the royal capital had shifted. Viaysia Castle had activated and was beginning to move.

The castle atop the central hill of the royal capital was identical to the Viaysia Castle that had been re-created within the Dungeon. Perhaps because it was adorned with countless trees, it felt even larger than it actually was. Leaves spread all across the roof, while vines and creepers densely covered its walls. Furthermore, long roots extended from all over the structure, tangling and twisting to form four thick, pillar-like trunks resembling limbs.

From a distance, the four thick trunks made it look like a giant, distorted and misshapen, that was rising up. It was easy to imagine that many more trunks were growing within the castle itself. Those trunks were the bones, the vines and creepers, the blood vessels and nerves. At its core, the heart, Ide surely resided.

Truly, the castle had evolved into a being that could be called a giant. Myriad leaves rustled together, creating a sound like a sandstorm. Small birds, likely resting their wings within, chirped as they flew off into the clear blue sky. Even now, vines and creepers seemed to be growing, accompanied by sounds like snakes slithering.

Finally, the castle’s two legs stamped down on the earth, its thunderous roar echoing throughout the royal capital. Without hesitation, it trampled through the square in the middle of the road, crushing everything in its path. The next two steps continued to destroy the city. I figured it was carefully trying to choose where to step, but damage was unavoidable.

As it destroyed everything, the colossus, too immense to take in with a single look, drew nearer. With just three steps, Viaysia Castle, which should have been far, far away, arrived near the restaurant where we were. By this point, neither Titee, Snow, nor Rouge could remain casually seated. Everyone stood, ready for battle.

The sunlight was blocked by the enormous castle, and the restaurant was swallowed by shadows. Looking up at the structure now right beside us, I couldn’t see its peak because the thick limbs completely obscured its top. It was immense. It wasn’t just tall but wide too.

It was like a wall. It was no exaggeration to call this colossal monster, seemingly reaching for the heavens, an enemy now standing before us. Just as in the Second Dungeon town of Dahrill, the Pieris Aicia blooming on the castle served as its mouth.

“Apostle Sith, negotiations are over.”

It was Ide’s voice. The Thief of Wood’s Essence had come to rescue Sith, who had been attacked at the negotiating table. However, Sith, the one needing rescue, remained seated, unmoving.

Unable to bear watching any longer, Ide sighed deeply and spoke. “Please don’t cry, Your Apostolic Highness. That’s why I told you it’s better to stop.”

Sith raised her trembling face to protest. “I-I’m not crying...”

Indeed, she wasn’t. But her face looked like she might burst into tears at any moment. Being rejected by me must have truly shocked her. She began to spill out her inner feelings, bit by bit, to everyone present.

“But I believed that as friends, you would understand me... From the very first day we met, I felt it was destiny. I thought we were kindred spirits... That someday, absolutely someday, we would understand each other. I thought... That’s why...”

“Your relationship with Kanami the Founder was long ago. Give up. Even if he comes to know everything in the world, he will never again side with you.” Ide cut off Sith’s words.

Honestly, I felt the same. I doubted I’d ever understand her world-first, superhuman way of thinking even by the time I died.

“If you patiently kept explaining, you might eventually gain his approval. But right now, it’s wiser to stop. Kanami the Founder is about to seize your body.”

“I see... It seems that is the case.”

Had the castle delayed its movement by even one more second, the battle between Sith and me would have begun before my duel with Ide. Accepting this, Sith took a single deep breath, stopping the tremors in her body. And so, negotiations continued. However, with the overwhelming power of the castle now behind her, it was no longer a peace negotiation.

“My friend, Ide, agreed to what we discussed earlier. He said that if we can bring peace to the world alongside that queen over there, we can do whatever we want afterward. We established our cooperative relationship very easily.”

“Even after I clearly refused this, you still won’t give up on it?”

“Of course not. Because using you all is much faster. If you wish to refuse this offer, you’ll have no choice but to face me in a duel. Naturally, when that time comes, I’ll have Hitaki fighting alongside me, you know. After all, she and I have always been a pair.” Though she used elegant words, it ultimately boiled down to “fight if you don’t want to die.”

Peace talks collapsed, and tension between Sith and me escalated. The tea cups on the table had shattered from the earlier vibrations. The time for enjoying refreshments together was over.

“But Ide says he wants a one-on-one duel with you...so, how about we start with a showdown between the old and new rulers? That’ll be the quickest way.” Sith invited Titee to fight instead of me.

“Fine by me. I was planning to hold you down with Snow during the duel anyway,” Titee replied.

Sith’s proposal fell within the scope of our prearranged plan. While Ide and I fought, Titee and Snow would keep Sith and Hitaki down. It was one of the ideal scenarios.

“However, Apostle, before that, might I have a moment to speak with my brother?” Titee continued, faced with this ideal scenario. My head was nearly boiling over from the confrontation with Sith, but she remained calm. She hadn’t forgotten the most crucial part of our plan.

The most essential element in battling a Guardian was words. I believed persuasion through words was the most effective attack against one, and Titee had proven as much through her own experience.

“Sovereign Queen Lorde, talking now, of all times—”

“Listen, Ide!” Titee shouted, refusing to accept his attempt to reject an open dialogue. “I understand you hate Kanamin! From your perspective, Kanami the Founder was a sworn enemy who took everything from us a thousand years ago! I understand that! It’s pointless now to tell you that Kanamin isn’t bad!”

Whether swallowed by that powerful shout or moved by his brotherly nature, Ide fell silent and listened to Titee’s words. Surprisingly, Sith showed no sign of trying to interrupt the siblings’ conversation.

“But that doesn’t mean ending it with violence is right! Even a thousand years ago we weren’t that tyrannical! That should be the method you, who were chancellor, hate most!!!” Titee didn’t directly contradict Ide. She didn’t praise him like she had the other day; instead, she brought up his position as chancellor—the very thing he seemed fixated on. It was a very skillful, adult persuasion tactic. “Using that immense body and the power of an Essence Thief to duel and get your way, with the winner being the one who’s ‘correct’? That’s nothing but a childish quarrel! Is the chancellor you believe you are someone who engages in such childish fights?!”

“But... That...” Ide’s voice was hesitant.

In response, Titee spoke with the gentle kindness of an older sister. “Trying to force things through brute strength only makes matters worse. First, let’s talk about everything, from childhood to today. Whether we fight or discuss, we must first understand each other. If we honestly lay our hearts bare, sometimes that alone can resolve things, you know?”

A resolution born of airing out their innermost feelings. This likely referred to Chloe, who’d stopped Snow in the port town of Cork. Seeing two people bearing similar mental distortions come to understand each other, it was clear Titee wanted a similar outcome for herself.

I didn’t think it was impossible. The one standing here now wasn’t the Lorde from a thousand years ago. This was Titee, who’d suffered for a thousand years, traveled to the future, learned alongside me, and become just a little bit more grown-up. I believed we could bring about a different outcome than a thousand years ago.

“Relying on the power of an Essence Thief is a last resort. Otherwise, we’ll be swayed by that power and everyone will lose sight of what’s important. For instance, this town... If we fought with our true strength, it could vanish easily, couldn’t it? Hey, Ide, this city is wonderful. The moment I saw it, the smiles of its people came to mind. Truly, you’ve done a fine job.”

From within the castle-made-giant, I thought I heard a gasp. Ide was undoubtedly shaken by hearing praise for the city of Viaysia he himself had nurtured.

“Don’t you feel you want to protect this city? At least I, truly, from the bottom of my heart, don’t want to leave a single scratch on it, even if it’s deserted.”

“All right. If that’s what the Sovereign Queen Lorde commands, then let’s change the location. There’s a plain to the southeast. There, we won’t destroy anything and can fight to our hearts’ content.”

“The plain to the southeast... It’s near our childhood home. Indeed, it might be a fitting place to settle this.” She succeeded in getting him to agree to change the location without much fuss. But Titee wasn’t satisfied with just that. “But wait! I still haven’t finished talking with you! Seeing you face-to-face confirmed it, you, truly...”

Here and now, as if deciding the outcome of the Guardian battle, Titee shouted at the top of her lungs.

“You don’t want to hurt anyone, do you?! Are you in your right mind?! You haven’t changed a bit since the old days! You can’t bear to see even the lives of plants and trees harmed, can you?! Every structure built with people’s heartfelt effort is precious to you, isn’t it?! You can’t rest until everyone within sight is smiling, can you?! Deep down, you hate fighting, don’t you?!”

With absolute conviction, Titee shouted and hammered home her judgment of her brother. It was an act brimming with arrogance, but in this world, only one person, only Titee, his sister, was permitted to do so.

“Didn’t you deeply regret inciting Rouge and Noir in Dahrill?! Didn’t you nearly lose your mind countless times, yet snap back to sanity every time you saw someone hurt?! That someone gets hurt because of you—just that alone brings you back to your senses, you gentle soul! That’s right, of course that’s right! You aren’t like me! You’re the kindest sorcerer in the world! You’re the strong one who lived for others until the very end! You’re my proud younger brother, the white tree spirit, the Dryad Ide!” Titee finished her cry. The whole time, she hadn’t called out to the chancellor but to her younger brother.

Ide couldn’t hide his agitation. His entire body, along with the castle, trembled, shaking the royal capital.

“Please. Please answer me, Ide. Let’s talk just a little longer. We’re family. We’re siblings, after all.” Seeing that, Titee pleaded with him, on the verge of tears. It was an expression utterly unbecoming of the perfect Sovereign Queen Lorde, yet that expression and voice reached Ide, stirring his turmoil even more.

Right now, Ide was undoubtedly lost within Viaysia Castle. The royal capital was enveloped in silence. Only the distant cries of birds and the sound of the wind could be heard. In the solemn air, not a single soul spoke.

It was neither sister nor brother who broke that silence but Sith, who’d been watching intently the entire time. “This is bad. Hitaki and I are one thing, but that child is beyond control now.” She hadn’t spoken out of malice. On the contrary, her concern for the two of them was clear from her demeanor.

“Sith? What are you—?!” I tried to ask what that concern meant, but mid-sentence, something cold touched my back and my voice caught in my throat.

A soft, restrained chuckle followed, echoing near my ear. That inexplicable phenomenon nearly made me scream. Right now, I was deploying Dimension. I was filling the capital city with magic more carefully and meticulously than ever before. That was natural, given I had a Guardian right before me. Therefore, I had complete awareness of everything within the capital. Without a doubt, from corner to corner, I hadn’t missed a single ant.

And yet, just now, someone had slipped their hand inside my clothes from behind. Still gripped by the terror of encountering a ghost, I turned around and saw the person with my physical eyes, not through my spell. The moment I saw them, I instinctively leaped back, creating distance. I had anticipated it from the voice. I’d considered this possibility even before entering the capital. Still, the sight of them stunned me, robbing me of my voice.

The figure behind me was Nosfy, the Thief of Light’s Essence, giggling manically. Even before that, seeing her sunken cheeks sent a chill down my spine. She wore her usual pitch-black attire; her chestnut hair, now almost black, was disheveled, and her torso and limbs were covered in characters like tattoos. Parts of her body were fading away. She was translucent, allowing what was behind her to be seen, making her severed limbs appear to float.

The girl, whose form was more terrifying than a ghost, let an uncontrollable laugh spill out into the world. “Ne-go-ti-ations? Are you negotiating? I heard it was a duel and helped set things up, yet all you have done is babble on and on! Frankly, it is utterly boring for the spectators! It is unbearable!”

From that manner of speaking, I was certain it was the Nosfy I knew. But then, why hadn’t Dimension detected her? I immediately tried to analyze everything about her. Dimension detected no anomalies. No, it observed the anomaly that nothing existed where I could see Nosfy with my naked eyes. I didn’t know how, but Nosfy had escaped Dimension’s sight. The transparency of parts of her body seemed to utilize light refraction.

“Nosfy?! Didn’t you go to the South?! And what happened to your body?!” I asked.

Using her powers as the Thief of Light’s essence, she’d concealed herself and lain in wait. I understood that. I understood, but questions swirled endlessly at the sight of her bizarre form. Even if invisibility was for concealment, I couldn’t fathom the reason for that body covered in tattoos. Her face remained beautiful, but unlike when we met in the Dungeon, her eyes were completely bloodshot. Deep, dark circles formed beneath them, making it look like she hadn’t slept in days.

“Heh heh, this body, you say?! This is, heh, well now, you could say it is a love, heh heh heh, yes, a love spell! Ever since the day I lost to Master Kanami, without rest, without sleep, I crafted it day after day, endlessly! So that this feeling might reach you! I wrote a spell to deflect Master Kanami’s Dimension magic! Since you can see all sorts of things without paying attention, I suppose you did not notice! Complacency is your enemy, Master Kanami!” Nosfy explained the meaning of the tattoos without hesitation. It seemed the effect of repelling magic power made it undetectable by Dimension. I didn’t intend to take that at face value, but there was no doubt she had achieved an effect close to that.

I gasped, cold sweat trickling down my back. This tension was unlike anything I’d felt facing Sith, Hitaki, or Ide.

Leaving me grimacing, Nosfy continued speaking without restraint. “Lorde! I absolutely refuse to settle this through discussion! That would be far too proper, would it not? Yes, that would be too much like a normal war. Too much like an adult response. Too much like playing nice. Utterly unlike us. As a professional negotiator, I absolutely refuse to accept that. Everyone, let us act more like ourselves, shall we?!”

Nosfy shouted from the center of the group, as if giving a speech. Meanwhile, she created a flag of light from her right hand and thrust it into the ground. Then, adding exaggerated gestures, she continued speaking.

“Listen up, everyone! This is not about that at all! Ide understood what Lorde was saying long ago! He knows it all too well! He’s doing it knowing full well! But his emotions, his heart, his soul—they will not allow him to repent now!!! He keeps repeating it, knowing it all along!!!”

It seemed like encouragement, but it was clever incitement. And the problem was that its targets weren’t ordinary people, but the Essence Thieves who possessed the power to rewrite the map. Nosfy was practically shouting that it was time to fight.

“So, now you say you are talking it out? Come on! It is pointless, right?! Do you not agree, Master Kanami?!” Then she turned to me, demanding my agreement with extreme force. Her usual tone made me grimace. Titee however, was different.

“Nosfy! You came!” She called Nosfy’s name with a delighted expression. She still thought that thing was a friend, I supposed. Even with Nosfy interrupting this crucial scene, Titee welcomed her.

That reaction must have been unexpected for Nosfy too. She opened her mouth in slight surprise before calmly responding. “Listen, Lorde. Trying to break your enemy down with words like that is not impressive. A duel is a promise. Promises are meant to be kept. To end your lingering attachment with mere words, without a clash of souls... I believe it is wrong.”

Thanks to Titee, her momentum seemed to wane. Yet she still held the upper hand. She addressed us all one by one, unilaterally.

“Apostle Sith, you must not get swept up in the pace of Master Kanami and his friends. Trying to talk things out with everyone until the very end is a bad habit. If you keep doing that, you will get killed again while you are still talking, you know?”

“Huh? Is that so?”

“Yes, it is!”

“Well, okay then. But don’t yell in my ear. It startles me.” It seemed we weren’t the only ones overwhelmed by Nosfy’s appearance and momentum. Even Sith, who appeared to be Nosfy’s ally, looked bewildered.

Amid the confusion, Nosfy began chanting a spell. “Now then! Since we have settled our talk, let us fight! If we do not, we will regret it! Of course, you will regret it even if you do! So it is better to regret it after doing it! Light Ilaia! Hee hee, then there is no need to agonize over it! There is nothing left to do but fight, right?! I, the professional discussion specialist, guarantee it! Fighting and killing each other is the supreme and most beloved form of Discussion!”

Dazzling light scattered in rapid succession from the flag that Nosfy held. The midday streets filled with stardust-like brilliance. The world’s brightness surpassed its limits, turning pure white. It was the power of the Thief of Light’s Essence. It was the light of Discussion, invading everything without question. That light entered our bodies, speaking directly to our minds through its magic. The inciting words Nosfy had just spoken echoed over and over inside our heads.

Fight. Don’t hesitate. Follow your heart. Don’t regret. It urged us on. Gradually, our bodies grew hot, exchanging words became bothersome, and we wanted to solve everything with violence.

“The light! It’s fueling my fighting spirit! Dammit!”

As long as it used light as a medium, there was no way to stop it. Looking around, I saw my comrades grimacing the same way. Worse, even the enemies we were about to fight wore identical expressions.

Sith clutched her head, gripping Hitaki’s hand tightly. Ide, who should have been holed up in the castle, screamed while making the plants on the outer wall writhe like a swarm of snakes.

“Lady Nosfy! That light! It’s disrupting my control of the castle!” Ide shouted.

But what came back was Nosfy’s advice like a denial. “Chancellor Ide, you resolved to duel, did you not? Then you must not waver. You must not hesitate. You must not retreat a single step. Otherwise, you will not even be able to challenge him...like me.”

Those words were gentle. Unlike the previous mockery, they even carried a hint of compassion. Was Nosfy genuinely worried about Ide now? Drawing from her own experience, she seemed to be urging him to run wild, to act on impulse, even if it meant making mistakes, precisely because she cared.

“You should understand that suffering well. You must not be selective. You have a duty to fight for your fallen comrades. That is why you have maintained your strength until today, is it not? Yes, that is absolutely correct. Souls exist not for mere decorative dialogue, but to clash with all their might. If you miss this opportunity, you may never be able to give your all again.” Her words were beautiful, her form divine, like a holy mother, yet her message was utterly dangerous. Clash. Simply clash, soul against soul, with all your might. She incited him, pushing him forward.

Ide accepted that encouragement. “You are correct, my lady. With the magic of Kanami the Founder, words alone could have ended everything. What is happening now remains unknown. Then, no questions asked is the best course! Yes, we should begin the duel swiftly! Immediately!”

He’d made up his mind. Driven by the heightened fighting spirit fueled by the light’s erosion, Ide began to move the castle. He unleashed the rapidly growing plants, causing the castle to swell. The trees, growing without limit, surpassed the uppermost floor and climbed skyward. The roots that had spread across the castle walls and towers thickened further, beginning to flex and contract like human muscles.

With a rumbling sound like an earthquake, one of the massive trunks on the side of Viaysia Castle slowly moved—the giant’s right arm swung down, aiming for the restaurant on the street. It was a wide-area attack, like a wall crashing down.

“Wait, Ide! The duel can wait until after Titee finishes speaking! Ugh, extend! Dimension: Flamberage!”

Judging the blow unstoppable, I instantly drew Lorwen, Treasured Blade of the Arrace Clan, wrapped it in magic power, and extended its blade. I still couldn’t use my Magic Materialization skill with unaligned magic, but with my current power, I could mimic it using Dimension magic. I swung the over-one-kilometer-long Dimension: Flamberage, cleaving the giant’s arm vertically.

Of course, I didn’t actually cut it; I merely shifted the space. As a result, the giant’s fist, split into two halves, fell onto the restaurants flanking the road. The largest tremor yet today and subsequent explosion created two massive craters in the royal capital. The aftermath was terrifying. The shock wave and gale-force winds raged, destroying surrounding buildings. The adjacent restaurants shattered like toys dropped from a great height. Every table and chair lining the terrace was blown away, and the natural scenery adorning the street was torn apart.

Simultaneously, everyone present sprang into action. That was hardly surprising, as the aftermath carried not just shock waves and gales, but also fragments of destroyed buildings.

First, Nosfy, who’d caused this devastation, leaped to the roof of a tall building nearby to take refuge. Sith took the hand of the nearby Hitaki, holding her back while blocking the aftershocks with a Holy magic barrier. Snow also shielded Rouge, blocking the aftershocks with a Resonant magic barrier. Only Titee, without magic, fended off everything approaching with her hands while shouting toward the rooftop.

“Nosfy, stop that blinding light! Wait! Everyone, wait!”

“It’s no use, Titee! Protect Snow and Rouge!” I entrusted Titee with guarding our comrades and leaped onto the roof alongside Nosfy. Taking up a position where I could see both Ide and Nosfy, who had decided to fight, with my own eyes, I clenched my teeth as I looked out over the destroyed city. “Damn it, Nosfy!”

“Hee hee. How kind of you, Master Kanami. But is this really the time for such worries?” Nosfy, standing on a distant rooftop, replied with a laugh.

“So it was cut down by magic after all! But I knew that much!” A voice calling my name echoed from high above. The colossal figure blocking the sun swung its remaining left arm, attempting to strike me from above. Instantly, I readied my longsword again, preparing to intercept.

“Attacking me with such clumsy movements is futile, Ide!”

If it were merely a matter of size, there were countless ways to fight the castle. Within the Arrace Swordsmanship techniques that I knew, there were plenty that were designed to handle even a giant big enough to pierce the sky.

I shouted my warning, but Ide didn’t halt his movement. “What?! I never thought this mere bulk would work either! Of course, my true target is different! And the purpose of this giant body is yet another matter!”

Hearing this cryptic remark, I ignored it and countered with my sword. Slicing through the air with Dimension: Flamberage, I aimed to cleave the enemy’s massive arm vertically once more. But laughter echoed from behind me.

“Master Kanami, is that really what you want?” It was Nosfy’s voice.

Refusing to be distracted by the enemy’s words, I swung my sword. The spell severed the enemy’s arm, yet the blade returned no sensation. The moment I realized I’d swung at thin air, the giant’s left arm distorted like a mirage and vanished. Then, Dimension sensed a massive presence closing in from directly beside me. Not from above, but from the side—the giant’s left arm had been approaching. Why hadn’t I noticed until now?! It must have been Nosfy’s magic; she was laughing at me!

“Another light refraction?!”

“Correct answer! This is the magic you taught me! A matching shifting technique! Hee hee, matching with Master Kanami! Hee hee hee!”

I didn’t understand the principle, but Nosfy alone could nullify Dimension. I’d been completely deceived by her magic.

The giant’s arm approached from directly sideways, carving through the capital city as it came. Even just the palm alone towered higher than any ordinary castle. If this continued, the entire roof I was standing on would be scooped up by that colossal hand. I strained my legs, trying to flee in the opposite direction of the arm. But right where I aimed to escape, Nosfy stood, flag in hand, blocking my path with an adorable smile.

“No, Master Kanami. You must not flee from a duel. Unlike you, who chose the cowardly path of exploiting family ties for a peaceful resolution, Chancellor Ide is heading to the duel with true righteousness—without tricks, detours, or distractions, cursing his inherent weakness. Faced with that full-hearted determination, are you really going to run? Even now, he waits within the castle! Yes, he waits! He has waited for so very long! For you!”

Overwhelmed by her cry, I halted in my tracks. Then, the giant roared overhead.

“Viaysia Castle! Transition to the Divine Seal form! My soul’s Yggdrasil! Seize my sworn enemy, Kanami the Founder!”

The giant’s approaching palm writhed and squirmed, its roots and branches multiplying until it became a hundred-fingered hand. That monstrous hand scooped up the house where Nosfy and I stood, along with the ground beneath it. Though my feet touched the roof, I was overcome by the sensation of floating.

The giant, having literally taken me into its grasp, did not immediately crush me. Instead, it intended to carry all the earth and the building it had scooped up, right up to its torso. Visible at the giant’s core was a massive outer gate. It was a gate leading into Viaysia Castle—no, into the giant’s own body. Ide was inviting me in. In other words, this giant wasn’t created for battle but solely for capturing me.

If I tried to jump off its palm to escape this invitation, Nosfy nearby would surely interfere. She’d been insisting on a duel from the start, so there was no doubt about it. With no other choice, as a final act of resistance, I shouted a message to my comrades on the ground.

“Titee, Snow! Negotiations have failed! Stop wasting time trying to persuade them! I’ll be back soon, so you focus on your part! Got it?!”

Seeing my resignation, Nosfy also called out. “Hee hee! Then I will take that as agreement to a duel! Apostle Sith, you secure Lorde and Snow Walker!”

“I won’t say we’ll secure them, but we intend to hold them back! However, our opponents are the ancient Sovereign Queen Lorde and the new Dragon Incarnate! If both me and Hikaki give it our all to hold them back, there’s a high chance we’ll freeze them solid!”

“Hee hee, as expected of Apostle Sith! What reassuring words! Please, do not hold back! As long as you do not die, I will definitely heal you! I, the greatest healer in history!”

Sith’s and Nosfy’s statements, brimming with absolute confidence, flew back and forth.

Titee’s voice cut in. “Kanamin! Don’t worry about us either! We’ve got the invincible me on your side!” Dimension showed me Titee, who stood facing Sith and the others with a wind barrier raised. Within it, Snow and Rouge were securely protected.

I knew Titee’s ridiculous strength better than anyone. No matter how beyond the norm the enemy might be, she wasn’t the type to fall so easily. As I thought that, my voice caught. The entire city I’d been scooped up with, along with my body, was carried to the castle gate in the giant’s torso. Then, the gate opened on its own, and the giant’s left arm thrust us through it.

Beyond the castle gate, awaited another gate. Probably the official gate of Viaysia Castle. That main gate also opened automatically, and the left arm passed through, forcibly carrying us deep into the castle. A third gate came into view, opened similarly, and as the left arm tried to pass through it, a thunderous roar and shock wave surged. The arm was too massive to fit through completely and slammed into the barrier.

Even with the giant’s arm wedged in the gate, my sensation of floating persisted. Next, writhing branches and trunks tore the roof off the house that served as our footing, carrying me and Nosfy through the third gate as if we were delicacies on a platter. Passing through the half collapsed castle entrance, through every door within the castle, carried on and on and on before finally, we arrived.

It was a sight I’d seen even beyond floor sixty-six of the Dungeon. We were in the courtyard, the vast natural space that was the pride of Viaysia Castle. The momentum of the transport halted, the platform settling firmly on the ground. Simultaneously, the door through which we had just entered was blocked by thick wooden roots forming a lattice. Cutting off the retreat meant this was the place Ide had chosen for the duel.

It was still a vast garden, but it looked slightly different from the orderly gardens I knew. The ceiling was completely covered in leaves, blocking out all light from the sky. A multitude of trees grew haphazardly, creating an oddly gloomy and oppressive atmosphere devoid of any sense of openness. It felt like a neglected garden without a gardener.

And upon that ground, covered without a single gap by plants and flowers, stood a tall, thin man. His waist-length white hair fell carelessly over his white robes. His attire and the glasses perched on his eyes gave him the air of a scholar. Yet, gauntlets encased his arms, and the battle-ready magic pulsing from him refuted that impression. The surrounding plants he likely controlled all writhed as if seeking an opponent to fight.

Now, I would truly face the Quadragesimal Guardian, Ide, the Thief of Wood’s Essence.

Before any words were spoken, Ide waved a hand. One of the ancient trees behind him bent, swinging a branch. The movement was sharp and swift; judging by the branch’s thickness, it possessed enough force to shatter a human bone or two upon impact.

After displaying this masterful manipulation of the trees, Ide spoke in a low voice. No longer through plants, but in his own voice. “Thus, I shall fight. When dueling Kanami the Founder, I cannot even hope for victory without relying on the power of the trees. Do you wish to call me base and cowardly?” He seemed slightly ashamed of having specified the dueling spot and then forcibly dragging me all the way to the castle courtyard.

But I shook my head in response. “No, not at all. If that’s your strength, use it however you like.”

If we could settle this with a fair duel, I had no complaints. I didn’t think the current Ide was cowardly in the slightest either. If I had any thoughts, they were solely directed at the other Guardian.

Nosfy, who had been brought along with me, was writhing in laughter in a corner of the garden. “Ahh, I want to punch Master Kanami from the side! But I will hold back! I am a Guardian capable of restraint, after all!”

“So, you plan to include Nosfy in this too?” Before fighting, I confirmed how to handle the other Guardian.

She herself answered that question immediately. “No, no, Master Kanami. Of course, I will not fight. This is a duel, after all. Interfering would be rude. So please, do not attack me. Look at this. It is a white flag, a white flag.” She raised the brightness of the light flag to its limit, transforming it into a pure-white banner, then waved it.

Ignoring that utterly unbelievable declaration of surrender, I turned my gaze to Ide. This opponent also wore an expression similar to mine.

“That is the contract we have. I swear this duel will be one-on-one. Should Lady Nosfy attempt to intervene, I will assist in her removal.” His stance on Nosfy aligned with mine.

“As per our contract, I shall not interfere. This time, I came only to experiment with a spell for Master Kanami, not to fight. From what I can see, I have completely blocked your magic, so I am satisfied. I am eager to take these experimental results back and proceed with my next bout of research.”

Nosfy gazed at her own body inscribed with characters and the surrounding plants as she spoke. Presumably, it was because of those inscribed spell formulas that I couldn’t see parts of her through Dimension. Judging by her state, I wondered if similar markings existed elsewhere and attempted to deploy Dimension to grasp the castle’s structure. However, the magic I tried to spread dissipated midway. As if it had encountered counter magic.

“Wh—?! My spell vanished!”

“Yes, Master Kanami. I inscribed it not only on this body but also on trees at key points throughout the castle. You might call them Spellwood—trees that reject your Dimension magic. Similar to the Spellcloth that sustained Alty’s body. With this, any magic you attempt to cast over a wide area while inside this castle will be canceled.”

Not being able to grasp the castle’s structure was one thing. But not knowing how Titee and the others were faring outside, fighting, was agonizing. One of my strengths has been completely crushed, and I gritted my teeth.

“Ah ha! Ah ha ha! How about that! Hee hee hee, just a moment ago, you were absolutely certain everything was going your way, were you not?! You were convinced, were you not?! You were using that magic, were you not?! That magic that draws ideal futures! But it’s no good! Hee hee, how does it feel when your certainty of victory is overturned?! I want to comfort my beloved Master Kanami, so I really, really want to know! I want to comfort you with all my might, so tell me, tell me! Hee hee hee!” Nosfy, her face beaming, tried to peek up at my face as I lowered my gaze.

Her actions, which felt like deliberately rubbing salt in the wound, made boiling oil surge up from the pit of my stomach—and immediately, I slammed the lid shut on that pit. I had to calm down. I couldn’t let my heart be disturbed. This was Nosfy’s way of fighting. Not every word she said came from her true heart. The girl named Nosfy was simply giving her all against me, her far-stronger enemy. It was nothing to get particularly angry about.

Even while I was concentrating, Nosfy kept goading me without pause. “I wanted so badly to see the pain on your face, I could not even sleep! Ever since arriving, I have been waiting while inscribing magical patterns on the castle’s trees! How about it?! Your Dimension magic doesn’t work at all, does it?! Please, feel free to praise me, Master Kanami!”

I’d been surprised when we’d fought in the Dungeon a little while ago, but now I understood perfectly. Nosfy was the same type of person as Palinchron. She deeply understood her own lack of strength and compensated for the power gap with preparation and words. I didn’t reply, just took a deep breath.

“Hmph, ignoring me? I spent day after day thinking only of you, Master Kanami. How cruel!” Leaving Nosfy pretending to sob, I turned back to Ide. Immediately, Nosfy launched a verbal attack from another direction. “Ugh, you really are mean. Then, how about this? Ah, I am so bored, so bored, I feel like going after Lorde and Snow over there. It seems they are about to duel, after all. If I cannot interfere with this duel, then I will just have to interfere with theirs!”

“You...” That precise provocation disrupted my breathing, and I couldn’t help but curse under my breath.

“Did you perhaps think I would be glued to you forever? No, that could not be. Please be more aware of just how much of a foul player you are. I am not ready to fight you yet. In a situation like this, practically begging to be overturned, I absolutely will not lay a finger on you!”

Nosfy turned away with a huff. Then, she burst into laughter so forceful it felt like she might stop breathing any second.

“Good!” she forced out in between her bouts of laughter. “Fun! So much fun!!!”

I immediately ignored Nosfy and directed Dimension at Ide. What I needed to focus on now was my duel with him. Anyway, that cowardly girl wouldn’t attack me unless she was absolutely sure she could win. While she mocked me, I tested how far Dimension’s effects reached. From what I could see, it covered the entire room without issue. However, the effects of Dimension didn’t reach the areas around certain trees. Those must be the trees Nosfy had desperately inscribed with her spell formula.

Naturally, Dimension also bounced off Ide’s body. The light wooden armor and gauntlets he wore were densely covered with those same spells. It was highly likely that not only the Dimension spell but other Dimension magic too couldn’t penetrate that armor.

As I meticulously confirmed all this, Nosfy abruptly stopped laughing. “You are calm, Master Kanami. You will not lunge at me like before, I see. What a pity. There was one more experiment I wanted to try, but that will have to wait until next time.” Recognizing that every word spoken thus far had been a trap and provocation, she took a step back, creating a little distance before forming a Connection. “Perhaps it is because our fighting styles are so similar that you have seen through my thoughts. No, I still do not wish to fight you. Honestly, I wish to leave this danger zone as quickly as possible. Until I’m outside your magic sphere, my life is not guaranteed.”

We were alike. I believed those words alone were truthful. I didn’t want to admit it, but there was a part of me that empathized with her, as if we were connected by blood. This girl only engaged in battles she could absolutely win. Just like I once did, she sought only the most rational, one-hundred-percent certain victories. She likely believed fighting here would just be a replay of the battle on floor sixty-six. Therefore, this time, she intended to entrust everything to Guardian Ide.

“Then, Chancellor, I leave the rest to you. Please, let this be a duel without regrets. Unlike Sith, I wish for the happiness of everyone except Master Kanami.”

“Yes, needless to say, I shall leave no regrets.”

I watch her depart. Even if Nosfy began interfering with my allies outside, I intended to trust Titee’s power and prioritize breaking through to Ide according to plan.

“Then, until we meet again, Master Kanami.” With those final words, Nosfy vanished from the central courtyard through her Connection.

With the outsider of the duel gone, only Ide and I remained. Finally, the time had come to fulfill the promise made in Dahrill.

“The unnecessary noise is gone. And since I’ve made this castle the dueling ground, no one else will interfere.” Ide looked relieved, gazing at the spot where Nosfy had departed. Perhaps he had been even warier of her than I had.

“Ah, it seems so... Shall we proceed immediately?” I readied Lorwen, Treasured Blade of the Arrace Clan, and focused solely on the enemy before me.

“Yes, let’s do this...with something precious at stake.” Ide nodded and stared straight back at me. That expression was so much like Titee’s had been back in the Dungeon. It was the face of a child, twisted with suffocation, on the verge of tears.

“I will defeat you, Kanami the Founder. I will show you victory. If I don’t win here, I won’t know why I was born. If I can’t prove it to the Sovereign Queen Lorde I respect, I’ll cease to be myself. So let’s fight.”

“Ide, you...”

“My apologies; that was unnecessary. Unlike Lady Nosfy, I have no intention of fighting with words. Let us begin immediately.”

Perhaps because I had overcome my battle with Titee, I felt I could understand fragments of Ide’s current feelings. However, I couldn’t go easy on him. He wasn’t my only enemy now. I needed to defeat him as quickly as possible and get out.

“Sorry, but I’m pressed for time. We’ll end this duel quickly, Ide.”

“Only you will end, founder of rebellion, Aikawa Kanami!”

The duel finally began. The two duelists facing each other moved simultaneously. The man who called himself “chancellor” intended to face me—the one he’d labeled a rebel—alone.

Did Ide realize how absurd that was? As far as I knew, the position of chancellor wasn’t one who usually took on duels. Pheydelt, the acting chancellor I’d met in Whoseyards, had left ambushes and sneak attacks to others while laughing heartily from a safe distance. It was certainly not a position from which one should utter words like “fair and square” or “one-on-one.”

I pondered as I ran toward him. I pondered the state of mind of Ide, who rejected ambushes and deceitful attacks to seek a direct confrontation. I pondered the meaning of this battle. The purpose of his life. The true desire and lingering attachment of Ide, the Thief of Wood’s Essence.

Chapter 3: Ide

Our duel began. I vowed to myself as we started running toward each other that this would be proof. If I won, it would be proof that I was Chancellor Ide.

With that one wish in my heart, I yelled, “Spread out! Casa Vilanca!”

It wasn’t magic but the power of a sorcerer. At the call of a dryad, within the garden transformed into a magic forest, the trees of the species whose names I’d yelled began to move. The moss-covered grove grew at an unnatural speed, stretching out and raging like living creatures.

Since it wasn’t magic, even the Founder wouldn’t be able to counter it. Above all, this way, even someone not particularly quick-witted like myself could control over ten trees simultaneously. The branches of the summoned Casa Vilanca trees attacked Kanami the Founder from all directions.

In response, Kanami the Founder dashed forward, wielding his sword—likely guided by Dimension magic. In a single breath, the trees I had unleashed were shredded to pieces.

“Ack!” I retreated quickly. This wasn’t a surprise. If the battlefield was the garden I tended, there were still countless trees I could summon. This time, it wouldn’t be ten. I would attack with a hundred trunks and branches. “Everyone in the garden, I’m counting on you! Please seal off Kanami the Founder right now!”

“Don’t underestimate my and Lorwen’s sword! Dimension Flamberage!” he yelled in return.

Responding to my voice, the trees attacked like ten serpents with a hundred tentacles. Kanami extended blades of dimensional energy, their pale violet blades flashing brilliantly. In an instant, all 110 trees that should have been there were severed. Direction and distance meant nothing. It was a slash that seemed to declare the entire world was within its range. Indeed, it possessed the same unreasonable power as the late Master Lorwen.

I was furious and jealous of that talent, yet I calmly executed the countermeasure prepared in the back of my mind. “My turn! De Liffide! Protect everyone!” I positioned the trunk of the specially prepared tree, which I had laid out beforehand, to intercept the swinging blade.

A thud sounded as the blade sank into the wood. It was the same sound a lumberjack’s axe made when it met defeat against nature’s colossal trees.

“What?!” With a cry of astonishment from Kanami the Founder, the sword—which had stretched as if to cleave the entire castle—came to an abrupt halt. “My blade won’t cut through?! No, it’s being sucked dry! But then...”

The blade, glowing a pale purple, dissipated into mist. Realizing his magic power was being drained from the embedded blade, Kanami seemed to have voluntarily dissolved his Magic Materialization. Truly, he had reached the pinnacle of Dimension magic. His grasp of the situation was abnormally swift.

“De Liffide is a plant known as the Sacred Tree of Magic Absorption! It was cultivated and bred by the Thief of Wood’s Essence! Furthermore, spell formulas of the Thief of Light’s Essence are inscribed within it! Even you cannot sever it using only Dimension attribute magic! Now then, swallow the Founder whole, Sacred Trees of Magical Absorption—De Liffide!” I shouted to engrave the information of the unbreakability of my spell into my enemy’s mind. Then, I started a battle centered on those magically enhanced trees.

Having devoured the Founder’s rich, fragrant magic, the De Liffide trees surged with an unprecedented vitality. Like a starving beast, they pounced. These plants—neither carnivorous nor man-eating but ones that devoured magic—were my pride and joy, cultivated specifically to confront the Founder.

Yet that man seemed to mock this masterpiece, countering it within mere seconds.

“This thing wants my magic?! I could cut them down, but that’s too much trouble!” Despite countless De Liffide trees closing in around him, the Founder suppressed his magic power to its minimum level. He dispelled not only his magic blades but even his foundational magic, Dimension. Then, closing his eyes, he cut through everything with only his physical sword.

“Huh?! That’s ridiculous!” I almost cursed out loud. That was completely Lorwen Arrace, the Thief of Earth’s Essence. And he was fully equipped with magic, which should have been his weakness. In other words, the enemy I was facing now was the strongest swordsman in history, who also excelled at magic. If I kept attacking this ridiculous enemy solely with the De Liffide, I’d run out of trees in no time.

I immediately halted the attacking trees, pulling them back around me to focus solely on defense. Naturally, both the Founder and I fell into a stance, each waiting for the enemy’s attack, and the great courtyard was enveloped in silence. A brief respite opened in the duel’s rhythm.

Slowly, the Founder opened his closed eyes and spoke with an expression that looked like he’d just finished warm-up exercises. “True to your name, Thief of Wood’s Essence, you fight by manipulating various trees with magic, don’t you?”

He radiated confidence. The De Liffide Sacred Tree of Magical Absorption was a treasured variety cultivated for a thousand years, yet to him, it seemed merely the first test to gauge my capabilities.

To hide my unease, I, too, forced a composed expression and answered, striving to project an air of unfathomable depth with a chuckle. “No, Kanami the Founder. Manipulating trees with magic... Such dexterous feats are beyond me. What I do is far simpler.”

As an ordinary person, I couldn’t pull off such fairy-tale wizardry. The kind of plant-manipulation magic that other wood-element mages used required considerable talent. And sadly, that was something I lacked.

“My magic power specializes in enhancing my surroundings. To be perfectly honest, that’s all it does. I possess neither the mastery of magic like the so-called Demon Queen, the Sovereign Queen Lorde, nor the ability to develop new spells like you, the so-called Founder. On top of that, the quality of my magic is as difficult to handle as Master Tida’s, and my sheer volume of magic is only on par with Master Lorwen’s, who lived solely for the sword. Everyone told me I was a failure, not just as a mage but as a fighter.”

I confessed my true power without pretense. He would be able to see it was the truth anyway. There was nothing to regret. Above all, this was what I wanted Kanami the Founder to know. I wanted to convey at least one reason for our duel.

“All I can do is Growth Promotion, Recovery, Enhance Ally, and Enhance Self—just those four spells. I possess not a single means of attack. Truly, I was born for the sole purpose of supporting others. All I can do is bring out their strengths and help them live! But conversely, in that alone, I am unmatched! In this arena, I am the strongest! Growth—Branchwood!”

I activated an area-wide enhancement spell on the garden. Of course, drawn by that magic, the De Liffide trees approached me. I didn’t resist. Instead, I stomped my feet into the ground, spreading my roots as a dryad at my feet, proactively channeling magic into the trees. Then, I made my request. As friends, I asked the companions who’d cared for me up until now to help me fight my enemies. That was the only way I knew how to fight.

The response to my plea was the creaking sound of trees growing rapidly. They sounded like cheers. The plants, receiving magic power through the ground, promised to stand against the enemy. Then, every tree in the garden stirred, moving to capture Kanami the Founder.

“More of them?! Dammit, this time there are man-eaters mixed in too!” Seeing plants with distinctly monstrous shapes among them, Kanami the Founder clicked his tongue in disgust.

“Heh heh, it’s not just man-eating plants! The number of species in this castle is as uncountable as the stars! I still have plenty of cards left in my hand!”

“You’ve got the luxury of time to explain, Ide?!”

“Yes, I have both the luxury and the confidence! This is my field! I absolutely will not lose!”

Wrong. He was the one with the advantage. Facing this all-out assault, he still had the composure to converse. That showed he had considerable reserves left. Most likely, he was holding back his full power, wary of Nosfy’s interference. Even with that situational advantage, this was still all I could do.

Kanami the Founder intercepted the chaotic dance of all the plants with a single sword swipe, enduring it all unscathed. He quickly grew accustomed to the assault, steadily closing in on me. Growing accustomed? This was just ridiculous. It was too unfair. Facing an enemy’s overwhelming power, one should feel a little intimidated. True, my hand might hold countless cards. But still, plants were plants. Most fed on earth, water, and light, living quietly. Strong species like the De Liffide Sacred Trees of Magical Absorption were rare.

Right now, Kanami the Founder was wary of Nosfy and wouldn’t force a decisive battle. But if he chose a reckless, all-out charge, I’d be cut down in an instant. My chances of winning in a direct confrontation were probably zero. In this half minute or so of combat, I’d come to know that for certain. It wouldn’t take long before he came to the same conclusion.

“Damn! I have no choice!” With a groan, I pulled my rooted feet from the ground and began retreating.

“Wait, Ide! You think you can escape?!”

“I never considered this garden alone to be the battlefield! Viaysia Castle is my arsenal built solely to kill the Essence Thieves! I shall use every last bit of it!”

Though I knew that it was unfair, I asked the garden plants to hold Kanami the Founder back while I headed for the west exit. I fled into the tunnellike hallway.

“The prey is there! All you Stone-Eating Telliaria!” Countless green vines hung from the grand hall’s ceiling like curtains. They began moving, attempting to wrap themselves around Kanami, who had followed me into the hall.

Naturally, he swung his sword to intercept them. “These are...” He realized immediately. The species known as Stone-Eating Telliaria wasn’t targeting his body but the ores he carried. No one passing through this great hall was permitted to carry weapons. “They’re going after not me but my sword!”

“Stone-Eating Telliaria! O proud kin of the Founder! In the name of the Thief of Wood’s Essence, I beseech you! Entangle and capture that master swordsman!”

This great corridor was the nest of those vines. While I, a pugilist, could pass through, the swordsman Kanami couldn’t pass so easily.

Neither of us let our composed expressions falter. We feigned having more tricks up our sleeves, each trying to read the other’s hand. Kanami fixed his sharp gaze on me, determined not to miss even the slightest shift in my expression, let alone my words. It was frightening how he seemed to perceive not just the movement of my facial muscles but my body temperature, blood flow, and even the amount of sweat on me.

“Ide, you should be ready by now, right? What more could you possibly—” Mid-sentence, he clapped a hand over his mouth and doubled over.

I grinned like a villain. “Heh heh. It’s finally taking effect, isn’t it?”

The enemy was terrifying. But I kept laughing anyway. I wouldn’t back down an inch. That was why I’d prepared for this. So I would have confidence!

“That symptom is from the poisonous Golden Tridrake flower. Shall I increase that and reduce the other flowers?”

Quietly, I spoke to the vividly flowers blooming in the corner of the room, channeling magic through the ground. The red and blue plants reverted to buds as if time had been rewound, leaving only the yellow flowers behind. The diverse array blooming in the great hall was now dyed entirely yellow.

“Ide... You couldn’t possibly...”

“Indeed. You’ve seen beautiful flowers blooming here and there since you first stepped inside, haven’t you? Did you think they were prepared to add color to the castle? Have you forgotten when I mentioned preparing to intercept you the other day? They are all poisonous flowers, specially cultivated toxic plants boasting the highest-tier danger levels on the continent,” I said, revealing the truth as he glared at me.

If I had used poisoned arrows or a high concentration of special gases, it would have been dealt with effortlessly. But it seemed even Kanami couldn’t defend against an attack originating from outside the realm of conscious thought, delivered by naturally existing flowers. It was one of the weaknesses he himself had revealed a thousand years ago.

“From here on, I’ll leave it to the Golden Tridrakes! Everyone else, take a break!”

I narrowed the poison down to a single type, then supplied magic power from my feet to double the pollen quantity. There was absolutely no such thing as overdoing it. Since the poison wouldn’t affect me as a dryad, I increased the dosage without the slightest hesitation.

“This amount should be enough to make even a dragon collapse...but it’s still not nearly enough! I’m impressed by how well your body is holding up, but let’s take our time and let the poison soak into it!”

The more we talked, the more it seemed Kanami realized that inhaling the pollen put him at a disadvantage. With bare hands, he charged at me in silence. Finally, the moment had arrived.

I calmly met his charge. Lowering my hips, I sank into a fighting stance. No matter how terrifying he might be, I couldn’t retreat here. He was now separated from both his sword and magic, his condition worsening from the poison. Furthermore, the preconception that the Thief of Wood’s Essence was weak in close combat led him to rush into battle, charging recklessly without circling around. If we didn’t settle this now, when exactly would we settle it?

“Don’t underestimate Chancellor Ide!” With bare hands, I approached him, swinging my arm like a flexible branch. The backfist launched from below like a whip slipped through my enemy’s defenses, striking his jaw with precision.

“Guh!” Kanami was surprised at being struck first in close combat, groaning as he took a step back. But he quickly regained his footing and charged forward again.

It hit! My fist had connected. My fighting style worked against the Founder. Suppressing my surging excitement, I met his attack. It was the stance that the general had taught me a thousand years ago. Earlier, I’d called it pugilism, but to be precise, it was self-defense. I’d modified it into a variant of martial arts, specialized for ensuring the success of the first strike and neutralizing the enemy’s abilities.

I added a unique, quick feint before aiming for my enemy’s vital point. Yet, Kanami blocked it as if he’d anticipated it. It was only the second strike, yet he handled it so easily.

“Tch!” Though startled, I immediately regained my composure. I recognized this. Even if my first strike was an unavoidable technique, it was Kanami the Founder who defied that very notion. Knowing this allowed me to swiftly transition to my next action.

I opened the pouch I’d concealed in my robe beforehand, scattering its contents as I lunged at him.

“A smoke screen?! But blocking my vision won’t work on me! Wait, what is this?!”

Kanami dodged my grab without relying on sight. But he immediately sensed something amiss and took a step back.

“It’s not a smoke screen? Could it be...seeds?”

“Indeed. My weapons aren’t limited to poison. If these seeds enter your lungs, they’ll destroy you from within.”

I laughed at the trap’s success while inhaling the seeds myself. As a dryad, symbiosis with seeds was possible. Therefore, I could scatter dangerous seeds in large quantities through this near-suicidal method.

The Founder’s expression hardened. He took some distance from me before beginning to construct a spell. It was magic not of the Dimension attribute, which was unusual.

“Cure! Full Cure! Remove!”

“Do you think such crude basic magic can heal this?! This is poison and seed—bred, cultivated, and activated by magic by the Thief of Wood’s Essence!”

A De Liffide tree, hidden in the great hall, reacted to the activation of the healing magic. Annoyed, Kanami dodged it, abandoning attempts to cure his status ailments and suppressing the release of magic power from his body. Then, holding his breath shallowly—yet boldly, without hesitation despite the swirling pollen and seeds—he charged full speed toward me, extending a glowing arm.

“Then I’ll just end this battle immediately! Distance Mute!”

“That too! I’ve prepared for it!” Focusing solely on buying time, I deflected the purple glowing arms of Kanami the Founder with the gauntlets on my own arms. This gauntlet had been forged by a pupil of mine who’d carved it from Yggdrasil in the garden, mastering the art of Blessed Iron Smithing, and it had Dimension resistance inscribed by Nosfy. Truly, it was a legendary-grade piece of armor custom-made to defeat Kanami the Founder. Its power completely repelled the erosion of Distance Mute.

Kanami, though surprised, calmly deactivated the spell on his right arm. He could have eroded the gauntlet if he wished but had likely judged it difficult within the space where the magic-draining sacred tree, De Liffide, lurked.

Seeming to prioritize stunning his enemy first, he swung his fist, just as I had done. I responded in kind. Fist met fist. It was a brawl. Finally, I was locked into the one type of battle I could fight properly. In this kind of brawl, I had the upper hand. A thousand years ago, I’d lacked the dexterity to wield blades like others. Even with only a staff involved, I hadn’t been able to predict where the tip would go. Time and again, I’d attempted sword techniques, only to wound my own arms or thighs. I had been able to grasp my own arm movements, but the moment anything else entered the picture, I’d been hopeless. I’d been the epitome of someone unfit for athletics. For the same reason, I hadn’t been able to handle spears or bows either.

Seeing this, General Vohlz, the old general of the Northern Army, had recommended that I fight with my bare fists. I’d started with self-defense for women and children, progressed through basic body techniques and finally mastered my own variant martial art fueled by the strength gained from becoming an Essence Thief.

That was why I refused to lose in a fistfight like this. After being told repeatedly that it was my only option, I’d trained relentlessly in this alone. Long before becoming the Thief of Wood’s Essence! Even after becoming the Thief of Wood’s Essence! I’d kept at it relentlessly!

For this battle, for this day...

“I won’t lose!” I couldn’t mimic my enemy’s movements and change my response with any Skill. I only saw my enemy’s attack and responded with the optimal movement, using techniques that had become ingrained in my body.

Amid the dizzying flurry of crossing fists, I finally landed one of my most powerful techniques. I swept the Founder’s dual fists aside from the inside, feigned a sweep with my leg, stepped forward, closed the distance, and unleashed a palm strike with my entire body’s force behind it. He took the blow to the abdomen, gritting his teeth to endure it.

He didn’t retreat, but his expression clearly changed. His next movement visibly slowed. I could do this! It was a strike that made me feel that my entire life up to this point hadn’t been wasted. It was a sensation that made me feel all those nights spent sacrificing sleep, repeating the same technique over and over, had been worth it.

I felt victory drawing near, thanks to everything I had prepared working perfectly. The plan had succeeded, thanks to the Viaysia Castle I had prepared a thousand years ago. The plants I’d nurtured until now disabled my enemy’s sword. With Nosfy’s cooperation, Kanami couldn’t use magic either. Every trap functioned, nullifying his abilities. And then there was the variant martial art I’d staked my life on. It was working! My power was flowing through Kanami the Founder! Now, if I unleashed my final trump card like this, it’d be settled.

Weaken Kanami the Founder, grab his arm, and activate the Anti-Founder Magic Seal of my Viaysia Castle. That would be it. That would be the victory of Chancellor Ide.

“Kanamiii!!!” I howled, victory staring me in the face. I continued to move my body, swinging fist after fist, driven by the techniques indelibly saturating my muscles. If I could just use my variant martial art to grab his arm, it would be over. It would end in my victory.

Ah, just a little more. All that was left was to grab him. That would be all it took.

I noticed a sense of unease ten seconds after gaining the upper hand.

Every one of my techniques was parried or deflected until finally even touching Kanami the Founder became difficult. In other words, my advantage lasted a mere ten seconds. What was happening? What the hell was this?

According to plan, this variant martial art should have allowed me to grab the Founder’s arm at least once. But reality was far too merciless. Not once could I seize him. Worse, with every passing second, I fell farther behind. Fist clashed against fist, and I was gradually pushed back.

The terrifying reality sent a chill down my spine. I looked not at the enemy’s movements but at his face. Kanami the Founder was expressionless, staring intently at my body. Those unfathomably void-like eyes were characteristic of a Dimension magic user.

Seeing those pitch-black eyes, I felt a chill and knew for certain. Right now, Kanami was attempting to mimic and copy my variant martial art skill.

He had sensed my disadvantage in the first second, used the next ten seconds to observe and practice, and was trying to close the skill gap right here during the fight. And now, the fact that my techniques were completely useless meant... Well, it meant exactly that. The skill I’d spent over a decade mastering had been drained away in just a dozen seconds.

“Idiotic! This is ridiculous!” I cursed, repeating techniques that were now utterly useless.

Kanami parried them coolly. No, worse—he took the variant martial art I’d thought I’d perfected, elevated it to new heights with mere seconds of practice, and unleashed it upon me.

Forced back by those unseen techniques, my face twisted in agony. This was ridiculous. Did he mean to imply that a year for an ordinary man equaled a second for a genius? Was the technique I’d honed myself merely a convenient stepping stone?

“Don’t you dare, Kanami!!!” Furious, I lunged forward to grab him. But my opponent anticipated the move, seizing my arm instead. In the end, it was Kanami who succeeded first. Next, a fluid, flawless variant martial arts move—one I couldn’t even see coming—was unleashed at me, sending searing pain racing through my entire body.

“Guh! Ugh!!!”

My enemy’s movements were too fast. I couldn’t even tell what technique I’d been hit with.

But thanks to the pain piercing my brain, I knew my condition. My right arm was broken, but I couldn’t stop. I instantly made the trees nesting inside me grow, using them as splints for the broken bone, preparing to counterattack.

But that first step was pushed back by Kanami’s strike. I barely registered that it had come from directly below me. I also recognized it as the same fist technique I had used at the start of battle. I couldn’t block an attack that should have been identical. If it had been exactly like my own attack, I could have blocked it, but naturally, it was faster than mine.

Before I knew it, the advantage in our exchange of blows had completely shifted. Time and again, my arm was grabbed and broken. The pain from the blows and the fractures made my consciousness nearly slip away. Damage accumulated, and my body went numb and stopped moving. I instantly healed it all with plants and magic, but my bones were already shattered. I was barely moving my body by forcing wood through the gaps where bones should be. Burst blood vessels were held together only by wooden fibers. My body, teetering on the brink of collapse, was held up only by roots anchoring the soles of my feet to the ground.

I was punched and punched and punched, relentlessly pounded, until finally, Kanami’s right fist struck the center of my face. The cord that had bound my long white hair snapped, sending it flying out like a lion’s mane.

Then, seeing me still standing, Kanami’s expression changed. Through my shattered glasses, I sensed my enemy wavering. I saw the blood making Kanami’s fist slippery and his stance faltering. This was the opportunity for a counterattack I’d endured everything to reach.

“I’m not downed yet!” Even as I was being beaten, my right fist slammed brutally into my enemy’s cheek.

“Guh!”

Kanami must have thought a counterattack was impossible in this state. He must have stolen all my variant martial arts techniques and let his guard down. It was precisely because it was an attack without technique that it connected.

“It’s not over yet! It’s not over, Kanami!” Screaming my enemy’s name, I abandoned my defense and charged forward with the trees within me.

Kanami responded in kind. Dodging my fist, he tackled me, wrapping his arms around my waist. Then, with the force of uprooting a giant tree, he shouted my name back.

“Ide!!!”

Apparently, he didn’t like having my roots anchored in the ground. As if demanding I stand on my own two feet and fight, my body was wrenched from the earth, lifted up, and carried all the way to the wall of the great hall before being slammed against it. My head struck the wall, my vision went white, and I felt it shatter against my back. I entered the guest room at the back of the great hall—then broke through another wall, entering yet another guest room deeper inside—repeating this process, my body carried ever farther into the depths.

When it came to a battle between Essence Thieves, artificial walls were practically nonexistent. Feeling myself grow stronger and more resilient, I unconsciously clenched both hands together and swung them upward.

“Kanami!!!” I slammed my clenched fist into my enemy’s back with all my might, halting our movement.

Kanami was slammed down from above, cracking the guest room floor. Of course, he immediately rose and charged in for close combat once more. I met him head-on. It wasn’t over yet. My variant martial art technique persisted. In a brawl while healing, I still held the advantage.

My recovery magic vastly surpassed Kanami’s. Above all, being able to heal without leaking magic externally was crucial. That way, only Kanami the Founder would be targeted by the De Liffide trees infesting every corner of the castle. So we kept trading blows. I wouldn’t fear the enemy’s fists. I would take the hits while landing my own. I would take a hundred blows just to land one counter. I would heal a hundred times before the enemy healed once, and victory would be mine.

“It’s not over yet!” I shouted. I could no longer keep up with my enemy’s martial arts skill. His fists were invisible.

My body screamed in agony. I’d surpassed my limits. My magic power was being consumed at a terrifying rate for recovery and repair. It was nearly depleted. But I was almost there. Just a little longer. Please, heart, it would be fine if you stopped. But just for a little while longer, pretend to keep beating.

Praying to the gods like this, I kept fighting. Even as I was struck, I fought back desperately. Believing that as long as my spirit didn’t break, there was still a chance to win, I endured the enemy’s attacks again and again. In the end, it was Kanami the Founder who retreated first.

Unable to pursue the retreating enemy, I stood gasping for breath. Meanwhile, Kanami contorted his face, complaining about my tactics.

“What a zombielike way to fight, Ide.”

I’d...won. I’d prevailed in the back-and-forth of damage and recovery. Honestly, the visible difference in our conditions was stark. Kanami’s face remained flawlessly beautiful, while I was covered in blood on top of fractured bones and bruises. But his beautiful face had turned pale. The poison I’d planted in him beforehand was taking effect. The seeds forced down earlier had grown, now pressing against his lungs. The damage was far worse than met the eye. Even if he called me a zombie, if this tactic continued, surely victory would be within reach.

“Don’t get cocky just yet, Ide...”

As I was rejoicing in the turn of events, Kanami poured cold water on my hopes. Then, he used a magic he hadn’t employed in ages.

“Distance Mute.”

He wrapped high-density magical power around his right arm and smiled at me.

“What the—?! You already proved that magic doesn’t work on me.”

“Ah, I know. That’s why I’m changing my approach slightly. If it won’t work on you, then the target is...me.” Kanami thrust his glowing right arm into his own chest and began probing inside with an unprecedented level of concentration. This didn’t seem like mere dimensional interference within his body. The absolute seriousness of the task made me realize his intent.

“No way!” It was healing, not with recovery magic but something else entirely. “So that’s it! I thought you weren’t using magic, but you’ve been deploying Dimension inside you this whole time! You intend to perform surgery right here?!”

The unwavering movements of his hands made it clear the surgical procedure was already mapped out.

“All right!” Kanami uttered a phrase suggesting success and extracted two magic stones from his body.

Both stones were green. As the Thief of Wood’s Essence, I could faintly discern their nature. Those were poison and seed magic stones. The Thief of Dimension’s Essence could petrify anything he disliked, even intangible things.

“But you’re not fully restored yet, are you?! Above all, that magic is full of openings! Your magic power is leaking out! De Liffide, everyone, now!” Cursing inwardly, I calmly summoned plants from the surrounding area. Without a doubt, Distance Mute was a top-tier spell. Using it created significant openings.

“Sorry, but there’s no opening. I thought it was safe now; that’s why I’m using magic. I’m—” Kanami didn’t cancel Distance Mute. Instead, he plunged his right arm back into his own body, performing the same surgery as before, while dodging the trees advancing from the floor and walls.

As I was calling plants, I’d counter his dodging with a punch using my variant martial arts. Yet, even so, the attacks on Kanami were...

“Oh, they’re not hitting?” Despite the countless plants and my own fists, not a single one even grazed him. What should have been effective just moments ago had become utterly meaningless in mere minutes.

Kanami calmly spoke while I remained stunned by that unreasonable learning ability. “Through our battles so far, I’ve figured out how to fight you. And how to deal with these plants too.”

“Impossible! Even if I could, preparing countermeasures for every plant inhabiting this place is impossible! You prepared like that, spent years building—”

Suddenly, the plants surrounding Kanami were severed all at once.

“Huh?”

Kanami’s left arm, still thrust into his own body, now clutched a sword. Moreover, the blade extending from it appeared to be created by the skill Magic Materialization. His attire had also reverted to its pre-duel state.

That translucent blade lunged toward me. I deflected it with my gauntlet and scrambled backward. “Impossible! Why is your magic flowing through the wood?! As long as Lady Nosfy’s spell formula is inscribed here, it should be impossible to sever!”

Kanami did not answer that question. His expression signaled the end of lighthearted banter; from here on, it was serious business.

With no choice, I searched for the cause myself. Then I noticed the blade that he had extended wasn’t pale purple but colorless.

“The color of his magic has changed? No, the quality of his magic is different? Could it be... He’s tampered with his own soul, altering the very attribute of the magic it generates?! How terrifying!”

The answer came from the right arm still embedded within Kanami and the altered magic power. It was too unbelievable. It was precisely because I had become an Essence Thief, deepening my understanding of souls and magic power, that I could comprehend it. To tamper with one’s own soul was an act blasphemous enough to defy even the gods. One wrong move and it would lead to a ruin more terrifying than death.

“I’ll lose the use of one arm, but at last I can fight with a sword. Even if the De Liffide and Telliaria come at me together, I’ll be fine now.”

“You’re insane!”

“It’s all for the sake of defeating you, Ide!” Shouting that, Kanami swung his sword at himself. He fought against himself with absolute focus, utilizing every ounce of his talent, fighting with all his might.

An indescribable emotion welled up in my chest—a mix of joy and sorrow, anger and utter bewilderment. And before I knew it, the movements of the surrounding De Liffide had slowed. I didn’t know what means he was using, but Kanami seemed to be mimicking me, preemptively feeding magic to the plants. The pure plants, confused by this enemy offering them so much sustenance, were beginning to grow attached. Soon, the plants’ attacks would become unusable. The advantage Lady Nosfy had brought crumbled away.

The poison inside of Kanami had been forcibly neutralized, and both sword and magic were now permitted. There was no choice but to create distance between us now. I couldn’t lose heart. I should have anticipated the possibility that my variant martial art techniques might not work. I just had to move on to the next plan as originally intended.

“Wood Spears!” I unleashed the trump card I’d prepared before the central staircase of Viaysia Castle. Shattering the nation’s finest magic gems, I released the ultimate wood-attribute grand magic.

The wooden staircase warped, transforming into countless long, sharp thorns that pierced the enemy. But Kanami glided effortlessly through the gaps between those thorns. The time this trump card bought me was barely a second, if that.

Kanami’s sword attacked me relentlessly from afar, without a single misstep. I managed to block it with my gauntlets, but I could feel them slowly wearing down. At this rate, even weapons forged from Yggdrasil wouldn’t hold out. This sword’s range was deadly. Unable to flee or close in, I’d be sliced to pieces.

I immediately sprinted up the transforming central staircase. Along the way, I shattered several expensive magic stones I’d prepared, using them to stall my enemy while desperately creating distance. However, this was tantamount to telling Kanami that my strategies were running out. Seeming certain there were no significant traps left, he began swinging his sword with renewed vigor.

Wood-attribute grand magic spells were swept away like scraps of paper. The thick trunks trying to swallow the enemy, the countless root tentacles, the storm of leaves slicing flesh, the sap that melted everything—all were swept away, swept away, swept away, and sliced through. But that wasn’t all. Even the very stage I had prepared—Viaysia Castle—was now within this absurd swordsman’s reach. The pillars in the great hall, the spiral staircase, the thick walls, the ceiling separating the third and fourth floors, the floor itself—everything, regardless of distance or size, was sliced apart by Kanami the Founder.

Kanami pursued me, his two unfathomably void-like, jet-black eyes shining. As my prideful castle was effortlessly sliced apart, I could only flee, my face twisted in anguish. Upward, using everything at my disposal, I fled and fled and kept fleeing.

I finally reached the throne room of the castle. The national flag hanging on the wall fluttered in the wind blowing through the window. This was the very place I had intended as the final destination for our duel. In that sense, it was going according to plan. Yet, my expression only twisted further. I hadn’t arrived here by choice—I’d been driven here, cornered.

I fled to the foot of the throne and turned. Then Kanami abruptly halted his swinging sword. He seemed attached to this throne room. He retracted the extended blade and began surveying the area. Perhaps he, too, had intended this place as the final destination for our duel. So quietly did he do this that it seemed he had withdrawn his will to fight and now just stared at me.

Irritated by his composure, I couldn’t help but spill out what lay deep within my heart. “Why, Kanami?! Why fight me so relentlessly?! Why toy with your soul?! Why do you want to defeat me so badly?! You have no connection to Viaysia whatsoever! You’re not even from this world! Why involve yourself in our affairs?!” Only now did I hurl the resentment I’d held from the very beginning at him.

Hearing those words, Kanami answered without a moment’s delay, as if he’d been waiting for the question. “Why else? Because I couldn’t stand watching you two siblings suffer, that’s why! Everything about you feels too personal to ignore! That’s why I couldn’t just leave you alone!”

“Too personal to ignore? You mean... That’s why?!”

Kanami had likely decided that if he was the one to speak, he would answer only with words. Facing me, clearly shaken, he lowered his blade, halted his advance, and assumed a stance waiting for my next words. Seeing that , I keenly felt that, unlike me, he still had plenty of composure left, and I bit my lower lip. I’d done everything I could.

The duel had begun on the world’s most favorable field for me. I’d used poison and traps. I’d received tremendous support from Apostle Sith and Lady Nosfy. This castle had blocked my enemy’s ultimate tricks, Past Sight and Future Sight.

Even so, his overwhelming strength... I knew he grew stronger the more we fought, but this was too much. Too cowardly, too powerful. Now, it felt as if everything within me was being read by the man before me. Indeed, in combat, he had often moved before I could even make my own move.

To defeat this man, who seemed like a bundle of learning ability, I had to stake everything on one instant and finish him off. Yet, he could prevent that before the fight even began with his Future Sight spell. To begin with, his invisibility and dimensional shift spells meant I couldn’t easily get within striking distance. On top of that, his Swordmanship had reached Master Lorwen’s level. He absorbed enemy skills as he fought, and if that right arm touched me, it would mean instant death.

How was I supposed to kill him? How was I supposed to fight him? Ah, this was ridiculous. Ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous... This was what a true powerhouse was. Gradually, the anger faded, replaced by ink-black despair filling my heart. My spirit nearly broke.

“Ide! Remember what Titee said earlier! This time, you saw your sister clearly with your own eyes, didn’t you?! Did that look like someone else’s puppet to you?!”

The words unleashed by that strong man struck my weak heart, trampling it without mercy. Just like the Sovereign Queen Lorde who’d once captivated all the Northern people, including myself.

“Titee doesn’t need a country like Viaysia! She never wanted to be the Sovereign Queen Lorde! All she ever needed was you, her little brother!”

Didn’t need a country? That... No! I couldn’t get drawn in! I couldn’t accept it! It wasn’t over yet! The words of Kanami the Founder were the very knife that would kill me. If I admitted it, then this time, I would truly die! I’d die! If I didn’t want to die, I had to fight back!

“That can’t be true! The Sovereign Queen Lorde made her choice! She swore to save the country, the people of the North! She declared before everyone that she would save them all! I saw the beginning of it! I witnessed it from start to finish!”

“No! What Titee chose wasn’t the country! It wasn’t some grand thing like Viaysia! What she chose was an unnamed sorcerer boy, Ide! It was your expectations! That’s all it was!”

“Don’t speak as if you understand, you ignorant fool! The Sovereign Queen Lorde swore with her noble will! With her strong and wise form! She swore to accomplish it no matter the cost! I watched her back the whole time!”

“Because you were always watching from behind like that, she just put on a brave front! Because you kept expecting it, she just kept responding that way! Why can’t you see that?! That Sovereign Queen Lorde was an illusion born from her pride as a sister! If you don’t realize that, no one else ever will!”

“No! The Sovereign Queen Lorde isn’t of such small calibre! She’s a legend! We revived that Northern legend! So there’s no way that invincible queen was just putting on a front!!!”

“It’s possible! She’s weak! Her capability is small, and she’s cowardly! That’s why she ran away a thousand years ago! She abandoned everything and fled to a place beyond your reach, didn’t she?! Don’t conveniently forget that fact, Ide!”

Ah, yes. A thousand years ago, the Sovereign Queen Lorde had fled alongside Kanami the Founder. It was something I’d tried not to think about. Something I’d tried to pretend I hadn’t seen. Now, all the facts I’d turned away from were thrust upon me once more, and my resolve felt like it might snap.

“It’s because you were there! If only you hadn’t been there! If only you hadn’t been there, you, you, you, YOU! It shouldn’t have ended like that! I, the chancellor, would have continued supporting the Sovereign Queen Lorde and surely brought peace to the world in that war a thousand years ago! I was just one step away from achieving my dream!”

“You already know it would’ve ended the same even without me! You already know that dream crushed your own sister! Stop lying to yourself!”

“Yes, you bloody fool!!! So what if I knew?!” I knew! I knew that! I knew it all too well—that’s why I was like this! “Yes, my sister became the Sovereign Queen Lorde! It was a great undertaking, so surely there were one or two things that were impossible! What’s wrong with that?! Because the Sovereign Queen Lorde loved this country more than anyone else! She tried harder than anyone else to protect this country! She worked harder than anyone else to turn this country into a paradise!”

What was wrong with choosing not to see some things because it hurt?! What was wrong with only seeing what I wanted to see?! What was wrong with me being the chancellor?! What was wrong with my sister being the queen?!

“My sister absolutely desired to be the Sovereign Queen! Otherwise, she couldn’t have fought that hard! She couldn’t have gone that far alone, into a realm no one could follow her to!”

“That’s why it was your duty to bring her back! As her brother!”

Don’t tell me that now! Why was he telling me that now instead of back then?! Everything was too late! A thousand years had passed! A thousand years, and we’d come this far! And yet! To find out now that everything was wrong... To hear such a thing...

“No! My role was to follow behind as chancellor, as another Essence Thief! That was decided!!!”

Don’t say it. Don’t tell me now that the Sovereign Queen Lorde had...had been suffering all along. Had been pushing herself all along. Had been seeking help all along. And yet, I’d been so wrapped up in my own problems, I’d never noticed. Don’t say that, please!

“I am Chancellor Ide! The Thief of Wood’s Essence Ide! I won’t let anyone say that was wrong! I’ll never admit such a thing! Aaaahhh!” I kept screaming that I was chancellor, clutching the Sovereign Queen Lorde and my own history book to my chest. I screamed back desperately.

The words shining brightly within that heroic tale’s text were of Chancellor Ide. I had come this far, proud only of that—but my limit was near. This clash of words hurt far more than the earlier, death-defying brawl.

“Ide... Even now, your sister is searching for her brother. She’s been searching, wandering endlessly, you know? She doesn’t want Chancellor Ide. She’s been searching for her brother Ide all this time...”

“So you’re saying the battles fought by Chancellor Ide were all for nothing? That they benefited no one? Are you telling me to admit that? That all my efforts for the Sovereign Queen Lorde were worthless? That those decades had no meaning? You want me to admit that?!”

“Yes. Even if it renders those decades worthless, you still have a duty to fulfill. That is what I believe.”

Kanami the Founder answered my question immediately, encompassing not merely life and death, but the very soul and meaning of my existence itself.

I was at a loss for words, but Kanami the Founder continued to speak to me. “It’s been decades. Your sister suffered for a thousand years. Even if you lost some things, it doesn’t mean you lost everything. The important things still remain.”

“You mean to say that being Lorde Titee’s brother still remains?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s impossible. I can’t go back to being a little brother now... Titee’s little brother was utterly powerless. Utterly worthless. A fragile, weak being that couldn’t help anyone, whose very presence made no difference... Pathetic, utterly pathetic... Just remembering it makes me sick!” Anger made my voice rise as I tried to recall the faint remnants of my past. All I could remember was that detestable version of myself.

Ide the younger brother had been a foolish child, too pitiful even to remember. I’d only ever relied on my position as younger brother, never offering any help at all. Yet that was okay.

At the end of the North, I’d only been able to tremble, leaving everything to my sister. Yet that was excusable.

Even after that, I’d only held my sister back, continuing to cause her problems. Yet that wasn’t a problem.

No, what I truly despised most was something that had happened long, long ago. On that fateful day, standing before my dead sister, after she had spat on me, I had been utterly powerless. Even though my sister was dead, I was still that pathetic child who’d depended entirely on her.

Ah, that was it. On that day, when I’d lost everything, when the true story of the Sovereign Queen Lorde had begun, I hadn’t been able to move a single step. I couldn’t forgive myself for that. Just remembering that made me want to kill that brat called “brother,” that kid named Ide! I couldn’t bear it! I’d never be able to accept myself for the rest of my life!

“Kanami the Founder, that little brother killed my sister. That pitifully weak, utterly foolish younger brother killed her. That little brother had no reason to live...yet he killed her. Merely existing was a blight. That was my sister’s little brother, Ide!” I refused to acknowledge such a thing. I wanted to erase it. That wasn’t me. “But only while working as the chancellor of the Sovereign Queen Lorde was I different... It was the only ‘me’ I could accept. The only time I felt I had value and meaning was as the chancellor...”

“So that’s why you’re so fixated on being chancellor...”

“Because I was able to help my sister! I had value! I had meaning! That made me so happy! I didn’t know how to live my own life, but just by working myself to the bone for the Sovereign Queen Lorde, that alone made me feel alive!”

“So that’s why you tell Titee to remain the Sovereign Queen Lorde forever?! Do you intend to make her do it until she dies?! Do you plan to continue even after her death?! Do you intend to make her bear everything alone even longer?! Answer me, Ide!”

“Shut up! Shut up, Kanami! If the Sovereign Queen Lorde ceases to be the Sovereign Queen Lorde, then what becomes of me?!” Rejected again and again by Kanami the Founder, I finally resorted to hurling vile insults at him. When had I last lost control like this? Memories resurfaced in my mind, older than my orphanage days—memories of being rejected, rejected, rejected, wandering endlessly through a painful world. My heart grew wild.

“Don’t use your sister for your own satisfaction! Nothing you’ve done has benefited Titee in the slightest! It’s not devotion or anything like that!” Kanami yelled.

“Then what should I do?! I’m scared! If I cease to be Chancellor Ide, I cease to be myself! I won’t know what to do anymore! I’ll lose my worth! I’ll lose my name! I’ll be thrown back into those days when I was less than a slave! Those endless days of questioning who I was would return! The time of questioning why I was even alive would overwhelm me! I hate it! I hate that more than anything, so I have to make my sister the Sovereign Queen Lorde!”

“So that’s it! Those are your true feelings deep down!” The expression on Kanami’s face, who had even worried about his enemy this whole time, now contained anger.

My...true feelings? What did I just say? Was using my sister to escape fear really how I felt? I wanted to believe it wasn’t...yet I couldn’t deny that dim, dark feeling lurked somewhere in my heart. If that was my true heart, it was utterly foolish. How ugly, how weak. I could clearly feel the limits of the Guardian, the weakest of Guardians, drawing ever closer.

Therefore, as a defense instinct, akin to a survival instinct to live, I screamed. “Aikawa Kanami! Shut the hell up! Don’t spout any more of your high-and-mighty nonsense!”

Defeated in the verbal battle, I felt my body—held together by sheer willpower—beginning to collapse.

The body that should have been bound together by wood was instead being eroded. White bones dissolved, replaced by tree cores piercing through my flesh. The wood slipped beyond my control, tearing through flesh and skin. A human’s sensitive nerves protruding from every part of my body transformed into a plant’s insensitive nerves, while my muscles simultaneously vegetated. Even my sensory organs mutated, and my pupils were stained white. Finally, the wooden armor I wore fused with my body. Branches sprouted from the armor, branching out and growing vibrant green leaves. This was the Guardian’s unique mutation into a Half Monster.

In other words, I had been half killed by words alone. And to this throne room of Viaysia Castle, it was not the chancellor but that nameless, weak dryad, the sorcerer, who would return. The real me would come back.

“Yes, that’s right! I was weak, fearful, a pathetic coward! That’s why I was terrified of losing sight of the light called the Sovereign Queen Lorde at any moment! Before I became the Thief of Wood’s Essence, everyone in the castle laughed at me! They pointed fingers behind my back, calling me a pathetic coward, favored only because I was Lorde’s brother! And it was true! I was useless, unfit for either military or civil service! I had no talent whatsoever to brush off those whispers! What could you possibly understand about someone like me?! You, with your talent! You, whom everyone adores! How could you possibly understand the feelings of the weak?! How could you possibly understand?!”

That sorcerer child cursed the world’s injustice and cried out endlessly.

“I had no talent whatsoever! No charm at all! I didn’t even possess a strong heart! That’s why darkness was my everyday reality! Every day was unbearable, filled with fear, fear of living! For someone without talent, walking through the world is like walking a dark cliff without a light! That’s why I was desperate not to lose sight of that light called the Sovereign Queen Lorde! I was desperate just to survive!”

“Is that truly so?! Was what you perceived as light truly the Sovereign Queen Lorde?! Was it for the sake of some fairy-tale queen that you felt you had to become chancellor?! Didn’t you want to be there for your sister? Ide, you lost all your memories of being a brother as the price for becoming an Essence Thief! You have a sister! The one and only sister in this world who needs you as her brother!”

“Enough! Shut up, Kanami! Shut up, shut up, shut up!!! Don’t confuse me any further!” I knew that without being told! That the price for becoming an Essence Thief had erased all memories of our happy sibling days! I’d known it from the start! But still, it remained. Somehow, the memory remained.

Only the pathetic sight of that little brother clung to my mind, refusing to leave. Only my own pathetic form, standing bewildered before my sister, who spat at me, could I recall clearly. Every single day for decades. Every day, every time I closed my eyes to sleep, it forced itself back upon me. I was confronted with my own suicidal essence. So then, the only option was to erase that entire life, right?! Kill that so-called brother, right?! Kill him and only the chancellor would remain! The only way for me to have value and meaning, to survive in this dark world, was as the chancellor of the Sovereign Queen Lorde! That alone was the strong Ide!

“Shut up, you idiot! I said I can’t stand watching this! You and Titee are the only brother and sister left in this world! You have no other family! If you lose her, she’ll never come back! So don’t you dare leave Titee or yourself alone any longer! Both of you look so pitiful, you know!”

That was the end of the argument. We both shouted as we simultaneously sprang into motion. I wasn’t thinking about anything anymore. I didn’t consider my enemy’s range or anything else; I just charged forward, focused solely on defeating the man before me. After all, even if I desperately tried to think, it wouldn’t help me at all. So all that was left was to push straight ahead and fight beyond my limits.

As I ran, I finished preparing to unleash all my magic. And Kanami the Founder responded with his sword. The blade shouldn’t have reached across the distance between us, swept my arm aside, then sliced open the belly of my Half Monster body, pierced a hole through my lungs and stabbed through both legs.

Even so, I didn’t care. I charged forward. It was an injury and pain that would make a sane man stop, but I would never flinch. “I will win! I will defeat you and become the true chancellor this time! I have to! By any means necessary!”

This was my life. Staking my entire existence on it, I started an incantation.

“I am but a single soul, nameless and childlike!” I concentrated all my magic power into both hands. I planted my feet firmly, channeling magic into the ground. And then, I ran. Ran down this chosen path, arms stretched out. “The world guided the lost child! And the child ran on until the end of the backlight!”

Watch this, Kanami. I will burn you, drop you, shatter you, and destroy you—just like my homeland!

“Lost Viaysia!” With this true spell, I would end everything!

“Is that the magic you’ve poured everything into?! But it’s too late! Don’t think such an incomplete, hole-ridden trump card will work on me!”

Naturally, that magic with its overly large preparatory movements resulted in both my arms being sliced off. With a simple snap, Lost Viaysia failed and dissipated into mist. In other words, my foolish life had failed to impress Kanami the Founder. But I’d known that would be the case from the start. Without even glancing back at my arms floating through the air, I charged forward.

“What?!” Kanami was stunned, seeing me continue charging forward despite losing my arms, creating his biggest opening of the day. In contrast, I had expected to be blocked, so I moved without hesitation. After all, there was nothing more unbelievable than me. In other words, everything up to this point had been a decoy.

The power of the Thief of Wood’s Essence. A body honed through relentless training and martial arts. The weapons engraved with the spell patterns of the Thief of Light’s Essence. A fighting spirit that transcended limits. The true magic staked on my very life.

Knowing all this would be shattered, I entrusted my final trump card not to myself, but to an external force. That force was the grand magic circle engraved using the entirety of Viaysia Castle. The very plants writhing within the castle became characters and lines, drawing the Anti-Founder Magic Seal that rivaled even the legendary World Restoration Array. This magic circle had been prepared for this very moment, for a thousand years!

“What?! I can’t possibly defeat Kanami the Founder! Even so, I will make this magic circle work! I have a duty to complete this spell! You have a duty to receive this magic! Take it, traitor! The wrath of all my Northern people!”

The magic power surging through the ground glowed emerald green. All surrounding plants began to glow, lines of light weaving a three-dimensional magic circle. Kanami stiffened, staring at the glowing ceiling and walls. He must have realized there was no escape from this magic circle.

The glow wasn’t confined to the throne room alone. Every single one of the billions of plants living within Viaysia Castle was pooling its power to unleash the final spell.

This was the sealing ritual that had overpowered Apostle Deiplachra a thousand years ago. It was the Anti-Founder Magic Seal. For the sole purpose of succeeding at this sealing ritual, I’d challenged him to a duel today.

“Everything was set up for this moment! Everyone lived to make this magic happen here! I’ll bring down the entire castle—no, the entire Kingdom of Viaysia I created! Aikawa Kanami!!!”

The Anti-Founder Magic Seal activated, causing the castle to shift from its temporary form as a giant back to its true form. This transformation was strikingly evident even within the throne room. First, the thick trees that had served as pillars supporting the throne room began to move. Roots clinging to the walls, vines, strings, leaves—all the plants now flowed toward Kanami the Founder.

Unlike the De Liffide trees, they were not moving for the sake of magic power. Right now, this magic circle was moving solely toward the soul known as Aikawa Kanami. Therefore, no matter what he tried to do, escape was impossible. Seeing all the plants closing in like a moving wall, Kanami immediately tried to flee. But I threw myself at him, colliding with my entire body to hold him back.

Though my arm from the elbow down was severed, I forced the roots growing inside my body to crawl out from the wound’s surface and wrap themselves around Kanami’s body. I focused especially on clinging to the arm holding the sword.

“You! Do you intend to seal me along with yourself?!”

“No! I’m not aiming for a draw, I’m going for the win! This seal is both physical restraint by the trees and magical soul binding! Plus perpetual absorption of magic power and stamina! Escape is impossible for any being! Except for me, the Thief of Wood’s Essence!”

“You—!”

Everything had gone according to plan. The entire sequence, the situation—everything had been perfect. The true magic of an Essence Thief was such that even Kanami the Founder would have no choice but to crush it before it could be activated. And Kanami’s complacency after crushing that trump card was the only opening I could exploit. I’d seized that opportunity perfectly, and the magic circle succeeded.

“Ha ha ha! To the magic power sealing ritual of the Thief of Light’s Essence! To the binding trees of the Thief of Wood’s Essence! To the ice barrier of the Thief of Water’s Essence—all layered upon you! With this triple seal, even you—!!!”

This sealed the fate of Kanami the Founder. Countless times, my enemy’s strength had nearly broken my spirit. But I’d known from the start that my enemy was powerful. This was my way of fighting, as weak as I was. True to my role as chancellor, I’d prepared layer upon layer beforehand, deciding the outcome before the battle even began. If one wanted to call it a despicable way to fight, then that was fine.

The surrounding luminous plants began to entangle the body of the groaning Kanami. They coiled around him in countless chains, layer upon layer, intending to seal him away forever. The plants from throughout the castle surged into the throne room, gradually making the space narrower and darker.

“At last, I’ve judged this traitor! At last, my dearest wish is—”

Enveloped, enveloped, enveloped by the trees, I was certain of victory. Yet, in this greatest moment of my life, I stumbled over my own careless words.

Dearest wish? Something suddenly flashed through my mind. It was a scene from the past. A thousand years ago, in Viaysia Castle, I had laughed together with Kanami the Founder. Like wicked friends, we’d traded jokes while swearing to fight together for the nation. But that friend had betrayed me, taking the Sovereign Queen Lorde away and leaving me alone. I could only hate him.

That lying bastard... Cursing him was the only path left. Because there was no other way... Now, something...? Why? My mind was a mess. Above all, what was this feeling...? Even though my long-held wish was about to be granted... Why did it feel so suffocating?

I didn’t understand. At the very moment my dearest wish was about to be granted, all that flooded out were questions. I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything anymore. The visible world flickered before my eyes. The world shook, time passed, reality and fiction overlapped, and just as I was about to lose sight of myself—

“Professor!!!” A voice reached me. It was exactly the same as the one I’d heard in this place just days ago. And then, a hole appeared in the plant cocoon that had been about to envelop both me and Kanami.

As someone who was the Thief of Wood’s Essence yet possessed no talent whatsoever, I understood the details of that phenomenon perfectly well. By the hand of a talented mage, unlike myself, the trees had been manipulated to pierce a hole in the seal.

“Wood...magic?”

Even Kanami couldn’t wield Wood magic this masterfully.

Then who...?

The answer to my question emerged from the depths of the gaping hole. There before my eyes was a girl in red attire with red hair. It was a Jewelculus—someone I had scarcely seen since becoming chancellor.

Yet she was the very first Jewelculus I had saved. The one I had grown closest to. The one I had cherished most. Yes. Her appearance was deeply nostalgic to me.

“R-Rouge?!” I could never mistake her for anyone else. And then I saw her arm transforming into red mollusks.

She had undergone the Sorcerification she despised, pushing beyond her limits to breach the Anti-Founder Magic Seal and make it all the way here. Looking closely, her face was covered in wounds. She must have fought her way through dangerous plants along a treacherous path. Not just her limbs, but her entire torso was drenched in blood.

Even against someone like me, the weakest Essence Thief, this was a duel recreating a thousand-year-old myth. For her, merely one of the mass-produced Jewelculi, the flame of life would be extinguished easily. And yet she came.

Outside, Hitaki’s ice barrier should be active. It was magic Rouge could never withstand. Why hadn’t she fled? Had she been exposed to the ice barrier yet still managed to breach the moving Viaysia Castle and enter it? Had she pushed through the plants that siphoned magic, gnawed minerals, and devoured human flesh?

“Rouge, why are you here?! You mustn’t come over here!” Seeing her horribly transformed state, a cold dread crawled up my spine. I tried to continue, telling her to flee immediately, but she cut me off.

“Of course I’m coming! Because I can’t bear to see you like this any longer! Look at your own face, Professor! That face on the verge of tears! Isn’t a wish coming true supposed to make you happier?! Aren’t regrets supposed to be laughed away?! Weren’t we all supposed to laugh and go to paradise together?! That’s what you told me, Professor! I don’t need anything else, just keep that promise!” Rouge’s angry voice, so unlike her usual understanding self, made me tremble, stumble, and feel utterly confused.

“P-Paradise...? No, now isn’t the time for that—”

Naturally, everything in me slackened. My duel opponent wasn’t about to let that opening slip. As if anticipating this moment, Kanami the Founder, without hesitation, shook off the loosened restraints. With his freed right arm, he swung his sword, slicing through the entangling vines.

“Ide! This moment, this place, this distance—I desired it too!” Having escaped the bindings, Kanami concentrated magic power into his now-free left arm. Instead of fleeing, he advanced toward me. Then, he reached out with that left arm, channeling all his magic power, toward my now-defenseless body.

I knew what that meant. If pierced by that magic, it would attack my soul directly. Defense was impossible; defeat was certain. That arm alone must never strike me.

“This is the end!”

“Not yet! I’m still faster than you! I’ll reseal it immediately—” The Anti-Founder Magic Seal was already complete. I glared at the enemy before me, intent on resealing Kanami at once—our gazes locked. Black eyes met white eyes, and I saw it. My own reflection in Kanami the Founder’s eyes. I saw my own expression.

Rouge’s words, that she couldn’t bear to watch me, echoed in my head at the same time. Kanami had said something similar. In that sense, I knew. I finally knew.

“Huh?” My voice slipped out involuntarily. In the midst of battle, fighting for every second, every instant, I was stunned. My expression must have been terrible. Feeling like I was suffocating, I gritted my teeth, and from the corners of my eyes...tears were spilling.

“Why...?” Why was I crying? I was about to fulfill my lifelong dream. Defeating Kanami the Founder and proving I was the chancellor—nothing could be more joyful. Finally, the moment had come when I could laugh from the depths of my being. So why was I biting my lip, holding my breath, contorting my face, and fighting while crying?

Wasn’t being the chancellor supposed to be wonderful? Wasn’t it supposed to give my life worth, meaning, and peace of mind? This felt exactly like back then. Not when I’d been a persecuted sorcerer but a failure at being a slave.

Here stood the Nameless Child who’d somehow escaped hell, plunged into an unseen world and walked alone toward paradise. The child dryad, who’d wept endlessly in the depths of the abyss, wandering and wandering. That child was still crying here. All this time, crying, eyes downcast, searching for something. Why? Why?!

“Ah...aaah... Why... Aaah... Why, ahhhhhh, ahhhhh!” How long had I been searching for something precious in a place like this? Where did I lose it? Where did I come from? How long would I keep searching?

“Ahh, why... Why did this...? Why did this happen...?”

Why had this happened? I already knew the answer to that question. It had been pointed out to me just now. Because I was averting my eyes from that regret, I hadn’t been able to take a single step forward. It was truly only a momentary hesitation. But I had definitely let my awareness slip away from the magic. I could only moan in a daze.

Seizing that opening, Kanami the Founder reached out a hand. Like grabbing a whining lost child by the collar, that hand entered my chest.

“Ide!!!”

My body could no longer generate magic. Furthermore, the active Anti-Founder Magic Seal dissolved. I could no longer grant magic to the surrounding plants, and the plant cocoons enveloping us withered and collapsed. The wooden weapons I wore became nothing more than heavy pieces of wood.

The body that had become a Half Monster also began to revert. The hardened skin softened, branches snapped off at the base, and leaves scattered. Simultaneously, I collapsed backward.

I hit the floor of the throne room hard with my back, landing spread-eagled and unable to move. I tried desperately to get up, to continue fighting. But my physical and magical strength were completely depleted. Perhaps having given everything I had, I couldn’t even stand.

All I could do now was let my throat tremble as I acknowledged my situation.

“I...lost? I, the chancellor...lost?”

It was an undeniable defeat. I could analyze it calmly. At the very end of the duel, I’d lost my focus. But Kanami the Founder had remained focused until the very last moment. Without looking away, he’d kept fighting me, his duel opponent. That was the difference.

As a result, now Kanami stood while I lay collapsed, my face a mess of tears. If this wasn’t defeat, what was? Now, it had been proven beyond any doubt. I was not the chancellor. Far from it, I was a child who didn’t even understand what a chancellor truly was. Just a child who’d admired the role.

I’d known the answer from the very beginning. But I’d refused to believe it until it was proven. Instead, I’d wanted to prove that the me who’d tormented my sister had never existed. The result of that stubbornness was this mess. I lay sprawled out, staring up at the ceiling blown open by the magic seal. My vision was filled with tears, the blue sky and white clouds smudged and blurred.

The sunlight pierced my eyes like needles, making me want to shut my eyelids immediately. But I kept staring up at the sky. Even as tears welled up and spilled from my stinging eyes, I kept gazing at the pure white light filling my entire field of vision. It was blinding. Ever since I was a child, I had kept running toward this light illuminating the throne room. I’d kept striving, striving endlessly, seeking this blinding light.

“Ah, defeat... My defeat, I suppose...” But now, I was nothing. My entire life up to this day had become meaningless.

I acknowledged that I was the Nameless Child and let the tears I’d held back for a thousand years spill into this throne room. That was the end of the battle for the child who fancied himself a chancellor.

◆◆◆◆◆

As the tears flowed, my heart gradually calmed.

Looking around, I saw Kanami the Founder standing a short distance away, breathing heavily, his shoulders rising and falling, and Rouge, her eyes teary, standing beside him. I hadn’t noticed Rouge’s presence until the very last moment of the duel. I was the Thief of Wood’s Essence, possessing the ability to control and understand Viaysia Castle. Yet, I’d failed to notice her until the very last moment.

I understood what that meant. I could see Rouge worrying about me, yet I’d chosen not to see it. It was the same as a thousand years ago—knowing all along, yet choosing to pretend I didn’t. Only after it was over had I realized I’d fought the duel while turning away from so many things. Because I kept doing things like that, I always lost sight of what was important at the crucial moment.

Perhaps because I’d suffered a defeat that was undeniably mine, my heart felt strangely calm. I even had the composure to ask my opponent about my own disgraceful state. “Kanami, when did I start crying?”

He probably hadn’t expected me to speak to him, all things considered. But he answered honestly despite his surprise. “Bit by bit, starting during the fight.”

“Is that so? You’ve grown stronger, Kanami. Above all, your heart has grown stronger. It’s a world of difference from the ancient days when you’d frown at the thought of your enemy hesitating, full of regret and fighting reluctantly.” Nostalgic for the past, I praised the victor. I just felt like doing so. “You no longer waver even the slightest. It was a splendid fight.”

“Yeah. I realized I just have to do what needs to be done without hesitation. So I’m doing it step by step, one thing at a time, so I won’t have any regrets.” Kanami said this as if it were obvious, but if that were possible, not a single soul would have grieved a thousand years ago.

With a wry smile, I shook my head at the remark. “But you see, when humans are alive, that’s incredibly difficult. Ah, so being strong really is unfair... Strong people effortlessly accomplish things that weak people can’t.”

Perhaps dissatisfied with my reaction, Kanami answered, slightly irritated. “True, I think I’ve grown stronger. But I wasn’t strong from the start. I made countless mistakes, suffered countless defeats, faced countless setbacks to get here. It might sound like a cliché, but I believe true strength isn’t about never falling down. It’s about getting back up no matter how many times you fall.”

“And you expect me to buy that childish nonsense? The world is unfair. The strong never fall. They keep winning until they die. That’s just how it is. Look at us now. I can’t get back up, and you’re practically unscathed.”

My words were utterly unacceptable—I’d been defeated by overwhelming talent. Kanami himself seemed to understand that innate talent had played a role in this battle. I found myself unable to contradict that, my lips curling slightly.

Yet, with his lightning-fast thinking, he seemed to find a counterargument instantly. He addressed me, still lying on the ground, wearing a smug look. “Hey, Ide. You think Titee is strong, right? Has she never been knocked down?”

It was a question that struck at my core.

Seeing me falter at this difficult challenge, he pressed further. “True, Titee’s younger brother might have been weak, but is that true even now?”

I couldn’t answer immediately. Seeing my grim expression, he sighed with a faint smile and turned away, seeking an opening through the gap between the withered, tree-covered throne room pillars to step outside.

“Kanami, where are you going?”

“The duel is over. I’m going outside,” he answered without turning back. Unlike me, his response was immediate. “I won’t leave my only family, my sister, alone.” He meant he was going out to defeat the Sovereign Queen Lorde. “Ide, what about you?” he asked me, his enemy. His eyes as he looked at me were, for some reason, filled with trust.

“If you leave me here... After I recover, I might attack you from behind, don’t you think?” I answered.

“You wouldn’t do something like that. You’re no longer the chancellor. This duel was to prove that, wasn’t it?”

“Huh...?” I let out an uncharacteristic sound at hearing something I hadn’t considered even once in the past few days. This duel was to prove that I wasn’t the chancellor... That was giving me too much credit. I’d just been desperate to defeat Kanami the Founder out of childish jealousy and a sense of self-preservation. “What nonsense...”

Yet, when Kanami said it, a part of me almost believed it. As I looked away, he left me with these final words: “Ide, on my way here, I saw what you left behind. So I understand you.”

Even though I’d screamed that I didn’t want to be, Kanami calmly declared that he understood me as he looked down at me. Though stunned by his composure, I felt a faint tinge of nostalgia.

“Titee said it too. That within you, surely the hearts of that old man and old woman have been passed on.”

“Old man? Old woman?” When I heard those words, my mind went completely blank for a moment. I understood the words. They referred to a grandfather and grandmother. In other words, family. Family that I didn’t have but that everyone else should have. No, I didn’t have any? Was that right? Surely, I too had—

“Oh no! Not again! Professor! Pull yourself together!” Just as I was lost in thoughts of my grandparents, Rouge beside me placed a hand on my shoulder in a flustered manner and gently shook me.

Seeing that hand on my shoulder, a familiar face appeared in my mind, which should have been completely blank. Ah, yes. Their hands had also been red like this, and then—

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Rouge. It seems I was the antagonist this time...” Seeing me looking at Rouge, Kanami smiled with a look of relief. Then, he left the throne room and vanished.

“Wait, Master Kanami! Wait!” I called out frantically, but no reply came. And so, only Rouge and I were left behind in the throne room of Viaysia Castle. Without Kanami, it was truly quiet. Only the sound of our breathing could be heard.

Kanami had asked me this question, but what was I to do now? I had lost the duel that held my entire life’s meaning, and my body was now on the verge of vanishing. There wasn’t much I could do.

Even so, Kanami had looked at me with expectant eyes. With a look of trust, he’d dismissed me with only the words “I understand.” He’d said the hearts of my grandfather and grandmother lived on within me.

But no matter how deeply I dug into the past, I couldn’t recall such a family. All that came to mind were the voices of contempt from the comrades who’d sworn to defend the North together. And the image of myself, unable to do anything. It was a life where I’d never felt truly alive. It was a life spent only searching for a place to belong. In the end, it was a life where I’d found nothing. It had been painful... No, it still hurt...

My breath grew fainter and fainter, as if it might stop altogether. Maybe it didn’t matter anymore... I’d lost. My life up until today had lost all value, all meaning. So it was fine if my breath stopped now. It was fine if I died. It would bring relief.

“Professor! Pull yourself together!” Rouge gripped my hand tightly, interrupting my thoughts and repeating herself.

“P-Professor...?”

“Yes. You’re our teacher. Please don’t forget that, I beg you...”

“No...” Reflexively, I tried to answer. “That’s wrong. I’m the chancellor.” But seeing as I couldn’t even sit up, I swallowed my words.

“It’s okay. You’re our proud professor. Even if my sister isn’t here, even if you’re no longer the chancellor, that one thing won’t change.” Rouge tightened her grip on my hand even more. And then, she repeated what the Jewelculi always said in unison. “A year ago, you saved us from the research institute. You saved all of our families too. You worked tirelessly to heal our weak bodies and even created a place for us to live! Because you were there, professor, everyone in Viaysia now welcomes the Jewelculi with smiles, right? If not for you, we wouldn’t have found a place to belong. We’d have died somewhere, alone and forgotten. We wouldn’t even have known our own names when we died! That’s why we’re all so grateful! We’re so glad you were there!” Rouge pleaded with me, her throat trembling with effort.

Yet, seeing her desperate plea, the first thought that crossed my mind was, coldly, Why is she here now? From what she’d said, it seemed to be because I had saved the Jewelculi a year ago. Why had I saved them in the first place? If I’d just wanted manpower, I could have recruited fully trained fighters elsewhere instead of raising them from scratch. In fact, I’d poached many talents from the South. So why had I brought in these troublesome, short-lived, unstable beings?

The Jewelculi were irrelevant to me. They were a debt born from the Southern Alliance a thousand years ago, something that had no connection to me, a member of the Northern Alliance. So then why?

As the endless Why? echoed in my mind, I suddenly shifted my gaze. I looked down at my arm, gripped painfully tightly. Rouge’s monstrous hand, the hand of a dryad, intertwined with twigs, was clutching my own. It was covered in scrapes, just like mine. Worse, the Sorcerification had turned it red and made it soft, like a mollusk. It was a very familiar hand.

“A familiar hand?” Yes. Long ago, someone had held my hand like this, pulling me back from the brink of madness. However, that memory was so ancient it was truly blank, and I couldn’t recall their face now. But they’d definitely been there. Just like Rouge had escaped from the research institute, when I was the Nameless Child wandering aimlessly without a name or a place to belong, that person had taken my hand.

Back then, I’d been a slave, barely old enough to understand anything. No, in the South back then, the existence of sorcerers had been so reviled that it would be more accurate to say I had been less than a slave. And being physically weak, I’d been worked to death and discarded in a garbage heap. After that, I remembered crawling out of the garbage to survive, then walking north like I was running away.

Walking and walking and walking and walking on and on... How had I survived? There was no way I could have done so alone. At the end of that escape, someone must have helped me. That someone was precisely whom Kanami the Founder had mentioned earlier...

“Grandma...and...grandpa...?” I wasn’t certain, but grandma and grandpa should be right.

After fleeing, I’d been beckoned by a girl, found my way to a gabled house, and been given a bed. Then...they had held my hand and encouraged me as I lay in that bed. They’d told me I didn’t need to worry anymore, that there was nothing to fear.

Just like Rouge was doing now, they’d held my hand and given me strength. Then, holding a bowl of soup they’d reheated for me after I fainted, grandpa had said, “Now then. Would you be willing to become Titee’s little brother? We’re just an old man and an old woman. We won’t be around forever. That’s why we’d feel at ease if you, being close in age, stayed by Titee’s side.”

They’d made such a kind proposal to me, someone who was less than a slave, without so much as a name of my own.

“Please, become part of our family. Live as Titee’s younger brother. Do you want to do that?”

And I’d answered, “Yes, yes, gladly. To repay the kindness you showed me, I will become her younger brother. I swear on my soul to protect you all.”

That had been my answer. Yes... Indeed, that had been my answer...

“Mm, no need to be so formal. You’re even stiffer than Titee, aren’t you? But I suppose I was a bit stiff in my wording too once. Such grand vows aren’t necessary. I’m sure Titee will live her life as her true self from now on. Just live as your true self beside her. Simply being by her side is enough,” he’d told me.

“Be myself...beside her?”

“Yes, that is enough.”

And so, I’d answered again. That day, the child I was had sworn of his own free will, “Yes. Grandfather, grandmother...I will always stay by my sister’s side.”

Tears welled up again. It wasn’t sadness. It was no longer painful. They welled up from deep within my brow simply because it was so nostalgic, so dazzling, so precious. There were still words I needed to remember. My grandparents weren’t the only important people. After that, I’d received something precious from an ordinary sorcerer girl, the kind found anywhere.

“Why are you following me? This is my job, child! Don’t follow me!” The half bird, half human harpy girl, her mouth pouting, shrugged with an odd way of speaking.

“But...Grandpa and Grandma said to follow you...”

Having been told that staying by this girl’s side was my duty, I couldn’t leave her. Though trembling with fear, I patiently followed her. But soon, it wasn’t just a sense of duty—I began to genuinely want to stay by her side. Before long, we became close, and I received the name I would use for over a thousand years.

“Then, your name shall be Ide! Ide! A fine name, is it not?”

“Ide... Why... Why am I called Ide?”

“Well, um...Ide was the name of a senior member of my animal friends here. He passed away from old age a little while ago, so I thought, if you were willing, perhaps you could carry on the name.”

“The name of an elder? What kind of animal was he?” I hadn’t been particularly unhappy that it was an animal’s name; I’d just wondered what the name meant. After all, it had become my first name.

“What do you mean, ‘what kind’?”

“I want to know what he meant to you, sister.”

“Ide was a friend who played with me every single day this past year. And he was also the first vassal of the Sovereign Queen Lorde. He was the first one to go beyond being a mere collaborator and follow me, even though I was a sorcerer.”

“A friend and the foremost vassal...”

“Yes. When we began our pretend play here, he became a steadfast ally to me. And he stayed by my side until the very end.”

“Until the very end... Ide... Not bad. No, it’s cool.”

The loyal retainer Ide who’d stayed by the girl’s side until the very end. As a child, I’d thought he was cool. At the same time, I’d also wanted to become that Ide. To protect this girl, overflowing with talent, yet so reckless, always by her side...

“No, I will be the chancellor! I want to do it!” I’d volunteered of my own accord. That was truly a version of myself I could call my own.

“Ah...that’s right...” My consciousness returned to the throne room of Viaysia Castle. I gazed once more at myself, my hand grasped by the encouraging red octopus-like sorcerer. The reason I’d wanted to become chancellor was to remain by my sister’s side forever.

It was never to deny being her brother. To think I’d forgotten such a vital, original intention, trembling at the thought of reverting to a state worse than slavery...

“How utterly foolish I’ve been.” I couldn’t help but let the words spill out.

Then, seeing Rouge clasping my hand, I began to understand all the answers. I thought I’d sold every part of myself for the contract that had made me an Essence Thief. I’d believed all that remained was the power of the chancellor and the Essence Thief. But I was wrong. True, I’d lost much in exchange for that power. But the spirit I’d inherited from my grandparents had remained within me all along.

That was the true meaning of the contract I’d made with Apostle Regacy. That was the meaning behind the hope I’d felt back then. That was why, a year ago, when I’d seen Rouge and the other Jewelculi who had escaped from the research institute, I’d wanted to help them. The Jewelculi oppressed in this world a thousand years later were exactly like the sorcerers oppressed a thousand years ago. I wanted to help them to repay grandfather and grandmother’s kindness.

“How did you manage to escape the research institute with that tiny body? But you can rest easy now. The people who tormented you are gone,” I’d said, echoing the words that had been spoken to me long ago. “How did you manage to reach the northern frontier with that small body? You can rest easy now. There’s no one here to threaten you.”

Just like Titee had said, grandfather and grandmother had told me the same thing.

“Being a Jewelculus has nothing to do with it. We decide our own family. By the way, under our own law, we consider everyone here to be one family,” I’d said. That acceptance had come because I’d been told that blood ties meant nothing, that we chose our family on our own.

“Please never give up. Let’s all smile and aim for paradise together,” I’d said, knowing that if grandfather and grandmother were here, I would invite them in the same way. I had done everything in my power to help the Jewelculi. In other words, no matter how much of my memory was taken away, that spirit, that heart, could never be stolen by anyone. I realized I’d been given something so universal and wonderful, and I regretted forgetting it.

“Ah... Oh, I’m sorry, grandfather, grandmother... I truly am a worthless grandson, a worthless little brother. No, I couldn’t even be that...”

I repented bitterly for my failure to fulfill my promise to them.

“Despite receiving such wonderful teachings from both of you, I failed to repay that kindness! I left Titee all alone! For so very long, I was beside her, yet not truly there! I chose the wrong path, lost myself, and became a chancellor instead of a younger brother!”

There was nothing to lament when it came to lacking talent. Thanks to those splendid foster parents, I had gained a spirit I could be proud of. Thanks to that splendid sister, I also possessed a name I could be proud of.

“Everything... I was wrong about everything... I kept making mistakes, over and over... I didn’t want to admit it. That’s how I became what I am...”

With self-derision, I reexamined my life. Because of the price I’d paid, I could no longer recall the days spent with my sister. Yet I knew I had sworn something important in that pure-white place. Beneath the Pieris Aicia tree next to the gabled house, I had decided something profoundly important. What had I vowed? What had I thought? What had I dreamed of? What had I said I wanted? Why had I wanted to become strong? Had I truly believed I could become the chancellor of a nation?

No. I hadn’t wanted to become strong as the chancellor. I’d just wanted to become strong as my sister’s brother. That was the light that should have shown me the way, even if I got lost in the darkness. My true self.

I started to laugh. There was a refreshing clarity in finally reaching the answer, but mostly it was a bitter laugh at how pathetic I was. Tears streaming down my face, brows furrowed, I laughed from the depths of my soul.

Seeing me like that, Rouge beside me called out worriedly. “Professor...?”

Her voice snapped me out of my laughter. Grateful to her for teaching me something important, I forced strength into my body, which had been completely immobile until then. Muscles and nerves were crushed, severed, refusing to move properly. Yet, I still tried to force myself up.

Sensing my resolve, Rouge tried to pull me up with her clenched hand. With my student’s help, I staggered to my feet.

“Yes, I am your professor. You needn’t worry about me anymore. What happened earlier was merely me apologizing to your ancestors.” Determined not to cause further concern, I offered a light smile, one that seemed impossible after my defeat.

Naturally, Rouge was bewildered by this change in me. “Huh? My ancestors?”

“Meaning your family.”

“Don’t look to your ancestors! Look to the present, professor! If you have family, they’re right here! I’m your family!” Rouge shouted, thinking I was still trapped in the past, still holding my hand.

“Yes, that’s right. I wasn’t the chancellor, I became the respectable teacher I’d always wanted to be. I became an adult like my grandfather and grandmother. That alone is enough.”

My memories were still missing, but I understood myself clearly now. It was okay, I was strong. There was no need to lament, complain, or lash out. After all, I possessed the same strength of spirit as my respected grandparents.

“Yes, I finally understand. Now, there’s only one thing I must do...”

Just as Kanami had said, I had no choice but to do what must be done. I must never stray from the path again.

“I don’t need this anymore...”

Standing up, I walked over and placed the book I’d kept hidden in my robe—the heroic tale of the Sovereign Queen Lorde I’d guarded all this time—upon the now-empty throne. There was no time for sentimentality. If I didn’t hurry, I wouldn’t catch up to him.

“Thank you. My dear family, Rouge. I’m truly glad I met you.”

“Family! I’m so glad! You’re really yourself again now!” Only then did Rouge finally shed all the worry plastered on her face, revealing a beaming smile. Seeing the smile of the girl I’d worried about, I felt reassured and turned to head outside the castle.

“Well then, Rouge...I’m off.”

“Huh, you’re leaving? No way! If you fight again, you’ll die! You don’t have to fight anymore! Let’s return to everyone together, okay?!” Rouge’s words conveyed her desire to start everything over with our family in the castle.

But I couldn’t do that. “I’m sorry. Please let me go... I am a dead person from the past. Therefore, guiding you who live in the present can only go this far.”

I had a place I had to go back to. And I couldn’t take Rouge and the others there.

“Please, all of you, join forces and keep moving forward. I won’t be there, but I know you can do it. Because you are my best students. You can survive anywhere. You can become anything. None of you will ever lose sight of yourselves again. As long as your home is here, no matter how much the world’s tribulations assault you, what’s truly important will never be lost. That’s the paradise I was aiming for.”

That paradise was already complete. In the end, I’d built it in a future too far away...but still, this country was a paradise. In other words, I could have saved the North all by myself, without relying on the Sovereign Queen Lorde. If I’d wanted to, I could have surpassed her at any time.

And in this paradise I’d created, the Jewelculi whom I’d saved would live on. It had come too late for the sorcerers of a thousand years ago, but their descendants had reached it.

“Professor! You’re finally smiling...” Rouge was surprised to see the look of accomplishment on my face.

Perhaps a full smile was rare for me. Thinking it was good that the last expression I showed her was a smile, I turned my back to Rouge too. Heading for the exit of the throne room, I offered my final words.

“Rouge, I leave the rest to you. Decide the future of this Northern Alliance by your own will. This nation of Viaysia was born from the strength of the oppressed. Therefore, you are the ones most worthy of carrying on its legacy. After I disappear, nations across the world will surely begin moving. I wish I could be involved in the aftermath myself, but that is impossible. It’s terribly selfish, but I will now attend to matters I must handle personally, and then I will vanish.”

I stated it clearly. I would not look back. Without seeing her expression, I listened only for her reply.

“O-Okay! Don’t worry! We’ll be fine! Because you saved us! Saved us—no, saved everyone in the North! So, really, you can leave the rest to us living in the present! We’ll handle things ourselves! We don’t need the legendary Sovereign Queen Lorde or the chancellor!” Her voice trembled slightly, but she didn’t falter until the very end.

“Truly, you are a student I can be proud of... With this, I can finally focus on what I must do, without worry.”

“Does that mean you’re going to fight the people outside?”

“Yes. They’re formidable foes, but they are enemies I must defeat with my own hands.”

“I’m not worried at all. Because I know you’re strong, professor.”

“Of course. I’m strong. Invincible.” Rouge was seeing me off without hesitation, and I responded in kind. “You must wait here. This place is safe. Though the sealing magic formula has been broken, its sturdiness remains unquestionable.”

“Yes I will. I’ll wait here in the castle you left behind until the battle ends...”

And then, the final moment arrived. Without even looking back, I knew Rouge was waving. We exchanged farewells.

“Goodbye, professor. Go safely.”

“I’m heading out.”

I passed through the throne room’s doorway and stepped out into the outer corridor. Due to the effects of my Anti-Founder Magic Seal, it was filled with a vast amount of vegetation. Even though I had done it myself, the journey was a bit taxing on my battered body.

The arm that had been sliced off by Kanami was stitched together with plant fibers, but the bone and nerves remained unconnected. The mere vibration of walking sent searing pain through it, causing my body to stiffen violently. Countless fractures and bruises made it impossible to tell where it hurt. Blood flowed unchecked from the wounds, so I had no choice but to cover the exposed flesh with tree bark to force a stop to the bleeding.

I felt like I was about to collapse. Honestly, my body wasn’t fit for walking anymore, let alone battle. Even from just my brief stint pretending to be a doctor, I could say with certainty that absolute rest was required. More than that, it was astonishing that I was alive at all.

But my body felt light. My steps felt lighter than when I’d walked through the castle days ago, lighter than when I’d walked through it a thousand years ago. Guided by the map in my mind, I pushed through the thick undergrowth, taking the shortest route from the corridor toward the outer wall.

I had to catch up to Kanami. No, that was wrong. I had to overtake him. I had a duty to reach that place before Kanami did. I now understood the meaning of his words. I absolutely couldn’t leave my precious family alone. On top of that, I needed to prove that my feelings for my family were even stronger than his. I was the strong son who carried on grandfather and grandmother’s will. I was Ide, the younger brother my sister was proud of.

“Wait for me!” Dragging my feet, sometimes nearly falling, I kept moving forward along this path. I wouldn’t wait for my sister’s return—I would go and meet her myself. And this time, I would save her.

Her younger brother had never been weak. He was a strong man who could spread his arms wide before her when she fell. From now on, no matter how powerful the enemy, I would absolutely protect her.

So just a little longer! Please wait just a little longer, sister!

Chapter 4: After Our Return to Floor Forty, Our Long Story Fades to White

It was a sea of white.

Snow—a blizzard—poured down upon the capital, where the giant tree stood motionless.

The world plunged into deep winter. A murderous cold, so intense it rendered even such words hollow and lukewarm, now dominated all of Viaysia. While Kanami dueled within the castle, outside, the battle between the new black-haired Sovereign Queen Lorde Hitaki and me progressed. And the blizzard of ice-binding magic she’d unleashed cooled the world endlessly.

White tiarlay and snow continued to fall from the icy barrier enveloping the royal capital. Snow piled up on the city’s rooftops, the streets, the trees—everything. The land, once characterized by its greenery, was being dyed pure white.

I couldn’t keep my eyes open to confirm it. The blizzard lashed my face, threatening to freeze my eyeballs solid. My eyelashes were already completely frozen. Just exhaling made fine ice crystals sparkle; inhaling made my lungs ache with cold. Snow clung to my feet, scattering like water droplets every time I stepped on the road or rooftops.

This was the power of the sister of Kanami, Aikawa Hitaki, the Thief of Water’s Essence. Though she was an Essence Thief, she used no Water magic whatsoever due to her excessively heretical skill and uniquely abnormal magical properties. Instead, she froze everything.

Plants and flowers, the natural world, stopped in the cold. It wasn’t freezing to death but truly stopping. As a skilled mage myself, I understood the mechanics of that magic. A thousand years ago, I’d never had the chance to fight her, but this power could undoubtedly threaten even me, the Thief of Wind’s Essence.

Still, I wouldn’t back down an inch. Even if the enemy possessed the power to freeze, I was the Wind of Freedom.

“Don’t underestimate me, you new Sovereign Queen Lorde! Wynd Umbrella!” In the center of the royal capital, on what seemed to be the widest avenue in the country, I faced my enemy and roared.

Now, standing atop a frozen fountain installed along the avenue, Hitaki faced me as I hovered before her using my wings. I conjured a dense, spherical shield of wind, using it as a barrier to charge straight ahead, slamming my body into the enemy. It was a magical shield punch—a shield bash. With the wings on my back, I fanned the cold air and streaked through the sky.

In contrast, Hitaki merely murmured sleepily. “Ice Parallax Blue.”

Blue magic leaked from her entire body as she stood atop the frozen fountain, constructing a round shield similar to my Wynd Umbrella. Before the fountain, the massive shields of magic collided, initiating a contest of magical power. When it came to a contest of raw strength like this, I had absolute confidence I wouldn’t lose. In fact, if we fought fairly, I would likely win within seconds.

However, the enemy would never resort to straightforward brute force. She was a dexterous Essence Thief, skilled in subtle tactics. Particles of blue and emerald magic danced into the air from the clash of shields. Immediately, Hitaki manipulated those particles, sending them to attack me as I cast my spell.

My hands, which I’d thrust forward, froze from the fingertips. My flapping wings creaked and groaned, growing heavy as stone.

“Gah!”

Realizing I’d crash if I stayed, I abandoned the magical standoff and leaped sideways. The victorious blue shield swallowed my emerald shield whole, charging straight ahead and freezing more of the royal capital. Moisture in the air froze instantly, icicles sprouting everywhere across the city. The aftershock alone created numerous ice sculptures that seemed to reach the sky.

While grieving over the freezing of Ide’s city once more, I pondered the enemy’s affinity. It’d been nothing but this since the start.

Anyway, Hitaki frequently used different magic simultaneously—not handling magic on a large scale but using entirely different spells at the same time. It was a dexterity not found in other Essence Thieves.

Even amid the grand magic of her shield, she generated another spell as effortlessly as taking a breath. Though I might have had the upper hand with individual spells, her second spell would sneakily exploit openings, preventing me from finishing her off.

Feeling impatient, I fired magical bullets from the rifle I’d fashioned from Wind magic on my right arm.

“Blow away!”

“Absolute Winter.”

The bullet slicing through the midwinter world stopped just short of reaching Hitaki’s body. It came to a complete standstill right in front of her eyes. It wasn’t vanishing as if she’d used a countermagic spell; it simply halted in midair.

Clenching my teeth, I began building another spell while trying to move my wings. I felt a weight, and my eyes widened. Or to be precise, it wasn’t weight but the sensation of something catching. The wing I tried to move snagged on something, refusing to move upward. Of course, there was nothing to catch me in midair. If anything, it could only be the snow of this dreaded winter.

“Ice Arrow!”

“Damn it! Wynd Arrow!”

An icy arrow flew toward me, my body slowed by the unfamiliar sensation. Just as I tried to shoot it down with a wind arrow, I felt the same snag in my magic’s generation.

“Hey! What’s...?”

It wasn’t just my body—even my magic felt heavier! The sense of unease was so overwhelming that I couldn’t help feeling that way.

And then I knew it was true. I looked at my hands in a sudden panic. My body, which hadn’t frozen once since becoming the Thief of Wind’s Essence, was now trembling from the cold. And it wasn’t just my body. Even the magic power wrapped around my hands was trembling.

At the same time, I realized my earlier assumption that I couldn’t break through was wrong. It was the opposite. Without me noticing, only I had been under a relentless attack all along. This stalling tactic, this magical counterattack battle, was likely Hitaki’s offense.

Dragging out the battle, gradually enveloping the field in cold air, slowly siphoning heat from the enemy’s body—that was the tactic of this new Sovereign Queen Lorde. It was a power diametrically opposed to mine, which spectacularly scattered enemies.

“Gah!” I shook my trembling body, trying to create some distance between us. But every movement felt heavy, agonizing, and unbearable. Too much magic and body heat had been stolen by this winter world. I felt my chances of victory slipping away with every passing second. In a short battle, I would have held an overwhelming advantage. But our fight had dragged on far too long.

Gritting my teeth, I flew over the capital, now completely dominated by Hitaki, reexamining why I hadn’t been able to settle this in a short fight. First, my desire to fight while protecting this royal capital of Viaysia was getting in the way. No matter how different this Viaysia was from the one I knew, it was undeniably the future of my former homeland. Above all, I had promised Rouge that I would fight while causing as little destruction as possible. That was why I’d held back on using my big moves.

Then there was another thing: the presence of my little sister, the childlike girl enduring the cold in the rear with her elementless Vibration magic. Protecting Snow inevitably restricted how I could fight.

“Snow! Are you okay?!” I called out as I leaped backward. She had collapsed onto the snowy plain.

But the only response was a weak, trembling voice. “I’m sorry, big sis! Protecting myself is the most I can do!” Snow, her lips turned pure white, was now sheltering inside a magical sphere. It was a resilient defensive barrier created by my wind and her magic. Still, the situation was intense. Even a Dragonewt, the species supposedly more resistant to cold than any other, couldn’t adapt to the deep winter.

“Good! Holding out this long is impressive enough!” Confirming Snow’s safety, I immediately turned back to face Hitaki. I also glared at the Apostle who was laughing where she stood behind and to the right of the fountain.

When the battle had begun, Snow and Sith had been fighting while the younger Aikawa and I were in a one-on-one situation. But now, it was two against one. The situation was worsening by the minute.

Fortunately, Apostle Sith had left the fighting to Hitaki and was just observing. It seemed she wanted to see her new Sovereign Queen Lorde defeat the old Sovereign Queen Lorde.

“Heh heh. It’s futile, queen from a thousand years ago! You cannot defeat my Hitaki. But you needn’t feel ashamed. It was decided from the start that no one could win! That’s how the world is! After all, you were merely the strongest in a world without us! The true strongest is now Hitaki! The Hitaki I prepared!” She didn’t fight, yet she strutted around proudly in the rear.

I wanted to knock that Apostle’s teeth in somehow. But my body felt too heavy and my magic output was poor. True, I’d fulfilled about half my lingering attachments in the underground battle and was therefore weakened, but even so, this was too strange. As long as Hitaki was an Essence Thief, she was strong. That was to be expected. It was natural.

“Ix Wynd!” Deciding minor tricks wouldn’t cut it, I attempted to construct the magic I’d used against Kanami in the labyrinth a few days ago. It was magic that turned my body itself into a bullet, piercing the world. I unfurled an emerald magic circle at my feet, attempting to expand it to a scale surpassing that of the royal capital. But midway through, my spell construction was punished.

“Freeze Nibelheim.” With just those words murmured by Hitaki, the surrounding cold instantly intensified. The magic circle’s deployment was suppressed by Ice magic and frozen in place.

At that flawless reaction, I frowned. The first thought that crossed my mind was Is Aikawa Hitaki, the Thief of Water’s Essence, truly asleep?

Small tricks were countered, and major spells were stopped at their inception. That judgment and those tactics were too perfect, as if she knew the answers from the start. I’d assumed she was asleep, merely reacting to my magic by firing counter-spells, but that wasn’t the case.

The gaze leaking from those slightly opened eyes seemed to shine brightly, determined not to miss a single opening. Far from facing a sleeping opponent, it felt like I was up against some brilliant, sharp-witted military strategist.

Having been hardened by countless battlefields, I understood something. Deep down, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about the Thief of Water’s Essence was fundamentally misunderstood.

Earlier, Apostle Sith had said that it had been decided from that start that no one could win. Like Kanami, Hitaki was an Outworlder, and the condition for summoning them was a child with a stronger heart than anyone else in this world. But didn’t that stray too far from the conditions for an Essence Thief? Was Aikawa Hitaki truly the same kind of Essence thief as me? Could she be something else entirely?

Yet, even as I wrestled with this doubt, the enemy’s frigid cold spread relentlessly throughout the capital. The tremors in my body and magic power intensified, gradually eroding the precision of martial arts and spells.

Meanwhile, the enemy’s magic grew stronger. It was no laughing matter. Watching me fall into disadvantage, Apostle Sith let out a high-pitched laugh. “As expected of my Hitaki! Yes, the inevitable outcome! There’s no way the old can defeat the new! It’s a law of the world that no one can defeat Aikawa Hitaki! Your levels of existence are different! Ha ha! Come on, Hitaki! You can end this battle now! Freeze that dusty old legend in ice!”

I reached my limit. I stopped considering the damage to those around me. I tried to build a spell with all my might, determined to shatter everything—including Sith’s so-called world order—with my Wind of Freedom.

“Lord of—”

“Stop. Freeze Nibelheim.”

But it was halted by the cold. It wasn’t canceled, but the spell’s construction slowed to a crawl. With no other choice, I gathered magic power in my right fist, attempting to forcibly destroy my enemy along with the capital city itself.

“Shatter!”

“Stop. Freeze Nibelheim.”

But the magic power gathered in my right fist was insufficient, and I raised my arm far too sluggishly. Though it was a full-power punch intended to destroy the nation, the result was only about the strength of a high-level Wind spell. It blew away a dozen or so houses in the surrounding town, lightly cracked the road, and barely made the fist pressure collide with the sky barrier. Realizing the situation’s gravity from her spell, which was less than a hundredth of her true strength, I judged there was no time to rest and that I would have to continue unleashing full-power wind attacks.

“Stop. Stop, stop, stop. Everything, stop. Freeze Nibelheim.” The cold air released by Hitaki intensified by another level. This increase in the chill made it clear she had been holding back before. Without a doubt, she was altering her fighting style after observing my expressions and reactions.

“Gah, ugh... My limbs!” Just as I had been conserving my strength, so too had the enemy. My body froze from the core in an instant, my fingertips going numb and stiffening. I could feel the strength draining from my fist as I tried to unleash another blast.

“Well, well, well! My dear former Sovereign Queen Lorde! This is the real Sovereign Queen Lorde’s true power! That’s right! If not for that one mistake, Hitaki would be the strongest in the world! My Hitaki is the strongest being in human history! She is the perfect girl! Aha ha ha ha!” Sith had changed locations after the previous all-out attack. She wasn’t behind the fountain anymore but on the roof of a distant house, continuing her maniacal laughter.

I was stunned by the sluggishness of my own lips and throat as I tried to retort. The bitter cold that made Sith proud clung to my entire body, making it difficult to utter so much as a sound. My teeth chattered relentlessly, refusing to form words.

“Ice Arrow.” As if to deliver the final blow to my trembling form, an icy arrow shot forth from Hitaki.

At the very last moment, I parried it away with my bayonet. A mere basic Ice magic spell felt terrifyingly fast and heavy. The freezing world of midwinter amplified the arrow’s power, but more than that, I had been weakened. And the person who’d successfully weakened me was the girl herself—through both a judicious selection of spells suited to the situation and a masterful tactical execution.

She was strong. Undoubtedly, the Thief of Water’s Essence was strong. Even though I was restricted as a Guardian of the Fiftieth Floor, weakened by the resolution of my lingering attachments, my opponent should have faced similar limitations. Yet, I was overwhelmed. Hitaki was so strong that I was certain that history would have been completely altered a thousand years ago had Apostle Sith not mistakenly transformed her into a monster midway.

“Ugh... Uuugh...”

I fully understood why Apostle Sith had declared Hitaki the true Sovereign Queen Lorde. If strength was the proof of the role, then it was now abundantly clear. She was a legendary queen who stood on the shoulders of a legendary Apostle, repelling all interlopers. She was not a fake born from childish play. Standing atop the icicle in the center of Viaysia’s royal capital now—she was the real thing.

There was no way a fake could ever defeat the real thing. No matter how much confidence I had in my strength, I was powerless before overwhelming might. Powerless. After all, I was just a child... A powerless child. I’d already admitted that within the labyrinth. Unable to bear the weight of being the Sovereign Queen Lorde, I’d accepted that I was just a girl. There was no way such a weak child like me could defeat such a powerful enemy. Because I couldn’t win, here I was, my knees pressed to the ground, my hands braced, about to collapse...

“Nooo!” Just as I was about to collapse, I denied it instinctively and shook my head. Somehow, both my hands were already pressed against the ground.

My body had been resting on a bed of snow, and I had been on the verge of falling asleep. Even though I could still fight, I had nearly given up before the battle had even begun. It was this strange realization that made me process the true power of the midwinter magic, Freeze Nibelheim. The cold was stealing warmth down to the very core of my heart. This frozen space didn’t just freeze invisible magic—somehow, it was affecting people’s innermost feelings too.

I immediately tried to reignite the fighting spirit that had begun to fade.

“Gah! Mmmph!”

It didn’t matter if she was some legendary queen or whatever! The only ones here were two humans—Titee and Hitaki—and neither of us had changed! There was no reason a fake couldn’t beat the real thing! Even if the opponent had overwhelming power, the way I fought could turn the tide!

I told myself this, trying to reignite my fighting spirit.

“Ah... Ah...”

A chill like a mockery of my decision descended on me. The cold painfully clinging to my skin gradually faded, replaced by a sense of warmth. I realized my sense of touch had frozen. My body had stopped moving, beyond mere trembling. Now, only the core of my brain felt cold. My thinking wasn’t impaired; I’d just lost all heat, and my mind kept drifting to the most negative thoughts. Even knowing this was the enemy’s magic, the sense of utter defeat kept growing. I thought if this continued, everything would freeze and stop. But even the function of feeling danger had long since stopped, and I couldn’t muster the will to resist it.

Cold. Yeah, cold. Just cold. I just wanted to sleep. Thinking was too much effort, so I wanted to sleep without thinking. Sleep, think of nothing, rest forever somewhere warm...

“It’s about time.”

Just as my eyelids were about to close, a voice reached me. It was the voice of my friend, Nosfy. I turned my eyes, just before they closed, in the direction of the voice. Nosfy stood near Apostle Sith, having just cast off her invisibility. Perhaps she had been watching the battle all along.

Nosfy spoke to Apostle Sith while looking at me. “In this contest between two Sovereign Queen Lordes, Hitaki will emerge victorious. Without question, Hitaki is truly worthy of being called the queen who governs the world. I acknowledge it.”

“Of course. Heh, honestly, it hardly even needed a contest,” Apostle Sith quickly responded.

However, hearing that unhesitating response, Nosfy cast her a pitying glance. “As always, you look down on everything, seeing others only as stepping stones. Even after dying once, your personality hasn’t changed, has it?”

It was a spiteful remark unbecoming of her. Or at least, the Nosfy of my former life would never have said such a thing to an Apostle.

“I wouldn’t call it looking down. I’m just proud of reality. Or are you saying that girl could defeat my Hitaki? Such a miracle is impossible.”

“Yes. It would be difficult for Lorde alone. However, I believe it’s not impossible if they combine their strength.” Turning her gaze toward me and Snow behind me, Nosfy had declared there was still a chance to win. Though it was a conversation with Apostle Sith, it also sounded like words of encouragement to the two of us, telling us we could do it.

“They? Ah, you mean with their allies inside the castle? You place too much blind faith in Aikawa Kanami. Even if their allies joined them now, it would be meaningless. It’s decided by the laws of the world that Aikawa Kanami cannot defeat Aikawa Hitaki. Do you really think a miracle could happen?”

“It’s precisely because we break through such laws head-on that we are human. Though the Essence Thieves were chosen from the weak-hearted, they were once human. They hold the potential to break through anything. Unlike us, the Degraded Imitations...”

Called a fake, the sharp-tongued Apostle Sith fell silent. Perhaps there was something in Nosfy’s words that left her unable to argue back.

As the conversation trailed off, Nosfy bowed and offered her farewell. “I must be excused now, as time is short.”

“Yes, you should return to your place.” Sith watched her go. Her expression made it clear that she found the thought of further conversation with Nosfy unpleasant.

Finally, Nosy left her parting words for me. Her expression was gentler than I had ever seen it, yet simultaneously pained. “Farewell, Lorde, my worthy adversary and my dear, dear Demon Queen friend. There is no need for worry. It is all right. For you are no longer a queen but a kindhearted human who deserves reward...”

“Nosfy...? But...wait...”

“Connection.” Nosfy didn’t answer. Instead, she created a shining gate nearby and stepped through it. It was clearly the dimensional magic used for long-distance travel. Her figure vanished, and the shining gate disappeared too.

“How could she...?” I cursed at my departed friend’s back. When there was no Kanami, Nosfy was calm. She’d even showed me, her friend, her pained expression. I felt like I was starting to understand little by little. Nosfy was similar to me. “Ugh. But this is bad. The cold is making my body...”

Even if I understood Nosfy’s inner state now, there was nothing I could do about it. When I tried to move my limbs, only the strength of an infant remained. Nosfy’s encouragement had certainly warmed my heart a little. But that warmth would be stolen again too in mere seconds.

“My eyelids feel heavy... If this continues...”

Unable to endure it, I finally closed my eyes. From the frigid, pure-white world, I fell into a warm, pitch-black one. The sensation in my limbs vanished as my body collapsed onto the ground. I was enveloped in a soft feeling, like plunging into a plush bed. Even though my mind knew it was the feel of snow, it was an irresistible temptation.

Wrapped in warm snow, my entire body drifted toward sleep. Then, as if urging sleep, instinct showed me a dream before my eyelids closed. It was a memory I’d desperately recalled just days before. A precious treasure I’d managed to salvage thanks to Kanami.

It was of the former Viaysia: warm sunlight, vast grasslands, two children running across them, and an old couple watching over them. It was truly a warm memory of family. Those children’s names were Titee and Ide.

“Ah... Yes... I still have something I must tell Ide... I cannot collapse until I see my brother...”

Consciousness faded. But the thought of Ide alone refused to leave my mind.

Ide... My most precious little brother. Since I’d finally escaped Floor Sixty-Six, I was able to recall the memories of my time spent with him. I remembered it like it was yesterday. So much had happened.

As a little white-haired child, Ide had followed me around constantly. Despite being a boy, he couldn’t walk very fast, and he was always out of breath. But he never once complained. I wonder if that was because he was stubborn. His body grew bigger at the same time as his stubbornness.

I remembered getting unreasonably angry with Ide for being too close behind me, calling him insolent and bratty. Yet he had silently followed me all along, despite my unreasonable behavior. Whether playing in the grasslands, by the river, or in the mountains, he was always right beside me. Not a single day passed without him. When I tried to catch the river’s master, when I went to see the flying dragon, when I ventured out to the northern town—he was always with me.

We were always, always together.

It had been fun... Childhood had been truly joyful. Having him there had made me so happy.

But what about Ide? I thought he’d smiled. I thought he’d smiled softly behind me... I thought.

Ah, my heart felt cold. It was so cold, so cold, and this bad feeling just wouldn’t stop. Back then, little me had been so spoiled and selfish. Ide, dragged around by such a foolish sister, might not have actually enjoyed it. Maybe I’d only thought he was laughing with me. Maybe deep down, he’d never wanted to be little me’s little brother...

That was probably why things had turned out the way they had. Because of me, he’d become the chancellor instead of my little brother.

Chancellor Ide...

He’d gained power that didn’t suit him, fulfilled dreams that didn’t suit him, wore clothes that didn’t suit him, wore glasses that didn’t suit him, did things that didn’t suit him. It was all as if to accuse me of my foolishness.

“Ah, ahh, aaah...”

It might be over now. My heart was frozen, filled with inexplicable anxiety and an unbearable loneliness. I longed for human warmth, yet when I reached out, there was no one there. I was alone in a dark dream. My little brother wasn’t here. Neither Kanami or Nosfy were here.

Though no one was here, I felt only the overwhelming magic of the Sovereign Queen Lorde. Only the legendary queen who’d once deceived my childish self stood before me. Though I’d thought I had cast her aside, she clung to me as an enemy until the very end, as if forcing me to atone for my sins. In the end, the only one left wasn’t a friend or family—it was the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

That fact nearly broke my heart. I couldn’t... My heart was breaking... Someone...help me... Kanamin... Nosfy... Beth... Grandpa Vohlz... Everyone in the North... Ah... Gramps... Grams...

“Ide...”

My little brother’s name.

The meaning behind that name was simple. It had been borrowed from a name appearing in the tale of the Sovereign King Lorde from a thousand years ago. Well, to be precise, it had been passed down as the name of one of my forest friends who’d borrowed it. But honestly, it didn’t really matter.

No, it didn’t matter. Because either way, the meaning behind that name was singular. Meaning was always singular.

I wanted him to stay by my side. That was the wish behind the name. That’s why I’d called my little brother “Ide.” Come to think of it, I felt like I hadn’t seen his face in ages. Since coming to the surface, I’d spoken with him, but we’d never seen each other face-to-face. Every time, we’d talked from afar, separated by something.

Maybe that was why I felt it more strongly. I wanted to see him, even just once. I wanted to see Ide one last time. After all, I hadn’t seen my little brother in over a thousand years. He was such an important, important family member, yet I hadn’t been able to see him.

I’d kept tumbling down through hell, crying out over and over again, until I’d finally made it this far. Since I’d come back... Just one last time. Just one last time would be enough. I wanted to see him... But in this cold darkness, my consciousness drifted away, and I couldn’t think of anything anymore. All I felt now was the coldness in my heart.

Cold. Cold, cold, cold. The cold stopped me. Everything stopped. Life stopped.

I felt like I was freezing to death. But before I died, I wanted to see him somehow. I wanted to see Ide. I wanted to see my little brother.

I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him, I wanted to see him...

I wanted to see him.

I was just on the brink of falling back into the abyss.

“TIIITEEE!!!”

Warm magic suddenly surged through my entire body. No, warm was an understatement—it was hot. A magic that felt like it was burning and boiling filled me.

That heat abruptly pulled my consciousness, which had been drifting away, back. My thoughts, which had been frozen, began to move again.

“Huh? Eh? Wha...?” I’d thought I’d just heard something. A very important voice, in my ear...

Somehow, my eyelids, which had felt so heavy, had grown light. Thanks to that, I could finally bring the white royal capital into view. And there, before my wide-open eyes, stood the back of a man I didn’t remember.

His clothes were ragged and torn. The limbs peeking from his cuffs were covered in blue bruises and scrapes. He had a broad back that had surely weathered fierce battles. From the branches and leaves sprouting from his neck, I instantly recognized him as a dryad.

Furthermore, seeing white, long hair draped over those branches and leaves, I realized this back was the one I had been searching for.

Ide...?

I realized Ide stood before me and nearly froze in shock. For a moment, I thought it was a hallucination, but the demonic power radiating from the Essence Thief before me was unmistakable. Ide was here. He’d escaped that castle and stood before me, alone.

Which meant... Could I dare to hope? After a thousand years, my brother—once trapped by his position as the nation’s chancellor—had finally returned. We siblings had at last been reunited. We could rejoice at seeing each other’s faces. Could I place my hopes on this back?

Facing that back, so much larger than my own, I still hesitated. I was afraid to make sure of who it was. I was afraid to speak. I was afraid that when we faced each other, Ide would still be the chancellor and still call me the Sovereign Queen Lorde. And if he denied we were siblings now, my heart, weakened by the cold, would break.

It was Ide who spoke first. “Sister. I’m glad. I made it in time this time.”

My fear was swept away by his strong voice as he turned around and called me sister.

I saw the same face as the Chancellor Ide from my memories. Only, his expression was completely different.

“I’m sorry. For such a long time... Yes, truly for an incredibly long time, I kept you waiting. But now I’ve returned to your side, sister. Your brother will never, ever leave you alone again.”

My brother wove clear words of apology. He stood before me, protecting me from the formidable foe, the Sovereign Queen Lorde, as he declared himself my brother.

“Ide!” I had waited for this moment my entire life. For over a thousand years, I’d waited and waited. Deep within the labyrinth, in that false Viaysia, enduring hellish atonement and repeated punishment, despairing over a life that wouldn’t end even after my heart was shattered, crying endlessly at the bottom of the abyss—even then, I had waited for my little brother.

“Yes. I am your little brother, Ide, standing here.”

“Ah, ahh, Ide! You’ve finally come to your senses—” I rose with joy, immediately reaching out to embrace him.

“No, that is not correct. You’re wrong, sister.” But Ide shook his head, stopping me. Then, as if avoiding meeting my gaze, he turned his face away.

No way! Could it be...he still wasn’t sane?! That dreadful thought flashed through my mind. The warm light that had finally kindled in my heart threatened to grow cold and die.

“I have always been sane. In my sanity, I calculated everything, intending to mold you into the Sovereign Queen Lorde and use you. I knew you were suffering, yet out of selfish self-preservation, I continued to look the other way. I am a despicable coward beyond excuse... Truly, I am sorry...”

Ide claimed he had been sane not just for a thousand years, but from the day he was born. The blood dripping from both clenched fists showed how ashamed he was of that fact. Now, unable to face me, he kept his gaze fixed ahead.

“Yes, I was a strong, stubborn, foolish coward! But now—!” he shouted.

Yet even so, he did not break. In this heart-freezing, bitterly cold land, he roared as if to make the flame within his heart blaze fiercely.

“I will never again pretend to be a coward! I will never again call you the Sovereign Queen Lorde! I will never again place burdensome expectations upon you! And of course, I will never again rely on my position as chancellor! I will never again live by exploiting you! That’s why! That’s why, I beg you!!!”

And without hesitation, he cast off the tattered cloak wrapped around his body, baring his entire being—that of a dryad—to the world.

“May I be allowed to be your little brother?! Even though I’m so pitiful, so pathetic, and so unreliable?! From now on, I’ll become stronger! I absolutely, absolutely will become stronger!”

He crushed the glasses he wore in his hand and threw them onto the pure-white ground. Along with that cry, his heat and emotion reached my heart. Now, I could understand the feelings of that little brother who’d once felt so distant.

“Just once more! Let me stay by your side as your little brother!” He truly wished to be my little brother again.

Hearing that wish, I recalled the past. It felt so nostalgic that tears threatened to spill out. Memories of the moment we’d become siblings raced through my mind. Ide was the same as back then. A single tattered rag around his waist, so worn down that he could barely walk. Lacking confidence in his own existence, he’d wandered aimlessly, seeking only a name.

But there was one difference from that day. We were a little more grown-up than we’d been a thousand years ago. So, my answer changed a little too. “You don’t even need to ask! You’re my little brother! Always and forever! From long, long ago, you’ve been my little brother!”

We were no longer young. Having lived far too long, we’d grown taller and become adults. Therefore, it would change. The meaning of our sibling bond would change now!

“I thank you for your generous heart! Dearest sister, leave the rest to me!”

A thousand years ago, I’d always stood in front of Ide. As the elder sister, I’d sworn to guide and protect my younger brother.

I’d always taken Ide’s hand and run ahead, determined to ward off every approaching hardship. But after a thousand years, our positions had completely reversed. Now, Ide stood before me, and I was the one being protected!

I was so happy. As his sister, I was overjoyed. Here in this future, a thousand years later, Ide was about to surpass me. That little Ide had changed so much. Though his body was still thin and frail, he was bigger than me. Much, much bigger. Above all, he no longer hid the emerald-green leaves that marked him as a dryad. His magic had shifted—from relying on others to grow, to believing in himself to grow.

The heat of that magic repelled the enemy’s cold magic. Within the world of bitter winter, Ide moved forward step by step, shouting. It was neither a voice directed at the enemy nor his allies, but a vow that seemed to pound against the world itself.

“Hear me! I am Ide! The little brother of my beloved sister Titee! There is no longer any trace of weakness in my heart!” What he hurled at this world was the name I’d given him as a child. He showed he really was Ide, protecting me with his broad back as he advanced step by step. “Titee! Please, this time, place your expectations on me! Leave it to me! Rely on me!”

With each of Ide’s shouts, the chill my heart had felt was swept away, and the trembling of my body eased. The warmth of home, felt in childhood, overflowed from within my chest.

“I finally understand my own lingering attachments! It was that I couldn’t stay by your side forever! That I couldn’t drive away a single thing that tormented my dear sister! That I couldn’t fulfill the promise I made to grandfather and grandmother! Ahhh, those were my lingering attachments!”

Ide, pointing a finger at the Sovereign Queen Lorde with raw hostility, was shouting for my sake! Just that alone made my heart burn!

“Sis! I’ll defeat everything tormenting you right now! Not as the Thief of Wood’s Essence or Chancellor of Viaysia, but simply as your younger brother! I will defeat the Sovereign Queen Lorde tormenting you! I will defeat her!”

These were the words I’d longed to hear. Alone, at the bottom of the abyss for a thousand years, crying endlessly, these were the words I’d waited for.

“I finally understand my purpose as a Guardian! The meaning of my birth! I know it now!” Ide declared.

Yes. Now that the conditions had finally been met, Ide shouted to the world the declaration of a true Guardian.

“It is here! This Viaysia a thousand years later is Floor Forty—the floor of the Thief of Wood’s Essence! The battlefield to overcome the weakness of my own heart! A challenger has finally arrived at Floor Forty! It is me! I will face the Trial I prepared, not Master Kanami or even my sister! It was me all along! Ah, I knew it from the start! This Trial alone must not be entrusted to anyone else! For I myself was the challenger destined to overcome it!”

Ide had declared that while being Guardian, he was simultaneously an explorer of the labyrinth. And without entrusting it to anyone else, he threw down the gauntlet to the world, vowing to overcome it himself.

“I will overcome the Sovereign Queen Lorde myself! I will prove myself to myself! No one else can do it but me! It’s natural!”

Facing the strongest enemy of his life, Ide stepped forward without a moment’s hesitation.

“I’m the only one who can undo the Sovereign Queen Lorde that I created!”

He was doing it all to protect me. Ide confronted the Sovereign Queen Lorde—his very ideal avatar.

“Ah, ahh, aaaah! Ide!” My vision blurred with tears as I watched his back draw farther away. The overflowing tears wouldn’t stop. But I knew I couldn’t afford to cry forever. I shook the tears from my eyes. I would never make that same mistake again. I couldn’t. If I just stood there, staring blankly at the back of my dependable brother, I’d be a failure as a sister.

Ide and I were siblings. Because we were siblings, we had to walk together. It had taken me a thousand years to learn that. I’d learned it by risking my life, breaking my heart, and even dragging the Northern people into everything. If I didn’t act now, I’d betray everyone who’d seen me off. I’d betray everyone who’d raised me up until this moment!

I absolutely wouldn’t let Ide fight alone. I wouldn’t leave it all to him. We were together. We weren’t alone anymore, we were together! From now on, until the day we died! No, even after we died, forever and ever!

We were together because we were always together!

We’ll fight together, Ide!

◆◆◆◆◆

I witnessed the reunion of the sister and brother.

Though I had intended to leave Viaysia Castle first, I was brilliantly overtaken by Ide, and he’d made it to Titee before I could. I’d won the duel, yet I felt like I’d lost the battle. But losing was for the best. Losing was truly for the best...

Titee, who’d kept deceiving herself to meet her brother’s expectations.

Ide, who’d kept pretending to be someone else just to stay by his sister’s side.

Both had lost themselves, wandering the depths of despair. But now, she wouldn’t have to pretend to be the Sovereign Queen Lorde anymore, nor would he have to pretend to be the chancellor. Facing this final enemy a thousand years later, the new Sovereign Queen Lorde, they’d made it just in time.

“Ugh... I hurt all over... Soothe me, Kanami...”

Watching their long-awaited reunion from afar, I’d been feeling a bit sentimental, but Snow, teary-eyed beside me, snapped me out of it.

“All right. If you can talk, you should be okay.” From what I could see, aside from frostbite, she didn’t have any serious injuries. I gave Snow’s head a light pat and ended the healing magic I’d cast on her.

“Oh!”

“Snow, you can stand down now. Leave the rest to us.”

Moving Snow to the rear, I stepped forward to face the true enemy. I intended to leave Hitaki to those two. I was certain that entrusting my younger sister to the siblings would end her role as the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

Now, there was only one thing left for me to do. A single Apostle stood at the end of the now-white road. Sith—shrouded in faintly golden magic. My task was to hold her back.

“Don’t lay a hand on Ide and the others. I’m the one you’re fighting.”

Seeing me blocking her path, Sith addressed me with a confident expression. “Aha. So it seems Regacy’s Thief of Wood’s Essence couldn’t defeat you after all. But as long as my Thief of Water’s Essence remains, victory is impossible for you, isn’t it, friend?”

She must have had absolute confidence in Hitaki’s strength. She showed no intention of interfering with their battle. Rather, she seemed content to watch alongside me. Sensing our shared interest, my fighting spirit withered. Thus began our wager: Sith bet on Hitaki while I bet on Ide and Titee.

“Ide can’t beat Hitaki. No, even more—no matter how many Essence Thieves gather, Hitaki cannot be defeated. That’s how the world’s rules are set.”

“You’re probably right. Hitaki looks strong. Even if the rest of us all teamed up, we might not win.” I looked in the same direction as Sith and agreed.

Hitaki, the Thief of Water’s Essence and the Sovereign Queen Lorde, possessed terrifying magical power. By transforming the royal capital into her own elemental field, she could freely manipulate both the temperature and magical energy within this space. Information from Dimension revealed that she was invincible in magical combat within this ice barrier.

“Did you suddenly decide to give up her body’s magic stone?” Seeing me openly acknowledge Hitaki’s strength, Sith tilted her head in puzzlement.

“No. Not at all. But even so, I’m saying Ide will win.” I shook my head with a smile. I no longer harbored a single fear about the duel. It was precisely because I knew this very situation was the best possible future that I could watch it unfold with a smile.

“Huh? Ide will win?” Sith seemed unable to comprehend what I was saying. But inside me, it was already a certainty.

From what I saw with Dimension, Ide was covered in wounds, blood-soaked and scarred. It wasn’t just his muscles—ligaments were torn, bones shattered. The outlet of his overflowing magical power source had been shifted by my magic, leaving him unable to use magic properly.

On top of that was this winter world. His body heat was being steadily drained, his entire body on the verge of freezing solid. Frankly, it was a miracle he wasn’t dead. Even so, Ide swore he wouldn’t lose. So that was how it would be.

I recalled Lorwen’s form in the final match of the Brawl. In other words, the Guardians I’d fought up until now and present Ide were the same. When a person fought using their very life, there were moments just like this. Physical condition didn’t matter. Being on the brink of death didn’t matter. As long as their spirit didn’t break, they kept believing they could move—and in fact, they did keep moving. These were moments when the spirit transcended everything, when utter exhaustion could be declared peak condition. In this moment alone, no one could defeat Ide. Not me, not the Apostle, not my sister, not even Ide himself, and certainly not the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

That was why I could watch with peace of mind, but Sith strongly objected. “What nonsense... The Thief of Wood’s Essence is the weakest Essence Thief. Regacy decided that! Bound by that price! Even if Ide enters the ring, it means nothing!”

“Ah, I know. Apostle Regacy seems to have placed his hopes entirely on Ide.”

“Huh? Hopes?”

“Hey, Sith. Have you ever seen the true spell of the Essence Thieves?”

Sith shook her head. In response, I explained my confidence based on my own reasoning.

“It’s a power you could never understand, living a borrowed life and thinking only of yourself. Watch closely. This is true ‘magic.’ Surely, this is the true goal Saint Tiara and I have both aimed for!”

Sith seemed to sense there was no lie in my words and fell silent. She joined me in staring intently at Ide, watching the distant battle as though determined not to miss a single detail after I’d spoken so earnestly. When this fight came to an end, Sith and I would surely understand what magic truly was—its very essence.

From what I’d seen in Titee’s memories, the origin of magic lay in fairy tales. Those who imitated them, the Essence Thieves, had begun to perform miracles. Next, Kanami the Founder had spread sorcery across the entire world, and then Saint Tiara had refined it into something that anyone could use. People today lumped all of that together and called them all spells. But I believed the true spell lay elsewhere.

I would see that genuine thing in the siblings who were about to vanish. Ide and Titee. The answer they gained by staking their entire lives—that was magic.

I strengthened Dimension, determined not to miss it.

◆◆◆◆◆

“Sovereign Queen Lorde!” Ide’s roar echoed amid the clash between the two Essence Thieves in front of Sith and me. Enveloping his right arm in wood to enlarge it, he charged across the snow-covered road.

Opposite him, Hitaki remained motionless atop the frozen fountain, calmly chanting her spell. “Ice Shield: Round.”

A massive magic circle unfolded between Hitaki and Ide, instantly solidifying into an icy shield.

Ide’s colossal arm, capable of crushing a house with ease, swung down and struck the massive shield Hitaki had conjured.

The collision of immense masses shook the entire royal capital. It felt like an earthquake powerful enough to cause fissures, yet Ide’s fist failed to shatter the shield. Facing ice unbroken by even a single crack, he prepared his next move.

“Truly worthy of being called the legendary Sovereign Queen Lorde! You won’t budge with brute force alone! So...next!”

“Ide! I’ll help you too!” Before Ide could do anything, Titee caught up. She positioned herself beside him, bayonet fixed, signaling her intent to fight alongside him.

But her brother tried to refuse. “Sis, please stand back! Leave this to me!” True to his earlier declaration, he vowed to hold his ground against the Sovereign Queen Lorde.

Titee shook her head with a delighted expression. “No, it’s fine now, Ide. You’ve already conquered yourself. The boy standing here is only my brother. A very strong, dependable, and proud brother. So...” Titee knew where Ide was headed now. Because she was no longer a child who knew nothing, she could gently guide him. “You mustn’t keep fighting alone. If you stubbornly persist in fighting alone, you’ll regret it like I do. Being alone is lonely. It’s terribly, terribly lonely. So let’s walk together.”

“Sis...?”

“Above all, this Sovereign Queen Lorde is something we two children created together. Therefore, it’s only right that we defeat it together. Wouldn’t you agree?” Titee proposed they fight together with her characteristic grin.

For a moment, Ide’s face darkened. Even from afar, I could clearly see his reluctance to expose his beloved sister to danger. Yet Titee showed neither anger nor exasperation, simply continuing to speak.

“Ide...let us return together.”

“Return together?”

“Yes, to our homeland. I wish to return! I wish to return with you, just the two of us! That’s why I came to fetch you!”

She poured out her heartfelt wish. It was no longer possible for Ide to continue fighting alone, driven by his own selfishness. He nodded obediently in return, voicing the exact same wish. “Yes! I want to go back with you too! I want to walk the same way home!”

“Then let’s go together! My brother, Ide!”

“Let us go together! My sister, Titee!”

And so, the Thief of Wood’s Essence and the Thief of Wind’s Essence—Guardians said to be capable of toppling a nation single-handedly—stood side by side to defeat their foe.

Confirming the increase in combatant numbers, the Sovereign Queen Lorde generated countless ice arrows in the air. It was a series of spells that seemed to say, If there are more enemies, then I’ll just have to defeat them simultaneously.

“Ice Arrow: Falling Flower.”

In an instant, ice arrows as numerous as falling snow filled the sky and rained down upon the siblings.

“Now then, sister! Please provide support! I’ll take the vanguard!!!” As he said this, Ide ran forward without hesitation. He transformed his tree-enhanced arm into a hooklike claw, signaling that he would take point.

“Okay! If it’s a shoot-out, I won’t lose! I’ll clear the way for you! Flying Bullet!” Pointing the bayonet on her arm toward the sky, Titee immediately fired a series of wind bullets. With a single shot, she shattered multiple ice arrows. Her aim was flawless. She struck only those that threatened the running Ide, carving a hollow path through the rain of arrows.

Trusting his sister’s power, Ide sprinted along that path without a moment’s hesitation. This flawless coordination forced Hitaki to construct yet another spell.

“Freeze Nibelheim.”

“Sittert Wynd!”

The barrier’s chill intensified. Yet, a gentle wind blew through it, countering the freezing cold that sought to bind Ide’s movements.

“As expected of my sister! All I need to do is keep moving straight ahead!” Ide raced down the path, reaching the enemy. Still, Hitaki stood atop her frozen fountain. To drag her down first, Ide slammed his arm against the fountain. Icicles shattered, fragments of ice scattering wildly.

Hitaki, who had remained motionless where she stood, was finally hurled into the air, and Ide lunged at her.

“Ix Blizzard.” Even as she fell, Hitaki calmly selected an appropriate spell. The blizzard struck the charging Ide. Perhaps due to the short casting time, it was a crude and weak spell, but it proved effective against Ide in midair, blowing him away without resistance. Thanks to her use of magic, Hitaki landed safely on the ground.

Meanwhile, the blown-away Ide landed, using Titee beneath him as a foothold. His feet pressed down on her arms as the siblings synchronized their breathing. Titee propelled her brother with both arms, and Ide leaped like he was bouncing off a trampoline.

“Blizzard!” Hitaki couldn’t build a large-scale spell fast enough to counter such a swift recovery. Though she fired an improvised ice spell, it was nullified by Ide’s fist. She had no choice but to keep building ice spells while naturally retreating.

The tide of battle shifted. Gradually, Hitaki’s responses fell behind, and Ide’s fists drew closer. The siblings’ perfectly timed combo attacks drove the enemy back. Within just a few exchanges, the tide had completely turned in the siblings’ favor. While the besieged Hitaki had no time to catch her breath, Ide and Titee had the leeway to converse mid-fight.

“Ha ha! Ha ha ha! We can do this! We can do it, Ide!”

“Yes! All this time, if we’d just fought together like this, it would’ve been fine for us!”

As if lamenting how precious this final moment was, the two exchanged words to make up for the time they’d missed up until now, even in the chaos of battle.

“Ha! Well now, Ide! Though we’re in the middle of a fight, there’s actually something I’ve wanted to ask you! Is that all right?”

“At a time like this?! Well, I suppose I have no choice! What is it, sister?!”

Right in front of the Sovereign Queen Lorde, in a fierce, high-speed battle, the two finally began chatting and laughing like children. I was dumbfounded by the sight of them. But I continued watching them, a slight smile on my lips.

“It’s about our journey so far! We’ve seen so many things! Just listen to me for a moment!”

“Yeah! I know! But I’ve seen and learned all sorts of things too, you know!”

“I saved many souls in the Dungeon! For every soul I couldn’t save a thousand years ago, I worked hard and saved more! How about that? Pretty amazing, huh?!”

“I healed countless unrewarded souls on the surface! I reached those I couldn’t touch a thousand years ago! Isn’t that great?!”

The two bragged back and forth while pushing forward relentlessly. The Sovereign Queen Lorde retreated along the pure white road. At this point, the battle was just an afterthought.

“After we got out of the Dungeon, yeah, we had a blast in the Allied Nations! It was so much fun!”

“I did whatever I wanted in the Allied Nations too! It was a year full of satisfaction!”

“We played around in Tiara’s cathedral! We went around seeing the magic that Tiara had created!”

“I’ve seen plenty of Lady Tiara’s legacy myself! Honestly, every single piece was magnificent!”

“Come to think of it, I even tried my hand at blacksmithing! Though I couldn’t match Vohlz, I forged a splendid sword! I entrusted it to my dear little sister!”

“I traveled far and wide, north and south, sharing my knowledge wherever I went! Naturally, I taught my proud students diligently along the way!”

Their chatter was too fast to catch easily. But knowing this was also their final testament, I strained to listen. I committed every detail to memory—their battle against the Sovereign Queen Lorde and their final, lighthearted exchange.

“Ah, thinking back, it was a long journey! So many truly painful moments! I can’t even count how many times I shed tears!”

“Yes, it truly was a long journey! How many times did I lose myself?! I caused everyone so much trouble!”

“I understand! Losing yourself is agonizing! It was so painful, I couldn’t breathe! But even so, what was truly important remained until the very end! Thanks to that, we were able to return!”

“That’s right! Even if we lose everything, some things never change! They’ve always been here, deep within our hearts! Thank you so much, grandfather and grandmother!”

“Yeah! Let’s show the world together what was truly important, right here, right now!”

“Yes, let’s shout it together! The story of us siblings! Everything, at last!”

At that moment, softly, a warm wind began to blow from nowhere. It was a pleasant breeze. No magic name was spoken. No magic construction could be felt. The siblings’ battle and laughter had likely come alive themselves, becoming an incantation. The world responded to that chant, transforming the surrounding magicbane into wind.

“Ah, at last, the end! And the legendary Sovereign Queen Lorde standing before us now is our final enemy!”

“Our final enemy is the very dream we once admired! The ideal itself! But we are stronger now! Much, much stronger!”

As their last words echoed, the wind swept past. That warm wind gradually melted the falling snow. Little by little, the world that had frozen their skin transformed into one that warmed it. The snow covering the ground melted away, and beneath it, new life began to sprout. The once pure-white royal capital gradually dyed itself a vibrant, emerald green. Grass, trees, flowers, sunlight, spring breezes—all gradually came into being.

The Sovereign Queen Lorde confronting this warm wind invading the frozen world was clearly startled. Though mostly asleep, her expression hidden, her eyes unfathomable, she was undoubtedly shaken by this phenomenon bordering on a miracle.

“Go, my brother Ide! Keep pace, without delay!”

“Yes, my sister Titee! I shall never fall behind again!”

And now, Titee and Ide unleashed their greatest magic of the day, aiming to shatter the Sovereign Queen Lorde entirely. They wove their final incantation.

“This body is the spirit that sprints down the road to hell! You, my world, cast me out! And have been cursed from the depths of this land!” The incantation spun by the elder sister was that of Lorde’s Road. “I am but a single, nameless, child’s soul!”

“The world guided the lost child! And the child ran on toward the shining beacon behind her!” The incantation spun by the younger brother was the magic of Lost Viaysia.

Both were spells that lamented and regretted their own lives, as if they were plunging into the abyss along with their enemies. Frankly, they were incomplete spells, fittingly named for their lack of completion.

“But now the paths of the two children have crossed!”

Incomplete spells were a given. The incantation had more to it. Of course. Such a lengthy incantation, embodying the very essence of their two lives, couldn’t possibly end in just a sentence or two. Such a spell, embodying those two lives that had so despised being alone, couldn’t possibly be a spell meant to be completed by just one person. That continuation was the true cry of their lives.

First, the older one, Titee, cried out. “Rage forth, emerald wind! Carve our path as sister and brother!”

Even without naming the spell, a fierce wind worthy of the spell Wynd blew. In an instant, the wind broke part of the royal capital into particles of light. The surrounding snow, the cold air, the houses, the ground, the castle, the world all shattered into pieces. However, this was not an action of annihilation, but rather reconstruction.

“Bloom, white cherry blossoms! Adorn the path of us siblings!” the younger, Ide, shouted.

All that had been disintegrated by his sister’s Wind of Freedom was instantly woven back together by his magic. Nurtured by that magic, it was reconstituted stronger and more beautiful than before. The snow melted, transforming into rivers. The drifting chill transformed into a warm breeze. The rows of houses were reborn as trees. The leveled ground became a plain. All artificial structures reconfigured, returning to nature’s domain.

Nurtured, nurtured, nurtured by Ide’s magic, the great outdoors sprouted endlessly. In an instant, countless trees stood tall in the royal capital, and white flowers—those Pieris Aicia—bloomed abundantly, filling the world.

The flowers of the Pieris Aicia trees scattered in the wind, were carried by the wind, and with the wind dyed the world white. It wasn’t snow blowing and drifting but petals becoming a blizzard of blossoms, filling the world. Those petals swirled and swirled and swirled endlessly, endlessly, endlessly, until they completely dyed my entire field of vision white. Then, just once, a blindingly strong wind blew.

The petals covering everything were blown away, revealing the world that had been temporarily hidden. The world, which had been in the process of being reconstructed just moments before, had somehow become a finished product, suddenly bursting into view.

It was home. There was a clear blue sky. Looking up, a rich, deep blue stretched endlessly. The air warmed to a pleasant temperature, and my body no longer shivered from the cold. Cottony white clouds floated, a golden sun traced a circle, and a rainbow halo outlined it. The wind rippled the grass of the vast prairie stretching endlessly like an ocean. The rustling played the melody of nature. Joining in from the distant forest and river, the cries of animals echoed from deep within the woods, and the sound of a sparkling stream reached us from the glistening water.

This was a scene I recognized too. Caught up in magic, just standing here enveloped me in a strange sensation. Even though this place had nothing to do with me, it made me feel gentle. Ah, the wind felt so good.

Though I stood on the ground, I felt as if I were floating in the sky. The wind blowing through struck my body strongly, yet my muscles never tensed. It was a wind like water bathing my whole body, but gentler and softer. It felt like every ounce of discomfort and weariness were being washed away.

The soft wind caressed my toes, traveling up through my heels, knees, thighs, waist, chest, shoulders, and cheeks, loosening my hair to spread out, gently making each strand sway. It was refreshing. And this refreshing world was the precious treasure the two children had once lost.

Clutching that treasure, the pair wove their final chant together.

“This is the world of white, green, and cherry blossom wind! Behold the dancing petals, oh, be captivated! Let the brilliance of the Garden of Freedom dazzle you!”

They shouted that here was the place they had spent their entire lives striving to reach. They shouted that here was the place they had wished to make their final resting place.

“This is the path that we, brother and sister, have walked! The cherished homeland our lives have finally reached! The proof that we are us!”

Above all, they shouted to the world that here was the paradise promised for the two of them to return to together—not in the past, but in the present!

“Now, here is the final homeland we siblings have reached!”

That very act became their true spell.

“Ide AND Titee!!!”

Having completed the incantation of their own lives, they declared their true magic names, fought while holding hands, and confirmed each other’s presence in this place. This was the entirety of Titee’s and Ide’s lives.

Originally, these had been two incomplete spells. The path-making Lorde’s Road and the homeland-guarding Lost Viaysia had combined. Finally, the siblings had forged the spell to return home. After a long journey, they had returned to their distant homeland, Viaysia. Without a doubt, this was the world’s greatest homecoming spell.

“Here, we are invincible! Well, go ahead, sister!” Ide cried.

And so, the siblings resumed the fight, their bodies surging with power. They headed to the place where the Sovereign Queen Lorde was born to shatter the illusion of that legend.

“Yes! We fear nothing now! Little brother, dance like petals!”

“As you command!”

They painted the world into a field of their homeland and resumed their battle with renewed vigor. Ide layered enhancement magic upon himself and charged forward recklessly. Ice arrows from the Sovereign Queen Lorde flew toward them, but Titee shot them all down.

The battle was much the same as before, yet the outcome was vastly different.

The frozen world, Freeze Nibelheim, no longer existed. Instead, their homeland, Ide AND Titee, unfolded before them. This alone weakened Hitaki’s magic with maximum effect, while amplifying the siblings’ magic to its utmost potential.

The Sovereign Queen Lorde constructed various ice spells in defiance, but the two of them calmly overcame them. I thought the battle was decided. Titee, who was fighting, must have thought so too. She began to sing while fighting. She had that much composure.

Fighting, dancing, laughing, singing, rejoicing.

“Ah... For a thousand years, the two children ran away from life. There were times we lost our way, parted and separated. But now, there’s no need to fear anymore!” Just to pour her heart into the magic, Titee added an incantation.

And Ide followed, continuing with a brighter smile than I’d ever seen. “They realized! People don’t live for dreams, they journey toward their heart’s homeland! As long as that home waiting for the soul remains, they can always return!”

They wove in excessive incantations, paying the price of their own lives to the world, yet there was no suffering or sorrow there. In pure joy, they endlessly strengthened the spell that was their very lives. It was a construction unlike any other magic. Therefore, I was certain that, without a doubt, this was what a true spell was.

And then, having finished his incantation, Ide charged forward with the certainty of victory.

“I will defeat her! I will defeat the Sovereign Queen Lorde who torments my sister! This is why I have lived! Why I was born! Defeating the Sovereign Queen Lorde here was my mission!” Trusting his sister’s support, he charged forward without a single moment of hesitation.

Dodging the hail of ice arrows, enduring the blizzard pounding from the side, running straight toward the Sovereign Queen Lorde poised with her ice blade...

“Forward! Forward! We advance forward! Reach out!!!”

Facing the advancing Ide, the Sovereign Queen Lorde chose to retreat. Overwhelmed by the man advancing alone, she pulled back significantly, attempting to counter with long-range ice magic.

But Titee wouldn’t allow it. “Go! Ide!!!” The world’s greatest tailwind blew against his back. Titee’s wind carried him right under the retreating Sovereign Queen Lorde.

With his sister’s support, Ide screamed and reached out.

“Reach!!!”

Ide’s hand touched the Sovereign Queen Lorde. And from that palm was released the gentle magic he excelled at most. The extraordinary healing magic that had once restored even our memories. Amplified by the power of this homeland, it became the world’s greatest healing spell, enveloping Hitaki.

“REMOVE FIELD!!!”

In an instant, light exploded across the world. Ide’s gentle magic swallowed the entire royal capital. It was a blow even the Thief of Water’s Essence could not block.

Like a marionette whose strings had snapped, the strength drained from Hitaki’s body. The cold air and magic power overflowing from her ceased, and this time, she fell into a perfect slumber. It was the instant the being known as the Sovereign Queen Lorde vanished from the world—which meant that Ide had defeated her. The long-running battle against the Sovereign Queen Lorde ended in victory for the siblings.

Ide caught Hitaki’s collapsing body. Seeing this, Titee, watching from behind, let out a huge sigh and plopped down on the ground. With a smile brimming with the certainty of victory, she cheered and celebrated.

“Phew! Phew, ha ha ha! Ha ha, we did it! I’m totally spent, but we did it! We took down the Sovereign Queen Lorde! Aaah, she was so strong!!!”

“Yeah, we did it... We defeated that legendary ruler...” Ide rejoiced just as much.

The two shared their victory, panting heavily. But Ide alone remained alert. Still holding Hitaki, he started walking to where I’d been watching from.

I left Sith, who was standing beside me in stunned silence, and walked toward Ide. Though we’d just fought a life-or-death duel moments ago, now there was no barrier between us. We laughed together like old friends, then nodded silently in unspoken understanding.

Then, Ide handed me the sleeping Hitaki, and I took her. At last, my precious little sister was back in my arms. The sister I’d searched for endlessly was now with me. Just that thought made my eyes sting a little.

“Now then, it’s your turn. This time, show us the bond between the two of you...” Ide said to me as he started to relax. It was a friendly warning telling me not to lose focus, because the real battle started now.

Following Ide, my other friend, Titee, remained seated but cheered me on. “Kanamin! Hurry up and save Dia! We’re a bit tired, so we’ll watch over you from here!”

I knew that just as they’d been the ones who’d had to face the Sovereign Queen Lorde, I was the one who must face the Apostle.

I laughed at my realization. “That’s right, so just watch. We won’t be shown up by those two! After all, me and Hitaki are the best siblings in all dimensions and worlds!”

I hugged Hitaki tight in my arms as I spoke. Then, my sleeping sister stirred. She shifted her body as if changing position in her sleep and wrapped both arms around my neck. Without needing me to say it, Hitaki had unconsciously done exactly what I was hoping for. That’s right, we were just like Ide and Titee. The only brother and sister in the world, our hearts connected without words. I’d never let her go again.

Just as I renewed that vow, the Apostle, who had been staring blankly a short distance away, snapped back to reality and began muttering at us.

“What?! Huh?! My Hitaki lost to two failed Essence Thieves?! Impossible! That can’t be! Victory was decided from the start! That’s absurd!” She seemed completely unable to believe Hitaki’s defeat.

With her certainty of victory shattered, her pre-duel composure vanished. She began to stagger toward Hitaki and me, her fighting spirit slowly returning.

“Give her back, friend. Hitaki is mine!” She amplified the magic in her body threateningly. Using Dia’s body, she wielded immense magic power, matching even Hitaki’s earlier display.

But I remained unshaken. “Then come at me, Apostle Sith. I’ll show you everything I’ve got.”

I’d show her my true power. I slipped my left arm under Hitaki’s knees and lifted her. Because she was clinging to my neck, it inevitably ended up looking like a princess carry. However, since I was still holding my sword, I couldn’t support her with my right arm, making it seem like I might drop her at any moment. Yet I felt no fear of her slipping from my arms. I sensed a certain strength in the arms wrapped around my neck. I knew that not only I, but my sister, too, was determined for us to never be parted again. Therefore, I was confident I could fight just fine like this. No, more than fine. Right now I could fight with more power than ever before.

“Wintermension!” I blended the Dimension magic overflowing from me with the Ice magic overflowing from Hitaki, constructing a spell I’d once cherished.

Borrowing the warm world of Ide and Titee’s homeland, I summoned a cool breeze, slightly different from the spring wind. It was an alien wind, unfit for this place. But precisely because that slightly chilly wind was the wind of our homeland, the wind of us Outworlders, I mentally asked everyone to tolerate it for just a little while.

This was the power of the Aikawa siblings. We’d once been a single being of Dimension and Ice who’d troubled the Allied Nations. Refusing to be shown up by those other two siblings, I poured magic from my body and pointed my sword at the Apostle.

“My Hitaki! Return my Hitaki!” Sith shouted at me. Radiant magic erupted from her back, displaying pressure befitting her maxed-out Level 59.

I stood my ground, facing her head-on. “It’s useless, Sith. No matter how much magic power you have, it will all freeze. Wintermension!”

My spell stalled the eruption of her magic. There was no need to transform the entire world into winter like before. With the help of my Dimension magic, only Sith’s power and the spell froze. As a result, as she attempted to transform her arm into a sword of light, she was thrown off by the excessive slowness of its formation.

“What?! How am I being beaten down by stats like yours?! Is it this barrier’s fault? Is it the magic of those other two? Or is it some other spell?!”

Sith likely wasn’t satisfied with the finished light sword either. She tried to gather information from her surroundings, convinced there must be some deeper reason for this failure, but she quickly realized the cause was solely my Wintermension, and her face twisted in frustration. She flushed with anger. It meant nothing less than that she was purely losing in this clash of magical power against me.

“I won’t accept this!” she screamed. “This is so unfair! I refuse to accept it!!!” She amplified the force of her spell’s eruption. Particles fanned out from her back like a fountain. It resembled propulsion thrusters or, depending on how you looked at it, angel wings.

With her sand-golden hair, a fair and delicate beauty, and white wings, Sith could only be described as an angelic messenger. Yet she continued to display an ugliness unworthy of her divine form.

“Level Up! Change all my stats into magic power! Amplify it with my Overprotection skill! Theoretically, this should grant me over ten times your magic power!”

“Useless.”

Sith charged forward, laying every enhancement spell she possessed on herself. The sheer concentration of magic in her wake created a river of stardust, yet the power of my Wintermension dismissed it with a single blow.

Mid-charge, Sith stalled, raising her right arm with a sluggish swing right in front of me. The tip of that light sword was razor sharp. Anything touched by its gleaming magic would be torn apart and severed without question. But no matter how sharp the sword, its movement was far too slow. I effortlessly dodged the blade of light.

Next, Sith transformed her left leg into a sword and delivered a kick, but I countered by slicing her thigh with my own blade. Thanks to my spatial awareness and slowing my opponent, this fight was completely one-sided. Perhaps because it was a spell I’d created for myself, but the stability of Wintermension was extraordinary. As long as I had this, I felt I could fight any enemy.

“Wh-Why? Why?! I’m fighting with over ten times your magic power!” Sith flapped her wings and retreated quickly as she noticed her disadvantage. Even though she’d just witnessed magic that couldn’t be measured in numbers, she still clung to fighting within conventional rules. That meant my Resonant magic with Hitaki would be absolutely unbreakable.

“Dia! Do something!!!” Though she didn’t understand the logic, she seemed to grasp that continuing like this meant defeat. Sith called out the name of the body’s true master and slumped over, all strength draining from her.

The moment she lifted her face again, Dia was there. Her expression was pained, eyes brimming with tears, as she reached out toward Hitaki in my arms, ready to unleash her magic. Her face twisted when she saw me holding Hitaki.

“Ah... Aah... Aaah? What? Why? Why is Sieg... G-Give me back Sieg! Give him back to me! Flame Arrow!”

Magic power flared and a Flame Arrow, tracing a white line through the air, was fired. I didn’t dodge it. I neutralized it solely through the dampening effect of Wintermension’s cooling. The heat, now far too diminished to be called a Flame Arrow, lightly brushed my cheek. It was a familiar spell, one that had saved my life countless times.

Recalling the past, I spoke to Dia. “No, Dia. I’m Sieg.”

“Ahh, aah, Sieg! Sieg, Sieg, Sieg! Ahhhhhh!” Dia, her anxious expression fixed on seeking out Hitaki, didn’t hear my words.

Facing her like this, the words I would say were already decided. Dia had been troubled all along, ever since we first met. She’d carried her troubles alone, never noticed by anyone until it was too late. And just like Ide and Titee, her spirit had broken, leaving her no choice but to cling desperately to a fake.

Now, I understood how she felt. It was what Wyss and Palinchron had taught me a year ago. And what I’d learned from the battle with Titee and Nosfy. Above all, it was what I saw when watching Ide just now. All those experiences wove themselves into words.

“Dia, I am me. You can call me Kanami, or Sieg, or whatever you like, but please don’t forget that I am me. I am right here.” I reintroduced myself clearly to avoid her confusing me with Hitaki. “Dia is Dia,” I continued. “What Sith did has nothing to do with Dia. There’s no way Dia bears any responsibility for what happened a thousand years ago. That’s obvious, right?”

But it wasn’t enough. Dia’s eyes were still fixed on Hitaki, not me. Of course, the burdens weighing her down were still heavy. Heavy enough to crush her. Because of that, she’d become so consumed by despair that she’d vanished from me a year ago. So what I had to do now should be the same as what Ide had just done. I had to get back each burden I’d forced onto her in the past, and from now on, we had to overcome them together. That was why I’d call out her name over and over again.

Following Ide’s example, I shouted, “Dia, do you still remember the day we first met? That day, I was a cowardly, despicable person. Just remembering it makes me sick. So let me do just one thing over. Just one thing! Let me say it again!”

On that first day, I was the one who’d wanted to be friends with Dia, yet like a coward I’d let her ask me instead. Out of self preservation, I’d made her feel indebted to me and forced her to bear the responsibility for the battle in the Dungeon. That wasn’t everything, but it was definitely the first mistake, like a button being buttoned wrong on a shirt.

“Dia, come with me to the Dungeon! Come with me once more! Don’t you want to be with me, Dia?! That day, I was the one who wanted to be with you! So this time, I’ll take your hand! I’ll take your hand, Dia! Let’s go back together, to everyone!”

I was the one who wanted Dia.

Hearing that, her body trembled violently. “K-Kanami? I... No, I...”

Now I could see not only Hitaki’s body in her eyes but my face as well. She looked back and forth between us, her expression slowly shifting. The bitter, tormented look seemed to soften just a little. Then, as if remembering something, she touched her hairpin with her left hand. It was a memory of our adventure together. She touched the Hairclip of I’lia that I’d given her when we’d had some spare money after exploring the Dungeon. She tried to step forward, but Sith stopped her from within.

“Tch!” she retreated, letting out a sharp click of her tongue. Sith must’ve forcibly snatched Dia’s consciousness away. “You’re despicable! I hate that side of you, my friend! I hate how you deceive girls like that, going around hurting them!”

Sith released her grip on the Hairpin of I’lia, demonstrating her resolve never to take my hand, and pointed at her own body. She flaunted the body that had lost its right arm and left leg, its very consciousness stolen by another, and used it to criticize me.

“What do you mean you want to be with Diablo?! This arm was taken by Tida! My torso was destroyed by Palinchron Regacy! This leg was taken by my dear friend Mar-Mar! And this wound on my thigh, it was inflicted by you, the one I love, just now!”

“I know. I know all of that. I’m saying this knowing all of that.” I dismissed her rebuttal calmly. Criticism of that level was, even among what I’d anticipated—no, even among what I’d foreseen—lukewarm. I criticized Sith right back. “Even as an Apostle like Regacy, you’re second-rate.”

“Me, second-rate?!”

I hadn’t expected such a violent retort. It came with Sith’s most furious expression of the day. She might have tolerated everything else, but her pride as an Apostle seemed paramount.

“Palinchron Regacy was far more formidable,” I continued. “He held everything I was hostage. He used the very existence of Aikawa Kanami as a shield to threaten me. My sister’s happiness, the bonds of my comrades, my very reason for living—everything. You? You took one comrade hostage, gained a little power, and grew arrogant. You thought you could do anything you wanted. Well, this is the result.”

“Y-You!” Sith, enraged, raised the sword in her right arm and charged forward. Palinchron would’ve never fallen for such a cheap provocation. Rather, he would’ve scoffed at such a clumsy, monkey-see monkey-do provocation and taunted me right back.

I dodged Sith’s sloppy sword strike, tripped her, and sent her tumbling. As she tried to scramble back up, I thrust the tip of my blade right under her nose, freezing her in place.

Immobilized, she snarled and glared at me. “Damn it! So you’re saying you’ll just abandon Diablo and kill me?”

“There’s no way I’d abandon Dia, but if necessary, I’ll cut off those remaining limbs and incapacitate you.” Dia being possessed imposed various limitations on what I could do. I couldn’t kill her body, but I had no hesitation about anything else.

“L-Limbs?! What do you think Diablo’s body is?! What do you think her life is?! Do you seriously believe losing limbs wouldn’t matter to her?” Sith was clearly shocked and doubting my sanity for that cold statement.

I shook my head and raised my voice. “How could I think limbs are nothing?! Dia dreamed of becoming a swordsman! That very arm, that very leg, is the essence of her soul! Even so, I’ve sworn in my heart that no matter what happens, I will absolutely save Dia from you! If I don’t free her from your curse, her life will never begin!” I wouldn’t hesitate and risk something irreversible happening again.

Faced with that resolve, Sith’s eyes widened. “You... Are you really, truly my friend?”

“Yeah! I’m me! Aikawa Kanami! And I won’t give up again! I won’t hesitate, I won’t stop! I’ve decided!!!”

My power now surpassed Sith’s. The only factor left that could make me lose was mental lag. That’s precisely why I absolutely couldn’t lose. Never again would weakness of heart be the reason for defeat.

Sith must’ve realized I wouldn’t back down, so she tried to break the stalemate another way. “Even if you could incapacitate me, how do you plan to separate me from Diablo?! We’re completely fused, so it won’t be that easy!”

“Do you really think it’s impossible? I believe it’s possible,” I replied and cast the soul-extracting spell Distance Mute. My sword-wielding right arm glowed purple, signaling that I could eliminate only Sith at any moment.

“Ah, aah, ahh... No, no, that’s just my friend—” Sith muttered to herself in stunned disbelief as she stared at me. For a split second, her face showed an expression like she’d found something precious but then, instantly, it twisted with rage and she screamed like a child. “Why?! Why would my friend acknowledge me again?! I hate you! I absolutely hate you! I don’t need a friend who won’t acknowledge me! Just die! Die already!!!” Cornered, Sith went mad, trying to stand despite the sword before her.

Anticipating the counterattack, I unleashed the greatest magic I had prepared in advance. “Blizzardmension!”

Hit by the Resonant magic from two Essence Thieves, Sith’s movement to rise slowed. I tossed my sword aside and slowly thrust Distance Mute into Sith’s chest. It was easy to slip my arm into that gaping wound.

Sith let out a small groan and opened her eyes wide. My victory was sealed.

“Goodbye, Apostle Sith.”

“I lost? So easily? Wh-Why? I just... I only wanted to bring peace to the world, to make everyone happy...”

“This everyone you speak of is just you and your master. That’s what it sounds like to me. So I cannot acknowledge you.”

With my arm thrust into her chest and her soul gripped, Sith, unable to move, wore an expression like it was the end of the world. She still couldn’t accept reality. Shaking her head slightly, she continued to mutter under her breath, “Why? I had Hitaki prepared, and I even got this perfect body called Diablo! How could I lose to my friend that Deiplachra prepared? Losing to Regacy, losing to Deiplachra, losing, losing, losing. Could it be that I was the weakest? Was I the biggest failure?”

She screamed. Hearing that voice so close, my body almost froze for an instant, but I mercilessly reached out to seize Sith’s soul. Even then, she kept screaming.

“Regacy! Deiplachra! I won’t forgive you! I won’t, I won’t, I won’t! Why is it always you?! Why are you the only good ones?!”

I withdrew my hand. Without harming Dia’s body in the slightest, I extracted only that which was not Dia, transforming it into a magic gem. Naturally, Sith’s death throes echoed through the world.

“I won’t forgive you! I absolutely won’t forgive you! I won’t—”

They cut off abruptly as I took the stone. Sith had lost her body and thus her right to live in this world. At the same moment, Dia’s body began to collapse onto the grassland. I caught her with the hand holding the gem, gently laying her down on the grass.

Carefully, I immediately froze the white magic gem in my hand with Hitaki’s ice magic and placed it into my Inventory. With that, Sith would never wake up again.

“It’s over... Finally...” I said as I looked up at the sky. I lay my sister down beside Dia and breathed an emotional sigh. There would be no more nights when I lay awake, consumed by restless anxiety. Nor would I ever again feel my heart tear apart, remembering my memories from my original world.

I had finally reached my destination.

I picked up Lorwen, Treasured Blade of the Arrace Clan, which I’d tossed to the ground, and apologized for my careless handling as I placed it into my Inventory as well. A smile naturally spread across my lips. Looking closely, it seemed to me that both the sleeping Hitaki and Dia were smiling too.

Though not everything was resolved yet, tears threatened to spill from my eyes. I turned those moist eyes not toward the person I had regained, but in another direction. Not far away Titee and Ide sat huddled together, shoulders pressed against each other and leaning against a familiar white Pieris Aicia tree. They too, like Hitaki and Dia, were smiling gently.

◆◆◆◆◆

The battle was over. I walked closer to where Ide and Titee were. Snow was watching Dia and Hitaki where they slept on the grass. She recognized that these were the final moments for the two Guardians, so she was giving the three of us time on our own.

Ide let out a laugh as he saw me approaching. “How splendid! This is the end, then. With today, the throne of the Sovereign Queen Lorde is vacant, and the Apostle who served as its guardian has vanished. The battle of Viaysia is over.”

Titee, beside him, continued, “With this, neither of us have any more lingering regrets. If anyone does have any, it would be Nosfy, but it seems like it has to be you who untangles them. Okay, Kanamin! You absolutely must make my friend Nosfy happy! I’m counting on you!”

“Oh, um, I’ll try my best.” This utterly unreasonable request was pushed on me at the very last moment, leaving me troubled.

Titee growled discontentedly. “Well, that’s your problem now. I’ll stop interfering.” Her face was bright even as she grumbled. It seemed she wasn’t as dissatisfied as her words suggested. “I trust both you and Nosfy! You’re both friends I’m proud of!”

It seemed she could rest easy as long as I was around. To see her off without any lingering regrets I nodded back, still feeling a bit troubled. Titee happily nodded, and Ide smiled.

“So even my big sister has made friends,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m just a little envious.”

“What are you talking about?! Ide, you’re friends with Kanamin too, aren’t you?!”

Ide and I exchanged startled glances at Titee’s words. But we also immediately knew those words were true. Funnily enough, there really was that clichéd friendship between us—the kind that felt like we’d fought each other under the setting sun.

Sensing that bond, Ide’s face lit up with genuine joy. “Seems so... Unexpectedly, it looks like I’ve gotten everything I wanted here. Ah, this place really is wonderful...” His face was overcome with emotion and he was on the verge of tears. Naturally, his form as a Guardian faded as his regrets faded away. Looking closely, I could see the same was true of Titee’s body.

“You two! Your bodies!”

“Honestly, we’re completely drained. Not just of magic power but of our lingering attachments too. So it seems like this is the end! Bye-bye!” Sensing their impending disappearance, Titee first waved vigorously at Snow in the distance. There was not a single shadow of unhappiness on her face. She accepted her own existence being diluted, like it was dissolving into the air.

“Is this our farewell already?” I wished we could have talked a little longer, just the three of us. Just when all the gaps had finally been filled, the final moments felt far too short.

Titee, however, seemed to feel differently. She shook her head. “No, Kanamin, not ‘already.’ This present isn’t short. A moment longer than a thousand years exists here and now... Indeed...”

With narrowed eyes she surveyed the surrounding scenery. Looking upon the view of Viaysia created within the Ide AND Titee spell, she declared it filled with things worthy of eternity. With cheeks flushed and mouth open wide in delight, Titee proclaimed that irreplaceable value existed here.

“At last! I live in my own time! Time is packed tight here! It’s not like that millennium that only accelerated like I was free-falling! Solid time exists here! I’m certain that the present lives a second longer than a millennium!”

Spreading both hands wide where she sat, she drew in the air of her homeland to her fullest. She savored it as she continued to speak.

“It’s incredible! The world is vibrant! It’s colorful! Time itself is shining!”

Time was shining? It was a sensation I couldn’t quite grasp, but Ide seemed to agree.

“Yes, indeed, it finally feels like I’m truly alive. The world that seemed so faded until yesterday is now vividly bright. It’s almost too dazzling for my eyes...”

They both looked satisfied, so it was all I could do to smile and watch as their bodies grew faint. Now that they had completely resolved their lingering attachments, I couldn’t hold them back any longer.

“Well then, Kanamin, thank you for guiding us this far!”

“I am truly grateful, Master Kanami. I hope you, too, can return to your homeland.”

I hesitated slightly before waving softly at them. Their bodies grew transparent, the trees behind them beginning to show through.

“Farewell, both of you...”

Titee and Ide remained seated, holding hands, right up until the moment they vanished completely. Their hands clasped, never to let go again, they spent their final moments together as siblings.

“As expected of my dear sister... Thank you for the reward promised long ago—for ‘here’ and ‘now’...”

“Yeah. At last, we have returned to ‘here’ and ‘now.’ But forgive me. We are terribly late...”

“But we made it. We made it in time. Thank you for this reward. I won’t...let go...anymore...”

“I won’t let go of you either... Not ever...again...”

As their bodies faded, their voices grew faint and broken. Their final conversation was about a promise made a thousand years ago. About their reward. Perhaps because they were reminiscing about the past, the figures of two children overlapped with their fading adult bodies. Dimension was likely reading the memories packed within the dancing particles of light. I saw a harpy girl with emerald hair, and a white-haired dryad boy. Beneath the white Pieris Aicia tree where they’d once promised each other this reward, the two children held hands and huddled close together.

“This...meadow...smells...familiar. Ide, the sky is...so blue...”

“Yes. The world was...this beautiful... It feels...so good... The wind feels...so good...”

Their voices became faint, growing smaller and distant. But I could hear them clearly, the voices greeting their end.

“At last, I’ve returned to my beloved homeland.”

Their final words overlapped beautifully, then were swept away by the wind. Like mist blown away in an instant, their bodies vanished from this world. The siblings’ magical particles danced upward, carried by the winds of Viaysia.

The story of the Sovereign Queen Lorde woven by the two children came to an end. The final illustration adorning the tale depicted them beneath the white Pieris Aicia tree, standing in the undulating grasslands.

The wind blew, petals danced, and the siblings stood hand in hand, shoulders touching, laughing together. At the story’s end, they realized the answer. Nothing else was needed to prove they were a pair. The sister had a brother and the brother had a sister. Simply put, they had family. That was all that had mattered.

As if to prove it, within that final, soaring light, I could see it. I wasn’t using Future Sight or Past Sight, but from the residue of their dense magic I simply sensed it.

What I saw beyond that final light was a house. A house with a gabled roof. At the entrance with its nostalgic smell stood an elderly pair of sorcerers. Smiling, they waited for their family’s return.

There, the two children, who had been sitting under the Pieris Aicia next to the house, stood up and ran toward them. I felt as though I could practically hear their lively voices as they shouted, “We’re home!”

With that final scene, all the swirling light began to converge. It transformed into two crystals, two magic gems that overlapped like they were holding hands.

Two Essence Thief gems, proof of defeating two Guardians.

[GUARDIAN’S MAGIC GEM]

The crystallized magic power of Guardian Ide.

[GUARDIAN’S MAGIC GEM]

The crystallized magic power of Guardian Titee.

Next, a menu, signifying the success in passing the Guardian’s floor appeared.

[TITLE UNLOCKED: The One Who Cradles the Wind]

+0.50 bonus to Wood magic

[TITLE UNLOCKED: The One Who Cradles the Trees]

+0.50 bonus to Wind magic

“I’m glad you made it home, Titee and Ide.” With that blessing, I picked up the two dropped magic gems. Then, lifting my face to look around, I saw that the Ide AND Titee spell had disappeared. Their hometown had vanished, returning to the royal capital I recognized. No, wait, looking closer, I could see things were different here and there. Even the already verdant capital had sprouted more nature, spreading out across where Ide’s moving castle had trampled the plants, likely grown by Wood magic. And they weren’t just sprawling but neatly arranged, as if by a tender gardener.

Above all, the greatest change was to Viaysia Castle itself. It should have become a giant moving creature, but instead it had transformed into a single great tree. It retained its function as a castle only up to its midsection—beyond that, it was entirely tree. It was tall enough to touch the sky, and countless branches, all bearing white blossoms, extended from the main trunk.

It was unmistakably a Pieris Aicia tree. That majestic, fantastical giant tree remained where the siblings had departed.

I held the two magic gems and looked up at the sky above Viaysia. The blossoms in full bloom on the giant tree swayed in the wind. Ah, the wind felt so good. It blew through the capital, scattering white petals. Somehow, just that alone made me feel incredibly happy. For some reason, this moment felt long.

“Titee, you were right.” Indeed, the world might be vividly shining, even so much so that time might have been shining, I thought.

Chapter 5: Epilogue

A week had passed since the disappearance of Ide and Titee.

An emergency summit of the Northern Alliance’s heads of state had been called, and it was now ongoing in the throne room of Viaysia Castle. Gathered there were the dignitaries of the nations belonging to the Northern Alliance, their guards, and representatives of the ethnic groups residing in the north.

Numerous conference tables had been brought into the throne room, allowing for everyone to gather in one place. From where I sat at one of those tables and looking to my left and right I saw a lineup of stubborn, difficult individuals. They were the formidable members of the Northern Alliance nations.

Officially, I was labeled as a vehicle for the Connection spell, or a combatant in case of emergency, but the real reason I was there was probably to leverage the value of my name. I was seated next to Rouge, who was acting as Ide’s proxy, and it was supposedly so that I would serve as a minor deterrent to other nations.

Honestly, it was suffocating. The same exhaustion I’d felt at the ball in Laoravia was building up inside my body. But enduring that fatigue, I kept up the pretense of being a capable hero, glaring at those around me.

Beside me Rouge had stood talking this whole time. It had been going on for over half a day now. The subject of her lengthy speech wasn’t just the outcome of last week’s battle in the capital but also the death of Chancellor Ide. As the Jewelculus closest to Ide, she was conveying his final words to the entire Northern Alliance.

“Ide’s final words were to say that Viaysia will transform into a nation that no longer relies solely on the Sovereign Queen Lorde. We must build a country where everyone can decide their own path to follow.”

Now, with Ide’s will finally delivered, the assembled figures in the throne room stirred. It was all adults, and they all frowned. I supposed that was only natural. Ide’s sudden disappearance was suspicious enough on its own, and now Rouge was openly acting as his spokesperson. Though they didn’t openly voice their complaints, their expressions betrayed strong dissatisfaction and suspicion.

Technically, Rouge was the highest-ranking figure in Viaysia now. When the rebuilding of this country began, the founding members had been Ide, Sith, Rouge, and Noir. With the two oldest, Ide and Sith, gone, Rouge naturally rose to the top—but honestly, no one seemed convinced. Everyone saw it as a position of convenience. Above all, Rouge was far too young. She lacked any sense of authority. Even in a world not governed by seniority, being spoken to by a girl more than two generations younger than they were must have left the others with plenty to think about.

However, the voice beside Rouge silenced the adults harboring such grievances. “Did someone want to say something?”

It wasn’t me. The voice belonged to Kunelle Chronicle Shulz Regia Ingrid: a defective vampire, the Honored Missing Princess of Regia, and head of the Ingrid Grand Company. Hearing her voice, the adults averted their glaring eyes. Though her youthful appearance and mannerisms were often deceptive, in terms of age alone, she was the top of the top. She was a true living legend who could treat even the most wrinkled old generals like children.

Kunelle sat on the opposite side of Rouge from me and maintained a glare at the other attendees that was different from the one I was leveling at them. She was the most out-of-place figure in the room. Starting with the eccentric formal attire she wore, her aura warped the very air around her. Her bewitching, unfathomable expression, her overwhelming presence born of her history and supporters—nothing about her was ordinary. And now she sat beside Rouge as a supporter.

Faced with the venerable, legendary authority of the ageless Kunelle, no one dared interrupt Rouge’s monologue.

And so, holding in her right hand the nation’s ultimate weapon, Aikawa Kanami Siegfried Vizzita Vartwhoseyards von Walker, and in her left hand the nation’s ultimate authority, Kunelle Chronicle Shulz Regia Ingrid, Rouge, the supreme authority of the land, smashed the lie of Ide’s so-called last will and testament into the attendees’ faces and determined the future personnel arrangements of Viaysia.

“Therefore, starting today, the position of Viaysia’s Sovereign Ruler and the Apostle’s role will change slightly. I won’t say they’re retiring, but they will intervene much less than before. You can think of them as very, very quiet advisors.”

Mid-speech she glanced behind her. Directly beneath the fluttering pennant bearing the Viaysia national crest sat Hitaki, silently, upon the throne. Standing beside her, dressed in formal attire and posing as Apostle Sith, was Dia.

Dia gave a slight nod in response to Rouge’s words, proving she was indeed the legendary Apostle.

“Well then, shall we call it a day? Fortunately, the Southern Alliance recently faced an unexpected problem with their commander in chief suddenly disappearing, so we have plenty of time. We’ll discuss the details another day,” Rouge concluded.

With that, Snow, standing guard near the throne, led both the Apostle and the Sovereign Queen Lorde out of the chamber.

Many people had been shocked to see Lorde. Snow, the former Acting Commander in Chief of the Southern Alliance, had attended the meeting with unabashed confidence. And what was more, she’d been seated right beside the Sovereign Queen Lorde of the Northern Alliance.

Naturally, the murmurs among those not under our influence only grew louder. I watched it all, cold sweat trickling down my spine. This entire free-for-all situation was exactly the scenario Kunelle had manufactured. As someone who believed in proceeding cautiously, I was unbearably anxious about whether it would truly go smoothly.

According to the explanation Kunelle had given us prior to the summit, she’d wanted to hint that Rouge had deep connections everywhere, having already made arrangements even with the enemy. I’d silently complied with that strategy. Unlike me, an expert in combat and exploration, Kunelle was an expert in national negotiations.

I decided to trust her pre-meeting words, when she’d told us that Viaysia was the top nation in the Northern Alliance because of our national power and military strength, and if we just played tough and bluffed our way through it, this whole thing would be a breeze. My Responsiveness skill wasn’t sending me any warning alerts, so it seemed to be working. I kept trying not to let my inner anxiety show on my face.

Then, after what was disguised as a half-day meeting but was really a one-sided announcement, my part was finally over. Following Rouge’s exit, Kunelle and I also left the throne room. On the way out, I saw the expressions of the assembled leaders. They revealed swirling conspiracies and power plays, leaving little to the imagination. Some were already plotting to oust Rouge tomorrow.

With my skills in Perception and Deception, and now being able to use Past Sight, everything was transparent to my keen observation. The moment the meeting ended everyone, though confused, had begun exchanging information with their respective countries’ representatives. But all of this fell squarely within Kunelle’s expectations. Undoubtedly, the Northern Alliance had been thrown into chaos, but Kunelle had said she would deliberately stir up confusion to minimize the damage and seize the initiative, so this was probably fine.

Probably...

I left the throne room and walked the corridors with Kunelle, pondering the turmoil in Viaysia. Today’s meeting had profoundly changed the country. Even with just the knowledge I’d gained at school in my old world, I could vaguely sense this was a turning point in history.

Earlier, as the Northern Alliance’s representative, Rouge had told everyone she would be building a country where everyone could decide their own path. If I were to compare it to a history textbook, would that be the page explaining what happened after a country was no longer a monarchy?

Even since hearing the strange tale that Whoseyards had many kings, I hadn’t thought to compare this world with my own. Yet upon closer inspection, they shared many common elements. But then, upon deeper reflection, it made perfect sense that they resembled each other. After all, a thousand years ago, I had been involved. Kanami the Founder had undoubtedly aided Titee’s thousand-year-old vision of building a nation not reliant on a single ruler. A thousand years ago, Titee had aimed for something that, even in its immature state, was beginning to take shape now after the siblings had departed. It gave me a slight sense of the world’s impermanence.

Emerging from the throne room, we reached the great courtyard at the castle’s center. The scene unfolding there proved that the nation-building effort, one not reliant on a single ruler, was progressing well.

I’d dueled Ide in this courtyard, but through the power of the Ide AND Titee spell, it had transformed into an exceptionally pleasant space. Leaves that had once blocked the sunlight were now beautifully pruned, not a single weed or overgrown plant remained, and instead there were orderly paths formed by the vegetation, completely dispelling any gloomy, overgrown vibes.

There were many people bustling about in the atrium garden, the heart and crossroads of the castle. Unlike the members of the Northern Alliance from the summit, these were people who truly loved Viaysia.

A week ago, we’d conveyed the unvarnished truth to the citizens returning from evacuation, not the lies that we’d spoken in the earlier meeting. Of course, that task had been far from straightforward. Even Rouge, who’d been closest to Ide, struggled to convince the castle folk of the situation. In the end, we’d had no choice but to resort to using my Past Vision spell to show them Ide’s final words. For those who wished, we used Connection to directly convey the true feelings Ide had had at that moment. We completely disregarded privacy at that point to ensure that Ide received full recognition for saving the country.

As a result, we’d managed to secure enough people to keep the country functioning, with some working inside the castle and others outside. Rouge’s popularity had certainly helped, but Ide had referred to himself as a dead man from the start, proclaiming that he was advancing the creation of a country where everyone would be able to decide their own path and that the country wouldn’t rely on a single ruler, so many people had probably already had a vague sense that he would be gone someday.

Of course, there were those who only cared about having their position and salary guaranteed. The people working in the castle now were truly diverse. There were Jewelculi, semifer, military and civil officials likely poached from other nations by Ide, long-serving pillars of Viaysia who’d been devoted to the country for years, and plenty of ordinary people too.

We entered the garden, exchanged brief greetings with a number of people there, and then plopped down at a table in the corner. Finally, we could take a break after a whole week of this.

“Whew, that’s finally wrapped up,” I said with a big sigh. “That was nerve-racking. Ide sure left us with such a hassle...”

Honestly, I was terrible at thinking about nobles and countries, so I vented about my dead friend instead.

Kunelle gave me a wry smile. “Well, I think Dr. Ide thought things through properly. He was truly brilliant. Even from my somewhat biased perspective, he was a demon at domestic and foreign policy.”

As Ide’s student, Rouge also chimed in to defend him. “Yeah, even though he was a dead man, I think he worked incredibly hard for the sake of those living now. For example, without this Sorcerification power, those kids running around out there would’ve been discarded much earlier. Everything we can do now, working in Viaysia, is all thanks to the professor.”

“Yeah, maybe Dr. Ide prolonged the war to create a place specifically for the Jewelculi? Even if the war had ended easily and we’d created a world without war, that wouldn’t have simply brought peace to the Jewelculi. That said, personally, I wonder if prolonging it really was the right choice.”

Unlike me, the two of them were genuinely praising Ide’s work.

I didn’t argue with them. “I see. It really is complicated. Politics and stuff like this just aren’t my thing. I have absolutely no idea how to bring peace to the Jewelculi.” For someone like me, who could only fight and save people, understanding the true nature of peace seemed like a distant prospect.

Kunelle muttered under her breath, “Liar. Saying you don’t understand with that magic and those skills? Liar. You could be chairman if you just put your mind to it. You always dump the troublesome stuff onto others...”

Please forgive me for just hanging out this past week! I have other things I have to do soon!

Ignoring Kunelle’s complaints, Rouge continued speaking. “Just like the hero said, peace is incredibly complex and difficult. But it’s okay. Over this past year, everyone in Viaysia has come to at least accept both Jewelculi and sorcerers. As for how slaves are treated, I think Viaysia will probably become the most progressive country in the world. I feel like we’re slowly moving toward peace.”

“I see...”

“From now on, we’ll build an ideal paradise where everyone in the country can call each other family! Together, of course!”

I silently watched Rouge trying to carry on Ide’s will. Honestly, seeing her like that stirred up many thoughts within me, and the countless anxieties that flashed through my mind robbed me of the words to respond.

Rouge immediately noticed my unease and teased me. “Oh, great hero! You think a paradise is impossible, don’t you? Really, great hero, you’re too rational and realistic, if I do say so myself!”

“Um, no, Well...maybe...” I was surprised that she was right on the mark. As a student, I’d studied the discipline of history. As far as I could recall from the timelines in my head, a paradise where everyone could be happy had never existed anywhere. Surely it didn’t exist in this world either.

Faced with that reality, Rouge said, “I know. But I don’t think aiming for it all together is a bad thing in itself. I believe the very will to strive for paradise has meaning.” She understood it was idealistic, yet she would keep pushing forward.

It wasn’t that she was blind to reality or that she’d forgotten her ideals or that she was self-righteous—she simply said we must all move forward together. Her unshakable conviction brought to mind Ide and Titee’s final moments.

No, to be precise, it was the teachings of that old man and old woman whose names I’d never learned that came to mind. Knowing that spirit, the heart of that family, truly dwelled within Rouge made my reply come without delay this time.

“Yeah, I think that’s good.”

Not long ago, Titee had seen a Viaysia a thousand years in the future and said the people here weren’t Northerners. But Rouge here was undoubtedly a descendant of that past Viaysia. This conversation had made me certain of it.

Relieved, I felt a touch of nostalgia as I looked around the garden, transformed by the power of the siblings’ spell. Within the beautifully manicured, vibrant garden, there were truly all sorts of people. I noticed a young semifer with a face resembling someone I knew talking earnestly with a Jewelculus. He reminded me of Reynand, the old general and legendary blacksmith. This young semifer’s bearing also gave off a vibe reminiscent of Beth. Perhaps he was a descendant carrying blood from the Vohlz family line.

Considering the connection to a thousand years ago, observing our surroundings through Dimension was quite interesting. The young semifer children running frantically through the garden seemed similar to the knights who’d claimed to serve me in the past, who I’d met on the reverse side of Floor Sixty-Six. From the children chatting amicably in the garden, I sensed remnants of the people who’d lived in the re-created Viaysia as well. Only I, a user of Dimension magic, could faintly perceive that thousand-year-old bloodline.

Of course, there were many Jewelculi whom Ide had saved. People who, in a slightly earlier era, would have been oppressed and even denied freedom, now lived according to their own will. People of diverse origins were joining forces for the sake of their beloved Viaysia. There wasn’t a trace left of the old days when people killed each other simply because of their race.

This is nice, isn’t it, Ide, Titee? This was surely the very place they had first aimed for. The citizens themselves probably don’t think of it as a paradise yet, but to me, someone who held a thousand years of memories, it looked like nothing but paradise. Of course, this paradise wasn’t eternal, nor was it sweet. Many hardships surely awaited everyone here. Rouge, who championed idealism, would undoubtedly stumble many times. If things went badly, the nation might even collapse.

But that was okay. No matter what happened, the spirit would be passed down again and again, continuing to live on in this world. That was enough. As long as the wishes of my friends were granted, I, just one Diver, had no business interfering in the affairs of the nation.

Thinking I had nothing left to do there, I stood up from the table. “Well then, I should be going now.”

“Okay. Thank you for everything, great hero. If you hadn’t been here, I’d have been in even deeper trouble. I’m truly grateful... Oh, if you happen to find Noir on your travels, could you tell her I’m worried about her? Tell her her place is here and that her home is definitely here.”

Noir hadn’t shown herself at all this past week. Apparently, after losing to me, she’d disappeared somewhere by herself.

“Got it. If I see her, I’ll tell her.”

As I started to leave, Kunelle also stood up. “All right! Case closed! Well then, I guess I’ll head home too, huh?”

“What? No, Kunelle, you stay here and help out, okay?” No way was she coming with me. “Everyone says peace with the South will be easier achieved with you around. You’re practically indispensable now.”

I placed my hands on her shoulders as she tried to rise from her seat, forcing her back down.

“Hey, you’re so strong! Well, I guess I have no choice if you’re the one asking me.”

“Please. If possible, I want you to watch over the lands of Ide and Titee. I want you, knowing the world as it was a thousand years ago, to see the difference. And really, you’re good at this sort of thing, right?”

I pleaded earnestly with her despite her displeasure. To be honest, whether Kunelle was in Viaysia or not would drastically change Rouge’s fate going forward. After all, Kunelle Chronicle Shulz Regia Ingrid was the foremost expert in all of human history when it came to handling nations. Voices proving that fact could be heard in the garden.

“Wow! It’s Her Highness the Missing Princess!”

“Wow! Seeing the hero of the mainland and the hero of the Allied Nations side by side makes for quite the sight.”

“The legendary revolutionary really doesn’t age, does she? She’s smaller than me...”

Kunelle waved and smiled politely back at the people who knew of her deeds from the Jewelculi. Frankly, she was the kind of figure destined for the history books of future millennia. In the past, she’d successfully led a revolutionary coup in a situation similar to that of the current Northern Alliance, founding a nation that prospered for a thousand years. Furthermore, she’d fostered cooperation to promote independent autonomy across various regions and still reigned as the head of the Ingrid Trading Company, exerting immense influence worldwide. I’d even heard that in some places she was revered as a goddess. But based on first impressions, I didn’t get that vibe at all.

“Uh, well...I did found a country back in the day. It’s not that I’m good at it, more that I’m used to it. I guess...”

“Without you, Rouge and the others will probably get hit with a coup or something. Please.” There were signs pointing to that scenario just from overhearing a brief conversation in the throne room earlier. There was no need for Future Sight—I could sense it with my Responsiveness skill.

“Well, yeah, that will happen. Honestly, without Ide, this country is wide open. If I were them, I’d whip up a faction dissatisfied with the Jewelculi privileges and take over in a flash.”

“I want you to prevent that. You can do that, right, Kunelle?”

“I could but... Ah, I guess since you’ve saved me three times already, it’s hard to refuse.” She was being surprisingly stubborn about this one thing.

As I stared at her, her eyes began to tear up and she cried out, “Ugh, seriously! I should be lounging on my fluffy bed back in my villa in Regia right now! I was looking forward to those wonderful days sewing clothes only when I felt like it! Why did you find me out there?! This is a curse, I tell you!”

I recalled that day with a wry smile. When that great duel had ended a week ago, we’d been stranded in the deserted royal capital. Even if it had been Ide’s wish, his sudden disappearance was dangerous, even for a powerful nation like Viaysia. I didn’t want to see Ide’s hard-won country swallowed whole by the Southern Alliance, so I’d decided to help Rouge.

First, I’d used my remaining MP to observe the Southern Alliance’s situation with Layered Dimension. Conveniently, I’d also spotted that Kunelle had been caught up in the turmoil while en route to the western nation of Regia. Misfortune had piled upon misfortune, and she was in mortal danger. I’d rushed to her aid, then invited her to the castle with great courtesy. She called it kidnapping, but that wasn’t true. We’d talked properly and she’d come of her own free will. As thanks for saving her multiple times, I’d asked her to advise us on stabilizing the country.

From there, Kunelle’s work had truly been proof of her profession. Utilizing my Dimension and Connection, I’d gathered the scattered people and, with Kunelle’s skill, perfectly stitched the Kingdom of Viaysia back together when it had been on the verge of disintegrating.

If not for Kunelle, things wouldn’t have been where they were now. And there was no doubt she was exactly the kind of talent Viaysia needed going forward. Determined not to let this connection slip away, I pressed on.

“Honestly, it’s rare to find someone who doesn’t feel bad taking on work. You’re really easy to ask.”

“Huh? What? Oh, no way. The image of me you have in your mind is way too much...”

“Please, I’m begging you. I’ll do anything to repay you!”

“Anything, you say? I have a really bad feeling about this! It’s definitely a trap! Ah, I seriously want to run away! I want to run, but it’s you asking me, so I can’t!”

“Why don’t you just accept it, Kunelle? There’s absolutely no escaping my Dimension magic.” Interrupting with a little skit, I kept holding her down.

“Ah! This exchange... It feels like we did it a thousand years ago too! All right, then. Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll do it, okay?! This is a big favor to you!” In the end, she never truly resisted, reluctantly nodding in agreement.

It was precisely because I knew she wasn’t truly reluctant that I could be so bold. I was deeply grateful for Kunelle’s kindness.

Just as our contract was settled, Rouge joined the conversation with a warm smile. “You two really get along well, don’t you? Well then, Lady Kunelle, I look forward to working with you starting tomorrow. Having advice from someone with a legend rivaling even the professor’s is worth a hundred men.”

Rouge offered her hand and Kunelle responded with a resigned look. “Yeah. For now, just play it cool as the face. I’ll handle things behind the scenes.”

“All right, now I can leave with peace of mind,” I said. “Oh, but Rouge, if by any chance you think Kunelle might be up to something bad, let me know right away. I’ll come flying over.” I was just playing it safe.

Kunelle let out a sound close to a scream at my remark. “Come flying over?! What do you plan to do to me?!”

“Well, that depends, right?”

“Hey, stop making your hands glow like that!”

Her reactions were really great. I’d tease her on Titee’s behalf as well. That would serve as my tribute to her.

“I’ll do it properly! I promise! Just don’t forget to thank me in return!”

“Of course.”

“Fine. Since I’m getting a reward anyway, I’ll be extra demanding. What kind of reward should I ask for? Maybe a shopping date with you for the first time in ages. That would be nice. I’d like to talk about clothes together again. After all, your otherworldly designs are incredibly useful. No, wait, I want a way more outrageous reward...”

“Ah...” A chill ran down my spine. It was a warning alert from my long dormant Responsiveness skill. Even though I’d been under constant surveillance, Responsiveness seemed to be warning me of the danger posed by Kunelle when she uttered that ominous word “date.”

“Huh? Is something wrong? You can’t back out now!” she cried.

“No, it’s nothing. I won’t lie, so relax. You can ask for anything.” This was the kind of situation where I’d normally have to cover up my reactions as much as possible, but with Kunelle being practically immortal, it shouldn’t be a problem. In that sense too, she really was a rare friend who was incredibly easy to get along with.

“Okay, then, let’s make it a date. Well, given the situation, stabilizing the mainland should take five to ten years, right? I’ll try and get it done quickly.” Kunelle casually took on a feat that would likely earn her another page in the history books. Given her abilities and lifespan, it must truly feel like a change of pace for her. She seemed relaxed enough to joke around about her reward being a date.

“Well then, I’m going to head to where Dia and the others are. I’ll probably leave Viaysia from there. See you.” With that, there was nothing left to worry about. This time, it truly was goodbye.

“See you, great hero!”

“Have a safe trip! Make sure you wrap things up properly this time, so you don’t bring any more trouble back with you!”

Waving goodbye to the two of them, I headed in through the garden and straight for one of the castle’s guest rooms. Rouge had prepared the finest guest room for me, so I’d been staying there all week. My companions, who’d returned ahead of me, were waiting there.

I made my way to the room and pushed the door open. “I’m back now!”

Snow, who’d likely known of my return from eavesdropping, was waiting just inside. “Welcome back, Kanami! You must be exhausted. Want to eat? Take a bath? Oh, or maybe—”

“No, you don’t have to say that every single time...”

For the past week, Snow had greeted me with the exact same welcome every day. The truly terrifying part was that even though she would ask which one I preferred, she hadn’t once prepared dinner or a bath. On the first day, when I’d said dinner sounded good, she’d just given me a very sweet smile and told me she hadn’t actually prepared it. Since then, I hadn’t expected anything.

“Uh-uh, I won’t stop. My plan is to gradually build the atmosphere, so I’ll patiently keep at it. I’m going to set the mood now and wreck your relationship with Lady Lastiara.”

She was still the same weirdo with misguided ideas. I couldn’t understand why she didn’t try to make herself more likeable instead. And I knew better than anyone that her efforts were futile.

“I think it’s already on the verge of collapse, so I don’t know that there will be anything to wreck.” I couldn’t imagine there was anything left between me and Lastiara worth destroying. After all, I’d been rejected incredibly harshly. Honestly, just remembering it made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.

As soon as I entered, Snow had launched her mental attack on me, and I stumbled slightly before reaching the table in the center of the room. At the table sat Dia, drinking tea. And there was Hitaki, asleep yet still seated.

“You look tired, Kanami. Are the troubles finally over?” Dia asked first, setting down her teacup. Right now, Dia and Hitaki sat together on a large chair, their hands clasped the entire time.

While thinking of an answer to Dia’s question, I also considered Hitaki’s condition. After the battle with Apostle Sith had ended, Hitaki still hadn’t regained consciousness. Ide’s top-tier condition-recovery magic had dispelled every abnormality, including curses like “attack everything that approaches,” but even Ide couldn’t cure the illness that Hitaki had carried since birth. After all, even masters at the peak of their powers a thousand years ago had given up on curing that illness. It was understandable, really. It was the sort of thing where you might finally have hope of a cure only after pushing your body’s stats all the way to the max value of ninety-nine.

So from now on, I planned to level her up slowly and steadily in this sleep state, gathering magicbane and magic gems without rushing. If I had any unease at all it was that Hitaki’s sleep was... No, that wasn’t something to think about now. Either way, at least it was no longer something to do with Viaysia.

“Yeah, Dia. I guess there’s nothing left to do here. We’ve been through a lot, but it’s over now.”

“I see. I’m glad it’s over... Unlike Sith, I can’t really help with this sort of thing...” Dia smiled in relief, satisfied that we could leave Viaysia without issue.

My heart soothed by that smile, I recalled all the struggles leading up to today. There had truly been many trials. But thanks to those hardships, I could now speak normally with Dia. After defeating Apostle Sith a week ago, the very first thing I’d done was clear up the misunderstandings between us. Naturally, the words exchanged during the battle with Sith hadn’t been enough to fully resolve things. Immediately after, we’d talked through everything that’d happened leading up to that day.

Recalling our conversation wasn’t difficult. The first thing we’d talked about was Dia’s anguish and what it meant for her to be herself. I gradually recalled our postbattle conversation, including the reason Dia still hadn’t left Hitaki, and continued to hold her hand.

◆◆◆◆◆

After seeing Ide and Titee off, I used my still-clumsy Holy magic to heal Dia. While I managed to remove the Cognitive Impairment condition, the same one that had once afflicted me, the core issue remained—Dia’s Overprotective skill wouldn’t lift.

I’d thought it would be easy to remove once Sith was out of the picture, but it ran deeper than I’d anticipated. The trouble was that it wasn’t a condition but an acquired skill. A skill represented a person’s talent—it was their life, or even their very soul you might say. But I didn’t think that was too much of a problem. It wasn’t something that should be easily solved with magic, anyway.

Besides, I’d just seen a far better solution. Following the siblings’ example, we talked together, going over each mistake one by one.

“So the ‘you’ that comes out at different times, is that the real Dia?” I asked.

We were in the flower field that had bloomed on the former dueling grounds in the heart of the royal capital.

“That’s...me when I’m overwhelmed. When cornered, my true self comes out and I end up speaking differently. Ha ha, weird, right?”

“So that’s your true self... Does that mean your current self is an act? If it’s too painful to talk about, we can stop any time.”

“No, it’s not that. I’m not forcing myself to act here. It’s just that both the me aiming to be a swordsman and the real me are just Diablo Sith.”

Dia’s worries mirrored the conversation I’d just had with Ide. Ide, who’d kept running away from the self he’d wanted to erase. If Dia seemed destined to follow the same path, I absolutely had to stop that. But Dia herself dispelled that fear.

“Don’t worry, Kanami. I saw how Ide and the others ended. I don’t intend to erase my past self.”

Judging from her demeanor, it seemed she retained the memories of her time as Apostle Sith. But she also appeared to have learned from the Guardians who’d passed away just moments ago.

“But I won’t erase the me that I am now either. Even now, I still admire swordsmen and I truly want that to be me. I believe this dream is absolutely not a mistake. What was surely wrong was the duty of being Apostle Sith. That alone wasn’t something I should have had to deal with.”

Simply put, what being a gardener was to Titee was what being a swordsman was to Dia. In the same vein, what the Sovereign Queen was to Titee reflected Apostle Sith for Dia. Faced with that answer, I found nothing to correct.

“I see. Both are Dia, then. In that case, let’s just leave it as it is.”

No matter how she spoke, she was always Dia. Still, if she ever seemed about to take on the burden of responsibility as an Apostle that didn’t even exist anymore, then I would definitely speak up.

As I thought this, Dia timidly, anxiously added, “Thanks for understanding. But I have one small request. When I speak in a girlier way, I know it sounds weird, even to me. But it’s just because I’m a little weak. So, Kanami...whenever I speak like that...could you, if possible, be a little gentler with me?”

I was a bit surprised by that request. Come to think of it, this was the first time Dia had ever asked me something directly. Up until today, she’d desperately held herself back so as not to be a bother to me. Not only had she never asked for anything, she’d always just followed my and my companions’ instructions. Now, realizing that restraint had been lifted, I felt the distance between us closing.

“Is that not okay?” Perhaps because of her small stature, she naturally ended up looking up at me. Furthermore, she moved her single arm, opening and closing her hand. Even without using magic or skills, the magnitude of her anxiety was palpable.

I understood. Dia was summoning her courage, trying to grasp something important.

“Of course, Dia. We’re comrades, Dia. I’ll do anything I can for you.” I grasped her hand, which had continued searching for something to hold.

Dia frowned slightly before smiling. It seemed like she’d finally stumbled onto what she’d been searching for, yet felt a little pathetic for leaning on it. But without averting her eyes from that weakness, she began to tell me, bit by bit, about her inner turmoil from a year ago.

“Kanami...a year ago, I was actually anxious the whole time. I was terrified the Apostle’s memories would come back. It felt like another me was being born. Like everything I was until today would be negated. I was really scared.”

Mid-whisper, Dia pressed her forehead against my chest. She must have been too embarrassed to look me in the eyes, but she didn’t want to pull away, so this seemed to be her only option. I placed my hand on her head and listened to her story.

“But I couldn’t tell anyone. I had to keep worrying alone the whole time, and it was painful. It was really painful...”

“Yeah.” I understood that fear and pain just a little bit myself. I’d been in a similar situation before too because of Palinchron.

“I didn’t know which one was the real me... There were days I couldn’t sleep at all, thinking Sith might be the real me. Those sleepless nights went on and on—it was so painful.”

“I’m sorry. I was so wrapped up in myself that I didn’t notice.”

There had definitely been signs. She’d even shown signs of wanting my help. Ms. Wyss and Maria had probably noticed too. They’d known Dia less time than I had, yet they’d seen it while I hadn’t. That fact alone filled me with regret.

“When I learned it might have been me who destroyed Kanami’s sister a thousand years ago, I couldn’t stay by her side anymore. I couldn’t face her... But I kept wondering if there was some way to atone for my sins. So I ran away. Even knowing running wouldn’t change anything, I ran out of fear. I...”

It wasn’t just me; Dia clearly regretted it too. But unlike a year ago, we weren’t carrying that regret by ourselves. We were sharing it. Somehow that alone made the weight on my heart feel different.

“Naturally, after running away, I lost my place. By acknowledging Sith inside my head, I stopped being either one of my selves. I didn’t know who I was anymore. My mind was a mess of bitter chaos... I couldn’t tell anything apart. It felt like I was constantly dreaming of walking down a dark path.”

When you were alone, your heart would grow weak, and you rarely noticed it until you were truly alone. That’s where Apostle Sith had struck. As I felt anger welling up at Sith, Dia spoke again in a slightly brighter voice.

“But I made it back. Thanks to you, I finally made it back. Because you called my name. I’m really grateful...”

She lifted her face from where it had rested against my chest. Then she gave me a smile that felt incredibly familiar. It was the same smile she’d worn when we’d explored the Dungeon together, fought together, and rejoiced together. Remembering the name she’d called me back then, I smiled too.

“Dia, you can call me Sieg now instead of Kanami. In the Allied Nations, they call me Aikawa Kanami Siegfried Vizzita Vartwhoseyards von Walker. I don’t care what anyone calls me anymore,” I joked.

“Come to think of it, that name spread around too. Well then, I’ll stop holding back and call you whatever I like. Because names and positions don’t matter. What matters is that I am me.”

“And I am me. That’s the most important thing.”

And so, the two of us finished comparing our answers to our regrets. Names no longer mattered to us. Our words were a bit embarrassing, but together, we could just laugh and understand each other.

“Yeah, that’s all that matters. The two of us being here. That alone is enough...” Tears began welling up in Dia’s smiling eyes. What she’d been holding back all this time must have been overflowing now.

Dia must not have wanted me to see her tears, because she clung tightly to my waist. Then she pressed her forehead against my chest and hugged me tighter and tighter.

“This past year made me realize... Sith and I are different. No—fundamentally, no two people are exactly the same. Of course not. There’s no such thing as identical souls in this world.”

I listened to her monologue, stroking the back of her head.

“Ah, I feel my heart and body growing lighter. I’m not afraid of anything anymore,” she said.

I was truly glad. Thanks to Dia being honest with herself, I felt lighter too. With her returning alongside Hitaki, most of my otherworldly worries vanished. I clasped what I had gained after a long battle tightly to my chest. In response, Dia tightened her embrace, as if to say she’d never let go again. She held tighter and tighter. This unrestrained strength was something the Dia I’d known before had never possessed.

We finally understood each other heart-to-heart. It wasn’t just our bodies that intertwined but our magic too, creating the illusion that our very souls were merging. Within that illusion, irreplaceably peaceful time passed...until midway through when I noticed something felt off. Or rather, my Responsiveness skill suddenly began sounding its warning alarm. My survival instincts, silent all day, were now shrieking at me.

“Huh? W-Wait a second, Dia—”

Feeling the danger, panicking, I tried to pull away from her. But I couldn’t move at all. My body wouldn’t budge an inch, as though trapped inside stone. Worse still, I couldn’t even breathe. An unknown pressure squeezed my lungs, making my ribs creak. They felt like they’d crack at any second.

“W-Wait, I can’t breathe!” Even my voice was finally silenced. Immediately, I cast Dimension without incanting to analyze the cause of this situation. The source of the anomaly assaulting me was undoubtedly Dia’s magic.

I was enveloped by her excited magic. It had transformed into a physical force holding me captive. The excessively dense magic had become a giant hand, gripping me. Judging this to be a situation that warranted my trump card, I cast another spell without an incantation, deploying Distance Mute over my entire body.

Understanding the attributes and nature of Dia’s magic, I shifted dimensions to slip through them. As I pulled away, my face went pale, and Dia’s magic finally eased.

Realizing her magic had grown rigid and tense from overexcitement, she frantically apologized. “Ah! I’m so sorry Kanami! It’s just my body acting on its own!”

It was likely the lingering effect of the still-active Overprotective skill. As a side effect, it made her unconsciously want to grab me. And without considering her Level 59 strength, it had tried to capture me at full force. It would’ve been a problem for anyone else, but against me—someone who could sense danger beforehand with my skill—it wasn’t much of an issue. Thanks to Distance Mute, I wouldn’t die unless caught completely off guard. And injuries this minor? The Restoration magic honed during my battle with Ide could handle it.

“Nah, I’m used to this kind of thing. It’s fine. I’m not bothered at all,” I said with a smile as I cast Restoration magic on my cracked ribs. Right now, I could handle other types of magic, albeit clumsily. For major spells, I had to stab my chest with Distance Mute and fiddle with my soul, but basic magic posed no problem.

“You’re used to this?”

“I’m not lying. Even if a bone or two breaks, I can easily heal myself now. This kind of thing is like a dog playfully nipping at me.” I implied it was cute, trying to reassure her. It wasn’t bravado or anything, it was genuinely how I felt. My tolerance for pain had become ingrained whether I liked it or not. Coming to this world had even increased my basic physical toughness. Injuries like this were just right for magic practice.

“B-But the pain is still there, right? Sorry, I’ll suppress it right away.”

Though I was used to it, the gentle Dia hurriedly pulled the leaking magic back into herself, condensing it within her body. I could tell what she was doing with Dimension and remarked on it.

“Compared to the beginning, you’ve really gotten much better at handling magic...”

“It was all thanks to Alty and, frustratingly enough, Sith. I don’t think I’ll misjudge the output anymore as long as I don’t panic.” She seemed to understand her own temperament well, but there was no doubt her control over her magic had improved dramatically.

This past year had basically been the equivalent of having a legendary Apostle demonstrate magic techniques right before her eyes. Come to think of it, on top of that, the Apostle had helped her level up too. I guessed I should have been a little grateful to the Apostle. Just a little, though.

“Oh, of course, getting this strong is also thanks to you! It’s because you were there from the start that I got stronger. Thank you so much!” She took my right hand, which had been resting at my side, and gave me a smile so radiant it could have been mistaken for light itself. Honestly, it was a rare kind of smile for me to see. I almost melted at that carefree, pure expression.

“I’m gonna keep getting stronger from here on out! Count on me! I’ll do my absolute best to become a comrade worthy of you! So let’s go on even more adventures together!”

She squeezed my hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. Maybe because her strength stat had skyrocketed after hitting Level 59, it felt like my bones might crack again, but seeing that dazzling smile made me want to forgive her for it.

Dia and I kept holding hands, until Snow, sensing the conversation was ending, approached from behind us.

“All right, done? That was a really, really good story, huh? Do me next, okay? I want a big hug too!”

“Huh? Why...?” I tilted my head in confusion.

“Huh? Your reaction is a bit off!”

“Well, it’s different with you and Dia...”

“That’s so mean! But I tried really hard this time! I tried really hard!” Snow emphatically waved her arms around in desperation.

“You tried hard?” Dia cut her off. “You were doing fine when you were fighting me, but the moment you started fighting Hitaki, you were hopeless.”

“Gah! You remember?! Uh, that was... Well, I just couldn’t help being scared when facing a Guardian.”

“So, an Apostle is okay but not a Guardian? But a year ago, you were fine facing Ide, weren’t you?”

“No, back then I had a sense of responsibility. And Ide wasn’t that scary. This time, with Kanami and Titee there, I guess I let my guard down a bit. Or...how should I put it...?”

“Hmm, you do have that tendency, Snow.”

It seemed Dia had finally noticed Snow’s troublesome core nature. Not wanting to miss this chance for improvement, I chimed in too. “Yeah, that’s Snow’s worst flaw. The moment she thinks someone else will handle it without her giving her all, she starts slacking off.”

“Snow, this might not be something I should say since I was a total mess this time, but you have to give it your all no matter what, okay?”

Dia and I, still holding hands, scolded her. Faced with this combined attack, Snow covered her mouth and started trembling.

“Huh? Wait, is this a lecture starting? This is dangerous! I thought I could get away with it, since Lastiara and Mar-Mar aren’t here, but apparently not?!”

“That’s exactly why you’re no good—always looking for someone to coddle you...” Dia let out a sigh mixed with a wry smile. She knew it was Snow’s weakness, but she also knew it was part of who Snow was, so she wouldn’t truly push her too far. They understood each other’s flaws and complemented each other.

Now our group was finally approaching becoming a real party. I pulled myself together and started moving.

“All right, Snow’s reflection session is over. Time to go pick up Rouge. I think she’s inside the castle, so I’ll run ahead and get her.”

With that lighthearted banter after the serious battle had concluded, I let go of Dia’s hand and started walking toward the castle, which had transformed into a giant tree. After that, I learned from Rouge that Ide had entrusted Viaysia to her, and because of that, I ended up welcoming Kunelle to Viaysia.

◆◆◆◆◆

And now, a week later, Dia greeted me with a smile when I returned, but I still couldn’t say all the problems were resolved. The troublesome effect of the Overprotection skill remained. If Dia got too far from either me or Hitaki, the two she recognized as “Sieg,” she became terribly unstable.

Once, when I’d left her in the guest room and taken Hitaki out, Snow had ended up being charred. Dia’s magic had run wild alongside her mental turmoil, and Snow had stopped it by throwing her body in the way. A week ago, Dia and I had teased Snow about it, but the truth was, we were both deeply grateful. The only problem was, if we said that out loud, Snow would get endlessly cocky, making it hard to praise her.

“Kanami, if we’re done here, where do we go next?” Dia asked just as I finished recalling the events of last week. Her eyes were sparkling. She swung her arm, solidified with Light magic, like a swordsman. “I’m good with anywhere I can swing a sword. You decide. Snow and I had some good matches these past few days, so I want to test the blade out soon.”

“Huh? The sword matches were complete and utter domination for me...” Snow murmured.

“They were good matches!” Dia puffed out her cheeks.

“Yeah, they were!” Snow saluted her crisply.

It seemed Dia wanted to go on adventures where she could use her sword. I knew that for the past week, whenever they found time, the two of them had practiced different sword techniques. For Dia, it was her hobby, but for Snow, it was special training to follow Titee’s teachings.

Incidentally, I’d been having Dia use the Crystal Pectolazri Straight Sword. Snow wielded Brave Flow Light, which had been passed down from Titee.

“Sorry, Dia. There’s something I need to test before we decide our destination. The outcome could change things significantly.” I understood the urge to test their swords out for real as soon as possible, but something more important came first. It was probably the most crucial thing for our adventure. I took an accessory I’d made a few days ago in the castle workshop from my Inventory and handed it to Snow.

“A pendant? Wait, can it be...?”

“It’s Titee’s magic gem. I want you to have it.”

“It’s really hers?! Wow, my big sister turned into a pendant!”

To be precise, it was both Ide and Titee. It was a masterpiece that perfectly captured the allure of deep green and pale jade.

[Necklace Essence of White and Green]

A necklace adorned with the crystallized magic of the Guardians Ide and Titee.

“Try putting it on. Then pray really hard for help.”

“Okay, got it. Hmmmm, Titee, please—” Snow hung the pendant around her neck and began to let out a roar. In sync with her, I amplified Dimension. Changes appeared on her body almost immediately. The dragon scales, unlike the soft skin she’d had a year ago, which covered her body, transformed into particles of magic power and were absorbed.

“Whoa! That weird thing on my shoulders is back to normal! It’s gone back to how it was when I was born!”

“So the Apostle wasn’t lying after all. What an incompetent fool.”

The physical abnormalities caused by Snow’s excessive level had been restored. Everything had unfolded exactly as the Apostle had foretold. The information revealed during those pre-duel peace negotiations proved genuine, and I sighed at the extreme nature of Apostle Sith’s character.

“Snow, keep both predants. I’ve heard the level cap is thirty, but apparently, with an Essence Thief’s magic gem, it doubles.”

The level cap in this world had become clear to me. Around Level 20, you started breaking free from human limits, and by Level 30, you ceased to be human entirely. A single magic gem probably increased the limit by about thirty levels.

“Hey, Kanami, I don’t have anything, but my level’s high, right?” Dia interjected.

“Dia, you’re an Apostle, so your body is special. Sith said something about that,” Snow replied.

“Is that so? If Sith said it, then it must be true,” I said. Dia probably shared my opinion of Sith. Since Apostle Sith wasn’t the type to lie, I judged it to be correct.

“Sith had that kind of personality, but thinking about it, I’ve inherited a lot of the Apostle’s power...” The most obvious example was probably her and Hitaki being at Level 59. Getting to that level should have taken much longer.

Snow nodded in agreement. But unlike me, it wasn’t out of joy—it was frustration.

“Yeah... Honestly, if we fought seriously now, Dia might be the strongest. I used to be the strongest, but the balance of power has gradually shifted. Ah, but I don’t want to do special training...”

Even though I’d given her something to raise her level cap, this attitude made it pointless. I poked her head in response to her bold declaration to slack off and then moved on to the next topic. “Well, that’s one worry off our hands. So, what should we do next?”

What Sith had said hadn’t been wrong...meaning, we could be pretty sure—about eighty to ninety percent—that what she’d said about Hitaki was also true.

I glanced over at Hitaki, who was sitting next to Dia. Thanks to Ide, she was no longer the Sovereign Queen Lorde, no longer attacking anyone, and was now very quiet. But she still hadn’t awakened from her slumber. She reacted like a sleepwalker but was essentially unconscious. No matter how much I, her older brother, called out to her, she had no response whatsoever, as if she were frozen in place.

“My plan is to head into the Dungeon’s Deepest Depths to wake Hitaki. That’s where everything from the battle a thousand years ago is stored as magicbane. There’s enough of it to allow for infinite Re-Collections within the Dungeon. If we use it skillfully, it should grant us anything we desire.”

The state Sith had mentioned, serving as a substitute for the master, was likely the condition for Hitaki’s illness to be cured. That was precisely why I, a thousand years ago, had inherited Apostle Sith’s World Restoration Array and created the Dungeon.

“No, Kanami. If you want to awaken Hitaki, going to meet Apostle Deiplachra might be a good idea. Sith made it sound like she could awaken Hitaki at any time. Since Deiplachra’s an Apostle too, he might know something, right? Deiplachra, imprisoned by Ide, should be inside Yggdrasil in the city of Whoseyards on the mainland. If I, another Apostle, go there, I’m sure I’ll be able to hear his voice,” Dia said. She had a completely different personality from the passive Snow, so it was a huge help.

“True, going to Whoseyards and meeting Apostle Deiplachra wouldn’t be a bad idea. Above all, Maria’s in the south there. All right, it’s settled then.”

After all, going to meet Maria was probably best. We’d meet with her and Deiplachra, then return to the Allied Nations where the Dungeon was. With the entire party reunited, we’d resume exploring the Dungeon. That would likely be the best course.

“The southern part of the mainland. It’s been awhile...” In stark contrast to my mounting tension, Snow remained blissfully carefree.

Dia spoke up, as if chastising Snow’s casual attitude. “Aren’t they gonna say something about you quitting as Acting Commander in Chief in the middle of war? Unlike me, it wasn’t exactly a smooth departure, was it?”

“Uh...w-well then, I’ll just have Kanami protect me...”

“You idiot. Talk to me, then! I’ll protect my comrades.”

“Oh? Dia thank you! You’re the best! So cool! I’m falling for you!”

“Just handle it on your own? Only ask me when you absolutely can’t manage,” Dia responded.

“Even so, thank you, thank you, thank you! T-h-a-n-k y-o-u! Seriously, there’s been nothing but good things happening lately!” Snow clung to Dia, deeply moved. In her life, there probably hadn’t been many people who’d ever said they’d protect her like that. She expressed her joy with her entire body.

As I watched them, a knock sounded at the guest room door and a girl’s voice came from outside.

“Great hero, you’ve got mail!”

It was probably one of the Jewelculi working at the castle. I left the two girls entangled in the room and stepped outside.

“Could you please stop calling me ‘great hero’?” I asked with dissatisfaction before anything else.

“But that’s what Rouge calls you...” The blue-haired Jewelculus girl looked puzzled.

“Rouge...” Even after I’d told her so many times, she still wouldn’t change how she referred to me. I knew it was meant as a sign of respect, but I just couldn’t accept it. In fact, it had only spread to other people.

“More importantly, there’s a letter for you. Here you go.”

“Thanks, but who’s it from... Huh?” I took the letter and was stunned by the sender’s name written on the back. Then, I immediately unfolded it and checked its contents. I read it all at once using Dimension and was utterly speechless at what it said.

Inside was a request for a rescue.

Afterword

Thank you very much! Volume 12 is out and we’ve finally made it to the end of the Viaysia arc. I’m incredibly happy and filled with gratitude right now.

This cover features Ide. While it’s rare for light novels to have two male leads on the cover, it feels distinctly different from previous covers. It’s a wonderful illustration fitting for their resolution, and I can only express my gratitude to Ukai-sensei. Also, on a personal note, ever since seeing Titee’s cover on volume 10, I’ve been yearning deep down to see a cover with Ide. They belonged together as siblings, so I wanted to see them side by side on a cover!

Now that wish has been granted and I feel incredibly refreshed. To see Ide and Titee on a cover before I die... I have no regrets left. All that’s left is to quietly close my eyes...

Even as I think this, my greedy self is already dreadfully looking forward to the next volumes. If things go as planned, volume 13 will be the biggest turning point in Dungeon Dive: Aim for the Deepest Level. It centers on Lastiara and touches the core of the story. It’s the beginning of everything—and the conclusion. In any case, volume 13 is special. Please look forward to Kanami’s exploits in the next volume.

And with that clumsy preview and promotion out of the way, I have a major announcement!

Would you believe it? Dungeon Dive: Aim for the Deepest Level is getting a manga adaptation! It’s incredibly moving. I absolutely love manga, and honestly, I think I’ve read more volumes of manga than novels (though that might not be particularly unusual. I don’t have many friends, so I can’t say for sure!) As a child, I loved drawing and deeply admired manga artists. That’s precisely why this news is so deeply moving, humbling, and incredibly joyful.

The serialization should start on Comic Gardo (a web comic site) around the release date of this volume. I’d be thrilled if, after finishing this volume, you could also check out the serialized manga.

By the way, the artist handling this comic adaptation is Keisuke Sato. He’s the one who adapted that particularly hugely popular anime into a manga, you know. So, I feel completely at ease. Every day, I get to see the storyboards for the adaptation and just grin to myself.

So, this afterword wraps up with good news instead of apologies. It’s a great start, isn’t it? Finally, I’d like to express my gratitude to everyone involved in this book before I sign off. Truly, truly, thank you all so much. Well, then!

Bonus Short Stories

Let’s Aim for the Top of the Academy, Part 12

At last, my duel with Lady Karamia began. This would likely be the final match for the Elt Order ranking. It was common knowledge among the Academy’s students that I, who’d taken refuge in the Dungeon, would be pursued by Karamia Arrace’s faction the moment I set foot on school grounds. Therefore, the battlefield for our encounter was the entire Eltraliew Academy. And the condition for victory was dropping a weapon. When one forced the other to drop their sword, the loser’s body would be offered to the victor. Under this rule, the Elt Order and the top position at the Academy was at stake.

The moment I returned to the Academy from the Dungeon, I sprinted at full speed toward my target. My only chance of victory lay in a swift conclusion. Naturally, however, numerous students who’d been watching for my exit from the Dungeon lay in wait along the way. This duel had no rules beyond the weapon drop. Therefore, Lady Karamia, the student council president who ruled the Academy, wielded her faction’s students as a force, exercising it without mercy. Frankly, it was an unfair duel. But I’d known that from the start.

“Get out of my way!” With a single brush of my armored sleeve, I knocked the students unconscious as we passed them. It wasn’t just the power of my Dimension magic; it was because I’d learned how to wield and fight with a sword. For me, having fought over a thousand duels against that top-ranked prince, ordinary students were no longer enemies.

Above all, the magical tools I’d gathered for this duel were all top-tier, albeit disposable. There were flashes and hazes of smoke. Sometimes I’d shatter rings imbued with Wind magic and dash away at speeds the eye couldn’t follow. I left all unnecessary foes behind with sheer speed—and then it happened.

From behind me, I heard the voice of my friend since the day I’d transferred here.

“Hang in there, Kanami! Show me the scoop!” Annius offered his clumsy encouragement, even though he didn’t have to.

Then, the voice of my most trusted junior at this academy echoed the sentiment. “You pushed me this far! If you don’t win, I’ll hold it against you!”

“Liner! I am no stranger to Karamia! Why are you siding with that transfer student?!” Standing in front of us was Liner’s sister, Franrühle, who was accompanied by students from prominent families. Liner blocked her path and restrained her movements to help me. Thanks to that, a path opened. The corridor leading straight to our destination—the arena—cleared.

And at its end stood Elmirahd Siddark. “Well then, the stage is set. Off you go, my future foe.”

Passing him, we exchanged a high five. Pushed forward by my comrades, I arrived at the familiar vast arena. About ten people, including Lady Karamia and her entourage, were lined up waiting to report my capture.

The moment I entered, I used Dimension to grasp the battlefield, read everyone’s names and stats, and then channeled magic power into magical tools capable of exploiting each of their weaknesses.

“L-Lady Karamia! He’s here! The transfer student has already made it this far—”

I cut him off before he could finish speaking. “Move aside! I didn’t come here to win!”

Then, I made contact with the entourage forming a wall in front of Lady Karamia. Both sides held sharp blades. A battle began where a moment of carelessness could cost one’s life—yet the attacks from the other side felt somehow lukewarm. The sense that they were holding back likely stemmed from the fact that the members of this entourage had noticed something abnormal about their leader.

Indeed, Lady Karamia had achieved her long-held ambition of standing at the top of the Academy. Her power and violence were now unmatched by any noble. However the gossip—rumors that she had used a cursed sword to reach the top rank—had reached their ears, aided by Annius. Their hesitation was clearly evident in this battle. In contrast, I cast spells without hesitation, consuming magical tools to unleash spells tailored to each enemy’s weakness.

“Unleash your power! Blaze! Flash! Gale! Water Hammer! Wood Whip!” I swung my sword along with the magic. The result? All ten swords wielded by Lady Karamia’s entourage were knocked aside. Using Dimension, I struck the backs of their heads and abdomens with the flat of my sword as well, knocking them unconscious one after another.

“Tch, how pathetic! Nothing but useless tools! Wynd!” Lady Karamia lamented her allies’ incompetence, clicking her tongue in disgust as she spat out those words. Then she roughly swept aside one of her comrades who had been blown near her with a gust of wind. Such words and actions were unthinkable for her true self.

Lady Karamia, precisely because she was obsessed with domination, usually exercised the utmost caution in wielding power and violence. While she would relentlessly pursue her enemies, she always strictly limited her actions toward allies to deterrence and restraint. She’d always possessed the cunning intellect to do so.

That was why, when the last of her entourage fell, the student spoke before losing consciousness, entrusting me with his wish. “Transfer student butler...it galls me, but I leave the rest to you...”

He must have somehow sensed my goal. Entrusted with this, I moved without slowing, determined to end the battle quickly.

“Yes!” I shouted. “I will absolutely bring Lady Karamia back to her true self!”

“Everyone is so pathetic! That I must come out myself...”

Words clashed first, then in the arena’s center, my sword met Lady Karamia’s. Of course, I knew I’d lose in a straight contest of strength, so I parried the impact using the sword technique that El had taught me. Then I shattered all the magic tools I’d prepared for this moment, unleashing their power into spells like Flame, Wynd, and Ice.

But Lady Karamia deflected the spells as if they were mere breezes, her skin repelling them effortlessly. Her refusal to even attempt defense felt like unreasonable, overwhelming violence.

“It’s futile, Kanami. You should know from our first duel that magic of that caliber doesn’t work on me. Above all, I now possess your magical tools. Thanks to them, even the magic of Siddark and Walker no longer affects me!”

“Yes! I know! But it’s precisely because of that that I can devise a countermeasure!”

That barrage of magic had been a diversion. The real target was the self-destruct spell in one of the magic tools I’d given her. I immediately reached out, touching the ring and bracelet Lady Karamia wore, and unleashed the spell formula that only I, the creator, knew.

“Break apart! Shatter and fly away!” The forced self-destruction would cause magic power to run wild, damaging the wearer. That was my trump card!

But even touching the magic items, the spell formulate didn’t activate. There wasn’t even a hint of anything happening.

“What?!”

“That’s because it’s already broken,” Lady Karamia said, her face filled with a beaming smile. “To ensure the precious gift you gave me wouldn’t break, I carefully broke it myself. That way, nothing precious will ever break again.”

Every magic item that Lady Karamia wore had had its internal spell formula destroyed, reducing them all to mere accessories.

I realized I’d fallen into a trap and turned pale.

“Even you, Kanami, won’t be allowed to do as you please with these. All these presents are mine! They’re under my control! From now on, forever and ever, they will remain in my hand, under my eternal control! I won’t let anyone destroy them!”

Hoping for the self-destruction magic, I’d reached out defenselessly, leaving myself completely exposed. First, Lady Karamia easily grabbed my left wrist. Then, using a martial arts technique like a one-shoulder throw, she slammed me into the ground and landed astride my stomach.

I groaned but somehow managed not to let go of my sword. However, Lady Karamia overlapped her hands with mine, making it as if we were holding both swords together. My arms were rendered completely immobile.

“Well, this is the end. But you made a contract with that woman regarding the quality and quantity of that new magical artifact, didn’t you? Are you planning to ally not only with Elmirahd Siddark but also with Philtia Walker? You intend to abandon me...to cast me aside!”

“No! That’s absolutely not it! Both El and Philtia are enemies I will defeat someday! I will always be on your side!” I cried.

“How is that not totally wrong?! Kanami, it’s not me! That Azure Fury! You looked at a woman who wasn’t me! I-If I don’t control you... I can’t trust anything I can’t control! I can’t trust a single one of them!”

Though overwhelmingly dominant, Lady Karamia’s voice trembled painfully. Her mental state was so unstable, it clearly seemed influenced by an external factor. And now, in this position, I was certain of the cause. It was the ominously glowing cursed sword right next to my face. Ever since obtaining the sealed weapon from the Arrace family, Lady Karamia had become extremely unhinged. My intuition told me that something other than the kinds of curses we’d studied in class was now at work within her.

“K-Kanami... You alone fulfilled my ideal. You alone willingly accepted this twisted domination of mine... Yet you... You tried to leave my grasp...”

Even now, she craved domination, yet she herself was destroying what she had dominated. The people surrounding her, the magic tools I’d gifted her—after dominating them, she abandoned them. She had completely lost her way. If I were to name this “something,” perhaps it was “difference.” I became certain that this curse of difference was the greatest enemy, and I resolved to confront it head-on.

The Otherworld Heroines’ Otherworld Massages, Part 7

It was after the battle of Viaysia but the day before the emergency summit of the Northern Alliance nations was to be held. A large quantity of documents concerning the Northern Alliance lay scattered about a guest room in Viaysia Castle, where I was compiling information alongside a certain girl.

Once the talking points for the next day’s meeting were finalized, Kunelle Chronicle Shulz Regia Ingrid raised both hands into the air and stretched.

“Whew! Finally done! But with this, tomorrow’s meeting is a sure win for us!” With the work finished, she rolled her shoulders and let out a big sigh. Working nonstop had left her completely stiff. “I’m seriously exhausted for the first time in ages. Chairman, rub my shoulders and give me a massage!”

“A-A massage?! What?!” Hearing that terrifying word out of nowhere, I lost my composure and braced for combat.

“Huh? Hey, what’s wrong? Did I say something weird?”

“Oh...no, not at all... It’s fine. No problem at all. A massage, huh? Massage. No big deal, no big deal...”

I quickly regained my composure. Precisely because of everything that’d happened, I was now battle hardened when it came to massages. Something like this wouldn’t send me into a trauma-induced spiral. This time, I would be the one giving the massage, not receiving it. Nothing could be lighter on the heart.

“Kunelle, thank you so much for helping me today. A massage is the least I can do.”

I was the one who’d asked her for an unreasonable favor, after all. As a thank-you, giving her shoulders a light massage was only natural. Reflecting on my prior massage experience, I set about soothing her fatigue. As I kneaded her shoulders, she let out an “Ooh” of appreciation, and I gave it my all.

Kunelle spoke up after a few minutes. “Hmm... Wait, aren’t you a little clumsy?”

I couldn’t dismiss that comment. “Clumsy?! My massage is clumsy?!” For some reason, I was pretty shocked and ended up raising my voice.

“Aren’t you acting kind of weird today?”

I kind of understood why. Having received so many special massages before, a little competitive spirit had sprouted within me. I couldn’t stand being called unskilled, so I gathered strength in my hands. And magic too for good measure.

“Got it. All right, I’ll get serious now. Distance Mute.”

“Wait, hold on! Magic?! My magic?!”

“Don’t worry! Using magic for massages is pretty common here, isn’t it?” I said.

“No, no, no! You’re not from this world, right?! That hand! The color! Hey! Don’t come any closer!”

It was a familiar reaction. It reminded me of when I’d first started getting massages.

“But this is my serious massage technique, you know?”

“What?! No way! What do you think you’re doing with that instant death magic?!” she cried.

“It’s fine. This is the massage that even Titee found satisfying.”

“You’re using something that worked on the invincible Demon Queen on me?! My skin is soft and delicate, unlike hers! Chairman, that’s a foul! Foul play! You’re out!”

Kunelle was half joking but did vehemently object. Then, in the same burst of energy, she slipped out of my grasp. Apparently, kneading souls wasn’t to her liking. Breathless, she circled me, exasperated, and started kneading my shoulders instead.

“Do it the normal way. See, like this.”

“What?! This...” I trailed off.

She massaged with a gentle hand, as if setting an example for me. But I was stunned by the delicate, skilled touch. It wasn’t like Dia’s magic-infused “true massage” or Reaper’s innocent, fun massage. This was true skill. It was something accomplished not with magic but with repeated practice.

“Heh heh heh. How’s that? Pretty good, right?” With her usual henchman-esque chuckle, Kunelle massaged my shoulders.

It was genuinely skillful. More than that, it was professional. I realized without a doubt that Kunelle was a professional, and I was so moved that I turned around. Then, honestly wanting to learn that skill, I changed how I addressed her.

“M-Master!”

“Huh? Master? Being called ‘master’ by you feels kinda off! No way! I mean, if you want to learn the skill, just learn it normally! You can copy it after seeing it once anyway!”

“Now that you mention it, yeah... Next time I’ll focus on memorizing how you do it. Just one more time, please.”

“Once you copy it, don’t forget to rely on the skill too.”

“Of course. The main thing is your massage, after all.”

The lesson flowed smoothly into place, and Kunelle resumed kneading my shoulders. I analyzed it completely, memorizing it using both Dimension and my Responsiveness skill.

“I see. All right, I’ll try massaging you with the exact same movements.”

I converted my notes into my own skill and immediately returned the favor.

“Yes, please. Mmm... Mmm... Ah, right there. Wow, seriously, it’s exactly the same.”

My self-taught massage had been unpopular, but my copied movements were praised. Once Kunelle confirmed that I could truly copy it, she immediately moved on to the next one.

“Okay, I’ll teach you how to do a back massage too. I want you to work the area around the shoulder blades as well.”

“Leave it to me. I’ll get it down in one go,” I replied, confident in my ability to mimic.

And so, the real massage began. Once it got to this point, standing wasn’t an option. We used the bed in the guest room, lying down to perform the massage. Sometimes, I even climbed onto her back or waist.

“While we’re at it, how about your legs? Calves and soles feel great too,” I said.

“People always say soles are the best. For recovery, it’s absolutely essential.”

I found it incredibly fun to absorb massage techniques faster and faster. Kunelle seemed to enjoy having her skills returned to her, teaching me in high spirits. It was truly a peaceful, enjoyable time. That’s precisely why we were slow to notice the problem.

The more intense it got, the more clothes between us became a hindrance, leading us to shed layers. Switching positions repeatedly on the same bed, kneading each other, both letting out little sounds of pleasure...

And Snow, staying in the same castle, was eavesdropping on us. A few minutes later, she came peeking in with Dia, saw the scene, and blew a hole through Viaysia Castle. The misunderstanding was cleared up immediately. However, Kunelle, who had been lightly scorched, was traumatized and began keeping her distance from me, vowing never to teach the skill again.

Meanwhile, in Fran’s Room...

It had been several days since I’d returned to the surface from floor sixty-six of the Dungeon. After parting ways with Sieg and Titee, who were headed for the mainland, I, Liner Hellvilleshine, was now staying in the Allied Nations.

My primary purpose was to guard my master’s beloved, but I couldn’t exactly be glued to Lastiara’s side around the clock. Sometimes unexpected duties arose, forcing me to do things I’d rather avoid. These ranged from knightly missions to noble obligations, but today, a completely different duty had emerged, leaving me utterly flustered.

“Now then, Liner, shall we talk? We’ve got a whole year’s worth of stuff to cover, thoroughly and in full! Especially about your time serving as Kanami’s personal guard! We siblings should get along nicely!”

It was my duty as a brother to get through the so-called family gathering—more like an inquisition—by Franrühle, the next head of the Hellvilleshine family. Honestly, I’d had a vague sense this would happen, so I’d been avoiding her constantly. But finally, I’d been dragged into her private chambers. I’d grown stronger this past year, but once she’d mobilized her acquaintances, both knights and nobles, there was nothing I could do.

“Fine. Since I’ve been cornered, I suppose I can talk.”

My sister’s private room was incredibly unsettling. Unlike my room, which was practically a storage shed, expensive incense burned here, and everything sparkled with opulence. Breaking a single piece of furniture would easily wipe out a month’s salary. Furthermore, her artistic tastes were bold, with sculptures and other artwork displayed like a museum and paintings hanging at regular intervals on the walls.

Wait... In my sister’s room, which usually featured landscape paintings, there was a portrait.

“Huh?!”

“Oh? As expected of you, brother. Your eye for detail is excellent. That one is a masterpiece, you know.”

Depicted was the figure of a hero with black hair and black eyes. To be precise, it was a painting of my master, Sieg, who was known by a ridiculously long name that bordered on harassment. Was this painting recreating a match from the Brawl? His eyelashes were so long!

“That was commissioned from a famous painter to commemorate receiving my first pay as a knight. Since I had nowhere else to spend my money, I just kept commissioning new ones every time I got paid...and this is the result.”

True to her words, a whole series of Sieg portraits lined the walls. Scenes from every single match of the Brawl were depicted, quite exaggeratedly. My sister must have made extra requests when ordering them. I was utterly dumbfounded by her, as she’d become a peculiar sort of regular customer. Was this what she spent her private life looking at? Seeing this, it felt pointless to keep my sister and Sieg apart, no matter how much I wanted to. Actually, Sieg was shy, so he’d probably scream his head off if he walked into this room. To be honest, I kind of wanted to see that reaction.

“If you want a painting of Kanami too, Liner, you should go to the Valhuura. There, you can get a painting easily without any wait.”

“Huh? They sell things like this normally? At regular shops?”

“Well, they’re not quite as high-grade as the custom pieces here, but they’re decent. You could even say Kanami goods are the theater ship’s featured products now. They have quite the extensive selection.”

Kanami goods... Looking around the room more closely, I spotted some items that fit that description. The decorative sword hanging on the far wall was a replica of either the Crystal Pectolazri Short Sword or the Treasured Blade of the Arrace Clan that had been used in the finals. There were also pennants, medals, and other similar items scattered about. Finally, I spotted a stack of books piled on the table in the room.

“Is that a novel? No, a script? The title is The Hero Kanami’s Brawl...”

“You seem unaware since you’ve been away from the Allied Nations all this time! It’s a masterpiece known throughout the world! That’s the script for a hugely popular play that’s been revived countless times!”

“I see. This is terrible... But it lists Elmirahd Siddark as supervisor, writer, and director. That man probably holds a grudge after losing to Sieg. Isn’t the script inaccurate?”

“No! There was absolutely no such retaliatory fabrication! I inspected it myself. It’s flawless! Truly worthy of Sir Siddark. At first, I was uneasy because he only took action reluctantly, pushed by citizens who hadn’t been able to see it in person, but now, I have nothing but respect for his work.”

Apparently, he hadn’t used it to spread bad rumors, though Elmirahd’s fair and gentlemanly approach might actually be the opposite of harassment toward Sieg.

As I pondered this, flipping through the pages, my sister spoke up again.

“Liner, you should take that home and read it at your leisure. It’s yours.”

“Oh, really? I did actually kind of want it.”

Unlike my sister, I’d supported Lorwen—or rather, I’d seen him as my sword master—so being able to reread his words from the finals whenever I wanted was a blessing. I was genuinely happy.

“Don’t be shy. It’s meant for spreading the word.” Saying that, my sister opened a nearby shelf and showed me dozens of spare copies stored inside. Even though she was my sister, I was a bit taken aback.

“Besides, I’ve already memorized every famous line. In the quarterfinals, it was ‘Her love belongs to me! If anyone wishes to wed Snow Walker, they must defeat me first! As long as this sword stands raised, no one shall unite with her!’ Like, wow! Kanami wouldn’t stand for a marriage of convenience! He’s the best!”

This was Sieg’s dark past from long ago. Were professionals repeating this over and over every day in theaters?! I wanted to make him hear this and see the painting in this room. Here, I could probably hear screams even louder than he’d released when his memories had returned. But I’d hold back.

“Master Kanami is truly popular among the noblewomen! And that’s precisely why I summoned you! You served as his personal guard! In exchange for that book, hand over something connected to Master Kanami! Or perhaps a secret story about him, just between us! Tell it to me before you tell anyone else!”

“You’ve completely lost all restraint. But even so...”

A secret story was impossible. If I told her, for example, that a woman claiming to be Kanami’s wife from a thousand years ago had appeared, Franrühle would likely faint from the shock. I searched my pockets, hoping for some trinket Sieg might have given me, but there was nothing there. If there was anything, it would have to be...

“I usually use things I’m given right away, except for these clothes.”

I blurted out that most of the things I wore had been given to me by Sieg.

“Huh? Could it be that the gear you’ve acquired over the past year...” She pointed at my Coal Outerwear and Arlecon Face. Then she looked at the Twin Blestblades of the Hellvilleshine Clan and the Sylph Rukh Bringer at my waist.

“Well then, Liner. Shall we exchange swords immediately? Mine is a legendary sword passed down in our family, you know.”

“N-No way. I mean, that thing, that’s like the symbol of the head of the household, right? Absolutely not.”

“So you’re saying I can have yours unconditionally? You understand me perfectly, dear brother!”

“No! I said no! I really mean no!”

“Liner, have you forgotten our family rule? What belongs to the younger brother belongs to the older sister!” My sister’s eyes, creeping closer and closer, were deadly serious. Forget the sword; I was about to be stripped bare!

“W-Wynd!” I fled using the full strength of my Wind magic.

And so, another pointless reason to never return to the Hellvilleshine household was added to my list. Still, even after a year, I was glad I’d gotten to talk with my sister, even though she was as unchanged as ever. Thinking of those two Essence Thieves, Ide and Titee, once siblings yet worlds apart in heart, I savored the happiness I was feeling right here and now.