On the Other Side of the Wall

The streets burned with a bright scarlet, scorching the ominous darkness of night. Within the plaza illuminated by the blaze, a single man wrapped in a black robe stood motionlessly without a sound. His entire silhouette was dark like a shadow, leaving no details to gleam or grasp. Other than this man himself, no one in the entire world knew exactly what was on his mind.

On his shoulder, he carried a girl with braids as if she were mere baggage. Her long limbs dangled listlessly without so much as a twitch.

“Fight us!” hollered a warrior holding a crossbow at the ready. He was Yoshu, a Lacerte who boasted incredible marksmanship.

The bolt notched onto his crossbow was pointed squarely at the robed man. The taciturn opponent wore his hood low over his eyes, submerging his face within the darkness. He seemed to express no response.

Next to Yoshu’s legs was a single boar who noisily ground his teeth together threateningly. However, the silent man didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.

Even knowing that it was rationally pointless, Yoshu fired his bolt. Letting out a noise akin to the low whistling of a pipe, the bolt flew right at the man’s face. If he were a normal human, it was a strike that would have smashed his teeth, penetrated his oral cavity, stabbed into his brain stem, and even exploded on top of all that to disintegrate everything above his neck.

Yoshu knew that he’d fired the bolt with clear, unadulterated killing intent. Alas, the bolt froze in place right before the man’s face. The moment it clattered forlornly on the ground, it detonated pathetically, only managing to carve tiny scratches onto the cobblestone surface.

He was up against the king, who held mastery over potent sorcery. Yoshu had been well aware that his bolt would never reach its target.

Even still, his indignation had compelled him to fire at the man anyway. “Fight, damn it!” the archer screamed. “I’d rather you kill me on the way out than pull off something like this!”

Frustration and bitterness washed over Yoshu like an avalanche, and he vigorously gritted his teeth. His sanpaku eyes transformed into golden serpentine ones, and his slitted pupils glared at his former comrade in arms within the fire’s light.

The girl thrown over the king’s shoulder was Nourris, the last mage within the folds of the Liberators. All the young girls who’d been labeled as Yethma had been abducted by the royal court’s army as a part of the Ginnokis—the so-called invitational migration that was, in essence, enforced detention. Still, in the face of adversity, the Liberators had obstinately taken every care and caution to protect this very last girl from their clutches.

“Why, Shravis, why?!” Yoshu yelled. “How can you do something so inhumane?! Weren’t we friends who fought through thick and thin together?! Come on, at least dignify me with a response!”

His appeals fell on deaf ears. The face shrouded by the hood only stared steadily in the archer’s direction.

Kento seemed to have reached the end of his patience—he charged toward Shravis. However, the boar crashed into an invisible wall just short of the king and was sent flying to one side. He collapsed on the ground and groaned in pain.

Fixing yet another bolt onto his crossbow, Yoshu glowered at the man who could no longer be called a friend. “You can hear me, can’t you?! Say something! Answer me! Why’re you taking Nourris with you?! She only came to this town to heal people’s wounds, that’s all! She’s never attacked you, not even once! In fact, have you forgotten how she healed you countless times until now?!”

The most agonizing part was finding the energy to yell at the man who remained unresponsive. If he’s got no plans of talking with us, he might as well go all the way and attack or ignore us altogether and leave immediately. Anything but this, Yoshu thought with frustration. It was as if his deceased comrade in arms was standing on the other side of a transparent wall—never to touch, never to exchange words. Anger, grief, and a sense of powerlessness intertwined, amplifying each other with time.

Nourris had done nothing wrong. Members of the Liberators, who’d tried to defend this town from a colossal monster that incinerated all humans and buildings in its wake, had been injured here. She’d only come to tend to the wounded.

Now that the other mages had been dragged away and Ceres had lost her magic, Nourris was the one and only person left who could wield healing magic. Even as blood coated her clothes from head to toe, even when she pushed herself beyond her limits to the point of feeling faint, she went around to each and every soldier, squeezing out every last drop of her mana to stop their bleeding. That was all she’d ever done.

“I remember telling you about our past. About how the royal court snatched away someone precious to us. About how that’s the reason we resented the royal court,” Yoshu whispered before whipping his head up and bellowing, “Didn’t you say that you’d stop such tragedies from happening again?!”

Together with his cry, Yoshu fired yet another bolt. The projectile, which should have been traveling at a speed that rivaled a bullet, came to a stop once again and flopped onto the ground. In the end, neither Yoshu’s heartfelt words nor his heartfelt strike reached the king.

At long last, Yoshu fell onto his knees on the cobblestone paving. He couldn’t stay on his feet—his legs had been trembling with rage and despair at his own helplessness.

“We tried to find a middle ground with you! Sis really took a liking to you, you know?!” Yoshu knew that no matter what he said, it was futile. But he still couldn’t hold back the words tearing out from his throat. “What would you even achieve by doing something like this?! What would you even gain by oppressing us with brute force?! Do you honestly think a society built on such foundations can last?!”

The king maintained his silence. He merely stared down at Yoshu with a face that was more like a featureless shadow.

“Answer me! You betrayed us, you’re doing something so heartless, and you’re gathering the hatred of your people... How do you even plan on maintaining the royal court like this, huh?!”

Naturally, there was no reply. The king was still as a statue.

Before Yoshu knew it, the surrounding temperature began falling. A freezing chill shrouded the entire town. It was quickly followed by a thick fog that permeated the streets. The flickering flames, which licked at the townscape, illuminated the fog. As irony would have it, the scenery was captivatingly enchanting and beautiful.

After the fog cleared, the king was no longer anywhere in sight. Nourris, who’d been slung over his shoulder, had disappeared with him.

He took her away. He snatched her from us, and I couldn’t stop him!

An indecipherable roar of pure emotion wrung out from Yoshu’s throat, echoing down the streets. After screaming to the point that his lungs were emptied of air, he glowered at the enormous shadow that towered over the landscape in the far distance. Against the backdrop of the dark night sky stood an even darker black silhouette—the royal capital that was defended by powerful spells. This magic didn’t even permit outsiders to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside.

However, Yoshu was able to barely make out the tiny lights of the streets within the shadow, as well as the contours of the buildings traced by moonlight. His serpentine golden eyes were able to pierce through the deceptions crafted by magic.

Soon. Everything would be over soon.

In his heart, he made a single vow—he was going to watch over the last throes of the royal court with his own eyes, right to its very end.

Chapter 1: An Otaku’s Brain Comes Across Processing Errors When a Cute Girl Shows Affection to Him

Jess’s knocks on a door always held a gentle note. I didn’t know whether it was because the skin of her hand was soft or because the bones in her fingers were slender. Either way, no matter how much force she invested into her knocks, you could never get a sense of roughness from them. Those tender hands that always stroked my head kindly were responsible for producing the sound—which meant that, naturally, if I were to use onomatopoeia, it wouldn’t be necessary to emphasize them in all capitals.

Knock knock. Tap tap. The clear and melodious sound was practically music to my ears.

“It seems to be vacant,” she reported to me as she pressed her ear against the door in question. “I can’t hear anyone inside.”

“I see... That probably means this place is a dead end too.”

“I’ll try to pry it open with a bit of force.”

Just as she startled me with that abrupt declaration of violence, without a moment’s delay, Jess blasted the door open. This time, a thunderous boom—which an all-capitals sound effect wouldn’t be enough to capture—shook my eardrums furiously. After the dust settled, I was greeted by a giant hole in the place where the door used to be.

“You know, I don’t think that was on the level of just ‘a bit,’” I muttered.

Stepping over the fragments of the former door, we filed into the room.

The building was one of the typical kinds you’d find in the royal capital—the type they’d constructed by hollowing out the mountain’s rock. The room’s interior felt rather bleak with the exposed white rock walls. It was neat and tidy.

At a glance, nothing notable was placed in the room. I could only spot a simple wooden table and a few chairs of the same design abandoned within. Based on the information we’d grasped, this should be an office that handled affairs related to the management of the Yethma, but judging by the state of the room, I highly doubted it was still used for clerical work now.

As we investigated the interior, hoping that perhaps some documents had been left behind, Jess sighed. “There don’t appear to be any clues... It looks like it was cleared away on purpose.”

From a pig’s point of view, I searched around to check whether anything had fallen on the ground. Unfortunately, just like Jess speculated, there wasn’t so much as a scrap of paper with a note on it, as if someone had intentionally attempted to erase all the evidence.

I frowned. Someone went out of their way to do that. Which likely means... “It’s just like what we suspected. The facility relocated after Shravis was crowned.” Just in case, I tried sniffing around, but I couldn’t even find any scents that hinted at someone walking recently within this room. “You know how thorough he is. I’m sure he must’ve constructed a security system that doesn’t even leave a crack for a single ant to slip through.”

“I agree.”

Our investigation, which we’d continued since the morning without drinking or dining, was about to eat into the evening without yielding any progress. It was around the time our stomachs would start protesting, alongside our accumulated fatigue, making us lose focus.

Jess let out a groan of displeasure as she sat down on a nearby chair. She exhaled a big sigh that was out of character for her.

“What do we do?” I asked her. “Should we close out our exploration soon?”

Almost reflexively, Jess shook her head. “If we go back without any findings, we could never apologize enough to Mister Naut and the others.”

“But you know, I don’t think we’re going to get any results even if we keep going like this.”

“I, well... You’re right, but still...”

Her hand clenched tightly around a small piece of parchment. It was a letter delivered this morning by a northern goshawk belonging to the Liberators. Despairing news had been written onto it in Naut’s handwriting.

Things had taken a turn for the worse—I almost didn’t want to believe that this nightmare was our reality.

Nourris was kidnapped. She should be somewhere within the royal capital, so could you guys look for her?

Characteristic of him, the contents of the letter were curt and matter-of-fact. However, the pressure he’d applied to the pen, which had threatened to tear the paper into pieces, displayed his paradoxically fiery and icy anger.

Jess and I had utterly lost our sense of purpose after recent events, and we’d jumped at his request. Since the royal court was detaining former Yethma, we’d speculated that places related to Yethma management might offer us leads. We’d proceeded to research everything we could on the matter before conducting a physical investigation, but clues evaded us at every turn, as if it were a cruel joke of fate.

We were literally and metaphorically out of the loop. The king was hiding everything from us extensively.

There was a low growl of a stomach. I focused on my own roasted pork belly, but it appeared that the sound hadn’t come from my stomach. “Jess, you’re starving, aren’t you?”

At that, a crimson blush immediately bloomed on Jess’s cheeks. Judging by how she placed a hand over her stomach, it should be safe to assume that the sound had indeed come from her.

“I-I’m so sorry, I made such an unseemly noise...” she stammered. “But I’m all right. I’m not that hungry—”

I shook my head. “Your stomach growling is a signal from your internal organs. When you’ve gone without any food, your empty stomach contracts and sends air to your intestines, producing a rumbling sound. No matter how much you insist you’re fine, Jess, your internal organs are trying to usher in food.”

“Oh, I never knew... My body is more honest than my mouth, I see.”

Uh, that’s true, but the way she phrased that kinda made it sound like she meant something else...in the indecent sense. Ahem. I reflected upon my dirty mind that was beyond salvation.

Putting those thoughts aside, I suggested, “How about we have dinner around now? Isn’t there a saying that you can’t take the head of your enemy on an empty stomach?”

She sent me a puzzled gaze. “There is?”

Looks like there isn’t. Turns out, it was an original saying by that atrocious father who acts like he’s a warrior from the Sengoku period.

I shrugged. “That doesn’t matter. The thing is, I’m also getting peckish. It’s not like rushing through things blindly will help us find Nourris faster. Let’s call it a day for now.”

After a long pause, Jess finally relented. “You have a point there. Let’s have dinner then.”

Respecting the wishes of our honest bodies, we decided to return to the royal palace for now.

Along the way, Jess muttered, “I hope that both Miss Nourris and Miss Ezalith are safe and sound...”

“Yeah.”

Ezalith was a girl who’d tried to cover for us during our journey on the run with Ceres. Like the many former Yethma before her, she’d been dragged away forcefully by the royal court’s army, who’d chased us all the way to her workplace.

I tried to look on the bright side. “I mean, I’m sure that even in his current state, Shravis wouldn’t brutally slaughter girls when their deaths aren’t necessary. In fact, my guess is that he gathered the former Yethma girls so that he could avoid killing them.”

“Right... If only we could figure out whether everyone is alive and in good health, at the very least. We would be able to give the good news to the Liberators and Mister Gran in Fortress Lussier, but unfortunately...”

Unfortunately, we couldn’t even manage that.

Ever since the day Sito had disemboweled himself, we hadn’t managed to see Shravis even once. That guy had isolated himself on the other side of the wall yet again. We were left behind on this side, crushed by our powerlessness every day.

“Why is Mister Shravis doing such a heartless thing?” Jess lamented. “And he just had to kidnap even Miss Nourris, of all people... When the Clandestine Arcanist occupied the royal court, Miss Nourris saved him countless times with her healing powers using ristae. How could he even have the heart to treat her like this?”

As I trotted along, I considered her question. “Technically speaking, his choice is one of the model solutions in his current situation.”

“This is a model solution?” She didn’t seem too convinced.

“Yeah. To prevent a second coming of the Dark Ages and ticking time bombs like the Clandestine Arcanist, you have to purge all mages from Mesteria in one sweep. That’s what history has taught us. Imprisoning all mages within the royal capital and managing them here is one clear solution.”

“But no one would understand or accept his current methods.” Jess looked up at the evening sky. “Mister Naut...must be awfully furious as well.”

“Oh, he’s got to be flying into a rage. We probably can’t avoid a brawl between the pair the next time they see each other.”

Just after those words left my mouth, I found myself thinking with a hint of melancholy, If only it’ll end at just a brawl. At this rate, it’s going to be a serious battle to the death.

This was, of course, assuming that the pair did have a chance to meet face-to-face in the near future.

I sighed. “The fact that he chose to aim for Ceres’s life already proves that something wasn’t right with him at that point. I also can’t figure out why he’s so stubborn about avoiding us. What in the world happened to the Shravis we knew?”

For a while, we fell into contemplative silence. After advancing down the path somewhat, Jess wrung out these words in a hoarse voice in an attempt to analyze the situation: “Perhaps... His magic is having a negative influence on his mental state.”

“Wait, what? That can happen?”

“It certainly can.” She nodded. “Mister Shravis mentioned it himself before—when he talked about a way to make his magic stronger. A wish to become more powerful strengthens your magic, and in turn, your magic reinforces that very wish. The strengthening of that desire further enhances your magic. He said that was how he’s been training himself.”

It was only at this point that I finally recalled what she was talking about. “Right, I think he mentioned something along those lines on the day of his coronation, just before the Cross Executioner murders.”

“Yes. If you look at it from another perspective, you could also say that magic is the one that’s controlling his thoughts and mentality.”

I see what she’s talking about now. Back then, I was impressed, thinking that it was a controlled positive feedback loop, but in reality, it could also be taken as magic going berserk while dragging in and influencing the wielder’s mind.

That was when I frowned. “Hmm... Fair enough, but there’s something that doesn’t add up in that scenario.”

“What’s that?”

“In short, your theory is that his magic is negatively impacting his mental state, sending him into madness, right? But for someone who’s lost his grip on sanity, don’t you think his actions are too pragmatic?”

Jess tilted her head quizzically. She likely didn’t consider Shravis’s actions as anywhere near sensible.

“If you look at it from one perspective, he’s being rational,” I explained. “Think about it. Unless he’s considerably composed, it’s impossible to pull off something like commanding an operation to retrieve all the former Yethma without exception. Furthermore, he’s even upholding a defense system in the royal court that doesn’t allow even a single ant through and is sectioning us off from everything he doesn’t want us to see.”

“True, his tactics haven’t left any flaws that we can exploit.”

“See? I can’t say his policies are good, but I think you can say that he’s properly performing his duties as a king. That guy should have rational thought left.”

“If that’s the case...it feels somewhat contradictory.”

Exactly. Shravis’s actions feel like they don’t quite add up—to the point that I’m suspecting we might be overlooking a crucial piece of the puzzle. “Assuming he still has his critical thinking, I highly doubt he’s unable to predict the outcome of his current actions. He should know that maintaining such a reign would only garner more and more dissatisfaction across his country. I have to wonder how in the world that guy is planning on upholding the royal government from now on.”

Hearing my question, Jess answered in a dispirited voice. “The kings of the previous generations suppressed their people with power—they used their overwhelming magic as a weapon.”

“Is Shravis going to end up walking down the same path too?”

“I can’t say that I hope he would.”

Jess fell silent with those words.

As we walked, I contemplated the situation again as if I were in Shravis’s shoes. If I left mages to do as they pleased, it would eventually lead to a turbulent era of war and strife waged by individuals with extraordinary powers. To avoid that, I had to somehow manage the former Yethma girls scattered across Mesteria. However, this type of surveillance would only be a repeat of the Yethma system. Backlash from the masses was unavoidable. Once again, times of peace would grow distant. That was the trade-off.

Perhaps the best solution was to double down and contain all the former Yethma within the bounds of the royal capital—or at least, I could see why he’d come to such a conclusion. However, as a result, he’d ended up making an enemy of the Liberators, who possessed a strong influence among his people.

Well then, should I have negotiated with the Liberators about the matter? No, that wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem either. By accepting the Liberators’ demands, I would end up having to leave those mages at large.

And so, I’d returned to square one. I was completely stuck in a dead end.

I wondered what in the world Shravis was thinking on the other side of the wall as he faced this hopeless situation. I hoped, no, prayed that he’d at least tell me that.

Situated immediately before the capital’s very summit was the royal palace where we resided. It was a grand, majestic building where only royalty and a select few were permitted to enter. Sadly, most of it was now sectioned off by the thick brick wall Shravis had summoned. Jess’s bedroom happened to be located just outside that wall.

It was a clear message from Shravis: I don’t mind you living in the palace as a part of the royal family, but don’t enter my territory.

Through the corners of my eyes, I looked over the structure that dug into the enchanting palace and utterly spoiled the scenery as we made our way inside the royal palace. The corridors that led to Shravis’s bedroom and office were likewise blocked off by an indestructible brick wall that left no gaps for us to exploit. I knew that shut-ins existed, but surely there should be a limit to how extreme one could be.

After returning to Jess’s bedroom, she retrieved a basket woven with vines. Partly because fresh ingredients were no longer being stocked up within the royal palace’s food storage, our new routine was to go shopping within the capital and have dinner somewhere with a good view. It was a small joy we looked forward to amid the days of feeling like we were about to be crushed under our sense of helplessness.

As we headed down the wide stairs that led from the palace to the city, I spoke up. “Interestingly enough, Kento talked to me last night in a dream again, and he mentioned something.”

“I...see.”

It was sunset. I could’ve simply told her in the morning, but the fact that I’d chosen to wait meant that it was a difficult topic to broach. Judging by her hesitant tone, Jess must have inferred that fact.

The sun slowly crept down toward the horizon, and the sky darkened with its every step. Darkness began painting over the streets.

“Jess, remember how you engaged in tentacle play before?”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“You know, back when those octopus tentacles splashed out from the river. Didn’t they tangle around you and Ceres, creating a scene that actually went beyond horrifying and instead seemed like a work of art?”

Even now, that glorious scenery was etched into my memory.

After a lengthy pause, Jess muttered, “You mean when Mister Sito rescued us back in Helde, yes?”

“That’s the one. There was also a time when I licked your face until it was all sticky, didn’t I?”

“You did...?” She sounded somewhat appalled.

“Oh, I guess you don’t remember then.” I nodded to myself. “When we were following the clues left in ‘The Chain Song,’ we tried to travel upstream along a river with Yoshu, and we were attacked by a giant salamander that was along the riverside marsh. The one made from mud.”

I deliberately chose inappropriate wording so that our conversation wouldn’t get too gloomy, but it seemed that Jess had mostly grasped what I was getting at. Her voice lowered once more into a somber tone. “In that case, yes. I remember that.”

Hesitating, I said, “You’ve probably guessed, but I’m talking about one of the negative effects of spercritica. Those inconceivable monsters that were supposed to exist in the Abyssus exclusively are emerging frequently again and getting up to mischief.”

Describing them as “getting up to mischief” was sugarcoating it significantly. Jess was a mage, and Yoshu and Sito were Lacerte. Their extraordinary abilities were what had allowed them to tackle those monsters. However, most people of Mesteria were normal humans who didn’t possess magic or enhanced physiques. It was a fact that was easy to overlook when you were going around with Naut, but the average human wasn’t as strong as he was.

The citizens of Mesteria weren’t prepared to deal with such monsters. Far from it.

I continued, “Naut and the Liberators are currently in the east. But according to Kento, Nourris was kidnapped at a town in the west called Mights. As for why Nourris went out of her way to such a distant place, it’s apparently because a great number of the Liberators were wounded there.”

“Was the town attacked by such a monster?”

“It was. I heard that half of the town was burned down. Nourris invested her heart and soul into healing everyone, but Kento mentioned that there were also lives that slipped away from her grasp. This is also a consequence of spercritica, which stubbornly refuses to settle down even now. Though it isn’t Shravis’s fault, the Liberators are on the verge of erupting from frustration.”

“I see...”

“Yeah.”

Jess awkwardly turned away from me. Our conversation died there.

I recalled the words that the inky fountain water had woven together. “Abandon your flesh of falsehoods and atone for your sins.”

Ever since, guilt had been tormenting me at every hour without giving me a break. Jess must have felt the same way.

I’d gained my flesh by exploiting a bug in the mechanisms of this world—and it was none other than the last missing piece that was preventing this distorted realm from returning to normal. My very existence was causing the death of others. That was a fact I couldn’t escape from, no matter how much I wanted to deny it.

At first, both Jess and I fumbled around for every method possible, trying to pinpoint a way around the problem. However, we hadn’t found a single clue. Even after we scoured through every book of the library as if to turn the entire place upside down, we hadn’t grasped any notable information.

We were stuck at a complete dead end. And what we’d chosen for the time being was a most pathetic and deplorable option—to maintain the status quo.

Within the stifling silence, our feet moved on autopilot and carried us down the stairs. Now that it was the third month of the year, warmth began weaving into the unpleasant chill, as if cutting us some slack. The western sky was cloudless today, and we spontaneously headed toward the west side of town without any discussion.

At the bakery, we bought hard brown bread. At a dairy store, we bought butter and cheese. At a butcher’s shop, we purchased several types of ham. Finally, we stopped by a greengrocer to stock up on vegetables and fruit.

We spotted a small plaza nearby and decided to have dinner there. It was located at the end of a complex series of alleys, and we were likely going to be its only visitors. Light green sprouts peered through the many gaps between the withered brushes that had been abandoned without being trimmed—the first sign of spring.

As the setting sun kissed the horizon, the western sky was painted with an almost dazzling crimson.

Jess sat down along the edge of the dried-up water fountain. “It’s grown warmer lately.”

“Right.” I crouched down right beside her.

When I turned around, I saw that we were casting our shadows on a wall adorned with sculptures. Next to a shadowy maiden who, even from just her outline, looked as if she had walked out of a painting, was a round silhouette that seemed like some random baggage. I commanded my ears to perk up, and ears also sprang up from the baggage’s shadow.

I could see Jess taking food out of her basket in the form of shadow play. Before all else, leafy greens that she’d purchased for me emerged from the basket. Following them was a long and slender silhouette—concerned, I turned back to face her.

“Are you going to drink today too?” I asked.

“What’s wrong with that?” She huffed. “It looks delectable.”

Subsequently, she took out a transparent glass. Picking up the bottle she’d already pulled out, she removed the cork with a pop using magic. Tipping the bottle, she generously poured the dark crimson liquid into the glass. Alcohol vapor gently wafted toward me, accompanied by a sweet fragrance that reminded me of raisins.

“It somehow smells like candy,” I commented.

“Right. The shopkeeper mentioned that it’s wine made from dried grapes.” While giving me that explanation, she held up the wine in front of the dusk sun, as if peering through a flask in a lab, before sniffing it. She finally took a sip before dragging out a long sigh.

“Does it taste good?”

“It’s nice and sweet,” she replied. “They dry out the grapes slowly and thoroughly on straw mats, meaning that most of the water content is gone, leaving behind a potent sweetness, or so the shop staff explained to me.”

“Huh. Interesting.”

“Because there’s more sugar, there’s also more alcohol in the resulting wine.”

Jess gave me a lecture in the exact same tone as when she’d given me a crash course on the types of fuel for combustion spells. The alcohol—or more specifically, the ethanol—of alcoholic drinks was produced by yeast breaking down sugar. Accordingly, if the raw ingredients had a higher sugar content, it would lead to a higher alcohol percentage as well.

“You’re still young, so don’t overindulge yourself,” I warned.

“In that case, I shall stop at one bottle.”

The size of the wine bottle wasn’t too different from the ones I’d seen back on shelves in Japan—they appeared to have a capacity of roughly 700 milliliters. I’d never had wine myself, so I wasn’t too knowledgeable about the topic, but common sense told me that finishing an entire bottle on your own within a single night was way too much.

I frowned. “One bottle is overdoing it. Not to mention that the alcohol percentage is higher than that of normal wine, isn’t it?”

“Well, I would like to try another type of alcohol tomorrow.”

“Oh, gotcha... I mean, I’m not going to stop you.”

Jess wasted no time and finished her first glass. She began pouring herself a second. She appeared to be justifying her actions with the reason that she was interested in all kinds of alcoholic drinks and that she wanted to broaden her horizons by trying them out, but drinking a variety of alcohol also meant ingesting a significant quantity of it. I was growing concerned about Jess’s liver.

Possibly because she was starting to get tipsy, Jess recovered a little of her smile and addressed me. “Don’t worry. Strong mages have powerful metabolism to match.”

“Just in case you forgot, that was narration.”

True, no matter how much Jess drank, she never seemed to show any signs of becoming wasted, possibly because of the genes that ran in her family. She should count as someone who could hold her liquor very well. However, when she drank, her voice would turn just a tad softer, as if she wanted to be pampered. Guys would definitely get the wrong idea, so if at all possible, I’d rather she avoid drinking around other men.

As a matter of fact, she even had a previous offense on her record—she’d accidentally made a certain handsome hunk swoon over her when she’d first had beer. She was lucky that the guy was a super-virgin, but if it had been anyone else...

“I wouldn’t do such a thing with anyone else.” Just like before, Jess read the narration and pouted at me.

“I’m not telling you to stop drinking with other people,” I protested. I was merely hoping that she wouldn’t do it in my mind.

“If that’s what you wish, Mister Pig, then I won’t.” That was when Jess turned around to face me, as if a thought occurred to her. “Right. In that case, you should drink with me.”

Startled by the abrupt statement, my jaw clenched and noisily crushed the root vegetables I’d stuffed my cheeks with. “Nah... I’ll pass on that.”

“But why? It’s delectable. This wine pairs remarkably well with dry-cured ham.”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “By the way, I can’t eat dry-cured ham either due to religious reasons.” I’d be a cannibal if I ate pork!

“Then you could at least have some wine.”

“My taste preferences aren’t the problem,” I argued. “What are we going to do if it turns out that my body can’t handle alcohol in the first place?”

I was still nineteen—below Japan’s legal drinking age—and I’d never had any alcohol before. On top of that, I was even more apprehensive about the fact that I wasn’t in my original human form but in my alternate pig form. This wasn’t a human body to begin with—was it really all right for me to ingest alcohol?

The last thing I ever wanted was to make a fool of myself in front of a beautiful maiden with silky, glowing golden hair.

But Jess refused to back down. “How can you be so sure? You might turn out to be surprisingly fine if you try it.”

I reinforced my reasoning with facts. “Just saying, but not all animals other than humans can consume alcohol.”

“They can’t?” Perhaps she was intrigued, because Jess leaned forward in my direction just a little.

“Alcoholic drinks have ethanol in them—or, well, you refer to it more commonly as alcohol in Mesteria. There’s a theory that humans gained the ability to effectively break down alcohol when our ancestors stopped living in the trees.”

“Ohhh. How very interesting.”

I’d explained the theory of evolution to Jess once. The distant ancestors of humans were apes, and if we went further up the evolutionary tree, apes descended from mammals such as squirrels. Even further up, we’d eventually trace our origins back to microbes drifting in the ocean. It had certainly intrigued her.

“The monkeys that lived on top of the trees had a taste for fruits. When these monkeys climbed down from the trees and migrated onto the ground, they picked up fallen fruits to feast on. Like wine, fallen fruits ferment spontaneously in the environment, forming natural alcohol. Therefore, individuals born with constitutions that featured a high tolerance for alcohol gained an advantage, and they would leave behind many offspring. This constitution was passed down from generation to generation, all the way to modern-day humans. That’s the gist of the theory.”

Jess nodded to indicate she was listening, but didn’t seem completely convinced. “I understand how humans gained a tolerance for alcohol, but pigs also reside on the ground.”

She made a good point. This argument wouldn’t serve as a reason for me to abstain from alcohol.

I decided to switch tactics. “Maybe animals that dwell on the surface from the beginning wouldn’t go out of their way to eat fermented fruits on the ground. The ancestors of humans must have picked up this habit because they originally lived in the trees, and—”

“You have made your point very clear.” Jess shuffled until she was facing the scenery and began sulking. “In summary, your point is that you don’t want to drink with me, Mister Pig.”

It was rare for her to interrupt someone while they were talking. Then again, when I reflected upon what had happened, my cultured tendencies as a science nerd, which had caused me to even go on a tangent about the evolution of primates to persuade her, had clearly soured her mood. All she’d ever wanted was to enjoy the taste of wine together with me. This is why science nerds aren’t popular, folks.

After wavering for a moment, I sighed and spoke with resignation. “Sorry, but humans and pigs are completely different life-forms.”

Jess’s shoulders evidently sagged with disappointment. “But there’s a chance we might never be able to drink together again...” She chugged down the second glass while looking as if she didn’t enjoy it one bit.

Ugh. Darn it. I felt as if someone were squeezing my heart like a lemon. If I were able to enjoy a drink with Jess—if that were an option, of course I’d choose it in a heartbeat.

Mesteria apparently didn’t have anything akin to an age-restriction law on drinking. If I were at least a human, I wouldn’t be feeling so tormented right now... I mean, there’s a chance that even my original human form can’t tolerate alcohol well, but still.

Well... Pigs are omnivores. Maaaybe it wouldn’t hurt if I only had a tiny bit. In fact, I might hold my liquor better than a human. You never know until you try, as they say.

I steeled my resolve. “Got it. I’ll only have one mouthful. Just one.”

The moment she heard that, Jess’s eyes lit up. “Are you sure?” The very last drop of the sinking sun reflected in her eyes and reached all the way into my retina.

I nodded. “If I’m just having a taste, I probably won’t die.”

“One mouthful, right?” Jess relentlessly poured wine into the empty glass and held it in front of me.

“Uh, that’s way too much.”

“Well, you have a large mouth, Mister Pig.”

“This isn’t about the capacity of my mouth...”

“Here you go, drink up!” Leaving no room for protest, Jess brought the glass closer to my lips.

It was no different from peer pressuring someone to drink. But when I saw her cheery face, I couldn’t bring myself to protest in any way. A pig’s mouth was large, but accordingly, a pig also had more body weight, meaning that the alcohol should be diluted more within my body. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Probably. Definitely.

I opened my mouth. Jess tipped the glass without a moment’s delay.

Accompanying the rich, dense aroma was a slightly viscous liquid that enveloped my barbecued pork tongue. A sweet, stimulating concoction—characteristic of organic solvents—that was more than a simple scent tingled my nostrils. It must be the tannin in the grape skin that was making my mouth’s mucous membrane contract tightly in response. Tannin compounds were part of the plant’s defense mechanism, binding to proteins and disrupting them from working properly. These compounds adhered to various areas in my mouth, creating an astringent sensation.

Frankly, I was mostly preoccupied with wonder over the new and strange sensations while the wine was within my mouth—I could barely process its taste. It was only after I gulped it down that the pleasant, fruity aroma finally shot up my nose. The wine did indeed remind me of raisins. When I made full use of my pig’s sense of smell, I could even pick up the aroma of the countless complex components produced by yeast, as well as the fragrance of the wood that had likely been used in the barrel.

The amount of information that the wine offered was like night and day compared to grape juice. It was the taste of adulthood.

“What do you think?” Jess prompted.

For a while after her question, I moved my jaw up and down as if to savor what flavors were left behind in my empty mouth as I organized my impression of it. “It’s good.”

“Really? I’m so glad to hear that.” Curling her lips with a smile, Jess began working on her third glass. This time, she seemed to be enjoying it a lot more.

She didn’t appear to care one bit about the fact that she was exchanging an indirect kiss with a pig.

The sky above us grew dark, but the western sky remained bright for a long time. As the evening glow gradually waned, the plaza, which was void of streetlights, grew darker and darker. Jess summoned orbs of light with her magic and commanded them to float whimsically around us. Possibly because they were responding to the extent of her intoxication, the fickle movements of the orbs were much more random than usual. Even Jess’s head seemed to be swaying somewhat merrily.

By the time the sky transformed into an inky black canvas, the orbs began flitting about like fireflies trying to mate. It was only when their afterimages began leaving long trails that I finally realized something wasn’t right.

“Jess... I think you’ve drunk too much,” I said worriedly.

“You think so?”

“Your right orbsh are going crazy round you.”

“They aren’t going crazy.”

“You haven’t notished? I mean, look atch how—”

“My magic is in perfect working order,” Jess said nonchalantly. Within my vision, her form was repeatedly zooming in and zooming out while swaying like waves along the shore.

I see. So this is what it’s like to be drunk. My mind belatedly caught up to the situation. Jess wasn’t the one swaying—it was my head and my eyeballs. Not only was my sense of balance thrown off, but even my pork tongue’s articulation was slurring. I didn’t want her to realize that I was drunk, so I straightened my loin on my back and did warm-up exercises with my tongue in my mouth.

Alas, my efforts didn’t bear fruit. “Itch sheems like Mesterian pigs aren’tch good with alcohol.” My pronunciation came out all sloppy. Even the ground, which should be firm, solid rock, was shaking like a crab fishing boat trying to secure the deadliest catch—no, it was my body that was rocking on its own.

Jess giggled as she looked at me. “Aw, you’re adorable.”

“I don’t...want to hear that from you...of all people.”

“By that, do you mean that I’m adorable?”

“How...could I mean...anything else?”

When I usually praised her as cute, she’d deny it with everything she had. But maybe because Jess was also drunk, she stroked my head with joy.

The world was soft. It swayed and rocked like a fluffy cloud. I was starting to feel as if there were absolutely nothing I had to worry about in these times.

“That’s strange...” I muttered as I stared at the beautiful maiden.

Jess tilted her head quizzically. “What is?”

“Your chest...seems large, Jess.”

“Hey!”

Her hand, which had been patting me, moved to push down hard on my sliced and pickled mimiga ear. I’d accidentally made a rude remark, but Jess merely puffed out her cheeks sweetly like a hamster, putting on the act of getting mad. “If you are going to make such comments, I won’t press it against you anymore when you’re asleep.”

“You were...doing that on purpose?”

“I was.”

I’d simply assumed that it was because she wasn’t a peaceful sleeper. Such bodily contact had been too much for a virgin like me. My brain cells that were my pride and joy had been in danger of boiling until it was fully cooked through, so I’d always made sure to fall asleep before Jess. Pigs were said to sleep a lot, and possibly because of that, I was a rather heavy sleeper.

Slowly, I shook my wobbly head. “Pressing your chest against me on purpose is improper. It’s not a good idea.”

Her hand that had been stroking my back stilled, and Jess stared unblinkingly into my eyes. “What in the world is wrong with doing such things with the person I love?”

I couldn’t find any rebuttals to that. “Sorry, I didn’t quite...catch that.”

“I love you.”

Not only had I lost my voice—for a split second, I thought I’d lost my grip on everything, whether it be my thoughts or my senses. “You’re saying that because you’re drunk. I dunno how I should reply.”

Jess pouted. “Unlike you, Mister Pig, I’m sober.” With a huff, she turned away from me and picked up the wine bottle. She lifted it to pour the drink into her glass, but only a few droplets spilled out like scarlet tears.

She let out a long sigh. The wind, which had gained a hint of frost within, tugged at her hair as if caressing her golden strands. Jess turned upwind and shut her eyes—she must have been trying to clear away some of her intoxication.

A while later, her melodious voice rang out. “With this, I finally achieved another item on the list of things I want to do.” I opened my eyes, and she turned to gaze at me. “I’ve always wanted to enjoy alcohol with you once in my life.”

There wasn’t elation within her tone. She must have felt the same way as I did now.

We were supposed to count up the enjoyable things one by one. But for some reason I couldn’t explain, I felt as if it were a countdown instead. It was as if the more we counted, the less there was left. As if the journey that we’d waited eagerly for all this time were approaching quickly, its last days in the blink of an eye as we moved from one thing to another—as if there was an end to our never-ending journey.

The way back home was nothing short of hell. I was assaulted by a horrifying headache as if the blood vessels in my brain were being wrung dry, nausea repeatedly surged up within me like waves, and my heart pounded like crazy.

The sensations I was experiencing were like night and day compared to when I’d enjoyed dinner with Jess. A floating sensation—no, instead, an unpleasant sensation was making my whole body feel heavy. The effects of intoxication tenaciously stuck around, tripping up my feet and distorting my vision. Unable to have an accurate gauge of distance, I ended up bumping into Jess’s legs several times. Usually, around half the time, I approached her legs on purpose, but I could swear on my life that this time had been an accident.

Wait. Oops.

I’d carelessly exposed a rather outrageous fact in the narration. I glanced at Jess. Fortunately, her focus seemed to be scattered from her thorough and pleasant drunkenness, and she hadn’t shown any signs of noticing my thoughts. Actually, she was rushing ahead, leaving me in the dust.

Though I tried to catch up to her, I had trouble commanding my feet to move correctly. “Jess, aren’t you walking a little too fast?”

“You’re the one who’s slow, Mister Pig.”

“Even though I’m a pig, I’m going at a snail’s pace, huh?”

“What kind of silly nonsense are you going on about?”

As we exchanged that leisurely conversation, we passed through the plaza that was situated in front of the Golden Cathedral. It was a sacred, iconic building within the royal capital where the remains of the previous Mesterian kings were enshrined. The stone structure with a color scheme of black and gold exuded a majestic atmosphere.

This was the very place where I’d made my first return to Japan from Mesteria. My first pig host body, which had persevered through the journey to the capital with Jess, had been killed with sorcery by the king at the time, King Eavis.

I didn’t know whether this site was possibly cursed in some way, but after that event, several gruesome battles had taken place within this cathedral. There was Hortis, Jess’s father, who’d lost his life at the end of a ferocious sibling quarrel. Then there was King Marquis, Hortis’s older brother, who’d been possessed by an immortal mage, and his body had even been reduced to ashes by his own flesh and blood, Shravis. Finally, there was Itsune and Yoshu’s father, Sito, who’d sliced open his own stomach and died just the other day.

The royal court’s founder, Vatis, had wished for peace when she’d established a new government and order in Mesteria. However, right before her eyes, the major members of the royal court had perished brutally one by one, almost like she was being forced to witness the history she’d forged with her decisions—as if laughing in her face out of spite that no matter how hard she tried, war and strife weren’t going to disappear from this world.

I was absentmindedly entertaining such thoughts when all of a sudden, I spotted something black and flat slithering across the ground right before my eyes.

I did a double take. For a moment, I thought it had been a trick of the light, but it wasn’t. That said, it was a mysterious something I’d never seen even once in my life, so I was struggling to perceive what it was. I couldn’t come up with any better description than a “mysterious black thing.”

To be more specific, the object with an indeterminate shape was roughly around the size of a manhole. It slithered like a snake and gradually distanced itself from me. The closest comparison would be a human shadow on the ground when the sun was shining down from above, but it was too dark and crisp to be a shadow under the pale moonlight. No humans were around who could cast a shadow in the first place.

I attempted to follow it with my eyes, but when it approached the front entrance of the Golden Cathedral, the mysterious entity melted into the darkness. In the end, I never figured out what it was.

I frowned. “Hey Jess, did you see that?”

Coming to a stop, she turned around with confusion. “See what?” It appeared that her narration radar was still off.

“I don’t know what it was, but for an instant...I saw this black thing.”

Oddly enough, Jess began sulking with displeasure, and she placed a hand on her hip. “What is so wrong with me wearing black underwear?”

I froze. After my mind rebooted, I muttered, “We aren’t on the same wavelength at all.” Her statement intrigued me somewhat, but I decided to steer our conversation back on track and give her a proper explanation. “The thing is, I saw something like a black shadow earlier. It was moving on its own. It traveled toward the Golden Cathedral, but that was as far as I could follow with my eyes.”

“Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you because of the alcohol.”

Her point was sound. “Still, it bothers me. That thing was clearly abnormal. I want to chase it and get down to the bottom of what it is.”

Jess nodded. “Okay. Then let’s go.”

The two of us investigated the surroundings on unsteady feet as we headed toward the cathedral’s entrance. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any luck finding the mysterious black object within the plaza. The next contender on the list was probably the inside of the cathedral.

I was a little wary, wondering whether it was acceptable for drunkards to tread into a sacred place, but Jess opened the door without any hesitation.

Nothing was inside.

Within the cathedral, the bulky glass wall that had been created during the audience with Ceres and Sito remained towering over us. The throne, caskets, and altars were all sinking into the darkness on the other side. We weren’t permitted to enter that area.

The only noteworthy thing on our side was the floor in front of the wall, which featured a geometric pattern—there wasn’t a single object that resembled the black thing I’d witnessed earlier.

“Did you find it?” Jess asked.

“No luck...” I shook my head. “Maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me after all.”

Perhaps it had been something like a giant, flat-looking black cat that had fluidly darted across the street. I didn’t have total confidence in my vision because of the alcohol, so it must’ve just been my imagination. Pulling myself together, I left the cathedral with Jess.

On our way back to the royal palace, I voiced a question that had been brewing in my mind. “By the way, Jess... Are you really wearing that?”

“Wearing what?”

“Y’know... Black underwear. You said it yourself.”

“Yes. I am.”

I scrutinized her. “Really?” I found it simply unbelievable. Pure white was Jess’s signature color—I couldn’t even imagine her wearing black underwear.

“Really,” she confirmed with a hint of exasperation. “If you find it so hard to believe, how about you check it for yourself?”

“Check it? But how?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

Jess turned away from me by a margin. “L-Like how you usually do, Mister Pig.”

“You’ve lost me. What is it that I usually do?”

The maiden’s feet ground to a halt. “Y-You often look at my underwear, don’t you?!” I could see the redness in her cheeks even in the dim lighting of the street at night.

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “Oh, what’s this? You want me to look at your underwear, Jess? So you’re telling me to peer up your skirt right here, right now?”

“Th-That’s not what I mean. It’s not that I want you to look at it...” Possibly out of embarrassment, Jess’s rebuttal tapered off at the very end.

“Then I won’t look at it. I’m not a pervert who’d go out of my way to peer up someone’s skirt, never. You must be lying about the black underwear too. That’s the conclusion I’ll go with.”

“I’m not lying!” she exclaimed. “I’m truly wearing that!”

“Then prove it.”

Jess and I stood facing each other, both refusing to back down. In one corner of my mind, I observed, So this is what happens when two drunkards try to have a conversation.

Jess looked conflicted for a while. Then, at long last, she gradually reached out toward the hem of her skirt.

On reflex, I swallowed, and my windpipe produced a notably loud gulp. My body was more honest than my mouth.

“D-Don’t get your hopes up too high, okay?” she whispered.

“You’re offering to show me your underwear, Jess. How could I not be excited?”

The rational part of my mind muttered, Seriously. What are we even doing?

Jess’s fingertips meekly pinched the hem of her skirt. Oh. Oh my good heavens. There should be barely any difference in the view compared to when the fabric twirled and danced with the wind, but the scenery right now was several hundred times more sensual.

Hesitantly, her slender fingers moved and lifted her skirt just a tiny bit. “Here you go...”

This is wrong. Very wrong. Even as I thought that, I focused my eyes within the darkness of night and confirmed the presence of the sacred black garment. “You...were telling the truth,” I muttered lamely.

“Wh-What do you think?”

“Well, I mean, it looks good on you, yeah.”

With her cheeks still red as a tomato, Jess released the skirt before looking down at me with a somewhat unsatisfied look on her face. “Is that it? It’s not every day that I show it to you, but you don’t seem like you’re happy...”

“Uhhh...” I hesitated. “I dunno what else to say.”

Selecting the right words for a personal opinion piece on someone’s clothes was already difficult enough—even a handsome, charming hunk like Naut struggled with it. Ah, wait, pause. He’s a bad example to use.

Furthermore, she wasn’t just asking me to simply give my opinion on her outfit. She was asking for my opinion on her underwear. This was way too tough a challenge for a virgin like me.

Unfortunately for me, instead of letting me off the hook, Jess dealt an additional blow. “Well then, in your opinion, which aspects of it complement me?” Possibly out of a thirst for revenge at how I’d made her do something embarrassing, her tone sounded somewhat miffed.

“You’re demanding me to verbalize even more of my impression, huh...” Hey, mind you, this is the opinion of a maiden’s underwear. As if that weren’t enough, it’s even black. It’s a pair of black Les Panties.

On a normal day, I’d evade the question and end the conversation there, but deciding to blame the alcohol for my choice, I mulled over it. “Let’s see... I know this is probably a common opinion about the color, but black underwear makes you look mature.”

“Thank you. And?”

“And it’s...hot...”

Jess’s breathing hitched. “And why is that?”

“I mean...because it’s black?”

“Why is it hot if it’s black?”

“That’s a tough one.”

I began contemplating that question. I couldn’t help but wish that a certain perverted black pig was around during occasions like these. However, Jess had worked up the courage to show me her underwear, and I owed it to her to speak in my own words and voice.

As I gathered my thoughts, I gave her my answer. “There’s something we have to establish before anything else. White and black hold a special place among all the colors we can see. White is a color created by reflecting all visible light, while black is a color produced by absorbing all visible light. Snow without impurities and clean cotton are both white, aren’t they? Snow and cotton don’t absorb much light and reflect visible light extensively in the form of diffuse reflection. When they contain impurities, the foreign matter absorbs light, and thus, they can no longer produce a white color. That’s why white is considered a color of purity.”

I continued, “Therefore, black, which is white’s antithesis, would be a color of impurity. Black, which absorbs all visible light, is basically a color that has full knowledge of all that life has to offer, whether it be sweet or bitter. That’s why I think it’s sexy.”

“I...see. Thank you.” Jess began strutting away—she didn’t look convinced by my answer.

I trailed after her. Judging by her reaction, I’d somehow upset her in some way. That was when, belatedly, I realized that I’d made a mistake with what I ought to have said. “In short, it’s cute, and it suits you.”

Just like before, Jess pursed her lips. But I noticed that the emotion behind her gesture was steadily changing from displeasure to bashfulness.

I continued, “Your very existence is adorable, Jess. So no matter what you wear, you’re killer cute.”

“You can praise me all you want, but you’re not going to get anything out of me,” she muttered.

Huh. I’m pretty sure Jess was the one who asked for my thoughts, though. That said, it was nice watching Jess in a chipper mood, so I decided to let it slide. “That’s not true. I’m getting your embarrassed smile, aren’t I?”

“My embarrassed smile has no value whatsoever.”

“No, it’s priceless.”

“It is?”

“But of course.” The ethanol that was still jeopardizing my central nervous system turned me into a blabbermouth. “To me, Jess, your smile is the most precious treasure in the whole wide world.”

The next moment, Jess’s pace quickened, and she soon had her back turned to me. “You’re saying that because you’re drunk. Delirious words aren’t going to make anyone too happy,” she said, facing forward and walking ahead of me.

“But you’re the one who made me drink.”

Before I knew it, the two of us drunkards had arrived at Jess’s bedroom.

An excruciating headache persisted even into the next morning. This was my first-ever hangover. In addition, my chest felt alarmingly suffocating—until I realized that it was because of Jess, who was hugging me so tight that I was having trouble breathing.

“It’s painful when you wind your arms around me like that...” I croaked. “Are you trying to make chashu pork or something?”

There was no reply. She seemed to be asleep.

Within her arms, I made use of my movable components and shuffled to turn over. Like I’d suspected, Jess was fast asleep—her eyes were shut, and she looked quite cozy. Her nightwear was disheveled to an ungodly extent.

My ears were burning—and no, I didn’t mean it in the idiomatic sense. They were physically throbbing with pain. I’d experienced this a few times before, and the culprit was likely Jess, who’d probably attempted to eat my sliced and pickled mimiga ears while she was half asleep.

I called out to her. “Rise and shine. The sun’s up.”

“No, the night is still young...” she mumbled.

Whitish light filtered in from the gaps between the curtains. Judging by how dim it was, we should have some cloudy weather, but a significant stretch of time seemed to have passed since the sunrise.

I glanced at Jess. She was still glomping me with her eyes closed. She had a hearty appetite, she was fond of alcohol, and she was far from a peaceful sleeper. Furthermore, she surprisingly had her fair share of obscene tendencies at times—makes you wonder who rubbed off on her. She’d mentioned that powerful mages had powerful metabolism to match, and perhaps that vivacious vitality included such areas of desire as well.

The true form of this maiden turned out to be considerably different from my initial impression. But that was what made her all the more precious.

As I gazed at Jess at point-blank range, I noticed that she had alarmingly dark circles beneath her eyes. Indulging in alcohol every night probably impacted her sleep quality. And likely, her fatigue wasn’t just from a lack of good rest.

The two of us were stranded, lost without a goal in sight. We wasted the days away in this maze called life, going in circles over and over around the same place.

We had a whole pile of problems to tackle. That was a fact. However, no matter which we tried to challenge, we would ultimately end up drowning in a sense of powerlessness, because we couldn’t achieve a thing. We couldn’t find any leads that would help us end spercritica. We couldn’t locate any clues about where the Yethma were detained within the royal court. We couldn’t even secure a meeting with Shravis. As our cycle of failure repeated itself, our willpower to face reality was being worn away at a horrifying pace.

Keeping up our current life of escapism wasn’t bad at all. But it wasn’t good either.

If humans chose to do nothing just because we couldn’t achieve anything, we would remain at a standstill and rot. Choosing to stop our feet meant that we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere, whether it be forward or backward, and being unable to move meant that we couldn’t change anything about our current nightmarish reality.

I needed something—anything—that could push Jess forward. Something that could light the fire in her heart.

Even after the maiden woke up, she remained lying in bed sluggishly for a while. After enough time had passed for her to make her preparations to face reality, she reluctantly stood up and changed unhurriedly, like she usually did. Meanwhile, I curled up on the other side of the bed so that I wouldn’t accidentally catch sight of anything.

When she was done getting dressed, I proposed, “Hey, Jess. There’s something I’d like to investigate.”

“Investigate...what, exactly?”

“Our search for Nourris probably isn’t a case that we can solve in a heartbeat. So I figured that, at least for this morning, we could do a more thorough search for the black shadow I saw last night.”

It was a plan I’d come up with after much consideration. Jess had always jumped at any mysteries that had come her way. She’d attempted to solve them with me while making statements like, “I have to know!” or “How very interesting.” Mysteries were what got Jess’s engines going.

I continued, “What in the world was that black shadow? And if it was my mistake, what was the reason for it? Let’s head to the scene of the incident again and uncover the truth together. How does that sound? I’ve been so deathly curious that I couldn’t even sleep at night.”

Jess hesitated. “I’m pretty sure you were sleeping like a log, though.”

“I’ve been so deathly curious that I could only sleep at night.”

“Is that so...?” She hadn’t witnessed the black shadow for herself, which was likely why she wasn’t too eager to dive into this mystery. Still, after giving it some thought, she nodded with a smile. “Okay then. You always have endless patience for my arbitrary inquisitiveness, Mister Pig. So today, I shall accompany you on your quest to satisfy your curiosity.”

“Now you’re talking!”

With that, we began traveling to the Golden Cathedral. On our way there, I walked by Jess’s side.

That was when I realized that something was wrong. Something was fatally wrong.

After discovering exactly what was off, nervous sweat gushed out from my pores. I was so anxious that my questions surrounding the black shadow were left behind in the dust in the blink of an eye.

“Hey... I’m only talking about a possibility here, but, uh...” I swallowed audibly.

“Go on?” Jess nonchalantly looked down at me as if it were a perfectly fine morning.

“Have you possibly...forgotten to wear something?”

“And that something is?” She flashed me an impish smile.

I shuddered. “You must’ve noticed. Actually, there’s no way you’d miss this.”

“Mister Pig, unless you properly clarify what you’re saying, I will never figure it out.”

“It’s...something that starts with L and ends with S.”

I thought that she’d get the hint with this much detail, but Jess’s teasing grin didn’t go anywhere. “Please don’t try to skirt around it—put it into words.”

I was mortified. Is this some kind of outlandish play? Is this her way of getting back at me for what I did last night? “I’m a sophisticated pig, and I can’t say such indecent words out loud.”

After some contemplation, Jess lifted a single index finger. “If you say it, I’ll give you some nice head pats.”

Not a second later, I yelled, “Les Panties!”

“Well done. You’re so admirable.” She patted my head.

Good, belly good. I basked in the sensation before snapping out of it. Hold your pigs. That’s not the point. “Why aren’t you wearing them? How can any human with common sense even forget to wear them?”

“I did it on purpose.”

I was struck dumb. Unable to find my voice, I expressed my confused Pardon? with my expression alone.

She replied, “Like I said, I’m not wearing them on purpose.”

“Hang on. Pause. Wait. Rewind. Excuse me?”

Recently, Jess had gained a new tendency to pull off feats that gave me heart attacks. Good examples were when she’d detonated the locked door without hesitation or when she’d attempted to drink every last container of alcohol in the storage area. But even among all her insane stunts, this was a cut above the rest.

I gaped at her. “Why are you going around unguarded on purpose?”

“It’s so that you wouldn’t try to peep at my underwear without permission.”

“I see! Sure, I can’t look at your underwear if you don’t wear any! You got me there.”

“Hee hee.” Jess triumphantly puffed out her chest.

I stared incredulously at the maiden. “Wait a hot minute. I’m joking. No matter how you think about it, you’re getting your priorities backward.”

“Mister Pig, you can look at any part of my body as you wish. I don’t mind.”

My mind stuttered. “Says the person who was embarrassed about me looking at her underwear.”

“Of course, I would feel shy if you said that the color of the underwear I chose was hot.”

My brain, which was crippled with a hangover, began replaying the events of last night. We had our mutual intoxication to blame in part, but for some reason, Jess had asked me for my opinion on her underwear, and I’d oddly blurted the worst reply possible in return.

I shook my head. “That was my bad. I was also drunk, and all my tact went out the window. You have my apology. So please, please, you should put on some underwear right now. Any color is fine.”

She appeared to be unhappy with something in my answer, because she argued, “My skirt isn’t too short, so even if I don’t go around with underwear, you’re the only one who can see.”

I sighed. “Me being able to see it is the problem...” I mean, you could also say that it will all work out as long as I don’t look there; that’s true.

Possibly because I’d fired up her rebellious spirit, Jess was crossing her arms tightly and ready to fight to the end. Seeing that, I decided to add, “Just saying, but in stuff like anime and fiction, there isn’t a precedent of an underwearless girl surviving the day without any incidents.”

She blinked. “Ani-may?”

“If nothing spicy happens, the audience would probably start thinking, ‘Why the heck did the screenplay even include such a detail in the first place?’ It makes no sense.”

“Screen...play...”

“So, following that logic, it means that when you’re unguarded like this, something indecent will happen for sure. Therefore, you ought to remedy your state of undress.”

Chekhov’s gun was a very real concept. Unless an element was going to come into play or was meaningful later on, it shouldn’t exist. Similarly, if an element was going to come into play or was meaningful, it had to exist. All foreshadowing would lead to something later down the line—if you looked at it from another perspective, it meant that you mustn’t dig a grave for yourself unless you were prepared to lie in it.

I shook my head and concluded, “In any case, going around without underwear is nothing but ominous foreshadowing. You should definitely put some on right this second.”

I didn’t know whether my example using anime was lost on her or whether my insistent tone aggravated her, but Jess stubbornly refused to budge. “I don’t know anything about this foreshadowing nonsense you’re going on about. I’ve made up my mind. I won’t put them on, no matter what!”

As Jess dug herself an even deeper grave with that declaration, we arrived at the Golden Cathedral.

We took our time to scour and observe every last part of the building we could, but didn’t find signs of any worthwhile leads. All because of the glass wall that sliced the cathedral into two, we couldn’t go too deep inside, unable to approach the throne or the coffins of the past rulers. Just having sunlight filtering through the windows already made it significantly easier to investigate compared to last night. However, we still couldn’t find anything out of place in any of the searchable areas.

Sito’s blood, which I remembered splattering vividly onto the glass wall, had been wiped clean without a trace. A copious amount of blood should have pooled on the tiles that formed a geometric pattern, yet it had also been flawlessly scrubbed away as if nothing had happened. There wasn’t any conspicuous filth in this sacred place. In fact, it was so pristine that I felt anxious.

“Have you found anything questionable?” Jess asked.

I shook my head. “No, not really. What about you?”

“I can’t see anything that resembles a shadow either...” She frowned. “But there’s one thing that caught my attention.”

She beckoned me over to the wall—the cathedral’s original wall that was made of black stone. If you were to follow it along and head toward the front entrance of the cathedral, you would bump into Shravis’s glass wall. The very ends of the glass wall ran perpendicularly into the stone wall, and there didn’t even seem to be a gap that allowed a single hair through between the two.

“Over here.” She crouched next to me and indicated the point of intersection. “Look at the very bottom.” Her fingertips were pointing at the floor.

Upon further scrutiny, a tiny hole was in the glass wall at the height it met the floor—it was around the size that an ant could narrowly squeeze through. Almost like a miniature tunnel, it pierced through the thick glass all the way to the other side.

My eyes widened. “There’s a hole! Wow, it’s tiny... I’m impressed you noticed.”

“I suppose I have to thank my bad habit of picking at minor details.” Jess puffed out her chest and harrumphed triumphantly. She somehow seemed more energetic than usual. “Now then, what do you think this hole is even doing here?”

“Considering its size, maybe it’s an air vent?” I frowned. “But what in the world would you need an air vent for?” I contemplated her question for a while, yet I wasn’t getting anywhere. As I observed it even more, I noticed something. “Unless I’m imagining things, the glass around the hole looks somewhat blackened.”

Within the cathedral, where you couldn’t find a spot of filth, only the place around the hole had turned blackish, as if someone had dusted soot on it. I leaned closer and sniffed it, but I didn’t pick up any particular odors.

Jess inclined her head. “Maybe it only happened to collect dirt because it’s all the way in the corner.”

“Makes sense. Corners are tough to clean.”

Though we both dished out ideas that popped into our minds, there still wasn’t any satisfactory explanation for the hole’s purpose.

I decided to approach the problem from another angle. “On the topic of the glass wall, you mentioned that you aren’t able to break it, do I have that right?”

“I can’t. Mister Shravis’s magic resistance enchantment is potent.” She paused. “Shall I give it a try?”

I could tell that she was seconds from generating a grand explosion indoors, and I hurriedly stopped her. “No, there’s no need for that. I just had a thought. Since there’s a hole, someone must’ve made it. And I wondered, who was it? The only possible candidates are either Shravis, the creator of the wall, or someone who was able to pierce this hole with a power that surpasses Shravis’s enchantment, right?”

Jess knitted her eyebrows together. “But I can’t think of any other people who would be able to overcome Mister Shravis’s enchantment.”

The issue with the second theory was that Jess, who’d inherited the same royal blood as he did, was the single possible mage who could possess such power. Furthermore, possibly because of Shravis’s rigorous training, which had likely brought on even more ecdysias, even Jess’s magic was starting to struggle with destroying the young king’s creations. All the other mages who wielded magic that surpassed Shravis—all the older members of the royal family—had passed away.

“If you weren’t responsible, would that mean Shravis was the one who made this hole?” I wondered out loud.

“That’s the only thing I can think of, yes.”

That conclusion was just as mind-boggling. Shravis should have devised every strategy possible to prevent any and all hindrances from entering his own territory. It was the reason we couldn’t even approach that guy. We also didn’t have a clue about where he was harboring the Yethma he’d captured.

The barriers made by the most cautious man I knew, who had extensive knowledge of the royal capital’s inner workings, should have been impregnable fortresses that didn’t even allow a single ant through. Yet, why in the world was there a tiny hole that allowed an ant to pass in a place like this?

Naturally, neither Jess nor I could transform ourselves into liquid, so it wasn’t like such a hole would give us any literal room to work with. It was essentially a meaningless structure.

I shrugged. “Well, for now, let’s leave the hole debate for another time. We should go search for anything else that might give us hints.”

“Agreed.”

We resumed our scene investigation. But like you’d expect, we didn’t make any further progress after this point. Our sense of helplessness, which had faded away slightly with the discovery of the hole, was starting to creep up on us again.

I wondered if Jess would indulge in alcohol yet again tonight. I wondered if she was going to drown away the painful reality with her intoxication.

Please. Could something a bit more...something a bit more revolutionary happen and give us an objective to aim for?

Something happened the moment that wish flashed through the back of my mind. A tremendous roaring sound echoed out from somewhere.

“Eep!” Jess yelped adorably, shrank into herself, and frantically looked around us.

There was no noticeable change. However, it felt as if the entire cathedral was rattling minutely. As evidence, the reflected light from the hanging chandelier was flickering erratically.

“Is it an earthquake?” I asked anxiously.

Not a second later, a thunderous explosion boomed out from point-blank range. Dust flung up and utterly painted over my vision.

For a moment, I thought I was dead. No... If Jess hadn’t protected me with magic on the spur of the moment, I would have died. When I opened my eyes, I found myself pinned under a pile of rubble.

It seemed that someone had destroyed the Golden Cathedral.

Though I didn’t feel any pain, there was a sense of pressure, as if I’d been shoved into a cramped hole. I couldn’t see anything other than the rubble.

“Jess,” I croaked out. “Are you okay?”

I heard her response from somewhere considerably nearby. “Yes. What about you, Mister Pig?”

“I’m not hurt anywhere...I think.”

With loud scraping sounds, the enormous piece of rubble before my eyes shifted to reveal Jess’s hand, which was sullied with dust and dirt.

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “You’ve sure got superhuman strength.”

“I’m a mage, you see.”

I spotted the beautiful maiden crawling in my direction through the tiniest of crevices, and for the time being, I breathed a sigh of relief. Jess wasn’t in the best condition—ash covered her from head to toe—yet she looked like she was full of spirit.

Even as I entertained such thoughts, my ears were picking up staggering sounds from somewhere not too far away. There were intermittent roars and explosions. My intuition told me that this wasn’t anything simple like an earthquake.

I tensed up. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but we should get out of this place immediately.”

“Right.”

Once Jess was right in front of me, she stroked my head. Immediately after, fatigue and discomfort were washed away from my body—she’d healed me with magic.

“I’ll move the rubble out of the way, so please don’t move,” she announced before clasping her hands tightly in front of her chest.

There was the faint sound of stone grazing against stone before my vision lit up in a flash. The pieces of rubble that had been burying us floated up with Jess’s magic one after another before drifting away.

I took in our surroundings—the front side of the Golden Cathedral had collapsed beyond repair. Meanwhile, Shravis’s glass wall had defended against the cannonball, and I couldn’t spot any damage behind it. Perhaps the part of the building on the other side was selectively enchanted with defensive magic—not just the glass—to ward off intruders. His obsession with keeping us outside his boundary had protected this sacred ground, as irony would have it.

I stood up and glanced at Jess. “We should hurry out of here.”

She also rose to her feet—but something wasn’t right about her.

My breathing hitched. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Um...” She hesitated. “I managed to protect us from the rubble, but when I slipped and fell, I accidentally sprained my ankle.”

Upon closer inspection, though she was standing firmly on her left foot, her right foot was merely resting against the ground precariously. The inconvenient part of Jess’s magic was that though she could heal others, she couldn’t heal herself. I could only ask her to grit her teeth and bear it for now.

“Do you think you can walk?”

“Yes, if I put my mind to it.” As she spoke, she attempted to step over a piece of rubble protruding up from the ground and stumbled spectacularly in the process.

I narrowed my eyes. “I wouldn’t call that ‘being able to walk.’”

There was another blast somewhere in the vicinity. In tandem with an earsplitting sound, a towering cloud of dust flew up.

Even I couldn’t believe the conclusion I’d arrived at: The capital appeared to be under some kind of bombardment.

I gazed up at the maiden. “There’s no other way. Hitch a ride on my back. We’ve got to get to safety right now.”

Silence. Jess was hesitant.

I ushered her. “What’s wrong? Quick, get on my back.” Why was she even wavering?

For some strange reason, the beautiful maiden was blushing apple red despite the situation we were in.

That was when it dawned on me—Jess wasn’t wearing underwear.

All elements introduced in a story were fated to become significant one way or another in time. This incident wasn’t an exception.

I sighed. “See? I told you so. Don’t ever, ever, go around without underwear ever again. Now don’t waste any time and put something on. You can simply make it with magic.”

Right after those words left my mouth, I was struck by regret. My wording was clearly too inconsiderate just now.

With her face still bright crimson, Jess pressed her lips into a tight line. Yikes. That riled her up. She’s mad.

“No, I’m all right, thank you.” She shook her head. “I shall hitch a ride on your back just like this, Mister Pig.”

“Hold on a hot second, have you gone mad mad?”

“I have never been more lucid in my life!”

Looking miffed and peeved, Jess straddled my frame. Fortunately, the sensations against my back hadn’t changed too much compared to the previous times. Uh, I mean, I’d be in big trouble if it’s actually different. Don’t think. Don’t feel.

I cleared my throat. “Let’s go.”

With only that clipped statement, I climbed over the rubble. Though my footing was atrocious, as if it were an obstacle course, being a quadruped came in useful.

After we put some distance between us and the collapsed cathedral, I followed Jess’s directions and sprinted through the capital. Our destination was the underground passages, which had been made from hollowing out the mountain that the capital had been carved out of. On our way, I spotted that parts of the city were utterly devastated.

“Mister Pig...”

Hearing the call of my name, I nervously turned my head to face Jess. Her tone sounded shaken, and for only a single moment, I thought that perhaps she’d landed in some kind of indecent predicament. However, that didn’t seem to be the case, because she was pointing up at the sky.

I craned my neck and looked up. A surreal spectacle was unfolding against the backdrop of an overcast sky.

Within the air, numerous black iron balls were frozen in place, as if someone had pinned them there. Then, several seconds later, all of them sliced through the air with shrill whistling as they flew in a diagonal line downward—toward the Needle Woods. After a brief delay, one explosion resounded after another.

I moved to a place with a good sweeping view to confirm the situation. Ferocious flames and black smoke were rising from between the gaps of the trees all over the forest. The something—or someone—that had attacked the capital was hidden among the foliage, concealing their identity.

I could hear Jess’s worried voice. “Do you think that was Mister Shravis?”

“What’s going on here?” I muttered in shock. “What in the world is happening?”

Jess broke down the situation for me. “The capital was bombarded from the Needle Woods. Mister Shravis must be responding to the situation from somewhere and bouncing back the cannonballs with magic.”

I recalled how, once upon a time, Hortis had spectacularly returned all the cannonballs hurling in our ship’s direction back to their senders. Our side hadn’t suffered any damage because we’d been anticipating an attack back then, but the first wave of artillery had likely struck true and bombed the capital this time because it had been a surprise.

Possibly because the youthful ruler was on the job, I didn’t spot any new cannonballs striking the city. As for the Needle Woods, they appeared to be temporarily suspending their assault, perhaps due to the earlier counterattack.

As I gazed at the deep, verdant forest polluted by fire and smoke, my brain feverishly churned away. “There might not be any attacks landing on the east side.”

Jess hesitated. “Why do you think so?”

“Remember how Naut burned down a section of the Needle Woods a while ago? Back then, this side of the forest—the western side—was spared from the destruction. However, the eastern side had been reduced to ashes. There aren’t any places for attackers to hide, and it’s disadvantageous if you want to make an offense.”

“Yes. You’re right...” Something about her tone sounded uneasy.

With the maiden on my back, I charged through the capital’s streets. Making use of the underground passages, I headed for the city’s eastern side.

As I trotted through the twisting and turning tunnels illuminated by lanterns, I wondered aloud, “Who was the one who attacked us? It probably wasn’t the members of the Liberators. But I can’t think of any other factions that’d rise in opposition against the royal court right now...”

Jess’s hands, which were resting on my back, tightened into fists. “Unless the royal court’s army has decided to start a rebellion, in the current situation, the Liberators are likely the only ones who can prepare such a grand assault.”

I frowned. “Still... Would Naut and the others really resort to force without even giving a warning?”

Just after those words left my mouth, my heart sank, because my second instinctive thought was that it wasn’t all that impossible.

Didn’t he just deliver a furious letter yesterday morning, reporting that Nourris was kidnapped? I could thoroughly empathize with his indignation at the royal court’s betrayal. I’d also heard from Kento that the Liberators’ displeasure had been on the brink of exploding due to the emergence of the monsters. But still, bombarding the capital all of a sudden? That’s a bold move... Is this part of a strategy that has prospects of victory? Or is it an act of retaliation to display their animosity toward the royal court?

Even if most of the evidence indicated that Naut and his gang were commanding this attack, I still didn’t want to believe that they’d planned it. The two of us were also in the capital. As a matter of fact, we’d been struck directly during the first round of bombardment. Could Naut allow such a thing to happen while knowing the risks?

For a long while, Jess didn’t speak a word. She seemed to be deep in thought.

“Something bothering you?” I prompted.

I didn’t know whether it was due to the lighting of the lanterns, but Jess’s expression looked gloomier than usual. “It doesn’t make sense,” she muttered faintly, seemingly out of nowhere.

Cautiously, I asked, “Are you talking about the Liberators?”

“That’s definitely a part of it, yes, but...it doesn’t make sense that artillery can strike the capital.”

I blinked dumbly. “It...doesn’t?”

Jess nodded solemnly on my back. “Yes. The capital is under the robust protection of Lady Vatis’s magic. In fact, her enchantment should prevent people from even perceiving the capital’s true form from the outside world. Even if someone tries to bombard it from below, it’s absolutely impossible for the cannonballs to actually reach their target.”

Ah, I get it now. Yeah, I think I heard something along those lines before. “Does that mean the Liberators were able to develop cannonballs that can even smash through the capital’s defenses?”

“If that’s the case, it’s strange that it was possible to defend against some of the artillery with magic,” Jess pointed out.

She had a point. The wave of cannonballs earlier had been frozen in place in midair before they’d been fired back in the opposite direction. If the attacking forces had developed a method to break through defensive magic, then that shouldn’t have happened—all the cannonballs would have struck true.

The situation was only growing more confusing by the minute. “What does that mean? Did the protective enchantment on the capital suddenly vanish or something?”

“That could never... That’s simply unthinkable.”

Our doubt and confusion swirled into each other, rapidly dragging both our thoughts down a dark direction.

I slowly inhaled to steady myself. “Let’s calm down first. Before anything else, we’ve got to grasp our situation as soon as possible.”

When I exited the underground passage, I saw that the royal library happened to be nearby. We decided to head inside. This place, which we’d used to frequent almost every day, held an archive of numerous valuable books. Accordingly, the building’s protection should also be tough. It was the perfect place for investigation, and above all else, there were chairs where Jess could sit.

I nudged open the bulky doors and went inside. The young maiden climbed down from my back. For now, I could have peace of mind.

Suddenly, I picked up the sound of someone running over from the other end of the building. Running inside this peaceful and tranquil library? Who in the world would do that? I squinted intently at the dim depths.

To my shock, the footsteps belonged to Vivis, the higher librarian. Her long silver strands fluttered behind her as she rushed in our direction. As soon as the panting elderly woman spotted Jess, she came to a stop, looking relieved. “Thank goodness you’re safe.” She gazed at us—we were painted in shades of gray all over due to dust. “Oh dear...”

Vivis fished out a feather duster—which she likely used to dust the bookshelves—from the hip area of her robe. Her wrinkly hands unhurriedly waved the feather duster before quickly brushing Jess and my body. The stains and filth vanished as if she’d performed some kind of magic trick. Actually, it is probably magic.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked before pausing. “You are injured... Your leg is not faring well, I see.”

Jess was standing in a way that put more of her weight on her left foot, causing her to lean slightly to one side. Vivis seemed to have promptly seen through Jess’s attempt to hide it. The librarian squatted down and gingerly touched the younger maiden’s right ankle.

I certainly didn’t miss how Jess’s ears flushed bright red as she pressed down on the hem of her skirt.

Vivis continued, “My healing magic is unfortunately nothing of note, but do you feel a little better?”

“I do. Thank you very much.” Jess continued pressing down on her crotch as she gratefully bowed.

Under Vivis’s guidance, we moved to the deepest part of the library, the dedicated section for royalty. The elderly woman was also an exception, granted the special right to enter since she was the elder of the higher librarians who were in charge of managing the law and books.

Because we hadn’t come to this place recently, the reading desk was neat and tidy. Only a single book was left on top—a book that had both obsidian black binding and pages. I recognized it.

Jess and I sat down across the desk from the woman, facing her.

Vivis was the first to speak. “I was just about to begin my research on the strange phenomenon that happened late last night,” she explained as her finger pointed at the inky black book.

“That’s...the history text of the royal court,” Jess muttered.

It was a book with an accurate record of history that hadn’t been warped by lies—a book that Vatis had apparently written. I remembered being quite indebted to it during our quest to find the supreme treasures of Mesteria, such as the Contract Stake and the Destruction Spear.

“More accurately, it’s a copy of that history text,” Vivis corrected. “Before his passing, the young prince—oh, I mean Prince Hortis—returned it to me.”

That reminds me, there was a duplicate of the history text. Hortis had manipulated us into unwittingly carrying it out of the capital, lying that the book was necessary for him to change back into a human after transforming himself into a dog.

True, he did mention that he’d return it one day. Looks like he kept his promise without our knowledge.

“Right... I returned the original text to Mister Shravis, after all.” Jess’s tone darkened with slight melancholy, and she hung her head for a moment before she raised her face. “Back to what you were saying... You mentioned there was a strange phenomenon last night. What exactly was it?”

As Vivis gently caressed the history text with her long fingers, she replied, “It seems that Lady Vatis’s protective enchantment on the capital vanished abruptly late at night.”

We were struck speechless.

After glancing at us, she continued, “Currently, it has become possible to accurately see the capital even from the side. I also hear that the spring water, which has always been drawn up by magic, has stopped flowing as well. The cause is currently unknown, and I launched an urgent investigation into the matter.”

Jess and I traded glances. The cannonballs had landed in the capital because its protective wards had vanished—that was one of the theories we’d proposed. Would that mean the members of the Liberators had decided to promptly strike because the capital had become visible?

Leaning forward with anticipation, Jess asked, “Madame Vivis, have you gleaned anything from your research?”

“Unfortunately not.” The woman shook her head. “The only possibility I can think of is that something unexpected might have happened to Lady Vatis, the one who cast those defensive spells.”

“By that, you mean...” Jess hesitated. “...to her sacred remains?”

“Very much so.”

I recalled the information I’d heard from Hortis at some point during our journey in the Abyssus.

“Exactly. Vatis’s body became the vessel for her soul, which became the core of the defensive spells. For nearly a century, what was once Vatis hid within her coffin. Having abandoned all the other functions and roles of a living human, a mere shell of her former self protects the capital to this day.”

Even now—even after the death of the founder of the royal court—her powerful magic lingered and protected the capital.

However, the issue with magic was that it faded with time. No matter how much you wished for it to last forever, once the caster died, their enchantments would also gradually lose their effectiveness.

That was why Vatis had chosen to march into death and seal her own soul within her dead flesh. She’d voluntarily reduced herself to a living vegetable or a zombie. As long as the core of one’s magic, their soul, remained, magic wouldn’t fade even if the caster had no consciousness. I didn’t know the details, but that was apparently how it was supposed to work.

Jess gasped. “Do you mean that someone might have perhaps damaged Lady Vatis’s remains?”

Vivis nodded solemnly. “Precisely. At the moment, that’s the only explanation I can come up with.”

“In that case, we must go investigate Lady Vatis’s remains right—” That was as far as Jess got before she abruptly broke off.

Seeing that, Vivis nodded sorrowfully.

Examining Vatis’s casket was impossible. Even after the bombardment, the glass wall that Shravis had established remained sturdy, restricting entry into one half of the Golden Cathedral. Vatis’s sarcophagus was on the other side—within Shravis’s sanctuary that we still couldn’t enter. Only the part of the cathedral in front of the wall had collapsed, so we couldn’t even circle the outside.

Vivis sighed. “Unless His Majesty grants us permission to enter, our hands are utterly tied.”

A stifling silence fell over the dim room. In the end, it all came down to Shravis—and his walls that obstructed us from advancing at every turn.

Shaking her head, Vivis muttered, “We are so very powerless. The king has now removed me from a position by his side, not to mention that the restrictions placed on capital citizens are becoming tighter and tighter by the day. Their every action is monitored, and they can’t even move around at will.” Her eyes, framed by deep wrinkles, landed on Jess, then me. “So, Jess. And you too, little pig. You are the only people I can count on now.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “We are...?”

“Yes. The two of you are the only ones I can think of that can appeal to the king.”

“But...we’ve already tried every single method possible to hold a proper conversation with Mister Shravis, and we never had any luck.”

“Jess, you are His Majesty’s last surviving family. You’re the only one who can reach him.” Vivis’s tone was solemn.

Guardedly, Jess searched for the right response. “My engagement with him has already been called off, though, I’m afraid.”

“The engagement has nothing to do with it.” She paused, just long enough to take a breath. Vivis looked into Jess’s eyes and slowly said, “After all, you’re his cousin, aren’t you?”

Jess held her tongue. Her expression stiffened.

The elderly librarian inclined her head. “Deary me, did I frighten you? Don’t worry. I take pride in how tight-lipped I am.”

“Um... I...” The younger maiden looked like she wasn’t sure what to say.

“The young prince Hortis revealed your status to me in secret when he came back to return this.” Vivis’s fingertips stroked the raven black history text. “After sharing that he might die shortly, he said that if he does and his daughter doesn’t know the truth by then, he requested me to tell you during a meaningful moment.”

“Oh... He did...?” Jess whispered.

The fact that Jess had royal blood running in her veins was the greatest secret of the Mesterian royal family. Not counting Hortis, the only ones in the know other than us should have been Shravis and Wyss—though there was a chance Naut might’ve gotten an inkling of Jess’s true identity.

This family with divine blood didn’t tolerate any branching bloodlines. And it sounds like Hortis voluntarily told Vivis about the fact that he violated that taboo, huh?

Vivis gently smiled. “Of course, I’ve always had the faint suspicion it was the case ever since I first met you.”

Her eyes widening, Jess practically blurted without thinking, “Why is that?”

The librarian looked as if she’d been waiting for that question. “I mean, you’re strikingly similar to the young prince’s beloved. Those two bookworms had always chosen this library as the place for their secret trysts.”

Uh, hey, you really shouldn’t go on dates in a library... If you do that, I’ll go research at theme parks!

Thinking back now, I had the impression that Vivis’s attitude had shifted somewhat after Hortis had revealed his identity. She’d begun proactively helping us whenever we were investigating in the library. Perhaps that was because she’d learned of Jess and Hortis’s secret.

“Oh dear, it looks like I ended up digressing.” After smiling at the bewildered Jess, Vivis rose to her feet while carrying the history text in her hand. “I don’t know whether I have the right to say this, for I am without a child, as you can see... But the thing about blood is that while it sometimes shackles people like chains, at other times, it can even become a lifeline that ties people down and stops them one step short of tragedy. So please, I beg you—save the king with your own hands.”

Hearing that, Jess balled her hands into loose fists and stood up. “Madame Vivis, what should I even do?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have answers to that either. It’s something the two of you must search for.”

That’s easier said than done. I frowned. We’ve been trying pretty hard all this time. We’ve tried everything we could think of, but we keep hitting dead ends.

I said, “It’d be nice if we could at least have some hints... Do you happen to know anything that might pull at Shravis’s heartstrings?”

For a while, Vivis fell into contemplative silence. Then, her gaze shifted onto me. “That’s a good question. When I still had His Majesty’s full confidence, he devoted almost all his attention to researching spercritica. Perhaps I also mentioned this when I talked to you about the girl named Ceres. Within the king’s office is a significant collection of documents that Lady Vatis wrote and left behind—documents with confidential information that you wouldn’t even find here. For example, there are notes about another world that Lady Vatis heard about from Ruta, as well as information about the Abyssus, which has an intimate relationship with spercritica. He was grasping for clues to end the terrible phenomenon from these sorts of records.”

As I listened to her, one path forward began to take shape in my mind. Knowing Shravis, there’s a chance he might... No, but in his current state— “Can you think of something else? Anything will do. Are there any topics that might catch Shravis’s attention, even if a tiny bit?”

“Come to think of it, on the day when I last had the chance to see him...” She hesitated. “On the day after Sito’s incident, the king appeared to be investigating something to do with his mother.”

Surprised, Jess asked, “He was investigating Madame Wyss?”

Vivis nodded. “Very much so. He asked me whether I knew anything about ‘the location of her heart.’ Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to provide him any assistance, but when I inquired about what exactly he was trying to investigate, he mentioned that it was about his late mother.”

My grilled and skewered pork heart began pounding. This was a new lead.

Jess eagerly leaned forward. “The location of her heart? What was Mister Shravis trying to find out about Madame Wyss?”

Contrary to our rising expectations, Vivis shook her head lightly. “I’m very sorry, but I don’t know that many details... I only heard that His Majesty is trying to search for, in his words, the location of his mother’s heart.”

Jess wasn’t willing to back down here. “Um, do you have any other leads? Even the smallest detail is okay. Did you glean anything from his mind, perhaps?”

Vivis sighed. “I’m sure that you’re aware, but the king has completely shut away his mind and heart from everyone. However, even from a bystander’s perspective, he clearly has an almost unhealthy fixation on his late mother.”

“I see...” Jess bowed. “Thank you for all your help.”

After wishing us good luck, Vivis left with a smile.

I still didn’t know whether the information she’d given us would help us see Shravis. I hadn’t the slightest clue about which topic regarding Wyss would catch his attention, or what this “location of her heart” was.

However, having one clue was much better than not even knowing where to start.

On our way back to Jess’s room in the royal palace, I spoke up. “Shravis is a shrewd and knowledgeable guy. He just might know something that could help resolve our situation. He’s the king of this country. He can even access information that’s passed down from one king to another—pieces of information that aren’t recorded in books. There’s a very real possibility that he’s got info that we could never hope to obtain about Ruta, who left that message behind, or spercritica itself.”

“Right. There are some problems, though...” Jess trailed off.

One problem was that Shravis was stubbornly refusing any and all meetings with us. Another problem was that even if we did grasp a chance to talk to him, I didn’t know what he might resort to in his current condition after learning that my existence was preventing the conclusion of spercritica. Considering his fiery enthusiasm about being on Ceres’s butt, that man certainly wasn’t going to let me off the hook either.

I shrugged. “Well, it should work out somehow. Let’s look on the bright side. We managed to get our hands on hints that will help attract his attention. If we’re able to see and properly talk with him, there’s more than plenty of room for negotiation.”

“That’s true. We’ve taken one step forward.”

However, I couldn’t ignore the fact that an alarming change was rocking the boat and threatening the standstill—the fact that the royal capital had been bombarded.

After some discussion, we decided to find Naut before anything else. There were many things we had to talk about—had the Liberators truly attacked the capital? If so, could we convince them to cease their assault?

Just like how Jess and I were the only ones who had a shot at negotiating with Shravis, we were also the only ones on the side of the royal court who could negotiate with the Liberators.

Jess returned to her room and promptly began packing her belongings. At the very last stage of her preparations for our journey, she finally put on some underwear. It was black.

I nodded to myself. “Good. Don’t ever go around without underwear again, am I clear?”

“I refuse. Going around with or without underwear is my choice to make, and I’ll decide depending on my mood.”

Her tone sounded as if she were making a considerably respectable argument, but that was the furthest thing from the truth. “Well, do what you want, I guess...”

That aside, I had to marvel at how Jess had been spectacularly pushed into the grave she’d dug for herself. On the very day she decided to go unguarded, the capital had been blasted with cannons. That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. It should be fair to say that her state of undress had summoned the tragedy.

“I don’t see how there’s any connection between my underwear and the bombardment...”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “We don’t know about that. When notably rare things happen in succession, you ought to start questioning whether they’re related. Often, irregular events tend to be tied together in some form of cause-and-effect relationship.”

Jess puffed out her cheeks with displeasure. “Well then, do enlighten me. What kind of result can my underwear, or lack thereof, even bring about?”

“I mean, for example...” I paused. “Maybe Shravis was shaken by your lack of panties and accidentally destroyed Vatis’s remains. It’s one possibility.” Though I was the one who’d proposed it, I knew it sounded rather outlandish.

“Yes, yes, whatever you say. It’s time to go.”

Jess ignored my argument and marched out of the room without me. I hurriedly chased after her.

We ran through the city that seemed rattled from the cannon barrage until we arrived at a plaza with a stone-built warehouse. Wasting no time, Jess opened its dignified doors.

Inside the structure was a curious vehicle. Its main body was reminiscent of a petite dugout canoe, and it was decorated with gigantic wings that reminded me of a bat. The vehicle, which I one-sidedly referred to as the Dragonwing, was the very transport we’d once used to escape from the capital in the Abyssus. It could glide through the air like a hang glider, travel long distances, and even rise in altitude if Jess used her magic to flap its wings.

In the Abyssus, we’d abandoned it at a distant, solitary island, but in the real Mesteria, it remained in the capital.

I stuffed myself between Jess’s legs to fit within the cramped hull. I thanked my lucky stars that she’d been willing to put on some underwear.

Squishing my back with her legs as if in retaliation, Jess said, “Let’s head to where Mister Naut and the others are before anything else.”

“Of course.”

I’d heard about the Liberators’ whereabouts from Kento. They were currently in Mautteau, a village in the mountains. It was also the location of the mountain fortress where we’d first clashed with the Clandestine Arcanist. Though the fortress, damaged during the battle, had been left as it was without repairs. The executive officers of the Liberators, along with other central members who accompanied them, were apparently camping out there right now. At the very least, that had been the case when I’d had my conversation with Kento two nights ago.

If Naut hadn’t participated in the bombardment from the west side of the Needle Woods, he would still be there.

The Dragonwing we’d climbed into was quietly waiting for its departure at the edge of the plaza that protruded out from the cliffs. There was a small gap in the railing that allowed us to sail into the sky. That said, it took a significant amount of courage.

“Here we go!” Jess announced.

The boat’s left and right wings leisurely flapped up and down. There was a sensation of my body being pulled backward, telling me that the vessel had begun moving forward. It was heading straight in the direction of the cliff’s edge.

The moment Jess’s legs tensed up, there was a brief feeling of weightlessness, as if I were floating. This wasn’t caused by the boat floating up—it was caused by the boat going down in free fall and being virtually in the state of zero gravity. My pork liver clenched tightly. Doing my very best not to look outside, I waited for the hull to move into a steady flight.

Transforming its weight force into thrust, after the span of a minute, the Dragonwing’s glide across the air stabilized. Jess moved its wings with magic and painstakingly adjusted the altitude.

I heard her voice ring out from behind me. “Mister Naut and the others must be at Mautteau, right?”

I hesitated only for a moment. “They must be. Let’s put our faith in them.”

It was an undeniable fact that the royal court had mercilessly kidnapped the former Yethma, including Nourris. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the Liberators had flown into a fury because of it. However, only a cold, steady anger had been etched into his letter. He hadn’t written anything like, We’ll attack the capital, so you guys should evacuate.

Nodding, I continued, “We refer to them in the collective, but the Liberators apparently consist of an incredible number of people now, don’t they? There’s definitely a possibility that a radical bunch went against Naut and the others’ wishes, impulsively launching an attack.”

“Yeah.”

“We’ll persuade Naut, Itsune, and Yoshu and ask them to prepare measures that will deter any further attacks. Then, we’ll persuade Shravis and make him stop his arbitrary, foolish decisions. We’ll arrange a place where we can all have a proper discussion and talk it out.”

“Right.” Strength returned to Jess’s voice. “Once we’re able to restore our relationship with Mister Shravis... We can be upfront about our situation to him and ask for his assistance in finding a solution.”

“Exactly. Sounds like a plan.”

As long as we didn’t give up, there always had to be a way. That was what we’d believed throughout all the journeys we’d gone on, no matter how harsh they had been.

Without exception, every single time, we had found a path at the very end.

Naut remained seated on the parapet made with stacked stone blocks as he announced with a somber face, “I wasn’t the one who attacked the royal capital.”

Other than Jess, Naut, and myself, there wasn’t anyone else around. I could see the scenery of many mountains lined up next to each other past Naut’s shoulders, and the wind that blew from that direction was awfully chilly. Even though it was still noon, gloomy clouds were slowly trudging our way.

Naut shrugged. “You guys probably don’t know, but the number of people who declare that they belong to the Liberators is already nearing ten thousand. Among them are unmanageable extremists that are completely outta control. Those guys apparently noticed the anomaly of the capital and started randomly acting on their own. As irony would have it, the cannons they used were the ones we hid near the Needle Woods.”

With a grim face, Jess asked, “Why did you hide cannons near the royal capital?”

“Isn’t that obvious? It’s preparation for if or when we end up going to war. We seized the cannons that the Nothen faction used and arranged them in various places to be ready for the worst-case scenario. Fortunately, because Yethma collars power Nothen’s cannons, we’ve got more than plenty of power sources on hand.”

A potent amount of mana was infused into the silver collars of Yethma. With time, the collars would darken as it was exposed to the elements, and during this process, they would gradually release their infused mana. It was possible to take advantage of this mechanism to use collars as a source of mana. Now that the royal court had ceased the distribution of ristae, collars were valuable power sources for the Liberators.

Furthermore, there were large quantities of Yethma collars available out there. After all, when Wyss had used the First Collar to liberate the Yethma, a number of collars equal to the number of Yethma in Mesteria had clattered onto the ground.

As Naut’s hair flew about in the mountain wind, he said frostily, “I hear that there were also casualties from the royal capital’s counterattack. I hate to say this, but we’ve already gone past the point of no return.”

My heart sank, but I still asked, “What do you mean by that?”

His pair of azure eyes stared down at me. “You gotta properly finish what’s already started. That’s just how things work.”

It felt as if things were making a rather ominous turn. Jess looked at me with uneasy eyes.

I slowly exhaled. “Can’t you stop them from making any more attacks? Is that not a good enough way to finish it?”

“You’re too naive.” One emotion was stronger than rage in Naut’s voice—resignation. “The royal court’s the one who forcefully carried off the Yethma. They’re the ones who started detaining and confining the Yethma without listening to anyone’s objections. We even tried to meet them halfway until only just a little while ago, didn’t we?”

Sorrow darkened Jess’s features. “Mister Naut...”

“The Liberators that’ve gotten this big are only united because of our indignation at this injustice. We are calling for the liberation of the Yethma and for the liberation from the royal court’s tyrannical regime—that’s why we’re the Liberators. If I thoughtlessly do something like trying to quell our members’ fury, even all of us core members, who’re currently considered the executive officers, will very likely be abandoned by the masses. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.”

“I see...” I muttered.

Naut wasn’t a leader with authority and power—he was a hero born within and created by the tides of history. At the end of the day, he was nothing but a symbol that brought everyone together. If he went against the tide, his people would desert him.

He shrugged. “You can’t stop them after they’ve gained this much momentum. It’s a shame, but those are the cold, hard facts.”

Jess gingerly asked, “But Mister Naut...you won’t cross swords with the royal court, right?”

Naut didn’t nod or shake his head. “For now, I’ve put a stop to the attacks that started this morning. It was a berserk rampage with no plan or goal whatsoever. Those in the west ended up letting their dissatisfaction explode, propelling them in the wrong direction. The majority understands and accepts our decision to stop our raid. For now.”

As he talked, Naut’s forehead creased. He continued, “But as a Liberator, I can’t choose the path of peace anymore. Anger toward the enforced detention has caused a great wave of negative sentiment to overthrow the royal court. This movement probably won’t stop until we seize this country’s leadership.”

“That’s terrible...” Jess weakly whispered.

As he glanced at her, Naut fished out a single piece of paper from his coat pocket. The snow-white paper, dancing wildly in the intense gusts, was the type used by the royal family. I peered at it, and it seemed to be a short letter.

“This thing was just delivered moments ago,” Naut reported. “Have a read.”

I have gone outside the royal capital.

I request that you immediately suspend all meaningless attacks.

Once you are ready, track me down.

Let’s settle this fair and square.

There was no signature. However, the fine quality ink and elegant script both unmistakably belonged to Shravis.

In addition, Naut took out a small item from his pocket. “This thing was enclosed with the letter. I’m sure you recognize it.”

My eyes widened.

It was a ring. A silver ring decorated with merely a single clear jewel that shone bewitchingly—the ring that Wyss had left behind. It was a mother’s memento that granted Shravis astounding powers of regeneration, which had allowed him to escape the clutches of death even after his head had been split into two.

Jess held out her hand, and Naut gently placed the ring on her palm. She inspected it. “This...is the genuine article. I can sense Madame Wyss’s magic from it...” The maiden turned to look at me, utterly baffled.

Shravis had chosen to send this ring, which granted him powers close to immortality, to Naut, who should be standing on the opposite side of the brewing conflict. I frowned. “What in the world does this even mean? Why did Shravis give you such a precious token?”

Naut pointed out the answer dryly. “He’s probably saying, ‘Come and kill me if you can.’”

Jess’s hand was motionless as if it were a plate, and Naut nimbly picked up the ring from her palm.

The swordsman continued, “As long as that guy’s wearing this thing, we can’t kill him. And of course, if we haven’t got any chance or means of taking him down, we’d drag our feet about going to a confrontation against him. Sending the ring’s a message that if we wanna kill him, now’s our chance to do just that.”

“But why would Mister Shravis send such a message?” Jess whispered in shock.

“Ain’t that obvious? He even went through the trouble of writing it in his letter. It’s to settle things once and for all.”

My skewered pork heart tensed up, and so did my windpipe. A suffocating chill pressed down on my body as if to crush it, and I trembled.

There was only one way to settle things once and for all: a battle to the death.

Naut shrugged. “I dunno whether he’s waiting for us to make a move outta the last shred of conscience he has left or if he wants to demonstrate the legitimacy of the royal court by beating us fair and square. But, well, in any case, His Majesty’s dead serious.”

I wanted to refute his statement. I took a moment to think and wrung out an answer. “Without his ring, Shravis has a very real chance of losing. Would anyone take such a gamble in their right mind?”

“He’s an oh-so mighty mage. The king probably thinks he can win even without it.” Naut stood up and slid the ring into his pocket. “That guy’s planning on fighting and killing us head-on. That’s the kind of man he always was, wasn’t he?”

After frostily making that declaration, Naut turned his back on us and began strutting away. I chased after his retreating back. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re going to go along with such a provocation? If Shravis has steeled his resolve, then all of you might die. You know about the spell he uses that can blow up a person, don’t you?”

Naut didn’t turn around. “I’ve had a good, up close look at that spell. There’s a limit to its range. It also takes time for him to target someone and flood them with a sufficient amount for detonation. I can avoid it as long as I’m constantly on the move when I get close to him.”

“But what’re you going to do about your offense? Shravis should be protecting his body with magic.”

“Do you really think we’d go into a fight where we don’t have a chance of winning?”

The swordsman’s feet carried him toward a wall, which a pair of siblings was reclining against as they sat. After Sito’s death, Itsune had said that we should lead more respectable lives. Meanwhile, Yoshu had consistently maintained a neutral stance on everything in all his interactions with us. However, neither of them even tried to conceal their disappointment—their expressions were cold.

The Liberators had offered a hand of peace and reconciliation, but Shravis had responded with the exact opposite attitude by demanding the enforced detention of Yethma and issuing a declaration of war. In all too little time, the world had changed all too greatly.

“Hiya, Jess. I haven’t seen you since back then,” Itsune said, still sitting.

Naut extended a hand to her. “Give me that thing. I’ll show it to them.”

There was a moment of hesitation. “You sure?”

“Yeah. By the looks of things, the king’s probably cut off all ties to these guys too.”

Hearing that, Itsune handed over a mysterious object wrapped in a tattered rag. Its silhouette was large, long but slender, and flat. It had a rather sinister shape with angular corners.

Naut unfastened the cord coiled around it and unraveled the rag package. The first thing I saw was the glimmer of gold—initially, I assumed it was some kind of ornament, but the object that emerged was something much more dreadful.

It was a weapon. To be specific, it was a large nata hatchet that was plated in gold all over. Within the almost blinding sheen of gold were speckles of another color thrown in here and there—the maroon of blood.

“Hey, don’t make a mistake and butcher me up into pieces of pork,” I said.

My joke fell on deaf ears as if it had been a noisy gust of wind. Naut’s fingertips stroked the hatchet blade. “This is the hatchet that these guys’ deadbeat father used to cut down the king back in that underground cemetery. It’s painted with a special kind of gold. If you combine it with the powers of a Lacerte, it’s possible to even break through enchantments that’re protecting a mage’s body.”

Jess placed a hand on her chest and asked a question that we all knew the answer to. “What...are you planning on using it for?”

“Isn’t it obvious? We’ll behead the king with this. The ring he sent us one-sidedly was the real deal, right? In other words, that guy isn’t immortal anymore. Which means that if Itsune uses this thing to attack him, she can off him once and for all. With the proper prep work, being utterly defeated wouldn’t even be an option if we were to take him on as a trio.”

My mind blanked, and I was shouting before I knew it. “Don’t be ridiculous! You could never do that!”

Killing Shravis? No. That can’t happen. It just can’t.

Frantically, Jess appealed to him alongside me. “Please, please reconsider. There must be another way!”

The expressions on their faces, however, didn’t seem to shift at all.

“Can’t you tell?” Naut raised his voice in turn. “Right now, we’re at the turning point of an era.”

“Turning point...” Jess echoed weakly.

To emphasize his point, Naut continued, “If we kill just one person, we can bring an end to the old era ruled by the royal court. It’ll be the start of our era. The two of you were none other than the ones who brought me all the way to this boundary, weren’t you?”

We brought Naut here? I froze for a moment. Now that he mentions it...he might be right.

The journey of a maiden and a single pig, who’d departed from the bounds of a southern town, Kiltyrie, had ended up dragging in Naut, the royal court, and even an elderly mage who’d lain idle in the north—we had started the butterfly effect that had utterly turned Mesteria upside-down.

The royal court, which had survived for 130 years since its founding under Vatis, began to crumble from the outside and ultimately collapsed from within. And at long last, it had been whittled away to the point that the entire government rested on Shravis’s shoulders alone.

There couldn’t be a more fitting time to end the monarchy for good.

Naut continued, “We’re now one step short of the finishing and starting line. With just one step, we can change everything—we can end a society that’s ruled by mages through power and terror. We can smash the royal court to the ground alongside its madness. We can get rid of injustices. And if our enemy’s going to do the honors of throwing down the gauntlet, that suits us just fine.”

Gripping tightly onto the hatchet, the swordsman glared up at the gloomy, overcast sky. He announced, “The death of the last king will signal the start of a new age.”

A frosty gust of wind, so cold that it chilled me to the bone, swept across us.

That was when the mood shifted. Something seemed to have caught Yoshu’s attention, because he jerked up to his feet. His eyes, which focused on the distant scenery, glowed the color of gold—they were the eyes of a Lacerte, who took pride in their superhuman eyesight.

Naut squinted toward where Yoshu was facing. “What’s wrong? Is there an attack?” It appeared that he couldn’t glean anything.

“No, there isn’t. This is...”

Yoshu looked evidently shaken. Jess joined the pair and stared in the same direction with unease. It just so happened to be the direction of the royal capital.

Itsune snatched up the extendable telescope attached to Yoshu’s hips, stretched it out, and peered through it. I didn’t know what she’d seen, but she immediately tossed the instrument at Naut. The moment he accepted the item, Naut looked in the capital’s direction without delay.

“Huh,” he muttered. “Looks like he was telling the truth about not being in the royal capital.”

“What did you see?” I asked, utterly lost.

During my confusion, Jess, who was beside me, manifested two circular pieces of glass. One was a large objective lens while the other was a small ocular lens—she’d crafted a makeshift telescope. She peered in the direction of the capital through them.

Immediately, Jess’s eyes widened with a start. “The royal palace! It’s on fire!”

Still floating the lenses in the air, Jess commanded them to move in front of me in parallel motion. At the center of the warped cutout of the world was blazing fire.

The area near the capital’s summit was burning up. It wasn’t just any fire. It was an otherworldly fire that was a mixture of red and white—a magical fire. This calamitous inferno was powerful enough to shatter rocks by superheating them.

The royal palace had been under the robust protection of Shravis’s walls. There could only be one person who had the power to burn down the structure—Shravis himself.

“Shravis, why...?” I whispered, stunned.

Naut heaved a heavy sigh. “He likely set fire to the palace as a message to us that he’s left the capital. He demonstrated his resolve. It’s clear that he wants to fight us for real and murder us.”

I objected at once. “How can you be so sure of that?”

This man had already set his sights and mind in one direction, blinding him to the rest. How in the world could you decide on the spot that it’s a declaration of war just because the royal palace is on fire?

I tried to protest, but Naut interrupted me by holding up his hand. “We tried to solve things peacefully. But he’s the one who betrayed us. That guy tried to kill Ceres. He kidnapped Nourris and the other girls. As if that weren’t enough, he even had the gall to send a letter of challenge to us. We’ll find the king, fight him, and kill him. There’s no other way.”

I followed Naut’s gaze—it was directed at Ceres, who watched our conversation unfold anxiously. This young girl had come close to being killed by Shravis once. Thanks to her casting away her magic, our appeal for her life to be spared had succeeded. And as irony would have it, she’d likely avoided the enforced detainment because she no longer had her powers.

Next to Ceres, a boar adorned in a frilly dress stood motionlessly. The maiden who’d sewn that dress was nowhere to be found. She’d been snatched away by the royal court.

“But Mister Naut,” Jess pleaded, her eyes reddening with emotion. “There must be another way, I just know it. Surely we don’t have to do something terrible like...taking his life...”

Naut sent a pointed gaze in her direction. “‘Don’t try to rob anyone else of those they love.’ Is that what you wanna say? Seriously, the two of you are always such soft souls. Tell me—who in the world loves that guy now?”

Jess was stunned. Her eyes went wide.

The swordsman continued, “Who would even suffer if we kill him? Be it his father, his mother, his uncle, or his grandfather, his entire family’s dead.”

They were ruthless words—I could have never imagined that they had come out of Naut’s mouth. I was struck speechless.

Immediately, Jess argued, “I... I would be sad!”

“Sad’s all you’ll be. If you’re going to make that point, then obviously, we’re gonna be sad too. Who the hell would want to kill their friend that they’ve gone through thick and thin with for the fun of it?”

Icy rain began pelting down. Speckles gradually blotted the cobblestone paving.

Naut sighed. “Just saying, but even when I was a huntsman, I wasn’t exactly able to kill rabbits while feeling guilt-free. I’d feel just a tiny bit sad. But rabbit meat becomes our flesh and blood. There’s someone who’d light up with joy after eating it. That’s why I’ll kill rabbits that haven’t done anything wrong. Do you get my point?”

I interrupted from the sidelines. “But these are completely—”

He sharply rebuked, “They’re completely different things. Is that what you’re trying to say? But no, they’re the same. I don’t kill rabbits ’cause I hate them. I kill them because it’s necessary for me to harvest their meat and pelt. I won’t kill Shravis because I hate him as a person. I’ll kill him because it’s necessary to end his foolish government and get rid of the injustice called the royal court. This is a time when we need to change the world—how is there any reason for us to give special treatment to one person’s life?”

Naut’s right hand tightly gripped the hilt of the shortsword hanging down from his hip. He looked fierce, as if he were ready to pull it out at any time, and I stepped back. However, he never allowed any glimpses of his blade. What he was gripping wasn’t his sword, but the bone of the person he used to yearn for.

“We’ll go kill him with everything we’ve got,” he declared grimly. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s the only path left for us.”

The siblings didn’t seem like they planned on objecting in any way. Itsune still held the sinister, gleaming hatchet in her hand.

No. I can’t let this happen. At this rate, they’re really going to fight to the death. <<Jess... You think you can snatch that hatchet away?>> I communicated through my thoughts.

Jess clenched her hand into a fist in front of her chest. <The hatchet... I see, without it, they likely won’t attack Mister Shravis—>

A voice interrupted the maiden’s message. “You better not do that, Jess.” Almost as if Itsune had read our thoughts, she wrapped the hatchet in the rag again. “Y’know, we’re showing you all our cards ’cause we trust you two. If you snatched this and tried to run, you guys would become our enemies. We’d take it back, no matter what we’d have to do. I’m sure you don’t like quarrels either, yeah?”

“I’m so sorry!” Jess yelped. “I, um... I never meant to...”

She’d completely lost her nerve, and I felt remorseful. I was the one who’d proposed it. There’s nothing she has to apologize for.

I desperately squeezed my brain for all the wits it had. How can I avoid this battle? What can I do to stop them?

After a moment of silence, I spoke up. “Say, in the scenario we find a method that can solve your problem without fighting Shravis, would you stop in your tracks and think about it? Would you reconsider if we find a way to make peace with him?”

Naut looked at me impassively. “If you’re lucky enough for such a solution to actually exist and happen to be lying around somewhere, then sure.”

“Then we’ll find it. We’ll persuade Shravis,” I insisted. “So please, just a little is enough, even a short while will do—could you please wait for us?”

“How long, exactly, is a short while?” Naut scrunched his eyebrows together. “The fellows that’ve banded together under the banner of the Liberators are already restless. There’s no guarantee that we can keep them in check. When the time comes, we’ll act without thinking twice. If you want to stop the war, then you’d better find the king before we do.”

The rain turned from a drizzle to a pour, so we migrated to a place with a roof. Possibly because they wanted to have a secret conversation without anyone listening in, Naut and Itsune disappeared into the back of the building. Meanwhile, Yoshu stayed in our vicinity as a lookout. Beneath the overcast sky, the ruins of the mountain fortress—which encircled us with ashen blocks of stone on all sides—seemed several shades darker than the already dark clouds.

I looked over our companions. The dress on the boar was notably sullied with mud—it was even miserably drenched in the rain on top of it. Yet, Kento persistently wore the item, and it was heartbreaking to see. Ceres used her voice sparingly as usual, but Kento was even quieter.

The boar whispered, “Why won’t anything go the way we want it to?” Then, he went utterly silent.

We hailed from Japan with a wish and a mission—to change this world for the better. And we’d come so close, just one step short. Yet the situation was spiraling in the worst direction possible.

On a whim, I approached Yoshu, who gazed outside through the barred windows. He should have heard my footsteps, but he didn’t take his eyes off the windows.

After a moment of hesitation, I spoke up. “Hey, you mind having a chat about your old man?”

His reply was instant. “I do mind.”

“Please,” I insisted. “Just, hear me out for a bit. There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Sorry, but consider that guy a total, unrelated stranger to me. We barely ever interacted with each other, and Itsune and I cut ties with him years ago, so I know next to nothing about him. The same could be said about that man—he didn’t bring up anything about me or sis, did he?”

I recalled what I’d heard from Sito in Helde—the reminiscent stories of his past. “He kind of did. He told us that you practically clung to your sister like glue during your childhood.”

“Haaah? S-So not true...” he stammered, his ears ostensibly turning a shade of red. “That never happened.”

Seems like Sito was right about him being clingy. “I just want to ask one question, please. If you know the answer, tell me. Do you know Sito’s hometown?”

“Hometown?” At long last, Yoshu turned in my direction. “And what would knowing that even achieve?”

“You’ll satisfy my curiosity.”

It would’ve saved me a lot of time if I’d asked the man himself when he’d shared his past during that makeshift yakiniku party back in Helde. However, back then, it’d never even crossed my mind that I might need to know his hometown one day. I’d only learned of Sito and Wyss’s relationship moments before he’d disemboweled himself.

Yoshu shrugged and readily said, “Dunno, I can’t help you there. Sis’s in the same boat.”

My barbecued shoulder chops drooped despondently—until I noticed a certain detail. No. Hang on. “How can you even tell whether Itsune knows?”

“Because we’re siblings.”

I gave him a bewildered look. The last time I checked, that wasn’t a part of the definition of siblings. But my priorities lay elsewhere. “Even something that can serve as a hint will do. Was it north? South? East? West? Was it along the coast or in the mountains?”

To my surprise, Yoshu was willing to mull over those questions for a good while. “Weeell... I mean, I guess I could’ve maybe possibly heard a thing or two. Or not, it’s hard to say...” After giving me the most roundabout answer possible, he placed a hand on his chin. “Ah. I know. The teacups.”

“Teacups?”

“Yeah. When we were escorting Ceres to the royal capital, he kinda forced two teacups onto us. We didn’t need them, so we tossed them away in the capital. If I remember right, I think he mentioned that they were wares made in his birthplace.”

Two teacups. They had to be the cups he’d used to serve herbal tea to Jess and Ceres. Sito had gone out of his way to bring two teacups with him to Helde, the Town of Death: one for himself, one for the late Wyss. He’d wanted to savor the tea that Wyss had once made for him—the tea that represented many precious memories—one final time. To drink it together with her.

After briefly casting down my eyes, I asked, “Did he mention anything else? Is his birthplace famous for producing ceramic crafts?”

“Hmm... I didn’t really tune in to what he was saying.” He gave me an apologetic look. “It might be, it might not be.” His phrasing didn’t offer me any information. “Oh, but I sort of remember there being a design like a star symbol on the bottom of the cups. It was a slightly special kind with five points. He rambled incoherent nonsense that it was the most beautiful shape in the world, and it reminded him of his homeland or something. Those are the only parts I remember clearly.”

I blinked. “A star symbol reminds him of his hometown?”

“Yeah. Makes no sense, right? Seriously, that guy’s definition of beauty is weird. He looked in sis’s direction and praised, ‘How beautiful,’ so I figured he was talking about her, but it turned out that he was actually referring to the shape of the greataxe on her back.” He shook his head while looking incredulous. “It should normally be the other way round, shouldn’t it? I understand my sister being pretty. But how can there be beauty in the shape of a weapon? It’s a tool for killing people, mind you. That guy’s a battle maniac off the deep end.”

His zealousness took me aback. “U-Uh... Right, I think so too...” My intuition was telling me that I shouldn’t dig any more into this topic than I already had.

I’d managed to procure enough promising information. Simply the fact that Sito’s hometown was a place that produced teacups with star symbols on the bottom should be sufficient to help me narrow down which town it was, provided I put my heart into it.

“Thanks,” I finally said, ending the topic there. “I’m grateful you indulged my curiosity.”

Yoshu quizzically quirked an eyebrow. “I have? That’s good to hear, I guess.” He then shifted his gaze back to the outside world.

With small steps, I trotted back to Jess’s side. “I think it’s about time we take our leave, don’t you think?”

“...Yes, I agree.” Her tone was a touch somber.

We’d failed to persuade Naut and the other Liberators. The only method left to us was locating Shravis and persuading him to change his stance.

With Ceres and Kento seeing us off, Jess and I left the fortress ruins behind us. As we walked, a memory randomly surfaced in my mind. Shravis had said this to us when we’d landed at the Terminus Island, seeking an entrance to the Abyssus:

“You see, I had a thought. Now that my mother has been captured, is there anyone who would take my side unconditionally? If I end up all alone and seek out help, will there actually be anyone in this world who wouldn’t forsake me?”

“I’m aware that someone with divine blood like me mustn’t have such expectations. Yet I can’t help but think that... By some chance, you and the pig might be the exceptions. You two might be the only ones who would come running to save me even when you aren’t obliged to.”

I steeled my resolve and raised my head. Now was that very moment.

As we took shelter from the rain in a desolate eatery in Mautteau. Jess lowered her voice and asked, “Mister Pig, why did you ask Mister Yoshu about Mister Sito’s homeland?”

There weren’t any other customers around, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. I took a step farther and replied with my thoughts. <<Our next step is to locate Shravis. He didn’t write where he went in his letter. We have to analyze where in the world he disappeared to after leaving the royal capital.>>

“And...you believe that Mister Shravis went to Mister Sito’s hometown?”

<<I figured there’s a high chance, yeah.>>

Jess took a sip from her mug and hummed in contemplation. By the way, in case you’re wondering, she’s drinking some kind of medicinal herb tea that I haven’t got a clue about. This establishment also offered alcoholic drinks, but I’d suggested she refrain from drinking those.

“Why would he go to Mister Sito’s homeland of all places?” she finally asked.

<<If you tweak your phrasing a bit, it’s Sito and Wyss’s homeland. They resided in the same town, didn’t they?>>

It seemed to have clicked for Jess as well. Her eyes lit up as she gazed at me. “I get it now! According to Madame Vivis, Mister Shravis has been researching Madame Wyss recently, so that would make sense. He was looking into...something about the location of her heart, I believe?”

<<Yeah. There was a void in Wyss’s memories—all her experiences up until she reached the capital were wiped clean. The only one who knows what happened in her last recollections is Sito, who accompanied her on her journey to the capital. However, that very man perished before Shravis’s eyes. He took his memories with Wyss to his literal grave.>>

Holding her mug, Jess digested what I said. “Ever since, Mister Shravis has been invested in her past...”

<<If he wants to investigate more, it’s totally plausible for him to head to Wyss’s hometown—which is also Sito’s hometown.>>

“And so, we only have to narrow down Mister Sito’s hometown, which is easier to find information on.”

<<Precisely.>> After saying that, I sighed. <<But unfortunately for us, Yoshu didn’t know as far as the town’s name.>>

We hadn’t asked Itsune, but that man with an excessive attachment to his sister, who seemed like he’d know every last detail about her, had insisted that she wouldn’t know. He was probably right.

Jess flashed me a bright and triumphant smile. “It’s okay, you don’t have to worry about that. I was also present when Mister Yoshu was talking, after all.”

My eyes widened. <<Hold on... Are you implying that you were able to pinpoint the location with only those scraps of info?>>

“I certainly have. He gave me more than enough hints. The most important one was the star design with five points.”

According to Jess, the pentagram design—which had apparently been engraved under the teacup—was a big clue. <<By that, you mean... Is it the representative logo of a famous studio somewhere?>>

“No. Well, perhaps it might be, but that’s not the kind of information I know of.”

I questioningly inclined my head. <<Then what kind of info is it? How does the pentagram give you a lead?>>

“Mister Sito allegedly said that this particular star design is a beautiful shape that reminds him of his hometown, right? That actually rings a bell to me.” She looked considerably proud of herself as she made that declaration.

I shook my head. <<Sorry, but I’m completely clueless.>>

“Well then, Mister Pig, do you remember what Mister Sito considers beautiful?”

It appeared that instead of giving me a direct answer, Jess was providing me with even more hints. In my head, I replayed our earlier conversation with Yoshu. <<Itsune’s greataxe, for one. He’s a battle maniac, and he thought that the weapon’s shape was a thing of beauty.>>

“That’s right. When he was kind enough to show us around Helde, he also displayed a great interest in the castle.”

Gazing at Jess’s cheeks, which were flushed with elation, the gears in my brain churned. <<So does that mean it’s a town with a star-shaped weapon of some sort?>> The first thing that came to mind was something along the lines of a morning star.

“You’re almost there. The star-shaped item is something even bigger.”

Realization dawned on me. <<Oh! I know!>>

We actually had something similar back in Japan. I remember staring down at it from that tower in Hakodate, Hokkaido. It had undoubtedly been shaped like a star—at the same time, it seemed like something Sito would appreciate as a work of art.

I raised my head and mentally declared, <<You’re talking about fortress walls. The place we’re looking for is a town that features a star-shaped citadel, right?>>

“Exactly. And there are barely any citadel cities left intact in Mesteria, because Lady Vatis destroyed almost all of them. But due to certain circumstances, there is a single surviving one.”

Jess lifted her index finger for emphasis as she continued, “Its name is Resdan, the cornerstone of our defenses in northern Mesteria. The heart of the city, I hear, is shaped like an impeccable pentagram.”

Chapter 2: Ninety-Nine out of a Hundred Handsome Hunks Are Douchebags

After hiding the Dragonwing in a cave in Mautteau, we proceeded to inconspicuously move by land. Only the royal court would utilize vehicles that could fly, and we’d stand out like a sore thumb. If the Liberators tailed us, there was even the risk that they would anticipate our destination and beat us to the punch. I also wanted to avoid the scenario in which Shravis took notice and slipped out of our grasp.

Fortunately for us, it was possible to travel from Mautteau to Resdan via a stretch by carriage, then ship. According to Jess, Resdan was located on the vast plains that sat in the midstream region of the Bellell River, a great body of water that connected various cities and towns such as Harbir, Lyubori, and Prannsbate. We’d grown very familiar with it after all the traveling we’d done during the Cross Executioner Serial Murder Case.

We headed north on a carriage from Mautteau, and by that night, we arrived at a port town near the mouth of the Bellell River. Apparently, if we departed on the earliest ship the next morning, we’d arrive at Resdan by that evening. As we had dinner at an inn, Jess gave me a rundown of the remaining part of our journey while pointing it out on a map.

Our dinner was centered around seafood, as you would expect from a port town. It consisted of simple items—fish, shellfish, and shrimp sprinkled with herbs before being grilled—but Jess savored every bite with joy. Since the royal capital was located inland, you’d barely ever come across fresh marine products. As for me, I chomped on the root vegetables she’d purchased for me in the market.

Since our departure was early in the morning, we decided to get to bed right away and wake up early.

When we walked out of the inn the next morning, we were greeted by an invigorating and sunny sky. We boarded a ship that was also loaded with salt and fish before starting our voyage upstream.

Possibly because of the rain yesterday, the river was somewhat murky, but the ship was stable, making the ride notably pleasant. The stench that rolled off the giant piles of fish—so potent that I suspected it was even going to stay on our bodies for a good while—was likely part of its charm.

Jess didn’t look bothered by the smell either as she carefreely pointed up at the sky. “A goshawk’s been following us the entire time. It must be targeting the fish in the cargo.”

“Maybe,” I replied. Sometime later, I followed suit and stared upward. Beneath the azure canvas, a single medium-sized bird of prey flew in circles. Even as it went round and round, it shifted bit by bit, as if it were stalking the ship.

I squinted with scrutiny. “I can’t see it well enough to distinguish what kind of bird it is, but are you sure that’s a goshawk?”

“Yes. I can recognize it by its silhouette and flight patterns. Madame Wyss taught me how.”

“Our resident scholar’s as impressive as ever.” Just as I made that statement, a tiny sense of wrongness welled up, almost like a tiny bone stuck in my throat. “Hey, did goshawks always eat fish?”

“I’m not quite sure. I understand your confusion, though. My impression of them is that they hunt small animals and other birds.”

“Yeah... I’m not a bird expert or anything, but when I hear goshawk, I picture them hunting on land. So why is this one chasing this ship that’s loaded with fish and salt?”

Jess grinned mischievously and poked my bone-in pork ribs with her index finger. “Maybe it’s because a tasty-looking little pig is on board.”

“Are you saying that it’s aiming for me?” After those words left my tongue, realization hit me. She might be right—there’s a chance that goshawk really does have its sights on me.

With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I looked up at Jess. “Tell you the truth, there’s one thing that’s been bothering me for quite a while.”

“I-I’ve made sure to wear my underwear!” Jess yelped.

“I know. You don’t have to worry about that.” It was black today. “Moving on, there’s just one unsolved mystery left from the Cross Executioner Case, isn’t there?”

“There...is?” Jess looked thrown off.

“Yeah. Think back to what happened. After we parted ways with the Liberators at Lyubori’s memorial tower, just the two of us followed the real Chain Trail and reached Mousskir, the northernmost point of Mesteria. Then, we located the underground graveyard. Shravis noticed our movements and arrived at the scene. You with me so far?”

“Right, now that you remind me, that did happen. During our conversation, the Liberators suddenly appeared, and—”

I interrupted her there. “That’s the mystery. How in the world did the Liberators learn of that place?”

Jess placed a hand on her chin and began her analysis. “When Mister Shravis asked that same question, I believe Mister Sanon said, ‘We don’t owe you any explanations.’”

Uh-huh, I think he mentioned something like that. “It makes sense that Shravis was able to find us. He knew about the real Chain Trail from the very beginning. But what sort of method did the Liberators use to pinpoint that place?”

Jess abruptly stared up—above us was the goshawk that drew circles in the sky. “Back on that day, there was a goshawk present in Mousskir as well.”

“I remember. We’d figured it was looking for a mouse or something, but knowing what we know now...there’s another possible reason.” I inhaled slowly. “The Liberators use goshawks as their messenger birds for letters, right? They’re keeping a few trained ones at the ready.”

“You mean...they were tracking us with one of their goshawks...?” Jess’s face fell.

“You can’t rule out that possibility. It also explains the bird circling above us right now.” It was slightly regrettable, but I could understand why the Liberators would want to do so in their position. “From what I remember, Naut learned his tactics and strategies from Sanon too. They deemed that we’d likely get a head start on them and find Shravis first. If they were to raid the place we arrive at, it’d save them a lot of time and necessary effort.”

Color drained from Jess’s face. “But if they do that...”

I nodded. “It’d be a repeat of the tragedy back in that underground graveyard.”

In that dismal, gloomy place surrounded by human skeletons, Wyss had lost her life. Sito had tried to assassinate Shravis and failed. Shravis had detonated the black pig like a gory bomb. The camaraderie between the royal court and the Liberators, who’d formed a united front, had been despairingly smashed into unrecognizable pieces.

I turned to look at Jess. “I’ve got an idea. Jess, could you negotiate on my behalf?”

We reeked of a pungent odor as we rattled along in a carriage. The driver had initially seemed reluctant to the idea of even having a pig on board, much less a stinky one. However, we’d given him plenty of money to sway his decision and bought his cooperation, even though we knew it was an unreasonable demand.

The goshawk was no longer on our trail. It should have still been tracking the ship loaded with fish.

It had been a simple trick. Jess used her specialty magic to manifest cloth and cotton before crafting plush toys of herself and me. Only their general colors and silhouettes matched us, so perhaps calling them decoys would be more accurate. We left them on seats visible from the sky before the real Jess and I alighted the ship while using a fish barrel as a cover. To be more precise, it had been our literal cover—we’d crammed ourselves into a barrel filled with fish, which had then been unloaded as cargo as per our request.

Jess had more than plenty of money from the royal court. In the face of a small fortune, the merchants had readily gone along with our bizarre proposal. Thanks to that, we currently reeked of fish from head to toe.

Since it was a carriage without a roof, we huddled at the bottom of the seats and covered ourselves with a cloth to avoid avian surveillance from above. Possibly because she was hesitant to soil the seats, Jess was sitting right next to me, hugging her knees, instead of moving to a more comfortable place or posture.

“This version of you with a fishy smell has got its own sort of charm and beauty,” I mused. “Usually, only delightful fragrances waft off you, so... How do I put this...? It’s different and novel, and that unexpected mismatch is intriguing.”

“...You are a pervert, I see.” At point-blank range, she whispered that with genuine, heartfelt disdain in her expression, and my pulse began quickening with excitement.

“Please treat me like a lowly pig and humiliate me more.”

“That’ll make you happy, so I won’t.”

Aw. What a shame.

On the carriage wagon that rattled rhythmically, we weren’t able to see anything due to our cloth camouflage. Chatting was about the only way we could pass the time.

Jess asked, “Did we have to go as far as to stow away inside barrels? Surely sneaking off the boat with cloth coverings would have been enough.”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “Birds are smart. I mean, yeah, there’s a chance that it might’ve overlooked us with a measure as simple as that, but the risk of it seeing through our disguise wasn’t a complete zero. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.”

“That’s true, but still...” Jess sighed. “My top priority is to get a bath once we arrive in Resdan.”

“You have a thing for cleanliness, huh? Well, do what makes you happy, Jess.”

“What are you even saying, Mister Pig? I’m going to scrub you as well. I made sure to bring a brush with me.”

“Huh, you’re always prepared.”

We impatiently waited for our arrival while rocking along with the jolting of the carriage. I had to wonder—why did our journeys always have to be rushed by some kind of time limit? It would be nice if we could enjoy a leisurely trip at our own pace one day.

The light leaking through the cloth’s gaps gradually dimmed. We had fine weather today, so the change was likely due to the setting sun. Little by little, anxiety began festering and eating away at me. According to Jess, Resdan drew water from the Bellell River into its moat, which meant that it shouldn’t be too far away.

When we got restless enough to start proposing that we take a peek outside, the coachman’s voice reached our ears. “Almost there! Miss, tell me where you want to get off!”

Removing our cloth covering let a pleasant, refreshing breeze sweep away the stinky, fishy air. Evening had settled in, and a gentle tint of salmon pink began seeping into the western sky.

Jess looked in the direction the carriage was traveling, and her eyes widened by a margin. I couldn’t tell what she could see outside because the wagon’s body cut off my pig’s point of view.

“We can get off around here, thank you!” she shouted back.

The systematic clopping of hooves fell out of rhythm, slowed, then eventually stopped. We climbed down from the wagon. After Jess paid a relatively generous tip for his trouble, the carriage went back the way we’d come.

I glanced around us. Jess hadn’t chosen to stop the carriage within the bounds of the city. We were currently on top of a small hill that rose up as the lone obstacle on a large, level plain. It offered an overlook of the well-structured cityscape immediately nearby.

I stared down at Resdan—the only citadel city left within Mesteria. As I drank in its whole scope, I realized why Jess had stopped the carriage here. This might be the first time that I felt I could understand Sito’s sense of aesthetics—it was indeed a beautiful shape.

A geometrical five-point star ascended sharply from the surrounding flat ground. The linear city walls formed acute angles, forming a shape of an incredible scale that surrounded a single city. A moat filled with murky black water traced the outer contours of the city walls. Waterfowls tucked their heads into their bodies as they floated lightly on the water, a characteristic scene around sunset.

The shape of a five-point star was apparently a strategic design for a stronghold—it eliminated all possible blind spots when defending from a siege. It was kind of funny and ironic that a cityscape calculated and designed for war had resulted in stunning scenery.

“It’s just like how they drew it in paintings!” Jess gasped. “I never thought that such a place could actually exist!”

“How fascinating,” I muttered. “I’d love to circle the entire citadel and admire it if we had time, but unfortunately...”

Time, sadly, was what we didn’t have. We had to find Shravis before the Liberators did. If it turned out that he wasn’t here, we had to start investigating other places right away.

Jess straightened her finger and pointed at the depression in the five-point star that faced us. “Based on what I know, the city only has one entrance, and it’s over there.” A bridge leading inside the city walls straddled the moat.

I nodded. “Let’s go. I’d like to find a lead before the night’s over.”

“Right.”

We ran down the gentle slope and headed toward the star-shaped city. Since we’d been in a vehicle all this time, I had more than plenty of stamina to spare.

As I approached the city, I realized that its walls towered over me much more than I’d imagined when I’d seen it from above. By the time we arrived at the outer circumference of the moat, the city wall blocked off the cityscape from my view entirely.

The bridge that allowed us access to the city was made of wood. Bulky chains attached to its left and right sides were connected to the castle walls. It was most likely a drawbridge. I doubted it saw much use nowadays, but when the city was under attack, they could cut off all paths of invasion by reeling up those chains.

We walked through the large city gate, a gaping hole in the sturdy castle walls. Possibly because soldiers were permanently stationed here, I saw guards wearing the signature red armor of the royal court’s army on both sides of the gate. However, they didn’t try to detain us.

The moment we got inside, I immediately began sniffing all over the ground.

“Have you found anything?” Jess asked. “Are you picking up Mister Shravis’s scent?”

I raised my head. “I can smell fish.”

“Um... I suggest we take a bath first.”

Resdan featured a public bathhouse. Close to the city walls stood a majestic building adorned with large pillars and breathtaking sculptures. Small clouds of steam drifted up from its entirety. Even if we’d only come here as tourists and not a pair in dire need of cleansing, it was an attractive structure that would make me want to check it out straightaway. Possibly because it was the evening, it was notably bustling, and people with wet hair walked out one after another.

Jess headed up to the middle-aged woman at the entrance and asked, “Are there any private rooms available for bathing?”

Before anything else, the woman stared down at me curiously before her nose began to twitch. She must have picked up the stench of fish. She creased her forehead. “There technically is, yeah, but it’s for the great nobles. You can’t enter it.”

“How much do they cost?”

Seeing how Jess wasn’t willing to back down, the woman inspected the younger maiden with appraising eyes. “Six hundred golt. If you go to the normal baths, it’s one golt. Go for that one, young lady. The pig can’t go in with you, though.”

The price was practically highway robbery. She probably had no intentions of letting Jess use the private room from the beginning.

However, Jess couldn’t exactly wash a pig at a bathhouse that regular customers also used. Possibly because she didn’t want to waste any time, Jess rummaged through her pouch. “Well then, I shall pay with these.”

The moment the woman saw the six gold coins Jess held out, her eyes widened. “My word...” Instantly, her attitude shifted. Plastering a smile onto her face, she accepted the coins. “Business’s especially prosperous today. Goodness me, youngsters nowadays are quite wealthy indeed.”

She held up one of the gold coins against the setting sun and scrutinized it steadily. Just so you know, doing that won’t change the fact that those gold coins are the real deal, I thought.

You get what you pay for, as the saying goes. Jess’s offering of a fortune netted us permission to enter the special bathroom.

The bathroom was an isolated building with a dome roof, separate from the main bathhouse. A round bathtub had been crafted by hollowing out the marble ground. Though the lady had referred to it as a private “room,” it was, in essence, a relatively respectable bathhouse that you’d find at a resort. As you’d expect for a facility meant for nobles, the interior was luxurious, and there was a sense of cleanliness to the entire place. Rich hot water—the color of strong black tea—poured out from a fish-shaped sculpture into the bathtub, and water constantly overflowed from the rim.

“It should be a moor hot spring,” I observed. “It’s a type of bath where the plant-based components accumulated within the soil are melted into the water.”

“How very interesting. This is my first time seeing one.” As Jess spoke, she’d already begun undressing herself. Today was black. “It’s a bit wasteful, but let’s leave right away after we get ourselves clean.”

“Of course.”

Before Jess could become completely unclothed, I turned away. There was the sound of her pouring water over her body, then the heavy splash of displacing water. I turned back to face her. The maiden was shoulder-deep in hot water and was rinsing her hair with the running spring water from the fish’s mouth.

Moor spring water was clear, but the color was quite dark. Deeming that I likely couldn’t see what was inside the bathtub, I approached her. I lay down right next to the bathtub—the overflowing water warmed up my belly.

“This water is rather pleasant,” Jess commented. “I can pick up a slightly sweet fragrance.”

“Right. It’s a homely smell that kind of reminds me of tea or leaf mold.”

“Agreed. I can see how you mentioned its components come from plants.”

Without warning, Jess climbed up from the bathtub with a noisy splash, and I squeezed my eyes shut on the spur of the moment. I felt the warmth of water running down my back. Not a moment later, the sensation of a brush was scrubbing me.

“Please don’t walk out suddenly like that. You’ll give me a heart attack,” I muttered.

“I’m afraid we don’t have time to waste.”

Jess must have been controlling the water currents with magic, because it poured down on my body incessantly. Possibly because of the inherent instincts etched into a pig’s body, being brushed felt comfortable no matter how many times she did it. With practiced ease, she rinsed me down from head to tail. For the finishing touch, she washed the back of my sliced and pickled mimiga ears, but that was when her hand unexpectedly stilled.

“Mister Pig, what’s that?”

“What’s the ‘that’ you’re referring to?”

“That’s that. Please open your eyes.”

“You sure I can?”

“Why do you think you aren’t allowed to?”

I gingerly lifted my eyelids to witness the color of skin right in front of me. I shut them right away. “Hey, it was inappropriate after all!”

“Haven’t I said countless times that I don’t mind?”

“Well, I mind.”

Though my eyes were closed, I could somehow tell that Jess was grumpily puffing out her cheeks. There was the dainty tapping of feet that grew distant. When I carefully cracked open my eyes, I glimpsed fabric wrapping around Jess’s back and gradually forming clothes like a magical girl’s transformation sequence. At the same time, the moisture in her hair gently vanished.

Jess appeared to have been heading toward a wall with a fresco. By the time she came to a stop in front of it, she was fully clothed again. “What caught my attention was this painting. Mister Pig, please come over and take a look too.”

I trotted forward. The painting featured a man with long black hair and a woman who wove her golden hair into a braid. Both of them were stark naked. They faced each other and reached their respective right arms toward the other party. The most notable detail was that the man’s arms were covered in black scales.

My eyes widened. “He’s a Lacerte.”

“Yes, very likely. There are legends involving Lacerte that survive in Resdan to this day. But...what intrigued me was this part.” Jess’s hand indicated the space between the pair.

Fresco painting was a technique in which pigments were applied to half-dried plaster. The space devoid of art was the blank, white plaster wall. It must be cleaned regularly because its beautiful, pristine whiteness had been maintained. However...

I squinted. “There are handprints.”

I could make out faint, brown handprints on the white wall. Specifically, a left and right handprint spaced roughly shoulder-width apart, as if someone had pressed their hands against the wall while facing it. Their height was around Jess’s head, and the size of the palms was also large. They likely belonged to an adult man.

Jess pointed at them. “Do you think this light brown color is the color from the hot spring?”

“Seems like it. Someone who soaked in the bathtub likely placed their hands on the wall here. So what about this intrigued you?”

“It’s rather conspicuous on a clean wall like this. I suspect it was left there recently.”

“Maybe one of those great nobles was admiring the artwork here.” That was enough to explain everything. I couldn’t tell what exactly had set off Jess’s radar.

“Assuming that it was made by a noble, why did they observe this artwork so keenly despite coming here to bathe? Not to mention that they even placed their hands on the wall—it feels like they were examining every single detail with rapt attention.”

I frowned. That’s true. I’m imagining the scene right now, and it’s a bit weird. Realization dawned on me right after that, and I caught up with her thought process. This painting featured a Lacerte man and a blonde woman. “Wait... Are you saying that you think Shravis came here?”

“I do. If he’d come here because it might be Mister Sito and Madame Wyss’s hometown, there should be a likelihood that the painting would remind him of the pair and catch his interest.”

“But surely there can’t be such a convenient coincidence.”

“This facility is situated at the most conspicuous location from the only city entrance,” Jess argued. “In the scenario it’s his first visit to this city, don’t you think it’s plausible for him to be intrigued?”

“But Shravis didn’t come here to sightsee, did he? He just picked a fight with the Liberators, and if our guesses are on the mark, he came to this city to investigate Wyss. I doubt he’d enjoy a leisurely bath just because he got curious. Of course, it would be a different story if he had a reason to get clean, like being buried in a pile of fish.”

Just to be safe, I tried sniffing the vicinity, but I couldn’t pick up any distinctive scents—the handprint person must have bathed, which likely didn’t help.

Time was running out on us. We decided to write it off as our imaginations running wild, and we walked away from the wall painting.

That was when, suddenly, a detail skimmed through the back of my mind. “No... Hold on.”

I recalled the entrance lady’s statement from a little earlier. “Business’s especially prosperous today. Goodness me, youngsters nowadays are quite wealthy indeed.”

It hadn’t felt too off when I’d first heard it, but her phrasing of “today” bothered me a little. Would she use such a word choice if Jess were her only high-paying customer? Not to mention the “youngsters nowadays” part—would she really use such an expression after seeing Jess alone? Would anyone use such generalizations just because of one person?

I vigorously shook the moisture off my entire body like a wet dog. “Jess, let’s confirm one thing before we head off to explore the city.”

After leaving the bathroom, we ran back to the entrance. The woman at the entrance widened her eyes. “Are you already leaving?”

I was a pig, but I didn’t plan on hogging the bathroom.

Jess asked, “Excuse me, but did someone happen to use that bathroom before us?”

The woman raised her eyebrows. “So you do know each other. I did think that the two of you seemed somewhat alike. Not to mention that you’re both generous with your money. Is he your boyfriend?”

Jess’s breathing hitched. She placed a hand on her chest.

Bingo. The person in question had a similar aura to Jess and possessed enough wealth to squander a fortune merely on bathing, and he was even a man on top of that. Though we couldn’t be a hundred percent sure about his identity, there was a high chance that it had been Shravis.

Without a moment’s delay, I sniffed the back of Jess’s knees.

“Um...” Jess squirmed, trying to avoid my snout. “Do you happen to know...where that person went?”

“I can’t help you there. I was under the impression that he headed toward the heart of the city, but I’m not sure where exactly he went...”

“I see. Thank you for all your help!” Jess swiftly bowed to her before breaking into a sprint toward the city center.

I assumed that she’d keep going until she arrived, but she came to a stop after only making a little progress. She turned around and gave me a look of scrutiny. “Why did you sniff my legs?” she asked.

“Well, we’re happily rid of the fishy stench, so I figured I’d go on the hunt for Shravis’s scent trail.”

“And how, exactly, are my legs related to that mission?”

I hesitated. “I mean, you could say that your scents aren’t all that unsimilar. It’s the same general direction, so to speak. You’re also related by blood. Not to mention that you made use of the same hot spring merely moments ago. Your scent would serve as a helpful reference.” I wasn’t going to tell her that I’d simply wanted to sniff her.

“So you simply wanted to sniff me, nothing more...”

Pardon me, but that was narration.

While Jess was aghast in the background, I sniffed all over the cobblestone paving around us. Possibly because I’d made sure to take a thorough whiff of Jess’s legs, I sensed one promising scent within the hectic hustle and bustle.

“I think I might have found a lead,” I reported.

“Really?”

“I’m not too sure...but let’s give it a go. It seems to be leading to the city center.”

I advanced while sniffing the cobblestone paving, and Jess followed by my side. “Where do you think he’s headed? Would it be Mister Sito and Madame Wyss’s past residence?”

It was a good question. “Sito mentioned that Wyss served under the city’s governor, right?”

“In that case, perhaps his destination was the governor’s home...” She paused. “House Kiltyrin’s residence was located on the outskirts, but in a fortified city like this one, it seems more likely to be built near the center.”

Oh, right. Jess was also a Yethma who served under a governor.

A fleeting thought occurred to me. Was it truly a mere coincidence that Wyss and Jess both happened to have served under governors? Both of them had successfully reached the capital and had been welcomed into the royal family. I mean, maybe Jess is an exception in this case, because she turned out to have royal blood from the beginning.

Governors should have political clout. Money too. Such households may have the privilege to purchase outstanding Yethma. Or perhaps it was the other way round—serving under the governors gave them opportunities to acquire knowledge and sophistication.

That was when Jess supplemented, “Mister Shravis’s grandmother—my grandmother apparently served under a governor as well.”

“She did?” And by the way, uh, that was narration?

“Yes. I heard about it from Madame Wyss. Apparently, our grandmother was the one who taught her magic. Like Madame Wyss, our grandmother was an intelligent and beautiful woman who was said to have reached the capital on her own merits. She was chosen as King Eavis’s spouse for that reason. Sadly, it seems that she passed away quite a long time ago.”

“Then that means for three consecutive generations, the Yethma who joined the royal family served under governors, reached the capital alone, and are both shrewd and beautiful, huh?”

Jess blinked. “Three generations?”

“You forgot to add yourself, Jess.”

Hearing that, Jess’s cheeks flushed just a little. “I-I’m not in the same category! Shrewd and beautiful aren’t words that describe me...not to mention that you entered the capital with me, Mister Pig.”

“I don’t count. I’m a pig, after all. Plus, you being shrewd and beautiful is an undeniable fact.”

Jess huffed somewhat sheepishly. “You’re the only one who would praise me like that.”

“Hey, Shravis said the same thing. Remember how he asked you whether you’d like to become his little sister?”

After a lengthy pause, Jess finally muttered, “This and that are separate matters.”

Seeing that she was slightly at a loss, I steered our conversation back on track. “I think I might be onto something. Shrewd and beautiful individuals are more likely to be chosen as Yethma who serve under governors. That’s why you have a higher chance of reaching the capital and receiving an invitation to become royalty. The royal court probably wants to establish good relationships with governors, so it would make sense for them to give those with authority special treatment on these matters.”

“I’m not quite sure about that. At the households of governors, we’re more likely to be given proper meals, and many of us would be granted pocket money depending on the situation, not to mention that they would give us the necessary education to fulfill our duties. That would lead to a Yethma with substantial nourishment and important knowledge that’s indispensable to seeing our journey through, which would have a great impact on our success. At the very least, they played a big part in my case.”

I nodded. “Well, that’s probably one of the decisive factors, yeah.”

Innate talent and the environment you were raised in—we were essentially discussing nature versus nurture. Both were likely equally important. It was kind of sad to think that the success of a Yethma’s journey had already been decided to a certain extent even before their departure.

While we debated about this topic, we arrived at a plaza. It should be the very center of the five-point star. I looked around—it was a giant circular plaza surrounded by lofty buildings. At the very middle stood a pointed stone pillar like an obelisk—was it some sort of symbolic object, perhaps? I didn’t know how it had been constructed, but it was huge. It towered over even the roofs of the buildings around us.

Five main streets stretched in straight lines from the plaza. They were arranged in pentaradial symmetry, which was fitting for a pentagram city. These grand streets divided the building clusters around the plaza into five equal sections.

One building stood out above the rest among the five sections—an enormous church with a domed roof in the north of the city. Even the height of the obelisk was no match against this church’s grand roof. Besides the church, all the structures featured cramped, angular silhouettes, and most were joined to their neighbors, lining up in rows.

“The trail’s heading this way toward the church,” I reported.

I followed the scent. Fortunately, the trail never broke off, and it led us to the rear of the building. Behind the church was a fenced-in plot of green space. It seemed to be a garden.

“This garden is huge...” I muttered. “I can only think of one contender that could possess such a large piece of private land behind a church that’s right at the heart of the city.”

I traded nods with Jess. We kept walking forward, and soon a magnificent brick mansion came into view. The day was growing dim, but it was dark within the windows. They didn’t appear to be using any lights.

“Do you think he’s inside?” Jess walked along the fencing and peered in with unease.

“Maybe. There doesn’t seem to be any signs of people...but that’s what makes it more suspicious, in my opinion.”

After trekking for a while, we arrived at imposing metal gates. I could see a small, shabby hut located immediately inside it. Was it where the guards resided, perhaps?

The scent trail I’d chased went straight into the gates.

Jess whispered, “It’s not locked.”

I silently nodded in reply.

With only a gentle push, the gates opened smoothly without any creaking or groaning. I observed that the hinges were made of metal—they appeared to have been maintained until very recently. So why in the world are there no lights on in the evening?

“Ready?” I asked.

The maiden stared back into my eyes with determination. “Always.”

It appeared the sun had already set during our little detour, and the garden, filled with trees boasting luscious leaves, was dark. I focused on the scent trail while Jess remained on high alert for other people. We rushed down the path that led to the mansion.

Our current situation ticked all the checkboxes. This was Wyss’s hometown. There had been handprints on the fresco. The lady at the hot springs had mentioned a youngster who resembled Jess. Finally, there was the scent trail that had led straight here.

There was a high probability that Shravis was on the premises.

He was the person we’d wanted to talk with for the longest time. But now that we actually had a chance to see him face-to-face in private, nervousness crept into my stomach.

Shravis... The young king who should have been our friend had practically transformed into a stranger. I could understand if he’d stopped at refusing to have a conversation with us. But he’d forcefully dragged away innocent young girls, sent a letter of challenge to the Liberators, and even burned down the royal palace. Naut and the others had taken that as a declaration of war.

We were reaching the end of the rope. If we failed at persuading him here, the battle to the death that we’d been dreading would become reality.

The front doors of the mansion, to our shock, were wide open. Within them was the gloomy entrance hall with a red carpet. It almost felt as if a shark was opening its jaws wide and waiting for us to dive in.

Jess and I cautiously took a step inside. There were lengthy corridors to our left and right. The scent headed right. We chose to progress down the right path.

There were no signs of life. The corridor was dark, so Jess summoned floating orbs of light to illuminate the path ahead.

We discovered a room that seemed to be a living room and walked inside. It was pitch-black even in here. That said, the twilight sky outside the windows offered a faint touch of radiance on the interior.

A sofa with its back facing us was placed in the room. Two round silhouettes poked up from above its backrest. Jess commanded her light to move over, revealing the back of two human heads. A blond man and woman were sitting there.

“Oh... I’m so sorry for intruding,” Jess apologized.

No response. In fact, the two heads didn’t so much as budge.

The faint smell of blood wafted over from somewhere. <<Jess. I don’t have a good feeling about this.>>

Despite my warning, Jess still went around to the other side of the sofa. I followed suit.

I was greeted with an unobstructed view of a middle-aged man and woman practically sinking into the sofa as they sat, their faces pale as a sheet. They were likely a married couple who had resided in this mansion. Though they were wearing indoor clothes, the fabric and the general appearance were refined.

Both of them stretched out their limbs limply, their mouths slightly agape, while their eyes were conversely closed. It was unclear whether they were dead or alive, but they were evidently out cold. The intense smell of blood appeared to be rising from the red carpet on the floor. It was hard to tell because blood was similarly red, but it appeared that blood had been splattered throughout the entire room for some reason.

A deep voice rang out. “Oh. It’s you two.”

I turned around. The tall figure was standing closer than I’d expected. Adorned in his purple robe, the broad-shouldered man had a dignified air as he stood. His golden hair, extremely curly, brushed his cheeks.

I could never mistake him for anyone else. We had found Shravis.

Despite all the things we wanted to say to him, we weren’t able to utter a single word—we both realized that dark maroon blood was trickling down from his pale right hand. We froze in horror.

“Go back.” His voice was frigid, not holding even a hint of his former kindness. “I have no business with you two, and you can’t change anything.”

My gaze was drawn to his face like a magnet. Though his body was sturdy and fully developed, his face was alarmingly gaunt—he looked like the furthest thing from the picture of health. The emerald shade of his eyes was frighteningly cold.

“I-I...” Jess found her voice at last, but it withered under a single glare from Shravis.

“Don’t make me repeat myself,” he said curtly. “Go back.”

“...I’m worried about you, Mister Shravis!” Jess said in one breath.

Shravis ignored her. He turned his back on us and strutted away. Blood still dripped down from his right hand.

My heart fell. Seriously, what in the world happened to you?Where did the considerate, responsible, kindhearted virgin who doesn’t get jokes while still liking to spring awkward ones on other people disappear to?

A thick brick wall had surrounded the king’s office. An impenetrable glass wall had divided the Golden Cathedral in half. And now, a wall that was levels thicker and taller—which made both pale in comparison—stood between Shravis and us.

I swallowed. “Hey, Shravis... Did you do this to these two—to this couple?”

“I certainly did. I wished to explore the mansion, and they were hindrances.” I could only see his back—he didn’t turn around.

Is he saying that he killed innocent people? But...it’s better than not getting an answer from him.

“Why—Why would you do that?!” Jess exclaimed.

No response. Shravis’s feet kept moving, and he walked into the corridor.

“Hey!” I yelled. “Wait up, let’s talk. Just a quick one will do.”

We chased after his back. “Mister Shravis, please give us a chance to have a proper conversation,” Jess pleaded. “We’ve been worried about you this whole time. We want to help you with everything we have, which is why we came to this city—”

In the dreadfully dim corridor, Shravis stopped and turned around. “I see.” His expression was hidden in the darkness. “Then I shall ask you this: Are you willing to become my wife?”

“Huh...?” Startled by his sudden statement, poor Jess was at a loss for words.

“Say that you’ll become my wife. If you do, I don’t mind hearing you out.”

After a lengthy pause, Jess stammered, “Th-That was a joke, right?”

“When have I ever told jokes?”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. I’m pretty sure you used to fire them off relatively eagerly in the past...

Shravis continued, “I knew your answer from the start. You could never become my wife. You can’t even lie that you’re willing. That’s the extent of your feelings. You claim that you’re worried and that you sympathize with me, but in the end, your sentiments are all shallow and flimsy. You can’t even agree to a contract that’s only for show, much less sacrifice yourself for my sake. In the end, you don’t consider me as someone you cherish, not in the slightest.”

That’s all nonsense. There’s no logic in his argument at all. “How does refusing a marriage mean that she doesn’t cherish you?” I argued.

This time, Shravis ignored me. He stared steadily into Jess’s eyes. “I’ve had affection for you ever since our first meeting. I anticipated a future with you as my wife, and if that weren’t possible, I even proposed that you become my younger sister. You were the one who rejected me all those times, weren’t you? Why are you lamenting my rejection now, after all you’ve done?”

Falteringly, Jess weaved her words together. “You’re...a precious friend, Mister Shravis, and...and you’re my cousin! Is that not enough? Why do I need to become your wife or sister?”

Icy fury etched creases between Shravis’s eyebrows. “You don’t have the resolve to bear the king’s child or ascend to the throne, do you? You have quite some nerve to act as if you understand how I feel as a king—it’s arrogant of you to presume that you’re able to ‘help’ me, or so you say.”

Both Jess and I recoiled at his words. We weren’t able to work up any responses.

He continued, “Ask yourself this: Have you tried to shoulder the responsibility of the royal family even once? Have you ever attempted to tackle the duty of preventing a return to the Dark Ages head-on with your own hands? ‘Let’s talk. There’s no need to fight.’ These are hollow, idealistic words that you could say to anyone, are they not? Are you not simply tossing sweet words at me from a safe place where responsibility will never fall to you?”

“Th-That’s not true... I never meant to...!” Jess stuttered.

The maiden’s shocked look was pitiful, but Shravis’s words were nothing but cold, hard facts. Both Jess and I had been in a position where neither of us had to take responsibility. Even now, we were making our statements from such a distance of safety.

“I bear the title of king and the weight that comes with it. I bear the future of this nation on my shoulders. No matter how painful or agonizing it may be, I have always fulfilled my duties. But what about you? You’re all smiles to anyone and everyone, generously scattering your kindness and getting others’ hopes up, but you never attempt to step into my boundary!”

He must be venting all his pent-up frustration in one go. Shravis’s words flowed without faltering. “If you had become my sister, I would have listened to you as much as you’d liked. If you had the resolve to succeed the throne, I would have treated you as an equal. But you didn’t do any of that. You rejected me. You pushed me away. How are you in any position to ask me to listen to you after everything you’ve done?!”

Like a wintry spell, his words froze us. Silence fell over the dark corridor.

My mind replayed a memory of Shravis’s sudden proposal back in the ancient castle on fire.

“Will you be my sister?”

“I’m not joking. I’m making an earnest proposal.”

“If the worst-case scenario ever comes to pass, Jess...could you succeed the throne after me?”

Jess had the same divine blood running in her veins—a lineage that had guaranteed mighty magical abilities and had upheld the king’s authority for a century. Now, Jess was the lone person in all of Mesteria who shared it with Shravis.

Despite that, I hadn’t even taken his proposal to Jess seriously. Ignorant of the fact that it was a matter of grave concern to Shravis, I’d laughed it off as a frivolous joke.

I couldn’t refute his statements. We’d refused to shoulder the same responsibility with Shravis. The words of consideration we irresponsibly threw at him in our position had instead transformed into hard pebbles that ruthlessly pelted down on him.

The one who shattered the silence was Jess. “You are... The Mister Shravis I know wouldn’t say such things. Your magic must be having a negative influence on your psyche. Please compose yourself first—”

Shravis cut her off. “Then I shall inform you of one fact.” He lit up a crimson fire that hovered above his bloody right hand. A shadow, cast in the opposite direction of the natural light, was etched into his chiseled features, emphasizing the impassive expression on his face, which reminded me of a sculpture. “I have never been saner in my life.”

Turning on his heel, Shravis marched off into the distance. The flame illuminated his right hand, and I could see blood continuously trickling down from it. I chased after him. I had to persist with our negotiation one way or another.

My mind raced as I searched for a topic. “Do you realize the implications of your actions? After what you’ve done and sending that letter, Naut and the others are seriously going to come after your life. It won’t be a threat or a simple quarrel. They are truly going to come and kill you.”

“I’m aware. The fact that the two of you arrived earlier means that their fellows should likely arrive before the night is over.”

His estimate was probably accurate. We’d managed to evade the goshawk’s surveillance, but we’d ended up leaving a considerable number of clues in our wake. A girl with a pig companion stood out like a sore thumb. If they were to invest their efforts into investigating people affiliated with carriages and ships, they should be able to identify our destination relatively quickly.

That was the exact reason I had to hurry up and persuade Shravis.

I searched for the right words. “What are you even thinking? Surely you aren’t planning on fighting them for real, right? Come on, how about we all talk this out properly before we do anything rash?”

“I have prepared a fitting occasion and left the timing in their hands. I plan to settle this one final time, fair and square, the next time we meet. One side will perish while the other will claim this country. It’s as simple as that, isn’t it?”

“Don’t be silly. There’s no need to go to such extremes. Don’t start a battle to the death.”

“There isn’t a world where they would forgive my actions. Meanwhile, so long as they’re alive, I can’t confidently continue my rule as king. We have to decide who is the just one between the two of us. All I did was set up an appropriate situation for our confrontation. If they take the initiative to come to me, I will respond in kind and kill them with everything I have.”

“That’s too hasty. Let’s all take a seat, calm down, and talk. There’s still ti—”

Abruptly, there was a clamping pressure on my snout and mouth, as if someone had gripped it violently with a claw. I couldn’t move my mouth at all, and my exhale that lost its destination produced a wretched snort in my pig snout.

“Silence,” he said coldly. “The two of you ask me to stop in my tracks—to reconsider. But I’ve had this much time on my hands. Do you truly think I haven’t halted or reconsidered at least once? Do you think of me as such a fool that I would charge blindly ahead due to some shallow, one-sided presumptions?”

I couldn’t respond. Being physically unable to speak was one reason, but that wasn’t all. My consciousness faded, and flickering stars began to fall before my eyes. The pressure prevented me from breathing, and I was beginning to suffer from oxygen shortage.

“Mister Shravis!” Jess swiftly waved down her hand, and Shravis’s left hand jumped a little, as if an invisible force had flicked it away.

Instantly, my nose and mouth were released. I sucked in a deep breath.

It seemed that he’d been maintaining his fire in his right hand while magically closing my mouth with his left. Jess had intercepted it with her own spell and negated its effects. Not a second later, Jess gasped with a start and pressed down on the hand she’d swung down.

An ill-natured smile took over Shravis’s lips. “That is exactly what war looks like.”

Shravis waved his repelled left hand and manifested a small silver knife within his left palm. I tensed up, bracing myself for whatever he might do next. Without a sliver of hesitation, his left hand swung the blade, which stabbed mercilessly into his own right wrist.

An indescribable sound between a horrified gasp and a strangled scream tore out from Jess’s throat. Shravis’s expression didn’t so much as twitch as he tossed the bloodied small knife onto the ground. The blood dripping down from his right hand grew more copious.

“What are you doing?” Jess whispered. “Why are you harming your own body like that?”

She must have intended to heal Shravis, because Jess ran up to his side. But to my outrage, Shravis sent Jess flying with a swift swing of his left hand. The shock wave of his magic violently slammed her frame against the ground.

“Jess! Are you okay?!” I frantically shouted.

“I’m all right. But Mister Shravis is...” Her hair was utterly disheveled, and she didn’t make a move to tug out the locks that had fallen into the corner of her mouth as she sat up. The ground was covered with carpet—she didn’t look like she was injured.

Still, how dare he? How dare he do that to Jess?!

I turned around vigorously to glare at the man. Meanwhile, Shravis had come to a stop farther down the corridor at a slight distance from us. He stared unblinkingly down at the ground, which was illuminated by his right-hand flame. Did he find something?

“It can’t be...” Next to me, Jess muttered under her breath. “Is that what he meant by the location of her heart?”

What’s she so surprised at? How does the location of Wyss’s heart come into all this?

The maiden’s gaze was glued to Shravis’s right hand. Dark red blood dripped down onto the carpet from the fresh gash. And then...mind-bogglingly, the opposite began to happen. Droplets of red liquid floated up from the carpet and attempted to return to Shravis’s left hand. Seriously, what is he doing?

In summary, he’d cut his own wrist, allowed the blood to fall onto the carpet, then retrieved it by making it float with magic. It was rather odd. The floating blood gathered on top of his left palm and formed a small sphere.

I heard Jess cry out in alarm. “Mister Shravis, no! You mustn’t—”

Her attempts to stop him were brushed aside. Shravis swallowed the suspended sphere of blood in one gulp.

The fire vanished. Within the darkness, both of the man’s arms dangled down limply, and he hung his head.

I turned to the only other person who could make sense of the situation. “Jess, what’s going on? What kind of ritual is he performing?”

“It isn’t a ritual...” Jess nervously gulped. “He wishes to perform soul magic.”

I blinked. “Soul magic?”

Those words revived a now distant memory. Soul magic was a taboo branch of magic that Jess had apparently used to resurrect me after I’d jumped off a cliff. Right, now that she reminds me, I think she did mention something along the lines of detaching my spirit using my blood, or that it’s necessary to use a part of your target’s body or blood for soul magic.

Recalling the definition of the term didn’t help my confusion. “But what is he using soul magic for?”

“I must stop him!” Jess sprinted over to Shravis’s side. However, she ran into an invisible barrier again and fell onto her bottom.

“Don’t get in my way,” Shravis muttered, still casting down his eyes.

I rapidly fired off two consecutive questions. “Jess, what’s Shravis doing? How is soul magic involved?”

As she climbed to her feet, Jess kindly informed me. “Soul magic involves using the caster’s blood as a medium to create a corpse potion, in which you mix a part of the deceased’s body, before...the caster drinks it. If your target’s spirit remains in the world of the living and the caster has the innate talent for this branch of magic, it’s possible to materialize your target’s spirit to a certain degree.”

“Materializing someone’s spirit? What does that mean?”

Jess hesitated. “Um, in short, you would be able to communicate with the spirit in question.”

Shravis moved. Ever so slowly, he crouched—no, knelt—down.

I could faintly make out a large clump in front of Shravis down the dark corridor. This something was vibrating minutely, as if trembling.

“Are you able to speak?” Shravis asked gently. Respectfully.

The clump responded, “Augh... Urrrgh...”

When I heard what sounded like its pained groan, I was taken aback. I recognized that voice; it was Wyss’s voice. So that means a part of Wyss’s body is in a place like this? What? That was when I realized what the crimson carpet held—Wyss’s blood.

To sum it up, Shravis had found Wyss’s—Maryess’s—blood that had seeped into this carpet long ago, mixed it with his own, and drank it in an attempt to communicate with her.

Silently, Shravis rose to his feet. He lit up a fire above his right hand. By the time the light shone on the corridor, the clump-like thing was no longer in sight.

“Mister Shravis... Why?” Jess softly asked.

“Did you think that you’re the lone exception who can wield and master soul magic? Remember that I was the one who told you about the books on this topic.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “Have you perhaps...already tried it several times?”

The king replied matter-of-factly, as if reporting the results of an experiment. “I have. Many times. With mother’s remains back in the capital. But it hasn’t succeeded even once.” He paused. “The cause was evident. A person has a single soul, and it can dwell in only one place. If I wish to summon mother with soul magic, I would achieve it at the place where she left her heart behind after her death, and nowhere else. Her heart didn’t reside within her remains.”

That was when an even darker shadow fell upon his features. “I should have known—mother didn’t leave her heart behind anywhere within the royal capital. She apparently first encountered Sito here. I thought that using her traces left behind here had the highest potential of success, but alas...”

Shravis produced a new petite knife in his left hand. Before I could even stop him, he ruthlessly stabbed it into his right wrist again. More dark maroon blood oozed down.

“No! Please, stop it!” Jess pleaded. “If you lose that much blood... If you use soul magic—”

“Are you in a position to criticize me?”

That single sentence was enough to knock all the words out of Jess’s throat. Shravis began wandering down the corridor, splattering blood onto the ground as he went. It was as if he were possessed.

I turned to face the maiden. “Jess, what’s he talking about?”

Her mouth remained sealed even after hearing my question. Shravis turned around to glance at her. “Have you not told him yet? You haven’t told him what you did? Or the price of soul magic?”

Jess’s eyes widened. Her lips trembled with panic. “Mister Shravis...”

Seeing that, another sardonic smile wormed onto Shravis’s lips. “I see. So you were keeping it secret from him.”

“No! Please don’t tell him!”

I looked back and forth between the pair. “About what?”

I had a sinking feeling in my gut. There was a secret that Jess was desperately trying to keep from me. Something was telling me that I had to know—but at the same time, there was nothing I wanted to stay more ignorant of.

Shravis leisurely returned to our end of the corridor. The flame blazing over his bloody right hand illuminated his expression that overflowed with malice. “Soul magic isn’t a convenient technique that can resurrect the dead. It’s a primordial art that precedes magic—it refers to pure, equivalent exchanges between two spirits. The bigger the wish it grants, the more the caster will lose from their soul and body.”

“Mister Shravis, please, no...” Jess’s tone shifted from firm to pleading. “Anything but this...”

The man, however, looked like he wasn’t fazed in the least. “If it were an ordinary person, the price they pay might be something as innocuous as a broken mind. But if the user is a mage, the compensation will directly affect their life. This is especially true for those with powerful magic.”

I could only stare at him, stunned. I wasn’t able to digest the words “affect their life.” Everyone knew that Shravis was a powerful mage—and so was Jess.

Next to me, Jess wept as she continued to plead with him, but I wasn’t able to block my ears.

Jess didn’t wish for me to learn of it. The right thing to do probably was to turn on my heel and leave the vicinity. Yet, my body refused to move. Shravis’s speech was like bulky chains holding me in place.

He continued, “Are you aware of this? When Jess learned that your spirit remained in her body, she performed soul magic with her scarf that was soaked with your blood. Just like what I did, she mixed her own blood with the pig’s blood and drank it. It was only after she repeated the process countless times that she succeeded at separating your spirit from her own body. That was when you finally regained awareness.”

Right, I thought numbly. How could I have forgotten? Jess said it herself during our journey to chase the wishing star.

“I learned that if I used your blood, which was soaked into my scarf, it might be possible to detach your spirit with soul magic. The moment I heard that, I walked down the path of taboo without a shred of hesitation.”

“I did something very bad that I could never say to you, Mister Pig.”

“Mister Shravis, please, no more...” The pitiful Jess could only plead and beg. If she put her mind to it, she could probably choose to attack Shravis or toss me out a window. However, Jess was someone who couldn’t do such things for the sole purpose of protecting her own secrets.

There was a tinge of glee in Shravis’s expression as he explained, “To put it simply, pig: Simply by existing here, Jess’s spirit is paying the price for your presence and whittling away, even at this very moment. Eventually, it will likely take a heavy toll on her mind as well. And in a mage’s case, the depletion of one’s spirit directly results in death.”

My eyes widened. “Wait... I’ve never heard anything about this.”

Jess heaved with sobs right beside me. They were the most distressing sounds I’d ever heard.

Shravis inclined his head. “Jess likely didn’t inform you. But shouldn’t you have noticed a long time ago? Soul magic is taboo for a reason. Did you think there would only be gain, no pain? It wouldn’t be classified as taboo if you’re able to escape unscathed with merely joyous, miraculous results. After you heard that Jess violated taboo, did you truly not worry about her other than in passing?”

I should have realized long ago. I should have been worried about Jess. Now that Shravis mentioned it, he was exactly right. However, I hadn’t noticed, nor had I been concerned. I’d averted my gaze.

Narrowing his eyes, Shravis continued, “Jess has her own faults, but you do as well. Despite triumphantly unraveling all kinds of mysteries down the line—despite even exposing my plot and rendering all my efforts into nothing—you selectively forget the inconvenient truths.”

His pointed gaze stabbed into me like a dagger. “Do you know why Lady Vatis ended her own life at the youthful age of forty-three? Has that question never even skimmed your mind?”

I hesitated. “Isn’t it because her husband Ruta ended up returning to his original world around then?”

“Do you think that the champion of the Dark Ages and the founder of the royal court, as well as slavery, would kill herself because of a simple reason like that? You’re wrong. You’re too naive. On top of giving birth to a child, Lady Vatis performed soul magic to resurrect her husband, and their combined consequences meant that forty-three years was the longest she could survive. That’s why she forsook her own life and lay down in that casket. To protect the royal capital where her descendants would likely reside, she chose to detach her soul in her last moments and transform into a living corpse, reducing herself to a mere mana source.”

So that’s what happened... I never realized. And that means as long as I exist here, just like Vatis in that coffin, Jess will—

A voice cut that thought short. “Mister Pig, I’m fine with that! I want to stay with you!” Jess exclaimed at me with raw emotion, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Rather than leading a life without you, my definition of happiness is to live a short life with you by my side!”

“Jess...” I was stunned speechless.

As if entertained by our reactions, Shravis looked down at us ruthlessly. “What an impressively overwhelming love. You should rejoice, pig. Unlike me, you are loved to such an incredible extent.”

How could he say something so cruel? was my first instinctive thought. However, I should actually be thanking Shravis. My very existence was chipping away at Jess’s soul. She would die young—tragically young—because of it. Could I ever say that I would have been happier living in “blissful” ignorance?

“Mister Pig, please...” Jess begged. “Please pretend you never heard any of it...”

I gazed at Jess, whose face was drenched with tears, and nodded. “Got it. For now, we need to persuade Shravis before anything else.”

It wasn’t yet the time to lament and regret. The situation didn’t allow me to. The Liberators might be on their way here with the intention of killing Shravis.

These words were Shravis’s method of attacking us mentally. We mustn’t react.

Our top priority was to persuade Shravis to call off the upcoming confrontation. If I were gone, who in the world would act as the go-between for Shravis and the Liberators? Knowing Jess, Shravis would be the last thing on her mind in that scenario. Right. Persuading him takes precedence.

Now the question is, how can we make Shravis change his mind? How can we convince him to offer peace again?

Occupying my mind with that question—and averting my gaze from the monster called truth—was a much easier reality to live in.

I took a breath to steady myself. “Shravis, I’m thankful that you told me about this. I won’t particularly try to stop you from using soul magic. So please, give me a moment and hear me out.”

“Very well.”

Even though he agreed, Shravis began walking toward the opposite end of the corridor while blood kept trickling down from his hand. I took a step forward to follow him. Jess, however, remained crouched on the ground, motionless.

If Shravis considered us as obstacles and was trying to take us out of the equation, then this strategy was undeniably a big success. Even though we’d come to reason with him, he forcefully dumped a truth on us like an abrupt counterattack, throwing us completely off-kilter. He should be able to eliminate us with brute force, but he was attempting to put us out of the way with his mouth alone.

He’s smart, that one. I’ve always known. But this is a battle I can’t lose.

I made my decision on the spot. I need to chase after him. Perhaps there were things we were only able to share without Jess’s presence.

Shravis climbed up the stairs toward the second floor. I trailed after him. When I turned over my shoulder, I could no longer see Jess. Leaving her behind in tears was a bitter pill to swallow, but I steeled my resolve and addressed Shravis.

“Hey, Shravis. I want you to live. And naturally, I want Naut and the Liberators to live too. I’ll repeat myself time and time again if it’s necessary. Please, I’m begging you, could you stop this war? It’s still not too late to make things right. You can start by giving them a simple apology. And then, you can just have a proper conversation with them.”

“You want me to live? Why?”

My mind couldn’t process that for a moment. “What’re you even saying? We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Regrettably, I don’t share the same opinion. I’ve never thought that even once.”

His frosty declaration stroked my organs like icy fingers. It was hurtful to hear him say that. “...That’s not true. I remember distinctly that you said with your own mouth that we’re friends.”

“I did? Well, you don’t have to believe what you say. I made that statement so that I could use you for my own gains.”

I wondered whether that was true. If it is...then it just means I was foolish enough to be used by him. I think of him as a friend, and Jess does too. Our feelings haven’t changed—and they won’t change. “Jess wishes for you to live as her cousin. I’m sure you know that.”

“Cousin?” He scoffed. “No, in my eyes, she’s no different from a stranger.”

“A stranger? Are you for real?”

Ire welled up—I felt as if I were the one getting worked up and stubborn, even though I was the person trying to reason with him. Meanwhile, Shravis maintained his impassive attitude to the end. I inhaled deeply to steady my breathing.

“Are you aware of this, pig? Do you remember how I showed you Jess’s diary before? To tell you the truth, there were pages I took extra care not to show you back then.”

...What’s this about? My heart was astir again, and my breathing grew erratic. I couldn’t stop myself from latching on to every word he spoke.

The truth was almost like a drug—even if I knew it was something I ought to stay away from, I couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

The moment he stepped onto the second floor, Shravis’s feet ground to a halt, and he turned around to face me. “It happened after you were sent back to your original world by my grandfather. Jess’s memories were sealed, and she began receiving education as my fiancée. I was told that Jess would eventually become mine.” His lips twisted into a sardonic smile. “And that’s why I tried to have her body as well.”

“If...you were arranged to marry in the future, I suppose that’s to be expected, yeah.”

“In case you were wondering, the meek Jess initially tried to accept my advances. But in the end, she rejected me. She shoved me away. Can there be anything more humiliating as a man?”

“...Stop it. I don’t want to listen to this topic.”

I had the urge to block my ears. An almost scalding displeasure began filling my belly.

But Shravis didn’t stop. “She wrote about me in the diary entry for that day. She said she did something she felt remorseful about, but eventually had to find her resolve and likely consent to it one day. Rather earnest and charming, don’t you think? I only showed you the pages where you were mentioned. But the others were filled with words that were, frankly, candidly hinting at a sense of repulsion toward the royal family. Has Jess ever shared that with you? No, she surely hasn’t. Just like the topic of soul magic, she should have hidden it from you.”

“Everyone...has secrets. It’s normal.”

“Indeed. And humans lie. Act too. With that in mind, I shall ask you again. Do you truly think Jess wishes for me to live? Do you actually wish for me to live after knowing my true colors? Can you sympathize with a man who attempted to snatch away the person you love and even tried to have her in body?”

“Those are completely unrelated topics. You’re deviating from the point.”

“I’m not deviating at all. I’m attempting to drag your deception out into the open. You preach and prattle that you want me to live, and those words are built on top of that foundation of deceit. I know the truth. I know that deep down, as long as the two of you find happiness, you don’t care much about anything else, do you? Meanwhile, I act for the royal court’s sake and won’t move as you wish. Be honest—you consider me the biggest nuisance in your lives, don’t you?”

“That’s not true. Get back on track. We’re talking about preventing a battle to the death.”

“Why don’t you wish for us to kill each other? Are the lives of the Liberators too precious to you? In that case, conspire with Jess and try to kill me right here. Go on. That’s the fastest solution, isn’t it?”

“...Like I said, I don’t want you to die.”

“And I’m saying that you’re lying. I’m saying that’s a big fat lie. I can see right through you. You’re also keeping some kind of secret from me, are you not? There’s an inconvenient truth that you can’t afford for me to learn.”

I fell silent.

A sneer curled his lips. “The Contract Stake has been removed from Ceres, so why hasn’t the world returned to normal? Did you truly presume that I wouldn’t catch on? The people who entered the Abyssus were you, Jess, and Naut. The three of you are the reason, aren’t you? And you are hiding that fact from me. I’m attempting to pin down the cause of the continued phenomenon, and to you, I’m nothing but an eyesore.”

“...That’s not true.”

“Don’t lie to a king. Once I take Naut down, no matter what kind of opposition you put up, I plan on digging out every last truth you’re trying to hide. I’ll do anything it takes to restore normality in this country. If you’re curious, shall I share my plan?”

I didn’t want to know, but I had no choice but to hear him out. The only way forward was to listen to his plan, then reject it. “What’s this plan you’re speaking of?”

“I will seal away the mages, the seeds of disaster, in the royal capital. I will end spercritica, which is a calamity in itself, and restore peace to Mesteria. Half of that has been accomplished now that the Ginnokis is complete. Be it the Yethma or the capital citizens, they are placed under impeccable control, and not a single one of them can sneak out of the city,” he explained. “All that is left is to pinpoint the reason for spercritica and to eliminate it. With that, we will achieve an era where all magic is under the king’s management.”

I was at a loss for words. He was making use of a mean-spirited sort of logic. Shravis’s operation wasn’t the future we wished for. But if I denounced his plan, it would be essentially the same as affirming his argument that he was an undesirable existence to us.

He continued, “How about that? Do you still wish for me to avoid the battle after hearing it? Tell me the truth—you’d rather I lose and die at this point, don’t you?”

Pressured by his vigor, my thoughts were scrambled into a chaotic jumble. “Wait... Wait up. How could you do this? Why are you refusing to listen to our words and one-sidedly deciding our feelings? I don’t think that. I would never think that.”

“Listen, pig. At the end of the day, the words of you two are inconsequential.” Looking like he was wholeheartedly annoyed, Shravis furrowed his brow. “However much you may struggle, your attempt to prevent conflict is pointless. I have my own justice. I also understand that the Liberators uphold a separate kind of justice. And tonight, we will decide whose justice will prevail through a battle. How is there any problem with that? You may choose whichever side you wish; that’s your choice. But don’t impose your frivolous, self-centered argument that you don’t want anyone to die on us.”

After making that statement in a curt tone, Shravis abruptly raised his face. Wondering what had caught his attention, I looked up at the ceiling, but there wasn’t anything in particular above us. All I could see was the darkness.

Shravis fished a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and opened it. “They’ve already arrived, I see... They were faster than I expected.” Tucking away the paper again, Shravis glared at the nearby windows.

I squinted. Outside, I could see the church’s domed roof that faced the central plaza. “What’s going on? Don’t tell me—have Naut and the Liberators already arrived?”

“I plan on using the central plaza as the site for our final battle. If you wish to watch the proceedings and results with your own eyes, I suggest the two of you go purchase some beer or refreshments and secure outdoor seating ahead of time.”

“Don’t say such nonsense—”

Before I could finish my sentence, Shravis broke into a sprint. But he wasn’t heading down the stairs—instead, he ran straight at the windows. Accompanied by the spectacular sound of shattering glass, Shravis disappeared into the outside world in an instant.

“Wait!” I barked.

I immediately prepared to chase him, but I could never hope to make it in time. I propped up my forelegs on the window frame and poked my head out of the utterly smashed windows. Alas, all I could see was the cityscape that had gone entirely dark with nightfall.

Hurriedly, I changed my course and returned to where I’d left Jess on the first floor. When I raced down the stairs, my hooves slipped on the carpet. I wondered how close Naut and the others had gotten. Have they already entered the city? If they had, there might be less than ten minutes before the duel began.

I spotted Jess’s back down the dark entrance hall. She’d already climbed to her feet. When she noticed my presence, she turned around and stared straight into my eyes. Tears were no longer streaming down her cheeks.

After a moment of hesitation, I reported, “Things have taken a turn for the worse. Shravis escaped from the second-floor windows. According to him, Naut and the others are nearby.”

“I see... What do you think is the best thing to do in our situation?” she asked solemnly in a subdued voice.

Hearing her tone, I felt a tiny bit of relief. She’d regained her usual spirit. “We don’t have time. Our only option is probably trying to buy time and persisting with our persuasion. I have a pig’s excellent sense of smell. I’ll find the Liberators. Jess, could you search for Shravis and keep trying to reason with him? Even if it’s difficult to get him to come around, just being able to stall is meaningful enough. He mentioned that the duel will take place at the central plaza, so I think he’s most likely in the vicinity.”

“Understood. Reason with him, huh...” She nodded. “Right, I shall do everything I can.”

“I’m counting on you. Well then, time to split up for now.”

The moment those words left my mouth, there was a deafening clatter at the other end of the corridor. Our heads turned in unison, and wariness crept into our shoulders. The sound had come from the living room.

Other than Jess, Shravis, and me, there shouldn’t have been anyone else in this estate. Is Shravis still around by some chance? He could have pretended to leave from the second-floor windows but snuck back in from the first floor. Why would he do that, though? Does he still want to attempt soul magic?

With Jess by my side, I marched toward the direction in question to check on the situation. We both peered into the living room—and it took a good while for us to process what we saw.

“That’s weird.” I frowned.

The couple, whom Shravis should have killed because they were obstacles to his exploration in the mansion, had vanished from the sofa.

Jess looked equally puzzled. “Why did their remains disappear?”

“Either Shravis carried them away with him, or...” I abruptly cut off there. One possibility dawned on me—we might have gotten the wrong idea.

I see. So that’s how it is. The truth is simpler. We took his words too seriously. Narrowing my eyes, I raised this question. “Was that couple truly dead?”

She blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

I rapidly fired off one sentence after another. “Shravis never mentioned anything along the lines of killing them. My exact words were, ‘Did you do this?’ and he didn’t deny my accusation by replying, ‘I wished to explore the mansion, and they were hindrances.’ That’s it. We were the ones who took things a step further and convinced ourselves that the couple was dead from their lack of consciousness and the blood on the carpet.”

In retrospect, the blood must have belonged to Shravis, who’d spilled it there to perform soul magic. That guy hadn’t killed the couple. But he’d still worded his explanation in a way that suggested he’d committed murder.

Why would he do that? Because it’s too troublesome to explain the details? But wouldn’t it be simpler to say he knocked them out? Does that mean he deliberately phrased it in a way that would lead to a misunderstanding? If so, why?

My mind was racing. Thinking back now, there were various parts of Shravis’s actions that I couldn’t accept. I mean, naturally, I’ve got nothing but objections to everything he did, but even with that in mind, there are several contradictory, uncharacteristically illogical actions that he took.

Why had he burned down the palace? There should have been plenty of other ways to demonstrate to the Liberators that he’d left the royal capital. Why would he need to personally destroy the heart of Mesteria’s government?

Why had he leisurely bathed after arriving at Resdan? A battle against the Liberators was on the horizon—why hadn’t he focused on preparations for war, instead becoming fixated on searching for the past traces of his mother?

And above all else...why was he acting so heartless toward us? What had driven him to say such cruel words? Why had our kindhearted friend practically transformed into a stranger?

I could feel all these unnatural dots connect perfectly with a single supporting line. With that in mind, I mustered up my courage. “Hey, Jess. Mind if I ask something?”

Jess gazed at me and nodded in silence. Her right hand quietly moved on top of her chest.

I paused. “It’s not anything too grave. Don’t be so nervous. I just want to know a small detail about the time I was away from Mesteria.”

“Yes...”

“As for what exactly I want to know, well, it might be a kind of intrusive question, but... So, uh, after I returned to my original world, did Shravis ask to do any intimate stuff with you?”

She looked puzzled at my vague phrasing. “Could you be a bit more specific? What sort of intimacy are we talking about?”

“How do I put this...? You know, a married couple’s kind of intimate, I guess...?”

Though we were shrouded in darkness, I could see Jess’s shoulders seize up. I could easily deduce that her ears must be flushed bright red right now. “H-He didn’t!”

“I’m not asking this out of jealousy or anything. It’s a dead serious question.” I paused. “I can take your word for that, yeah?”

“Of course you can!” Jess exclaimed, scandalized. “Mister Shravis never saw me as his fiancée from the beginning. He hasn’t ever asked or expected me to take on the role of a member of the opposite sex, not even once.”

“Yeah, I figured... I should’ve known.” I nodded to myself. “Thanks. I wanted to confirm things just in case.”

She shot me a questioning look. “Confirm what?”

In my mind, I reminisced upon the night we’d spent in Baptsaze—the night where Jess and Naut had drunk beer and walked into a bedroom together.

Back then, I’d assumed that Naut had taken Jess from me, and hideous jealousy had reared its head in my heart. I’d one-sidedly decided that almost all handsome hunks were douchebags. But that hadn’t been true.

“I’m confirming something so that I don’t make the same mistake I did with Naut.”

I had to save the explanations for later. Time was of the essence right now.

What I needed wasn’t to persuade Shravis, but to persuade the Liberators.

Even while we were discussing our next step in the mansion, the situation was advancing down a nightmarish direction with every passing second.

After I parted ways with Jess, I retraced our steps and checked the city entrance. The only gates out of Resdan were under lockdown—the folding bridge had been hoisted up. The residents had flooded into the streets and were making a big ruckus. I listened in, and based on the phrases they exchanged, Resdan was currently surrounded by an army. Not just any army, but judging by their wording, it was the warriors of the Liberators. These soldiers must have assembled here from the neighboring towns.

I continued to wander near the city gates and soon obtained new information from the conversations I overheard. The people of Resdan weren’t locking out the Liberators, but some sort of strange force froze the folding bridge firmly in place.

In other words, Shravis was the one who’d shut the gates. That’s weird. He should be waiting for the Liberators to arrive, so why? As I considered that question, his aim gradually became clear to me.

What Shravis sought was a duel with Naut and his close comrades—it wasn’t an all-out war against the entirety of the Liberators. He’d likely judged that if the gates were shut, only the select few elites centered around Naut would infiltrate the city.

The question was whether Naut and his gang had already entered the city walls.

I didn’t just sniff the cobblestone, sparing some of my attention to the wind’s scents as well, but I immediately realized that the overwhelming number of people near the gates meant that tracking down anyone would be a challenge. Avoiding the crowds, I walked parallel along the city walls. If they’re going to infiltrate, I think they’d most likely sneak in from the top of the walls—

That was when my nose picked up a faint, familiar smell that wafted over with the wind. However, it didn’t belong to Naut, Itsune, or even Yoshu.

My eyes widened. “Kento!” Even in the gloomy veil of night, the boar’s tattered dress stood out like a blinding light bulb.

“Mister Lolip...” he whispered in a low, subdued voice. “Where is Miss Jess?”

“We went separate ways. What about you? Where’s Naut and the siblings? Have they already entered the city?”

After a period of indecision, the boar hung his head. “My apologies. No comment [I can’t tell you].”

“Oh...”

I could understand where he was coming from. Kento was fond of Nourris, and there was no way he could forgive Shravis after the king had carried her off by force. He must be planning on cooperating with the Liberators, who were intent on overthrowing the king. And as someone who was trying to stop that scenario...I might be a nuisance in his eyes.

The dress Kento was wearing was filthy and fraying at the hems—it was in terrible shape. When I approached him, I realized that water was dripping from it. I see, so he swam across the moat. Upon even closer inspection, there was mud around his snout and dirt clinging to his ventral fur. The mud should have been washed away from his swim, so it must have gotten onto him afterward. I could tell that they’d located an unguarded opening somewhere along the city walls and had gained entry by digging through soil.

Naut aside, it should be extremely tricky for Itsune and Yoshu to slip in through that route since they were both equipped with large weapons. Naut, meanwhile, would be able to leap over the wall by making good use of his twin shortswords’ flames. There was no need for him to take the trouble to squeeze through a cramped hole.

“So you’re acting separately from Naut,” I said. “Did you come to scout the situation? Or did you come to stall us?”

“My apologies... I’m afraid I can’t answer that.”

It appeared that Kento was going to move as a member of the Liberators and nothing else. I had to win him over. “You know, you don’t have to worry about Nourris. She should be alive and safe in the capital’s underground area. That’s what Shravis said.”

“I wonder about that.”

“Hear me out. I figured out Shravis’s true aim.” Since we didn’t have time, though it was one-sided, I gave him a succinct and brief summary of my deduction. I tied things up with, “...That’s why stopping the fight is the best way to recover Nourris. Do you follow me? Killing him would only achieve the opposite thing.”

The boar gazed at me with his small, round eyes. “Can I...trust you on that?”

“Of course you can. We’re friends, aren’t we?”

He shut his eyes briefly before opening them. “I understand. I shall tell you everything I’m privy to.”

“Thank you.”

At that, the boar nodded in silence.

After a pause, I fired off the first question on my mind. “In that case, I want to know where Yoshu is. Do you know that?”

Kento answered without hesitation. “Yes. Mister Yoshu headed to the north of the city with Miss Itsune, to the opposite side of the city gates. Mister Naut infiltrated from our side—the side of the gates. They likely intend to use a pincer attack.”

“That means...they’ve already grasped Shravis’s location?”

“We have a scout [goshawk] in the sky. Furthermore, Mister Yoshu was also able to verify it with his naked eyes due to his spectacular eyesight. It appears that Mister Shravis is standing on top of the obelisk in the central plaza. I believe he’s able to secure an unobstructed field of vision in all directions there.”

“I see. Thanks.” I paused. “What are you going to do from here, Kento?”

“I...” After faltering for a moment, Kento looked straight into my eyes. “Truthfully, my role was to detain you and Miss Jess in one place. Ceres and Batt entered the city with me... I must stop them.”

“Ceres’s here too?” My eyes widened. “What are their missions?”

“They were supposed to take Miss Jess by surprise and restrain her.”

“Why do you guys have to restrain even Jess?”

“It’s likely because we can’t make light of her abilities. She is also an overpowered individual [mage]. It would be inconvenient if she interferes with our operation. We came here fully intending to win—to vanquish the last king [Mister Shravis].”

I see... Yeah, I should’ve expected that. The Liberators have taken it—taken Shravis’s awful, lousy joke—too seriously.

“How are you going to contact Ceres and Batt?”

“I requested to have a sniff of her foot’s sole.”

Stunned, I stared at him incredulously.

He continued, “[No] thanks to Mister Shravis carrying away the former Yethma by force, we are unable to utilize transmissions through telepathy. If I wish to send any messages to the pair, my only option is to track down their scent and tell them directly.”

“...Gotcha. I’ll find Yoshu. Kento, you go stop those two.”

“I shall.”

Sensing a hint of coldness in his tone, I said, “Kento, I promise I will take responsibility and make him free Nourris. The same goes for the other Yethma. And to achieve that, I’m counting on you. We will stop the battle tonight.”

“I am aware. Even if I can’t place my faith in Mister Shravis...I can put my faith in you, Mister Lolip.”

“Glad to hear that. Well then, see you again.”

“Yes.”

We, the strange combination of a pig and a boar, turned away from each other and headed in opposite directions down the street. I went straight north. Yoshu and Itsune were likely going to leap over the wall on the opposite side of the gates. It was the logical conclusion—that place was the single blind spot from where Shravis stood.

Like Kento said, Shravis’s position on the tip of the obelisk gave him an unobstructed, overlooking view in almost every direction, but there was one exception: the church. The church was taller than the obelisk. Which meant that if they infiltrated from that direction, they could sneak into the city without the king discovering their presence.

Meanwhile, Naut, who’d entered from the gate’s side, was probably going to challenge Shravis to a fight head-on, fair and square. Shravis was definitely going to answer in kind. The siblings, who’d furtively snuck into his vicinity, would then strike him down from behind. If Kento’s information was accurate, this should have been the gist of their strategy.

The role of dealing the finishing blow to Shravis fell upon Itsune’s shoulders as she was the one who possessed the golden hatchet. Therefore, Itsune was going to hide until the very last moment. Since she had to attack in close quarters, she would have to hide in one of the buildings that faced the plaza.

As for Yoshu, he would likely take cover at high ground that was out of Shravis’s attack range. From there, he would back Naut and Itsune up with his signature crossbow.

And Shravis... Shravis had foreseen all of that when he’d chosen to stand on the obelisk with an unobstructed view.

The countdown to the fateful clash had begun. The last vestiges of the evening glow had vanished without a trace, and in its place, a stunning starry sky hung over the ancient citadel city like an encompassing curtain.

By the time I arrived at the central plaza at top speed after finishing one more thing I needed to do, I saw that Naut was already there. He held his swords in both hands and had taken off his coat, revealing his light attire, which included a shirt that offered much mobility. He took unhurried steps down the middle of the main street toward the plaza. He wasn’t adorned in any sort of armor. Which was to be expected, because his opponent was Shravis, a mage who wouldn’t be perturbed by such defenses.

Shravis remained standing motionlessly on the obelisk’s peak. His purple robe billowed in the wind, but that force of nature didn’t sway his body in the least. The obelisk was notably tall, and the contrast made him look all that much smaller. Yet, he gave off an abnormal sense of pressure.

Jess was here too, standing at the base of the obelisk. She seemed to be yelling something frantically at the young king, but I couldn’t quite make out the exact content of her speech. Shravis didn’t seem to be lending her an ear.

Naut came to a fleeting stop at the edge of the plaza. Naturally, Shravis could see the swordsman, and Naut raised his head in turn to glare at the obelisk’s summit. Jess turned around—I could tell that this time, she was trying to sway Naut.

A chilly breeze from the northern plains galloped across the plaza, shrouded by the veil of the dark night.

The first to move was Naut. He’d dangled his swords languidly at his sides, but without warning, he swung one up in a vigorous arc. A great inferno burst into life and directly struck the center of the obelisk.

The flames flared up before scattering into nothing. For a single instant, the dark streets were lit up to a blinding degree.

Like wooden building blocks falling apart with a nudge, the obelisk collapsed effortlessly. Within the ensuing fire, black smoke, and clouds of dust, countless blocks of stone slammed against the cobblestone paving and rumbled deafeningly as if the ground itself were groaning. The city residents, who’d been watching over the proceedings in the vicinity, cried out in alarm the very next second and fled one after another.

“Jess!” On the spur of the moment, I rushed up to the scene. Naut hadn’t shown mercy even after seeing that Jess was present. Had he possibly deemed that she was able to defend herself? Or...did he judge the possibility of Jess being crushed under the stone as an acceptable casualty?

Swept away by the night wind, the fire and smoke dissipated. I could make out Shravis, who nonchalantly stood at the summit of the pile of rubble.

Next, I saw Jess. She’d swiftly distanced herself and was safe and sound. For the time being, I breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’ve finally found you, Your Majesty.” As he spoke, Naut plucked out a rista from the sword he’d summoned fire with and tossed it onto the ground. In one fluid motion, he loaded his weapon with the next. His glare was fixed squarely on a single man—Shravis, his enemy.

Shravis replied dispassionately, “You have my gratitude for accepting my challenge.”

It seemed that neither of them spared even a lick of attention to Jess and me, even though we should have been within their vision.

Naut stared straight up at the king supported by rubble and announced, “I’ll ask this one last time. Do you—does the royal court have no plan of releasing the girls you carried away? Do you have no intention of granting them the right to live in freedom, the right to lead lives where they wouldn’t have to be restrained by collars and constantly fear for their lives?”

Looking down at the hero of flames, Shravis gave his answer. “Not in the slightest. Granting freedom to those who harbor sorcery within their midst is no different from arranging the impending return of the Dark Ages. There is absolutely no possibility of me—of the royal court revising our current policies.”

“I see. Then there’s no more talking to do.”

“...It seems so, yes.”

Shravis brought down his right hand, and a silvery rapier manifested in his palm. It was a long and slender one-handed sword without embellishments. This might be my first time seeing him wield a sword. Lightning coiled around the pointed silvery blade like a cloak and fired off sparks that burst ferociously.

The young king took a deep breath...then smiled. His amethyst robes flapped like wings in the moonless night.

In the next instant, he was gone. I heard the metallic screech of sword colliding against sword and hurriedly shifted my gaze in Naut’s direction. Shravis, who had been on top of the rubble moments earlier, had already closed in on the Liberator.

The rapier, infused with electricity, was thrust forward sharply, a blow easily deflected by Naut. The lightning missed its target and scorched the cobblestone tiles.

Without a moment’s delay, Naut swung down one sword and slammed a shock wave of fire against the ground. A colossal flower of fire blossomed beneath the pair’s feet. Making use of the recoil, Naut breezily flew across the air.

At a slight distance, the swordsman landed on the rubble. He must have chosen that spot in preparation for any magical attacks. Now, Naut was the one standing on top of the obelisk’s wreckage while Shravis was at the plaza’s entrance. In the blink of an eye, the pair’s positions had been flipped.

Keeping his glare trained on Shravis, Naut bantered frivolously. “Well now. I didn’t expect a great mage to be so benevolent as to fight with a sword against a man who’s lived by the sword.”

“This is a one-on-one duel. Isn’t it only fair this way?”

“Says a guy who never even thought that I’d come alone. Don’t spout barefaced lies.”

On top of the rubble, Naut spread his hands, as if to indicate the buildings surrounding the plaza. Meanwhile, Shravis’s gaze remained fixated on Naut. “The numbers you have come with are but a trivial matter. In the unlikely event that you drive me into a corner, I shall wield the magic you are so eager to see.”

I scanned our surroundings. I wondered where Itsune was hiding out in this plaza. The area was flat—there shouldn’t be anywhere she could take cover behind. She must be staked out in one of the buildings.

During the battle, Naut had just made Shravis move to the southern side of the plaza. If she were hiding in one of the buildings in that direction, they could catch Shravis in a pincer attack, and...they might succeed at assassinating him.

My last ray of hope was Yoshu. I’d made sure to tell him what I wanted him to do and the reasons behind it. However, he had yet to make a move. Why? Anxiety scorched my bone-in pork ribs like tongues of flame.

Perhaps Shravis had ended up in a blind spot from Yoshu because of the mountain of rubble, which blocked his line of fire. Or...did Yoshu not believe what I said?

Hurry. Please, hurry...

All I could do was pray. If the duel kept on going, one of them was going to die. It wasn’t right—it couldn’t be right. There must be a way to settle this with both of them coming out alive.

The next thing I knew, my legs were running as fast as they could while I shouted, “Stop it, please!” I halted when I was between the king and the hero.

Shravis held his rapier at the ready. Naut gripped his twin shortswords. Both of them were powerful warriors who could slice me in two with a single strike. I could feel the intimidating auras of their swords from both sides, as if they were stabbing into me.

In situations like these, the body of a pig was utterly useless. I couldn’t activate «Starburst Stream», nor could I make use of Beast Breathing. I was delicate livestock that could only be slaughtered.

“Outta my way,” Naut demanded in a low growl. But I couldn’t afford to step aside here.

Shravis’s voice followed his call. “Don’t interfere.”

Ironically, this was the one moment they saw eye to eye. I was completely stuck between a rock and a hard place. I’d rather not be in such a ham sandwich, like, ever. Thanks. But this was my role. “For once, we’ve got both of you in the same place. Hey, let’s put down our swords and magic, sit down for a moment, and talk.”

Caught between two men who brandished swords, it hit me that my words sounded all too hollow. Naut and Shravis were putting their lives on the line in a literal death match. Flimsy, naive words that were soft and fluffy like marshmallows held no power before them.

Crimson flames flashed at the edge of my vision. The next thing I knew, I’d been sent flying by a shock wave of scorching heat.

My world turned on its head. I could hear Jess screaming, “Mister Pig!” Someone caught me in their arms. My body, struck with excruciating pain as if I’d been roasted, was healed instantly. I found myself in Jess’s embrace.

It appeared that I’d been blasted quite a distance away. I raised my head to be greeted with the distant sight of twin shortswords swirling in a flurry, almost like a dance. Crescent arcs of flames were sent in Shravis’s direction one after another. Together with the blaze, Naut leaped off from the mountain of rubble and swooped down on Shravis’s head.

Shravis immediately responded with his rapier. Bursting fire was met with pale lightning, releasing a blinding flash. The two combatants’ silhouettes vanished from my vision. A furious sequence of sounds followed as blade collided with blade.

An exceptionally grand flame flared up. Perhaps it had blasted Shravis away, for the young king landed on top of the rubble. The hem of his robe was singed, but he didn’t sport any conspicuous wounds.

When the flame died down, Naut was revealed as well. There was soot on his face. His hair was disheveled. He glared daggers at Shravis, his face the picture of wrath itself. If I were the one he was looking at, my body would have likely frozen up from his gaze alone. There was just that much belligerence within his overwhelming aura.

Though Shravis breathed heavily, he glowered back at Naut, appearing composed. He squared his shoulders, puffed out his chest, and held his chin high as he acknowledged his opponent with merely his eyes. The dignity and pressure befitting a king oozed from his form.

Even after crossing swords with Naut—one of the most remarkable swordsmen I knew—Shravis wasn’t at a disadvantage at all. It seemed that the king wasn’t just gifted in sorcery; he was also blessed with talent in swordsmanship. I speculated that he might be using magic to support and enhance his movements.

In the end, I couldn’t make a single difference. Neither Jess nor I was able to cut into the pair’s clash—not anymore. By now, the invisible line that connected Naut and Shravis felt like a raging torrent that even threatened to slice through mighty boulders. If you took even one step into it, you’d be in lethal danger. I could feel that on an instinctive level, for the clash of their gazes was fiery enough to rival the sun. Their intensity was enough to even knock all words out of our minds.

The deadlock didn’t last forever—Shravis was the one who made the first move this time. He shrouded his rapier with ferocious lightning before leaping swiftly in Naut’s direction. His trajectory wasn’t an arc like a parabola. Instead, he drew a straight, linear line across the air. And then—

Not a moment later, my eyes widened with shock. The mountain of rubble Shravis had been standing on detonated spectacularly. For a moment, the world seemed to move in slow motion, and a beat later, a thunderous roar that threatened to split the earth tore through my ears.

A question skimmed my mind. Why did Shravis explode the area beneath his feet? But almost immediately, I realized that it was a question built on a mistaken hypothesis.

A shadowy silhouette holding a gigantic axe rose from the pile of rubble. Cloaked in blinding lightning all over their body, the newcomer effortlessly kicked away the stacks of heavy stone before closing in on Shravis’s back at sonic speed.

I’d recognize her any day. It was Itsune.

She hadn’t been hiding in one of the buildings. Or to be more accurate, she had been lying in wait in a building, but when Naut had destroyed the obelisk, she’d snuck into the rubble under the cover of the flaring flames and the clouds of dust.

During the hero’s exchange with Shravis, Naut had nonchalantly directed Shravis’s attention to the surrounding structures. It had been a red herring. The overall conclusion of this battle had likely already been decided at that point: a make-or-break ambush when the king least expected it.

Itsune was covered in dust, and her clothes were torn. But armed with a Lacerte’s sturdy and robust physique, her body itself seemed to be practically unscathed.

Twin shortswords blazed with fire in front of Shravis. A greataxe shrouded with lightning awaited behind him.

Stuck in midair with no footing or means to change his trajectory easily, Shravis was surrounded on both sides.

This isn’t good, I thought in alarm. If the battle were decided here, the preparation I’d made on Yoshu’s side would become meaningless.

I heard a sharp inhale. Shravis noticed the approaching greataxe from behind, and while maintaining his posture from when he’d leaped down, he twisted his body.

However, the red-hot blades of Naut’s swords vigorously drew closer to him. Naut himself jumped up into the air and moved to ram his body and weapons into Shravis at full force—he was staking everything he had on this one attack without caring for the consequences of failure. The rapier was initially poised to thrust into the Liberator, but Shravis changed its course and narrowly managed to parry the blazing slash with an upward swing. The backlash caused him to lose his balance significantly.

The king and the hero tumbled down in one messy tangle.

Phew, Shravis managed to dodge all the attacks by the skin of his teeth. Just as I had that thought, realization struck me. Where was Itsune?

Itsune’s greataxe swung past Shravis’s flank and flew off in a wayward direction. Its wielder, who should have gripped tightly onto its handle, was nowhere to be found. She’d disappeared somewhere down the line.

“Ugh...!” When he slammed against the cobblestone paving, Shravis let out a shaky, pained exhale. As if tumbling in our direction, he landed on all fours.

Jess let out a small, startled “Ah!” Lagging a moment behind her, I saw what had drawn out that reaction.

Right next to Shravis, who was on his hands and knees, was the missing owner of the greataxe. She stood as if she’d been waiting for this moment. Her hands, covered in black scales, were wrapped around a weapon—the real ace up her sleeve, the golden hatchet designed to slaughter mages. The edge of the blade swung down, aimed straight for Shravis’s neck.

I was screaming before I knew it. “No, don’t!” It overlapped with Jess’s own horrified yell and was reduced to mere noise.

The greataxe that had been hurled in another direction stabbed into a distant cobblestone tile with a ferocious metallic clang. It echoed, as if someone had struck a gong, and before it could fade, another sound reached my ears—a subdued crunch.

The golden hatchet had reached the bottom of its swing. The angular blade cleaved through the cobblestone with ridiculously little resistance, as if it were made of butter, until half of the weapon was buried underground.

A chill ran through my entire body, as if an icicle had pierced me. No. This can’t be happening. On the spur of the moment, I shut my eyes. The last thing I wanted to see was the moment my friend was beheaded—the moment blood spurted out from the void between his shoulders.

Silence overtook the world. I couldn’t tell anything with my eyes closed. Gingerly, I lifted my eyelids.

The cobblestone was dry. There was no blood pooling on it.

The king’s head was where it ought to be.

Itsune’s hatchet had veered off course by a tiny margin and swung down right beside Shravis’s neck. She’d missed—but likely not by accident. Itsune wasn’t a warrior who’d fumble the most vital, decisive blow.

When I looked up at Itsune’s face smeared with dirt and dust, I spotted a single darker line. It stretched straight down from the corner of her eye to her jaw. She was clenching her teeth hard and crying without a sound.

Meanwhile, Naut had fallen over nearby. His eyes were wide as he took in the sight of Shravis on all fours and Itsune, who’d failed to vanquish the king. Since Shravis was still alive, Naut and Itsune, who hadn’t picked themselves up from their attack, were fated to die by detonation via magic.

Their all-or-nothing strike had missed. Judging by the looks on their faces, they were bracing themselves for death.

However, the situation remained at a standstill, for Shravis didn’t attempt to move either, possibly because he couldn’t comprehend the fact that he hadn’t been killed.

For a moment, all three parties were frozen in place.

Too many things had happened within the span of a few seconds. Everyone had been thrown into confusion and was probably trying to frantically wrap their heads around the situation as much as possible.

So naturally, the person who broke the deadlock was someone else.

At that very moment, the faint whisper of wind swooped through the plaza that had regained its stillness. Before my very eyes, a crossbow bolt, which had been painted black, clattered as it rolled across the cobblestone paving.

Finally, I thought with relief.

It was a shot by Yoshu. The bolt had hit the place I’d requested—the exact place Yoshu had aimed for.

A single drop of blood dripped down from Shravis’s face as he remained kneeling on the ground. Yoshu had torn Shravis’s earlobe with remarkable precision.

There was another whistle—this time, the bolt hit the target everyone else had been expecting.

The second bolt struck home on Shravis’s back, just slightly left of its centerline, before clattering onto the ground without sinking into flesh. If it had been a normal bolt, it would have immaculately pierced through Shravis’s heart. However, the arrowhead had been snapped off, replaced by a scrap of cloth—which must have been torn off clothing—wrapped around the shaft as cushioning. It was a bolt meant to preserve life, not grant death.

Itsune had cared enough about Shravis to falter about killing him. Yoshu’d had enough faith in me to fulfill my request.

Now, it was my turn to persuade them. Steeling my resolve, I opened my mouth. “Hey, let’s stop this.” I walked over to the trio, who remained stunned and still. “Shravis. You never planned on challenging them to a battle to the death from the beginning, did you?”

There was a pause. “Don’t spout nonsense.” He hurriedly rose to his feet and tried to distance himself from us.

I looked straight at his back. “Then tell me. Why did the bolts hit you? Explain the blood that’s trickling down from your ear right now. Explain the bolt that struck your back moments earlier. Would a mage of your caliber really neglect maintaining defensive spells during a duel with your life on the line?”

Shravis’s feet ground to a halt, but he offered no answer.

Naut walked up to me. On his way, he picked up the first bolt—the one that had torn Shravis’s earlobe. Then he lowered his gaze onto the second bolt missing an arrowhead.

He whipped his head up. “You owe us some answers,” he hissed. “Why the hell did you go easy on me? You summoned us all the way here—so why won’t you fight with everything you’ve got? Were you delusional enough to think you’d be able to win without any defensive measures? You even used a weapon you aren’t familiar with.” The swordsman vigorously threw the bolt in his hand near Shravis’s feet. A hollow clatter rang out.

Jess, who seemed like she couldn’t make sense of the situation yet, looked back and forth between Naut and Shravis.

It was my duty to explain everything. I had to tell everyone the meaning behind the many words we shouldn’t have taken seriously. I had to explain the outrageously poor joke that a king who was serious to a fault had tried to pull.

“Naut, hear me out.” Even under his deathly glare, I continued. “The thing is, what Shravis wanted wasn’t to kill you guys. He wanted to be killed by you guys.”

With his back turned to me, Shravis attempted to cut me off. “This isn’t the time to fool ar—”

But I followed his example and talked over him. “There’s nothing foolish about what I’m saying. I’ll explain everything.”

“Well then, go on,” Naut prompted me.

Nodding, I resumed my explanation. “Let’s begin with a question: What incited the current conflict in the first place? Both of you had fatally clashing opinions about one thing, and that’s whether the Yethma should be liberated, yeah? The Liberators want to grant freedom to the girls who have been treated horribly as Yethma all their lives. The royal court has misgivings about history repeating itself after freeing them, which could pave the way for a future of strife and war. Neither side was willing to concede even a single step on this matter.”

Everyone present—even Shravis—was listening to me with rapt attention. I hurriedly continued, “The Cross Executioner murders. Ceres’s incident. The Ginnokis that was enforced detention in disguise. These were all plots in which Shravis attempted to push through the royal court’s wishes and policies one-sidedly. The Liberators reacted with serious opposition.”

“Of course we would,” Naut said before grimacing.

I nodded. “Even extremist members who’d attacked the royal capital showed up, and that’s why you decided to act at last, right, Naut? You’d overthrow the king, Shravis, and rule over this nation with your own hands. That became the Liberators’ goal.”

The hero narrowed his eyes. “And? What’re you trying to get at?”

“The thing is, Naut, this isn’t just the Liberators’ goal—it’s also Shravis’s goal.”

For a short while, no one reacted to the theory I proposed.

Naut carved even more creases between his brows. “You’re saying it’s this guy’s goal?” He paused. “How does that make any sense?”

“To prevent the second coming of the Dark Ages, the royal court had to recover every last Yethma who was freed with the First Collar. But doing so would mean upsetting the masses was unavoidable. It’s only a matter of time before conflict brews.”

This was the baleful dilemma that Shravis had faced. Pursuing peace in our time would mean foisting a bitter legacy on Mesteria’s distant future. The Dark Ages, where millions of lives had been lost, would make its catastrophic return.

To realize peace in the future, you would have to shatter the peace in the present. Joining hands, discussing our differing opinions, and searching for a solution everyone would be convinced by hadn’t been enough. Someone had to take on the role of a destroyer.

I slowly exhaled. “That’s why Shravis wished to carry out all the necessary evils by himself, take responsibility for everything with his death, and for all of you—the Liberators—to snatch the country away from him on top of it.” I gazed squarely at Shravis’s back. “That was the decision he made, for it was the only way to seal away the mages and bring about peace to Mesteria at the same time.”

Even after hearing my deduction, Shravis didn’t make a move to refute it. This man was serious to a fault—he must have been frantically fumbling for a false argument that would logically deny my claims.

Before he could make any rebuttals, I continued, “It was crucial for you to seal the mages within the bounds of the royal capital with your hands alone and for Naut, Itsune, and Yoshu to take you down personally. Am I wrong? The royal court that tyrannized its people was destroyed alongside its foolish king. The great heroes of the people brought forth a new era. That’s the kind of narrative you wanted to weave.”

Shravis interrupted me. A hint of panic seeped through his voice. “That isn’t what I—”

Choosing not to pay it any mind, I persisted with my argument. “The sealing of the mages would be accepted by the masses, even if reluctantly, as the bitter legacy left by the last king. You wanted to demonstrate that this misdeed had no relation to Naut and the others whatsoever by making them kill you, didn’t you? You wanted to entrust the fate of this country to the Liberators, who would become revolutionaries who conquered evil and brought an end to the royal court, didn’t you?”

I fired off one sentence after another without stopping, and that was when Jess raised a point. “Then... When Mister Shravis tried to take the lives of Mister Naut and the Liberators...”

“That was a performance—of course it was. And we were fooled by his stellar acting. It was a big, fat lie he crafted so that the Liberators could kill him without hesitation. He must’ve also said those cruel things in an attempt to push us away because he wanted to be loathed as a wicked villain. He did it all so that everyone and anyone would jump with joy over his death.”

“I didn’t—”

“It was all one big joke,” I said firmly. “It was a lousy, awful joke that wasn’t funny at all. A joke that we mustn’t take seriously.”

“You’re wrong!” Shravis hollered, his back still facing me.

“Am I really? Then why did you one-sidedly send that ring to Naut? If you truly wanted to bring down the Liberators, you could have just gone over to their base to fight them, ring and all, right? Be honest—the only way to let go of the ring of immortality without arousing any suspicions was to make it represent a letter of challenge, and that’s why you did it. Am I wrong?”

There were yet other pieces of evidence—unnatural points that surfaced when I’d calmed down and thought back upon my experiences. “Furthermore, why did you burn down the royal palace? If you planned on returning to the capital alive, it makes no sense to set fire to your own house—to the heart of your government. That’s a last resort move that only a castle lord in a lost battle would do. That was a tactic to give everyone the impression that the royal court suffered a defeat, wasn’t it? You wanted to prevent the royal court’s injustices and bitter legacies from being passed down to future generations, didn’t you?”

The route he’d gone down after he’d arrived in this city had been perplexing too. One moment, he’d leisurely enjoyed a hot spring, cleansed himself, and took his time admiring the wall painting. But then in the next, he visited the household his mother once served under and attempted to learn more about his family to the point of chipping away at his own life.

These weren’t things you did before going into a fight to secure victory. It sounded just like someone preparing himself for death.

He’d exposed Jess’s secret involving soul magic to garner her hatred. And he must have crafted an absurd lie that he’d tried to put the moves on Jess—to make me hate him.

It was silly. Foolish.

True, Shravis had committed an unsalvageable blunder during the Cross Executioner murders. He’d tried to deceive the Liberators and us with lies. Furthermore, he’d even mistakenly killed one of the Liberators who had been infiltrating undercover among the survivors of the Nothen Faction. These were all unforgivable acts.

However, they were also actions that Shravis had taken while thinking earnestly about what was best for the world. I couldn’t agree with him, but I could understand. The Dark Ages was a ghastly era where Mesteria’s population of ten million had been culled to a harrowing number of hundreds of thousands due to the war between mages. He shouldered the responsibility to prevent such a calamity by any means necessary.

But that wasn’t something a single person could achieve. This man had arbitrarily taken everything upon his shoulders and was now trying to take all the difficult baggage of our time with him to the grave. I can’t believe him. There’s no way I’d let him do that, ever.

From between the king and the hero, I turned to one side to address Shravis first. “Shravis, I won’t forsake you. We won’t forsake you. Don’t get foolish thoughts like everything will be magically resolved as long as you die.” I turned to the other. “And Naut. Do you still have the heart to kill Shravis after hearing my explanation?” When I was sandwiched between the two with their swords lowered, I didn’t feel all that bad.

Naut clicked his tongue. “If everything’s going according to this guy’s hopes...I can’t say I’m a happy camper. That means we took his stupid joke at face value and got worked up to this point because we didn’t get the hint.”

This was when Shravis finally turned to face us. His pale complexion further pronounced the redness in the white of his eyes. “I—” Contorting his chiseled features, the young king yelled, “I’m not the kind of virtuous person you’re making me out to be!”

The furious shout was aimed at us, and its vigor was enough to shake the air itself. Meanwhile, I didn’t miss the tears that slipped down from his eyes. Shravis roughly wiped them with his sleeve, but his tears flowed down again.

With a click, Naut put away his twin shortswords in their sheaths that dangled from his hips. He took a step toward Shravis. “If you want me to kill you, then ask me up front. Lower your head and plead.” He continued glaring down at the king. “That’s what your father did, for your information.”

At the mention of his father, Marquis, Shravis flinched in surprise. To my shock, he quietly got down on one knee, then the other. As he knelt, he lowered his head before Naut. “...Kill me, please. End everything with your hands.”

“No, don’t!” Jess rushed over from the sidelines and wedged herself between the two. “Mister Shravis, let’s start over again. Together.”

As Naut stood before Shravis, who motionlessly bowed his head, the swordsman didn’t even attempt to touch the hilt of his swords.

What had begun as a ferocious battle had now transformed completely into pin-drop silence in the plaza. That was when I picked up approaching footsteps.

I turned my head—it was Yoshu. He must have come down from his vantage point after seeing how the situation had unfolded. A brief moment of eye contact with his sister seemed to be enough for him to grasp the gist of the situation.

“Don’t tell me—are you still going on with this silly charade?” His tone was the definition of impassive. “You’re always like this. You always decide everything by yourself from start to finish and convince yourself that it’s the only way, as if you’re the sole person in the entire world. You don’t even try to ask for the opinions of others—you’re shackled down by your own decisions and keep charging forward until you ram into a wall of failure.”

Silence. Shravis knelt motionlessly while casting his eyes downward.

“Look around you. Sis’s hatchet that was supposed to behead you remains lodged in the cobblestone. Naut hasn’t even pulled his twin shortswords from their sheaths. And as you can see, I don’t plan on killing you anymore.” Yoshu spread his empty hands. “If you still want to die... Then you might as well cut open your own stomach at this point and go kick the bucket somewhere by yourself.”

His words were scathing, as if he were giving Shravis the cold shoulder. I couldn’t glean Yoshu’s true feelings. He might honestly think that he didn’t care whether Shravis died or not—or he might feel that he’d seen enough to know that the young king wasn’t going to die regardless.

Either way, thanks to his standoffish attitude, things had actually become much simpler.

The many layers of tangled problems had complicated this battle—the fate of the Yethma, the fate of this country, the victor between the Liberators and the royal court. But in truth, it was a much more straightforward matter.

The question was whether Shravis was going to choose death or life. Really, that’s it.

The only thing left was for us to stop him from choosing death.

There should be hope. If he’d set his heart on dying no matter what, he wouldn’t ask for Naut to kill him. He was seeking out someone else’s hand because he had doubts—because somewhere deep in his heart, he wanted to live.

Ceres had once taught me an important lesson. The people who said they were tired and wanted to die were the people you ought to lend a hand to and try to keep alive. The words of those who said that they didn’t want to speak a single word anymore were the words you ought to listen to with rapt attention.

“Shravis, you lied to us.” I deliberately took on a harsh tone. When he was on his knees, Shravis’s eye level was the same height as my porcine perspective. “You tried to take that lie to your grave. You, of all people, should know that it isn’t right. If you truly think you’re someone who needs to die, then speak the truth with your own mouth. Prove that it’s necessary with the truth.”

From behind his bangs that had grown out, Shravis’s clouded eyes focused on me at long last. “The truth? You are but a stranger. I don’t see how I’m obliged to—”

“Listen!” I raised my voice, and Shravis held his tongue. “Do you want to die with that lie on your shoulders? Even though the cat’s already out of the bag that you’re the liar of the century? If you zip your lips and pass away here, all you’ll leave behind is the disgraceful reputation of a foolish king who only knew how to lie and bury truths. That’s what people will be calling you for all eternity.”

Inhaling slowly, I stared straight into his eyes. Firmly. Imploringly. “There’s nothing on the other side anyway. Dump all your lies and secrets in the world of the living before you go, Shravis.”

Shravis slowly looked away and rose to his feet, turning his back to all of us. His rapier slipped out of his hand and produced a noisy clatter.

“Can’t you tell? We’ve already gone beyond the point of no return, whether we like it or not,” he said in a low voice. “I consumed the last supreme treasure to vanquish the Clandestine Arcanist and brought about spercritica. I discovered the location of the First Collar, a guarded secret for generations. And because of that, the Yethma were left to roam as they pleased in the worst possible circumstances, where the world itself is unstable. Not only that, but I even lost your trust because I tried to smooth things over with my indecisiveness. These are all my blunders as a ruler.”

No one made a move to deny his words. Though it was cruel, it was the truth.

He continued, “I was the most foolish king in Mesterian history and a most foolish friend. I couldn’t become a great king or a good friend. As I held my mother’s funeral, I came to a decision—I would at least clean up after my mess before disappearing altogether.”

No one interrupted him. Even if I wanted to make rebuttals, a lump in my throat blocked off all the words I could think of.

“So that I wouldn’t leave mages unchecked, I started a project to seclude former Yethma in one place without exception. After learning that it was necessary to end spercritica, I tried to capture Ceres. Then, I decided to bear the responsibility for everything and...to choose death as atonement for the lost faith and the lost lives that will never be restored. So that I could entrust the country to all of you, I wished to fall at your hands.”

Shravis cast his eyes down to one side, allowing me a small glimpse of his dispirited profile. “Well then. Are you satisfied now? This is the truth behind the foolish king standing before you.”

I imagined the unfathomable weight that Shravis had shouldered as a king up until now, and my heart sank. It shouldn’t be his burden alone. Someone—we ought to have shared the burden with him before it had come to this. But we hadn’t.

That was precisely why I had to invest my body and soul into persuading him. “You say that things won’t—and can’t—go back to how they used to be. But do you really think continuing to walk down this path without stopping is the right thing?”

Shravis’s shoulders jolted when I raised that point.

I continued, “Think about it. Vatis’s protective enchantments have vanished, and the royal capital’s defenses have fallen. You might have planned on sealing mages within the bounds of the capital for the rest of their lives, but it’s only a matter of time before it gets invaded. Do you honestly think doing this—dying here—would prevent the return of the Dark Ages?”

I could see Shravis clench his hands into tight fists. “...I don’t. Your point is valid.” As if demonstrating his resignation, he shook his head slightly. “I even failed at the very last scheme I put together. As if that weren’t enough, you saw right through me, and I couldn’t even die a respectable death. That’s why I’m here right now, wretchedly alive with all my shameful deeds and dishonor put on display. That’s right... It was a failure. My entire life was a failure in every way. I’m certain that extends to my very birth.”

“That’s wrong,” I immediately objected. “It’s true that you made lots of mistakes. As a king—as a dictator—your path is probably paved with failures every step of the way. But I wouldn’t call your collective choices a failure.”

“It was a mistake! It was a failure! It was misgovernment! How else can you even describe it?!” he hollered.

“It was kindness.”

Possibly because he couldn’t digest those words, Shravis didn’t respond.

I pressed on. “Search through your memories of the Cross Executioner murders. You didn’t need to set up such a troublesome ploy back then. You could have simply shut out all the opposing voices by force, declaring that the demands of the Liberators are irrelevant, and that you would call off the search for the First Collar. But you didn’t do that. You tried to convince the Liberators that it was impossible to free the Yethma from their collars all at once—to secure their understanding to the very end.”

As a result, his plot had been exposed, and the Yethma had been liberated despite his efforts.

“The same can be said for the Ginnokis. If you wished to purge mages from this kingdom, there was a much simpler and more reliable method—to execute them all. You even had the power to achieve it. But you didn’t do that.”

As a result of sparing them, his grand operation to seal away the mages of Mesteria had also come to nothing due to the unexpected fall of the royal capital’s defenses.

He tightened his fists. “It wasn’t that I didn’t do it. I—”

“I know that even when you tried to capture Ceres, you gave orders not to use any weapons.”

All of Shravis’s actions had seemed coercive, but if you took a good look, you could catch glimpses of his kindness that he couldn’t fully hide. His caring nature was the reason his policies as a king hadn’t worked out like he’d wanted them to.

And there’s one more piece of evidence. I turned my snout toward Jess. “The fact that Jess is with us supports my theory. You announced that you sealed the mages within the capital, but she’s still moving around as she pleases. Why are you turning a blind eye to her?”

Silence. Shravis didn’t give me an answer.

I looked up at him. “The final nail in the coffin is this duel. You attempted to set the stage for Naut and the Liberators to take over the country—to the point of sacrificing your life, mind you. How can you describe this as anything but kindness?”

“I’m not... I’m not kind by any means...”

I shook my head. “No, they were all displays of kindness. It’s because you’re too kind that you weren’t able to perform the duties of a king. I don’t think it’s right for you to die because of your kindness—for such a kind person like you to disappear in such a tragic way.”

“You’re wrong!” Shravis roared. “It isn’t kindness. It’s weakness. It’s naivety. I was simply defective as a king. What would you even achieve by viewing a good-for-nothing king as a person? I made countless mistakes up until now. I made them all of my own free will. I’m not a kind man, not in the least. I chose to live as a king—I have never brought happiness to anyone as an individual!”

“That’s not true!” Jess declared with determination. She shook her head fervently. “You have saved me numerous times, Mister Shravis. When I was distressed by the heavy burden of my role as your fiancée after I entered the capital, you were the one who came up to me and said that I didn’t have to be so hard on myself. When Mister Pig threw himself off the cliff, you were the one who supported me all the way through.”

He was? Right... He must have been. Jess had never brought it up to me, but Shravis had been the one who’d stayed by her side when I’d been gone. He claimed he’d attempted to pressure Jess to take things a step further beyond a platonic relationship, but in reality, he’d done the exact opposite. He’d supported her through her darkest times.

Shravis slowly shook his head. “You would have overcome your trials even without my presence, Jess. It just so happened that in the royal family’s confined world, I was the one near you by chance.”

“I don’t feel the same way! I’m only here today, all thanks to you, Mister Shravis.” But it appeared that Jess’s wholehearted appeal wasn’t enough to sway Shravis in his current state. Seeing that, the maiden took another step toward him. “If my feelings aren’t sufficient, then please reconsider for Madame Wyss! Madame Wyss loved you with all her heart. She was happy because you were there for her.”

“I wonder about that,” Shravis replied offhandedly. “Was mother truly happy? I doubt it. Not only had she lived as a Yethma and endured years of brutal treatment, but she was even torn apart from her beloved and forced to marry a man she didn’t love. Within that loveless union, she gave birth to me as a part of her obligations. And almost like the cruel punch line to fate’s twisted joke, she lost her life for my sake.”

A grave, gloomy shadow shrouded Shravis’s visage. “During her last moments, mother left behind the message to become a great king—a distant message meant for a stranger that a mother could never give to a son she loved. And my late mother’s heart didn’t remain anywhere in the royal capital, no matter how many times I, her blood and flesh, sought her out.”

“That’s not true! Madame Wyss—” When she got that far into her sentence, Jess abruptly held her tongue.

We’d been sworn to secrecy. Whether it be his father, Marquis, or his mother, Wyss, they’d both taken their true feelings to the grave while keeping their son in the dark.

“The most destructive king won’t perish for the sake of you people, his wife, or his son. He died for his own sake as an absolute king.”

“Become a great king, my son.”

They’d been shackled to their statuses—to their positions. And accordingly, they’d breathed their last while leaving behind words they ought to say, not words they wanted to say.

Despite divulging a small snippet of their true thoughts to us, they’d emphasized that we must keep it a secret—for they had likewise chosen to end their lives as a king and a king’s mother.

Their choices had led to this very moment. Their one and only son was following in their footsteps and choosing to die as a king. It was just like a contagious disease. I personally thought it was wrong—this wasn’t fair. One anguished thought after another swirled in my mind, threatening to stir up my innards into a wretched mess.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shravis glanced at Jess, then at me. There was a different look in his eyes compared to earlier—I saw something akin to longing, something like the desperate, last glimmer of hope. “Do the two of you...know something?”

Damn. I forgot that he can read the narration like a book.

He asked, almost pleadingly, “Have you heard something I don’t know from mother and father?”

This isn’t the time to be respecting the wishes of the departed anymore, I thought. I responded with a question of my own. “Hey, Shravis... Do you honestly think that your parents never loved you?”

“Why do you ask that?” He knitted his thick brows together.

That was more than enough as an answer. Shravis truly—tragically—believed what he said.

He continued, “I was born as a king and raised to become a king. The king doesn’t seek out love. For love is meant to be given to your neighbors, while a king doesn’t stand among his people, but in front of them.”

Shravis recited those words, which he’d likely heard from someone else, as if they were his own beliefs.

Marquis, Wyss, and we were the ones who’d driven Shravis to this point. I have to tell him the truth, I thought. I have to tell him the truth that we’ve been keeping from him. The truth...that we should have told him long ago.

Suddenly, Jess cut into my thoughts and rapidly said, “Mister Pig, there’s something I want to try.” After gulping nervously, she turned to face Naut. “Mister Naut! Do you have that ring with you?”

Quirking up one brow slightly, Naut tilted his head. “That ring? What do you want it for?”

“It’s necessary if we want to communicate the truth to Mister Shravis.”

That threw me for a loop. Shravis hadn’t sustained any major injuries. He doesn’t need healing, so why would that ring be necessary right now?

Itsune, who hadn’t uttered a word until now, gave a clipped answer. “If you’re asking about that ring, we have it.” She snapped her fingers twice.

There was the sound of hurried footsteps running over. I recognized their owner, Batt, who looked up to Naut as his teacher and followed the hero everywhere. He was quick on his feet and often took on the role of a messenger or deliveryman.

Batt must have been listening in from the cover of a building, because he swiftly pulled out the ring from his inner chest pocket. “Are we gonna give this back to him?”

Without a word, Itsune jerked her chin toward Jess.

Jess ought to be the one doing the explanations—she clasped her hands before her chest. “Mister Shravis. There’s something you wish to ask Madame Wyss, isn’t there?” She peered down at Shravis’s right hand. Blood was still oozing down his wrist, which he’d mangled with a small knife. It was a painful sight. “But your soul magic didn’t succeed. I shall tell you the reason.”

“...What?” That clearly got Shravis’s attention, and he gazed at her. “What do you mean? What do you know?”

Keeping her cool to the very end, Jess began her explanation. “Traces of the soul linger within the deceased’s corpse, bones, and bloodstains. But the spirit itself can only dwell in one location—the place where the deceased left their heart. The location of one’s heart is where the spirit will linger.”

I’d heard about it too. That was why Shravis, who’d realized that the location of Wyss’s heart wasn’t in the capital after his failed attempts at soul magic with her corpse, had come all the way to Resdan. He believed that his mother’s heart remained in her hometown—this city where she’d first met Sito, the man she’d loved and was loved by in return.

However, it seemed that Jess didn’t quite agree. She’d deliberately asked the Liberators to bring over the ring— Oh. I see. She’s got to be right. Now that I thought about it, the answer should have been obvious.

Jess stared resolutely into Shravis’s eyes. “The ring Madame Wyss left for you is where her heart belongs.”

The ring was a memento that granted Shravis immortality. It was fitted with a diamond that Wyss had crafted by cutting off her own right arm. Her heart wasn’t with her cremated body back in the capital but with the diamond—her memento that she’d bequeathed to her son.

The maiden continued zealously, “If you doubt Madame Wyss’s feelings for you, then please test this ring.”

But a sliver of doubt crept into my mind. Why hasn’t Shravis realized something so simple? He’s never taken off the ring until this confrontation—why didn’t he think of the possibility that it might be where his mother left her heart?

I got my answer right away, because Shravis’s reaction was telling. “...It can’t be there.” Shravis looked entirely taken by surprise. “Mother... Mother resented the royal family. Despite that, she always told me to become a great king... Even in her last moments, mother, she...” He looked like he genuinely didn’t think for a single moment that his late mother’s heart remained with him.

“Madame Wyss always loved you, Mister Shravis,” Jess said. “She never stopped loving you.”

Shravis raised his voice, clearly agitated. “I used to think that way... I wanted to believe that she did! I thought that mother was the one and only person who would love a flawed person like me! But reality told me otherwise! After I took over the throne, mother never said even once to me that I could step down from it! She told me over and over to become a great king with the same mouth that cursed the king countless times! In the end, I was nothing but a miniature duplicate of my father!”

His bloody right hand pointed at the ring in Batt’s palm. “That ring is a curse. As you can see, it’s overflowing with a ghastly power. It’s the embodiment of a curse that will never allow me the reprieve of death—a curse pinning me down to the royal family that mother despises more than anything in the world.”

“It’s not,” Jess said firmly. She accepted the ring from Batt and offered it to her cousin. “Mister Shravis. You came to this city because you desperately wanted to hear Madame Wyss’s feelings from her own mouth during your last moments, didn’t you? Somewhere deep down, you still believe in her. Am I wrong?” She placed the ring on her palm, then lifted it right in front of Shravis’s chest. “Please. I know the truth. I’ve heard the truth from Madame Wyss. Before one-sidedly deciding her feelings based on how you think she should feel, please try using this ring.”

Under Jess’s unwavering gaze, Shravis accepted the ring with shaky fingers, as if overwhelmed by her vigor. Then, he whispered in a subdued voice, “It’s...warm.”

Blood flowing down from his wrist fluidly glided into the air and wrapped around the ring he picked up. The many gashes carved by a small knife were healed by the ring’s magic, as if shedding that blood had been their final duty.

Shrouded in scarlet blood, the ring vanished from my vision. Defying gravity, Shravis’s lifeblood formed a sphere before floating into the air. Shravis shut his eyes. He enveloped the small, rippling sphere with both hands before carrying it to his lips.

It was an unthinkably morbid ritual—the Liberators looked like they couldn’t process what was happening before them.

The phenomenon that followed, however, was even more unfathomable.

Shravis gasped. His head jerked up, as if startled. Ahead of me and across his shoulders, I saw a single woman standing behind his back. Her silhouette seemed somewhat hazy, but I would recognize her anywhere.

“What in the world are you doing?” she said with a hint of disapproval.

Hearing her call, Shravis widened his eyes with a start and turned around. “Mother!”

Wyss hadn’t changed one bit from the day she’d passed away. She was wrapped in a white dress and was missing her right arm.

Shravis tried to touch her shoulder, but his hand slipped through. She was but a virtual projection, bereft of a corporeal body. It was the same as when I’d been a mere spirit. When I’d traveled with Jess after throwing myself off a cliff, no one had been able to touch me other than fellow spirits either.

Without caring that he was in full view of us all, tears streamed down Shravis’s cheeks. As he looked at his mother, who was shorter than he was, the king wept as if he’d turned back into a child. “Mother... I’ve wanted to... All this time, I wanted to see...”

Seeing her son struggle even to form a full sentence, the mother quietly raised her hand to interrupt him. “I told you one big lie.” She sputtered, sounding somewhat frantic. Was she possibly aware that her very existence was chipping away at Shravis’s future?

Looking shaken, Shravis could only rock his head minutely and stare at her.

Her tone was impassive as usual. “Becoming a great king was the very last thing I wished for you. I feel responsible and remorseful that this lie was what drove you to the edge.”

I recalled what she’d told me the night of Shravis’s coronation. Her true feelings that she’d let slip in front of Jess—that she’d revealed somewhere without Shravis’s knowledge. “Please, Jess, please... My child is the only thing I have.”

Wyss continued, “As the king’s mother—as the mother of the man who would rule over an entire country—I had no choice but to tell you to become a great king. I thought that you, my clever son, would understand.”

“Why did you think that?!” Shravis exclaimed in anguish. “Why would you be pressured so much by mere status?!”

“After all you have experienced, I’m certain you have learned a vivid and painful lesson about the extent to which status can ruin a person.” At her tone that grew fiercer with every word, Shravis froze, as if taken aback. “You are the gift I was blessed with after enduring the toils of childbirth. You were the child I poured every drop of my passion and heart into, my child that I protected for an entire nineteen years. How could I not think of you as precious and dear?!”

“Mother...”

“The past is in the past. All the words of love I have given you since the moment of your birth were my honest feelings. You truly were my life itself. All of it.” After steadying her hurried breathing, she continued, “The situation has changed. You have already tried hard enough. You shouldn’t attempt to govern a country all by yourself any more than you already have. If becoming a great king isn’t something you can accomplish, then stop forcing yourself to become a person you aren’t. You can just quit at this point.”

“But—”

Wyss cut Shravis off, as if she didn’t want to waste a single second. “If the alternative is to die a respectable death, then I ask you to live an undignified life. That is my wish as your mother.” Wyss’s voice grew strained and began to shake. “I wasn’t able to tell you the truth until now...the truth that you needed to hear more than anything else. I’m sorry.”

Sobs began escaping through Shravis’s mouth, which had been pressed into a tight line. The only thing I could do was watch the parent and child from the sidelines as they tried to touch each other but failed every time.

As if kissing him, Wyss leaned into Shravis’s cheek. The wind carried her soft whisper even to my ear. “I beg you, please don’t destroy my treasure that I have cherished more than anything in my life and death.”

Shravis fell onto his knees. He cried loudly, undignified. The man who’d tried to perish as a great king was no longer anywhere within his form.

As if coming to her senses all of a sudden, Wyss raised her head. She walked up to Naut with quick strides.

Taken aback, Naut took a half step back. His left hand speedily pulled out his sword. “What do you want, you old hag?”

Possibly because that title hurt her, Wyss grimaced a tad. She took a deep breath. “Could you lend me one of your swords?”

Naut furrowed his brows. “Why should I?”

“You will know my reason when you see the results. Please lend me the sword you are holding in your left hand.” She lifted a finger to point at it. “Lend me the sword that sliced off my husband’s head.”

How does she know that? Not giving me time to really consider that question, Wyss gripped Naut’s sword with her left hand. She wasn’t holding the hilt; she was holding the blade. She should be an intangible projection, but her blood stained the silvery blade black.

Naut hurriedly tried to pull the sword away, but Wyss stopped him with a slow shake of her head. Blood poured out profusely. However, instead of dripping down from the sword’s tip, it all streamed into the air. I couldn’t fathom what kind of sorcery she was performing, but Wyss’s blood turned into mist, drew a peculiar pattern, then began floating in one place. If I had to describe the mist somehow, it was like countless flies swarming around dead flesh.

The next moment, a three-dimensional, shadowy silhouette, drawn by dark red dots, manifested atop the cobblestone paving. I recognized the tall and slender form.

The silhouette said, “So you inherited your father’s lack of dignity, I see.”

Hearing that striking voice, Shravis turned around with evident terror on his face. The arrogance in the silhouette’s voice could only belong to one person—Shravis’s father, Marquis.

“I shall inform you of one truth. A truth I have never imparted to you.” The dark red fog in a human shape quietly raised his right hand in front of his chest. “Do you know how I died? Do you know the manner in which I disappeared in the Abyssus?”

“I’m afraid not...” Looking shaken, Shravis shook his head.

“You must have assumed that I passed away with my head held high as a king. But I didn’t.”

Still kneeling on the pavement, Shravis stared up at the enigmatic mist that seemed to be his father.

Marquis continued, “Contrary to your expectation, I wasn’t able to return from the Abyssus. There is simply one reason for my failure. No one wished for my existence. Not my wife, not even you. Though it’s pathetic to admit, a man who no one desires as a person isn’t capable of existing within the Abyssus from the very beginning, for it is a world created by desires. There, I finally learned the reality. Regardless of the fact that I had nothing left but my family, I was unnecessary to them.”

Shravis gasped. His red, puffy eyes widened.

As if prompted by his confession, Marquis’s words from back in the Abyssus replayed in the back of my mind. The words of a man whom no one had cared about as a person, as a husband, or as a father. “But you don’t need me. You need my power. I knew that a long time ago. That’s the way of life I chose as a king.”

“I thought that if I remained trapped in that wicked mage’s heart, my magic would kill you all. Which was why I begged and groveled in an unseemly manner at the swordsman over there, pleading with him to kill me.”

The hand of black fog pointed at Naut. When he lowered it, Marquis’s incomplete form wavered, a testament to how unstable his existence was. “What filled my heart during my last moments and brought me peace wasn’t my duty as a king or my pride as the most destructive mage of Mesteria. It was my brother, who should have hated me, but instead sacrificed his life to protect me. It was my wife, who still brewed tea for me with kindness, even though I burned innocent girls to death. It was you who strived tirelessly during combat training, despite wearing reluctance on your face.”

“Father...”

“Parent and child tend to become strikingly similar in one way or another, almost terrifyingly so. I shall say this with that in mind. Don’t become a man like me.”

While the dark red shadow talked, Wyss’s spirit gazed at Shravis without a word. She didn’t so much as spare a glance at her husband, whom she’d manifested with her own blood, fixing her unblinking stare on her son alone, as if she didn’t want to miss even one second.

Likewise, Marquis’s shadow seemed to look straight at Shravis and no one else. The pair who’d never loved each other were now facing the same direction for once.

The former king said, “So long as you follow in your father’s footsteps, you will end up treading the same path as I did. Choose a different path. Don’t aim for a hollow, flimsy fantasy like an absolute king. You may possess the greatest power in the world, but ultimately, a single human could never become an absolute existence. If you attempt to realize that foolish endeavor, then during your last moments, you will face a miserable end where you pass away wretchedly while lamenting your way of life.”

“But... I...”

“Open your eyes!” Marquis demanded. “You are different from me, are you not? Then go down a different path. Try stepping away from the path of the king and see what else you can choose. Don’t live for something noble and sublime high in the heavens. Simply live for someone common and mundane by your side.”

“Why do you say that?! Father... You were the one who told me to go down that path!” Shravis’s voice took on a harsh tone. “Father, you were the one who told me to aim to become an absolute existence! Mother, you were the one who told me to become a great king! Those were the words you have repeated to me over and over throughout my life! How could you...? Why are you saying this now?”

“It must be because we died,” Wyss said peacefully. “The dead hold no responsibility. We don’t have any shackles of status tying us down. As irony would have it, it was only after I lost my one and only life that I was finally able to say what I honestly thought. It wasn’t until I could no longer see you anymore that I realized my foolishness for the first time.”

As if to support her point, Marquis added, “Don’t make the same mistake as your mother and father. No matter how much regret you wallow in after you die, it’s all too late. If duty and the burdens of your blood and title threaten to kill you, then cast such rubbish away.”

“How can you...? How can you say that after all you’ve done?!” Shravis hollered. “You told me to become a king, to hold myself as a king, and so that’s what I did! If I never took over such a nonsensical title, then who in their right mind would ever want to take another person’s life?! Who would ever want to snatch away the freedom of innocent people?! Who would ever want to betray his friends and die in solitude?!”

As Shravis screamed and cried, he looked akin to a child throwing a tantrum. But that was precisely why we were able to tell that these desperate screams were words from the bottom of his heart.

An icy breeze swept across the plaza.

“I’m sorry, Shravis. I made you shoulder such unbearable burdens.” Wyss gently cupped the boy’s cheek with her left hand. On her middle finger, the ring that Shravis had once given her still shined. “From now on, don’t live as a king. Live as a person. This is our last request for you.”

The wind intensified with each passing second. Chilly air, as cold as if it’d darted down from a snowy mountain, blew against us and pricked at our eyes.

On reflex, I shut my eyes, squeezing out the cold tears that flowed out as a biological response with my eyelids, then opened them again. By then, Marquis and Wyss were no longer standing before Shravis.

The icy wind subsided not long after. For a lengthy time afterward, none of us could find our voices.

The first to speak was Jess. “Um...” Shravis’s gaze remained fixed on the pavement, but Naut taciturnly glanced her way. “Mister Naut, Itsune, Yoshu... What are you going to do with Mister Shravis?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Sheathing the sword he’d been gripping all this time, Naut heaved a big sigh. “We lost the battle. We were supposed to die the moment Itsune failed to deal the finishing blow to this guy. If he planned on killing us for real...I bet we would’ve turned into a butcher’s display like Sanon.”

His point was sound. The instant they’d become stationary near Shravis, they had given time for the detonation spell to take effect. Back when Itsune launched an attack with everything on the line and missed, both Naut and Itsune should have died since they hadn’t left any room for retreat. But they hadn’t.

Naut shook his head. “We lost the battle while this guy had no plans of winning from the beginning. To sum it up, it’s a draw. Neither of us gets to push through our own ideologies while ignoring the other. Our only choice is to figure out something together as fellow losers, obviously.”

Cautious hope lit up in Jess’s eyes, and she blinked hard. “That means...you wish to solve everything by talking it out, do I have that right?”

“Yeah. As long as this dude over here agrees.” At long last, Naut spared a glance in the direction of Shravis, who looked like his soul had been sucked out of him. I couldn’t discern whether his gaze was that of resentment, pity, or something else.

“Mister Shravis! You heard him.” Jess rushed up to the man, but Shravis remained as still as a statue. “Mister Shravis...?”

No response. Looking like she had trouble gauging the sense of distance between them, Jess stepped away slightly and stared unblinkingly at him.

The next moment, a resounding, harsh slap sliced through the stillness. Together with the sound, Shravis, who’d been standing in a mindless daze, staggered wildly.

Immediately beside him, Itsune had taken a full swing at him with her right hand. Shravis fell onto his backside, touching his cheek as he looked up at Itsune.

“Cut it out already! The hell are you worrying your head off for?!”

She pinned Shravis down with her body hanging over him. Her arms held down both of the pitiful man’s wrists against the cobblestone paving, and black scales began painting over the beige of her skin.

A Lacerte’s strength was nothing to sneeze at. Shravis couldn’t put up any resistance. A bright red handprint had been left remarkably vividly on his pale left cheek.

“I’m sure you remember the relationship between my accursed old man and your mom,” she hissed. “They gave their hearts to each other but were torn apart because of some stupid system and died like that.” Possibly out of anger, Itsune’s face was flushed bright red. “Why do their fellow kids have to keep up such a silly charade? Is it so wrong to just call it quits already? Can’t we just end everything in their stupid generation and leave it behind? Is it so bad to try and come up with a better way to do things together?”

Shravis stubbornly kept his mouth shut.

Itsune narrowed her eyes. “Listen. I’ll have your baby.”

It was a bolt from the blue, and I gaped. From behind me, I heard Yoshu dropping his bolt onto the ground.

The bold woman took a breath. “Then... You can just make our kid the new king.”

With his head flattened against the cobblestone paving, Shravis’s eyes widened. He couldn’t fully conceal how shaken he was.

Awkward silence stretched on.

Itsune’s arms returned to normal human skin. Her hand whimsically patted Shravis’s disheveled golden hair. “You moron. Of course I was kidding.”

Dumbfounded, Shravis gaped at her like a goldfish. Coupled with the handprint on his cheek, his expression was almost comical.

His fine features, chiseled like a sculpture, contorted bit by bit. He cried, ungraciously, for a while.

At last, he squeezed these words past his throat. “Thank you...for not giving up on me.”

Chapter 3: Don’t Laugh in the Face of a Precious First Love

“Well, I suppose something like this will do,” Naut said, seemingly nonchalant, while looking up at something with satisfaction.

The object in question was a gigantic crimson flag. It fluttered proudly on the summit of the monarchy’s heart and soul, the Golden Cathedral—or more specifically, on the roof of that pitiful half-collapsed building, which had been wrecked by the bombardment of radical Liberators who’d gone on a rampage.

At the center of the red cloth was a white crest, which created a stark contrast. It featured two crossed swords. At their intersection, there was a single hoop representing a silver collar. It was the silver crest—the symbol of Yethma protectors.

Now that I thought about it, there couldn’t be a flag more suitable for representing Naut. He’d come all this way, forging a path for himself with his two trusty swords, which had been lit up with fire fueled by his feelings for a girl who’d died as a Yethma.

Since the protective wards in the royal capital had fallen, it was possible to see this large flag from the outside world. The crimson that represented the razing flames and bloodshed of the war was a message that the royal court now answered to the Liberators—or at least, that was what we would tell the public.

For the time being, the conflict had ended. The declaration of victory, which should have taken place on that fateful night with the king’s head raised high in the air as a trophy, had been accomplished under the sun on the following day by instead raising this flag in the capital.

The king had perished—that was the official story. That sentence wasn’t exactly wrong, in a sense. Shravis, who was no longer a king, had accepted the role of remaining in the royal capital and secretly taking on part of the new government’s administrative duties.

From this moment forth, Mesteria no longer moved under the king’s sole discretion, but with the discussion and input of many.

As the very first step, it was decided that the girls with magical powers would be freed immediately. As for the issue of how to prevent the second coming of the Dark Ages, there was probably no other way than investing a lot of time and effort into confronting that problem one step at a time from now on.

After hoisting up the flag, Naut and Shravis shook hands. Naut wore a handsome coat that danced in the wind while Shravis was wrapped in a black, unobtrusive robe, its hood pulled down. Their contrasting appearances were striking and memorable under the sunlight of early spring.

Their joined hands shook a few times awkwardly, then remained clasped together. The two handsome hunks stared into each other’s eyes impassively. Eventually, Shravis lowered his gaze to their held hands. It appeared that Naut was the one who held Shravis’s hand firmly and was refusing to let go.

“Listen up, cherry boy,” Naut began, glowering at Shravis from point-blank range. “If you dare push things forward on your own biased judgment ever again, I’ll turn you into my sandbag and personally beat you until you’re black and blue.”

Without as much as a twitch in his expression, Shravis gazed back into Naut’s eyes and nodded. “Noted.”

“A man never goes back on his word. Break this promise and I’ll crush those two irreplaceable things you have with my foot, one by one, and make you regret the day you were born for the rest of your life. You hear that?”

This was when Shravis tilted his head, confused. “Are you referring to my kidneys?”

“...Figure out the answer by yourself.” As if exasperated, Naut released his grip on the other’s hand at last.

The Liberators were apparently going to leave the royal capital for the time being. As for where and how future conferences would be held, they mentioned that they would gradually put together plans after their departure.

Jess was going to escort them outside the city and see them off. While that was happening, I would stay behind in front of the Golden Cathedral with Shravis. Now that Shravis was finally willing to hold a proper conversation with me, there was something I had to discuss with him.

After a moment of silence, Shravis muttered, “We will likely have to change the name of the ‘royal capital’ as well.”

“What’re the new candidates?”

“Who knows?” He shrugged. “Anything goes, provided it doesn’t have the words ‘royal’ or ‘king.’”

“Hey, how about Shraland then? We could take inspiration from your name.”

“Why would you crown it with my name? It’s the name of the last king of the defeated royal court—I highly doubt it’s appropriate.”

I had no answer to that. I’d meant it as a joke, but he’d ended up giving me a deadpan reply. Partly because I was still struggling to gauge the sense of familiarity between us, I meekly held my tongue.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Shravis began walking forward, his steps headed toward the plaza’s west side. It offered a spectacular panoramic view of western Mesteria, with the cathedral in the foreground. Meanwhile, the settlements in the west should be able to see the crimson fluttering valiantly on the cathedral’s roof. With the aid of a telescope, you might even be able to distinguish the design that represented the silver crest.

I trotted by Shravis’s side. The sun was gradually sinking toward the west, and the glare in my eyes was blinding.

I need to talk with him, I thought once again.

Since the uproar in Resdan last night, I’d mainly had innocuous conversations with Jess. Something was telling me that if I disturbed our fragile peace even a little, the ripples would shatter everything and anything we had right now. I’d been too terrified to address the elephant in the room.

“Hey, Shravis...” I called out to the man wrapped in a black robe.

In response, Shravis pulled down his hood. As he walked, his deep emerald eyes glanced at me with an elusive brilliance I couldn’t get a read on.

Hardening my resolve, I raised a question. “Tell me. Was what you said about Jess true?”

“Are you referring to how Jess rejected me?”

I closed my mouth for a moment and shook my head. “No. I know that was a big, fat lie. You were just making stuff up on the spot to make me hate you, weren’t you?”

“Is that what you think?”

“You aren’t the type who can make such advances in the first place.”

“Well, you seem to consider me as harmless as a little rabbit, but I’m a grown man. Are you saying that you don’t suspect even for a second that I might get one or two unsavory ideas when I have such a charming woman accompanying me as my fiancée?”

As usual, it was hard to tell whether this guy was cracking a joke or dead serious. His expression was as unmoving as stone. Still, now that he mentions it... Even if he didn’t try to make a sexual advance on Jess, I don’t know what Shravis actually thinks of her deep down. There’s always the chance that he really—

“—has affections for her. That’s the normal conclusion, isn’t it?”

I shot him an unimpressed look. “Just a reminder, that was narration.”

Shravis faced forward as he walked, and he narrowed his eyes against the dazzling sunlight. “To tell you the truth, I like Jess.”

I could only listen to him in a daze.

He continued, “I don’t know any woman who is as earnest, kind, and capable as she is, other than my mother. Assuming you weren’t going to come back to this world, I even seriously considered whether I could bring solace to the emotional scars left in her heart one day. She was just that charming—not to mention that her chest isn’t too large.”

When he got to this point, I breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh. You’re joking.”

“Yeah,” Shravis responded without changing his stoic expression at all. “Don’t forget that Jess is my cousin. I could never, in my entire lifetime, get romantically involved with her. So, you can rest easy.”

“Got it.”

The question of whether I could understand his humor aside, I was reassured that we’d managed to recover a relationship where we could joke around with each other.

But, one small voice muttered in the back of my mind, I know that the part about her chest being not too large was a joke, yeah. However, were all the other parts truly said in jest too? Did Shravis really not have even a sliver of romantic affection for Jess?

Still, speculating and probing into someone’s private feelings wasn’t very nice. I decided to get back on track. “I didn’t exactly stay behind to gossip about your love life. I’m sure you know what I was really asking about—soul magic.”

We arrived at the western edge of the plaza, and my vision opened up at once with a sweeping view of Mesteria beneath my feet. The country’s lands were vast. Distant mountains cut out dark silhouettes against the sunlight shining from behind them.

Shravis reclined on the railing and briefly cast down his eyes. “If I knew it would come to this, I wouldn’t have told you. It wasn’t necessary. Furthermore, Jess had firmly forbidden me from informing you.”

By telling this secret to the very person Jess had wanted to keep in the dark, Shravis had attempted to garner her hatred. He’d wanted to die as a hated man. But Jess hadn’t scorned him for it, and Shravis hadn’t died either.

“So it’s true,” I said softly.

He dragged out a long exhale. “Very much so.”

In my mind, I replayed the shocking revelation Shravis had sprung on me back in the manor in Resdan.

Jess was chipping away at her very life to keep me alive. My existence meant that Jess’s soul was being depleted by the second. The price she had paid—and continued to pay—for resurrecting me was her future.

Shravis’s voice cut into my thoughts. “Do you think it’s unbelievable?”

I nodded, then reconsidered. “Well, it’s not that I think it’s impossible... It’s just that my heart refuses to accept it.”

“Have faith in me. Do I look like a man who’d lie?”

I gave him a look.

He winced. “My apologies. That was a joke too.”

Making such a joke right on the heels of what happened yesterday? Talk about tone-deaf. But this was Shravis’s attempt to recover our previous relationship in his own way, and the thought made my heart swell just a little. “Don’t ever joke around again, you hear me?”

With a small huff that sounded like laughter, Shravis’s mimetic muscles softened. Though I couldn’t be sure, he almost looked like he was smiling. “In all seriousness, everything I said about soul magic was true. They were facts written distinctly in Records of Soul Magic Development by Lady Vatis. As long as you exist, Jess’s lifespan will shorten by the second. However, Jess told me that she’s fine with the consequences—that being with you is much more important to her.”

My skewered pork heart seized up. I decided to blame the now chilly breeze for my misty eyes.

I had one more question for him. “...The stake’s gone from Ceres, but the world still hasn’t been restored. Have you realized the reason behind that too?”

Shravis looked down at me. “So you do know the reason after all.”

Oh. It was a bluff back then. Realizing that I’d made a blunder, my ham tensed up. It was only after I reflexively thought that far that I recalled once again that Shravis could read my mind like a book.

But well... I suppose there’s no point lamenting it. It’s no longer the time to guard secrets against Shravis anyway. “I certainly do. This was a secret just between Jess and me, but I think you should know.”

I told Shravis everything.

We’d come across the ghost of Ruta, Vatis’s husband, in Helde. He’d given us a piece of black paper, and when we’d rinsed it off in the Spring of Oblivion, it had revealed a certain message: Abandon your flesh of falsehoods and atone for your sins.

I’d traveled between the real world and the Abyssus, regaining a corporeal body by basically abusing a bug in the world’s system. All because of it, spercritica hadn’t died down even after everything that happened with Ceres. The world was overflowing with anomalies.

It’s my fault. The world hasn’t returned to normal because I exist. People are dying because I exist. Jess’s lifespan is being chipped away because I exist.

I looked up at him. “Hey, help me out here and think over it with me. What should I do? Is abandoning my body the only solution? In the scenario that I do cast it away and terminate spercritica, restoring normality to the world, what’s going to happen to Jess’s soul? Is it impossible to stop her lifespan from getting shorter unless I disappear altogether?”

After I spoke, I snapped out of it. Darn, I let my emotions get the better of me for a moment. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

For a while, Shravis seemed to be deep in thought. Eventually, he looked at me with an unreadable expression. “Unfortunately, I currently don’t possess enough knowledge to answer all your questions.”

Hearing that, I hung my head. “Yeah... I should’ve known.”

“But just as you were speaking, a solution came to me.”

For a moment, I thought I’d misheard, and my reaction was a few seconds late. “Really?”

“Indeed. Incidentally, I’ve also gotten the answer to one of my questions.”

My eyes widened. “Wait, what do you mean? What was your question?”

“Until this day, I’ve been terribly concerned about why the protective enchantments on the royal capital collapsed without warning.”

“And you figured it out? But how?”

It seemed that Shravis had solved the puzzle in his own mind, but I was utterly lost. More and more imaginary question marks popped up above my head. Seeing my confusion, Shravis explained, “There was a hint within your story. Could you call Jess over? I propose we shed light on everything right here, right now.”

“Everything?” I still didn’t get it. “What do you mean by that? And how are we even going to do that?”

“Why did the capital’s defenses fall? How can we end the anomalies of our world? What should we do with you, who was resurrected from the dead? Today, together with you and Jess, I want to obtain the answers to all the questions we haven’t figured out yet.”

It was rather unhelpful that he refused to tell me about his deductions right away, but I couldn’t argue that giving the same explanation to Jess and me separately would be a waste of time and effort. If I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, I just had to summon Jess here as soon as I could.

“Got it. Naut and the other Liberators have probably left the capital by now. I’ll fetch her.”

He nodded. “Please do. I’ll be waiting here for you.”

My heart pounding with anticipation, I trotted away from the plaza.

There wasn’t much point in describing the process, so here’s the conclusion: My search for Jess turned out to be an awfully laborious task. It seemed that after she’d seen the Liberators off, she’d wandered off somewhere on a whim. I ended up having to look high and low for her around the city in the early afternoon while making use of my pride and joy—my nose.

I could never forget her scent. I’d smelled it practically every single day. Even without relying on personal possessions that she’d left behind, such as a pillow or socks, I could still track her down.

Jess turned out to be at a place that was special to both of us. A place that represented good memories, bad memories, and nightmarish memories—the Spring of Oblivion.

It was located on a small plateau atop a cliff. There, clean water had sprung out of the rocks in one area. It was where we’d collected the water that Hortis had asked for, where I’d thrown myself off the cliff, and where we’d washed Ruta’s piece of paper, staining the entire spring black and revealing a brutal mission we had to accomplish.

Jess sat while hugging her knees on the turf next to the fountain and absentmindedly looked down at the capital’s streetscape.

I called out to her. “You came to a place like this?”

There was a pause before she replied, “Yes.” Her voice was somber, and her eyes were still fixed on the city.

After finally believing I’d broken the ice between Shravis and me, now Jess had gone quiet.

I took a seat next to her. That was when I realized something. “Hey, the spring’s dried up.”

Just like before, Jess merely spared a few words. “...It seems so.”

As I lay down, I inspected the spring’s remains. There wasn’t a drop of water gushing out, and it had dried all the way to the bottom, exposing white rock. It was almost like looking at a theme park at closing time, which made me feel wistful.

“Come to think of it, Vivis mentioned that the spring’s water stopped flowing,” I commented. “If it drew water up here with Vatis’s magic, I guess it probably dried up when the protective wards fell.”

“I believe so, yes... A portion of Lady Vatis’s copious magic was infused into this spring, the Spring of Oblivion. Apparently, you could extract and use her mana as long as you knew the right method. I’m almost certain that even the flowing water itself wasn’t fully natural.”

“I see, so that’s why Hortis and Ruta used the water here.”

Hortis, whose magic had been sealed in his canine form, had requested water from this fountain to remove the bangle that had kept him in that state. Ruta, who’d appeared in Helde as a ghost, had composed a message that would require the water here as a key so that we would learn the truth at an appropriate time. Both of them must have known how to extract the mana embedded within.

After we went over all there was to discuss about this topic, Jess fell quiet once more. I knew that silence would be easier, but I chose to face the music. “So... What Shravis said about soul magic is true, huh?”

No response. Jess didn’t move her head to confirm or deny my statement.

I continued, “I’ll be honest with you—I was happy. You want to be with me, even if it means paying such a hefty price. I was happy that you care so much about me. Truly.”

Her head swayed minutely. That was the only reaction I got from her.

I pressed on. “But hey, hear me out. I don’t want to shorten your life, Jess. I’m sure you understand how I feel. Put yourself in my shoes—if I were the one chipping away at my life to keep you alive, you would be just as upset.”

“That’s why...I didn’t tell you.” When her trembling voice reached my ears, a pang of excruciating pain hit me, as if a claw was mercilessly crushing all my internal organs. “I knew that our current situation wouldn’t last if you ever discovered the truth. It’s because I know you well enough that I kept it a secret.”

“I figured. That’s the kind of person you are.” With that said, I worked up my resolve. “But I learned of it despite your best efforts. Things can’t stay like this anymore, Jess.”

She turned around and looked straight into my eyes. The look in her eyes was dead serious. “If I erase your memories, we can go back to how things originally were.”

For a moment, I was seized by terror, thinking she might go ahead and do just that. But after taking a proper look at her face, I knew that she wouldn’t. Her expression had never looked this helpless and fragile before.

“But you haven’t erased it yet, have you? You know better than that. You know how choosing not to share the truth can lead to the most despairing tragedies. We’ve been forced to see them over and over again, whether we like it or not.”

Even if the truth was as hideous as a monster, we had to look it in the eye. That was one of the lessons we’d learned on our journeys thus far.

I took a breath to steady myself. “How...much time have you lost?” I asked, cutting off all my escape routes. It was a question I had to ask.

“I don’t know.”

“How can you not know? Based on Shravis’s statement, Vatis could only live until forty-three because she did the same thing.”

Jess’s expression contorted just a tad. “Lady Vatis’s situation...is different from mine. Her mana pool is many levels above me. Not to mention...” She trailed off and went silent.

“Not to mention?” I prompted.

She hesitated. “No. Ignore me.”

“Are you trying to hide things again?”

Jess’s eyes watered, as if stuck between a rock and a hard place. She was pitiful, and if possible, I wanted to drop the matter for her sake. Still, I had to question her about it. This wasn’t a topic we could carelessly leave hanging. I had a duty to get to the bottom of every last detail.

Therefore, I asked, “How is Vatis different from you?”

After looking torn for a while, Jess hung her head. “Lady Vatis had a child.”

I couldn’t figure out the meaning of those words right away. But when I recalled one detail, many statements I’d heard in the past revived in my mind one after another, almost like a chain reaction. They had gotten my attention, but I’d never attempted to dig deeper into them at the time.

Just before her death, Wyss had said, “You know the price we pay for childbirth. I already don’t have that much time left.” There’d been an ominous ring to the phrase “price we pay for childbirth.”

Thinking back now, there were other suspicious points as well.

Vivis’s strange wording was a good example. “I don’t know whether I have the right to say this, for I am without a child, as you can see...” Why was it possible to tell she didn’t have a child from her looks?

Then there was Shravis’s remark. “On top of giving birth to a child, Lady Vatis performed soul magic to resurrect her husband, and their combined consequences meant that forty-three years was the longest she could survive.” Was there some sort of connection between giving birth and one’s lifespan?

The pieces fell into place. Oh. So that’s what Wyss meant by the price of childbirth.

In a resigned tone, Jess whispered, “Giving birth to a magical child is an endeavor that chips away at your soul. The stronger the magic your child is born with, the greater the loss will be. That’s why...there aren’t any older women left in the royal family.”

Now that she pointed it out, I realized that I’d never seen Marquis and Hortis’s mother. Magic had the power to dispel illnesses and heal wounds. Despite that, even her husband Eavis, who’d professed himself to be an unparalleled mage in Mesteria, hadn’t been able to protect her from the clutches of death with his extraordinary powers.

And it’s part of the reason Wyss hardened her resolve to sacrifice her life. It makes sense now. That said... My mind feverishly churned away. In the current context, the price of childbirth isn’t necessarily a bad thing just this one time—far from it.

“Jess, that means... That means your soul hasn’t been worn down as much as Vatis’s was, right?”

She replied, “Likely not, yes.”

That brought me a hint of relief. But it didn’t mean that our current situation was acceptable.

Even if Jess wasn’t going to die tomorrow, it didn’t change the fact that my existence was shortening her life. I didn’t know how far away her death was, but it was steadily creeping closer.

I looked up at her. “Thanks for telling me the truth, Jess.”

She nodded without a word.

After a moment’s hesitation, I said, “While we’re on the topic, I’ve actually got some good news.”

Her eyes widened by a fraction. “You do?”

“Yeah. As a matter of fact, I told Shravis about our secret.”

“You...did?”

“And then, Shravis seemed to have an epiphany. By the looks of it, he knows some kind of solution that can definitely shed light on everything we still don’t know, such as our problem, spercritica, and so on.”

“Really?” At long last, some spirit seemed to return to her voice.

“He certainly looked very confident. It might offer us a breakthrough in some way. He’s waiting for us in the plaza in front of the Golden Cathedral. Let’s go find him.”

“Yes, of course!” Jess stood up vigorously.

Following her example, I got up on all four feet and nodded. “All right, the early bird gets the worm. Let’s waste no— Hmm?” Just as I was about to take my first step, I stilled. “What’s that black—”

I was interrupted by my companion. “I’ve taken a liking to it. Is it really so wrong to change things up?”

I raised my face. Indeed, Jess was adorned in black again today. “Uh, no, that’s not what I mean. It’s not that black underwear feels mismatched on you or anything.”

“Oh, then what were you so bothered by?”

Slowly, I walked over to the dried-up spring. Near the back of the area surrounded by white rocks—a place that I wouldn’t have been able to see if the spring had still been full of water—was some sort of black man-made object. I stepped into the pool where water had once flowed and inspected the black thing.

A black slab of rock, cut into a perfect square, had been inserted into the white rock. Golden characters were inscribed on it.

You who wish for answers.

You who bear proposals, admonitions, declarations, harsh truths, or words of slander.

I shall grant your wish.

Proceed to where I am, young one.

Jess squatted next to me and peered at the writing as well.

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “Talk about a cryptic message. What does that even mean?”

“Lady Vatis was the one who created this spring, so the logical conclusion would be that she wrote it herself, but I’m not sure.”

“It’s hidden in a place that you won’t normally notice when water’s gushing out. Would that mean Vatis prepared this in advance so that someone could read it when the capital’s defenses fail?” I frowned. “It says to proceed to where she is... But she’s already dead.”

Jess smacked her fist against her palm in realization. “This might actually be Mister Shravis’s solution.”

“You mean, to ask Vatis?”

“Yes. You mentioned that he’s in front of the Golden Cathedral, right?”

“Ahh, I see now. Vatis’s remains are enshrined there.”

Jess nodded. “If it’s about Mister Ruta, spercritica, or soul magic, surely there wouldn’t be a better person to consult than Lady Vatis herself, would there?”

“Thing is, Vatis’s already—” I cut off abruptly as realization dawned on me. I’d heard the voice of the dead only last night.

Hope and anticipation swelled in me like a balloon. I was even starting to believe that maybe, just maybe, all might turn out well in the end.

“Let’s go!” Jess exclaimed.

Together with Jess, I hurried back to the Golden Cathedral.

There was only one thing we could—only one thing we ought—to do: gather up as many truths as possible and to search for a way we could be together. We had to search for that ideal path without giving up hope.

That was how we’d always overcome the trials thrown our way. And this time wouldn’t be an exception.

When we arrived, we found Shravis sitting in a corner of the plaza, staring up at the crimson flag waving on the cathedral’s roof. I apologized for my lateness, and he shook his head as if to say he didn’t mind.

Then he pointed at the Golden Cathedral and said, “We should go. Our solution is right there.”

After seeing that Jess and I were nodding without raising any questions, Shravis looked like he’d inferred that we had deduced what the solution was.

Under the illumination of the vermilion evening sun, which was on the cusp of dipping below the horizon, we made our way toward the Golden Cathedral. The structure’s facade, which had featured magnificent stained glass windows, was utterly wrecked. The place that had used to be its entrance was now a gaping hole. We climbed over the rubble and entered the building.

The glass wall Shravis had manifested divided the cathedral into two halves. With a simple, quick touch of his hand, the bulky barricade dissipated into nothing just like that.

Without a hint of hesitation in his gait, Shravis marched toward the other side. Jess and I followed. Eventually, the man came to a stop at the largest altar facing the entrance. This was where the casket of Vatis, the royal court’s founder, was enshrined. It was a sarcophagus carved from a block of white stone.

“I will open the lid,” he announced. “If you would rather not see what’s inside, keep your eyes averted.”

Before anything else, Shravis closed his eyes and bowed toward the altar. Placed at the center of it was the statue of an ethereal woman raising her right hand high into the heavens while gently placing her left hand against her chest—Vatis. Her gaze was directed at something beyond her outstretched hand, as if she were admiring the distant starry sky far above her reach.

This was the first queen of Mesteria who’d come out victorious in the war of mages, brought an end to the Dark Ages, and established the royal court. I wondered what kind of story or knowledge she would share with us. I wondered what kind of person she even was.

Within the stillness, Shravis stretched his hands until they hovered above the casket. The cover, which was essentially a flat, white rock, slowly floated into the air. I didn’t look away. I didn’t think it was necessary. After all, I’d already seen its contents up close back in the Abyssus.

The lid was removed, revealing the human corpse inside, as you’d expect. It was Vatis’s remains. However, her appearance was like night and day compared to what I’d imagined.

I was reminded of a certain fact: Sometimes, the truth was as hideous as a monster.

Jess whispered, “She’s...been cursed.” The maiden sounded like she’d spoken without realizing it.

Vatis lay inside the casket as if she’d gone to sleep. Her body hadn’t decayed. However, every last part of her fair skin had been dyed pitch-black, not leaving even a single opening. To be more accurate, it wasn’t quite pitch-black—it was more like a black, sinister mesh pattern was covering her skin.

I recognized it. I’d seen the same symptoms on Eavis, Jess, Naut, and Ceres. It was the deadly curse of the Clandestine Arcanist. And a pattern that seemed to be identical to his sorcery had overtaken Vatis’s remains.

“My suspicions were correct,” Shravis whispered, placing a hand against his chin. “By repurposing her own body as a spiritual vessel, Lady Vatis sealed her soul within it and transformed it into a source of power for the royal capital’s defenses. However, that source of power was destroyed, and so were the capital’s wards as a consequence. Someone has killed Lady Vatis’s spirit, which had dwelled within her noble remains, with a curse.”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “So you mean that someone has killed this corpse?”

“It’s a most bizarre sentence, but yes, that should be an accurate summary.”

Looking like she couldn’t fight her curiosity anymore, Jess asked, “But...who could have done it? There was a glass wall that prevented anyone outside from coming in. The only person who had access would be Mister Shravis—”

Shravis shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Why would I do such a thing?”

I frowned. “Does that mean someone cast a curse from a distance?”

“I doubt it,” our most experienced mage replied. “This curse is the type that’s applied through physical contact. Even the caster we know, the Clandestine Arcanist, cursed people by directly stabbing his target with his brass staff that was capable of transforming.”

He made a good point. Which meant we had a mystery on our hands.

Within the sealed Golden Cathedral, we’d found Vatis’s corpse cursed to death. The only suspect who could have entered was Shravis, but he had no motive. Then who in the world had done it?

Jess turned around to look behind her. “Come to think of it... I remember finding a tiny hole in the glass wall.”

Oh, right! My eyes widened. I’d been there when Jess had discovered it. A single pinhole had pierced the very corner of the bulky glass wall. However, the wall should have been under the protection of potent magic. We’d debated about who in the world could’ve possibly broken through Shravis’s magical defenses, but we hadn’t come to any conclusions in the end.

I hummed thoughtfully. “So someone could have stretched something from that hole and delivered the curse all the way here? But that’s kinda iffy...”

There had been quite a distance from the glass wall to this stone casket, not to mention the robust lid that had covered her remains. The casket had slightly blackened, likely from age, but it was kept in almost impeccable condition. I couldn’t spot any traces of purposeful damage.

As I wrestled with this puzzling situation, I saw Shravis raise his face just a tad. “I see. I finally understand how the curse reached all the way to this place.” His wording was rather vague, almost frustratingly so.

“Hey, care to share your discoveries?” I prompted. “Who in the world was the culprit?”

Shravis turned his back on the casket to face us. “The two of you.”

Both Jess and I were stunned speechless. We hadn’t a clue what he was talking about.

“Mister Shravis!” Jess exclaimed. “We haven’t done anything of the sort. I don’t even know how to cast that curse to begin with... Not to mention that I wasn’t even able to break through your walls.”

He tilted his head. “Ah. I suppose my choice of words was misleading. The original caster of the curse isn’t you or the pig, of course. But you two are unmistakably the reason it reached her. That’s what I meant.” Shravis stared unblinkingly at the two of us. “Do you remember bringing anything sinister within the bounds of the capital?”

Jess gasped at once. Her hand searched through her pockets and pulled out a specific item—a black piece of paper that I remember distinctly. It was the item we’d received from Ruta’s ghost in Helde. It had dyed the spring black and informed us of our fate.

“Mister Pig, I’m sure you recognize this.” Jess gazed at me solemnly.

With that, realization dawned on me as well. “Oh. So that’s how it is.”

When someone wants you to solve a riddle, they must always have a motive behind it. Vatis’s husband, Ruta, had wanted to accomplish one more thing other than communicating the truth to us. He’d made use of our desire to learn the truth to achieve his goal.

And what was his goal, you ask? It was to curse his wife, who was slumbering away in the capital as a living corpse, to death.

Washing that black paper in the Spring of Oblivion had allowed us access to his message. The spring water had been stained black and writing had been inscribed onto the white rock. Ultimately, the black water flowed away and vanished.

Why had he made us go through such a roundabout process? Was it not enough to just hand over the piece of paper with the truth from the beginning?

It likely hadn’t been enough, at least to him. What mattered was the black water that had streamed away. That black water had traveled across the capital, arrived at the Golden Cathedral, pierced a hole through the glass wall, and reached Vatis’s casket.

Vatis’s magic had been infused into the spring water. If Ruta made use of her magic, which had been historically famous for its might, it should be possible to even break through Shravis’s wall. Ruta had used us for his own gain to end Vatis’s dynasty.

It seemed so far away now, but once upon a time, Hortis had tricked us into transporting the history text out of the royal capital by averting our gaze from his goal with a riddle. Just like him, Ruta had set us up to be his smuggler.

I exhaled slowly. “So the capital’s defenses collapsed because we carried this letter into the city, huh?”

“I believe that’s the gist, yes.”

When she saw Shravis’s gaze shift from Vatis’s sinister remains onto the ground, Jess placed her hands on her chest. “I’m sorry! I was so ignorant... It’s all my fault...”

Shravis attempted to curl his lips into a clumsy smile but failed. His hand, which he’d likely wanted to place on Jess’s shoulder, wavered in the air before returning to his side. “It was no one’s fault. This was bound to happen one day. Who would’ve been able to see through him and predict that Ruta, Lady Vatis’s husband, wished to destroy the capital’s defenses? The two of you have done nothing wrong. The royal court was destined to fall, and it just so happened to be during our time.”

Since it was the last king speaking, his words were convincing.

However, Jess’s eyes were teary. I could see her fingers clench around the black paper. When faced with Jess, who was on the verge of tears, it looked like Shravis hadn’t a clue about what to do.

Thanks to the resulting silence, realization hit me. “Oh... I see. I actually witnessed the curse traveling here with my own eyes. How could I have forgotten?”

Two gazes converged on me.

I looked back at them. “Jess going around unguarded and the bombardment of the capital were tied together by cause and effect after all.”

Jess’s ears, which had a faint tint of red to them, grew even redder.

Shravis, meanwhile, furrowed his brows. “Unguarded?” He looked like he couldn’t decipher that word. And even if he did understand what I was referring to, I highly doubted he’d be able to comprehend the phenomenon I was referring to.

“On the morning the capital’s wards fell, Jess went around unguarded,” I said. “As for how that happened, it’s because I said that black is a sexy color the previous night. And why did we even bring up the color black in the first place? It’s because I witnessed an enigmatic black shadow, which was in front of this cathedral.” I could almost see the three imaginary question marks floating above Shravis’s head, but I carried on with my explanation. “The mysterious thing that looked like a black shadow was none other than the black water that flowed out from Ruta’s letter.”

“P-Perhaps it was, but still...” Jess stammered. Her sense of shame must have pushed her guilt right out the window.

However, partly to teach her a lesson that she should never get up to something foolish like wandering outside without essential equipment ever again, I continued, “Two irregular events took place on the same day: Jess’s unguarded state and the capital’s bombardment. There wasn’t any direct causal relationship between the two. That said, Ruta’s black water was the cause of both. They were indirectly tied together with the links of cause and effect.”

Silence.

Shravis looked like he was deathly curious about what “unguarded” entailed in this context, but after seeing Jess’s reaction, he held his tongue. It was likely a wise decision.

After a pause, Jess whispered, “But... Why would Mister Ruta do such a thing? Cursing Lady Vatis’s noble remains would tear down the capital’s protection, exposing the royal court—which his own descendants have succeeded—to danger. And as a matter of fact...”

Jess trailed off there and didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t have to, for we all knew the outcome.

The Liberators had attacked the royal capital. That had been the fatal trigger. During the events that had followed, the royal court had effectively been overthrown.

Letting out a small sigh, Shravis said, “There’s only one way to know the truth. I’m certain that you two have realized it as well.” After seeing my glance at the casket, Shravis nodded. “Lady Vatis should know that man, Ruta, very well as a person. Furthermore, I believe she must have heard about spercritica, which apparently took place and concluded in Ruta’s original world. On top of that, she’d revived Ruta after his death with soul magic, meaning that it’s very likely she even knows a method to solve your dilemma, Jess.”

Slowly, Jess nodded. “Yes...”

We needed the truth to press forward. Our last and greatest hope to get our hands on that truth was sleeping right here.

The three of us had suffered under the royal court’s twisted system and had ultimately brought it to an end, partly through our own choices and partly through some larger force. Now, we were going to retrace the royal court’s history and arrive at where it had all begun. I didn’t know whether it was an ironic coincidence or a patient, intricate plan by fate.

Shravis summoned a small knife in his left hand with one fluid motion.

Jess’s eyes widened. “Mister Shravis, don’t do it!”

The man, however, shook his head resolutely. “Let me do this much. It’s the least I can do as atonement for betraying and pushing the two of you away.”

Making a shallow incision on his right hand with the knife, Shravis moved to drip his blood on Vatis’s body. Unlike the time when he’d carved mercilessly into his wrist, he was properly acting with the consequences and the future in mind this time.

He lowered his voice and announced, “The royal court’s last king shall summon our first queen.”

Turning to face the casket, as if to block our gazes with his back, Shravis began performing soul magic. Under the watchful gaze of the elegant statue above us, the last king’s blood became one with a part of the first queen’s remains. The completed corpse potion floated up into the air before its creator ingested it.

This was a ritual in which the dead and the living became one. The soul of the living was chipped away as a price, while the dead would be granted shape.

Shravis raised his face, and we followed his example.

My heart skipped a beat. Vatis, the royal court’s first queen, stood boldly before our eyes as if she belonged right there. Instinctively, all three of us stepped back.

The woman’s visage was virtually identical to that of the statue enshrined on the altar. She was even assuming the same pose—she reached up her right hand while gently placing her left on her chest. She looked to be roughly halfway between Shravis and Jess in terms of height, meaning she was maybe around 170 centimeters tall, which was rather tall compared to the average Japanese woman.

I observed her face. She was a beautiful and youthful woman. She had clear-cut features, and her long golden hair rippled like a small stream. A powerful vitality practically overflowed from her thick brows and the angular contour of her face. Her limbs spoke of strength and vigor—I could barely make out any marks of time on her.

Shravis bowed profoundly. Jess did the same. I ended up staring at the queen’s form for a while without thinking, but Jess forcefully made me bow with a firm press of her hand. The floor, featuring a geometric pattern composed of marble tiles in every color, overtook my vision.

There was a rustle, and I inferred that Vatis had changed her posture. It would be tiring to stay in that pose forever. I attempted to lift my gaze, but Jess’s fingers held down my eyelids.

At long last, the queen spoke. “Raise your heads.” Her contralto voice was beautiful and sonorous.

Alas, neither Jess nor Shravis raised their faces. My head also remained pinned in place by Jess.

Following a brief pause, the woman said, “Did you not hear me? I have told you to raise your heads, young ones.”

“I-I understand this might be an insolent request, but Your Majesty...” Shravis still bowed deeply as he spoke up with notable hesitation. “Could you please...put on some clothes?”

For some bizarre reason, Vatis’s spirit had been stark naked when she’d manifested. That was the reason Jess was forcing me to bow—she didn’t want me to see another woman’s nude body.

“What are you so mortified about? There’s a common saying that the dead wear nothing, is there not?”

Sorry, but there’s only been a grand total of one person who’s said that among all the people I’ve met until now. And he was a rather unique case.

I wondered whether a tendency to walk around naked could be passed down. It was somewhat terrifying to think that this theory would also explain Jess’s unguarded incident.

The queen paused. “No, perhaps I mistook it for the saying that the dead can only speak. How unfortunate. Though I dislike such restraints, I shall do it since you insist.”

There was the sound of cloth softly fluttering in the air, and that was when Jess finally permitted me to look ahead.

I didn’t know whether Vatis was doing this on purpose or what she was trying to achieve, but she was clad in a revealing, provocative black dress. She wore an impish smile on her face as she unhurriedly looked over Shravis’s form, as if savoring every last part. “I must say, my descendant. You have matured into a handsome man. I almost wish to eat you up.”

As the royal court’s bewitching founder closed in on him, the naive Shravis, who had no experience with women, turned bright red. “P-Please don’t eat me.”

“Why are you panicking so?” Vatis narrowed her eyes mischievously. “It’s a euphemism, naturally. I mean that I wish to be intimate with you in bed.”

“Pardon me, but I would be grateful if you could refrain from devouring me in that sense as well... My lady, I am your descendant—I have your blood running in my veins.”

Shravis was serious to a fault. He looked pitifully disoriented and flustered, but it was kind of fun to see.

Honestly, I was surprised too. Instead of what I’d expected, a rather intense and lively person had shown up. My impression of her was the sculpture on the altar—the woman who gracefully reached up for the sky. I never could have imagined that the real Vatis was such a character.

She hummed in thought. “You were my son’s grandchild...’s grandchild, was it? My blood has been watered down to merely one out of thirty-two, so there shouldn’t be any issues if we get up to a little fun, surely.” Her hand reached out to touch Shravis’s cheek—and passed right through his body.

Spirits weren’t corporeal. Furthermore, if the abnormal phenomenon of spercritica hadn’t corrupted the world, they were fleeting existences that could only be perceived by their summoners. Unless they were to go through a series of dubious procedures like me, they couldn’t even obtain a body.

As if someone had poured cold water on her entertainment, Vatis sighed. “It’s not every day that I get to meet my cute descendant, but alas... It’s rather heartbreaking that we can’t touch each other.”

Shravis, Jess, and I were all stunned speechless at the first queen’s conduct. Seeing our reaction, Vatis shifted her gaze to her own statue. “Did you lot take that statue as the truth? Let me guess, you probably assumed that a modest, ladylike woman would appear before you.”

Shravis’s shoulders shrank, as if he was put on the spot. “N-No, my lady... It’s just that you are different from the common perception that most people in Mesteria share...”

“That was my tactic,” Vatis declared casually. “The general populace tends to place purehearted, modest, and delicate women on a pedestal. I merely created an idol of falsehoods in response to what they wished for.” As she spoke, she turned to face Jess this time.

Jess was nervous like a cornered rabbit, and she didn’t dare even shuffle as Vatis approached her.

The founder scrutinized the younger girl’s face. “But I have advice for you, my descendant who was born as a woman. Remember this one teaching, and remember it well: You mustn’t allow the person inside that hollow image to become as such.”

“Y-Yes, my lady!” Jess hurriedly replied.

Vatis leaned in toward Jess and whispered into her ear, “It’s the selfish and the willful that win at the end of the day—especially those who can endure and persist more than anyone else in the face of adversity for their own selfish wish.” As Vatis spoke, she tried to massage Jess’s chest for some reason and failed.

Hey! I cried in my mind, scandalized.

She appeared out of nowhere and did exactly as she pleased, as if the world were her oyster. This woman didn’t have a sliver of self-restraint.

Jess looked mind-boggled at the fact that her distant ancestor had almost groped her, and she was crossing her arms in front of her chest to defend herself. Not caring in the least for her descendants’ turmoil, Vatis spoke cheekily, “Ah, children and offspring are truly the most adorable things in the world. You’ve taken after me and become quite the beautiful youths. You’re admirable for all your hard work to this day. If it were possible to touch you, I’d want to give you big hugs right now.”

Her words flowed fluently with no signs of stopping yet. “Though I have wished for it before, I’d never thought that one day, my cute descendants would truly summon me like this. I have countless things I’d like to share with all of you before I vanish from the world of the living. Will you lend me an ear? And is there no alcohol around? I want to talk at a leisurely pace while enjoying some drinks.”

Working up my resolve, I interrupted her. “Um, excuse me.”

Vatis’s sharp gaze shifted in my direction. Now, I could understand why this woman had been so daunting to Jess and Shravis. Her aura—no, her mighty presence was nothing like I’d ever seen. She had a vigor to her that even made Marquis and Eavis pale in comparison. The invisible pressure pushed down on me without a sound.

“What is it?” she asked. “I have no plans of eating you.”

“I would be glad if you could refrain from eating me, actually.” Vatis looked down at me with an oppressive attitude, and I mustered up as much courage as I possibly could. “My lady, we have disturbed your rest and summoned you because we wish for answers.”

We’d come here seeking hints to solve our problems that had ended up entangled in one big, irreversible mess. Was there a way to end spercritica, which was causing all sources of anomalies in this world? How should we interpret Ruta’s letter, which had told us to atone for our sins? Was it possible to reverse the damage that had been dealt to Jess’s lifespan?

“I’m aware of that, I certainly am. I can see right through your vulgar mind.” The founder sighed with displeasure. “I know everything. And with that knowledge, I’m offering to helpfully dive into my explanation by starting from the beginning. It’s impertinent of a pig like you to interrupt the speech of Mesteria’s magnificent queen and her words of love directed at her beloved descendants.”

My eyes widened. “Oh... Please pardon my rudeness, Your Majesty.”

That said, possibly because she’d realized the contrast between her attitude and those of her descendants after my interference, Vatis exhaled steadily and fell silent. She turned around and gazed at her own statue, which raised its right hand high. “The royal court is no more, and with it, the story that I have begun is reaching its conclusion. A hundred and thirty years, hmm? It’s more or less what I estimated.”

Unhurriedly, she turned back to face Jess. “You likely wish to know how you should live in this ongoing ending. But to know the ending of a story, you must start by learning its beginning, don’t you agree? Could you listen to what I have to say first? Will you listen to the start of the story—the path of my life that I carved and sprinted down with everything I had?”

Gingerly, Jess asked, “Will that story...enlighten us about what we should do going forward?”

“Of course.” Vatis smiled. “It will undoubtedly give the answers you two are looking for.”

I wondered who she was addressing. For a moment, I thought she was referring to Jess and Shravis, but it also looked like she was looking at Jess and me instead as she spoke.

Vatis leaned away from Jess and began walking around whimsically. “I was born and raised in a town in the North. It has already gone to ruin now, so you likely wouldn’t recognize it even if I mention its name. I was the daughter of a relatively affluent family, which was one of the most prestigious households within that town.”

She’s going to start from there? I thought. It was a story from the faraway past—a story that felt as if it had no relation whatsoever to the present.

“At the time, all women born to mage families were told this as they grew up: ‘Become a respectable wife, give birth to robust children, and leave war and murder to the men. This is the life battle of women.’”

Her story began in the Dark Ages—a nightmarish era where mages fought ferociously among themselves, causing Mesteria’s population to take a nosedive. It was an age of horror and suffering, and Vatis spoke of it as if she were reciting a fairy tale.

“Like all the others, I had no objections. I never wished to take any lives. I wished to receive the doting affection of a man with authority and to bear and raise children surrounded by the finest of things. Alas, one day, I discovered the secret of our world—a hideous, atrocious secret that shocked me to the bone.”

As if a circuit breaker had tripped, our surroundings instantly turned pitch-black. Startled, I frantically looked to my left and right when I felt a tepid breeze against my skin. Gradually, my eyes adapted to my new surroundings. Oddly enough, we’d moved to a forest at night.

My ears picked up the sound of petite feet running across the soil. Vatis began strutting away as if it were the natural thing to do, and we followed her. On the other side of the eerie branches that twisted and turned like smoke, I spotted the back of a young girl sprinting through the dark forest.

Vatis followed the girl in question. She lifted her index finger and pointed. “That was me at the age of sixteen.”

The young maiden’s soft golden locks danced in the wind as she constantly swished her head left and right while she ran. “Big sister!” she called desperately. She appeared to be looking for her sibling.

Chasing after her former self from the distant past with large strides, Vatis addressed us. “I had a sister who was two years older than me. But one day, she abruptly vanished into thin air. Then, after the passage of an entire month, I heard a frail voice calling to me in my mind, saying, ‘Please help me.’ Indeed, it was my sister’s voice.”

Our feet ground to a halt. The girl had stopped in her tracks slightly ahead of us.

She appeared to be looking down at the ground. A stream of moonlight snuck through the dark trees and vaguely illuminated the object lying on the ground. No, it wasn’t an object—motionless limbs were stretching out from it. A white outfit had been ruthlessly ripped apart. Staining them all was crimson blood.

The person who collapsed must have run with everything they had to reach this point. Their feet, which weren’t wearing shoes, were littered with scrapes and scratches.

“No!” The young Vatis practically collapsed onto the ground and clung despairingly to the body. “Big sister! This can’t be happening!” Seeing the body’s pale hands and feet, which swayed limply with the young girl’s motions, I realized that she must have already gone cold.

The maiden’s unintelligible, grief-stricken scream resounded throughout the night forest. Meanwhile, the adult Vatis calmly beckoned us over with her hand. “Behold. Observe my sister’s stomach.”

We gingerly approached the pitiful siblings, trying not to alarm the young girl. However, our concern had been unnecessary—this must be a memory of the past, for the young Vatis appeared to be unable to see us, which I should have expected.

I peered at the abdomen of Vatis’s sister. A dark crimson gash peered out from the gaps of her torn clothes. It was a familiar wound.

“All of you are knowledgeable—I’m certain I don’t have to spell out what happened to her.”

I was unavoidably reminded of Blaise as I looked at the girl who’d breathed her last. Blaise, the kindhearted girl whose wound had festered, causing her health to deteriorate. Despairing at her own fate, she had sacrificed her own life to protect us.

Jess and Shravis stood motionlessly with grave expressions, and Vatis nodded. “I personally wasn’t aware of it, but it was apparently what you’d call an open secret. The men, you see, hadn’t only been murdering each other for their own selfish desires. Simply because they wish to escape the clutches of death—because they wanted to save their own skin, they competed to devour the wombs of women. You must know that spiritual energy, which could be said to be the very power source that fuels our existences, is amassed within the uteri of mages. By consuming these regularly, you can reinforce your soul, and your body will approach immortality.”

That was how the Clandestine Arcanist had obtained his immortal body. He’d collected so much power that he could regenerate even after he’d been chopped into pieces and burned to ashes.

Vatis continued, “The lost spiritual energy does not replenish itself. You may attempt to heal your body as much as you wish, but if you don’t regain this spiritual energy, it will eventually lead to death. My sister was kidnapped, and after her stomach was plundered, she seemed to have fled all the way to our hometown, but she exhausted the last of her strength here.”

The young Vatis cried so much that her tears had dried up, and she gently stroked her dead sister’s head. The adult Vatis pointed at the sister in question’s hair. “Do you see the red glass hair ornament on my sister’s head? Remember it well.”

I fixed my eyes on the object. It was more of a tiny red fragment—I wouldn’t have been able to recognize it as a hair ornament if she hadn’t informed me. The shard had gotten tangled halfway down her disheveled hair, and in the dim lighting of the dark moon tonight, it almost looked like a clump of blood.

My vision grew bright without warning, and I narrowed my eyes. Night had transformed into day. As I adapted to the sun’s radiance, I realized that this time, we were within an enormous city. The streets were clean and orderly. People walked by, seemingly enjoying their peaceful lives. The city itself was surrounded by robust defensive walls, and at its heart was a gigantic, towering hunk of rock. Further atop this rock pedestal was a magnificent castle.

I knew this place—I’d come here before. Not in reality, but in the Abyssus.

Under Vatis’s lead, I trotted across the path paved with cobblestone. She was following a girl with long hair, who seemed to be the founder once again in her younger years. The young girl cloaked herself in a gray robe, possibly to blend into the hustle and bustle. She appeared to be searching for something.

“This place, Pospoum, was a city near my hometown,” Vatis said matter-of-factly. “You must recognize the name. It’s the wonderful birthplace of the mage whom I failed to kill, the man who cursed Eavis to death and possessed Marquis’s body.”

Shravis sucked in a sharp breath. Jess and I knew this place well, though, so we weren’t perturbed. Back in the Abyssus, we’d witnessed the city being devastated by magical fire, courtesy of Vatis’s ferocious raid, with our own eyes. Pospoum had been burned down without a trace, leaving behind only the seed of hatred and misfortune that eventually sprouted into a curse on the royal family 130 years later. The scenery we were currently seeing was likely a snippet from way before it had been destroyed.

“The governor of Pospoum was an interesting case. Despite possessing powerful magic, he was said to be a kind king who didn’t have a taste for war, instead choosing to show compassion to his people. And from what I’ve heard and seen, he was indeed such a man. He didn’t spend time battling to the death with the other men—he directed all his efforts into making his people prosper.”

Those words stirred a memory within my mind. Before Shravis had slain the Clandestine Arcanist, the elderly mage had made a passionate speech about how his lord had been a most noble character. Resentment had practically dripped from his voice as he’d spoken of how Vatis had one-sidedly crushed such a kind, benevolent king beneath her foot.

After gazing at her former self who walked at the front of our procession, Vatis turned around to face us. “On this day, I came to this city to investigate my mortal enemy responsible for my sister’s death. And then, I discovered the culprit at last in that place.” Her index finger indicated the gigantic rock at the heart of the city.

In an instant, the setting changed before my eyes, and darkness shrouded my surroundings once more. A tiny, flickering flame danced ahead of us. We were now inside a cramped underground tunnel. The young Vatis was sneaking forward while lighting up her path with a torch. We followed suit.

The rotten stench of death stimulated my nasal cavity. I had a feeling that I’d come here before too—no, I should have been to this place.

The tunnel ended at a dungeon. Gilded metal bars shone glossily under the fire’s light. Prison cells treated this way were resistant to magic and designed to confine mages. Marquis had been trapped here in the Abyssus. With no way out, he’d chosen to die here to save his family.

Back during our search for Marquis, he had been the only prisoner in this place. But now, there were feeble girls chained up on the other side of the bars. The young Vatis lowered her gaze remorsefully as she stepped deeper inside—until she abruptly halted. She stooped down and picked up something from the ground.

I squinted to take a better look. It was a piece of red glass—the fragment of a hair ornament. Like two pieces of a puzzle, it fit perfectly against the fragment that the young maiden took out of her pocket.

There could only be one conclusion: Vatis’s sister had been dragged into this dungeon.

“I learned of the gory truth here,” the older Vatis said in a neutral tone. “Behind the scenes, the governor of Pospoum was imprisoning countless girls in this dungeon, cutting open their abdomens, and murdering them. The authority he possessed that allowed him to avoid battle was built on a foundation of immortality, which he obtained through such means.”

“That’s awful...” Jess let out in a heartbroken whisper.

Vatis turned on her heel, and a second later, we found ourselves back in the Golden Cathedral. The sun had set, and the interior had already gone dark. The lanterns along the walls offered us some illumination.

My breathing had turned erratic, as if I’d just gone on a tiny adventure. Jess and Shravis also couldn’t hide their shock. Vatis had made us watch the appalling atrocities of the Dark Ages with our own eyes, and I had to fight the bile that threatened to rise from my stomach.

“It’s astounding, isn’t it?” Vatis said. “From what I heard, all the men who boasted of powerful magic at the time engaged in such a practice without exception. They would kidnap young girls, brutally devour their wombs out of a selfish desire to save their own skin, and in most cases, they murdered them afterward.”

Her tone grew heated, and she barely took a breath before she continued, “So why are the women remaining submissive and just letting them? Why won’t they rise against these men and fight? I screamed that question at my mother between sobs.” Her gaze flitted over to her own casket. “The answer was simple: the price we pay for childbirth. When a woman gives birth to a magical child, it will drain her spiritual energy. The more offspring she has, or the stronger the magical child is, their lifespans would be depleted even more as a result.”

Jess had just informed me about the price of childbirth. It was the reason women didn’t remain in the royal family for long.

“And that, young ones, establishes a clear-cut rule. I’m certain I don’t have to spell it out for you. In a system in which a parent passes down magical power and political authority to their child, short-lived women can never seize the initiative. Try as they might, the men with long lives are the ones who would inherit authority and amass power in the end. Even if a powerful woman were to appear, her legacy is fated to end within a single generation. Thus, the society of mages became a society dominated by men.”

Shravis lowered his head as he listened—or perhaps he was casting down his eyes with remorse.

Vatis continued, “I might be able to survive, but my future daughter might die at a male mage’s hands. My future son might murder women throughout his own life. I learned a vicious lesson: I could never escape such fear. I was a woman without any semblance of authority, and the word ‘powerless’ defined me. Only a future of despair awaited me down my path. Well then, what do you think I did after this discovery?”

Out of the blue, Vatis directed that last question at Jess.

“Umm...” Jess seemed to be racking her brain for an answer, but she was certainly struggling.

Vatis flashed her a small smile. “My beloved sister was murdered, and my mother, who loved me, passed away. What did I do then? Here’s the answer: I prayed to the stars. I wished that I could lead a peaceful life. I wished that I could escape from the dread hanging over this entire world. And then, the starry night sky answered my prayers. Countless shooting stars flowed across the sky like a waterfall.”

Jess gasped with her eyes wide. Praying to the stars in despair and receiving a response from the starry night sky rang a bell. That must have been what happened to Jess as well.

“The very next day,” Vatis began wistfully, “a man named Ruta came to my side from somewhere beyond this world.”

This was an anecdote from over 130 years ago. To us, it was a distant story from the past, almost like a myth depicted on a wall painting. But at the same time, it was shockingly similar to what had happened to Jess and me.

To Vatis, that fateful encounter had been when she’d truly become the protagonist of her own story.

“That man, who claimed to have hailed from a place called Altelanta, possessed the power to change the entire world for good. You must be familiar with it. I joined hands with Ruta, who possessed the ability to locate the Contract Stakes, the source of all magic, and gained total control over Mesteria within the blink of an eye. I stabbed the stakes into myself and obtained overwhelming might. I stabbed the stakes into those immortal men, neutralizing them through ecdysias before killing them.”

The founder then looked at Jess. “Changing the very foundation of this nation by borrowing the power of those from another world... It appears that the two of us share some similarities.”

Jess hurriedly waved her hands as if to refute that statement. “M-My lady, I...! The world is a big place, and I’m not anyone special...”

Vatis smirked impishly. “There is no difference. Both you and I obtained the power we lacked through our prayers. As a result, I established the royal court, and you ended it.”

I considered her words. Vatis hadn’t had enough power to come out as the final victor of the Dark Ages. That was why Ruta, who possessed power, had been summoned to her side so that she could make up for that shortcoming. But what about me? What kind of ability do I have that Jess lacked, causing her prayers to bring me to this world?

Sending a meaningful gaze in my direction, Vatis continued, “Ruta was a charming man. He sympathized with my cause and fought by my side. Together, the two of us united the country under one flag, created the royal court, and bore a child. He was indeed everything I could ask for in a spouse. The two of us succeeded at crafting our ideal world.” Cutting off there, Vatis turned to face Jess again. “The ending of my story snuck up on me within those fruitful days. You know what happened.”

Jess swallowed. “Mister Ruta...was murdered.”

“Correct. We were betrayed by one of our allied mages. As irony would have it, the person who betrayed me and killed Ruta was the woman who was my closest friend.”

“Why...? Why would she do something like that?” Jess was clearly stunned.

“I have no answer,” Vatis answered coldly. “For you see, anger got the better of me, and the next thing I knew, I’d turned that woman, her family, and all her associates into stone. The dead cannot speak.”

She quietly shut her eyes before opening them. “I lost Ruta to death, and only despair was left in my hands. The betrayal shook me, as you would expect, but what shook me even more was the fact that I’d mercilessly slaughtered my friend of many years, her entire family, and her supporters the moment I learned that she was the mastermind. This incident taught me that brutality, which the Dark Ages was saturated with, was inherited by all mages without exception.”

Staring down at her own hands, she concluded, “So long as mages are left unchecked in the wild, peace will always be a fleeting concept. It will only be realized if a lone, powerful mage with morals puts all the other mages under their management. That was the only conclusion I could come up with.”

Silence. Shravis placed a hand over his own chest, looking sorrowful.

Violence accompanied the overwhelming power that mages were gifted with. These people, who’d obtained extraordinary destructive power that transcended the limits of their mortal bodies, were all threats so long as they could wield it.

Vatis sighed. “I won’t reminisce about the details since I’d rather not recall those memories, but all of you know very well about what followed.”

The queen tried to devise a method that would prevent the second coming of the Dark Ages. And so, she decided to scrupulously manage all the mages other than those of her own bloodline with an iron fist. She had restricted the power of some with blood rings, a hoop that was attached to a mage’s heart. These mages would go on to become the citizens of the capital. The others were neutralized entirely with silver collars and had been banished outside the capital—the beginning of the Yethma system.

The capital citizens would be imprisoned in the capital for their entire lifetimes, while the Yethma were eventually distributed as slaves to maintain social stability. The king oversaw all these systems.

Thus, the royal family with absolute power were the only ones left who could freely wield magic. With this, the Dark Ages had come to an end.

“Fate, it seems, enjoys its ironies,” Vatis mused. “The ideal that I built up from the ground with the aid of a single person was destroyed by my very own hands for the sake of that one person. Then, my broken ideals rotted away, and as a result, I ended up bringing about suffering to countless girls once again.”

Anguished, Shravis asked, “Then... Then, Lady Vatis, are you stating that what we—what the kings of each generation have protected was nothing but a rotten ideal?!”

“But of course.” She shrugged. “It should be clear if you think over the matter with a human heart. How else could you describe a system that’s built on a foundation of innocent girls being enslaved and killed like livestock?”

Shravis hung his head. The system of this country, which had sent Jess into despair, sent me into a rage, and sent Naut into war, had been evidently rotten even in the eye of the person who’d built its foundation. Vatis had attempted to establish a country to end a separate kind of injustice, and her despair had given birth to the new injustice known as the Yethma system. It was a disheartening thought.

“Perhaps there could have been better solutions. If it meant giving innocent girls only a sliver of hope while making them suffer, perhaps I should have simply arranged it so that they wouldn’t be born, just like the men, wiping out the brutal race of mages altogether. However...I didn’t choose that path.”

That’s when it hit me. Countless Yethma had been tormented and killed ruthlessly. And so, my impression was that it was a system in which only young girls were forced to shoulder misfortunes. However, behind the scenes, likely an equal number of men had been aborted—they hadn’t even been permitted to be born in the first place.

Being born into a life of suffering. Not being allowed to be born in the first place. I started considering which one was tragic, but I cut that train of thought short. Either way, it didn’t change the fact that it was a hellish system. And the first queen had crafted such a thing with her own hands.

“As for the rest, I think I was simply reaping what I sowed,” Vatis said in an unreadable voice. “I researched soul magic and called Ruta, who turned into a spirit, back into this world. When I entered the Abyssus and restored his body, I believed that I’d managed to meticulously cover up all the inconvenient truths so that Ruta wouldn’t catch word of them. However, secrets, it seems, wouldn’t stay hidden forever as I’d like them to. Ruta learned of what kind of country I had founded despite my efforts.”

I saw Jess’s fingers clench tightly around the fabric near her chest.

“It probably wasn’t anything that impressed him. Quite the opposite, in fact. That’s the reason I believe he secretly left behind a curse in our world so that the royal court can end properly when it ought to. He made preparations so that when the time was right, I, who would likely continue to protect our rotten ideals to the point of becoming a living corpse, could finally sleep in peace.”

Vatis stared down at her own remains in the casket. A sinister black mesh pattern marred her skin—they were the marks of a curse. They were proof that the husband of the royal court’s founder had put an end to the royal court.

“My husband inferred what I did to resurrect him as well. He knew very well that the taboo of soul magic came at an unfathomable price.” She paused her speech there, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “And then...he decided that it should be the end for us.”

Looking confused, Shravis asked, “The end?”

Vatis nodded solemnly. “He showed understanding toward my actions. Though he couldn’t support what I did, he offered me company and comfort. Alas, he came up to me one day and announced that he could no longer stay in this country.”

As if she couldn’t hold it in anymore, Jess leaned forward and asked, “What did you do, Lady Vatis? Did you give up at that point?”

“Of course I didn’t.” Vatis shook her head. “We share similarities in that aspect. I thought that soul magic shortening my lifespan was but a trivial price to pay. I tried to detain him.”

The word choice “tried” indicated the results clearly enough.

Jess persisted. “Then... Why did you let him go?”

Her ancestor gazed at her with compassion. “The problem was no longer only in our hands by that point. It was no longer an insignificant topic of how much of my lifespan would be lost.”

Unable to comprehend what she was getting at, my thoughts stuttered to a stop. My mouth opened on its own. “What do you mean, Your Majesty?” I’d been convinced that Ruta had left this country because he was against the expenditure of Vatis’s lifespan too, but her words suggested otherwise.

If that isn’t the case, what in the world urged him to leave?

Vatis raised her face. “I will have to go on to speak of something that the two of you wouldn’t want to learn or hear. If it’s undesirable, then you may leave as you wish. You have the freedom to choose, and not listening to my story is one of your choices.” Her gaze was directed at “the two of you” that she mentioned—in other words, she was looking at Jess and me.

The younger maiden looked intimidated by the woman’s phrasing, and she was quiet as a mouse. I took a step forward. “Please tell us. We will listen to the story to the very end.”

“Is that so?” Vatis glanced at Jess. The younger maiden seemed to have finally steeled her resolve, because she nodded profoundly. Seeing that, the queen began narrating her story. She was kind enough to start from the beginning. “You must be aware that my husband hails from another world called Altelanta. He had knowledge that one couldn’t possibly ever grasp within the lands of Mesteria. And such knowledge was what he imparted on me—the calamity that arises when different worlds are connected.”

This was news to me. Shravis looked equally bewildered as he addressed Vatis. “May I ask for clarification? What do you mean by connecting differing worlds?”

Vatis hummed thoughtfully. “Before I answer, tell me about how much you lot know about the Contract Stakes.”

I didn’t have the confidence to tell her all the technical details. Shravis also struggled to give her an answer right away. Jess was the one who raised her face. “...The Contract Stakes are crystals that grant people magic. There were originally 128 of them in this country. They served as nodes that fastened reality and desires together. When all 128 of them were consumed, it brought about the phenomenon known as spercritica, which blurred the line between reality and desires.”

Her answer was fluent like a model student; Vatis nodded with satisfaction and noted, “That’s an apt description. Magic is the power to turn desire into reality. The medium that allows this transformation to happen is the Contract Stakes.” The hologram of a see-through, triangular pyramid manifested in Vatis’s hand and floated up. It was a stake. “Now then, where do you think these artifacts came from in the first place?”

Even Jess struggled to give her an answer this time. I’d heard that the Contract Stakes were items that had been around since prehistoric times. They were things that had always been there—I’d never even questioned where they’d come from in the first place.

As if she’d read our minds, Vatis shook her head. “Such anomalous objects could never have existed in the world from the beginning. The Contract Stakes are foreign matter that migrated from another world like a contagious disease. To be more precise, the 128 stakes that were formerly in Mesteria were artifacts sent to our world from Altelanta, Ruta’s original world, back in ancient times.”

Jess’s eyes widened. “They were sent here... By that, do you possibly mean that the origin of our world’s magic was introduced from another world?”

“Indeed.” The stake that had floated above Vatis’s hand multiplied until there were too many to count. The division had happened seven times. Two to the power of seven—there were likely 128 of them. “The relationship between the stakes and the worlds is a continuous cycle. Altelanta apparently had an era without stakes as well. But the 128 stakes were brought into their world, introducing a new, outlandish principle we call magic into Ruta’s nation, and changed the world as they knew it for good.”

A semitransparent sphere enclosed the 128 stakes floating above Vatis’s hand. This likely represented one world. One after another, the stakes stabbed into the sphere’s surface from the inside. With every new node, the sphere shone brightly.

Vatis continued, “And then, when all 128 stakes in Altelanta were consumed—” The globe, which had gotten brighter with each stake, flared up brighter than ever before with the very last one. “—spercritica occurred. With every consumed stake, reality and desire met. With the last one, they surpassed a critical distance and melted into one. The fused world superheated until it reached its limit, resulting in an unstable state.”

The world stabbed by 128 stakes above Vatis’s hand grew white hot as if all limits were off. This was spercritica—Mesteria’s present condition. It was a state in which reality and desires collided into one chaotic mess.

“To restore the world to normal, you must remove the excess heat from the world,” Vatis explained. “You must shift reality and desire, which have perfectly overlapped, until they’re separate once more. Altelanta apparently carried out that exact operation. Those who directly harbored the stakes—the connecting nodes—in their bodies perished, and they unfastened all the stakes.”

The 128 stakes were pulled out from the almost blinding world floating on Vatis’s hand. The superheated world gradually cooled down and returned to its original semitransparent state.

Meanwhile, the stakes had absorbed the world’s heat and were hot to the point of shining a fierce crimson. Within the world depicted as a semitransparent sphere, they flew about aimlessly, searching for a place of release.

“It just so happened that Altelanta was, unfortunately, connected to another world at the time—this world, Mesteria. Ruta mentioned that there was a specific person in his world who had teleported to ancient Mesteria.”

Next to the globe representing Altelanta, another identical sphere emerged. This one, however, didn’t have any stakes. It was Mesteria back when magic hadn’t existed. Something akin to a red, glowing thread seemed to be hanging between the two globes. “After fulfilling their roles, the Contract Stakes sought out a place where they could expel their heat. Due to the passage connected by a single person, the 128 stakes that had nowhere to go within Altelanta ended up being introduced into our world.”

Like a swarm of fish, the red-hot stakes moved collectively and flowed into the neighboring globe through the red thread. Mesteria’s cold air steadily cooled the stakes. Eventually, these stakes brought about magic and the Dark Ages in Mesteria.

“I’m certain that was explanation enough. If spercritica happened in Mesteria, the cycle would repeat itself.” The founder looked between the left and right globes. “I only saved three stakes. If they were all used up by some chance, spercritica would happen in Mesteria this time. This world would superheat itself.”

A single thread—the existence of Ruta, who’d come to Mesteria from Altelanta—was connecting the two worlds. Vatis pointed at it. “In the scenario that Ruta stayed behind in this world... He would become the thread that guides the stakes. If we attempt to quell spercritica, he said that the stakes would be sent back to his original world once more.”

Jess swallowed audibly. This wasn’t a story that stopped at Altelanta and Mesteria—naturally, it applied to Mesteria and the world I came from too.

We mustn’t resolve this world’s anomaly while the worlds are still connected.

“If I were to use up all three stakes and Ruta died, leaving behind his spirit in this world, we would fulfill the conditions for that migration. He told me of how perilous such a phenomenon was. He said that he couldn’t expose his birthplace—the hundreds of millions of lives in his world—to danger just so that we could be together. Not for that reason alone.”

I felt nervous sweat sliding down my skin. What Vatis was describing was a very real possibility that could happen soon.

“And so, Ruta returned to his original world before spercritica can take place, severing the ties between the worlds irreversibly. The only things left behind were his traces that guided you, as well as the curse that ended my life.”

My mouth was dry, but I still spoke up falteringly. “Then, you mean...”

Vatis’s answer stabbed into me like knives. “It’s exactly what you suspect. If Mesteria’s spercritica ends with the situation staying as it is—if the thread that connects your former world and this one remains intact—this time, the 128 stakes will be sent to your world. Your world that had no relation to magic whatsoever would be engulfed in boundless violence, and you would likely see a repeat of the Dark Ages.”

Jess’s face turned pale as a ghost. I feared for a moment that she might faint on the spot.

“But fortunately—or perhaps I should call it ironically—the two of you broke taboo, which is why spercritica is persisting. As long as your taboo connection remains, the stakes wouldn’t migrate.”

“That’s... I...” Jess’s distraught voice slipped through her mouth. We’d come here to ask for a method to avoid the price of breaking taboo. We’d clung to the last semblance of hope, praying that there was a slightly better path forward, even if by a tiny margin. Yet, Vatis was declaring that there were only worse paths ahead of us.

“I shall sum it up simply for you,” Vatis said, closing in on Jess as if to pour salt on the younger girl’s wounds. “You wish to be together with the one you love, do you not? But as long as you two are in the same world, causing our world to be connected to that pig’s world, it would be no different from pointing a gun on the verge of misfiring at his world. If the two of you unravel your taboo relationship and bring an end to spercritica, the trigger would be pulled, and the pig’s world would be filled with stakes of mayhem.”

I felt cornered, as if all the paths available to me had been blocked off. A good way to describe it was that Jess and I were investing every effort into finding an exit within a cave. We’d barely managed to discover a secret, narrow path, but when we tried going down the passage, it led to an utter dead end. All we could do now was to remain in the same place.

Maintaining our current relationship meant that Mesteria’s anomalies wouldn’t disappear. It would also chip away at Jess’s life. And if we resolved that issue... If Jess and I were together, this time, my world would come under threat. Our self-centered wish to be together would jeopardize the lives of billions of people.

“Then... What are we supposed to...?” I whispered in despair.

Vatis announced in a steady voice, “The order you do things is the crux of the matter. Spercritica mustn’t be terminated before that thread is removed.” She lifted three fingers. “In the present, there are three threads connecting the worlds. Two are souls who shouldn’t be in our world, and one is someone who shouldn’t be in the other world. You have to be the very last one remaining. You must start by returning the other two threads to their rightful places, then return to your original world last. If you sever two worlds completely from each other in this way, even after spercritica is resolved with your disappearance, the stakes wouldn’t migrate to your world. Normality will likewise be restored to Mesteria. Everything would go back to the way it was.”

It was at this point that I recalled the words Eavis left with his dying breath. “And then, return to your world during that meaningful moment.” I remembered Eavis, the elderly man who’d sent me back home after I’d reached the capital with Jess, stating that I was a threat to this world—the wise king, who’d thoroughly preached about how he had the gift of foresight.

Vatis clearly gazed toward Jess and me. “Do you understand why I began from the start of the story?”

I was at a loss for words. I knew the answer, but I didn’t have the heart to voice it.

She continued, “It’s because the two of you are tragically similar to Ruta and me. An earnest girl, in despair, prayed and encountered a man who would help her. Together, they carved open a path for themselves, were eventually drawn to each other, but were pulled apart at the very end. It’s almost like a fairy tale, isn’t it?”

Her tone grew heated. “They are separate, foreign worlds that by all rights shouldn’t connect. Thus, stories that cross that gap are fated to be stories of encounters and farewells. From another perspective, they are there-and-back-again stories. Worlds unnaturally fastened to each other through prayers must be restored to normal one day. You must cut them off from each other altogether and go separate ways, never to meet again.”

Jess pressed her lips into a tight line and didn’t speak a word. Transparent tears trickled down from the corners of her eyes.

I decided to resist to the bitter end. “Is there truly no other way?”

As Vatis gazed down at me, a humanlike spark finally entered her eyes. I couldn’t tell whether it was pity toward us or grief toward her own past. “...If there were such a thing, I would’ve told you from the beginning, you fool.” She walked up until she was in front of Jess. The first queen and her descendant faced each other almost like mother and daughter.

“You must feel that everything makes no sense. Deep down, you likely think that you couldn’t care less about things like soul magic, the stakes, spercritica, or the fate of the two worlds. You don’t want to lose the happiness you have right in this moment—that’s everything to you.”

Though they couldn’t touch each other, Vatis gently placed her hands on Jess’s shoulders. “But, young one, that is how the great and haughty world works. Despite being in a place you could never hope to reach on a normal day, when the opportunity arises, it would suddenly march right up to your side and press laughable arguments of logic against your throat like a blade. Even the royalty that rules over an entire country must live under its injustices.”

Quietly, she stepped away from the younger maiden. “It appears that I have prattled too much. If it were possible, I would have loved to converse until we’re both satisfied. Alas...” As she looked at the trembling Jess, Vatis smiled wistfully. “I have told you everything I ought to. The rest is in your hands.”

Without a sound, Vatis walked back to her own casket. When she propped up one foot on the edge of the coffin, she turned around to look at us. “Right. One last thing. It doesn’t matter who accomplishes it between the two of you.” She pointed at Shravis, then at Jess. “It’s a blessing that Ruta’s blood and mine managed to withstand the test of time. Don’t let it end in your generation.”

Leaving behind her audience, who were all dumbfounded, Vatis vanished without a trace. She’d spoken as she pleased and vanished, only leaving behind significant scars in our hearts. She’s like a storm personified, I thought.

Shravis looked like he was still struggling to gauge the distance between himself and the two of us, and he didn’t offer us many words. As we turned our backs on the ruined cathedral and trudged away, he could only clumsily comment, “If there’s any way I can help you, I will do so whenever you need me.”

Jess and I didn’t have a room to return to. The royal palace had gone down in flames.

For no particular reason, our feet carried us to a lavish bedroom constructed by hollowing out the rock underneath the royal capital. It had the atmosphere of an ancient castle hotel, and I recognized it.

It was the very first room we’d stayed in when we’d reached the city at the very end of our journey to the capital. It was where Jess had shown me something that she’d saved for a special, impactful moment.

Without conversing, the two of us climbed into the excessively soft and fluffy bed. Neither of us was in the mood for dinner. That was why we decided to sleep for now.

As Jess hugged me so tightly in her arms that it was painful, I pondered.

It was as if we were rewinding our story. This room was where our harsh and relentless first journey had concluded at last. And soon, we had to leave for our harsh and relentless final journey.

Savoring every single moment we could be together, I slept.

I found myself walking inside a dazzling, stylish café. Though it was lively, I couldn’t make out any person’s voice for the life of me. I immediately realized that I was dreaming.

At the booth seat on the other side of the establishment, two women were sitting next to each other. One of them was Philopon, who was dressed in a hoodie as always, while the other was Blaise in her hospital gown. A boar sat meekly on the seat across from them. He was adorned in a frilly dress.

Philopon noticed me and waved. “Ah, Mister Lolip! Good day and good work!” I nodded and sat down next to the boar. “I heard it all from Kento. You’ve finished everything you set out to do, huh?” Looking delighted, Philopon took a sip of her black tea.

Beside me, Kento straightened his spine triumphantly. “Mister Lolip, Mister Shravis has returned Nourris to us today. She didn’t have any collars on her either. At the moment, my real body is sleeping by her side.”

The last time I saw him, Kento’s dress had been muddy and tattered, but it had now changed into a clean and neat one.

“That’s great,” I managed to say after a pause. “She’s free at last, huh?”

“Indeed. The monarchy has ended, and Nourris has been released. Though I’m reluctant to say farewell...I was just about thinking that it’s about time I take my leave.”

Philopon nodded. “Phew, I’m so glad you made it in time. I would like the two of you to return right away if possible.”

Blaise gazed quietly at me, who couldn’t find my voice. A moment later, Philopon realized our interaction. “Huh? Mister Lolip, what’s wrong?”

Before anything else, I decided to start by sharing the information that they needed to know.

I told them about the Contract Stakes and what threats they imposed on the worlds. To prevent the stakes from pouring into our world, we had to follow a strict order. This process involved returning all three threads to where they were supposed to be.

“You mean... That applies to Blaise too?” Ever so slowly, Philopon put her teacup back onto its saucer. “That can’t be true. Why does even Blaise have to go back?” She placed her hand on Blaise’s knees—to be more exact, over Blaise’s hand that the younger girl rested on her own knees. I saw Philopon’s hand grip Blaise’s hand tightly.

It was heartbreaking to break the news to her. “Beings that cross over to another world unwittingly become ties that connect the two worlds. To protect the world you’re in, we need to impeccably separate the two realms from each other. All three of us need to return to our respective worlds.”

“How can this...?” Philopon hung her head.

Gently, Blaise placed a hand on Philopon’s shoulder. “It’s all right. I have an idea.” After flashing a tiny smile at all of us, the younger maiden stood up. “Please excuse me. I shall head to the bathroom for a moment.”

I thought I’d misheard. Kento’s eyes were wide as saucers as he asked, “Wait. This is a dream, isn’t it?”

His concern was valid. If one were to go to the bathroom in a dream, their body in real life might, unfortunately, act in the same manner.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” Blaise assured. “But well... Noble Pig, would you mind coming with me?”

I was doubly baffled. “Go with you? As in, to the bathroom?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, I’m not really into that kind of stuff...”

Philopon raised her face and looked at me. “Blaise is making that request. How about you have some faith and accompany her?”

“O-Okay.”

Under Blaise’s beckoning with her hand, I climbed down from the sofa and moved to her side. If Jess saw the situation, she would probably—no, she would definitely get mad at me.

“Thank you, Hiroko.” Blaise bowed courteously before walking down the narrow corridor. I followed her, my heart pounding nervously the entire time.

We went down the pathway lined with colorful lamps and old-fashioned clocks, which made it look like an antique shop, and turned at the cramped corner. There was a wooden door at the end of the hallway. I realized immediately that it was a door leading to the bathroom. I could tell based on the modernistic brass pictograms of a man and a woman standing side by side that had been nailed onto the door.

This was Blaise’s dream. The toilet in the hospital ward she was admitted to likely had the same symbol affixed onto the door as well. She gripped the handle to push open the door.

“Is it really okay?” I spoke up hesitantly.

“Yes. Please follow me. I want you to see, Noble Pig.”

Hold on a hot minute! What in the world should I even look at?!

Blaise opened the door to reveal a scene I’d never expected on the other side.

Filling my vision was the center of a dark forest at night. When I stepped forward with Blaise, a wind swept across us, carrying the scent of moist soil. When I turned around, only the door to the toilet jarringly stood before us against the landscape, almost like a certain type of Anywhere Door.

“This place is...” I trailed off.

“I wish to talk in private with you.”

“I-I see. So that’s how it is. That’s a relief.” For a moment, I’d feared that she was going to relieve herself right before my eyes.

With an emotionless face, Blaise watched over me unblinkingly for a good while.

I hesitated. “Can I help you?”

“Were you possibly looking forward to it?”

“T-To what?”

“To me relieving myself in front of—”

“No, absolutely not.” I shook my head firmly. “Please don’t worry.”

“I see. That reassures me.”

She spoke in an unhurried, matter-of-fact tone, so I couldn’t even tell whether it was a joke. If she’d seriously been anxious about it, it would leave me with the immense concern of what kind of character, exactly, I was in her mind. It’d be awful if she considered me a pervert who’d want to watch a girl do her business in front of his very eyes.

“I’ve been suspecting it for quite a while,” she began.

My eyes widened. “Wait. It’s a misunderstanding. I swear, I don’t have such a distasteful hobby—”

“That’s not what I’m referring to. I’m talking about how I felt that I ought to return one day.”

I was ashamed at the fact that in my panic, I’d jumped to the wrong conclusion. Right. It should have been obvious. Blaise must’ve wanted to talk to me in private about the three threads I described.

“You mentioned ‘for quite a while’...” I frowned. “Why did you think that you needed to go back? Even if you want to go back to Mesteria, Blaise, you...”

“Yes. I’m not alive over in my original world. That is the reason I must return—return to dust.” Blaise stared up at the sky through the gaps between the trees. The stars glimmered brilliantly. “After I came to this world, the world of Hiroko and you, Noble Pig, I realized something. This world has no ristae or magic. There are plenty of strange and curious items, of course, such as es-call-laters and smart-fones, but Hiroko was kind enough to teach me that they were all things you could explain without using magic.”

“But... How does that lead to the feeling that you should head back, Blaise?”

“I’m the odd one out.”

Oh. That’s what she’s talking about. Realization dawned on me. “Oh, you can use magic there, can’t you?”

“I...can’t tell whether it’s magic, exactly. But I possess the power to alter rumors according to my wishes, subconsciously or otherwise. Some people have been raising questions that would give Hiroko trouble—like the staff at the hosh-pital and the pol-ice who came up to her. However, just the sentiment that I’m distressed would make all of them forget everything and take their leave.”

“Do you mean that you manipulated their memories?”

“I’m not quite sure. However... As I said, the rumors would change according to my wishes. When Hiroko sent you noble pigs to Mesteria, it apparently resulted in news articles. But after I learned that Hiroko was suffering because of it, she told me that the articles themselves had vanished into thin air.”

Blaise quietly clasped her hands together in front of her ample chest. “The same can be said for this dream. I can’t wield the kind of magic I’m familiar with. I’m powerless to the point that I can’t even heal your bodies that have been left behind in this world, noble pigs. Yet, my powers are capable of allowing Hiroko, Mister Sanon, and the two noble pigs that should be in Mesteria to converse within a dream... What I possess isn’t magic, but some sort of dreadful power that heavily transcends the boundaries of what we call magic. I can sense such a thing within me.”

A power that transcended magic—it rang a bell. Ruta’s ghost had mentioned something along those lines. Those who came to Mesteria from Altelanta were granted an almost godly power that surpassed the realm of magic. That was why Ruta had been able to perceive the location of the Contract Stakes no matter the distance, not to mention the ancient grave of the man back in Helde, which had been blazing with a unique flame that could burn away destiny.

If Altelanta’s relation to Mesteria was what Mesteria was to my original world, then...it was possible for Blaise, who’d hailed from Mesteria, to be granted powers on the same level.

Blaise stared up at the night sky once more. “After I obtained a power significant enough to change the world, what I thought...was that it was terrifying. The only thing I felt was fear. I felt as if I were cradling a fragile glass sphere within my hands that could crumble at any time. And this sphere is packed with the precious treasures of many, many people.”

A thought occurred to me. “Hey, Blaise. Do you think you can make use of that power somehow to maybe improve the current situation? Who knows, there just might be a way you won’t have to come back while also preventing the Contract Stakes from flowing over at the same time, don’t you think?”

Fleeting hope began to balloon in my heart. Sadly, Blaise loosely shook her head. “I’m not sure whether I possess such a power... The only things I possess are a power over rumors and a power to have dreams. I don’t know whether I’m capable of influencing the connection between worlds. Even that Mister Ruta you mentioned, who had profound knowledge about the stakes, wasn’t capable of such a thing. Would I really be able to achieve what he couldn’t?”

She had a good point. Vatis should have known about Blaise, but the founder had declared that there was no other way. It’s almost certainly not going to work out. But still. “I know there might not be any results. However, I just want you to give it a try. There’s still time, isn’t there?”

At that, Blaise turned to face me. “Time, hmm?”

“Something bothering you?”

“I...believe there isn’t much time on our hands,” she made that frightening declaration with composure. “I suspect there are only two days. In two days, the glass sphere will fall.”

“Two days? Only two days? Why in the world—”

Blaise crouched down while facing me. She gingerly placed her hand on my head. “I wished for your safety, noble pigs, and have attempted all sorts of things and every possible method available to me. I don’t know any means to change the world to match my wishes, but after hearing what you had to share earlier, I have grasped a method to prevent myself from altering the world irreversibly.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s possible for me to return from this place.” At the same eye level as a pig’s, Blaise glanced toward the dark forest.

I followed her gaze. I spotted something glowing bluish white near the roots of a distant tree—mushrooms. “Is this place...the Needle Woods?”

“It’s the world I ought to return to.”

“It can’t be. Blaise, you don’t belong in such a dark place—”

“Noble Pig, you and Hiroko have taught and shown me a most wonderful world.” Her eyes, which usually seemed to be staring absentmindedly into the distance, looked squarely at me. “That was more than enough for me. I can’t do something like living in that world and changing it for better or worse.”

“Hold up, please. The world you’re currently in actually has more than plenty of things that need to be changed to become a better place. In fact, there’re only things that need to be changed everywhere.”

“Even if that’s the case... The people who will change them aren’t me, but all of you, Noble Pig.” A soft smile curled her lips. “In this place, I saw what happened after my death. Mister Naut carefully held my corpse in his arms and wailed loudly for my sake. With utmost care, he carried out my cremation. Even when people were targeting his life and were chasing after him, he held on to my bones and my collar the entire time.”

What I saw in her faint smile wasn’t the resignation I’d seen once upon a time, but a sense of satisfaction, as if she’d reached the end of a long journey.

She continued, “I am all right with this outcome. There is a place for me in Mesteria—a place where I ought to sleep. On the day I return there...I shall leave behind a sign to inform you. Please confirm whether I have completed my homecoming by searching for it.”

“A sign? What sign? What kind of form, exactly, will it take?”

“It’s something that you should be able to recognize on sight. If you come across it, please assume that I have made my return, no matter what shape I am in.”

I shook my head. “Wait. This is going way too fast. It’s not like you’ll zoom back in the next second, right?”

“I just said my farewell to Hiroko a short while ago.”

“What?!”

She said her farewell? Did she actually? I searched through my memories. After saying “Thank you.” to Philopon, Blaise had guided me to this place. Oh... So her heart was already set back then.

“Wait, please, I’m begging you,” I pleaded. “Blaise, you might be my one and only hope. I want to stay with Jess. But at this rate, I won’t be able to be with her anymore. Please lend me your powers.”

“I understand how you feel.” She stroked my head. “But that is your story with Jess, Noble Pig. I, who can only weave rumors and see dreams, could never hope to interfere. I don’t wish to destroy this world that’s precious to Hiroko and you. I shall entrust the issue of the stakes to all of you.”

Though she was speaking in a roundabout manner, I could grasp her point. Blaise was the kind of person who’d wished to go to another world when she’d been drowning in hardship. She wasn’t the kind of person who would want to change the world she was in. That was the precise reason she couldn’t tolerate existing as one of the three threads—she didn’t want to shatter the “glass sphere,” as she called it.

I took a deep breath. “I see. Yeah, you have a point there.”

Though I struggled, I knew what the right answer was, just like she did. I could vividly see a distinct, solitary path before me. It was simply that I couldn’t withstand the fact that Jess wasn’t at the end of it.

At the end of the day, this was a problem between Jess and me.

“No matter what kind of ending you choose, I will be cheering for you two from the sidelines.” With those words, Blaise leaned her cheek against me. She wound her arms around my body and hugged me tight. “Please keep this a secret from Miss Jess, all right?”

The next thing I knew, I’d returned to the café. The place where the toilet door should have been was now a wall. Unable to return to the forest where I’d talked with Blaise, I turned around and returned to the booth seat.

Even though I’d returned alone, Philopon carefreely said, “You took a long time, Mister Lolip. Was it a number two?”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “Hey, hey. A girl shouldn’t make comments like that.”

“Yikes, sexism is a big no-no! Girls have the right to make dirty jokes too, you know.”

Hearing her cheery tone, realization struck me. I had a rough idea of what Blaise had done to her.

Blaise mentioned that she had the power to change the police’s memories and even the media’s records. Just looking at Philopon’s face was enough for me to deduce what memories that power had erased at the very end. It was a bittersweet discovery.

I wondered whether it was the same for Kento. I furtively looked at him, and the boar’s black, tiny eyes observed both Philopon and me with an unreadable look. He seemed to have inferred something from our reactions.

“...It’s about time I go back,” the boar declared and climbed down from the surface. “I’ll cherish what little time I have left with Nourris, Mister Naut, and the Liberators.”

“Kento...” I cut off there.

The boar nodded solemnly. “I shall make a request to the Liberators. When I return to Japan—after the two threads are completely removed—they will make sure that information passes on to you without fail, Mister Lolip.” A fiery resolve burned in his eyes.

No, Kento, I thought with dismay. That isn’t what I mean. It isn’t what I wanted to say.

I faced my fellow teleporters while feeling as if I were gazing at falling dominoes I couldn’t stop. I’d only wanted to share my feelings with a friend who likely had an equal amount of lingering regret and attachment toward Mesteria. I’d wanted to wallow in our sorrows together for just a little while. If it wasn’t too selfish to ask, I’d wanted him to convince me that we didn’t have to go back to our original world.

But Kento was much more of an adult than I was.

Kento inclined his head. “Well then, see you again. Though I’m not sure whether the next time we encounter each other will be on this side [Mesteria] or on the other [Japan].”

“True that.”

“Once we return, let’s watch the fall anime together.”

“Yeah...”

The boar trotted away, leaving me, who was at a loss for words, behind. The entrance’s cowbell rang with an old-fashioned jingle.

“Huh,” Philopon said casually. “We have each other all to ourselves now.”

I raised my face. “Don’t make such misleading comments.”

“I only stated the truth.”

“Oh, you’re right. Sorry about that.”

“You always apologize right away whenever something comes up. It’s not fun if you don’t retort and get the ball rolling. It’s a fact that it’s just the two of us now, yes. But I deliberately used a suggestive expression, ‘We have each other all to ourselves,’ and surely you could have pointed out that I was describing more than the simple truth.”

“And what’s gonna happen if I pointed that out?”

“I can enjoy a battle in the replies section.” Pushing up her glasses with red frames smartly back into position, Philopon gave me a wide grin.

“Replies section?” I was exasperated. “Don’t talk as if a dream’s the internet.”

“No, it might be something similar to the internet in a sense. Two people in distant places can have a real-time conversation, just like this. Can’t you argue that if you’re able to connect to other people in dreams, it’s also a sort of social media?”

“Well, I suppose you’re not wrong.”

The nice thing about Philopon was that when talking with her, she could keep a conversation going forever, even with my brain out of commission the whole time. Uh, hang on, that’s not a very good thing...

I climbed onto the opposite sofa and sat down facing her. I noticed that the teacup that Blaise’d been using had vanished without a trace. After casting my eyes down briefly, I muttered, “I don’t have the energy to battle it out in the replies section, but would you mind me asking you for advice about something?”

“Wait, is this about your love life?” Her eyes lit up. “I love tea about romance!”

“I only said I wanted advice. Why the heck did you restrict it to a consultation about love in an instant?”

“But it’s about your love life, isn’t it?”

Silence.

She huffed triumphantly and puffed out her chest. “See? I knew it. I figured you were probably going to mention something along the lines that you want to stay with Jess, but reality’s against you. I’m all ears. You can come up to me about anything. I might not look like it, but I’m a veteran when it comes to love.”

I had the urge to retort about her statement that she didn’t look like the part, but I had the feeling that we’d end up diving into even more meaningless, brain-dead banter, so I decided to reluctantly turn a blind eye.

Deciding to take her up on her kind offer, I candidly confided in her about everything that had happened until now. Jess had been so desperate to resurrect me that she was even chipping away at her own life. This was the reason Mesteria’s abnormal phenomena had yet to die down. If we were to resolve the anomalies while Jess and I were still together, this time, Earth would be in danger. But even still—I wanted to stay with her.

“Hmm, I see, I see.” To my surprise, Philopon considered my situation solemnly and folded her arms beneath her chest. “There are so many things I want to say to you, but well... First things first, there’s something I want to show you.”

I gave her a quizzical look. “Something you want to show me?”

“Give me just one moment. I showed the same thing to Kento earlier, so I don’t think it’ll take that long.” With that, she pushed up her glasses again and squeezed her eyes shut so tightly that she formed creases between her brows.

The very next moment, the scenery transformed completely like a slideshow. The warm lighting of the café transitioned into the stark white glow of fluorescent lights. My body fell from the sofa and landed on linoleum flooring.

I took in my surroundings—it was a hospital. Immediately in the vicinity was an electric hospital bed. There were a handful of monitors, beeping machines, as well as countless tubes and cables.

“If you take a few steps back, I think you should be able to see it even from a piggy’s point of view. This is you in the present, Mister Lolip.”

I shuffled a few steps backward like I was told. Nervously, I raised my head.

...A person was lying on the bed.

My eyes widened. “This is...me?”

“Yes. Sadly.”

The person she indicated to be me was nothing like my reflection in a mirror that I was familiar with. He seemed like he could be anyone but me.

I could barely make out his features because of all the tubes and tapes around his face and neck. His scrawny limbs were stretched out limply across the bed. He was in such a poor state that rather than describing him as asleep, it would’ve felt more accurate if she’d told me it was a corpse.

“You’re apparently stretched to your very limit. Lately, the decline in your condition has suddenly accelerated for some reason...” Philopon said while keeping her eyes trained on my human form. “At this pace, they can only guarantee your safe survival for two more days, including tomorrow. That’s what the doctors told me.”

Two days. I recalled what Blaise had said to me. So that’s why she gave me that specific day. If I go beyond the two-day mark, my body will reach a point beyond any hope of recovery, and I won’t even be able to go back. I see.

“I’m not a fan of this place.” Philopon shrugged, and even as she spoke, the scenery shifted before my eyes. “I’ll change it back.”

We returned to the initial café we’d been in. Just like before, we were sitting across from each other. Philopon let out a long sigh. “If we go past the day after tomorrow, there’s a risk that you won’t have a place to return to, Mister Lolip. Other than the scenario of you sucking up Jess’s life on the other side to maintain your existence, your only choice left will be death.”

“That’s... That’s way too sudden.”

“Plus, there were the...Contract Stakes, was it? If you choose not to come back and die in that other realm, those stake things will be sent to our world as a result, right? It’s already a world where war has never died down throughout all our history, but with this, a whopping 128 hazards that can even grant humans power comparable to nuclear weapons are going to join the fray, do I have that right?”

“...You do.”

“By the way, it’s a much tinier problem in scale compared to that, and I feel sorry about bringing it up.” After taking a small sip of her black tea that had likely gone completely cold, Philopon said this: “In the event your body dies on our side...my father and I would probably be demanded to take responsibility for it.”

Every single word she spoke pierced my skewered pork heart. “I’m so sorry...”

“Welp, I don’t mind about stuff on my end. Someone like me is nothing but—” She abruptly cut off there, and I looked at her, puzzled. She awkwardly smiled at me. “No, please don’t mind that. What I mean is, Mister Lolip, there’s only one path. If you derail from that path, there’re merely vertical cliffs waiting for you. All that’s left is for you to work up the resolve to walk down that path.”

Speechless, I nodded.

She continued, “So, back to the love life discussion. You like Jess very, very much, don’t you? You love her to the point that you can’t bear the fact that she won’t be there at the end of that path.”

I nodded again.

“I’m sure that Jess also loves you very, very much. The two of you don’t want to be forced apart and can’t bring yourselves to leave each other voluntarily either. It must feel agonizing.”

At this point, a big grin lit up Philopon’s solemn face. “Wheeew, I’m jealous. That’s like, such a first love thing. On top of that, it’s even between a beauty and livestock, isn’t it? Talk about a pure love story. Of course, I want the two of you to find happiness. There’s no way there’d be a single person who wouldn’t want that.”

“...Could you hurry up and get to the ‘but’ part?” The voice that left my mouth ended up hoarse, as if I’d wrung it out from my throat.

“Okay. Then I’ll say it. But, Mister Lolip,” Philopon said with a kind face and an equally kind voice, “it’s already the end.”

I had to fight the tears that pricked at my eyes. I knew that. I knew that fact that I hadn’t been able to say, that fact that someone had to point out. “It’s...the end, huh?”

“Yes. It’s ‘the end.’” After taking a long, hard stare at me, Philopon said, “Shall I guess what’s on your mind? Mister Lolip, you yourself are actually close to coming to terms with that reality. The part of you that hasn’t accepted it is merely the part that’s worried about Jess. Is she really going to be okay even without you? That’s the one concern that won’t leave your mind, isn’t it?”

Even though I’d barely spoken after she’d begun her speech, she was right on the mark. “Why did you come to that conclusion?”

“Because I understand you well enough. You aren’t Naut or even Shravis. You aren’t the kind of person who’d tenaciously stick through with what you want to do or a person who’d shoulder what you ought to do to the bitter end. You’re the kind of person who’d gauge what you’re capable of doing and choose the most ideal path within your abilities.”

“I see...”

“What you’re so hung up about is whether leaving Jess behind in that world is really the most ideal path. That’s why I’m here to reassure you.”

After a long pause, I muttered, “Jess...” Just after I said her name, hot embarrassment welled up. It was a struggle to approach someone else and speak in-depth about the character of the person I liked.

“Yes. I’m listening.”

“The thing with Jess is that she came this close to having disastrous mental breakdowns. Not once, but twice. First, when Eavis sent me back to Japan from Mesteria. Then again, when I jumped off a cliff in an attempt to return to Japan.”

“That’s what I heard, yes.”

“I know for a fact that it’ll happen this time too. I want to be there for her. I want to be with her.”

“I understand how you feel. But it’s okay. Jess is still sixteen, isn’t she?”

“It’s okay? Do you really think that?”

“Yes. I, who’s a veteran in love despite my looks, can declare it with confidence.” Philopon raised her index finger and grinned. “There might be a time when she thinks that someone is the only one for her, but the thing with girls is that we can surprisingly forget about that ‘someone’ as if nothing happened. I’m sure that in a few years, she’ll be all lovey-dovey with a man who has a handsome mien.”

“Jess isn’t that kind of person!” In the heat of the moment, I fiercely shouted back. I reflected on my actions right away. “...Sorry, my bad.”

“Nah, it’s okay.” Philopon smiled before she continued, “There’s a quote I absolutely love in that novel you wrote, Mister Lolip.”

She could only be referring to one novel—the story I’d written about my journey to the royal capital with Jess because I couldn’t forget about her even if I tried. It was a story of a fateful encounter and a tearful farewell. A there-and-back-again story.

In one breath, she recited fluently, “‘It was your first encounter with someone who treated you nicely and helped you. You’re only clinging to what I represent. As for me, I was only presuming upon the fact that you needed my help.’” I wondered whether she’d memorized it to say it to me at one point, or whether she’d simply read the novel that many times.

“Those were...” I hesitated. “Those were lies I weaved together to push Jess away.”

“I guessed as much. But well, be it a virgin’s luck or one of the few silver linings of a cherry boy, you blindly stumbled upon the truth of one aspect of love with your statement. Listen.” As if to emphasize her point, Philopon kept talking without pausing. “Everyone has moments when they think that there isn’t a single person on their side in the entire world. And if someone willing to take your side shows up at that moment, they’ll naturally and carelessly fall in love, even if that helping hand is a pig’s trotter.”

“Carelessly?” I latched onto that word. “Hey, that’s...that’s going overboard.”

“I’m not denouncing your feelings for each other by any means, of course. In our society, romantic love more or less consists of relationships along the same lines. No matter their beginnings, I believe that the adoration and love you have right now are genuine. But here’s the thing, Mister Lolip. Even if that love is the real deal, it’s not everything. It’s just one of those slightly heartbreaking love stories that only lasted a few months, isn’t it?”

“Are you saying that...I’m exaggerating the specialness of my relationship with Jess?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s about time you unravel that spell—that illusion—for her sake. Don’t you agree?”

I turned over her words in my head and digested them. Jess wanted to be with me. She couldn’t go on if I weren’t with her—that was what I believed.

But the truth is different. Even without me, Jess can somehow still lead a happy and merry life— My thoughts cut off abruptly. Hang on. Can I really say that for sure?

I felt like I could understand her point in my rational mind, but my heart refused to agree.

“Haven’t you already experienced all kinds of things together? It should have been more than enough.” Philopon sounded a little exasperated. “You enjoyed a relationship of mutual adoration with a princess of royal blood—a beautiful blonde maiden who’s three entire years younger than you—while squealing like a pig. A normal otaku would never be able to chance upon such a privileged experience.”

It sounded mean, but the reason for her choice of words came across vividly. Philopon wanted me to live. She didn’t want me to choose death under any circumstances, which was likely why she was deliberately saying scathing things.

“Mister Lolip, it’s time to bring an end to your first love.” Her verdict was firm. It echoed loudly. Painfully.

I took a deep breath. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

“If you choose to come back to our world, I don’t mind personally helping you to forget all about Jess with my charms.”

Startled, I whipped my face up to see an impish smile playing at her lips. “Don’t be silly... You don’t have to do that. This is my life, my story, and I’ll write the ending with my own hands.”

“Aw, just kidding. You take me too seriously.” After laughing briefly, Philopon rose to her feet. “Well then, best of luck. The next two days will probably be the toughest time in your entire life, Mister Lolip. They’ll almost certainly leave behind scars comparable to trauma in your heart that would never heal or fade. But you won’t die. Make sure to come back home in the end.” She proceeded to wave at me in her usual cheery demeanor.

Emotions kept overflowing in my heart, colliding with my tireless train of thoughts. They swirled together, transformed into waves, before bouncing around haphazardly.

Everything vanished from my vision. I was left behind, all alone in the soundless darkness.

I single-mindedly thought about Jess. My thoughts went to the maiden who’d loved me so much, who’d stubbornly refused to settle for any choices other than me, who’d stepped onto the path of taboo for my sake.

I couldn’t care less about the world. Jess was the only precious person to me. And I couldn’t let such a special, precious person do something that would haunt her forever, like inadvertently devastating an entire world.

At long last, I decided to harden my resolve.

Chapter 4: Stories Always Have Endings

A few things happened, and our departure ended up being as late as just past noon. We boarded the Dragonwing that Jess piloted and embarked on our journey to the south. The sky was invigoratingly sunny, while the spring wind was pleasant against our skin. We had rather uplifting weather today.

I turned around in an attempt to paradoxically find a star that I could never hope to see during the day. Salvia, the wishing star which had always shone in the northern night sky, should still be north even as the atmosphere was dyed azure with Rayleigh scattering right now. A southbound voyage was, in other words, a journey where we would turn our back on the northern wishing star and walk away—a journey that headed in the opposite direction of wishes and prayers.

Jess pointed to the left. “Is that area the Impaling Stones?” A light green scarf, which had been stained reddish-brown, was tied securely around her wrist.

I leaned out from between Jess’s legs and stared down toward the direction she indicated. Far below us, a gray, rocky stretch with exaggeratedly jagged, pointy rocks filled my vision. “How nostalgic. In that case, Munires should be in that direction.”

“Yes. It should come into view very soon.”

With Jess’s maneuvering, the dragon’s wings tilted, and the vessel began drawing a gentle curve across the air. Before long, the largest and most developed commercial city of southern Mesteria, Munires, emerged on the landscape ahead of us. Grand buildings lined up in orderly rows while broad roads cut straight between them. The contrast between the crimson triangular roofs and the outer walls painted with white plaster was gorgeous.

Our destination was farther south of here—Baptsaze, a town that was on the other side of a valley ahead.

We continued to fly for some time before a gloomy forest entered our vision. Baptsaze was tucked within the trees.

As she inspected the village, Jess announced in a subdued voice, “I’ll lower our altitude. We shall land in the convent ruins.” She resumed operation of the Dragonwing.

With the slanting of the hull, the current state of the village—the place that used to be a village—came into view. Trees that had been burned to charcoal black had toppled all over in a pitiful mess. In the places where houses had once stood in rows, the only traces remaining were their foundations and parts of walls. There didn’t seem to be any signs of the residents returning to Baptsaze after the raid of the Nothen Faction. It was likely a matter of time before the village would disappear from the map altogether.

“Come to think of it, you mentioned you haven’t gone anywhere more south of Mesteria than Munires after you entered the capital, didn’t you?” I recalled.

“I haven’t.” She hesitated. “I heard about the events that took place in Baptsaze, but I never thought it had been this devastated...”

“It was pretty wild if you ask me. I woke up randomly in the evening and found us surrounded by flames in no time at all. Together with Ceres, Rossi, and Sanon, we teamed up to frantically scramble out of there since our lives depended on it.”

Jess let out a displeased huff.

I gave her a questioning look. “Something on your mind?”

“I was imagining what you were doing with Miss Ceres in a place without my knowledge.”

“Clam down—I mean calm down. Don’t get peeved by your own imagination. I can swear that I haven’t gotten up to anything with Ceres.”

A dog (man in his forties) and a black pig (man in his thirties) had licked Ceres passionately until she’d gotten sticky all over, but I was a gentleman, so I hadn’t done anything of the sort.

“Are you really telling the truth?”

“I really am.” I didn’t have any recollection of making Ceres wear glasses or of getting her to call me big brother either.

“So you do have such memories...”

When I nervously craned my neck upward to look up at Jess, who sat behind me, I saw an upside-down sullen face glaring back at me. Our landing felt somewhat rough, but it was just my imagination. Probably.

The convent ruins were situated on a level piece of land that had been secured by flattening a section along the mountainside. We were still only on the cusp of spring, and the grass hadn’t grown too lusciously yet, making it easy for us to walk. After we dismounted from the Dragonwing, we made a beeline for the convent. Jess took the lead, and I followed her closely from behind like a tail.

Naut had concealed Blaise’s cremated remains in this place.

When we arrived at the site, we scoured what used to be the convent’s floor for a stone tile with the mark of a collar. The last time I’d searched for it was approximately five months ago. My client back then had been Ceres. She’d wanted to know what Naut had hidden in secret, which was why she’d told a small, cute lie to Sanon and me before requesting we investigate.

“There it is.” Jess came to a stop in front of a round scorch mark. “This must be what you were referring to.”

The shape of a silver collar had been baked into the stone tile. The magical, catastrophic fire had reduced the collar’s owner to nothing but ashes. Yet the one thing it hadn’t managed to touch was the collar binding her, since it had been under magical protection.

Jess crouched down and offered a silent prayer. Then, she traced the round, bright mark seared into the stone with her fingertips. It was as if she were summoning up her memories from that time. “Mister Naut’s story started here, didn’t it?” She turned and looked at me with her mesmerizing eyes. “Six years ago, the late King Marquis set fire to this convent that sheltered Yethma, who should have left for the capital...”

I took over from there. “...and one of the girls here was Eise, the woman Naut was enamored with. Eise barely managed to escape from the fire, but she was caught and killed by Yethma hunters. Ever since, Naut has blazed with a righteous fire he kept alive with the flames of his swords that contain Eise’s bones. He rescued you, Eise’s younger sister. He took down that giant who was his mortal enemy. He slaughtered Marquis. And at long last, he overthrew the royal court.”

“It almost sounds like a hero’s legend.”

“It is a hero’s legend, without any room for doubt.”

Whether he’d intended for it or not, Naut had changed the world. He’d forged a new era in his trial by fire. The orphan, who had nowhere to go and had based himself in a tiny village, had left that small world when his encounter with us had granted him an incentive. Ultimately, he grew into such a great hero that he’d even challenged the last king to a duel.

We’d only happened to be beside him during those moments—we hadn’t done a thing. From the perspective of Hero Naut’s epic legend, Jess probably—and I, definitely—had been nothing but a minor supporting actor.

Since the very beginning, my story with Jess hadn’t been the epic tale of two heroes.

Taking a deep breath, Jess said, “Let’s open it.” She thrust both her hands forward.

The heavy stone with the collar mark defied gravity and floated up softly into the air. It moved horizontally, parallel to the ground, then quietly piled up on top of the adjacent tile.

A hole had been dug out underneath the removed tile. It housed an earthenware jar.

“So this is...” Jess trailed off, reaching for the item. But then, as if she’d abruptly noticed something, she scooped up some of the nearby soil. I caught sight of something akin to black ash mixed within the earth. “Mister Pig, when you saw this jar, was a collar placed on top of it?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it was.”

“Miss Blaise’s collar has already weathered down into dust, I see...” She returned the soil she cupped in her hand to its original place.

When a Yethma collar was removed from the wearer’s body, it would steadily disintegrate while releasing a tremendous amount of mana unless someone important to the Yethma in question was nearby. The black ashes must be the remains of the disintegrated collar.

Hesitantly, Jess asked, “Um... So what should we do?”

That threw me for a loop. “Blaise said that she would leave behind some kind of sign here. But she didn’t specifically say what it would be...”

“Shall I open it?” Jess pointed at the lid of the cremation jar.

“That’d be great.”

Slowly, the maiden lifted the lid with both hands. And inside it was...

When we peered into it together, the two of us were struck dumb. We were viewing someone’s sacred remains—we did our best to maintain solemn attitudes. But only a few seconds later, neither of us could hold it in anymore. We burst out laughing.

You know what? I never knew Blaise had such a sense of humor.

With her fingertips, Jess tenderly picked up the item that had been gently placed above the ashes. “Was Miss Blaise really the one who put this here?”

“Can’t be anyone else.” I continued laughing so hard that Jess puffed out her cheeks sullenly. She transferred the object in question onto her outstretched palm.

At long last, it was under the light—a small, adorable purple violet. This flower, which had bloomed without drying up or withering on top of the cremated remains, vanished in Jess’s hand as if melting into the air.

The maiden scrutinized me. “Mister Pig, what in the world did you talk about with Miss Blaise in that dream?”

“That’s a secret.”

She puffed out her cheeks like a hamster again.

I looked up at her. “Are you angry?”

“I’m sulking.”

“I see. Your sulking face is cute, so I won’t tell you for the time being.”

“Then I won’t sulk.”

I raised an imaginary eyebrow. “Says the one who’s clearly pouting as hard as she can.”

Jess had seemed like she wanted to control her expression so she wouldn’t pout, but she’d failed. This face was just as adorable, which taught me that no matter what expression she made, Jess was always cute.

After we both offered our prayers to the remains, we returned them to their resting place and replaced the stone tile.

Somewhere deep down, a part of me had wished that we wouldn’t find anything akin to a sign or symbol, and I’d been aware of it even before our departure. In that future, we wouldn’t find a thing when we opened the jar, and we’d return to the capital saying, “Oh well, there’s not much we can do.” We’d enjoy a tasty meal while saying stuff like “How about we try heading there again tomorrow?” Then, even when revisiting the following day, we still wouldn’t find a trace that suited the description.

I couldn’t deny that one part of me had been anticipating such an outcome. But the reality was that Blaise had returned—returned to ashes. We’d long gone past the point of no return. The story could only progress forward.

On our walk back to where we’d parked the Dragonwing, Jess suggested, “Since we’ve come all the way here, how about we hop over to Kiltyrie while we’re at it? It’s quite close.”

“Sounds nice. I’d love to go.”

“Then it’s settled.”

We climbed into the boat. As I tucked my body between Jess’s legs, I thought over her words. Kiltyrie was the town where Jess had lived as a Yethma. It was where we’d had our fateful encounter. I truly wanted to return and check how things were going, but it also made my heart sink like lead.

We were soon going to return to our town of beginnings. Even if I wanted to be positive, it sounded precisely like what you’d do at the end of a long journey. I could feel it vividly looming over me now.

During takeoff, I heard stifled sobs resonating from behind me.

Under the illumination of the sinking sun, the Dragonwing soared past the upper air above the dismal forest. The forest’s name wasn’t the most creative one: the Dark Woodland. According to Jess, the lumber harvested here sustained the lives of citizens in southern Mesteria as both building material and fuel. She appeared to be curious why such a forest’s name included a sinister word like “dark.” She then proceeded to explain that she hadn’t found an answer even after researching in the royal palace’s library.

“On that topic, do you remember what happened in this forest?” I asked Jess casually, intending for it to be idle chatter.

Her legs jolted in response and sandwiched my torso firmly from both sides. “I-I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

That wasn’t a reaction I’d expected, and I was thrown for a loop. “You don’t know? Wait, don’t tell me... You don’t remember?”

“Well, I do remember, but it’s just that...”

I tilted my head quizzically.

She sighed. “Yes, yes, I remember. I got a ride on your back, Mister Pig, and I had a slightly indecen—” That was as far as she got before she abruptly held her tongue.

I see. She was remembering that accident. “Oh, my bad. I was, uh, actually trying to bring up the first time we saw a heckripon...”

There was a sharp gasp. Jess’s magic lost its focus, and the Dragonwing began tilting alarmingly.

“Hey!” I yelped. “That’s dangerous. Concentrate on piloting, please.”

Jess fell into a morose silence and readjusted the boat until it was steadily flying once more. I breathed a sigh of relief.

When I’d seen the heckripon in this forest, Jess had cheerily enlightened me about the legends surrounding the creature. From there, we moved on to talk about our hobbies, then the mystery genre, then about the fact that secrets couldn’t stay secret. That was when Jess had finally confided in me about her destiny, which she’d hidden up until that point.

After learning of the heartless fate of Yethma, I’d sworn I would never abandon Jess. Jess, who had no one to rely on but me. Jess, who’d been so desperate that she’d even turn to a pig for help, as if grasping at straws. Back then, I’d been determined to remain Jess’s dependable buddy and nothing more; that was the goal I’d set for myself. Falling in love with a maiden who could only rely on me was reprehensible, and so, I’d attempted to hide my affection for her to the bitter end.

But that hadn’t worked out. Ultimately, I hadn’t managed to fulfill that goal.

It wasn’t because Jess was excessively cute. It was because, in a sense, I had been the same—it was the first time in my life that I’d been treated with such kindness.

I peered up at Jess, who was flushing red as an apple, and commented, “Lots of stuff happened, but your most striking memory was how you got a ride on my back, huh?”

“Hmph.” Jess turned away with a pout. “Well, sorry for being such an obscene woman.”

“Uh, that’s not what I mean. Seriously.”

As we spoke, the town of Kiltyrie came into view. The most conspicuous structures were the spacious plaza and a grand church at its heart. The townscape spread out in a circular shape centered around those two landmarks. We couldn’t exactly land right smack in the middle of town, so we glided down onto a hillock on the outskirts of Kiltyrie.

After I climbed down from the boat, suddenly, Jess reached out from behind and covered my eyes. “Would you mind waiting for a moment?”

I hesitated. “What’s this about?”

“I just wanted to see if I could change up the mood.” A sound that reminded me of numerous flags flapping in powerful gusts resounded from Jess’s direction. A few seconds later, she released my eyes with the words, “Okay, done.”

Lifting my eyelids, I turned around to face her. Since I’d picked up the sound of her using magic to manifest cloth, I’d deduced that she’d likely made a swift change of clothes on the spot. Still, despite having some idea of what was to come, I was still captivated by the sight. “That outfit... It’s...”

She nodded. “It’s the outfit I was wearing when we left on our very first journey.”

Jess was clad in a pastel blue dress—the traveling garbs of a run-of-the-mill countryside girl. Since I hadn’t seen her in this getup at all ever since my second teleportation, I’d been on the verge of completely forgetting about it.

“Any thoughts or impressions?” she asked.

I carefully drank in the sight. “Very nice. It somehow feels simple and down-to-earth.”

Jess stared back into my eyes long and hard. “Are you implying that I usually don’t feel simple and down-to-earth?”

“That’s not what I meant. How do I put this... Well, it doesn’t give off that royal aura in comparison, I guess? You feel like an ordinary girl.”

Jess still looked dissatisfied, and I considered how I should word my answer. Attempting to stall for time, I asked, “It has short sleeves. Aren’t you cold?”

“I’m not. It’s relatively warm today.”

“Come to think of it, you’re not wearing a collar, unlike back then.”

“Would you prefer for me to have one?”

“No. It’s definitely way better without it.”

The maiden nodded. Yet, she still doesn’t look like she was appeased.

That was when I realized I’d forgotten the magic word. “You look cute.”

Silently, Jess turned away from me and began taking steps forward. “I’m not cute or anything.” I couldn’t see her expression, but her pitch lowered as if to hide her shyness, and there was a slight spring in her gait. Based on those pieces of evidence, I realized that I’d guessed the correct answer.

Just like before, a scarf was tied around her left wrist. The cloth, which once was the color of a crystal clear, slightly shallow lake, had turned a slightly duller hue from my blood, which had thoroughly seeped into it. She should be able to make it clean again if she used magic, but it appeared that Jess didn’t want to use any spells on that scarf.

After hiding the Dragonwing behind a cluster of trees, we headed down into town. We advanced down a wagon road of soil for some time. Before long, it transformed into a cobblestone street, and the traffic of people became lively as well.

Soon, we arrived at the heart of the town. As we’d seen from the hill, there was a church with a domed roof, as well as a spacious plaza in front of it.

“This was the venue of the festival, wasn’t it?” I commented.

“It was. It’s the place where you danced for my sake on the stage, Mister Pig.” Jess chuckled to herself, but I didn’t know what she found amusing.

“What?” I replied defensively. “’Twas a magnificent dance, wasn’t it?”

“Yes, it was so magnificent that everyone burst into roaring laughter. I remember.” Smiling brightly, Jess headed toward the church. The building’s hefty-looking front doors, made of a kind of black metal, were wide open in our direction. Jess pointed at them. “Would you like to go inside with me? I’ve always wanted to see what it’s like.”

“Sure thing. But does that mean you’ve never gone in before?”

“I haven’t... Yethma weren’t permitted to enter back then.”

Ah. Right. It had been one of the rules—the Yethma weren’t allowed inside places where the general populace used for worship.

The church interior was neat and simple. All there was to see were wooden benches lined up systematically along the extensive, smooth marble floor. Still, Jess gazed to her left and right, inspecting her scenery with great interest. Possibly because it was the evening, we were the only visitors.

Near the opposite wall from the front entrance was a grand marble statue. It depicted a graceful woman raising her hand high into the sky. Her clothing, loosely draped around her frame, hung elegantly, and her delicate limbs peeked through the gaps.

I looked at it skeptically. “Don’t you feel that the impression you get from the statue is totally different after learning what she’s actually like?”

“You’re right about that. Other than the traditional take, it also seems as if she wants to flaunt her physique, which she takes pride in, in front of many people.”

“Don’t follow in her footsteps, please.”

“I won’t. I’m different from those select people who are eager to strip in a heartbeat.”

We walked up until we were standing in front of the towering Vatis statue, and our gazes naturally shifted upward. I spotted a breathtaking fresco on the inside of the lofty dome. Numerous people and animals were bowing toward the queen, who was depicted as larger than the rest. Within the painting, the queen was boldly and completely naked.

“So that blood’s running in your veins too, huh?” I muttered.

“I kind of feel conflicted when you make such a statement while staring at a nude painting of her...” She then began walking around, as if searching for something.

“What’s got your attention?”

“I remember hearing that it’s possible to climb onto the dome roof in this church.”

I blinked. “Onto the dome roof?”

“Yes. It’s apparently a double structure with an attic... I think this might be the way.” She came to a stop in front of a small entrance in the wall. I peered inside, and there were stairs leading upward. “I think it’s going to be quite a long climb, but do you want to head up and see?”

“We’ve already come this far, so we might as well. Let’s go.”

Jess smiled with delight before ducking under the entrance in high spirits.

The stairs were narrow and steep. For a while, we went round and round up the spiral staircase. I did my best to keep up with Jess, who walked ahead of me.

As I climbed, I observed, “It’s white today, huh?”

Jess’s strides quickened slightly, like she was embarrassed. “It was this color when we first met each other, after all.”

“You didn’t have to reproduce your outfit that faithfully...” I mean, it is better than going around unguarded, though.

“By the way, what color do you like, Mister Pig?”

“That’s a tough one.” Due to the steep climb, we both began to run out of breath. Our sentences became more concise as well. “What about you? What’s your favorite color?”

“You mean as in, the color of underwear?”

“No... Colors in general.”

“Hmm. Well...” She thought about it for a while before looking down at her left hand. “I like the color of this scarf. It’s the color you chose for me.”

The arduous climb must be getting to me, because my breathing became strained. “I see... I like that color too.”

“Somehow, I feel like you evaded my question.”

“No, I’m answering you seriously.”

“Then, Mister Pig, why do you like this color?”

“Because it’s the color you said you like.”

Completely out of breath by this point, we both went quiet.

At the end of the spiral staircase was a landing. We took a short break there. Nearby was a small window that allowed us to see the underside of the dome roof from within the church. Out of slight intrigue, I peered through it.

The small window offered a close-up view of the fresco. Being a rectangular opening with depth, it restricted my field of vision and was structured to offer the viewer a magnificent view of Vatis’s nude body. It had been an intentional and calculated design, no matter how you thought about it.

In utter silence, I pulled my head out and turned away. The next moment, Jess took her turn to admire the fresco from the small window. She became equally silent.

It appeared that Vatis was truly an exhibitionist. In all of the royal court’s history, only a handful of people had likely been privy to this shocking truth.

“Shall we move on?” Jess finally asked.

“Good idea.”

Like Jess had informed me, the dome roof was a double structure. The inner layer was the one with the fresco, while the outer layer was constructed by stacking terra-cotta tiles. The stairs past the landing with the small window had been constructed to weave through the narrow gap between the two layers. Since the space was cramped, the walls were curved, making it difficult for Jess to walk through. Even I, a pig, had trouble progressing because the incline of the stairs changed irregularly, and there would sometimes be steep climbs as if I were scaling a cliff.

Even though it was spring, we were both dripping with sweat as we finally got to the exit at the end of the cramped stairs. When we walked outside, we discovered we were on the dome’s summit.

“That’s amazing!” Though she should be exhausted, Jess cheered energetically. “I never knew it was this tall!”

The summit offered an unbroken, panoramic view of Kiltyrie’s streets. No matter which direction we faced, all the townscape was similar enough to blend into each other. It was very clear that the town had been planned with this church as its heart.

“It’s so tall that it’s actually a little scary,” I said.

“Don’t worry. Even if you fall, I’ll catch you with my magic.”

“That’s not exactly where the problem lies...” My pig trotters trembled, and I forced them to stay straight as I looked down on the town. There was a remarkably large building on a gentle hill on the outskirts of town. “That’s the residence of House Kiltyrin, right?”

“Yes! How nostalgic. We can even see the farm from here.” Jess pointed at the extensive pasture next to the manor. Whether it be the pigsty I’d been lying limply in or the warehouse where we’d locked up the scarred man, they all matched their relative positions in my memories.

On the open farm, a single towering tree stood. It was where Jess and I had arranged to meet after the festival. I stared at it without a word.

“I lived in Kiltyrie for eight years, from when I was eight to sixteen, but I’ve never seen it from above like this before,” Jess said. “It feels somewhat strange.”

“Oh, so you were in this town for the entire eight years.”

“Yes...”

Eight years. Jess had lived here for eight entire years. With that in mind, I considered the fact that not even a single year had passed since our first encounter. If I only counted the time we’d been together, it was actually less than half a year.

“To me, Mister Pig,” Jess said as she gazed at a rocky mountain still dusted with snow in the current season, “the six months I spent with you were a much bigger part of my life than the eight years I spent without you.”

“...Makes sense, a lot happened. We went to all sorts of places and met all kinds of people. We ran about the country left and right, up and down, and you saw a much bigger world than the quiet town of Kiltyrie here.”

Jess whipped her head around, as if she wanted to say that wasn’t what she meant. “What about you, Mister Pig? Within your nineteen years, was the time you spent with me...?” She broke off abruptly, as if she’d gotten choked up.

“Even if I compared it with all of my remaining lifetime in the future, nothing could ever hope to match the time I spent with you, Jess.”

Without a word, the maiden nodded and shifted her gaze back onto the rocky mountain. The sun was on its way down, soon to sink underneath the mountain’s ridgeline with a stiff silhouette. The black, jagged shadow of the mountain ate into the round evening sun bite by bite. When you looked up at the sun on a normal day, it wouldn’t even seem as if it were moving. I wondered why it singled out moments like these to sink so quickly.

Night would soon arrive.

We decided to stay one night at an inn in Kiltyrie. The inn’s first floor featured a dining hall, where we were having dinner tonight. It was cramped and dim, but it was cleaned thoroughly, making it neat and tidy. One thing I appreciated was how dark it was down at the base of the tables, meaning that even if a pig were around, I wouldn’t stand out much.

Jess secretly snuck me some beer. She held out her mug to me.

Just in case, I asked, “That’s gonna be an indirect kiss. You sure about this?”

“Don’t you think such concerns are way overdue?”

That was a good point. “You know I can’t hold my liquor. I’ll end up swaying on my feet from the alcohol.”

“It’s all right,” she insisted. “Come on.”

At that, I sipped from the mug. A subtle sweetness, coupled with the rich aroma of yeast, filled my oral cavity. With a gulp, I swallowed, and it left behind a hint of refreshing bitterness, possibly because it had been flavored with hops.

“How is it?” Jess asked.

I thought over it for a moment. “It’s good. It’s my first time drinking beer.”

She grinned with joy. “I remember that Mister Naut was the one who accompanied me on my first taste of alcohol. Back then, I had beer too.”

That brought back memories that weren’t all that pleasant. Naut hadn’t known that I was a human soul inside a pig’s body and had invited Jess to dinner before they’d enjoyed beer together. Then, that evening...

I shook my head. “You’re bringing up a rather nostalgic story.” Before anyone pointed it out, I realized my tone had come across as disgruntled.

As she watched me, Jess chuckled to herself.

I looked up at her. “What’s the laughter about?”

“Nothing much. I just thought that you’re cute even when you’re sulking.”

“I-I wasn’t sulking or anything...”

“You always make me sulk, so I’m getting payback.” She took a sip of her beer. “I knew it, you were upset back then too. You didn’t like the fact that I drank beer alone with Mister Naut.”

“Y-You dummy, there’s no way I’d be upset. Who would ever be jealous of a super-virgin like that guy?”

“But back then, you couldn’t have known he was a Mister Super-Virgin yet.”

Hurriedly, I searched for a rebuttal. “You were the one who guaranteed he wouldn’t assault you. And I trusted you. Plus, even if you chose to have drinks with another guy, I wasn’t in a position to be jealous at the time.”

“I wasn’t in a position to feel remorseful toward you about having drinks with Mister Naut at the time either.” Jess was smiling. “That said, I ended up feeling bad about it. I’m sure that I already had the same feelings as you had for me since back then.”

I considered the meaning of her words. My analysis began, but I stopped it short halfway. “Give me one more sip. I want to taste it more properly.”

“Of course. You can have as much as you’d like.”

On this night, we indulged in alcohol as if to run away from our problems. We didn’t stop at beer—we even challenged other types, such as wine and brandy, and oddly enough, my alcohol tolerance was clearly higher than last time. Thanks to that, I had more mental clarity to savor the taste. If I’d known this was going to happen, then I would have started drinking much earlier, or so I’d thought.

Jess standing up to use the restroom became the cue that ended our supper. Despite Jess’s stubborn refusal, I didn’t separate from her, instead following her all the way until I was outside the restroom. She seemed to have gotten the mistaken idea that I was a pervert. She got very mad at me.

We could have returned directly to our room, but we decided to take a walk instead. The clear skies offered a magnificent view of the glimmering stars.

Possibly because of the alcohol in my system, I was in a warm and content mood. With the aid of the jovial sensation, I worked up my courage. “Jess.”

“Yes?”

“Tonight will be the last night.”

There was no reply. For a while, we continued walking down the cobblestone path at night. I could only move my trotters in silence.

I didn’t know whether seconds, tens of seconds, or several minutes had passed by the time Jess turned to look at me. She slowly said, “Are you saying that because there’s something you’d like to do?”

I hadn’t prepared myself for that response. Taken aback, I answered with a question. “Something? What’s this something?”

“I was just thinking that maybe you’d like to do something special since it’s the last night you’ll spend with me.”

Relief washed over me as I heard her unexpectedly spirited voice. She even seemed to have the presence of mind to joke around. “Good point. Well, since it’s the last time, let’s stay up all night, and...” I paused.

Jess’s breathing hitched.

I continued, “...and chat the entire night away. I want to talk with you, Jess.”

In the end, neither of us got a wink of sleep. We truly chatted the entire night away.

No one would be able to stomach food in our shoes. Choosing to skip breakfast, we left the inn. We began walking around aimlessly, and our feet began to inadvertently carry us toward the direction of House Kiltyrin’s manor.

We passed by Kilins Jewels, where Jess had purchased a black rista. Possibly because the distribution of ristae had stagnated, they seemed to have changed their business plan. Now, the shop even had animals available for sale as pets. A youngster with a familiar face was directing a pig to perform tricks in front of passersby. Their enthusiasm and strong initiative in business were admirable, but the tricks of a mere normal pig could never even hold a candle to my dance. A pig that doesn’t dance is just an ordinary pig, similar to what a certain bounty hunter once said.

The shady back alley where we’d encountered the scarred man no longer had any human presence. When the allied forces of the royal court’s army and the Liberators had purged the Nothen Faction, the distribution network of ruffians must’ve been torn into shreds as well. The men who’d been eager to milk Yethma for all their worth were no longer anywhere in sight. The maiden who hadn’t been able to purchase a rista was no longer here either.

Upon arrival at House Kiltyrin’s farm, we headed straight toward the pigsty before anywhere else. Nothing had changed about it. The presumptuous beasts that had thoroughly trampled down on me when I’d be lying prone in the mud were squealing and oinking away merrily like before.

Underneath the solitary towering tree on the farm, Jess and I took a seat near its roots. The sky was clear and sunny today, just like yesterday. The shy breeze of spring gently swayed the grass on the pasture, producing soft rustling.

I’d told Jess everything beforehand. I’d told her that Blaise and Kento had decided to return to where they ought to be. That I had to make my choice before the end of this day if I wanted to return to my world alive. That I’d already found my resolve.

As she gazed at the town on the other side of the farm, Jess’s hand repeatedly stroked my head. Within this leisurely moment, she began confiding in me about her thoughts and feelings. “I’ve been thinking a lot,” she confessed wistfully. “What if I’d met you as a normal woman in a perfectly ordinary situation, and you were also living in this world as a normal man from the very start?”

“...In that scenario, I’m sure we wouldn’t have traveled together, and maybe our bond wouldn’t have become strong and profound to this point.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah. You had a silver collar, while I was in the body of a pig. That was precisely why we needed each other, traveled with one another, and came all the way here together.”

“You might be right.”

A wind tenderly blew across us. Jess hung her head and looked down at the ground through the gap between her knees.

“If it was going to end like this all along—” That was as far as she got before Jess swallowed the rest of her words. But ultimately, she let them out even while knowing how painful they were. “If it was going to end like this all along, then do you think it would have been better if we’d never met each other?”

“Is that what you think?”

“I mean... If we were fated to be pulled apart anyway because we live in different worlds... If I knew I was going to have to go through such heartbreak, then I’d rather... I’d rather we never...” Her voice trembled, and she closed her mouth.

I shook my head firmly. “I’ve said this before, but I’m glad that I met you, Jess. That’s enough, don’t you think?”

“Of course. I’m glad that I met you too, Mister Pig. But...”

Talking about the future wasn’t even an option for us, so our topic kept circling back to the past. Then, confronting our past like that became too painful, so we started exploring what-ifs. But now, even talking about possibilities was excruciating.

“I won’t retract my statement,” I commented. “That said, there were times when I’d think, ‘Why was it me?’”

Jess turned to face me, tilting her head quizzically.

Under her silent prompting, I continued, “Think about it. It’s not like I had any special powers. I didn’t have the ability to detect the Contract Stakes like Ruta either.”

The words Vatis had said to Jess were still stuck in my mind. “Both you and I obtained the power we lacked through our prayers. As a result, I established the royal court, and you ended it.”

I hadn’t possessed any power that was significant enough to end the royal court. It wasn’t like I’d been able to wield a sword like Naut or magic like Shravis. I hadn’t inherited the blood of Lacerte like Itsune and Yoshu. All the way to the bitter end, I’d always been a perfectly ordinary pig—an otaku in the body of a pig.

Why had Jess’s prayers drawn me to this world? Was it because the spirit of a foolish man, who’d been seesawing between the boundary of life and death after eating raw pig liver, just so happened to be in a handy place?

Jess chimed in. “I agree with Lady Vatis’s statement. I think I know what she was talking about.”

“You do?”

“Yes. Mister Pig, you taught me how to be selfish and say selfish things.”

I couldn’t accept her statement immediately. To be selfish? That’s it?

She continued, “Lady Vatis said it herself. It’s the selfish and the willful that win at the end of the day.”

I gave her a doubtful look. “But how would just being selfish be so pivotal?”

“It’s what I lacked more than anything else when I went on the journey to the capital.”

When she put it like that, I had to agree. Yeah, that’s true. Jess had been fitted with a collar that suppressed her sense of self-interest, and she’d been educated as a servant. The last thing she had been capable of was to sacrifice something or someone else for her own sake.

That was why I’d always chosen to walk down paths where I sacrificed others for Jess’s sake as her external sense of self-interest. When she hadn’t had money to purchase a rista, I’d persuaded her to sell a pig that could perform tricks. I’d made an outstanding guard accompany her, even if it meant pulling him apart from the young girl who was enamored with him. When we’d been attacked in the Needle Woods, I told her repeatedly to prioritize her life before anything else.

Looking back at our journey, I realized something. The biggest reason countless Yethma had perished before they’d managed to reach the capital almost certainly wasn’t because they were feeble or their bodies were valuable.

It was because they couldn’t be selfish. It was because they hadn’t been permitted even to have or say the one fundamental selfish wish that everyone had the right to—to say that they wanted to live.

“Mister Pig, you taught me that there’s nothing wrong with being selfish, that everyone has the freedom to pray to the stars.” A soft smile lifted the corners of her lips. “Even though you went through so many awful things because of my wish, you were still willing to say such unimaginably kind words to me. It’s because I had the fortune to come across such a person in my life that I was able to come this far.”

“Well... If you say so, Jess, then that might be the case.”

“It is the case.” She quietly raised her right hand and held it up against the vast canvas of the sky. Fine water droplets, almost like a mist sprayer, streamed out from her palm and shone in the seven colors of the rainbow as the sunlight flooded them. “Magic is a power to give shape to your selfish desires. It’s what allows your desires—wishes to change something as you like or nudge things in the direction you want to—to persist through the resistance of reality and even to warp the natural laws of the real world. The selfishness you taught me helped me grow into an established mage.”

“Hang on one second... Is that maybe why I gained a tolerance to alcohol out of nowhere last night?” Suddenly, realization dawned on me. “When you first met me, you performed healing with a rista, and that helped me smoothly adjust to my new pig body, which I had trouble adapting to. Not only did I gain the ability to walk on all fours, but I also obtained color vision that normal pigs shouldn’t have, and I was even able to understand the Mesteria language. Compared to that, gaining the ability to drink alcohol is nothing.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “That change must have happened to your body because I wished to drink alcohol with you—because I had such a selfish wish.”

“That’s amazing...”

Perhaps I shouldn’t have expected anything less from a descendant of the royal family, who were said to have godlike power passed down through their blood. When it came to magic, Jess had plenty of innate talent. The only thing she’d lacked to survive to the end had been self-interest—selfishness.

“But if that’s true, then why...?” A question surfaced in my mind. “Why won’t I turn into a human?”

The maiden blinked in surprise.

I continued, “If you’ve got the powers to make me tolerate alcohol as a pig, then they might as well just skip through all the complications and turn me directly into a human instead.”

Of course, I had to put it out there first that the appearance of a pig had its own irreplaceable charms, such as being able to lawfully peer up into my owner’s skirt or having a purehearted maiden call me with the humiliating title of “pig.” That said, they were merits to me, not merits to Jess. Well, that statement doesn’t hold up in the scenario Jess is an exhibitionist or a hardcore sadist, though.

Frantically, Jess retorted in response to my narration. “I-I’m not that kind of pervert!” Then, after a moment of hesitation, she muttered somberly, “I don’t know. I don’t know why that doesn’t happen. I don’t understand my own heart. If I wish for you to return to your human form, Mister Pig, magic should produce such effects, just like it’s designated to. And I should be wishing for that transformation. After all, if you gain a human body, we could have done so many things that lovers would do, and yet...”

“What do you mean by ‘things that lovers would do’?” I asked on purpose.

Jess turned away from me. “Please come up with the answer by yourself.”

She must be referring to activities such as holding hands, I thought.

After contemplating the matter for a while, Jess spoke up. “Perhaps a part of me had a hunch that if you ever turned back into a human, Mister Pig, you would disappear.”

This time, it was my turn to analyze her statement. What does that mean? “I suppose you’re not wrong. The pig would disappear.”

“That’s not quite my point... What I meant to say is that I might have had the feeling that if you transformed into a human, you would go off somewhere, leaving me behind.”

“I—”

I was about to finish that sentence with, “I won’t go anywhere without you,” but those words got stuck in my throat. Still, it was true that I didn’t want to go anywhere away from her, even if I became human again.

“Mister Pig, you disappeared two entire times from my life.” Jess’s tone turned sharp. “During our last moments after we arrived at the capital, I made a single selfish request for you to stay with me, but you did exactly what King Eavis told you to do and returned to your original world. After Mister Hortis passed away, even though I asked you to work out an answer—a way we can be together forever—with me, you secretly snuck out of the bedroom and threw yourself off a cliff to return to your original world.”

There was nothing I could say. She was utterly right.

“You always vanish as you please, no matter how hard I try. Of course, I won’t blame you because of it. I was well aware that all those choices you made weren’t for your own sake—you were doing what you wholeheartedly thought was the best for me.”

Indeed. I’d made the agonizing decision to leave Jess’s side two entire times. I’d forced myself to choose while shedding tears of bitterness. And I’d done it both times because I’d wanted Jess to be happy. However, ultimately, I’d caused Jess misery twice.

“And so, perhaps I wanted a kind of chain that can one-sidedly restrain you to my side,” she mused.

“Uh, a chain?” I paused. “But looks don’t matter in this case, do they? It’s the same whether I’m a pig or a human.”

“Mister Pig, the fact that you are a pig was the very first reason we stayed together.”

Hearing that, Jess’s confession from what felt like the distant past floated to the surface of my mind. I recalled the true reason I’d turned into a pig when I’d first teleported to Mesteria.

“If you were human, Mister Pig, you also would have had the choice to head somewhere else.”

“You turned into a pig because of my wish.”

It was a heartbreakingly earnest wish. I felt as if a claw was squeezing all my internal organs at once.

To Jess, my appearance as a pig had been necessary if she wanted me to stay with her. Since I’d been a pig, I couldn’t live without Jess’s help, which was why staying with her had been my only choice. If I’d been a human, I might just walk away and leave her behind. Perhaps such fears had always been lurking deep in Jess’s heart ever since our first journey.

Was she convinced that my identity as a pig was the only chain that could tie me down to her? Oh, that’s so silly... It’s not true at all. Even if I turned into a human at some point, I never would have left her.

It was the definition of agony that I had to have such thoughts on the day of our farewell. “Welp, I think I was lucky that I stayed a pig the entire time. In my original form, I could have never held my head up high when standing next to you.”

“That’s not true.”

“It’s a bad idea to underestimate a scrawny four-eyed super-virgin,” I warned. “My looks would stick out like a sore thumb in this world setting that sounds like it’s lifted straight from a fantasy story featuring swords and magic.”

“I’ve said countless times that looks don’t matter.”

“I’m grateful to hear that, but I’m still a bit conflicted.”

Furthermore, I also had other concerns. I was a man. A healthy young man. If I’d been a human while such a beautiful maiden with blonde hair expressed her affection for me during every waking moment, I feared that at some point, unicorns might no longer have allowed me to approach them.

Thankfully, it appeared that Jess hadn’t managed to decipher the meaning of the narration, because she didn’t make any jabs at it.

“...Being with you was all I ever wanted. Truly,” Jess muttered, as if talking to herself. “Why won’t such a small, simple wish be granted?”

“I wish I knew too...” I whispered.

Jess’s hand never stopped stroking my head.

Time slipped by.

“Hey, can I just say one thing?” I asked.

“What is it?”

“To me, the most precious memories of my lifetime will be the time I spent with you.”

“...I see.” Jess smiled. “Same here. The time I shared with you will also be my dearest memories for a lifetime.”

A warm breeze brushed across my back like feathers. It seemed that we’d both dozed off before we knew it. It must be because we’d stayed up all night to chat. Though I’d woken up, Jess was still asleep.

On the night of our first encounter, Jess had waited for me underneath this big, solitary tree. She’d fallen asleep back then too. It had been late, and she must’ve been exhausted from her work at the festival. I’d hurriedly roused her because the scarred man had been out for her life.

This time, I chose not to wake her. I would leave Jess behind at the place of our promise and walk away.

As I trotted down the hill, I turned around to look back at her with almost every step. With every glance, Jess, who slept as she leaned against the tree trunk, became smaller. The path was heartlessly straight. I could spot the pastel blue of Jess’s dress all the way until she became as small as a grain of sand.

I held back my tears. I still had unfinished business to attend to.

I had to end this story. I had to end it decisively, irreversibly.

Now that I think about it, this story has gone on for a pretty long time, huh? I mused. I had my fateful encounter with Jess, traveled with her, reached the capital, and bade her a teary farewell. By all rights, the love story between the pig and the maiden should have ended there.

But it hadn’t. Sanon, Philopon, and Kento had found and dug up this story out of the endless ocean of the internet by some miracle. Sanon had held out a hand to me, asking whether I would return to Mesteria with them. I’d nodded on the spot. I hadn’t wanted to end this story either.

And thus, I had my reunion with Jess. Our story began moving forward once again.

When the world had seemed like it had calmed down with Hortis’s death, I’d attempted to leave Jess once more. I’d thought that we’d finished everything we’d set out to do. If I had to end the story somewhere, that had seemed like the most fitting point.

But the story hadn’t ended there. This time, Jess detained me and made me stay. She’d broken taboo and had wanted to continue her story with me to the point of chipping away at her own life. The love story between the pig and the maiden kept going even further.

As the story played out, I could no longer bring myself to return to Japan. Somewhere in my heart, I’d started to believe that it was a never-ending story. I’d thought that I could stay with Jess forever and ever.

That wasn’t the case. That could have never been the case. In the end, the story was going to come to a close, just like this.

If it’s going to end anyway, then were all the continuations of the story just redundant afterthoughts? If I knew it was going to come to this, should I have chosen not to come back to Mesteria from the beginning? Should Jess have never tried to detain me?

No, I could declare with confidence now. It wasn’t meaningless at all.

The world had changed for good, and for the better. The injustices that I hadn’t had a chance to alter when I’d first left Mesteria had come to an end before our very eyes.

I’d even made more memories with Jess. When I actually put a number to it, our first journey had lasted only a little over a week. That had been stretched out to several months. My shocking experience of a journey with my life on the line, together with a girl from another world, had transformed into my new norm somewhere down the line.

However, it was what made leaving it even more heartbreaking. It was suffocatingly, excruciatingly heartbreaking.

But this time, I had to truly end things for good. The third time was the charm, as they said.

I stepped onto the beginning of the cobblestone path. I turned around—Jess had vanished from my sight long ago. Since I’d gotten this far, I was sure that Shravis would rise into action and fulfill his role.

I recalled my conversation with him yesterday before Jess and I had left on our journey. It was an operation we’d decided on somewhere without her knowledge.

“You want me to cast a Trac spell on your body?”

“Yeah. And one on Jess too. When we start drifting apart from each other, I want you to come to fetch me when I’m alone. Can I ask this of you?”

“Of course you can. That said...it’s difficult to cast a Trac spell on a mage. She would notice, and if the enchantment is directly on her body, she’d be able to dispel it in a heartbeat.”

“Okay, then could you give me something enchanted with a Trac spell? Y’know, like a bracelet that’ll allow you to communicate over a distance.”

“...I’ll answer you seriously for now, but there’s a risk of her taking off such an item. When father cast a Trac spell on Nourris, he targeted her silver collar, and when he cast it on Naut, he chose one of Naut’s shortswords. It has to be an item that the owner definitely can’t remove or would never let go of.”

There was merely a single item that had come to mind, and I’d informed Shravis about it. A while later, Shravis had cast a Trac spell on that light green scarf.

Ever since, I’d taken care to stay with Jess the entire time. I’d been meticulous to the point of waiting outside the door even when she’d gone to the restroom. And now, I’d finally moved to a distance where I could no longer see Jess.

This was my scheme to bid a proper farewell to Jess so that I wouldn’t let any last-minute irrationality cloud my judgment.

I couldn’t afford for Jess to catch on, so I’d requested Shravis to fetch me as quickly as possible. I wondered where he was going to spring out from. Who knows, he might use the dragon and swoop down from the sky.

At that precise moment, I picked up the sound of approaching hooves. I saw a black enclosed carriage pulled along by two horses. The coachman was an unfamiliar young man.

The carriage pulled to a stop at a place where the door would be presented right in front of me. A second later, the door opened.

It revealed a most unexpected person.

“Mister Super-Virgin, please climb on,” the girl called out to me solemnly. It was Ceres.

Though a little mystified, I boarded the carriage with her assistance. There wasn’t anyone on board other than her. I took a seat next to Ceres’s feet. The door closed, and the carriage began moving right away.

I looked around me in confusion. “Where’s Shravis?”

“Mister Shravis said that he is keeping an eye on Miss Jess.”

Ah, that makes sense. If push comes to shove, he might need to stall Jess and buy time. That guy probably thinks that he’s just about the only one capable of detaining her since she wields powerful magic. “I see.” I nodded. “So, where’s this carriage headed?”

“We’re going to the harbor in the neighboring town. Mister Naut and the others should have gone there by ship. I believe we should arrive in around an hora or so.”

An hora was basically one hour in Mesteria. You can always count on Shravis; he’s a thorough and efficient planner. I was also surprised by how effective he was at getting things done, because he’d gone up to Naut—who’d engaged in a battle to the death with him only a few days ago—and had gotten the hero to join in on the operation.

Wait, actually... I reconsidered that thought. There’s a chance that he did it on purpose.

The world was almost certainly going to return to normal with my return. Perhaps by taking care of that task together with the Liberators, he wished to restore their trust, which had plummeted to rock bottom, and strengthen his unity with them. Assuming that was the case, Shravis was an outstanding politician. I wouldn’t be too surprised, though, since Shravis had always been a capable man.

That aside, wow. What a tasteful, considerate gesture. I can’t believe he arranged some alone time with cutie-pie Ceres for me during these last moments.

I admired Ceres, who perched meekly on the seat in front of me. She was dressed in the blouse and pants that Jess had woven together for her with magic quite a while ago. However, the part of her outfit around her stomach caught my attention.

“Eep!” Possibly because I’d stared too hard at her, Ceres shuffled away from me while looking at me as if I were a depraved pervert.

It’s a misunderstanding. A misunderstanding, ma’am! “...I have to say though, Ceres. I’m honestly surprised and impressed that you came this far on your own.”

“Y-Yes... The coachman is technically someone who often cooperates with the Liberators, so we knew we could trust him...” Though she looked appalled at me as she spoke, Ceres straightened her spine to show me the part of her outfit around her stomach. “Not to mention that I’m safe because I’m wearing this corset.”

It was a scarlet corset that was remarkably conspicuous. On the front, a silver crest had been etched in white—it was the symbol of the Liberators. It probably meant, I’m sure I don’t have to spell out what’ll happen if you put your hands on my woman.

“As long as I’m wearing the crest of House Kiltyrin, no one would even think of assaulting me.”

Memories sprang up to the surface of my mind on their own. Oh, that reminds me. When we went to purchase a rista in that back alley, Jess was wearing a corset with House Kiltyrin’s crest embroidered onto it, wasn’t she?

“M-Mister Super-Virgin?” Ceres asked gingerly while looking at me with worry.

Oops, damn. “Sorry...” I evaded the topic of my tears and pretended as if nothing had happened.

Softening the corners of her eyes, Ceres smiled kindly at me. “It’s okay. I understand how you feel.”

The carriage drove down the cobblestone path with rhythmical rattling.

Ceres hesitantly spoke up. “Miss Jess once said this to me.” I turned to look at her. She continued in a whisper, “‘Being able to live in the same era and world may seem like something insignificant, but it’s more than enough to qualify as a wonderful miracle.’”

“Oh, right... She did, I remember.”

“That’s the miracle you both protected for me, for us, and I’ll cherish it.”

“Yeah. You’d better.”

Just after I made that pompous-sounding statement, I thought, Hah. As if I’ve got the right to say that. Jess and I had snatched Naut away from Ceres on our journey to the capital. We’d been remorseful to her ever since. Therefore, it had only been right for us to protect Ceres with everything we had when she’d been a target.

Ceres was living in a miracle. With everything that had happened, I even felt jealous of her now.

The silence got awkward, so I thoughtlessly asked an uncomfortable question like an uncle at a family gathering. “So, when’re you planning on marrying Naut?”

Hearing that, Ceres was visibly flustered. She stammered, “M-Married? No, um, it’s still too early for...”

“Make sure to secure his word. That guy’s quite the popular bachelor.”

“Yes...” Ceres nodded gravely.

Seeing her solemn attitude, I was the one who started panicking this time. “Sorry, I was joking. You don’t have to worry about Naut. He’s a professional virgin. He isn’t a guy who other women would sway.”

“I hope that’s the case, yes...”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about the future of this couple’s relationship as their well-meaning uncle. However, I probably wouldn’t get the chance to see how things would turn out. I could only pray that they would—no, they will definitely have their happily ever after.

I wanted Naut to end up with Ceres. I wanted him to only end up with Ceres.

Perhaps I was being a needless worrywart, but even after I disappear, Naut will still be in the same country as Jess. He was the leader of the Liberators, and she was a descendant of the royal family. Since the Liberators likely wished to establish a republic, they would often work together. If by some outlandish chance that Naut falls for—

No. I shook my head. I’m probably overthinking it. I am overthinking it. “You mustn’t ever let him cheat on you, okay? If you sense Naut showing even the tiniest of signs of going to another woman, let Itsune or Yoshu know and get them to teach him exactly how it feels to be a sandbag.”

“How it feels to be a sandbag... Yes, got it.”

The fact that she’d agreed so readily likely meant that she didn’t comprehend what I was saying. But it was important. It was absolutely unforgivable for that man to get romantically involved with any woman other than Ceres.

“And, Ceres...” My heartbreak was slowly getting unbearable, but I still asked this of her. “...I hope you’ll stay friends with Jess and keep her company. She was always with me. Because of that, she has surprisingly few friends. When she looks like she’s troubled about something, it’d be great if you could lend her an ear.”

“I will...” As she looked at me, her eyes grew teary.

“Don’t look like you’re going to cry. Otherwise, I’m going to get sad too.” I closed my eyes. There was the cold sensation of overflowing tears streaming down my pork cheeks.

The carriage came to a stop at a small, unpopulated port town. Apparently, people here mainly earned their livelihoods in the fishing industry, not in shipping. The numerous fishing nets left on the turf were producing a stench characteristic of the ocean. The sailing ship of the Liberators that awaited us was excessively majestic—it was large enough to probably fit around a hundred people. It swayed at the pier of the small port, looking somewhat constricted in its limited space.

Under Ceres’s guidance, I boarded the ship. The sun had begun to set.

“So you’re here.” Naut was the one who welcomed me with that greeting. “You sprung this on me practically only yesterday. Can’t you give people more advance notice? Sheesh.”

“...Sorry. I really appreciate it,” I said.

“I owe you a few favors. I’m settling my debts to you for one final time.”

And with that, Naut beckoned me forward. I followed him into one of the cabins.

The area was flooded with a floral fragrance. A single large wooden box was on the ground. Naut opened its lid. “Do you need to check his breathing?”

Before I even peered into it, I inferred what was within. However, it was always better to make sure.

I leaned forward and inspected the box. A lone boar was lying inside, surrounded by countless flowers. His frilly dress—which a particular person had likely tailored as a replacement for his old one—was impeccably clean. He was already still—there were no signs of life.

“We used a poison,” Naut explained succinctly. “It’s the type that won’t cause suffering.”

The ship rocked. It appeared we’d left the port.

“...Kento’s gone back, huh?” I muttered.

“Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. You have my guarantee.”

There couldn’t be a more reassuring guarantee in the world. This ardent man told no lies.

Naut fished out a small bottle from his pocket and held it up to me. “I’ve got the same stuff here. All that’s left is the question of when you’re gonna do it.”

My heartbeat instantly quickened.

Kento had returned home. Blaise had returned to ashes. The three remaining threads had been reduced to a single one: me.

I took a deep breath. “Give it to me.”

Naut shut the box’s lid. Then, he jabbed his thumb in the direction of the door. “You have a moment before you go?”

I nodded and followed Naut. We walked out of the cabin.

The sailing ship was already gliding across the peaceful open seas. The port looked considerably small and far.

Naut leaned against a railing and stared at Mesteria’s lands. “You really fine with this?”

“I... This is the only path I can choose.”

“I’m not talking about paths forward. I’m talking about you.”

Ah. How could I have forgotten? Naut’s always been the type of guy who’d say that—who’d care about that. He’s a man who’d ask about what I want to do, not what’s within my powers.

I hesitated. “If there’s one thing I’m worried about, it would be...” I trailed off. His clear, azure eyes focused on me. Even when the intense sea breeze whipped them, his eyes had no trace of tears. “It would be whether you’ll make any moves on Jess. That’s all.”

There wasn’t as much as a ripple in his expression as he said, “What’re you gonna do if I said I would?”

Taken aback by the unexpected reply, I mulled over it for a moment. “...Nothing, really. I can’t change my path even if I wanted to. Well, I do think you’re way more preferable than some random, shady guy out there snatching her up from me.”

He scoffed. “Making a move on her is the last thing I’d do, so relax. Looking at her face reminds me of the past, after all. Not to mention...I have someone I want to protect now.”

He must be talking about Ceres. I could feel my cheeks spontaneously loosening up at that statement.

“Don’t grin yourself silly.” He scowled. “I’ll teach you how it feels to be a sandbag.”

“My bad, please forgive me. I don’t want to regret the fact that I was born.”

Under the sea breeze, I cooled my face for a while before I looked up at him solemnly. “I’m going back. You heard what’s going on, haven’t you? As long as I’m here, Jess’s lifespan will be constantly chipped away. If I stay, I’ll pose a danger to my homeland. This is the only way. That’s just life.”

Naut furrowed his eyebrows, carving straight creases into his forehead. “That’s just life, hmm?” It seemed that he despised that sentence from the bottom of his heart. “That’s simply life, you say. Sometimes you just have to give up, you say. Whenever you stack up one compromise after another like that, your life is gonna become more and more pointless, just so you know.”

Those words stabbed into me like javelins. Of course I knew. I would leave this world, shut away this story in my heart, and choose the insignificant life of a run-of-the-mill otaku. But I could accept that. “It’s for Jess. Her life—her future is on the line.”

It wasn’t an excuse, far from it. It wasn’t a half-hearted decision I’d made passively. It was what I decided for myself to bring about a brighter future. I declared, “If it’s for Jess, my life can become the most pointless thing in the world, and I wouldn’t care one bit.”

Allowing the breeze to sweep up his bangs, Naut took a long, hard look at me. “Huh.” Neither his words nor his expression gave me a glimpse into his thoughts.

I stared back at him. “Naut. Do you think I’m making the wrong choice?”

“Don’t be stupid,” he replied immediately, taking me slightly by surprise. The ghost of a smile quirked up the corners of his lips. “A decision you made because you care about someone with all your heart could never be wrong.”

This man was truly the definition of handsome through and through, or so I thought.

I chose to do it alone without anyone around to watch.

Inside a cabin with the door shut, I faced the water laced with poison all by myself. A generous amount had been poured into a shallow dish. With every sway of the ship, the water’s surface tilted and rippled.

Its scent wasn’t too bad. It kind of reminded me of lots of bitter medicinal herbs being dissolved in a solvent like ether. Naut had mentioned I could use it to pass away without suffering, but I should probably brace myself for the sole discomfort of ingesting it.

I wasn’t going to have any more wayward thoughts. It was time to bid farewell to Mesteria—to Jess.

Sucking in a deep breath, I resolutely drank down everything in one go. It was much more bitter than I’d imagined.

I’m sure I’ll find myself in the hospital soon, I thought. I’ll see Sanon, Philopon, and Kento on the other side.

The next thing I knew, I’d lost all sensation in my body. It was as if a stark white world was dreamily expanding before me like a cloud. Even my sense of gravity slowly faded. Gently, I floated up, and—

Without warning, I choked.

There was a startlingly cold sensation within the pleasant cloud I was surrounded by. Something was pressing down on my neck. Then there was a metallic jingle—the sound of a chain. I was dragged forcefully backward. I realized that there was a collar around my neck.

“Hey, wake up,” someone said, lightly slapping my pork cheek.

I opened my eyes. I was still in the cabin. It appeared that Naut had been responsible for hitting my cheek. Itsune and Yoshu were present too. The three of them were staring down at me as I was lying on the ground.

I blinked in a stupor. “How...?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” Naut picked up the plate and sniffed it. He grimaced. “It certainly smells like the right stuff. Yoshu, try licking a bit of it.”

“No way,” Yoshu answered firmly.

“Didn’t you mention Lacerte can handle a small amount of the stuff?”

The archer shook his head. “I don’t want to lick something that a pig licked.”

Naut held out the plate to Itsune, and she shook her head as well. “I don’t wanna. It’s dirty.”

Guys. I’m getting depressed over here. I rose to my trotters. Judging by that floating sensation, it was likely a kind of neurotoxin, but my pig body moved without a hitch. I hadn’t died. I’d failed to die when I should’ve.

Itsune reached for the greataxe on her back and pulled off the leather cover wrapping around its gigantic blade. “There’s no other way. I’ll cut you down.” A blade’s edge, which had been polished to a terrifyingly shiny degree, swiftly moved to aim at me.

I yelped. “Wha?! That’s horrifying, no, wait. I’m the squeamish type who can’t even handle blood donation unless I close my eyes!”

“Not my problem.” Within the swaying ship, Itsune skillfully maneuvered her greataxe and rested it on my back.

“Wait, hang on, pause!” I hurriedly protested in a panic. “I’m seriously scared. Don’t eat me, please! I don’t taste very good!”

Looking exasperated, Itsune returned her greataxe to its original place.

“Sis,” Yoshu spoke up, “you’ve cut a bit into him, have you noticed?”

“Yeah. It was on purpose.”

The trio’s gazes converged on my back. Huh? She, uh, cut into me? “The heck are you doing?!” I exclaimed. “That’s dangerous! What’re you going to do if I die by accident?!”

Paying no regard to me, Naut rubbed my back with his finger. The next moment, the three of them sighed.

I looked up warily at them. “Something wrong?”

“You won’t die.” Naut showed me the blood staining his finger. “There was blood, but your wound has already sealed up. I’m sure that the drug you had was unmistakably a fatal poison too.”

My eyes gradually widened. “You mean...”

“It’s got to be Jess’s magic. It’s protecting you so that you won’t die no matter what.”

Realization dawned on me. Right. I recalled what Jess had told me. “That change must have happened to your body because I wished to drink alcohol with you.”

Jess’s magic had granted me alcohol tolerance. It had happened because she’d wanted to have drinks with me.

Therefore, if Jess wishes for me to be alive, then... How in the world can I even manage to die?

But I wasn’t given much time to think. Because right that moment, there was a loud thump—the deafening sound of something slamming into the ship.

The ship’s rocking intensified immediately. Naut and the siblings traded glances before marching out of the cabin the next second. I went outside as well.

The gusts were strong. They didn’t seem to be blowing from the side but down from above.

I ran after the trio. When I came out onto the deck, I saw something familiar. It was certainly familiar, but it definitely didn’t belong on the deck of this ship.

Naut pushed me backward toward the rear. “Don’t mind us. Go.” I stumbled backward dumbly with his nudge.

The reason for my shock was the item on the deck—the Dragonwing that Jess and I had flown on all the way to Kiltyrie. Possibly because it’d had a crash landing, it had utterly fallen apart.

Naut and Itsune stepped forward toward the Dragonwing. Meanwhile, Yoshu led me in the opposite direction. “This way,” he hissed. “Hurry.”

The frighteningly loud snap of timber resounded from behind me. I frantically raced after Yoshu. We distanced ourselves from the ship’s bow and made our way toward the stern.

I found Shravis at the end of a passageway.

“My apologies,” he said. He had scorch marks and soot all over his body. “I wasn’t able to keep Jess in place.”

I looked at him with wide eyes. “Hey... You okay? What even happened?”

“Don’t worry about me. It’s only a few scratches.” Shravis gave me a small smile, but I didn’t overlook the fact that his hair, frizzled from fire, was giving off smoke even now.

“But Shravis—”

He cut me off. “You must hurry. Climb onto the dragon and escape before Jess reaches here.”

I could hear earsplitting explosions ringing out from the bow. It seemed that Naut and Itsune were facing off against some inconceivable monster.

Breathing in to steady myself, I looked up at him. “Got it. I’m counting on you.”

Shravis nodded. The next moment, magic lifted me into the air. Next to me, Yoshu also drifted upward.

With a violent jolt, the ship shook wildly, and our bodies were left behind in midair, floating above the ocean. The back of a black dragon speedily slipped underneath us. I recalled how the wind had blown down from above—the dragon must have been standing by in the upper air.

The moment our bodies were tucked away in the box-shaped seats installed on the dragon’s back, there was an intense lurch of acceleration, informing me that we were climbing upward. Fireballs flew up at us from below at astounding speeds one after another, but Shravis, who held the reins by my side, dodged them with masterful piloting.

“Hey, what the heck is that?” Holding my body down on the seat while making full use of my four legs, I asked Shravis for an explanation. “What in the world is attacking us?”

“Jess,” he answered simply.

Like guided missiles, the fireballs turned in midair and stubbornly continued to pursue us. In the rear seat, Yoshu swiftly held up his crossbow and fired off several bolts in succession. The bolts struck the fireballs, which exploded on the spot. While all that action was going on, we’d made a steep rise in altitude, all the way up above the clouds.

I wheezed, puffing and panting for breath. “I thought I was gonna die there...”

A small chuckle slipped out of Shravis’s mouth. “Seeing how you’re still alive, you probably aren’t capable of dying.”

“Seems like it, yeah.”

Breathing heavily, Yoshu pointed behind us and grumbled, “Hey, she’s close to you guys, right? Could you hurry up and do something about her?”

Shravis shook his head. “I can’t hope to even stand a chance against her. Though it might not look like it, she’s likely going easy on us so that we don’t receive any injuries.”

The dragon glided out from the clouds, so I turned back to look at the ocean. We’d come relatively high up into the sky—I couldn’t tell how things were over on the ship.

“Looks like the ship with sis and Naut on board will probably be fine.” Yoshu, who’d been looking behind us, turned around to face me. His eyes had transformed into the color of liquid gold. “I dunno the details, but the attacks have already ended. The ship’s still floating.”

Shravis nodded. “She must have realized that I had evacuated the pig by using the dragon. Jess will come after us eventually with some sort of method. We have no choice but to flee at full speed.”

I was stunned silly. “Why would...? Why would Jess do this...?”

The former king shrugged. “As you predicted, it appears that she had a change of heart at the very last second. She seems to have no plans of letting you go.”

I can’t believe this. I’ve run away from all kinds of people—ruffians, the Liberators, the royal court’s army—up until now, but I never thought that at the very last second, I’d end up having to run away from Jess.

My mind was blank. “Where do we run to?” I was the one who needed to get away, but I hadn’t a clue about what I should do.

Shravis pointed straight in the direction of the sun—west. “If you are unable to die because of Jess’s magical protection...that means Ruta must have been incapable of dying through normal methods since Lady Vatis’s magic protected him.”

“I see, the Town of Death.” It clicked. “He used that silver fire—the Flame of Partings.”

“Indeed. We will head straight for Helde.”

Helde. The town where Jess and I had arrived at the end of our long escape from the royal court with Ceres as our companion and where we’d encountered Sito.

Back in that place, Ceres had used a mystical silvery fire to part with her magic. That fire had been infused with a power that had even transcended the bounds of magic. It was a fire that could incinerate destiny. And Ruta had used it to return to his original world.

If I were to walk through those flames, I would also be able to return to my birth world.

As he piloted the dragon, Shravis grimly broached a topic. “There is a single problem.”

My breathing hitched. “What is it?”

“Jess said...she’ll follow you into death if you perish.”

It was as if time had stopped. Possibly because I’d carelessly looked straight at the sun, my vision went a blinding white. I couldn’t see a thing. “That’s... No. That can’t happen. We’ve got to stop her.”

“But I’m sure that the only one who can stop her—the only one who can persuade her is you.”

“The only one you’re talking about is going to be gone soon though, you know?”

“...Yeah. That’s why I pointed it out as a problem.”

My thoughts swirled round and round in my mind. If I’m gone, Jess will end her own life. But how am I supposed to persuade her? I have to leave—I have to disappear. What do I do?

“On that topic, there might be one more problem.” From the seat behind me, Yoshu spoke up unhurriedly. “Jess’s still chasing right after us.”

Frantically, I turned around. I couldn’t see anything of the sort.

Yoshu shrugged. “We’ve gotten too far to see her, and I don’t think she’ll be able to catch up to this dragon, but it’s a thing.”

“But how?” I asked, astonished. “She was on the ocean, and the Dragonwing shouldn’t have been intact enough to go into operation.”

“I saw her flying for only a split second,” he reported.

“Flying? As in, like, without using anything?”

“Yeah. She seemed to be pumping out explosive flames from her hands and using those as propulsion.”

What the heck? Is she Iron Man or something?

Looking uneasy, Shravis placed a hand on his chin. “That’s bad news... I didn’t prepare any feints when we departed. She knows we’re heading west. With how shrewd she is, she might have a rough guess of our destination.”

I nodded. “Right. She must know that we’re bound for Helde.”

I wondered how much time we could buy with the flight speed difference between the dragon and Jess. Would I be able to outrun her if I ran into the fire the moment I arrived at the Flame of Partings?

No, I can’t do that. When she learns that I’ve gone through those flames, Jess would—

Shravis’s voice tore into my thoughts. “Pig. There’s one thing I believe you should know. When you are involved, Jess can manifest powers that the likes of me can’t possibly hope to match. Grandfather often said that Jess has the potential to become the greatest mage since Lady Vatis. There should be no room for doubt that I don’t stand a chance. I should be able to at least buy time, yes, but I suggest giving up on trying to stop her.”

Seriously? You’d normally only use such a description on people like a demon king or the Dark Lord, hello? “...Got it. In any case, let’s head for the Flame of Partings for now. I’ll make sure to persuade Jess in front of the flames just before I leave. I’ll bid her a proper farewell before I go back.”

“Very well.”

I could feel his steadfast trust in me. Now, it just came down to how I was going to persuade Jess.

After a while, the dragon began lowering its altitude.

“We will arrive shortly,” Shravis announced in a composed voice while holding the reins. There was a moment of hesitation before he continued, “To be honest with you, I feel somewhat sad to see you go as well.” His emerald eyes turned to look at me. “You supported me whenever I needed it. If possible, I wish I could have your continued support even from now on. But of course, now that I’ve lost my crown and am practically a nobody, I don’t have the right to ask for such things.”

He said it with a completely straight face, and I couldn’t tell whether or not it was a joke.

That was why I gave him one of his signature deadpan replies. “What nonsense are you even spouting?” I looked up at the last king who pretentiously wrapped himself in a cloak of solitude. “You’re not a king anymore, that’s a fact. But before you are a king—you’re my friend, aren’t you?”

His eyes wavered slightly. “You’re willing to think that? You would still consider me as such even though I’ve betrayed all of you time and time again?”

“Of course I would.”

“Then that means I will be even sadder.” A small smile curled his lips. “It’s painful to see a friend go.”

Unable to come up with a reply, I could only nod.

The symbolic white and black spires of Helde began coming into view on the distant horizon. We would reach our destination soon.

I cast my eyes down briefly before looking back up at him. “There’s one thing I’d like to request of you.”

I explained the plan I’d cooked up concisely. After hearing me out to the very end, Shravis asked me, “Are you really fine with this?”

“Yeah. I’ve steeled my resolve.”

The dragon made its gradual descent. I could see the castle’s brick ruins halfway up the mountain. Within it was the Flame of Partings.

“Shravis. I’m counting on you to take care of Jess once I’m gone.”

“...You’re foisting a rather dangerous loose cannon on me, I see.”

“Dealing with dangerous people is your specialty, isn’t it? Please, Shravis. Please watch over Jess and be a shoulder she can lean on for as long as you can.”

“Are you implying that it’s all right for me to take her as my wife or younger sister?”

I was speechless as I struggled for an answer.

Shravis began grinning. “Why the surprise? I’m joking. It’s about time you learn how to distinguish between jokes and serious statements.”

“Bruh, seriously? That’s rich coming—” That was as far as I got before I realized this was a joke too. He was a troublesome guy to the very end.

Shravis tugged the reins, and the dragon began slowing down. “We should arrive very soon. Ah, right. One last thing. Could you give me a manual on how to handle Jess?”

For a moment, I thought it was yet another joke. But when I saw his profile that faced forward, the former king didn’t look like he was speaking in jest. “By manual, you mean...information about stuff like Jess’s personality?”

“Yeah. I’ve had candid conversations with her, but... How do I put this...? It was, well, challenging.”

When I’d been absent, Shravis had supported Jess through her darkest hours, however clumsy he might have been. I was sure that he would continue to do so from now on. And so, I decided to share just a few things.

“The thing about Jess is... She seems like the well-behaved, reasonable type, but she actually isn’t. She may seem like an adult, but she’s also childish in lots of ways. So, for example, you’ve got to praise her and properly put it into words, not just show it with your attitude. When you praise her, she’ll immediately deny it, but it isn’t what she actually thinks. It’s basically a knee-jerk reaction. She seems to have a strong compulsion to act modestly. But the truth is, the more you praise her, the more she’ll jump with joy in her heart. There’s one thing to note, though—praising her appearance might not be too effective. You can shower her outfit with all the praise you want, but don’t use the words ‘beautiful maiden’ too sparingly. What’s on the inside is more important. It can be her knowledge or her skills too. When you compliment her on what she put effort into obtaining—or to be more accurate, what she considers she obtained through hard work—she’ll be over the moon. So there’s a chance that maybe praising her magic too much might not be the right choice. It’s a fact that her magic is magnificent, and she should owe a big part of it to her diligence, but I’m sure that Jess thinks it’s thanks to the divine blood she inherited. It might be a bit troublesome, but please try to understand and decipher Jess’s reasoning for her sake. Also, Jess tends to be sensitive toward the exchange of affection and kindness. If you want to do something for her sake, do everything you can to prevent her from catching on to those feelings. You’ve got to deceive her about your goal—even minor tactical maneuvers or word games will do. For example, if it looks like Jess hasn’t had a good appetite for a while, you mustn’t just give her a meal and say, ‘How about you eat a little more?’ You’ve got to say, ‘I ended up making too much when I was practicing cooking. I’m full, so could you help me with finishing it?’ By doing this, she’ll eat up, thinking she’s doing it for your sake. The opposite is true too. When Jess wants to do something nice for you, she will always hide her motive. When she takes over a task you don’t want to do, she’ll likely fabricate a lie that makes it sound as if it’ll benefit her somehow. But you mustn’t be tricked by her. Even if it’s something that won’t benefit her, if it would benefit you, she’s the kind of person who’d carry it out even if it means sacrificing herself in some way. If you don’t notice, she might end up overstraining herself. There are even cases where she’d never let it show on her face when she’s pushing herself too hard. Jess is seriously masterful at lying and keeping secrets. She’s lied to even me countless times. None of them were harmful lies, though. They were either lies she told because she didn’t want me to leave her, or because she was sacrificing herself and didn’t want me to find out. You don’t have to catch on from the beginning—but please, notice her lies from the halfway point at least, for her sake. Please realize her lies and help her before she drives herself into a dark corner. Next up, Jess is someone who gets lonely easily. She might seem like she’s fine by herself, and that might look like it’s even more true as the years pass by in the future. That’s definitely not true, though. She tends to overcomplicate things in her mind. She can’t bring herself to avert her gaze from her own shortcomings or the mistakes she’s made. I’ve seen firsthand how much she tormented herself all this time over the fact that she pulled Naut apart from Ceres and the fact that she deduced the location of the First Collar. So please tell her. Tell her that she’s done nothing wrong. Even if it was her fault, the situation had been out of her hands. Tell her that. Persuade her every now and then. I’m sure you don’t know any girls who are as charming and earnest as she is either. Don’t just compliment her, don’t just be attentive toward her thoughts and values—could you occasionally affirm her very existence itself? It might be difficult, but this is the only part that you can’t use logical reasoning with. You’ve got to affirm her based on your own personal feelings. As for why, it’s because Jess is capable of putting together a perfect reasoning to denounce herself coherently, and you bet she’s going to do it. It’s tough to shatter it with objections of logic. So please, forcefully affirm Jess purely with your own values. If it’s just hugs, I can let it slide. Cousins, well, should probably at least do that. So hug her tight, so much that she’ll forget things like silly, heartless logic. Oh, and I’m sure you already know this painfully well, but lies and secrets are absolutely out of the question. It’s not a problem of losing her trust. Jess is too trusting of people. No matter how many times you keep secrets from her, no matter what awful lies you tell her, she’ll still believe in you in a heartbeat. That’s the kind of person she is. So please, please, don’t lie or hide things from her. I know there’s a quote that ‘truth is a weapon and lies are a necessary shield,’ but keep it to tiny shields on the scale of the ones I mentioned earlier, like ‘accidentally’ making too much food. But even these tiny shields might rapidly become a giant lie if you pile them up in an attempt to hide something—one lie leads to another. If that happens, you’ve got to confess the truth to her before there’s a tear in the web of lies. In the scenario it’s a lie you told for Jess’s sake, she would naturally accept that fact and forgive. And just saying, the opposite of this statement also applies. Even if you learned that Jess is lying or keeping some secrets, you mustn’t get mad at her. You might think that I’m being unreasonable because I just told you not to lie. But, as I mentioned earlier, Jess only lies for the sake of other people. Remember, she’s a woman who broke taboo, chipped away at her own life to keep me alive, and even kept all of that under wraps. Please give her patience and understanding. And also, you’d better hammer this into your head: Once I’m gone, you’re the only person who can be there for Jess unconditionally—you have your status as her cousin. You might think it’s nothing more than a mere blood relation, but Jess needs it—she needs a concrete, tangible reason. After all, it’s a truth that even Jess’s impregnable fortress of logic can’t tear down. This is both your weapon and your curse. One day, Jess might attempt to push you away, saying that you’re nothing but an unrelated stranger. Even if she doesn’t say it outright, she might take the initiative to quietly distance herself from you before you know it. You must be wondering why—it’s because Jess should eventually feel guilty about the fact that she’ll take up a not-so-insignificant portion of your life. When that happens, go back to her side over and over again by using your blood relation as a reason—as an explanation. Hah, you’d better regret the fact that you were born as Jess’s cousin. You have to remain someone special to Jess for the rest of your life for her sake. But of course, you’re free to get married. Even if you have kids, it’s not a problem whatsoever. You’ll probably find someone precious to you other than her. You most likely will. However, don’t forget that you’re her one and only blood relative. It’s common for people to neglect their other relationships when starting a family. For example, let’s suppose that Naut and Ceres got married and even had kids. The more time they spend as a family, the less time they will have for everything and everyone else. Not one, but two of Jess’s already few supporters would drift away from her. Even if Naut and Ceres don’t mean to do anything like that, I just know that Jess would refrain from taking up their time of her own accord and drift away by herself. So Shravis, be the one person who will keep trying, who will refuse to give up on her. No matter how much you love your family, don’t let Jess end up all alone. Well, I don’t even want to think about the possibility right now, but there could even be a chance that Jess might find someone she fancies. When that happens, I’m counting on your keen insight, okay? I want you to thoroughly determine whether the sleazy scumbag that’ll end up with Jess is truly capable of making her happy. I repeat, you two are cousins. Even if it’s unwelcome to them and none of your business, just do it. Don’t you dare leave her until the day one of you dies. I’m going to entrust everything to you. I’m going to cast a curse on you. Take good care of Jess until the day you die. Please, Shravis, please. This is my request of a lifetime.”

Once I started talking, the words just refused to stop.

After noticing that a stream of tears had trickled down Shravis’s cheek, I realized that my own face was sloppy with overflowing tears.

“You’ve made yourself very clear. I understand,” Shravis replied in a trembling voice before nodding solemnly. “No matter what the future may hold, I will protect Jess’s happiness in your stead.”

The plaza where the Flame of Partings blazed hadn’t changed one bit since I’d last seen it. Surrounded by ancient brick walls, it was a monochrome space that looked as if it had been designed for some sort of ritual. A single straight line cleanly divided the white floor and the black floor. What straddled that boundary was an ashen rock monument in a shape that was reminiscent of a cogon grass ring. An undying silvery flame with zero saturation in color burned in the middle of the perfect circle that the rock formed.

This was the entrance that would take me back to my original world.

The last time we’d been here, we’d come across the remnant that Ruta had left behind in this world. Did that man foresee that such a future would be waiting for me? Did he know that just like how he bade farewell to this world, I would have to say goodbye as well?

“She’s here,” Shravis said sharply.

I turned around.

Jess was standing there.

She hadn’t even made a sound. She wasn’t making a dramatic pose like a superhero landing on the ground. Jess was simply standing there and staring straight at me.

I’d assumed that she’d be battered all over because she’d defeated Shravis, destroyed a significant part of the Liberators’ ship, and had even flown from eastern Mesteria to western Mesteria as if cutting across the entire continent. However, that turned out not to be the case at all. There wasn’t any disarray in her clothing—if anything, even her hair was perfectly undisturbed. It was as if she’d walked across a bridge of breeze that had carried her here from that lone standing tree.

“Jess,” I called out gingerly.

No response. She must be livid. Her face was as tense as it could be, and it wasn’t easy to even try to get a read on her thoughts.

I took a deep breath. “Let’s talk.”

As if she’d decided that my words would be her cue, Jess quietly lifted her right hand and thrust her palm in my direction. The moment a dazzling light burned my eyes, I realized that something with an astronomical amount of heat flew by my side at a rapid speed. After a moment’s delay, the sound of it cutting through the air, as well as the sound of something exploding behind me, reached my ears.

Nervously, I checked my rear. The place where the Flames of Partings had once been was engulfed in smoke.

“You’ve got to be kidding me...” That sentence slipped out spontaneously. Shravis and I hadn’t even been able to react.

“Mister Pig, let’s head back to the capital.” Jess’s tone was casual, as if it were a perfectly normal day.

“I’m sorry... I can’t do that.”

A heavy silence weighed on us for a while. When I turned around to look behind me again, I found that the wind had carried away the smoke. The ring of gray rock remained without so much as a scratch, and the silver flame blazed just like before. It appeared that Jess couldn’t destroy it because it was under the protection of prehistoric magic.

That was one thing I could feel relieved about. Little by little, I edged backward toward the fire.

A sinister sound reverberated from my surroundings—a rumbling akin to thunder. Shravis took a step toward me. “Jess plans to bury the flame.”

This prediction proved accurate. When Jess spread out her arms slightly, the brick castle walls began moving as if she’d breathed life into them. Every single brick block turned into the cells of a towering creature that crawled forward with deafening rumblings from the ground accompanying every step. It coiled itself like a snake, reared its head, and set its sights on the Flame of Partings.

Shravis placed a hand on my back and guided me toward the fire. As we faced off against the gigantic abomination, the two of us moved backward bit by bit until we were immediately next to the flame.

Abruptly, there was the sensation of a force pulling hard on my body. A force with the opposite vector instantly joined the fray, and thanks to it, I only collapsed on the spot instead of moving elsewhere. Jess had attempted to push me out of the way, while Shravis had stopped her short.

The situation was at a standstill. The giant mass of bricks, which slithered like a grand serpent, remained glaring in our direction.

Perhaps we were no match for her in a head-on battle, but we had the locational advantage. The fact that I was near the flame served as a deterrent, handicapping Jess.

“Could you stop this, Jess?” Shravis addressed the maiden. “If you plan on obstructing me with brute force, then I will have to send the pig back to his world equally forcefully.”

Jess’s gaze remained trained on me, and only me. It was difficult to get a read on what she was conspiring, but I could tell what she was feeling with agonizing clarity.

The truth was, she wanted to weep and scream. She wanted to come up to me, hug me, and say that she didn’t want this like an unreasonable child. If you’re wondering why I know, it’s because I feel the exact same way. But we both knew that showing any weakness would put us at a disadvantage, so we had no choice but to use rational deterrence to keep each other at bay.

“Jess, let’s have a proper conversation one last time,” I pleaded.

There was no reply.

I continued, “We should exchange our proper farewells. It would be awful for our last memories together to be a big quarrel.”

There was one clatter, then another—the sound of bricks starting to fall.

Jess was crying.

The monster that had reared its head began crumbling from its tip, like a row of dominoes toppling.

“Will you be all right?” Shravis asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, everything’s all right. Give us some space.”

“I see. Well then.” Shravis crouched down and stroked my head. After giving a nod to me, he stood up, turned his back on me, and began walking away. He steadily left the plaza without turning around even once.

Only Jess and I were left behind in the plaza where the flame was alight.

“Jess, come over here.” I stubbornly remained in front of the fire and called out to her.

Jess nodded without a struggle. She slowly walked until she was in front of me, then limply fell onto her knees as if they’d given out from under her.

I took a step toward her. Her arms, much feebler than I’d imagined, reached out and clung to my neck. They held the exact same gentleness as when she’d usually wound her arms around me after wishing me good night.

I should have already shed enough tears for them to dry up, but they still showed no signs of stopping. “The truth is...I wanted to be with you forever,” I whispered.

Jess sniffled. Her voice trembled as she replied, “Me too. I want to be together forever and ever. I don’t want this to be the end.”

“Yeah... I don’t want this either.”

Through our trembling and our warmth, we shared the exact same feelings—we’d merely arrived at opposite conclusions. We didn’t want to leave each other. We wanted to be together. We didn’t want it to end like this.

But it’s already “the end,” I thought quietly in my mind. The love story of the pig and the maiden will end here.

“Everything in the world has endings,” I explained gently. “But even so, we have to face forward and walk on.”

“...I don’t want to.”

“Listen to what I have to say for one final time, Jess.” The strength of her hold around me tightened. “No matter how far apart we are, even if we can never see each other again, even if your voice can never reach me anymore, my heart will always be with you. I won’t disappear. I’ll be forever praying for your happiness.”

What I received in response was her choked sobbing. But I could tell through her warmth, her arms around me, that she understood what I’d said. “Me too, Mister Pig... I’ll pray for...for your happiness...” The last part of her sentence was chopped up, as if her voice was stuck in her throat. I nodded.

Jess released me. I could feel her hands cupping softly around my cheeks, but I could barely make out her face that was in front of me because of the tears blurring my vision. I squeezed my eyes shut tightly before opening them again. At long last, I could see Jess’s face as she cried her eyes out.

Her honey-brown irises were beautiful. Her reddened, petite nose was charming. Her petal-pink lips were earnestly trying to suppress her sobs. I didn’t know anything that could be more beautiful than her.

“...Please,” I whispered. “Could you smile for me one last time?”

Hearing my final wish, Jess slowly nodded. And she smiled. It wasn’t a forced or fake smile—never. I could tell it was the smile of a maiden who was relishing in the fact that we could be together right in this moment—relishing in that very tiny shard of happiness alone.

I gazed at her, long and hard. “Jess, your smile is the greatest treasure in the world to me.”

Once again, she gathered me into her arms. She held me tighter than ever before. “I love you so much.”

I lifted my inflexible pig front legs and held them around Jess’s frame. “Me too... I love you so much.”

If only this moment would last a lifetime, I thought.

All my sensations seemed to slow down and turn fuzzy. I would probably never feel such happiness and such sorrow ever again for the rest of my life.

It was as if I were drifting in a fluffy cloud. Jess’s arms were hugging me firmly against her chest. I could feel her fine strands brushing against my right cheek.

For a split second, I sensed some sort of sting on the right side of my neck. Judging by the movement of her head, it seemed to be a kiss where she’d lost control of her strength. I learned that love was something that went hand in hand with pain.

As if the pain was a wake-up call, the haze cleared from my thoughts. I could see the plaza of stone around me. I could see the crumbled mountain of bricks. I could see the afterglow of the sunset in the sky.

There was a sharp tug on my body—a force that was different from her gentle hold until now, and I stumbled. My body floated into the air.

I’d known this was coming. I knew that Jess wouldn’t give up no matter what the odds were—she was absolutely going to grab me and run.

“Find happiness, okay?” I whispered.

My words were the signal. A whistle, reminding me of a low note on a flute, flew across the air. Jess’s arms spasmed for a moment before abruptly going limp in the next.

This had been my tactic. I’d made a request in advance to Yoshu, who’d come to Helde with us on the dragon, to snipe Jess. Shravis had helped me enchant a small, sharp but nonlethal bolt with a spell potent enough to knock Jess out.

The second we were alone with each other, Jess would most definitely try to whisk me away with her. I’d asked Yoshu to stop Jess in such a scenario.

Once again, Yoshu’s surprise attack had helped me in a critical moment. He was a Lacerte—he’d likely been able to see us hugging each other and hear our embarrassing conversation. But there had been no other way. It had been necessary if I wanted a proper farewell with Jess.

She was trying to detain me, and I had to push her away at some point.

I sucked in a deep breath and steeled my resolve. I turned my back on the vermilion sunset sky and came face-to-face with the fire flickering in shades of silver.

There was a soft fluttering sound behind me. From the shadow that stretched all the way near my feet, I could tell that Shravis had caught Jess in his arms before she’d fallen. But I would no longer turn back.

I burned Jess’s last smile that I saw into my mind. I etched every detail into my memory so that I could still remember it vividly on the eventual day I would breathe my last. I had to remember it—remember her.

I’d requested one more thing of Shravis. It would be the next part of my operation. I couldn’t exactly remember when it had been, but I recalled that I’d asked the same thing of him once upon a time. This time, I had to get him to carry it out properly.

I’d asked him to erase Jess’s memories.

He would irreversibly erase all the memories she had concerning me with a method that wouldn’t allow them to return in any way. That had been the only method to prevent Jess from taking her own life under any circumstances because I’d left this world.

Jess would never remember me ever again. We were going to tear out the pages alongside the bookmark she’d once described. She would even forget that there had been something precious in the missing sections. But that was okay, because I would never forget.

She would likely be concerned about what had happened within the voids of her memories. She was a curious one—she’d definitely want to know. And she’d start investigating. I’d told Shravis that I wanted him to tell her the truth when such a day came around. There was no need for lies. There was no need for secrets. He could just tell her the truth as it was.

Jess would likely consider it a story and accept it. She might laugh after hearing about the episodes of an eccentric pig. Perhaps she might cry. Depending on the situation, she might even get mad at me.

But I was sure that she wouldn’t despair.

I alone would carry this emotion—these feelings that were threatening to tear me apart—back with me. I alone would shoulder all our memories, which could only be described as the definition of happiness.

I was sure that I would regret our parting like mad from now on. I would likely replay the memories in my mind every single day. I knew that I absolutely wouldn’t forget her until the very last second when my consciousness dissipated at the end of my life.

It was a given that I would suffer for the rest of my life under the weight of these treasures and pain that I couldn’t possibly hope to carry alone.

However, I’d made up my mind. I would lead a pointless life for the rest of my remaining years while fending off the terror of a nude middle-aged man barging in and intruding on my most important moments.

But that’s okay. That’s all my unimportant life needs to be.

Stories always have endings. And I had to end mine here.

Chapter 5: Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig

“Cheeeeers!”

A golden liquid filled the champagne flutes: ginger ale. Four glasses bumped into each other with pleasant clinks. Sitting on round cushions, the four of us surrounded a rectangular coffee table with a glass top and commenced our party.

The room was neat and orderly, but with bookshelves densely packed with technical books surrounding us, it felt somewhat cramped. This was Sanon’s residence. It was one unit within a block of rented apartments, but according to him, since it was still just past noon, a small racket would be fine as long as we didn’t go overboard.

“To think that we’d be able to gather as the four of us again,” Philopon said cheerily as she opened a bag of potato chips. “It’s quite a moving moment.”

Sanon’s bearded face loosened with a smile as he nodded. “I’m delighted that all four of us are safe.”

Kento and I went along with the mood and nodded in agreement.

This get-together of bespectacled otaku—which Philopon had proposed to hold—was meant to celebrate three things.

The first was to celebrate that Kento and I had been safely discharged from the hospital. We’d only left the hospital last week, but in Sanon’s words, “Your youth is on your side,” and we’d already mostly readjusted to our bipedal lives with very few inconveniences.

The second was to celebrate my birthday. I would turn twenty today. My birthday just so happened to fall on a convenient date after our discharge, so we’d adjusted the day of the party to match it.

The last item was even more of an afterthought than the second, but the party today also celebrated the fact that I’d won an award. By some bizarre, ironic joke of fate, the novel that I’d once published on the internet to honor my memories of Mesteria one last time had somehow managed to win a literary prize for rookie writers. The novel with an unusual title that I’d written was going to be published for real and enter the public eye.

Philopon picked this moment to bring up this topic once again, as if she couldn’t get tired of it. “Whew, I must say though, I thought I was going to jump out of my seat when I got that call.”

Before the award would be announced, the author would receive a phone call from an editor. Due to several peculiar “coincidences” overlapping at once, Philopon had communicated with the editor in my stead. She’d apparently claimed to be my nonexistent little sister. She must have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, because she narrated the story as if it were an epic saga.

“...and so, following a series of lies, we somehow ended up becoming fellow stepchildren from different parents. Since it was a non-ceremonial marriage, we have different surnames, but we live together as stepsiblings. We totally sound like characters from a rom-com living under the same roof. I’ve got to call Mister Lolip ‘big brother’ from now on.”

Laughter resounded at her story’s punch line that had become a classic.

By the way, just to be accurate, Philopon’s a few months older than me. Her lie would probably be exposed eventually.

Of course, I was the one contacting them now. The cover story of us being siblings was going too far, but I had to thank Philopon for keeping this fortune alive while I’d been in a coma. She’d had faith that I would return from Mesteria and had waited for me while making the necessary preparations.

To my surprise, my mother had apparently also gone along with this lie. According to Philopon, events that had been nothing short of miracles had happened again and again, and her operation to pose as my sibling had proceeded smoothly.

Miracles... They must have been “miracles,” yeah. I couldn’t help but reminisce about the girl who’d cheered us on from the sidelines.

Philopon’s little sister had fallen into a coma once again. Strangely enough, the only people who were aware of the fact that she’d been up and about for a period of time other than me were Kento and Sanon. We probably owed it to Philopon to tell her the truth one day.

At our first gathering of bespectacled otaku in a long time, our conversation grew extremely animated as we talked about Mesteria.

Kento, in the form of a high school student, commented, “I’m certain that no one other than us would consider that the novel is actually an autobiography [nonfiction].”

“It’d be mind-boggling if they did...” I muttered. Even as I said that, I secretly replayed my meeting with the editor in my mind. My manuscript had been filled with unthinkable details to pick at.

When my editor had laughingly asked, “Do you really think someone would feel pleasure because of a pig’s back?” I’d reflexively replied, “It actually happened.” Possibly because they’d considered it as some sort of joke they didn’t get, they responded with a strained smile for politeness’s sake.

The misunderstanding that I was living under the same roof with a younger sister—who was older than me—in a rom-com setting still hadn’t been cleared up. They must have thought that I was a most eccentric character.

“The question is how much of the truth you should write,” Philopon said before crossing her arms contemplatively. “If you’re going to dive into the story of your second teleportation in the sequel, you’ll probably have to write about how that novel came to be and make us show up as characters too.”

Sanon nodded solemnly. “Yes, you raise a good point. I was only able to cyberstalk—ahem, find everyone on the internet because Mister Lolip uploaded that novel for the public to read.”

Kento looked at me. “When you are depicting me, please portray me as a magnanimous, charming, handsome hunk.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Problem is, though, you’re a boar in most of the scenes you show up in.”

Philopon raised her hand. “I’d like you to write me as a drop-dead gorgeous maiden who’s a good match for cutie-pie Jess.”

Sanon joined in. “In that case, I would like to be written as a protector of young girls who is overflowing with pure and sacred compassion.”

Excuse me, guys. You’re making a lotta demands here. “But are you really okay with this?” I asked. “Is it all right for me to write about you?”

The three of them nodded in unison.

Philopon clapped her hands together in realization. “Oh, but it’s probably better for you to write that standard disclaimer at the very end. You know, the one that goes, ‘This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or organizations is purely coincidental.’”

I hummed in thought. “I see... That’s a good point.” Above all else, I’d be in a bind if people thought that I was an otaku who’d squealed like a pig at a beautiful maiden’s underwear. I would die a most terrible social death!

“If it ever gets an anime adaptation, I’d love for all of us to meet up and watch it in real time,” Philopon added lightheartedly.

I chose not to retort that’d only happen when pigs fly.

As night came around, we opened the bottle of red wine that Sanon had purchased in celebration of my adulthood. However, the purchaser himself couldn’t hold his liquor, so he’d only ingested one sip, while Kento was underage in the first place. This meant that Philopon and I ended up having to share that entire bottle between us. I was a little iffy about the fact that my first taste of alcohol in Origin Forme as a human would be wine, which was comparatively strong for a beginner. But possibly because Sanon was unfamiliar with alcohol, he hadn’t thought that far.

As he sniffed the residue left in the glass, Sanon explained, “The label wrote that you could drink it easily, as if it were a dessert. It was apparently made with dried grapes.”

I pointed out one problem. “But if I remember correctly, doesn’t more sugar mean it will have proportionally higher alcohol content?”

Philopon checked the label. “You’re right. It’s got an entire sixteen percent. Mister Lolip, how are you so knowledgeable about this?”

I hesitated. “Well... For a number of reasons.”

As we talked, Kento fetched a pack of dry-cured ham from the fridge. “I bought some after hearing that Mister Sanon purchased wine, but would this still count as cannibalism?” he asked.

I shook my head and took one piece of ham from the pack. It appeared to be Iberico pork from a black Iberian pig. I wasn’t too bright about ideal pairings of food and wine, but the fine-quality fat and the acute saltiness collided with the red wine’s rich flavor, and it felt as if it were stirring my emotions into one big mess.

Philopon’s eyes widened. “Wait, you’re crying? Why?”

As she worried about me, I used numerous tissues to wipe away my tears.

I became completely emotionally unstable under the wine’s influence, and the three of them reacted with gentle acceptance.

Sanon, who seemed to have gotten drunk with a single sip, still had a flush in his bearded face as he spoke. “Personally speaking, I wouldn’t have minded the outcome of the stakes moving to our world. There are plenty of things in our society that deserve to be destroyed with magic before rebuilding them better, don’t you agree?”

When Sanon was the one talking, it didn’t sound like a joke at all. The bookshelves around him naturally held technical books about machines, which should be his main job. Yet they were also packed full with rows of books on military studies and revolutionary ideologies that overwhelmed the former.

I prayed that Sanon would forever be overflowing with pure and sacred compassion for young girls.

Our party ended before it was too late into the night. As we talked, we agreed to go out and eat yakiniku when my novel would be officially published. I suspected that Sanon, in particular, would order liver for me as a thoughtful gesture.

I told myself I would cook it thoroughly to the core before I ate it, so there would be no room for any mistakes again.

There was one other thing that I’d taken back with me from Mesteria, other than my precious memories: a small mark on the right side of my neck that stubbornly refused to disappear. According to Philopon, this was unmistakably a hickey. I’d been under the mistaken impression that hickeys referred to marks left by lipstick, so I’d been taken by surprise. But apparently, they were bruises left by sucking the skin strongly.

Normal hickeys apparently faded within a few days, but my bruise didn’t disappear even after several months had passed. Having a lightning bolt-shaped scar was good and all, but having a hickey on your neck wasn’t ideal. Even my editor once expressed concern about it, saying, “I think you should hide it with something like a plaster.” Which was why I was now smearing what people called foundation on it to conceal it. I probably wouldn’t be able to get a girlfriend with this for the rest of my life.

It was a parting souvenir from Jess.

Every morning, whenever I looked in the mirror, I would remember. I would remember that pain I’d felt when I had to say goodbye. When I closed my eyes, that smile drenched with tears was still vividly burned into my retinas.

I dreamed of her every night. After reliving our story from my perspective again, I’d despair at the fact that I was alone when I woke up in the morning.

I’ve emphasized this time and time again, but I want to repeat it just one last time.

Cook your pig liver first.

It’ll be painful if you eat the stuff raw. You might get hospitalized, and you might have a strange dream of turning into a pig that throws your life completely off-kilter.

Even now, I would sometimes be tormented by a sensation that made me feel as if my stomach were being torn to shreds. I would recall a girl who certainly existed, whom I wouldn’t ever meet again, and tears would flow uncontrollably from my eyes.

If you don’t want to have a heartbreaking experience, make sure you cook your pig liver before eating it.

There is only one moral I wish to impart to you with this story—this love story of a pig and a maiden—my brethren, and it’s that simple message.

I received a single puzzling text on a specific day, roughly a year after that gathering.

At first, even I had trouble understanding what it meant.

“My sister is gone.”

When Philopon had dropped that statement in our four-person group on an instant-messaging app, I initially interpreted it as a message that her sister, who’d been in a coma all this time, had passed away at last. It appeared that Kento had come to the same conclusion, because he replied, “May her soul rest in peace.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Philopon sent immediately. “She’s disappeared somewhere.”

Neither Kento nor I was able to respond to her for a good while. And Sanon, who’d usually give us the “Read” status under all messages in seconds, just had to choose now, of all times, to maintain radio silence.

I sorted through the situation in my mind. Philopon’s little sister, who’d been unconscious in a comatose state for years, suddenly vanished into thin air one day. Even if she’d regained her consciousness by some chance, she shouldn’t be able to even walk properly due to the deterioration of her muscles, so it shouldn’t be possible for her to go anywhere by herself. And yet, it had happened.

The security cameras at the hospital hadn’t captured any clues—to an almost puzzling degree.

Don’t tell me... Paranoia began festering in my heart. I’d indeed severed all the ties between Mesteria and this world. Blaise had returned to ashes on the other side, while Kento and I had both returned to this side. Therefore, fantastical phenomena could never occur in this world. That was what I’d thought.

Possibly due to some strange coincidence, ever since the day Philopon’s sister had gone missing, we couldn’t reach Sanon. Kento and Philopon seemed to want to consider it a coincidence to the very end, but that wasn’t the case for me. When unusual things happen in succession, you ought to suspect whether they were related in some way first.

However, I didn’t possess the ability to start a thorough investigation into what had happened. If only I had a pig’s sense of smell, I thought with some frustration. If I had a pig’s sharp nose, I might have at least been capable of tracking down Philopon’s sister or Sanon.

Maybe because of such thoughts, when I happened to wake up during the witching hour, something felt off about my body. My half asleep mind noticed that someone seemed to be knocking on the front door. The sound that had roused me steadily grew louder.

I jumped to my feet and headed to the entrance. My own clattering footsteps sounded excessively loud for some reason. Curiously, the power outlet where a charger was plugged in passed right by my face.

Someone seemed to be persistently knocking on the door, but oddly enough, there wasn’t any roughness to the sound. Rather than gang members who’d come to collect some kind of debt, it gave me more of an impression of an earnest maiden.

The sound somehow felt familiar. The knocks were gentle.

When I reached the entrance, to my absolute terror, the door happened to be slowly opening by itself.

I’d moved out and had started living on my own. I locked the door properly every night. I hadn’t handed the spare key to anyone. So why is someone opening the door from the outside?

The hem of a skirt fluttered on the other side of the door’s widening gap, and I looked up at it from a nostalgic angle.

A glimpse of white peered out at me. A pristine white that almost felt blinding.

All stories come to an end—then, they always start again.

Afterword (Eighth Bite)

When I was a child, what I disliked more than anything else was saying goodbye to stories. It’s not my cup of tea even now. In fact, I feel that the heart of my activities as a creator stemmed from my always imagining the next part of stories that had ended. In that sense, I might be incapable of giving stories a proper, final ending.

Hello, I ended up starting with a monologue about myself. It’s been a while. Takuma Sakai here.

It’s been a shocking ten months since volume 7 was published—a terribly long silence that can’t be written off as merely “a while.” I truly can’t apologize enough. (It wasn’t that I slacked off or something, please believe me!)

I believe that some of you might have skipped right to the afterword after inferring something the moment you saw the summary and the contents page. For the sake of those of you, I’m not going to go into detail here, but the overarching story of Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig has been wrapped up with volume 8.

Thank you very much for following me on this adventure so far.

That said, the phrasing of “overarching story” is somewhat ambiguous, almost as if you’ve gotten bits of chashu pork stuck in your molars, isn’t it? To tell you the truth, I’ve only wrapped up the main story—it’s not the end. There’s one more volume in the works to truly conclude the series.

Its title is Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig (nth Bite).

The “n” used here denotes an unspecified item in a series of natural numbers, like how you go, (1, 2, 3...n). It’s an expression you often see in science and on the internet. As for what it will be about, I shall leave that up to your imagination. That said, I’ve already published eight volumes, and you’ve seen what the story is like up until n = 8, so I would suggest considering n as a number equal to and above 9.

As for those who have already finished reading the main text in this volume, you might be puzzled and think, “You’re going to continue from here?” Perhaps it might end up feeling like just a redundant afterthought. But there are things I wish to write about, and fortunately, I was given the chance to write them, so I hope to deliver them to you around the start of next year. I would be very happy if those of you who are interested would choose to pick it up. It will be a volume that I, someone who isn’t great with goodbyes, will add as the finale of this series in my own way.

Honestly, when I entered Butareba: The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig for the Dengeki Novel Prize, I intended to end it at volume 1. I know that this might seem paradoxical, because even in the initial manuscript I submitted to the awards, I wished to end the story with Sanon-san’s line, “Will you return to Mesteria with us?”

Like I mentioned at the start, I like stories where the reader can feel that the characters still have more adventures ahead of them—it’s just that the writer wouldn’t be able to tell them all. And even if you can finish the narration of a story, it will never truly disappear. That’s what I believe.

Here’s one last piece of trivia to end things on: I was told that I could pick whichever color I wished for the published book spine, so I requested that it be the color of a certain item within the work. Those who read the main story should be able to figure out what that color represents.

...Now that I think about it, I forgot to write one important thing. Though it’s late, I shall put it here.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or organizations is purely coincidental.

I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved in the publishing of this book and to all of you, my readers.

If you are willing to accompany me for a little while longer, I would be glad if you could pick up that very last volume ahead.

Takuma Sakai—September 2023