Published at 31st of August 2019 2:33 am

Chapter I: The Ordinary Days of the Extraordinary Heroes

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

001

Where am I?

Why am I all alone?

I'm so lonely... and this place is so cold.

All alone.

Yes, there's no one else here.

Why?

Why isn't there anyone else here?

Huh?

Yes.

I know why no one else is here.

Of course.

Because if there was someone else, they would hate me.

That's why they all can hear my voice.

Go and get rid of the humans...

Go and get rid of the humans...

Because if they were here, they would hate me.

Get rid of them, that was what you told me.

Because you didn't want to be hated.

You want to be loved.

That's why I'm alone.

All alone.

Where am I?

002

A girl was lying on the floor, all curled up like a cat, and sleeping soundly.

Her breathing was normal and she looked pretty cute like this. From just looking at how her mouth was open, it would be easy to guess that she had simply fallen asleep while doing something.

While this posture would seem unpleasant to anyone, to the girl herself this was quite pleasant. While in this position, the girl looked as if she had been sculpted into a marble relief, polished to the point in which her curves had been emphasized into a beautiful work of art.

Yes, although the girl seemed to be still quite young, "beautiful" was the only description that seemed to fit her. If we could see her again once she was fully grown, we would surely be able to call her a beautiful woman in a way no one would be able to complain about.

There wouldn't be a way to know she wasn't a normal human, and this isn't just talking about her beauty.

In fact, the girl wasn't even a human to begin with.

This was because at least on this world, the people were divided into humans and "Reyvateils".

The Reyvateils were a race created at hands of the humans centuries ago: they were girls that could craft Song Magic thanks to the artificial genetic information they held in their bodies...

Oblivious to this, the girl continued sleeping and playing in the peaceful world of dreams.

Aurica suddenly woke from her nap, and looked with sleepy eyes at Lyner, who was staring at her with a serious look and arms crossed.

"Huh... is the musical instrument ready?"

She asked as she wiped off the tears that had pooled in her eyes after she yawned. Even without asking that, the results were easy enough to imagine.

She then sat up on the floor.

Somehow, she had simply slipped into sleep. While this situation would leave anyone impressed, Lyner had been doing Grathmeld experiments for so long at her side that he ended getting used to her habits. He actually watched over her, and she always fell asleep at some point while he kept working. Before he realized it, he ended up lovingly stroking Aurica's hair after she had fallen asleep... so it wasn't a particularly weird scene.

As Aurica was currently, the place in the world where she could sleep the most peacefully was near her young neighbor.

"It's no use, we don't have enough ingredients. And after all the work you had done in searching for this recipe, Aurica."

The young man replied as he clenched his hands over his arms. He had a rather well-kept visage and so thick we could even say it was tempered to the point of near-perfection. This was Lyner, Aurica's young neighbor and the man who had learned how to understand and forgive others through talking.

His gaze was fixed on the table where he had been working for the last few hours.

Grathmelding was a manufacturing process that demanded a lot more work than what most people would think, as it required following a series of processes in order, a precise timing, and a specific set of ingredients for each of its recipes, and the lack of even one of these would cause the results from making anything with said techniques to leave a lot to be desired.

Several of its pioneers bequeathed the written instructions for recreating their own inventions in a way that could be preserved by the society... all left written in the form of recipes, so it was thought that if anyone followed these instructions to the letter, the final result would be the item written in the recipe. However, it was far more difficult than anyone thought, and that was the reason for why there were so few skilled Melders in the world.

"I thought I could use replacements for some... but were that everything that was needed for it, I could have just went and made a completely original recipe."

"Yeah, but not even you can do that, Lyner."

If more musical instruments could be created, they should be able to produce devices that could play many more sounds... no, many more kinds of music. This was what Aurica wanted to be able to make. The dream that had taken ahold of her in the recent days… was being able to make such instruments whenever she wished. However, given their current situation, making these instruments was impossible, so the prospects for the realization of said dream were looking pretty grim at the moment.

"Sorry. Looks like even making up a recipe out of nowhere it's pretty much impossible."

"No, it's fine. If you can't do it, that means no else can do it either. But maybe it'd be different if we were talking about the old guy that taught you Grathmelding."

"It's true" Lyner said as he began pondering seriously about what Aurica said.

"Maybe we should go to Karulu Village for now and ask Prof. Pochoma if he could give us a hand with it. The Knights have been trading a lot with him lately, so I have the feeling that he has surpassed even the level of making recipes."

The girl was quite confused about if she hurt his feelings with her words.

"You aren't very skilled either. It's because I'm such an idiot that it's impossible..."

This was her typical attitude, in which she talked believing that, as she hadn't been blessed with any special talents, she was a useless being. However, she interrupted herself halfway through and looked at Lyner once again.

"Lyner, have you resigned from the Knights?"

"W-what!? I never did that. But since other people have already made Grathmeld recipes, this was something I didn't want to abandon halfway through."

Lyner replied to the uneasy gaze the girl was giving him.

"Anyway, if I can make it, why shouldn't I see it through to the end? I just have the need to follow all my duties to the end, and training in Grathmeld is also one of these duties to me... and besides..."

"Besides?"

"Now that the Virus threat has vanished, it's possible we Knights of Elemia have become useless to the world..."

"Lyner..."

This world was always being invaded by monsters known as Viruses up until very shortly ago.

However, that threat had now become a thing of the past. People didn't need to live afraid of the Viruses anymore.

And the ones who accomplished the complete eradication of this menace from the world were Lyner and his friends, who always tried finding the best way to solve this situation. And that was when Aurica came in.

Aurica, who believed herself to be an utter failure as a Reyvateil, didn't consider being able to participate in such heroic deeds as good luck, but a bad joke from fate. But of course, when it was about Lyner, things were different.

In his attempts to save the world from the Virus threat, he descended from the "upper world" to the world where Aurica and the others lived, and they didn't just eradicate the threat: they also became the mediators that allowed the reestablishment of communications between both the upper world and the lower world.

Aurica was quite amazed, as she saw that the upper world everyone believed to exist only in legends was a real place, and when one of the knights that represented that place ended up traveling with her, her feelings went beyond mere surprise, up to the point in which she herself still found hard to believe it.

(But that's that. When it comes to Lyner, he'd never leave a girl defenseless, and he would always rush in to help her.)

He was the kind of man that would turn into a beast if someone of the opposite sex was defenseless and being treated badly, no matter who that was, which Aurica thought was quite convenient for herself. But on the other hand, that also ended causing the replacement of these thoughts with pessimistic feelings.

(I knew it. There's no way he could have any feelings for a good-for-nothing Reyvateil like myself.)

Anyhow, Lyner and his friends had now become living legends in this world.

While the details on the battle against the Reyvateil Mir, the creator of the Viruses, hadn't been revealed to the public yet, one of the Reyvateils that traveled alongside him was thought to be very special due to having quelled Mir's hatred through a Song, while the other was supposedly the oldest living Reyvateil in the world. She was also said to be great enough to be called the Goddess of Platina, the place where Lyner and the knights lived (although it was pretty unusual to see her even there), both of which were a large contrast to Aurica, who was part of the Church of El Elemia and was pretty much a drop-out from it.

(I'm really useless...)

Among their human companions, even her direct superior Bishop Radolf (formerly Cardinal, but he had been bestowed a rank raise due to his exceptional achievements) was considered a very respectable person. This made it hard for Aurica to overcome the inferiority complex that had taken hold of her.

However, while she was depressed from being treated as a useless being, Lyner had never treated her that way and instead he treated her in the same way he would do for a normal girl. And this was something that didn't change no matter how much time passed.

(Doesn't he understand me well enough yet?)

At the least, there was something in this sequence of events and the role Lyner played in its realization that he never seemed to have noticed.

Thinking about the deeds he accomplished, it wouldn't be weird for others to worship him as the hero that saved the world, but Lyner himself never awakened to the realization of this simple fact. That everyone else began singing heartfelt praises left him bewildered and instead he felt these shows of appreciation as something annoying.

He was being self-conscious to the point of even being unbelievable.

However, he also demonstrated that having a proactive attitude, to the point of denseness, was pretty much a necessity when it came to healing hatred intense enough to last for centuries.

The hero that had saved the world, now that the crisis had been averted and the days became peaceful, lived his days worrying about what he would do with his life from now on.

"I wonder... If I ever resigned from the knights, what would I do with my life...?"

He wondered if there was any other role in which he wanted to partake but that also had some importance to the world, which also meant his self-conscious attitude had no end.

He was pretty much having the same worries that any unemployed person would have.

It was then that Aurica nervously called him.

"Ah, umm... Lyner?"

Her thoughts were on a completely different wavelength from his.

"Hmm?"

"Well, umm... There's... there's something I thought up for you, if you end up quitting the knights..."

"Kyaaa!!"

A rather cute scream ended cutting off that line halfway through. As soon as he heard it, Lyner nimbly got up.

"Lady Shurelia! What could have happened?"

And in a split second, he ran off before Aurica's eyes, who had extended her hand as if she was going to try stopping him.

"..."

Aurica just idly closed and opened the hand that failed at trying to stop the young man while she sighed sadly.

"I couldn't even tell him anything. There shouldn't even be a reason why I like Lyner..."

003

A young girl waited for Lyner, who flew from his room as fast as he could.

Her shining silver hair waved like crazy, and she seemed to be having a hard struggle with getting a door to open. She was lodged in other room of the same inn (as it was the case for Aurica and their other friends).

"What is it, Lady Shurelia?"

Once she had her name called, the girl turned to face Lyner. She was a girl of an incomparable beauty, but her face had an expression showing she was about to cry and that she was at her wits' end by now.

It then changed to the expression anyone would have when looking at a hero that had come to save them.

"What should I do? What should I do?"

She extended her hand to the doorknob and tried pulling it.

"I can't open the door!"

"...Did you lose your key?"

"I left it inside the room. I went outside, but I suddenly felt I had forgotten something and when I went back... the door was locked and then I noticed I had left the key inside... What should I do? I can't go back into my room like this... I left all my everyday clothes inside..."

She had given in to panic.

"Lady Shurelia... Didn't you know that these doors have automatic locks...?"

"Did you say... automatic...?"

"No, well..."

Very troubled, Lyner began explaining Shurelia about the automatic lock mechanisms that were so ubiquitous in lodging facilities throughout the world.

This was the extent to which she didn't know about the world.

After listening to the explanation, Shurelia's eyes grew wide round.

"...Then, these doors don't need a key to be locked, but instead they lock themselves up as soon as they are closed? Why did they make such a thing...?"

"I think it was to drive burglars away, but..."

"Are there so many unsavory people in the lower world?"

"Who knows...? I think one can never be too careful, though..."

"But thanks to being so cautious, I got locked out of my own room!"

"B-but if you go to the front desk, you should be able to ask for another key, right?"

"D-do you intend me to go to the lobby looking like this?"

Shurelia was already covering herself up with her arms and hands.

Her slender and irregularly small body was covered by a white suit that perfectly fit her figure.

It's true; however, that if anyone looked just at her silhouette they would have thought that she was naked...

"But aren't these the same clothes you wore whenever you came over to talk with me during our journey?"

That was true. Whenever Shurelia went to Lyner's room to talk with him about all sorts of things and amuse themselves during their journey, she was wearing these same exact clothes.

From Lyner's viewpoint, being puzzled that Shurelia was being so fussy about her clothes at this point was quite normal.

However, it was different for Shurelia.

What she meant by her "everyday clothes" was the armor that covered her entire body, and until recently, not even Lyner knew what she looked like without it.

He couldn't believe his eyes when he first saw there was such a cute and young-looking girl behind that armor.

Of course, despite her young appearance, Shurelia is actually the person that has lived the longest in this whole world...

But putting aside Lyner's innermost thoughts, Shurelia had gotten into quite the bad mood.

"We're talking about two completely different situations here! That I went to your room looking like this is like that couple that was...!"

But she then stopped and put her hand in front of her mouth.

"When you say "that couple", who are you talking about?"

"Forget about that! Anyway, this is greatly troubling me. Go and do something about it, Lyner!"

Lyner merely replied with a sigh.

Noticing that it would be futile to try dismissing the request of the girl in such an unreasonable state, Lyner headed to the lobby. After all, she was admired as a being equal to a Goddess by the Knights of Elemia to which he belonged, so disobeying her would be doing the unthinkable.

"Why can't I tell him anything...?"

Someone grumbled behind the young man that was leaving the place while also giving Shurelia a very bitter look.

"I want to make it known to him that I'm a girl too... but why can't I even say that to him?"

A girl muttered under her breath in a way so no one else would hear her.

004

"Ah, Lyner? Going out for a walk?"

Misha called out to Lyner, who was still at the front desk asking for a new key. Similarly to both Aurica and Shurelia, she also had a beauty quite obvious to the eye. And like the others, she also was one of the friends that had lived through very bitter times alongside Lyner.

"No, that's not what I'm doing..."

As they walked down the corridor, Lyner told Misha about everything that had happened.

"That's so Lady Shurelia. She really doesn't know much about the world, huh?"

She giggled as she waved her head from side to side; making the large hair ornaments she had dangling from her head sway with her movement.

"You also think so, Misha?"

Lyner asked back while he got the key from the inn's employee.

"We both might be Reyvateils, but Lady Shurelia's completely different from me. And anyway, Lady Shurelia has been alive for as long as this world has existed!"

"But aren't you far closer to Lady Shurelia than Reyvateils from the generations that came after yours, like Aurica?"

"In which way?"

Misha said as she shrugged off the question.

"You might have heard this before, but unlike you, I won't change regardless of how old I get, right? That's why me and Lady Shurelia, who has lived for who knows many centuries, are on entirely different levels."

"So in comparison to her, you would look like a child no matter how long you live...?"

"That's a pretty deep question."

Misha nodded in agreement.

Then, while they were in the middle of expressing to each other their opinions about their experiences with Shurelia's lack of knowledge about the world, a voice called out to them.

"Hey, how 'bout going for a walk, Lyner?"

It was Jack, who was going down the stairs covered by a worn-down mantle. He also was one of the people that had faced several dangers alongside Lyner and Misha. His right arm was almost entirely mechanical and he had a machine gun of a large caliber mounted on it. Even though his body had been integrated with his weapon, the carefree expression he had pointed to how insecure he was as a man.

"By that, you mean Misha can come too?"

Upon hearing Lyner's reply, he moved around his heavy weapon as if it was nothing. That was something everyone was used to seeing.

"Yeah, as we're just gonna buy some stuff."

It was obvious he had just gotten up, as Jack still had an unshaven face and was yawning.

"Wait a sec! At least you should go and wash off your face! I won't let you come with us if you look so shabby!"

Misha said as she put her hands on her hips.

"I'm telling ya I've already washed off, Misha! Acting like this ya look more like an old wife than a little sister. Right, Lyner?"

"Misha's acting pretty scary to Jack today..."

Hearing Lyner agree honestly with Jack made Misha angry.

"Harm! You two...!"

Although they weren't siblings or even were related by blood, Misha always called Jack "Harm". Lyner heard this way of calling him came from the times Jack went by his true name, long ago.

"You're such a slacker, Harm... I at least hoped that Lyner would..."

As she was speaking, Misha suddenly cut herself mid-phrase.

"...Now I think so, you're both similar, as Lyner's pretty lazy himself."

She said as she sighed.

"R-really?"

Upon hearing how Misha was talking about him, Lyner got all flustered.

"Whenever you get into something you're doing, you end up forgetting about bathing and even eating."

"Ugh... you might have a point there..."

Lyner was unable to come up with a reply against Misha, who was now rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, and from what Lady Shurelia and you are saying, we don't seem to be having much of a social life either. If at least you were as decent as Radolf is..."

"What're you talking about? That guy's the stuffy Holy Bishop of the Church, so it's pretty bad for us to get compared to him. Ahahaha!"

"Don't "Ahahaha!" me! I wish you'd learn at least a bit from him. And while we're all relaxing here right now, he's always busy with all the work at the Church."

"He's a workaholic after all, and that's the perfect seed for sickness. It'd be great if he remembered he needs to take some time off."

"And that's why he has such a responsible feel to him, unlike you, Harm! You're really a slacker. So now get back to your room, shave that stubble off and give your face a really good wash!"

"Huh!? N-now, we don't need to go so far..."

As he was talking, Jack saw Misha's piercing gaze and immediately turned around.

"Go wash your face now... Otherwise, I won't let you go shopping with me and Lyner."

They then heard his footsteps as he went up the stairs again.

"Okay, I'm not goin' then."

Seeing Jack leave after he said this, Misha just sighed in response.

"He really isn't suited to normal everyday life. I thought that "extraordinary people" was just an expression, but looks like such kinds of people really exist after all."

"Isn't that because he doesn't have anything to do in a normal everyday life? And while that might be true, Jack's very dependable when it really counts."

"You may be right. But now the world's peaceful, he doesn't seem to be able to settle down into a normal life and become a normal husband to someone... and by the way, Lyner... "

"Hmmm?"

"Didn't you come here to borrow a new key for Lady Shurelia's room?"

"..."

When Misha pointed this out, Lyner was left dumbfounded for an instant, but he then rushed to the stairs.

"Damn! I left Lady Shurelia out in the corridor to the rooms!"

And following after Jack, he ran up the stairs as fast as he could, while Misha just saw him off sighing.

"I'm really surrounded by extraordinary people. Maybe I'd only cause him trouble if I became his bride..."

005

The Church of El Elemia. The solemn building that housed the Church still garnered the reverence and faith of several people in this world. However, after the Holy War caused by the previous Bishop, Falss, the belief on the Church had gotten deeply strained, and this also made it sustain severe human and material damage.

As an organization, the Church hadn't still fully recovered from that damage. No matter where one looked, they saw how reconstruction labors were still underway all over the place.

"Good grief, we still have to hold assemblies right now?"

Radolf said as he let out a deep sigh. He had received the position of Bishop, and as such became the public face of the Church right after Bishop Falss disappeared, invaded the upper world and caused all sorts of chaos there.

He wore the church clothes over his large build, which he owed to all the time he spent training as a member of the Church. However, he also featured a gentle smile that never seemed to go away from his face, so he didn't look aggressive in the slightest. On the other hand, he was also considered as a great person and was greatly beloved by everyone, which made him have a large number of supporters. This was especially true in the case of children, who tremendously loved him. His popularity was such that whenever he took a stroll around the city, a circle of children would form around him.

While his predecessor Falss was planning all sorts of evil schemes and didn't hesitate in leading the world to its own destruction, these plans were ruined in the end, though at least he managed to get the Church into a pointless war. Falss managed to carry out these evil designs by personally leading the Church into an invasion he orchestrated, which severely damaged its reputation.

The one who managed to stop Bishop Falss' violence was no other than Radolf himself. By acting alongside Lyner, they managed to promptly stop the invasion war Bishop Falss had instigated and saved the world from the crisis he was about to cause.

As another of Lyner's companions, Radolf was also one of the heroes that had saved this world, and with these achievements in his personal history, he was promoted from Cardinal to Bishop.

"This only means that a large number of people is needed for saving this world."

As he walked down the corridor leading to the assembly hall, Radolf sighed again. The townscape of the city of Nemo could be seen from the windows that lined the corridor. While the city itself didn't receive any major damages from the war, there was a great unseen damage on it. During the war, several Cardinals and Reyvateils got injured while others lost their lives, in some cases only one member of these pairings, while in others both members were killed. Not to mention that the one who got injured the most from this war was...

"...Shouldn't you make haste?"

As he stopped walking in the middle of the corridor, a girl carrying some documents came after him.

"Shouldn't you, Lord Radolf?"

"No, as there's nothing that could be done about it. No, Fayma?"

Radolf said as he turned around to face the girl. The smile that seemed to never leave his face surfaced again, but Fayma thought that lately he seemed gloomier than usual.

"The duty of the Church is complying with the requests of the people and extending a helping hand to them whenever they need us, which is why you are conducting these assemblies every day, correct?"

Fayma said as she hesitantly extended her unoccupied hand to touch Radolf's elbow. For some reason, she thought that the newly-appointed Bishop was so serious that he would hate this type of direct contact. However, the feelings she wanted to convey to him were of wanting to help him whenever he needed her...

So instead of doing so through her touch, she decided to try entrusting these feelings to her words.

"However, if the Church doesn't stretch these helping hands as a whole, they won't be able to truly help anyone. These are the same words you said, Lord Radolf. Once we've finished talking to each other, we should go at once to the places where there are people in need of our help"

"Hmm..."

His expression didn't seem to agree with Fayma's words, yet still Radolf nodded after she finished.

"You're very gentle, Fayma. I think you're even more of a gentle person that I am. I can't fathom how anyone could ever get angry at such a fiancee even if she said such words."

"L-lord Radolf..."

Radolf then went and softly placed his hand on Fayma's shoulder, who was blushing at that moment. "Don't worry, I'll be fine", that seemed to be what Radolf was trying to signal to her.

"Somehow, you seem different from how you used to be, Lord Radolf."

Fayma said as she followed behind the newly-appointed Bishop, who had resumed his walking.

"Really? But I don't feel any different from before..."

"No, you have changed. You seem to have gotten even softer than before."

"Hey, hey, that sounds more like I used to be quite the stubborn man."

"I didn't mean it in that way, though..."

Fayma thought that Radolf didn't seem like the type to talk so much about trivial matters back then. She wondered if the journey he made alongside these "Heroes that Saved the World" was what changed him.

Regardless of what the reason was, Fayma thought that he became much nicer and that it'd be okay to entrust the Church's future to him. And that included the future of the Reyvateils such as herself...

While she continued looking at him from behind, she understood he was under a great pressure, but at the same time, she thought of him as something similar to a dependable father.

006

"I would appreciate that you showed a little more consideration for me, Lyner!"

Shurelia scolded Lyner in an unreasonable manner.

"But I'm not always doing that? I'm a Knight of Elemia, so it's my duty to always be considerate to you."

"So, is that the case?"

Lyner nodded as he frantically tried to defend himself against Shurelia, who seemed to have calmed down for an instant. However, thinking that was the same kind of mistake as thinking that a storm had ended because one had entered into the hurricane's eye. The next instant, a woman’s spiraling rage attacked Lyner with even more intensity than before.

"So you do that just because of your position as a knight!? You just have consideration for me because that allows you to keep your position!? So don't you mind at all whatever happens to me as an individual!?"

"L-lady Shurelia... why are you so angry...?"

"Why!? If you can't understand even that, that means you don't understand me at all!"

He didn't even have time to do anything before Shurelia turned around.

Finally, she held her gaze downwards and talked with such an exaggerated tone that anyone listening to her would have thought she was being the victim of a disaster.

"I was exposed to the inquisitive gazes of everyone out there... I felt so lonely and embarrassed all by myself... I couldn't think of anything else beyond 'When Lyner will return?', 'When will Lyner come?' "

"Whoa... I'm sorry... It's all because I got distracted by a conversation with Misha and the others..."

"What did you say!? So that is what happened!? You think so lightly of me that you even ended up forgetting about me entirely!?"

When Shurelia said "lightly", she purposely elongated the sound of the first "i".

And before Lyner had the time to understand what she was saying, she swiped the room key off his hands, ran as fast as she could back to her room and locked herself up in it.

*click* The sound of the automatic lock mechanically echoed throughout the corridor.

Feeling completely drained all of a sudden, Lyner reflexively put his hand on the wall.

"Why did this happen now...? I'm starting to think that Lady Shurelia treats me far worse than any other people, even if they treat her the same way as I do..."

While this hunch was correct, Lyner was so dense that, with a tired expression, he shook it off by moving his head side-to-side.

"No, this can't be... Lady Shurelia? She who protects not only Platina, but the entirety of the world, acting this childish way? That can't be real. It must be that I didn't say things the correct way..."

And as soon as he raised his face with a renovated energy, Aurica was right in front of him.

"Whoa! You scared me!"

"Hey, I'm hungry. Can we go eat something?"

"A-ah, right. Now you mention it, we were so concentrated in Grathmelding that we didn't even eat breakfast today..."

"Okay, let's hurry then!"

But as Aurica walked away with her hands entwined, Lyner stopped her by telling her to wait a bit.

"I've gotta call Lady Shurelia first"

"But didn't she get angry at you, Lyner? Is everything okay?"

"Ugh..."

Lyner was at a loss for words for an instant, but then he turned his head with even more force than the previous time, as if he was trying to follow something.

"E-everything's okay. Most likely, I didn't say something the way I should. Lady Shurelia's like that, right? She’s always deeply thinking about everything on this world. So I don't think she'd get angry just because of me..."

Lyner's voice became quieter with every word he said, while Aurica listened to him with an unconcerned face.

"Hmm, well, why don't we try calling her out? Lady Shurelia... Lady Shurelia... Lyner wants to invite you to lunch with us!"

"A-aurica...!"

While for an instant Lyner motioned to stop Aurica from knocking on the door, he realized he didn't have a reason to do so and thus he stopped stretching his hand to her.

"Lady Shurelia! Lady Shurelia!"

As at times Aurica became quite the audacious person, she continued relentlessly knocking on the door.

"A-Aurica... I think you should stop already..."

And just when Lyner was about to stop Aurica from pounding on the door, it opened a little.

Shurelia was peeking out from an opening large enough to see just her face. From her expression, it was easy enough to guess she was still upset at Lyner.

"Are you going to eat lunch?"

"Y-yes. I thought you'd like to come with us, Lady Shurelia..."

"But if you don't want to come, it'll be just the two of us: me and Lyner."

Upon hearing Aurica's words, Shurelia's expression stiffened.

"U-umm... I don't think it'd be healthy for you to skip meals out, so..."

"Will you have cake too?"

"Did you say cake?"

"Yes."

Shurelia nodded several times in response.

"I won't go if there is no cake included in the meal, Lyner."

"Understood."

"As the responsible for this, please make sure to get some cake ready. If you do so, I'll forgive your previous transgression."

"V-very well."

Then the door closed again.

Lyner was left dumbfounded for an instant, but as soon as he regained his self-awareness, he ran off frantically to the restaurant stairs down to make sure they had cake in there.

"*sigh*..."

Aurica was left alone again in that place.

007

The time we met for the first time... yes, it was when I was still very young.

These were the times when I didn't know anything beyond the fact that someday, I'd have to go and sing in the Crescent Chronicle.

But still, you followed me when I began my journey.

That was when I left Platina and descended to the Wings of Horus to become the new Star Singer.

And then, he... Lyner came with me. I'm sure it was because he was very worried about me.

Actually, I was very anxious at the time because I didn't know what would happen after that, but when I came to the Wings of Horus for the first time... and I don't mean with this that I came to the city of Nemo... I was actually a bit excited...

Yeah, now I think about it, I was really a kid back then.

"I don't wanna be without Misha."

For some reason, he began crying after he said that. I tried to console him, but I ended up crying alongside him.

I even thought that I'd have wanted time to stop at that moment forever.

Now I look back on it, maybe that was my first love.

Because there was no way around getting us both separated, he ran around the Tail, gathered a lot of flowers there and made flower bouquets for me. And because of that, I got such a ridiculously large number of bouquets that I even felt I was getting squashed when I tried holding them.

...And while in the end we were separated and cried a lot over it, now all of that has turned into fond memories.

Though I've lost the many flower bouquets I received back then, they'll always be inside my heart.

"Wait a sec! You really embraced with Lyner to the point of you both cryin' out back then? And when I asked you 'fore about that, you never mentioned flower bouquets or anythin'!"

"Oh really?"

Misha promptly replied to Jack's question.

"Hey hey, the only incident you told me is about that disaster where he made you eat an ungodly number of Funbuns... or didn't that happen too?"

"Well, it's true that happened."

"Don't just say it and smile like that! What happened back then, Misha!?"

Misha smiled even more openly as she answered.

"And couldn't both have happened? After all, stories should be enjoyable, right?"

She then went back to her serious expression.

"And come now, we've got to go shopping! And besides, Krusche asked us for some things. She's gonna be so mad if we take too long doing it!"

"Hey hey, wait up, Misha...!"

008

After they said goodbye to Lyner at the inn, Jack and Misha went to the Nemo market.

This was because one of their former travel companions, Krusche, who now worked for the enormous corporate conglomerate Tenba, had asked them to buy some things for her.

"You're always so serious about the things Krusche says, Harm."

"R-really?"

Jack quickly replied back to the precise remark Misha made. She then narrowed it down with a complacent smile.

"Yeah, but at times I wonder why you're always getting so serious about it."

"What ya mean?"

"Well, are you okay dealing with all these difficult-looking mechanical parts? But aside of these..."

Misha took out the shopping list they were given from her breast pocket and unfolded it.

"We have to buy toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap, towels and sweets... and even underwear. You're completely acting as her personal gofer, and no man should ever be treated like that."

"Ugh..."

Grumbling as if he had his chest pierced by a thorn, Jack suddenly stiffened himself.

"Normally, no woman would ever ask a man to buy her underwear in her place. If she does, it's either because she doesn't want to be thought of as anything special, or maybe it's because she's allowing you into a pretty deep place in her heart."

Misha then gave Jack a rather subdued gaze.

"Which one do you think would be the one closer to the truth, Harm?"

"Ugh... hmm.... We've been partners and traveled a lot since we met... w-wouldn't that be all there's to us? Because, Misha..."

"Because I, what...?"

"N-no. It's nuthin'..."

Jack turned around and Misha decided against trying to press the issue any further.

"You're so weird, Harm. Well, it's okay. Let's start shopping already!"

"A-aye"

But as Misha continued walking in front of him, Jack murmured so low that no one could hear him.

"Because she seems to be treatin' you like a younger sister... but it looks like there's still lots of problems between us."

009

The assembly hall inside the Church. It was a hall large enough to hold hundreds of people, but at that moment, the number of people in it was barely enough to fill it up to half its capacity.

These were the main members of the current management of the Church of El Elemia. This was one of the very few occasions per year in which several men unusually gathered without a Reyvateil at their side. In fact, the only Reyvateil that was present in the room at that time was Radolf's own personal secretary: Fayma. This wasn't because Reyvateils were forbidden to come to these assemblies, but because Radolf was the first one to ask for his Reyvateil partner to accompany him to such an important event. While some proclaimed that these actions "were against the Church's traditions", the newly-appointed Bishop merely smiled without bothering to reply back to them.

All of the people present had solemn expressions quite suitable for the occasion. In fact, it could be said this was a solemn trade fair.

From the center, where the Bishop's throne on which Radolf sat was located, the chairs for all the attendants to the event were roughly divided in three parts.

First were the elders, next were the ones that insisted they were still young, and finally there were the visibly young ones.

Each of them formed solid groups and took their respective seats in the assembly.

This division of the seats was also coupled with the positions where they would be standing whenever it was required to do so.

The elders were the ones that had the most influence in Church matters even since before the times of Bishop Falss, and were also known as survivors. Despite them being called this way, they actually had suppressed all decisions that ran contrary to theirs in the Church's internal affairs, although they didn't go to the extremes of conducting a political purge. Though Falss had full control of the Church's internal affairs, he never tried to surpass the influence of those that came before him, most likely because he feared that they would oppose him if he tried doing so. He just managed to take away all the opportunities for making speeches from all those that disagreed with his opinions.

Thanks to that, they became mere shadows until the moment in which they were successfully reinstated. Their numbers were quite low, but they still claimed that their long lives were all thanks to the grace of the Goddesses. They were the ones who claimed the strongest for the situation of the Church to go back to how it was prior to Falss' times.

And the ones that went the most strongly against them was the group of middle-aged men. They claimed that not everything that happened during Falss' tenure was bad, and that they agreed with the way in which he ran the Church.

What they advocated was as follows:

That Falss' way of thinking wasn't wrong, but what was wrong were the methods he used to fulfill these goals. And the belief in which they all had agreed upon was that said way of thinking was still necessary for the world.

They said that recovering the dignity of the Church, which had now hit rock-bottom (according to them), would be impossible unless everyone had an absolute and unwavering belief on it.

They advocated that belief should be the primordial part of the Church's doctrines, which would allow them to properly guide the people. And while they didn't say so, they didn't mind turning their weapons against those who ignored their beliefs, which was quite obvious to anyone who listened to any of their speeches.

Finally, the group formed by the youngest ones claimed that they "were sympathizers of Bishop Radolf".

Their large numbers were because they gained the right to participate very recently, particularly after Bishop Falss disappeared, and because of that precise reason, all of them were enthusiastic about creating new traditions for the Church.

They claimed that the actions of the Church should be what dictate the traditions and beliefs it will hold. That the first thing the Church should do would be aiding those that were injured in the war. That they should form large Oracle squads at once and send them to the areas that received damage from the chaos during the war to provide relief efforts and humanitarian aid to their inhabitants.

All sorts of reasons could be heard from each of the groups to justify why the actions they campaigned for were the only correct ones.

One was that the most important matter should be preserving the traditions the Church held for such a long time, and that if they were rescinded, there could be some people that would lose faith on the Church as a consequence of it. Therefore, it should be of utmost importance for it to continue adhering to these traditions. Such were the arguments of the always conservative factions that were bound to exist in an organization like the Church.

Of course, there were also those who claimed that belief was the most important matter. They stated that if they were bound by the traditions, the main belief would become completely methodical and ceremonial and thus, unable to provide any relief to the hearts and lives of the people. Therefore, the Oracles of the Church of El Elemia shouldn't just limit themselves to praying incessantly: as they were the branch that could actually be used to put the power of belief in action, they should also strive to convert those that ignored these beliefs.

Furthermore, they said as they nodded that these should be the first actions the Church should take, as there was a great amount of people suffering among the public at that precise moment.

However, while Radolf agreed with all the righteous points each faction was making, at the same time, he also felt there was something unmistakably rotten behind their claims.

"The continuation of the traditions of yore that have been passed down uninterrupted to our days, the believers and the Church itself are all indeed important matters that should be protected. During our short lifetime, we must strive to find the truth among the many traditions we made due to a shallow judgment and strictly select those that should be discarded. These that remain will be the traditions we have strived to uphold from the day our Church was founded... "

The elder Oracles said this in a tone that reminded of a teacher scolding a bad student. This speech continued for quite a long time and didn't feel like it was ever going to end. Radolf had quite a hard time in trying to not let any boredom show up in his face.

And on top of the elders going on and on with the speech, the resentment he had gathered during the times in which Falss had full control of the Church continued growing, as much as he tried to clear it away. He looked like he intended to use this as the chance in which he would say everything he ever wanted to say.

"As for how important it should be for us to protect these ancient traditions, it should be according to what it is stated in our historical documents..."

Radolf then raised his hand as if he intended to say 'Enough already! What's the point of this assembly if we're giving more importance to talking about the past instead of expressing each of our viewpoints!?’ But someone then shouted with an enraged voice before he could say anything, cutting off the words of the elder Oracles:

"Stop this jest at once!"

The one who interrupted the speech was a young Oracle... although it would be wrong to call him like this, as he was older than Radolf by several years and was a member of the Belief Faction... maybe it'd be better to call him part of the Old Falss Faction?... Well, his name was Moralys.

Fayma stood up immediately at Radolf's side, right on the margin of his vision range, and she gave Moralys a passing glance. She didn't seem to be showing any particular emotions on her face, but she still gave him a stiff gaze. Radolf thought "I knew she wouldn't be able to just stay put after this..."

This was because Moralys was the main advocate of the Belief Faction, and not only that: he also was Fayma's fiance.

For some reason, the shy and reserved Fayma had begun talking a lot about him in recent days. According to her, he was quite gentle to everyone (especially to Fayma) but was quite harsh on himself, making Moralys a splendid Oracle.

'(The problem is what this "splendid Oracle" is about to say)'

"We are still in the middle of a speech, so mind your manners if you please..."

Upon seeing the displeased face of the elder Oracle, Moralys hit his desk as loud as he could.

"Manners!? It's true that they are important, but if to protect these traditions we become so negligent that we end up causing a belief crisis, we're getting our priorities backwards!"

He continued as he greatly swung about both hands.

"What kind of worth could the traditions that harm the Church's beliefs so greatly have!? How can we consider these as traditions!? What should be given importance is belief itself! That is the most important component of this Church!"

"This is absurd!"

The older Oracle retorted as his expression began contorting.

"We have heard you use the belief as the basis for your arguments, but we have never said that we are going to be making light of our believers. And you believe the contrary because younger recruits like yourself have yet to comprehend the deep relationship existing between traditions and belief..."

"Yet your leadership is unable to reach those that don't share our beliefs!"

As he interrupted the elder's long-winded speech yet again, Moralys threw him a cold gaze.

"However, every single thing we have heard from this speech was "traditions this", "manners this", "Church's history that", all of which is no more than a bunch of rubbish that serves no actual purpose in the crisis we are facing right now! You aren't thinking at all about preserving the belief in the Church!"

"Rubbish!? Such impudent remarks from a youngster who does not understand at all the importance of our traditions! Stop talking like a sage when you lack understanding about the matter you are spouting nonsense about! To give the control of our Church to an impudent jester that wants to ignore our traditions would be akin to give it to an impious fool like Falss was...!"

"But Bishop Falss became the representative of the Church back then just because you all elders decided so! Or are you going to deny your responsibility on this!?"

Radolf just sank in his chair in reaction to the continuous bickering between both.

This was because this was the type of argument in which both participants just wanted to corner the other.

He gave a passing glance to Fayma. Her expression seemed to have gotten even stiffer than before, but most likely, it was just his imagination playing tricks on him.

010

"A Star Cake? Well, I guess it isn't too bad."

While Shurelia said this with an affected voice, her eyes were fully focused on the cake that was above the table.

She looked exactly like a normal girl due to this.

The cake itself was made in the shape of a star and had star-powdered sugar sprinkled all over its surface, which made it shine brightly when illuminated by the room's lights. Lyner felt it was a bit too girly for Shurelia's tastes, but both girls (though Shurelia was quite sensitive about the topic of her age being brought up) liked it a lot.

"And I'm glad I told you to bring me some too."

Said Aurica as she sized with her eyes the Boulder Set Meal she had in front of her with the cake. Although the Boulder Set Meal was actually called the Well-Cooked Ball Croquette, Aurica insisted that "it looked like a boulder" and thus named it like that of her own accord.

"Weren't you the first to say you were hungry, Aurica? Don't say selfish things and just start eating it."

Lyner replied back almost at once. He then looked again at the wolf steak he had ordered and continued eating it in silence.

Aurica looked at Lyner with a peeved gaze, but Lyner wouldn't pay attention to anything else while he was eating, so he continued stuffing his face in with the food without paying any mind to her. It was like the food and drink made his voracity surge to the surface.

However, Aurica didn't seem to be in a good mood at that moment.

"...Why?"

She murmured in an extremely weak, depressed tone, yet Lyner didn't notice how Aurica was feeling.

However, Shurelia did notice it from a while back, and she gave a look to both Lyner and Aurica.

"You haven't been paying attention to my feelings from a while ago... you only pay attention to Lady Shurelia..."

"A-aurica... was that because of all the unreasonable requests I made to Lyner...?"

A panicked Shurelia then opened her mouth once again to continue what she was saying, but far from calming down Aurica, it had the opposite effect.

"I'm sorry. That's how it's supposed to be, right? Because Lady Shurelia is far more important to Lyner than me... it's just natural for this to happen..."

"Aurica...?"

At this point, even the extremely dense Lyner managed to notice how bad Aurica's mood had gotten.

"Are you okay, Aurica? Should I order a cake for you too?"

And this was the last straw for her.

"Forget it, stupid Lyner! I don't care anymore!"

And with a bump, she stood up from her chair and went away from the table.

"Wait, Aurica...! I'll apologize if I did anything that made you angry, but... Aurica!"

Upon hearing how panicked Lyner had gotten, Aurica stood still for a second, but she then turned around as she uttered.

"You don't understand me... or my feelings at all... because you're a human..."

And as soon as she said this, she turned around again and left the restaurant.

"Aurica! I'm sorry, Lady Shurelia, but I'll have to leave for a short while!"

Lyner abandoned his half-finished meal and chased after Aurica.

Shurelia just saw him off with a slightly stiff smile.

"So he considers me as more important... It doesn't really look like it though..."

The cake she hadn't even touched still continued shining brightly from its place above the table.

011

"This is out of our budget!"

Upon seeing the totals and numbers the shopkeeper was pointing to, Misha raised her face high up.

"But we bought these same items at around half the price a few days ago! Why are they so expensive now!?"

The shopkeeper began grinding his teeth after Misha said this.

"No matter what you say, I can't give you a lower price. And you may think I'm lying, but you can go to any other shop and see they have the same prices for these items. That's what it costs nowadays!"

"Oh really?"

"Hey hey, there's no need to get so aggressive."

Jack stepped in with a rather exaggerated gesture as he pushed Misha aside.

"Look, you're threatening normal people here."

"But they're ripping us off!"

"It's true ya could think that... but, hey... how did these prices get so high in the first place?"

The shopkeeper nodded.

"Lately, there's been a shortage of materials around here, so of course that'd brought in an increase in prices. If we sold these items at the prices we had before, we'd go broke and we wouldn't be able to feed ourselves."

And while he said this in a frank manner, he took as payment the money Misha had in her hand.

"Man, we live in a tough world."

"How did this happen? This world's a mess"

Misha grieved.

012

"It's true..."

Fayma's fiance, Moralys, continued his speech. Several hours had passed from the moment in which this assembly commenced.

"It’s true that the actions Bishop Falss took may have been mistaken, and it’s also the truth that he did so in order to fulfill the individualistic ambitions he harbored in the depths of his heart. However, are the ones who believed in his words mistaken as well?"

The elder Oracle he had interrupted several hours ago made movements to show he wanted to reply, but Moralys merely ignored him as he continued.

"No, we aren't. To think that we all, members of the Church of El Elemia, are as mistaken as him would obviously be unnatural. So why did we follow him? It was merely because we felt that there was some truth to what Bishop Falss said!

What should we support then? That is belief, of course. There isn't anything incorrect about the beliefs of El Elemia.

However, because of the incorrect judgment exhibited by Bishop Falss, now that very faith is being questioned and doubted!"

"B-but if that doubt has now come to light, shouldn't we take actions against it?"

The one who nervously raised this question was the representative of the youngest group present in the assembly.

"The people that were injured on this war could be very well questioning if the beliefs of the Church are right because of the pain they sustained on it, so that could be why they are doubting us."

"Of course they are right! The beliefs of the Church always are!"

"T-then... to show this to the people, shouldn't we begin by sending a vanguard formed by us Oracles to the zones damaged by the war and use all our strength in aid and reconstruction efforts?"

Moralys nodded generously to the words of the young Oracle.

"There is an undeniable truth to your words."

"Then, we should begin discussing about who'll compose the relief vanguard and..."

"But wait. It might have no effect on their hearts because the ones that actually started the war were us. Under these conditions, I urge you to try sending a squad without preparing the people to accept them. Most likely they will get forced back and it will cause widespread chaos, or do you think otherwise?"

"Err, that could be true... but what do you mean by preparing the people?"

"I mean we should confirm their faith first."

He said this as he made an expression that seemed to say "isn't that obvious?"

"First, we must make a program to confirm how much faith the people have on us, the Church of El Elemia, and make all of our members, our Oracles, carry it out to the end. If our members can't guarantee a firm belief, they won't be able to save any of these people in distress!"

"B-but that would mean we're abandoning those that are suffering right now!"

"And it's the same thing if we allow our faith to waver! Relief effort without faith will only become the seed of further chaos! This is the time to strengthen their individual faiths once again by making them listen to our words. And that people like yourself are proposing such impatient actions isn't the proof that you are lacking in faith in the first place? First calm down and offer your prayers."

"There's no time to be doing that!"

"The Wings of Horus might be fine, but the war in the upper world left a large number of wounded and an extensive amount of material damage. We won't be able to serve of any help over there while we're here confirming faith! Aren't we here because we admired our Bishop, Lord Radolf, and because we want to carry out actions that will aid this world like him!?"

"Huh...? Me...?"

When the conversation was suddenly pointed to him, Radolf's eyes began darting all over the place.

The Belief Faction, beginning with Moralys, and the Traditional Faction were also looking at him with faces that showed a great interest.

The representative of the Belief Faction sighed to then retort at the young Oracle.

"However, our current Bishop Radolf didn't always abide by our chain of command. If he hadn't acted by himself and had reported all strange events that occurred as soon as possible, Bishop Falss might have been unable to do what he did!"

"..."

Radolf gritted his teeth in silence as Moralys pierced him with his eyes and pointed with his finger to him. He heard what Moralys was saying as that Radolf should have reported and disclosed to the Church everything he did while he was with Lyner and his friends... without knowing Falss' true identity or having any proof that the information he was supposed to reveal was true in any way. This doesn't mean he didn't feel any animosity towards Falss, but still, he was at a loss about how he would answer if he was questioned about why he kept watching all of this in silence until that fateful day came.

He was having quite a hard time coming up with a good reply after he was pointed at.

However, the young Oracle from the self-named Radolf Faction suddenly stood up as he replied back.

"Stating that your own mistakes were caused by Bishop Radolf's actions is no more than shifting the blame to him! Lord Radolf traveled alongside the admirable hero Sir Lyner and together they saved this world from destruction! If he had just followed the Church's chain of command, we wouldn't just be dealing with the current belief crisis, but with something far worse. The chain of command can go eat shit! What kind of Church are we if we don't act immediately to help the people!?"

"W-well..."

Radolf decided to calm down the Oracle, who had rapidly energized himself.

"I really think we should take faster actions in order to aid the victims of a disaster. However, unless the Church as a whole acts to make this possible, it won't work. Or am I mistaken about this?"

"Y-yes... you might be right about it..."

Upon being talked to by the Radolf he respected and admired so much, he put his spear away. Radolf then continued talking.

"And besides, we need our actions to be based on the orders from the Church. Or would you rather see me use Bishop Falss' methods, where I unilaterally take any decisions I want and order all of the Oracles to march to something in silence?"

"W-well, if Lord Radolf orders us to, we should..."

"No, that’s not the case. What I wish is for our actions to be based on a common agreement between all members of this Church as much as possible. That is the reason why we are holding this assembly in the first place."

And as he talked, his eyes moved to show this wasn't directed just to the young man: these words were directed to everyone in the hall.

"During my travels with Lyner, I saw not only the faith of the people, but also how they could even manage to cooperate with each other regardless of the race they belonged to. If they could do so, what reason is there for us to not be able to do it?"

Radolf stood up before continuing.

"History, traditions and faith are all important matters to us, and we would lose ourselves if any of these elements disappeared. At the same time, however, if the people we must aid disappeared, we would lose the purpose for which we exist. Therefore, I wish for all of you to mutually recognize the importance of your respective claims, so we can begin taking action together as soon as possible."

Radolf then signaled to Fayma behind him, who brought him the documents she was carrying.

"As the Church we are, we must deal with labors such as disaster relief and reconstruction efforts, correct? I have decided plans to carry them out in my own way. So please, feel free to watch over and judge everything I do."

013

"Unmistakably so."

The shopkeeper said after hearing Misha's words. This was so frequent among the people his age that others felt them as they gave a worldly and controversial air off.

"This is because monsters haven't been appearing lately."

"...What did you say?"

The shopkeeper did as if he hadn't noticed the change in Misha's voice and continued.

"Of course having monsters around's bad, but because they were there, we could pick up lots of ingredients for Grathmelding. Well of course there were some victims of their attacks, but that's a necessary evil. And the root of monsters not coming out is because a certain “hero's” sinfulness. It's his fault, so of course he's a criminal due to it. What a terrible thing he did to us..."

"I dare you to say that again!!"

The shopkeeper got stiff after hearing Misha scream like that all of a sudden. They both became the target for the gazes of all the people that were around them, but Misha didn't mind it in the slightest.

"I dare you to say that again!! Do it and I'll burn you to ashes here and now! That there'll be victims no matter what we do!? That ridding the world from the Viruses was excessive!? You don't even know the feelings we... that Lyner and the others had while we were fighting... I'm going to make you a victim right now, just like those who got attacked by the monsters!"

"Whoa! H-hold it Misha!"

Misha was so enraged that Jack had to restrain her from behind.

"What!? Let me go, Harm! This guy is ridiculing everything Lyner did, and I'm not going to forgive that!"

"B-but you're gonna sing until you kill that guy! Do you wanna be a criminal!?"

"But... but...!"

"What's this? A lover's quarrel?"

The shopkeeper's face completely changed and he began rubbing his hands together when he saw who the customer that had just appeared was.

"Oh, sir, it's always such a pleasure to have you in our humble shop! Were you looking for something in particular today?"

When Misha and Jack turned around, they saw a massively fat man right before them, who wore an excessively gaudy outfit that didn't fit at all with the old age he had. He was covered by so many jewels, and they jingled so much with every movement he made that even Misha, angry as she was, was dumbfounded by the poisonous nature that wafted out from that man.

The jewels shone so much that the man himself seemed to be the source of their shine, so even Misha and Jack didn't notice for a moment that the man was flanked and being embraced by two girls that were far younger than him. It could be said that it looked more like the girls were partially covered by the loose body of the man.

"Hmm? I'm here because it's time to buy my girls the Life Extending Agent. I want you to give me the best quality agents you have on this shop."

"Yes, yes! Thank you for your patronage! Do you want just the dose for both of them?"

The treatment the shopkeeper was giving to the man was completely different from the one he was giving to Misha and Jack.

"Don't be so stingy. How many units do you have for that high-quality Life Extending Agent? I want to buy them all!"

"A-all of them!? Thank you very much!"

However, his face saddened a bit when he said this.

"I'll personally insert these high-quality Life Extending Agents into you. Are you happy? Will you be happy with this?"

"Y-yes..."

The girls nodded as a smile appeared on their faces. However, these smiles were awkward, as they were obviously not happy with this.

After a short while, the man took all of the Life Extending Agents in the shop and left the place.

"...What was all that?"

"A guy who deals in items that are in short supply. This sorta people always make a large killing from hikes in prices."

"And he had to nerve to bring two Reyvateils with him! Aren't they Tenba employees or members of the Church in the first place!?"

The shopkeeper just shrugged off in response to Misha's angry glare.

"It's not like it could be helped. Tenba recently decided to fire all the Reyvateils that were working for them at the same time, so if they want to get Life Extending Agents, they'll have to become helpers to rich guys like that one."

"It can't be..."

Misha just looked dumbfounded at the shopkeeper.

"These two girls seemed to be turning their faces away from him. I'm sure that guy's gotta have a hell of a foul mouth."

Jack murmured with a face of resignation.

014

"Who would have thought that managing an organization was this tiring...?"

An exhausted Radolf said as he put his hands over the desk in his office.

"You have done a remarkable job."

Fayma said as she served and placed a steaming cup of tea above the desk.

"No, I'm sorry. You must be quite tired yourself... would you like one of the Funbuns that Lyner sent us a while ago?"

"I'll decline your kind offer."

"Okay. I don't like them too much either, but we both seem to be in the minority."

He gazed at a Funbun as he pulled it out from the pile, but Radolf's eyes seemed to be looking at a different thing.

Fayma spoke as if things had taken a turn for the worse.

"In the end, we had to delay the action plans we had prepared due to the number of complaints we received."

"Yes. I thought it would be easier to release some pressure if we could let everyone say whatever they wanted, but looks like it ended failing to meet its purpose. Apparently, it only served to deepen the trench between the factions..."

"Why can't everyone just get along?"

"Yes, I wonder the same thing"

As the Funbun was washed away from his mouth by the tea, Radolf replied.

"Surely it's because they're too smart."

Fayma made a face that showed her disagreement with Radolf's answer.

"Isn't that strange? If they were actually smart, they should be able to understand each other just with talking."

"Because they are smart, they know that they might lose out in a way or other. Additionally, because they think of themselves as smart, they don't want others to think about them as stupid. That's why they hate being talked down."

"Then it's possible to solve this through mere discussions..."

"That might be true... in part. The true problem is that they don't want to try listening to each other. In other words..."

"...?"

Radolf suddenly fell silent when he took another Funbun on his hands and began looking at it, making Fayma look at him with curiosity.

"Did something happen, Lord Radolf?"

"...I just was thinking about what he would do if he were here."

"He?"

However, Fayma realized who Radolf was talking about as she asked the question.

"Lyner. I wondered what he would if he was in this kind of situation... He would do something, and scrape by in the way that has made me to consider him as admirable. That much is impossible to mistake about him."

Radolf shrugged as he let out a sigh.

015

"Ah, Lyner."

Aurica gave Lyner an upwards glance. It seemed like a lie that she had been so angry a moment ago.

"What happened?"

While Aurica was a bit concerned about having Shurelia in the same room as them, she drew closer to the young man.

"Umm, that time's coming soon...”

"Huh? Ah, yeah..."

While Aurica's words initially left Lyner puzzled, he immediately understood what she wanted to say.

"Did you want to go stock up on that?"

"Hmm, I have one here."

"What do you mean by having to go stock up on that?"

Shurelia inserted herself into the conversation after being left out from it for a long time.

"Umm, that means..."

Lyner glanced at Aurica. He seemed to be confirming with her if it was okay to answer Shurelia's question. Shurelia didn't mind this topic much, but her curiosity got the best of her. Remaining in silence, Aurica opened her mouth slightly embarrassed.

"It means I'm going to need "that" soon... the Life Extending Agent..."

Shurelia forgot about this at times because she didn't need the Agent, but as Aurica was also one of the more recent Third Generations Reyvateils, which comprised almost the entirety of the Reyvateil population in the world, she needed the Life Extending Agent in order to keep herself alive.

Maybe it was because they were born with incredible powers such as Song Magic, maybe it was a consequence of the Reyvateils qualities intermingling with human blood... regardless, all of the newer Reyvateils were condemned to have a very short life.

Upon reaching a certain age in their young existences, most of them would suffer from extremely high fevers and gradually get weaker and weaker until they died, which could only be overcome once the people discovered the Life Extending Agents.

However, if they abandoned the periodical doses they needed of it, only an ultimately lethal fever awaited them, so it was impossible for Reyvateils to maintain their lives without the Agents.

In the current times, this was the greatest difference that separated humans and Reyvateils.

"I-I see. Then I'll leave the room for now..."

And in an elegant way, she left the room.

As she closed the door, she let out a long, deep sigh she had been storing in her chest since a while ago.

"Come to think of it... she is having Lyner insert it..."

Shurelia's expression was complex... it was complex enough that it could have been taken for inexpressive if anyone said it... she seemed to be at a loss about how to react to this situation.

While she didn't need the Life Extending Agent due to being the original Reyvateil, she felt a lot of sympathy for Aurica.

However, whenever she thought of how personal it was to receive a dose from the Life Extending Agent from a partner, it became impossible for her to quell down her feelings.

It was because Shurelia knew how much a Reyvateil was entrusting her life to her partner when she was getting the Agent administered to her, as well of how private an act it was supposed to be.

And in an apparent attempt to shake off these complicated feelings, the long-lived girl ran off back to her own room.

"Lady Shurelia acted a bit too tactful with us. Did we do something wrong?"

As Aurica got as closer as she could to Lyner, she turned back to him while Lyner took out a small case out from his bag. This was where the Life Extending Agent was carried.

"Wouldn't it have been better for you if Lady Shurelia was here too?"

"No... It'd be too embarrassing..."

"I don't see why. I'm just giving you the Life Extending Agent."

"I've already told you no! That's why I say you don't understand a girl's feelings! I said Lady Shurelia was being too tactful because she understood my feelings..."

"Hmm..."

Lyner still didn't seem to understand what Aurica, who was now sounding more like a spoiled child, was saying.

"It's like that?"

"Of course it's like that! You really can't understand my feelings and all because you're a human... huh?"

Very confused, Aurica covered her mouth with her hands.

"What happened, Aurica?"

"N-nothing. But I..."

Aurica hesitated to say any more. She seemed to be confused about how she should express what she had just felt.

"I... I didn't say myself the words I said just a second ago... It was very weird, Lyner... And while you don't know this, this isn't the first time it's happened."

"And you said some cruel things..."

"Then we should hurry. Insert it now, Lyner!"

"Okay, okay!"

With great care, Lyner picked up a transparent crystal. This was the Life Extending Agent, and it wouldn't be very large if it was considered as a mere handicraft, but it was extraordinarily large for an item that was supposed to be inserted into a person. For someone with a small build like Aurica, it was large enough that it would be unable to fit her mouth and thus it would be impossible for her to drink or eat it no matter how much she opened it... such was the size of the Agent.

"It might hurt a little..."

Lyner then embraced Aurica. They embraced so closely that both of their chests were touching each other, while Aurica replied to Lyner's remark by slightly moving her head from a side to other.

"It's fine. It'll be okay as long as you do it like this."

Lyner nodded and put his hand over the nape of the girl he was embracing. He pushed her hair to the sides, and around the point where the nape and back met, he softly inserted the Life Extending Agent.

"I'll insert it now."

"Okay..."

Lyner began pushing it with his hand, and as the transparent crystal began emitting a soft light, it started being absorbed into Aurica's smooth skin. It was supposed to be a solid object, but it gradually vanished away into her skin.

"Ngh... ngh... agh... uuugh...."

Aurica's body began feeling heavy due to the energy. While it seemed to have been inserted smoothly, it seemed to place a considerable burden upon the person receiving it.

Now he had his hands empty, Lyner began softly caressing Aurica's back.

"I'm almost finished."

"I'm... okay... You are doing it very softly, so it's okay. That's why I can bear the pain."

Aurica's nape was still in Lyner's vision range, and he saw how the formerly white skin had now gained a soft red color and was covered in sweat.

"Ugh... agh... argh..."

"Almost, I'm almost done..."

"Lyner... Ly... ner..."

Aurica's hands, which were clinging to Lyner's back, were now clenched from the energy. It seemed that the end was the most painful part of the insertion of the Life Extending Agent, and Aurica called out Lyner's name several times. More than complaining to him for the pain, it seemed that calling him served to help her forget the pain a bit.

As for Lyner, the calling didn't make him happy at all: he felt Aurica was calling him as a way to complain to him about the pain he was inflicting on her. But he dismissed the thought, believing there was nothing that could be done about it and that he should alleviate the great suffering of the girl he had between his arms, no matter how slightly.

"Agh... agh... argh..."

Aurica's body continued trembling a little, until the Life Extending Agent at last disappeared completely inside her body.

The amount of pain made all sensations such as limb numbness disappear from her body, and what remained after this was only an uncomfortable feeling of being sweaty all over.

"It's terrible that you have to go through this every three months..."

After he finished inserting the Life Extending Agent, Lyner began revealing his emotions, while Aurica smiled back to her partner.

"It can't be helped. It's something we all have to deal with when we become Reyvateils. And besides, am I not better off than other girls because I've got you with me, Lyner?"

"Really?"

Lyner's reply demonstrated his extreme density once again, but Aurica decided to forgive him this time.

After all, he had embraced her the whole time he was inserting the Life Extending Agent, and this made her very happy.

016

I'm surrounded by a deep trench.

It encircles me,

and no matter if I turn to the right or to the left, there is nothing aside of that trench.

This trench exists so I can never come out from this place.

I know it.

But I'm all by myself here.

I'm so lonely.

Will no one... ever come to save me?

Nothing can cross this deep trench.

Someone.

Will no one ever come to save me?

Come to save me.

Come to save me, quickly.

Why does that person never come to save me?

His name is...

What was his name...?

017

Tenba.

There was a city that could be seen floating beside the Tower, located far lower than the Wings of Horus landmass where the Church of El Elemia was located. Its name was Firefly Alley.

And it was there that the megacorporation Tenba had its general headquarters.

This corporation was single-handedly responsible of several matters, ranging from the production of Grathmelded items to the circulation of money and goods; therefore, it was natural for it to have a large influence on the matters of politics and economy. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that there was no item that didn't bear Tenba's mark from its cradle to its grave.

It could be said that if the Church of El Elemia was the spiritual core for the people of this world, then Tenba was their material core.

However, the people that worked in the economics and transportation division of Tenba were very gentle people. Anyhow, the industrial world controlled by Tenba didn't have any large advances in several decades: the people continued using the same products as in previous days and lived in the same way. However, almost no one among the people ever noticed this was the lifestyle Tenba, the corporation that controlled the economy, had given to them. As for the corporation itself, no one would recognize them as the "rulers" of economy if anyone noticed their activities had been reduced to merely producing the same products over and over. But such was the state of this world.

However, what showed the greatest signs of change for these days was the fact that Tenba had successfully developed a new model of airship.

Tenba had managed to obtain some technologies that were still unknown to them from Platina in the upper world, and they were now in the middle of studying and finding a practical use for them.

If this became a reality, it would bring a change greater than anything that happened during the last century to the company.

While a large part of the populace hadn't realized this yet, this would mean a technological revolution for the stagnated Tenba.

And the one that seemed to realize this the least was the very person at the vanguard of the company's development, who while still young enough to be called a girl, was already nearing the age where calling her a young woman would be more appropriate. However, this is because that girl herself refused to acknowledge this, all because she seemed to enter a dream-like state whenever she was in touch with unknown technologies. Naturally, she never had placed much value on the company's future.

The next plan in the agenda was mass-producing the new model airship and her... Krusche, was given the lead for the activities related to carrying it out.

As she jotted something down in her notepad, she walked around her workshop in the main Tenba building.

"Hmm, it won't work, no matter what we do. Maybe we got something wrong during the specs chat with the President..."

While she expressed herself in a masculine and roundabout way, the words slipped through her lips in a rather cute manner.

After she greeted the technicians from whom she received the test results on the first mass-produced model's fuselage, she checked how the production process went, but she didn't get any new ideas from it.

"Lessee... how did Mark III fare? A failure...? Hmm, why now? There's no point to testing the other models after getting something this. Yeah, I know there's none of that in the warehouse because I got it ready for this."

While she wrote down all the indications to the technicians in her notepad, she went to the next place she had on her schedule.

"And they're late. And I asked him to do that yesterday... That Jack can't even do something as simple as shopping for one item."

She had asked Jack to buy her several parts that they needed for the construction of the prototype models. She would rather have gone to buy them herself, but as the time at which Jack contacted her couldn't be any more convenient, she decided to ask him instead.

That way, she could continue working while others did the shopping for her, which is why she seemed so glad to make Jack do it for her. But actually, it was possible she didn't ask him to buy these parts for professional purposes, but because Jack was an amateur technician himself, so if he made any mistakes, she thought she could take it as him taking another loan from her, which would allow her to ask him for many more favors.

She valued the efficiency everyone else demonstrated in the work because of her own rebellious spirit, but she herself had not realized this yet.

When she imagined the older man, two heads taller than her, frantically screaming and trying to say incoherent things, Krusche couldn't help but laugh a little.

"Well, maybe I hafta go shopping with him at least once..."

And as she poked her forehead with the pen she was using to write, she looked around and noticed that things seemed different from usual.

"Huh? Where're Alissa and Myu?"

These were two Reyvateils she always saw working on this place, but they were nowhere to be found.

The technicians locked eyes with Krusche as she said this. They apparently said something, but what they said seemed to have become a bewildering wind.

"What? What happened? I won't know if ya keep your mouth shut, Cedar."

The technician she called out hesitated for a few moments before he started talking.

"These girls won't come here anymore..."

"What ya mean?"

Krusche's expression turned serious at once.

"During the two days you were away, Miss Krusche, these two girls... were discharged."

"Discharged...? Don't ya mean... fired!?"

Cedar could only nod in a gloomy way while Krusche's eyes became the size of platters.

018

"Ahaha, that's just a misunderstanding!"

Ayano gave a hearty laugh as her large breasts jiggled; making Krusche wonder what kind of diet she could have followed for them to have grown to such a size.

She was quite a charming and attractive woman that had her breasts and abdomen quite developed, yet she had a personality broad-minded enough to not care at all about men, and she also was the president of the Tenba megacorporation.

That such a person was so different on the outside and on the inside most likely would be taken as impossible by the people.

As her proportions were even greater than those of an actress, that might have been the reason why she had so many outfits that emphasized her cleavage. However, she also looked just like a bandit due to the eye-patch she wore over one of her eyes.

While she was responsible for all the industries of this world, she also was the person who kept all of the violent soldiers they had at Tenba under control...

She also was who hired Krusche for her abilities and chose her for the top position of the R&D division, yet Krusche herself still didn't know how deep Ayano's personality was.

"A misunderstanding...? But aren't both Alissa and Myu gone now?"

Krusche was pressing Ayano for an answer, but she began getting closer to her overwhelming breasts, so Krusche got all flustered and decided to step back a bit.

"President... these breasts are a lethal weapon, and I don't want to become a victim of them... but I didn't mean things that way. A misunderstanding wouldn't normally get anyone fired, right? And these two girls were great workers, so why did they get fired like that?"

"Calm down, Krusche. First listen to what I've got to say."

In contrast to Krusche, who had suddenly gotten up, Ayano calmed down. She made a face that seemed to say that nothing had changed.

"But President... there must've been some problem for you to have fired two employees that didn't do anything wrong. Maybe there was some bug or something in the employee administration system... and since the Mir incident just closed up, we should examine the program to make sure"

"I'll task you with examining the program whenever you want, but as far as this issue is concerned, it won't be necessary. Most likely this happened because I ordered it, Krusche."

"...What!?"

"You should sit down first."

Ayano advised as she pointed to a sofa.

"Krusche, what do you think about the relationship shared between the Reyvateils and the humans?"

"...That question's all outta the blue. I think that..."

"And I won't accept that you haven't thought about it at all as an answer, given you were part of Lyner's group."

"Are you talking about the relationships between Lyner and Aurica or Misha? In that case, it's true that Lyner treated Reyvateils differently from how he treated other humans. I thought it was very different from our way of thinking... but that's pretty common over at Platina, right? But if you're talking about the relationships with Alissa and the others, which'd make it about this incident... you're not suggesting that you fired them because they're Reyvateils... right?"

"How rash. There's still more to it: when I met Lyner and exchanged words with him, it made me think a lot on how I was doing things."

"Think a lot about it..?"

"Yeah. Even now I'm wondering if the relationship we have with the Reyvateils is the correct one."

"Wondering about it...? You mean there's still something wrong with how we treat them?"

Ayano showed a bitter smile to a puzzled Krusche.

"You knew it too, right? And trying to change and making a better treatment for them a common practice looks pretty difficult, as everyone would doubt us."

Ayano continued.

"Right now, Reyvateils live while being extensively depended on by the humans."

"What do you mean... by depended on?"

"I mean it in both the economic and social sense. While they were originally beings created by human technology, that doesn't make them any different from us. They can marry human men and even have children with them, so at this point we could even say they're the same. However, they do have a large difference from us humans. You know what that is, Krusche?"

"Umm... the ability... to craft Song Magic?"

Ayano moved her head from side to side.

"It's true that the power of Songs is one of their most important abilities, but we humans also have the ability to do things no other person can."

"Then, what could be that difference...? ...Ah!"

"Looks like you've figured it out."

Ayano's expression grew serious.

"Their greatest difference with us humans is their life span. We don't know if it's related to their ability to craft Song Magic, but their lives are quite short. That's the difference I'm talking about."

"But that's solved with the Life Extending Agents, so it shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"The Life Extending Agents are the problem here."

Ayano pointed out.

"The production line for the Life Extending Agent is completely under Tenba's control, and Tenba itself is a human-owned company."

"That's true..."

"And that's the reason why the Reyvateils have to live while being depended on by us humans, no matter if they want to or not. We can cut off our relationship with the Reyvateils whenever we want, but on the other hand, the Reyvateils can't do that."

"..."

Krusche fell silent for a while, as if she was taking the time to digest the problem. She then returned her gaze to Ayano.

"I had never thought about these things. But in that case, we humans shouldn't be protecting the Reyvateils? If the Life Extending Agents disappear, they'd die..."

"However, to me… this way of thinking is wrong as well."

"..."

Krusche then looked at the serious Ayano with a puzzled look.

"What would you think if I proposed this to you, Krusche? I'd take care of them in all aspects and they'd never have to worry about anything again. As long as they did everything I said as their job, I'd guarantee their livelihood and the maintenance of their lives... or in other words, their Life Extending Agents. In other words, I'd make sure they wouldn't ever have any unfulfilled needs again. So, what would you say if I did that?"

"T-that might be bad too... because no one would be able to get anywhere on life, or be able to think and decide by themselves, if they had such an easy life. President, that's..."

Krusche's voice got lower and lower in volume as she spoke.

"Yeah. I think so too..."

"As for making it a common practice, we could do it right now. However, we should be able to make it in a way that won't make anyone doubt us, right? I'm sure these Reyvateils must be feeling the same doubt I am now."

At that moment, the figure of a beautiful woman that owned a bar in Nemo appeared inside Krusche's mind.

Ayano continued talking while a small smile began returning to her face.

"We humans will always control the lives of the Reyvateils... the people themselves haven't realized this simple fact... and that state of things won't benefit anyone. However, that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to solve the main problem: their life spans and the Life Extending Agent, as soon as possible. My main plan right now is... to make them self-sufficient economically, after all."

"O-okay..."

"And sorry for being so roundabout on this, but this is the answer to your question, Krusche. In order to realize the goal I just told you, I gave orders to the HR department to reform the contracts for all the Reyvateils that are currently employed with us. These changes are to abolish the restrictive conditions in which they must work in exchange for the Life Extending Agent, and instead allow them to have monthly wages the same way as the humans do."

"So this means they got fired because..."

"All of their previous contracts have been rescinded, so while you might think they have been temporarily fired, I've also given orders to prepare their new contracts as quickly as possible. So once we've sorted this mess out, everything will be back to normal."

"Ah, okay! It's a relief to hear that!"

"I'm glad I could tell you these news. By the way, how are things with the airship test models? I'm thinking that if we could successfully copy these technologies, we could cut the production costs by half."

"About that..."

Krusche nodded.

"The Platina airships make use of several technologies still unknown to us, so I get all excited whenever I'm touching them. Still, that means we're gonna need a bit more time in order to adapt and link them to our current technologies due to the difference in formats."

"I see. However, I have to ask for it to be completed as soon as possible. Lately, I've been getting reports from the Production department that the ingredient supply costs have greatly increased. If we don't come up with a method to cope with this, we won't have other way out aside of increasing the prices of our products."

"That's troubling. After all, Tenba puts in the market almost all the products in this world. If all prices begin shooting through the roof at once, the company'll be in trouble."

"That's right. Well then, I'll leave the rest in your hands, R&D Chief."

"Understood, President Ayano."

019

This was one of the many bars that existed in Airport City Nemo, the heart of the Wings of Horus. As it also had an inn and a weapon shop in the same building, it enjoyed a great popularity among adventurers due to its great convenience. However, this wasn't why Lyner and his friends frequently stopped here to rest: it was for an entirely different reason.

"My feelings?"

Claire leaned her head as she smiled. Her smile was of the sort that had captivated many people.

That she was the proprietor of this bar was why Lyner and the others frequently came to this place. She was a Reyvateil, although Reyvateils that didn't work for Tenba or the Church like her were extremely rare. However, no one else would notice it if she didn’t say it herself, as she was never seen singing Song Magic.

Lyner showed up at that bar in Nemo alongside Aurica and Shurelia.

Aurica was wearing her usual outfit, but Shurelia was wearing the large armor she had as her usual outside clothes, which immediately caught the attention of all the customers.

"My feelings, huh...? That's a request I don't understand very well."

"We're gathering feelings from everyone to make a new Song!"

Aurica said to make things clear to Claire.

"A Song? You mean Song Magic?"

Aurica nodded.

"It's because you're so important to me, Claire, and Lyner told us we should gather the feelings of those people we consider the most important to each of us."

Lyner nodded too.

"That's right. We'll gather the feelings of the most important people we have in our hearts, and we'll put them all into a Song. That's the gist of it."

"The most important people to you, huh?"

Claire smiled again. However, this time her smile had a somewhat bitter feel to it this time.

"You haven’t changed. You’re so straightforward, that it makes me want to giggle. At least, this means you think I’m that important to you, right? Aurica?"

"Of course!"

"And it's not just Aurica. You're very important to me too, Miss Claire"

"I-I see."

"Is that the case?"

Both Shurelia and Aurica got flustered upon hearing Lyner's words. Lyner nodded, but it seemed he had done this because he was caught off-guard by Shurelia's and Aurica's reactions.

"Well, it's just natural, right? Miss Claire has helped us out so many times during our journeys that I can’t even count them all. You even consider her as your older sister, Aurica, so wouldn't that make her an important person to me too?"

"O-okay. So that's how you meant it."

"I see. So that was the meaning behind your words."

With faces of apparent relief, both girls turned their gazes away from Lyner. Claire began giggling at this.

"You won't get any further if you continue acting like that, my dear little sister."

"Claire..."

"..."

When he looked at how Aurica blushed and how Claire smiled in a way that seemed like she was never going to adopt any other expression, Lyner made a curious face.

"U-ummm. By the way, there are a lot of things I wanted to ask you..."

"It's okay, feel free to. However, I'm working at the bar now, so..."

Claire then directed a glance to behind Lyner and the others. Just as she said, there were many customers sitting on the tables and chairs beyond the counter enjoying the food and beverages.

Aurica softly placed her hands on her own chest.

"You need to tend to the customers, right? Let me do it!"

"Are you okay, Aurica?"

Claire was a bit uneasy about how suddenly Aurica raised her hands.

"I mean, pretty much no one around here knows you..."

"Then let's get that fixed! And I know I can at least serve here as a waitress. Please, Claire?"

"Hmm, in that case..."

And while Claire was still pondering this over, Shurelia also spoke up.

"If it's okay with you, I would like to serve here as well."

"To serve... you mean as a waitress, Miss Shurelia?"

Claire's eyes instantly became the size of soup platters upon hearing Shurelia's proposal. However, the next instant she put on a mischievous face.

"Okay. While I'm here talking to Lyner, I'll let you two take care of the place."

"Are you two okay with this?"

While Aurica was overjoyed about the whole thing, Lyner looked at her with a face filled with uneasiness.

"Of course! Waitresses only have to listen to the customers' orders, make the food and bring them alongside beverages. However, I don't think I should make Aurica cook too, right?"

"It's true we shouldn't... but that isn't because Aurica's dishes taste badly, but... because of how creative she gets with them."

"Hey, the important part is making them tasty! That's the basis for every single dish I cook!"

"We'll leave that for another time, okay? Come now, get out to the bar and begin tending to the customers. Otherwise, I won't have any time to talk with Lyner."

And seeing how both girls were showing great enthusiasm, Claire led them back to where the customers were waiting.

"Okay~"

"Please, leave this to me."

Upon seeing how obediently they went to tend to the customers, Lyner could only feel a great admiration for Claire.

"Hmmm, even Lady Shurelia is being this obedient... You're amazing, Miss Claire."

"What does that mean, Lyner? You're making it sound as if these girls were wild animals or something."

Claire laughed while Lyner replied to her with a serious face:

"If they were wild animals, it'd be okay, as I could just defeat them with my sword. But I don't really know how I should deal with girls their age... ah, but Lady Shurelia is far older than me... but she doesn't give off that feeling at all... Miss Claire, I'd really rather deal with wild animals than with them."

"Oh my, looks like you're really having a lot of trouble, Lyner."

Upon seeing how Lyner hanged his head down, Claire began patting his head in the same way she would to comfort a child.

"Well, about these two... you might also have to include Misha when the situation calls for it... you shouldn't ever give up and think there's no solution to it. First and foremost, you have to continue being strong if you ever want them to care for you, Lyner."

"For me? But why?"

"...You still don't get it, huh? That must be pretty hard on Aurica too."

Claire muttered under her breath as she looked in Aurica and Shurelia's direction.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"No, nothing important. And more importantly, didn't you come to gather my feelings?"

"Ah, right. Sorry about that. We don't really have a deadline for this, but that doesn't mean we should just be playing around."

While he said this, Lyner's gaze began wandering around, as if he still had something he wanted to say.

"Is everything okay? Is there anything else you wanted to discuss with me aside of how to treat these girls?"

"Umm, well..."

"Please, no. This isn't like you, Lyner. One of the things I’ve always admired about you is how straightforward you are."

"*sigh* ...Okay, I'll tell you. It's so confusing I didn’t know even where I should begin."

Lyner then looked behind himself in a slow and clumsy manner. By just looking at his actions, anyone could have imagined that there was something worrying him.

020

"What could they be talking about?"

"You mean Lyner and Claire?"

Aurica blurted out as she nodded in response. As she pulled the round tray to her chest, she shot off intermittent glances at the counter where both Lyner and Claire were seated next to each other.

"I will not deny that it is bothering me, but we are still in the middle of work."

"You're right, but..."

Aurica gave a passing glance to Shurelia, but due to her hard armor, she couldn't spot any definite gestures she made. As even her face was covered by a shield visor, it was impossible to check her expression or anything related to it. Due to this, the customers were shocked enough to jump from their chairs and stool when both girls first came to take their orders. And they got even more startled when they heard the transparent voice of a girl coming out from behind that fearsome armor and helmet, which made them feel misled by the appearances.

Of course they didn't do this on purpose, but it wouldn't be a mistake to consider this as something that would never fit the place. However, Shurelia herself never took notice of this fact, and she kept carrying her job as a waitress with a nonchalant expression (that was impossible for anyone to see due to the visor). Shurelia then asked Aurica.

"Does it bother you so much?"

"Yeah, it does."

"Well, if you say so... maybe we should try listening in on them for a while."

"Y-you mean, to eavesdrop!?"

"What kind of person are you taking me for? Remember I'm the Tower Administrator, capable of controlling the entirety of the Tower's systems. If I use a little trick here..."

"P-please don't do that, Lady Shurelia... We don't have to go so far..."

"Very well. I don't really wish to mix my personal affairs with my official position... but it does bother you, correct?"

"Yeah..."

And as they talked, several men that just entered the bar had their gazes fixated on them. The men then looked at each other's faces.

"What's that?"

"From their appearances, I'd say these're Reyvateils."

"It feels like the place suddenly got swarmed with Reyvateils."

"But it's refreshing for the eyes to have so many pretty things to look at."

"Stop spoutin' nonsense! Didja ever see that many Reyvateils together in a single place?"

"Well, now ya mention it..."

"Doesn't that give ya a bad feeling?"

"Huh? Well, if ya put it that way, I can't help feeling like that too..."

021

"So it is about Aurica after all?"

Lyner nodded in response to Claire's question.

"Did she start hating you? Did you do something like hugging her out of nowhere? As she's such a shy girl, doing that with no warning would get her embarrassed and angry."

"No, I didn't. I've known that for a long time."

"Huh? Really? Hehehe, I'm a bit surprised. So you two have gotten so close already... right? But that isn't odd at all, as you've traveled together for so long..."

"Surprised? But when I gave her the Life Extending Agent, she told me she wanted me to prop her up because it was so painful, and I ended embracing her all that time... What does have that of special? I don't really know about many things that happen here on the lower world... so maybe I did something awful..."

"N-no. Of course not... but, is that all? I'm somehow feeling a bit let down from hearing that..."

Claire sighed. She had been shown a sample of Lyner’s denseness, who hadn’t still been able to grasp the basics of love in the way she was thinking.

"But it's okay. Well, if you didn't hug her with no warning or anything like that, what could have gotten you two to fight like that?"

"We haven't really fought. It isn't that... but, I’m actually feeling Aurica has been a bit emotionally unstable lately."

"Unstable...?"

Upon hearing this, Claire turned to the customers' area.

It was afternoon already, so the number of customers in the bar who Aurica was tending to with a forced smile on her face had greatly increased.

"She doesn't really look like it though... but in the first place, she has never been the type of girl to have emotional outbursts. You should be aware of that too."

"You're right, but she had calmed down quite a bit lately, and I think it's mostly because I managed to Dive into the deepest areas of her Cosmosphere... But as far as I’m aware, all the problems that were in Aurica's mind should have been solved now."

"Hmm..."

Claire pondered this while she crossed her arms in front of her ample bust.

"As you were the one Diving into her, I don’t think you’re wrong, Lyner... but the mind is a complicated thing for both humans and Reyvateils, isn't it? Even if you were able to Dive and see inside her mind, there should be some things that can't be checked through a Dive."

"But... I've got the feeling that something weird's happening."

"Hmm..."

"Sorry for saying that. That's something I just thought of... I'd like to talk with you again if anything comes up again. But maybe I’m just imagining things."

And as they had already exhausted all the ways they knew for discussing this topic, Lyner changed the topic.

"By the way, aren't these girls behind the bar new?"

Lyner said upon noticing that the food and beverages for the orders Aurica had taken were being prepared by some girls he had never seen before, to which Claire nodded in response. Around three girls that seemed to be of her same age were very busy working at the narrow area behind the bar.

"Yes, I hired them a little ago. And it's all thanks to them that I had time to talk to you. It seems they used to work at Tenba, but..."

"Are they Reyvateils, by any chance?"

"Yes. I said I'd get my own livelihood after I left Tenba long ago, but lately Tenba has gotten strange."

"Strange? Tenba? What do you mean?"

"Oh, so is it my turn to lead the discussion now? It's fine. It's a bit of a long story though. Are you okay with listening to it regardless?"

"Yeah. I don’t mind."

"Originally, the Tenba Corporation had the policy of considering us Reyvateils as disposable tools, but lately..."

However, Claire's words were interrupted by the piercing sound of broken plates, which was followed by a girl screaming.

"Aurica!?"

Lyner turned around and ran to the crowd in the main area of the bar.

022

"No! ...Please, stop!"

Aurica struggled while a man had grabbed one of her arms.

"W-what!? That's what ya get for screaming outta nowhere!"

The man responsible for this had such a threatening look on his face that Aurica was daunted.

"No! No! Let me go!"

"S-shut up for a bit! What did I do!? Damn!"

The man looked like he didn't even intend to grab Aurica like this in the first place. However, he only noticed her screams after he had already grabbed her.

He didn't even hit her, but he was moving Aurica's arm around very violently. Maybe this was because he had gotten too agitated.

The man was around two heads taller than her, so between the force with which he moved her arm around and how delicate Aurica's body was; she was like a toy in the hands of a child.

"Kyaaaa!"

A high-pitched scream escaped her mouth. And right after, several screams began being heard one after another... they were the voices of all the Reyvateils in the bar. The humans in the place couldn't do anything aside of looking confused at the terrorized faces the girls had that instant.

"Aurica!"

Lyner’s hand put a grip on his sword’s hilt, but Claire put a hand over his.

"Miss Claire..."

Claire shook her head silently as she looked at Lyner, and walked calmly to the main area of the bar.

"What a joke! Do ya think someone'll come save ya just because you screamed? Reyvateils are so impudent!"

"No! No!"

While in some occasions Aurica displayed a determined spirit that took aback even Lyner, this time she could only scream like a terrorized cat, not knowing what she should do.

"Shut up...!"

And at the same time the man raised his enormous hand, Claire spoke to him.

"Hmm? What are you doing to my waitress...?"

With a soft voice that at the same time warned her listener to stop doing whatever he was, Claire stepped in front of Aurica, as if to cover her from the man.

The man suddenly forgot his fury, shocked before Claire's sudden appearance, and he instantly stopped moving.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Claire put her own hand over the hand the man was using to grab Aurica's wrist.

She then continued.

"Looks like something has made our customer uncomfortable, huh? I'm very sorry we have worsened your mood, sir~"

"Ah... ummm... no..."

Acting differently according to the occasion, such as behaving modestly initially to then give an offensive response, was a difficult thing to do for Aurica. The man muttered an apology " 'twas nothing" while he released Aurica. Claire then softly covered the hands of them both with her own.

"Given you have graced us with your long-awaited visit and patronage, we're really sorry for having caused discomfort to you. If you wish, we can give you an extra in order to make you regain a good mood."

"No... ya don't hafta go so far... I just grabbed the Reyvateil there because she screamed outta nowhere... I didn't wanna cause any trouble..."

The man apologized. Somehow, he didn't seem to be the kind that stirred up trouble without any reason.

"You're amazing, Miss Claire..."

Lyner reflexively muttered in admiration as he saw how the man pulled his hand back from Claire's and Aurica's as he blushed. At some point, Shurelia also showed up behind them.

"That was incredible, Claire. That behavior is something I could never hope to imitate."

Maybe it was because he felt unwelcome after that scene, but the man quickly returned to his companions and they left the bar. Then, Claire went back to where Lyner and the others were.

"I'm sorry, Claire..."

Aurica was extremely disheartened. A smile appeared on Claire's face, although it looked more like a bitter one.

"Tending to customers is harder than it looks, huh?"

"Yeah. But you're amazing. I really admire you!"

However, Claire didn't give back a smile to Lyner despite him blushing with admiration to her.

"I wonder... are you actually special?"

"Huh?"

"You humans are all egotistical creatures, and you don't even think about us Reyvateils at all... "

"Miss Claire..."

"We know we can't oppose the humans because we need the Life Extending Agent, but that doesn't give you the right to grab us by the arm whenever you want!"

"Claire..."

Upon hearing how much Claire's voice had raised, even Aurica was so shocked that she felt the blood on her veins going cold.

"We aren't any tools the humans can use however they want! If the humans didn't exist we would--! Huh...?"

"Claire, what are you saying? We Reyvateils and the humans are getting along now. You should be aware of this."

"Miss Shurelia..."

Upon hearing Shurelia's words, Claire's expression gradually returned to her usual calmness.

"You're right... there are good and evil people among the humans... and I'm aware enough of it, but... this is so strange..."

Claire put her hands on her face as she pondered.

"Why was I so angry a moment ago?"

"Isn't it because that man was being rude to a girl?"

"No, Aurica. That wasn't it. That's something that happens a lot in this kind of business, so it isn't something I'd get angry over... so why… did I even go to the point of doubting all the humans...?"

Claire softly murmured the last part, as if she was scrutinizing her own words. Lyner and the others looked at her with anxiety.

"Miss Claire..."

"Did I really think such a thing...?"

As Claire said this, she had an unusual expression on her face: one of sheer terror.

023

A few days went by, but ultimately the two Reyvateils didn't come back to work at Krusche's place.

"Didja check all the inns and hotels we assigned them to?"

Sitting down on a simplistic chair in a corner of her workshop, Krusche raised her head from the clipboard in which she was taking notes.

"Yeah. Where could these girls have gone to...? It'd be terrible if they haven't received the Life Extending Agent..."

The engineer that answered her question showed a worried expression as he put a hand on the cap he was wearing. Krusche then asked him to investigate where these Reyvateils had gone to.

"Are you going to HR?"

"I've already tried it, but they brushed me off saying they didn't know anything about the Reyvateils they gave up on and fired. And the make it worse, the one who sent me off was Norma. You know, the same one who had never given up on anyone."

"Norma!? She was the one who fired the Reyvateils!?"

Krusche yelled as she dropped her clipboard. This wasn't mere work chatter anymore.

"Looks like it."

The engineer said as he looked around. He seemed to be afraid of something, but as Krusche was deep in thought at that moment, her colleague’s attitude went unnoticed by her.

"But it shouldn't be like that... according to some info I got, they weren't fired. They were just going to change their work contracts..."

"Actually, all the Reyvateils have left the lodging facilities they were assigned and went to who knows where..."

Krusche found herself unable to reply back from how her colleague had phrased his reply.

"I've gotta check that myself."

And she decided to try going to the Human Resources department.

15 minutes later, she had calmly walked through the maze-like corridors of the Tenba HQ, which seemed to go on endlessly, and she finally reached the HR department.

The massive size of the building made it quite troublesome for Krusche to reach the HR department from her workshop despite knowing where it was located. When she reached the department’s lobby, she let her sweat-soaked body cool down for a bit while an unpleasant sensation of emptiness filled the pit of her stomach.

After flapping the collar of her jacket for a few seconds and making sure her breathing had recovered its normal rhythm, she talked to the receptionist behind the counter's window, who pretty much had a smile plastered to her face like a mask. She was beautiful, but Krusche felt uncomfortable from her obviously fake and artificial smile.

"I have no information about that here. As far as we have heard here, we should have completed around a 40% of the new employment contracts for the Reyvateils working for us between this month and the following one. As we shouldn't allow ourselves to lose employees, we are making sure that each of them has a fair salary... well then, I'm very busy right now, so if you don't mind..."

The receptionist pretty much implied she wanted Krusche to leave the place that precise moment. However, Krusche was not going to retreat without putting up a fight first.

"These’re the friends that used to work with me ‘til very recently. Are ya trying to tell me in corporate slang that they've been fired? After all, there's no need to rescind the contracts to change their conditions..."

"Did you say... friends?"

While the receptionist initially kept her robotic smile on, the first expression anyone would have thought was real showed up on her visage. It started merely as a normal expression that appeared on her typical well-kept receptionist features, but it gradually turned into a fearsome face as she processed what Krusche had just said.

"You call friends these things that get pampered just because they can use some weird magic? And as if that wasn't enough, we're also getting a lot of these weirdos coming down from the upper world! Reyvateils were made by the humans just to cause us problems!"

"Hold it! Reyvateils aren't different from us humans...!"

"They are! They are all female, they can use magic, and they die if they don't get their precious Life Extending Agents! How aren't they different from us!?"

Krusche couldn't come up with anything to cut off the receptionist's rants. She could have talked the receptionist down had she been in bad a mood enough for it, but Krusche knew doing that wouldn't make the woman change her viewpoints.

"Well, well..."

An older colleague of the receptionist said as he entered the room.

"That conversation you just had is directly related to the work carried out by our department, isn't it? To know what happened here, you'd need to be persistent enough to check all official documents. You really want to know about it, umm... Chief Krusche?

"Yeah..."

While this dampened the feelings of the receptionist, she just turned around, unable to continue arguing.

"I just want you tell me one thing... Where have all the Reyvateils that worked here gone to?"

"Who knows? I don't remember all the places they were each assigned. And you were quite angry too. Well, are you feeling refreshed now?"

The receptionist blurted out in a blunt way.

The older colleague just shrugged off at this behind her. Looks like he wanted to say that he had feelings different from those the receptionist had.

However, he didn't show any signs of directly supporting the Reyvateils. Feeling discouraged, Krusche left the department.

024

The Church of El Elemia. The office of the Bishop.

Fayma was giving a worried gaze at Radolf, who looked at the documents she had given him with a serious expression.

He had already finished looking over the documents, but she knew very well why he was so serious. She knew it well enough to the point it hurt her to see him like this.

After Radolf sat there in silence looking at the papers, he let a soft grumble slip through his mouth.

"So, were all these proposals rejected?"

"Yes..."

"In the end, they put conditions to all the proposals I made, and that only got us back to square one. The nerve they have to go around writing these things..."

What he abandoned over the office's desk was the reply to the documents containing the proposal he made to each faction in the previous assembly.

Said proposal was a missionary program to put an end to the infighting in the Church and unify all of its factions once again, but it was rejected and sent back with the opinions of the representative of each faction.

"And to make matters worse, even the faction that was supposed to be supportive of you, Lord Radolf, rejected your proposal..."

Fayma's expression darkened. This gave even more of a reason to Radolf to try composing a smile to counteract that.

"It's because my way of leading the Church is far too lenient. It must be that the opposing factions wish for me to rule with a firmer hand."

"A firmer hand, huh...? And in practical terms, what would be the best way to do that?"

"Who knows? Maybe they want me to completely ignore their opinions and do whatever I feel like doing."

"If you did that..."

"Yes, if I did that, I'd be doing exactly what Falss did during his rule... no, I might turn out to be even worse than him."

Radolf put his elbow on the desk and rested his chin on top of it.

"Everyone... I'll have to seriously ponder over what I'll do from now on."

"From now... on?"

"Once we have put an end to the Church's infighting, how should we increase the influence of the Church back to how it used to be? That's what I have to ponder over. If I misjudge our course of action and take erroneous measures, most likely we won't have another chance."

"Lord Radolf..."

Fayma spoke as if she intended to add something else, but the gloom in the Bishop's gaze instantly made all words she was going to say to just vanish away.

It was an extremely serious face she had never seen on his face before: one of a man that was dealing with a critical fight.

025

A deep trench.

No matter how much I look around, I can't see the bottom of this pitch-black darkness,

Because of this trench, I'm all alone.

All alone.

Why won't you come to save me?

I'm all by myself, I'm lonely.

Will we leave this place soon?

Will we fly away from this trench?

Fly away...

No, I'm scared!

I'm terrified!

Save me! Save me!

Come save me, quick.

Quick...

Ah...

I can't remember your name...

Please, hurry...

Please hurry; come save me...

026

He initially intended to do this to calm himself down and think over the events that had taken place during that day.

Lyner was walking alone through the streets of Nemo.

This was quite rare to see, as he pretty much never went around walking by himself. Ever since he was ordered by Shurelia to go down to the Wings of Horus, which is the continent where Nemo is located, he always had someone accompanying him.

This was because he told Aurica and Shurelia to take other way to go back to the inn, and then he left Claire's bar. As he walked through the city, he felt something out of place and his gut pulled him to the source of that uneasiness. This was a fresh new emotion that Lyner had never felt before.

After he walked away from the bar for a while, the worry was pushed to the back of his thoughts and instead, he began taking a great interest on and began enjoying the tumult around him.

He leisurely strolled through the winding and crossing narrow lanes that were between the old stone buildings.

Normally, a sharp-sighted person would always point straight at him and call him the "the hero who saved the world", but that day, nothing like that happened. Most likely it was because he wasn't wearing the armor he always used to wear. While he didn’t necessarily like fighting, he thought that there was no need to always wear the armor due to how things were now. Maybe that was why he was feeling so free right now.

As he walked, Lyner suddenly thought up something, and so he went to a nearby store and bought a drink for himself.

"Huh? That's pretty expensive... When I bought it earlier it was so much cheaper..."

As he fumbled around in his pocket with his hand to find some pocket change, the female storekeeper composed an apologetic face.

"Everything’s gotten pricier lately... it's all because the Grathmelding ingredients have shot up in cost."

It was the same thing Misha and Jack heard in the market. Completely oblivious to the fact that this was the effect his accomplishments had brought to the place, Lyner just nodded.

"I see..."

He said as paid for the drink, and he then resumed his walk through the city.

But after a while walking, he noticed something strange.

Every now and then, several girls would pass by his side.

While it wasn’t that unusual to see groups made up just from girls, upon realizing that several girls had gathered in groups that looked exactly to same to each other, Lyner started feeling something wasn’t right in the place.

And his worries were only fueled when he noticed that all the girls had the same stiff expression and walked at the same quick pace in the same direction. It seemed they were trying to run away from something.

Some of the people around didn’t mind the girls at all and acted as normal, which made Lyner think for a moment that maybe this was some custom unique to Nemo he was ignorant about. However, he also noticed that there were many others who were looking at the girls with fear.

"What happened?"

Lyner hadn't even taken a look at these fast-walking girls by the time this thought came to him. While their numbers didn't increase in a fixed way, they had already gone up from a few to several tens of people, all of which looked similar to each other.

By the time he had finished the drink on his hand, Lyner was looking at the group of girls standing still on the street... and it was by this time that the realization that these girls seemed to be Reyvateils hit him... and then, they left through one of the four streets they had around. They had chosen a direction.

"...Is there something over there?"

The road the girls had taken would only take them to a land where only a now-uninhabited group of ruins was located. Lyner realized he would never learn why the girls were going there if he just stood there looking at them. And while a sudden flash of insight was the only thing that gave him a possible reason for these girls to be acting this way, it was more than enough to make feel uneasy.

"Looks like Reyvateils aren't as rare as they say."

Lyner tried listening to the townspeople that entered his range of vision. Naturally, these people were no Reyvateils: just normal humans that were looking at the Reyvateils in fear. These reactions were enough for him to deduce that this situation wasn’t normal.

Lyner tried talking to the closest person he had, which happened to be a woman.

"Where have these girls gone? Is there anything in that direction?"

It was a middle-aged woman, who glanced back at him in silence. Her expression pretty much said "I don't know." Lyner tried asking another question.

"Umm... are you a human?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

She raised her eyebrows in response to Lyner's question.

"S-sorry... So, were these girls Reyvateils?"

She gave back Lyner a doubtful glance, as if she were asking him whether he was unable to distinguish Reyvateils from humans.

Lyner gave her a smile as polite as he could.

"Umm... you had that same face when you were looking at these Reyvateils just now, you know?"

"I did?"

The woman put her hand on her cheek as she put on a concerned face.

"I really put such a face...? But I guess it can't be helped... After all, this is the first time I've ever seen the city overflowing with so many Reyvateils."

"But aren't Reyvateils rare in Nemo...?"

"Here we have Reyvateils that are paired with Tenba workers as well as the partners for the Church Oracles."

The woman was astonished at how ignorant Lyner was.

"Ah, you must be one of those people from the upper world that are coming here a lot lately, right? Well, no wonder you don’t know that. After all, Reyvateils aren't human, so they can't live the same way as we do."

"Huh?"

"It's because of the Life Extending Agent. It's a special drug created by the humans... or better said, by Tenba, and they'll die if they don't have it. I feel a little sorry for them..."

"I see."

This was all information Lyner already knew, but as it seemed he would lose the opportunity to ask for more details if he interrupted the woman, he just nodded and said "yes" back in response, as if he didn't know anything.

"But that can't be helped either, and I think it's just a small mercy on us from the Goddesses of Elemia. After all, Reyvateils can use an incredibly frightening magic."

"A frightening magic, you say?"

"Yeah, I'm talking about Song Magic."

The woman suddenly lowered the tone of her voice, as if she was worried about others listening in to their conversation.

"By just singing, they can shoot fire and kill people, you know? It's frightening! The only thing that keeps them from going crazy on us is the Life Extending Agent... It's scary!"

"...So that’s what you meant…"

Lyner got some dark feelings from how the woman talked, and now he understood why the Reyvateils aside of Claire had begun doubting the humans. Because he himself was so devoted to the Reyvateils, they had saved his life more times than he could ever count. And the Reyvateils working for the Church and Tenba were well-aware that he had fought such a perilous battle to protect this world from the threat of the Viruses.

The very idea they would try to use the power of the Songs they harnessed to bring harm to the humans seemed utterly ridiculous to him at this point.

Wasn't this woman aware of this?

However, he just nodded endlessly and agreed with her words, as she was unable to know what he was thinking.

"Yes. Reyvateils are completely different from us humans. And lately, they have been gathering by themselves like this, without any humans among them, out of nowhere... Doesn't that give you a bad feeling?"

"W-well... I... do you think there's something strange happening?"

"I don't really know for sure though."

The woman said in a boastful manner.

"However, there's a rumor going among the younger people that a war similar to the one that happened long ago will begin soon, and all because the Reyvateils are going to rebel against the humans. Maybe that has to do with the fact that prices have increased so much lately."

"That won't happen!"

Lyner said this with such a loud voice that he made the woman look a bit daunted.

"I-I didn't say it would. That's why I said it's just a rumor."

"The Reyvateils are all good girls. That they were going to revolt against the humans... that's absurd!"

"T-that's why I said I don't know anything..."

The woman turned away from Lyner and walked away a bit. She seemed desperate to put some ground between herself and him.

"Sorry, I went too far."

And as she lowered her face, the woman left the place without even bothering to bid him farewell.

"So there are still people that think that way about the Reyvateils..."

And as if it were a reflex, Lyner turned in the direction the Reyvateils had left.

He was still unsure about if he should follow them and didn't have a clear goal on sight.

However, Aurica's uneasy face, Claire's enraged outburst and the opinion the woman had of the Reyvateils, viewing them as inhuman creatures, began mixing together inside his head, and started playing back over and over in his mind.

So he ultimately started running after them. He wanted to know what was happening that moment.

"...This sound... no... It’s a voice..."

Lyner began looking around, trying to find the source of the sound.

"Is that a Reyvateil's Song...?"

027

Some young men had surrounded the Reyvateils in one of the roads outside the city. This place was located a bit far from the business district that gathered all shops and similar establishments, and it could be called a residential area of sorts that was inhabited by people from various social statuses, although no affluent people made their living there. While this place was once a bustling area, the road would only take those traveling through it to a group of abandoned ruins. That was why this area always had such a lonesome appearance and atmosphere. It was a very gloomy road.

"You've only got Reyvateils with you, so where’re you goin'?"

"I don't think this has anything to do with you."

The voice of the man who spoke first had a certain joking air to it, but the same couldn't be said about the voice who replied back to him. Rather, it would be better to say that it was overflowing with hostility.

The other Reyvateils that were with her also raised their voices at the same time, saying "Right, it doesn't have anything to do with you." Their voices all sounded every bit as aggressive as hers.

"W-what?"

The man who had spoken first was startled upon seeing the unexpected reply from the Reyvateils, and a slightly scared expression appeared on his face. However, upon remembering he had several companions backing him, he began displaying a cocky attitude.

"I just asked ya where you're goin'. Normally no one'd ever see a group of Reyvateils without a guardian or something, ya know? It's weird."

"It isn't weird. We're free now. We don't need to be protected by anyone."

"You're free?"

A sarcastic smile appeared on the man's face, as he thought they were trying to mock him.

"That doesn't mean that Reyvateils can live without the humans. You're being weird."

The humans behind the man displayed the same smile he had, feeling every bit as ridiculed as him.

"We don't need..."

The Reyvateil rolled one of her hands into a fist in front of her chest. She then continued talking as her face turned pale.

"We don't need... the humans. You might be intending to control us, but do you really think you can keep doing that forever?"

"What!?"

The extremely antagonistic behavior the Reyvateil was displaying left the man bewildered, all because the attitude the girl before him was exhibiting was so far removed from the image he had of the Reyvateils. The Reyvateils all had the appearance of beautiful girls, and the impression anyone would have from their appearance and general disposition was that they were quite gentle... such was the image the people of this world had of them. It was even typical for men to crack jokes such as "If I'm ever gonna get married, I want a woman that's just like a Reyvateil!”, which showed how widespread this image of them was.

"We can't even craft Songs anymore, because of you humans... because you think we're being free when you're actually treating us as slaves and using us as you see fit... gh..."

The Reyvateil breathed in very deeply.

And then, a transparent voice began overflowing out from her lips.

"Ugh... wagh..."

The man backed off.

The singing felt unsteady at the beginning, but it gradually adjusted itself until it began creating a melody. Anyone looking on the scene would have noticed now that light was gathering around the girl.

"She's gonna kill us with a Song!"

"R-run away!"

"Do you think... I'll let you escape...?"

They heard her speaking at the same time she was singing. It was definitively the Song Magic of a Reyvateil.

"You humans... you should all just..."

The light gathering around the girl sent the men into a great panic. The terror they felt at the idea of not even being allowed to run away made them attempt desperate actions.

"I'll do you in before you kill us!"

One of the men roared as he rushed the girl in an attempt to attack her.

"Kyah!"

A scream was heard.

Her song interrupted, the Reyvateil was thrust away from the place where she was standing a second ago and landed face-down on the ground.

"How do you dare...!?"

"Unforgivable!"

The girls who saw this began singing one after another.

Their songs were of a great beauty, but they were all filled to the brim with hostility.

Several of these panicked men tried to attack the other girls, but as anyone would expect, they wouldn’t be able to stop them all from singing.

While the humans continued struggling against the Reyvateils, their melody was heading to its climax.

And it was around this time that Lyner finally reached the place.

"What the hell's happening here...?"

There was an abnormally noisy fight in the middle of the street, and while he was dumbfounded for a moment when he saw it, the next instant he began rushed head-first into it.

"What are you guys doing!?"

Lyner ran in and restrained the man by the neck, pulling him away from the girl. The man still kept trying to rush her with his fists raised.

"Enough already! Your opponents are girls!"

But then another man pushed Lyner away, and the one he was initially pulling away screamed at him irate.

"Stupid! Do you wanna die!? Can't you see they're singing over there!?"

"That's my line! ...Wait a second, they're singing!?"

And now he took a second look at the scene, Lyner noticed how they were indeed singing in the middle of the tumult.

"What are you all doing...!? What do you intend to accomplish by singing here...!?"

Lyner began running to one of the singing Reyvateils, but she shot him back a glare filled with animosity.

"It'd be better if you humans disappeared."

These words caused Lyner's body to involuntarily stiffen.

And at the same time, their melody came to an abrupt end.

The next instant, a stream of flames was shot in Lyner's direction.

"Aaaghhhhh!"

Most likely, he didn't get his body covered entirely in flames thanks to the reflexes he gained from being a hero that had taken part in several battles and had been fighting for a long time. However, this time Lyner was only wearing his normal clothes, so he didn't have the protection his armor and standard equipment gave him.

While he managed to avoid the flames by a hair's breath, the flames left severe burns on his shoulder. The wounds caused by the flames spread pain and heat all over his body, and Lyner received a shock strong enough to knock him out.

He then collapsed sideways into the ground.

The men who saw this screamed in terror, which the Reyvateils also did at the same time.

The other Reyvateils that were still singing cut off their Songs that instant and began screaming when they saw Lyner's condition.

One of the men ran away from the place in such a clumsy way that he seemed he would trip and fall down at any time, the others following him soon after.

The Reyvateils also ran away while they screamed and cried at what they had done.

After a short while, the only one that still remained in that street outside of the city was a collapsed Lyner, who still moaned from the pain.

028

The one who discovered the unconscious Lyner was Aurica.

After they parted ways at the bar, she decided to go back by herself because she couldn’t get herself into the mood to continue talking with Shurelia. On the way back, she bumped into some men that were running away in extreme panic.

They ran off without even apologizing while she landed on her bottom. She was very curious about why they were running away from that direction and ended walking there by herself.

Aurica initially didn't think that the person collapsed on the ground before her was Lyner, and all because she had never seen him like this.

To her, Lyner was an invincible hero that could always defend himself. She had never seen him lying in the ground looking so powerless.

When she finally realized it was Lyner, she fell into a tremendous panic.

"Lyner!!"

She screamed as she ran to his side.

"Lyner! Get ahold of yourself! Don't die! Please, Lyner... don't die here!"

In reaction to Aurica's screams, Lyner softly moaned.

"Aurica..."

He was still alive.

"Lyner! I'm so glad... I'm so glad you're... alive..."

"Aurica... why are you here...? Ughh..."

While Aurica lifted him on her arms in an attempt to help him, Lyner's face was distorted by pain. It was then that Aurica noticed he had a severe wound on his shoulder.

"H-how did you get a wound as awful as that...? No, it's okay. You'll be fine if I sing now! I'll heal you, Lyner!"

Aurica was getting herself ready to sing, but Lyner softly shook his head.

"No... It’s okay... I'll be fine..."

"Huh?"

"Reyvateils and humans... shouldn't fight against each other... so please, stop... stop them..."

Due to his wounds, Lyner wasn't aware that the fight that left him in this sorry state had already ended. Therefore, Aurica was unable to understand what he meant with this.

"It doesn't matter, and anyway... why... why... don't you want me to heal your wounds... when you're in so much pain?"

"Aurica!"

Aurica tried to begin singing a second time, but Lyner screamed at her with irritation.

"Don't mind me! ...It's more important that you stop the Reyvateils... they were acting strangely... and I don't know what could be the cause..."

"W...why...?"

"Aurica... don't mind me...."

"Why are you... ignoring my feelings? That isn't nice..."

Pained as he was, Lyner noticed that Aurica's expression was changing little by little, and he gulped down his own words.

"I won't go anywhere else as long as you're injured! You don't understand anything, Lyner! You don't understand my feelings at all!"

She then dropped Lyner from the embrace in which she had him. The height at which she had him was enough to cause him unbearable pain as soon as his body touched the ground.

"Au...rica..."

Aurica just got up as if she had nothing to do with him.

"You humans... always do whatever you want... you just think about yourselves..."

"Aurica...?"

"We don't need the humans... it'd be better if the humans just disappeared...!"

She completely ignored all the times Lyner called her name, and after turning around, she began running away.

"Aurica..."

Lyner tried to endure the pain and stand up, but midway through, his strength ran out and he finally blacked out, collapsing in that same spot again.

Share