The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War (LN) - Volume 10 - Chapter 2

Chapter II: Inglis, Age 16—Far-Off Highland (2)

Everyone returned to Wilma’s ship and landed in Highland while aboard. The flying battleship docks were located underground, and their scale and technology were simply incomparable to the knights’ academy’s facilities on Lake Bolt. In addition to the ship on which they had arrived, there were many others moored there, and the sight of them in a line was simply spectacular. There must have been dozens.

Karelia had only two such ships: that of the Paladins, of which the use was lent by Ambassador Theodore, and the flagship of the Rangers, which had been captured from Venefic. Each seemed to have a lighter complement than Karelia’s, but still there was an overwhelming difference in force projection, even compared to a major surface power like Karelia.

Additionally, Inglis noticed a number of unfamiliar machines flying through the air, carrying materials and other objects. Autonomous mechanical hands were both overhauling existing ships and building new ones. Nothing at all like this existed on the surface.

“Wow, this is amazing! What’s that? A cart moving things around on its own?” Rafinha asked.

“And that metal hand,” Leone commented. “Is it moving by itself to build a battleship?”

“It’s so advanced I haven’t the foggiest what’s going on,” Liselotte said. “I suppose everything here is completely different from the surface.”

Each stared around in awe.

“Impressive...” Inglis quietly murmured. She could sense complex flows of mana from the machinery and parts in the dock. Some magical effect seemed to control the workings, but she couldn’t understand it at all. Still, though, these were devices automatically controlled by a source of mana. In other words, they were incredibly advanced and precise Artifacts.

“It’s overwhelming.” Even Eris gaped in amazement, as if she’d never gotten a very good look at this before.

“There’s nothing wrong with being surprised. The arsenal of Illuminas is the most advanced in Highland. Nothing else compares. Now, if you’d come this way.” Wilma led Inglis and her friends down the gangway to the pier.

“So this is the home of the machinator...” Inglis mused as she followed.

“The arms produced here are for the dux and the quaestor as well. The Triumvirate’s alliance is firm.”

“I don’t see many people around, though. Is this mostly automated?”

“This is an emergency. Since the island has fallen into the sea, everyone must be out trying to handle the mess. If the city was damaged, we’ll have to provide aid as well.”

“I see...”

“Then shouldn’t the rest of the crew be coming with us?” Rafinha asked.

“Indeed, where are they?” Wilma turned and prompted with a knowing look. Her subordinates, who had been on the deck, were already gone.

“Huh?”

“They’ve already returned,” she replied.

“Returned? To where?”

“To the homunculi pools. They were created for the sole purpose of manning that battleship. They can do nothing else.”

“What?!” Rafinha gasped. “S-So those people weren’t people?!”

“That’s right.”

“They...didn’t seem inhuman. I thought they were all just shy,” Leone said.

“Truly astounding technology,” Liselotte said.

“It really is,” Rafinha agreed. “All of it...”

The three were stunned again.

“So, they are extremely advanced golems that can understand human speech, then?” Inglis asked.

“I feel like that’s the best way to think of them,” Wilma answered.

“I see...” As far as Inglis remembered from her past life, a golem’s form depended very much on the material it was made from. If a golem was indistinguishable from a human at a glance... That meant, well... That meant it was best not to think about this any further.

“I don’t know the technical details. I’m just a knight.”

Wilma’s rank was probably similar to that which Rahl and Fars had held. She was entrusted with a battleship and with Theodore’s orders, so was likely ranked fairly high among knights. Though since she served the Triumvirate, and they the Papal League, there might be slight differences.

“All right... Stop here.” Wilma stopped at one of the passages leading from the arsenal’s cavernous expanse.

“A wall of light... Is that a barrier?” Inglis could feel intense mana. It didn’t have any human control, but it felt similar to when a spell was being cast.

“Yes. Don’t touch it. It will repel those without authorization.” Wilma stood in front of the wall as she said, “Privilege level: administrative. Authorize temporary passage, four unscreened individuals.” A ray of light lanced toward her stigmata, and the wall disappeared. “Let’s go. Stay close to me. If you wander off, the barrier will activate.”

“This technology is amazing.” An Artifact’s Gift required a wielder to activate it. Yet this was able to achieve complicated tasks like determining whether its user had a stigmata or temporarily disabling the barrier with no human intervention.

This sort of complex control should be impossible without human intent, yet it had been automated. “If this wall is like an Artifact, then where does the mana to power its magic come from? How does it decide to recognize your stigmata, or allow exceptions?” Inglis’s mind raced at the possibilities. She could spend an entire day just examining the wall.

“Come on, Chris, what are you doing? Wilma said not to wander off.” Rafinha scooped her up.

“Ah, um. Sorry, Rani.”

Leone also had a question for Wilma. “Excuse me... Why did you just say ‘four’? Aren’t there five of us?”

“Indeed,” Liselotte agreed. “I was wondering that as well.”

“There should be no problem with letting a hieral menace through, right? After all, we, Highland, created them.”

“Oh, I see,” Leone replied.

“That does seem to make sense,” Liselotte said.

“A welcome home, then. I appreciate it.” In contrast to her words, Eris’s expression was indifferent and showed no pleasure.

“The end of the passage is pretty far off. If only we had a Flygear.” Rafinha was right: the light at the end of the tunnel was still far off.

“Yes. Agreed.” Wilma approached a crest of some sort carved into the wall. “Requesting a vehicle for six. Destination: central laboratories.” Again, a light shone on her stigmata. The wall opened silently, and a Flygear emerged from within. It was shaped like a saucer, with a railing all around, somewhat reminiscent of a miniaturized Flygear Port.

“Wow! That’s amazing!” Rafinha exclaimed in glee.

“That is very convenient...” Leone agreed.

“But how does such a thing operate?” Liselotte asked.

“Automated logistics. Not just here, there are countless terminals like this all over Illuminas. Get in,” Wilma replied.

“All right, I’ll pilot it—where are the controls?” Rafinha asked.

“Its operation is automatic too. All we have to do is tell it where we’re going.”

“Woooow! Incredible!” Rafinha was overjoyed.

Leone, meanwhile, was becoming more and more overwhelmed. “I suppose I should have expected such things from where Artifacts and hieral menaces are created...”

Liselotte nodded. “Quite agreed...”

“All right, let’s go.” At Wilma’s command, the Flygear took off. Clearing the long passageway, they entered the open air. As they exited from the side of a mountain, the full splendor of Highland revealed itself.

A metropolis spread out before them, one incomparably larger than even Karelia’s capital of Chiral. As they’d seen from afar, the houses were of matching boxlike form, arrayed in an even grid, and their milk-white walls were decorated with green sigils. Even the trees were neatly placed and trimmed, giving an overwhelming sense of neatness and order.

“All the houses are the same size!” Rafinha remarked.

“They’re all precisely measured...” Leone agreed.

“There is a sense of organization that makes it look extremely strictly planned...” Liselotte said.

“Wilma, are those small matching buildings where Highlanders live?” Inglis asked.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then the larger buildings are for other purposes?”

“There are no signs or anything! I can’t tell what’s what!” Rafinha stared down in awe.

“I bet you’re looking for a restaurant, Rafinha,” Leone remarked.

“Ah, you could tell? I want to have a tasty meal, and then visit a Highland tailor, and somewhere where I can get souvenirs. Where are those, Wilma?”

“We don’t have anything like that. Anything you need gets delivered.”

“Whaaat?!” Rafinha, Leone, and Liselotte gasped in shock.

“They just get it for free?!” Rafinha asked.

“That’s so different from the surface,” Leone said.

“Then, Highlanders don’t have to work or anything?!” Liselotte asked Wilma.

“We’ve moved beyond the need for labor. With some exceptions, of course. Research scientists, or people like me. This is the machinator’s home island, so many of its people want to be researchers.”

“I see... If their needs are automatically supplied, then people don’t need to work,” Inglis pondered. Perhaps this was the end point of human society as a whole. The world had advanced since the lifetime of King Inglis. At least here.

“There are no fields or farms, though,” Rafinha remarked. “Where do you get your food—oh, right, from the surface in exchange for Artifacts...”

“It seems like a nice place, maybe, for the people who live here? But meanwhile we have to fight desperately to defend our land from magicite beasts, and that...” Leone began.

“But without those Artifacts, we’d have no hope in doing so, so...” Liselotte replied.

“There’s no point in worrying about it. We do what we have to do. That’s all that matters,” Eris reminded them.

“The surface and Highland may not be equal, but we do rely on each other. That’s why we’re allowing your entry, and repairing your hieral menace, without asking for anything in return,” Wilma said.

“I suppose we can be thankful for that.”

“Honestly, I think the idea of being freed from the labor needed to survive is great. That means you’re allowed to focus on mastering the blade, and train and fight as much as you want, right? I’m jealous!” Inglis said. A world where duty and obligations didn’t apply and she could devote herself to what she wanted to do sounded wonderful to her.

Eris, Leone, and Liselotte all eyed Inglis uneasily.

“Hm?”

“Chris, you don’t seem like you have to be here to do that,” Rafinha remarked while poking Inglis’s cheek. Eris, Leone, and Liselotte nodded in agreement.

Inglis smiled back, unperturbed. “So, isn’t the surface fun too?”

“I still can’t help but compare the two,” Rafinha said.

“Yeah, that’s right. But I’m happy just being with Rani, having a powerful foe I can fight anytime, and having all I can eat.”

“Isn’t that a little bit greedy? I’m fine without the ‘powerful foe’ part! Anyway, though, let’s enjoy what we can! Let’s do some sightseeing!”

“Wait, Rafinha. We’re not just here on vacation...” Leone said.

“The emergency landing in the ocean must have caused many problems here,” Liselotte said.

“There don’t seem to be many people around town,” Eris said, looking down. As vast as the city was, it was deathly silent, near deserted.

“The evacuation is mostly complete. The bulk of the population should be underground,” Wilma said.

“I see...” Inglis said.

“Once the all clear is given, the people should come back out. But where we’re going is there.” Wilma pointed to the center of the city. There loomed a building dozens of times larger than its neighbors, several times larger than even Karelia’s palace. “That is the central laboratory. The very heart of Illuminas. That is where hieral menaces are born.” As Wilma narrated, the Flygear approached the massive building.

◆◇◆

Setting foot inside the central laboratory section, they found bedlam incomparable to what they had expected from the exterior.

“What caused the failure?! What happened?!”

“The Floating Circle just suddenly malfunctioned!”

“What?! What’s going on?!”

“We don’t know! More importantly, we need to stay afloat!”

“Yes, we’ve activated emergency redirection of the mana for rainfall detection and urban barriers for stronger buoyancy!”

“Understood... But if the Prism Flow begins to fall...”

“We don’t really have a choice in the matter right now!”

“Yes, and we can always request aid from a satellite island!”

Highlanders, ones whom Inglis assumed were researchers, carried on an intense conversation while monitoring the instruments scattered around. The central laboratory encompassed many floors, and as Inglis’s group remained on their Flygear, which followed a path marked by a beam of light, the scene on all the floors was the same. The air was thick with tension.

“We’ve come at a terrible time, haven’t we?” Rafinha asked.

“Yeah,” Inglis said. “It’s probably a really big deal for a piece of Highland to fall and get stuck. If the Prism Flow falls heavily, or a Prismer shows up, they won’t be able to escape.”

“Don’t tempt fate... What would we even do if that happened?!”

“Fight, I guess? I haven’t gone at it with a Prismer in a while.” Inglis clenched a fist and smiled, the cute expression at odds with her desires.

“I don’t wanna! The thought of fighting something like that again scares me!”

“We’ve arrived. Get off here,” Wilma announced.

Stepping down from the Flygear, they found themselves before a grand door.

“This is...?” Inglis asked.

“Chief Academician Wilkin’s lab. He’s said to be the finest researcher in Illuminas. Do try to mind your manners...though I’m not sure he will.”

Wilma stood in front of them, and again, a beam of light brushed over her stigmata before the door slowly opened. On the other side of the threshold was an open space with scattered research equipment, bookshelves, and miniaturized versions of the mechanical hands they’d seen at the arsenal assembling devices unfamiliar to Inglis.

“Eww, what’s that?” Rafinha’s attention was drawn to a lump of flesh floating in a transparent tube. As one of the mechanical hands pierced it with a needle and injected fluid of an unnatural color, it began to pulsate.

“Eeek?!”

“Well, that doesn’t look very pleasant...” Leone remarked.

Suddenly, the flesh transformed into something that resembled a puppy.

“Aww, how cute!”

“Indeed, it is quite adorable,” Liselotte agreed.

But the moment it drew their attention, it transformed back into a mass of flesh, and from there into a large fly.

“Ewwwww!”

“That’s not cute at all!”

“What in the world...?”

While Rafinha and the others were frightened, Inglis gazed at the tube, fascinated. “A creature capable of taking any form? I wonder how that works. It’s amazing...”

“Chris, don’t get close to that thing! It’s nasty!”

“Quiet down. You’re making a scene,” Wilma scolded them as she herded them further on. “Chief Academician Wilkin. I have completed your order to transport the hieral menace.”

There was a large desk at the back of the room, and Wilma reported to the person seated there. From behind, Inglis thought he must have been a young boy. The white glove on his right hand seemed like the kind of thing a researcher would wear, but he oddly wasn’t wearing its pair.

“You’re always so formal, Wilma. I appreciate that you take things seriously, but just ‘dad’ is fine.”

“Well, this is a formality.”

Strangely, Wilkin looked obviously younger than Wilma. And as he turned around—a familiar face was revealed.

“Lord Evel?!” Inglis gasped.

“Say what?! Why is he here?!” Rafinha said.

His face was that of Highland’s Archlord Evel—though his calm and relaxed expression certainly bore no resemblance.

“Um? Evel?” Chief Academician Wilkin, Evel’s apparent twin, was taken aback. On second glance, the color of his hair was slightly different.

“Err... Yes. The archlord from Highland...” Inglis began.

“An archlord? Oh, he must be with the Altar. Yeah, some of them are probably using a hi-mana coat, we sent over a few.” His casual tone while responding to Inglis broke the tension.

“So you’re...not Evel?” Rafinha asked.

“That’s right, yep! You heard Wilma calling me Chief Academician Wilkin, didn’t you?”

“So that isn’t your original body,” Inglis said, trying to understand. “It’s an artificially created one you call a, uh, hi-mana coat? And more than one of these exist?”

“Yep, that’s it! Well, I’m the one who came up with it, so I guess you could say I’m the original, and the rest using it are all copies.”

“I see...”

He redirected his attention to Eris. “And you’re the hieral menace we’re supposed to fix? Got busted up by the dux?”

“Yes, if you have the time. Things seem hectic around here right now...” Eris said quietly.

“Yep. Depends on how broken you are. If you’re too beat up, it might be quicker to scrap you and ship a replacement.”

Eris was silent.

“But then what would happen to Eris?!” Rafinha cried.

“You mean in terms of personality, or soul, or whatever? The hieral menace part’s already broken,” Wilkin remarked in unperturbed confusion.

“Y-Yes! Exactly! What then?”

“Mmm? We could put her personality in a new vessel and let you take that home. See? I’ve got just what I need right there to do that. I’ll even throw it in for free. Not giving you a hi-mana coat, though.” Wilkin pointed at the lump of flesh they had just seen transform.

“Absolutely not! I don’t want Eris to end up as some bug!”

“Eh, I can make the body pretty much anything you’d like. One like now would be fine. No guarantees, though.” Wilkin laughed. “Anyway, though, any body’s fine as long as it fulfills basic biological necessities, don’t you think? In the end, a body is just a vessel; it’s the personality or ‘soul’ that feels happiness.”

Rafinha struggled to comfortably reply. “Um... I don’t really get what you mean by that...”

“It’s fun getting to do what you want forever!”

“But I feel like that wouldn’t be Eris anymore...”

“So you’re hung up on her keeping her ‘natural’ body? I mean, she’s a hieral menace—it’s not like we haven’t already tinkered with her attributes. She’s not even remotely natural. Basically, the only thing we kept was the skin. There’s no reason to be worried about a new body for her.” Wilkin rattled off to Rafinha without concern.

Rafinha’s breath caught in her throat. “But...it’s weird! It’s just...really weird!”

“I consider it an enhancement! We Highlanders consider it an honor to be moved to a hi-mana coat or some other new vessel. It’s an incomparable opportunity to deepen one’s knowledge and thinking. And of course, the machinator himself is a shining example. The body isn’t what makes a person—it’s their knowledge! Their soul!”

Although Eris paused at first, her response was firm. “I’d prefer to be returned to as close to my original state as possible. I still have duties to fulfill as a hieral menace—ones I would not like to burden others with.”

“I see, I see. That’s a beautiful example of dedication too. Anyway, let’s get you checked out and see what we can do, hmm? Heeey!” At the chief academician’s call, a fist-sized sphere of navy blue approached. Sigils shone across its entire surface. “Theeere we go. Search, search. Ascertain damage and malfunction throughout her entire body.” A pale green light fixed on Eris. “Oh? Looks like there’s one part that’s completely wrecked. Guess it’ll be faster to fix her up after all.”

“Sir, given the circumstances, are you sure this is a good idea?” Wilma asked.

“I told you, Wilma—just ‘dad’ is fine.”

“Again, I have formal duties.”

“Your mission was complete as soon as you delivered her, wasn’t it?” Chief Academician Wilkin looked forlorn. “Anyway, hieral menace production is independent of the machinator’s systems, so it’ll be fine. Now let’s get back to that search and figure out how we’re going to do the repairs.” Various lights flitted over Eris. “And? What about the other girls? Did you come here to be hieral menaces? Then why don’t we check your aptitude?”

Rafinha shook her head. “No, we’re only here as an escort...”

But Inglis had other ideas. “Yes, please, sir!”

“Chris!” 

“It’s not like we’re going to be here often, so we may as well make some memories!” As a divine knight, she didn’t expect the process would be smooth at all. However, studying the technology up close might reveal new techniques she could use in battle. That was what drove her obvious fascination.

“Sure, sure! All right, need another one!” Another sphere approached, and stopped before Inglis. “Just touch it with your hand.”

“Understood!” Inglis rested her hand on the sphere as instructed.

Beep-beep-beep-beep!

It let out a sound that seemed to be some kind of warning.

“Hm?”

“Huh, a measurement error?” Wilkin’s head swiveled. Apparently, the aether sheathing a divine knight interfered in some way. “Hmmmm, how about you give it a try then?”

“Huh? Me?!” Rafinha tentatively rested her hand on the sphere as it arrived before her.

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

“I guess it’s broken. Maybe it’s affected by the machinator’s silence? I thought these things were supposed to operate independently. Anyway, let’s try a different one,” Wilkin mumbled. The second sphere disappeared, replaced with a third. He looked to Leone. “Here, you’re next.”

“M-Me?! Err, okay...” When Leone touched the sphere, no alarm went off.

“Analysis complete. Aptitude level: C.”

Rafinha’s eyes widened. “Wow, did that thing just talk?! Amazing!”

“Hmm, that’s good. At least some of ’em are working. Anyway! It looks like you’ve got potential. Interested? Level C means you have a chance.”

“I-I do?!” Leone pointed at herself in shock.

“Yeah. The treatment will take four or five years, and it has about a twenty-five percent success rate? You might never see your friends here again.”

“That long?! And what if it fails?!”

“Mmm. You wouldn’t be able to keep your original form, but we can’t stop partway and transfer your spirit to a different body either... Basically, you’d be dead.”

“I-I’ll pass!” Leone furiously shook her head.

“Please don’t recommend things that are that dangerous!” Rafinha complained.

“What’s the matter? Those aren’t the worst odds, and I don’t think the time frame is that unrealistic. Or perhaps it’s because your position in society is different from that of those who arrive as offerings, giving your lives a different value in your mind.”

“Just what is that supposed to—?!”

As Rafinha began to yell, the sphere spoke again. “Additional notification. Rune and mana output desync rate at seventy-one percent. Recalibration recommended.”

“Hmm? Huh. Well, since we’re already here, I’ll get that fixed up for you two. This will be just a moment, and there’s no chance of failure, so if you could just keep your hand still. Order. Destroy that girl’s Rune. Execute reissue.”

At Chief Academician Wilkin’s order, the sphere practically blinded everyone. At the same time, the Rune on the back of her hand also glowed equally bright before beginning to fade.

Leone gasped. “My Rune?!”

“It’s disappearing!” Liselotte said.

“Calm down, it’s just going away for a moment and then a new one will be inscribed.”

“So this is similar in function to the baptismal tabernacle on the surface?” Inglis asked.

“Yep! That’s just one of its functions.” Wilkin smiled.

A new Rune began to rise on the back of Leone’s hand. But not an upper-class one like she had had. Its sublime prismatic sparkle was that of—

“Unbelievable...” Leone stared in wonder.

“You have a special-class Rune?!” Liselotte gasped.

“A-Amazing! That’s incredible, Leone!” Rafinha beamed.

There was no mistaking it: that was a special-class Rune. One’s given Rune at the time of baptism was not necessarily permanent, and Inglis knew there were cases where someone’s had improved to something stronger. She had been told that had been the case for Lahti’s brother, Prince Windsel of Alcard. It wasn’t impossible, but it wasn’t common by any means. This was the first time Inglis had seen it happen in person.

“I... I can’t believe it... Me, with a special-class Rune...” Leone, still awestruck, gaped at the special-class Rune on the back of her right hand.

“Congratulations, Leone. I’m so happy for you.”

“Inglis... Thank you!”

Out of Rafinha, Leone, and Liselotte, Leone was the one who put the most into her training, so Inglis didn’t find the increase in her Rune totally unusual. She always trained hard, and since entering the knights’ academy, she’d survived many battles. That experience had steadily increased her strength.

“Let’s have a mock battle with all sorts of Artifacts later! I bet it’ll be good practice...” Inglis smiled excitedly. Her regular sparring partner Leone’s getting a special-class Rune was cause for joy indeed. Their sessions together would be improved both in intensity and in nature.

“D-Do take it easy on me, though. I may have a special-class Rune now, but I don’t feel like I’ve suddenly gotten stronger just because of that.”

“Yeah, that’s about right,” Wilkin said. “It didn’t do something to make you stronger or anything. Just detected a conflict with your existing Rune and inscribed a more appropriate one.”

“Th-Thank you, Academician Wilkin!” Leone bowed deeply to him.

“It’s nothing. Just wanted to do something for you, since you came all the way up here.”

“I want to thank you too!” Rafinha began. “I had my suspicions because I don’t have any good memories associated with that face, but it seems like you really are a nice person.”

“Ha ha ha, it’s like I was telling you. Even if two people are using the same hi-mana coat, what matters is their personality, their soul. Anyway, I’m glad I failed to disappoint. Always have to keep reputation in mind.” He flashed a grin.

“That’s wonderful, Leone! Congratulations!” Rafinha said.

“There was no one in our class with a special-class Rune before, but now you can stand proudly at our head!” Liselotte remarked.

“I think Inglis is still stronger, though...” Leone protested.

“I’m in the squire program, so I think you’re a better representative,” Inglis said. A holy knight with a special-class Rune was more palatable, whereas Inglis herself could be ‘Runeless but strong’ or ‘inexplicably strong’ in the perceptions of others. Circumstances surrounding the rebirth of the rimebound Prismer had forced her to make a name for herself, but this was probably something she could spin into pinning the credit on Leone if another Prismer appeared. If she proved herself in an easy-to-understand way, the new proposals rolling in would be too much to bear. The crown had put a stop to that for now, but even with things having calmed down there was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.

To avoid that, she needed a new heroine from some new disaster to overwrite her own fame. With that, what she’d done would be in the past, and all eyes would be on someone else. If a new Prismer were to appear and ravage the countryside, and she and Rafinha weren’t the ones to defeat it, people’s memories of them would fade.

“Well, I’m just happy that something really cool happened to you, Leone!” Rafinha cheered. “Don’t push yourself too hard because of it, though!”

“Indeed,” Liselotte agreed. “You’re a powerful motivator. I’ll have to work hard to keep up with you.”

“Thanks, everyone... I’ll do my best not to let you down.” Leone nodded with a serious expression.

“How about you, Liselotte?” Rafinha asked. “Maybe you can get a special-class Rune too!”

“I’m not confident, but I’d like to give it a try!” Liselotte’s eyes shone.

“Of course. You go next, then,” Wilkin said.

“Yes...!” After the sphere approached her, Liselotte placed her hand on it.

Ring-ring-ring-ring! 

That was a different sound than the earlier alarm.

“Huh?! What in the—?!”

“Is it broken again?”

“Critical notification! Critical notification! S+ aptitude sample detected! Immediate capture and initiation of hieral menace procedure recommended! Initiating automatic capture in ten, nine, eight, seven...” The sphere blinked violently and began to circle closer to Liselotte.

“A-Ah! What’s going on?! ‘Immediate initiation of the hieral menace procedure’?!” Rafinha asked.

“Oh, wow! I’ve never even seen someone with S+ aptitude! ♪” Chief Academician Wilkin raised his voice in glee.

“It said something about ‘automatic capture’?!”

Just as Rafinha said, it was probably about to forcibly capture Liselotte.

“Stop this—or else,” Eris warned sternly.

“Okay, okay. No forced capture, no automatic processing! After all, you’re our guests!” At Wilkin’s order, the sphere stopped blinking and fell silent.

The obvious implication was that those who were not guests would be forcibly captured and transformed into a hieral menace. Those sorts of people were likely either kidnapped or offered in place of food or supplies. Inglis concluded the common practice was to gather many and scan them all at once.

As friendly as Ambassador Theodore was, he could not have eyes on everything that happened in Highland. Nor was Karelia the only surface country in contact with Illuminas. And Chief Academician Wilkin’s words suggested that this was done as a matter of course.

“Yes, that was quite startling...” Liselotte exhaled loudly.

“Anyway, what’ll it be? As you heard, you’re extreeeemely suited for it. With an S+ aptitude, the whole thing would take at worst half a day—no, it’d be over in the blink of an eye, and your success rate would be assured! Like a hundred and twenty-five percent! I’ll give you my personal guarantee, so why not give being a hieral menace a try?” Wilkin’s eyes gleamed as he approached Liselotte.

“Er, no, I...I don’t have anything I can give you in exchange for becoming a hieral menace...”

“No, no, it’s free! Not as some sort of exchange for a hieral menace, I’ve just never seen someone with your aptitude! I just want to see what happens! All you’ll owe me is some occasional data-gathering!” he insisted. “Please? You’ll be able to stay cute like that forever! You’ll get stronger and better in fights! C’mon!”

“I understand that, but I’m not ready to make a quick decision. I apologize.” Liselotte glanced over at Eris as if asking for help.

“Unlike Highlanders, people of the surface are not used to changing their natural bodies. No matter how certain you are that the procedure will be successful, it will have a significant impact on her relationships with her family and friends, as well as her future way of life. Therefore, while I will not stop her if she chooses to go through with it, I do ask that you give her time to consider,” Eris said, wedging herself between Liselotte and Wilkin.

He didn’t try to hide his disappointment. “I see. Well, I can’t argue with that. But if you’re ever interested, just ask!”

“Lady Eris...thank you.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eris said as she gave a motherly smile. She was outspoken and curt, but a caring person nonetheless.

Inglis, meanwhile, reflected silently. Her initial reaction to the possibility of Liselotte becoming a hieral menace was to daydream about improving her own training even further. She had felt a bit happy when she’d heard that the procedure would be safe and quick.

“What’s up, Chris?” Rafinha peered at Inglis.

“Oh, n-nothing! Nothing at all!”

“Really? You were thinking you wanted Liselotte to become a hieral menace, weren’t you? Probably something about it making training more fun. You can’t hide your true self from me!”

“No, no, no—I mean, maybe I thought that a little, but I wasn’t really being a creep about it like Chief Academician Wilkin, so I don’t think I was that bad!”

“Well, yeah, but...! You know, first I thought he was a jerk like Evel, and then I thought he was a nice guy...but I guess he really is a jerk.”

“Shhhh! He can hear you, Rani!”

“It’s because you were thinking weird things to begin with!”

“Oh no, just look at what I did. Cultural exchange is hard, isn’t it?” Wilkin scratched the back of his head, not looking very troubled at all.

“Anyway, knowing my aptitude is helpful. If I decide that the procedure is necessary, I’ll be sure to visit again. Thank you for your consideration.” Liselotte politely bowed to Wilkin.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be waiting.” With that, he turned to Eris. The sphere which had been examining her drew close to him. “Then, let’s get back to the point. The hieral menace... Eris, right? You’re a very old hieral menace. One of the earliest models, I’d say. So the search took a bit of time... You’re from a period when the aptitude tests hadn’t even been fully established. No wonder I didn’t recognize you. It must have been before I was even born.”

“I see... When I underwent the procedure, there was certainly nothing mentioned about my aptitude level.”

“Makes sense. After all, I’m the one that came up with it!”

“Fascinating,” Inglis cut in. “Around how long ago was that?”

“Four or five hundred years ago... Probably around the time of the Highland-Surface War.”

The Highland-Surface War—Inglis had never heard that term before. It must have been referring to something which had occurred between her lives. And Eris must have originally been from around that time.

“What?! Does that mean Eris is at least four hundred years old?!” Rafinha gasped in shock.

“She certainly doesn’t look four hundred,” Leone said. 

“Perhaps there is an advantage to becoming a hieral menace,” Liselotte pondered.

“This is the first time I’ve heard that so much time has passed since then. I suppose that explains why everything is so different now.” Eris looked away wistfully.

Inglis could understand that feeling. The world in which the goddess Alistia had caused her to be miraculously reborn was entirely different, with not a trace of King Inglis’s era left. Inglis’s own sense of loneliness was probably something Eris carried with her as well.

However, Inglis had retained a divine knight’s ability to control aether. Everything else may have changed, but that wasn’t all bad. She’d gained a loving family, something she’d never had before, and above all she had Rafinha—the apple of her eye, a girl to dote on like a granddaughter. She had been placed in circumstances suitable for pursuing her wish of mastering the blade. Life as Inglis Eucus was something she greatly enjoyed. That was undeniable.

But, as for Eris... Inglis didn’t know exactly what she had gone through, but after undergoing the long procedure to become a hieral menace, she had returned to what felt like a completely different land, expected to become its people’s guardian...

What did the world look like to her? What did she think?

“So, anyway, yeah, this is the interesting part! Looking again at Eris, what do you think her aptitude level is?” Wilkin asked.

“An S+ like Liselotte, maybe? That’s a given—Eris’s never let us down!” Rafinha insisted.

“No, no, that’s not it. Other way around, in fact!” Wilkin said.

“Other way around?” Rafinha, Leone, and Liselotte all asked in confusion.

“Yes! Her aptitude’s an F! Like one-in-a-million odds of success! Pretty much guaranteed death! We’d never do it nowadays, it’d just be a waste—we’d find some other use for her instead. I guess maybe they just didn’t know back then, but trying to force someone with that aptitude into being a hieral menace is just unheard of these days. It’s like they were trying to get her killed,” Wilkin rattled off enthusiastically. Inglis was in no position to object, but it did strike her as rather rude.

“Eris...” Rafinha began, her tone concerned.

“Does that mean you can’t repair me because of my original aptitude?” Eris asked bluntly, with no hesitation. As she did, she placed a hand on Rafinha’s shoulder. “It’s okay. It was the only choice I had at the time. I’m here with you now because it succeeded. The odds don’t matter anymore. So don’t worry about it.”

“O-Okay...” Rafinha seemed relieved.

“Well, about that...” Wilkin said. “I mean, yeah, it worked, and that counts for something. However, Eris, since your aptitude is so low, your insides are a patch job at best. It’s like they decided they were gonna get the job done one way or another. That’s why I’m not sure you can avoid coming out worse, in terms of hardness, when clashing with a truly amazing weapon.”

Eris let out a small gasp. “I see. I was the one who was a burden in that fight...” Eris had stood firm until now. Her expression twisted in regret. She must have been remembering when she was damaged in the part-proposal, part-duel with Dux Jildegrieva.

“Anyway, though, the thing about the work on you is that you’re easy to mend.”

“How long until the process is finished?”

“A month, give or take.”

That was a bit of a wait, Inglis thought, but she found that acceptable. It opened the question of whether to wait here and return to Karelia after the process, or to head home immediately and come back to Highland after it was complete.

But as she pondered this, Wilkin’s eyes suddenly lit up. “But hear me out! What if we made it a year or two and tried adding some new features?!”

“New features?!”

“Yes! Eris, you’re the hieral menace that never should have been, a total patch job, a real monument to the do-or-die spirit of the old days. But why don’t we try to take advantage of that? Make lemonade out of those lemons? It’s like a blessing in disguise.”

“I’m not sure whether you’re praising me or belittling me.” Eris sighed.

“Oh, it’s all praise. You might even end up a step beyond any other hieral menace. My instincts as a researcher are screaming out to me: ‘Now, what do we do with Eris?’”

One to two years was a pretty long time frame, but was still not completely unrealistic to Inglis. However, at that rate, they’d definitely have to return to the knights’ academy while they waited. In any case, though, the decision should be up to Eris.

Eris turned to Inglis. “What do you think?”

Inglis paused for a moment. “Would that make you even stronger in human form?”

“That’s your concern?”

“Because to get stronger, more than anything, I need harder training! How about it, Academician?”

“I’m not sure. It’s possible she’ll get stronger, but I can’t guarantee it. It’s just a new feature for her weapon form.”

“In that case, her own opinion is the most important.”

Eris thought that over. “I suppose if my weapon form becomes stronger, that essentially means you become stronger. After all, there’s no one who could use that but you.”

“I definitely don’t disagree that I’m the right person for the job, but...”

The pitfall, one could say, of a hieral menace was that their wielder’s life force was unavoidably sapped away. To a holy knight with a special-class Rune, the hieral menace was a last line of defense, allowing them to strike down a powerful Prismer at the cost of their own life. For Inglis, however, there were none of these side effects—hieral menaces were simply the ultimate weapon.

However, hieral menaces had wills of their own. They spent most of their time with the appearance of a young woman, so wielding them felt like getting help from another person. If Inglis went into battle with one in hand, that wasn’t a one-on-one fight but a two-on-one. If she had to, she had to, but she’d like to avoid that if possible. It went against her own goal of mastering the blade. The best fight was a fair one-on-one.

“By the way, Academician Wilkin. While you’re patching up Eris, is there any way we could get you to remove the side effect of sapping the life of the hieral menace’s wielder? It’d be absolutely great if you could,” Inglis said. If that was possible, then Leone or Silva could wield Eris too, and a hieral menace as a weapon would be available at all times.

“Well, that would be tough. It’s something that’s unavoidable with how hieral menaces are put together. And besides, the machinator would purge me! It’d present a big problem for not just Illuminas, but Highlanders as a whole.”

“I see...”

His rejection was polite but firm. Inglis’s experience with hieral menaces, though, suggested that it was not technically impossible. The circuit which drew mana from a special-class Rune, and that which sapped away the wielder’s life force, were disconnected, independent. That she could use aether to block the one that sapped life force without preventing the hieral menace from transforming was proof. It was basically like getting access to a hieral menace for free. That was a technique she’d poached by watching the Steelblood Front’s black-masked leader wield Sistia.

“Again, Eris’s opinion is the most important. While a new feature would be great, it would be a shame to miss a year or two of training with her. We’ve only just recently had the chance to start sparring frequently. I’m ambivalent on the matter.”

“Can’t you say my strength is needed ‘for our country’ or ‘for the greater good’ like a normal person would?” Eris protested.

“That isn’t why I fight.” Inglis smiled gently but spoke firmly. In her life as Inglis Eucus, she did not want to mix power with ideals or ideology. That would lead her to use the former for the sake of one of the latter, and in doing so detract from her pure pursuit of power.

But that didn’t always apply when Rafinha disagreed. That, too, was how Inglis Eucus was.

“Ah, well, that’s just how you are... You haven’t changed a bit since the time I first met you.” Eris sighed.

“I’m honored!”

“That wasn’t meant as praise,” Eris said coolly. “Anyway, Rafinha, what do you think?” She turned to Rafinha.

“M-Me...?”

“Inglis listens to whatever you say.”

“You wield me like I wield her, so in the end it’s kind of up to you, right?” Inglis added.

“Well, in that case, I guess...I think new features sound good! I’ll miss you while you’re gone, Eris... But we can’t have Chris lose her rematch with Dux Jil! I don’t want her to have to move up to Highland! She belongs with us in Ymir, where she can be the next duchess!”

“I don’t intend to get married, but...” Inglis muttered.

“Of course, it’s important to be prepared in case a stronger enemy appears too. So I’m for it!” Rafinha finished.

“Then I am too!”

“Excellent. I can agree with that too. There’s no replacement for strength. I’ll report to Ambassador Theodore; pending his approval, let’s go through with it,” Eris said.

Eris being gone for a period of time measured in years would have a significant impact on Karelia, and especially on the activities of the Paladins. It would be necessary to report back and get approval. Though, given that the Paladins had recently had their strength bolstered with the addition of Arles, that approval would likely be forthcoming.

“So, it’s decided, Academician Wilkin. This new feature you’re talking about... Please install it for me,” Eris said.

“Okay! Wow, I haven’t felt this engaged in a long time. Hurry up and get your approval! I’ve got some prep work to get done too!” Wilkin rose from his chair, obviously pleased.

Inglis called out to him from behind. “Academician Wilkin. I’m sorry, but there is one other thing...”

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“I have a question for you first. Are your superiors privy to this conversation?”

The other mission with which Ambassador Theodore had entrusted Inglis was the treatment of Cyrene, who had been turned into a magicite beast.

“Superiors? The only one above me on Illuminas is the machinator himself. And as you can see, with the Floating Circle malfunctioning, he’s gone silent. I don’t think he has the bandwidth to listen in.”

“Yes, I saw how much of a panic everyone was in... But what do you mean by ‘gone silent’?” Inglis still didn’t quite understand what Wilkin meant.

“The short answer is, the machinator is Illuminas. The long answer is, he forms the very core of Illuminas’s control system. You’ve seen how convenient having everything here automated is. Automatic construction of battleships, doors that open when you speak to them, self-piloting Flygears that take you wherever you want. And every single one of those requests is processed by the machinator. He abandoned the flesh to become the system’s core and guide us.”

“I see... That’s certainly very advanced technology.” So this highly developed portion of Highland known as Illuminas was built around a single leading Highlander. Adding in what Dux Jildegrieva had said, he retained his personality and was able to communicate, but with the Floating Circle malfunctioning that had become impossible. That was why almost everyone here was in such a panic, although Wilkin didn’t seem all that shaken. In any case, with no eavesdropping happening, this was a good opportunity.

“I see. I guess now’s my chance, then. There’s something I’d like to ask you in private...” As Inglis spoke, she signaled to Leone with her eyes.

“Yes... Rin! Come out, Rin!”

Rin could normally be found nesting in either Inglis’s or Leone’s cleavage.

Jiggle, jiggle, jiggle!

“Sheesh...! Don’t squirm around like that, Rin! Eep?!”

And now, with Inglis still in the form of a child, Leone had to deal with that alone.

◆◇◆

The next day, Inglis and friends were guided to the central laboratory’s basement levels by Wilkin. That was where the facilities for creating hieral menaces were, and hence where Eris would be repaired. They were there to see her off. Once the process began, they would not see her for perhaps a year or two, and she would be missed. They had been able to use Illuminas’s facilities to contact Ambassador Theodore, and as Eris had hoped the decision had been arrived at to install the new feature Wilkin had suggested. And besides, Inglis wanted to see what the machinery for producing one of Highland’s most important technologies—hieral menaces—looked like.

“And right over there. That’s the equipment for producing hieral menaces.”

They were in a vast subterranean space, carved into the bedrock. Inglis didn’t know when Illuminas itself had been cut away from the land, but this must have dated to around that time. And there was only one thing within.

“What is that?” Rafinha gasped.

“A huge stone box?” Leone asked.

“It’s like a massive sarcophagus...” Liselotte said.

They looked up—it was large enough to do so—at a huge stone sarcophagus. At least, that seemed to be the best way to describe it. Even in such a vast space, it towered monumentally.

“It’s pulsating with a mysterious light...” Leone was right. The surface of the sarcophagus had a pale, unstable glow.

“But it’s... Calming, in a way. It makes me feel at home,” Rafinha said.

“So beautiful, yet so fragile,” Liselotte agreed.

Inglis, meanwhile, silently listened to the others. She had a reason to stay silent. This was something she remembered. Something she remembered from her past life as King Inglis.

“That’s a Greyfrier sarcophagus. We get Eris in here, and then we can start the repairs and upgrade.”

“I never expected to enter that again. Never even wanted to see it again...” Eris sighed, brushing her hair back from her shoulders in a way she rarely did. She was obviously tense.

“Wait, isn’t...” Inglis began. That wasn’t right. Inglis wasn’t sure whether Greyfrier was someone’s name, or what it was supposed to mean. But its original purpose was not the creation of hieral menaces. That’s a liminal sepulcher! To think that I would see one again here! 

Inglis couldn’t help but be shocked. It was a training ground created by the ancient gods. The goddess Alistia had called it a liminal sepulcher. Inglis had visited such a place in her previous life, before founding Silvare and just after receiving Alistia’s protection and becoming a divine knight.

As a fresh divine knight, Inglis had not yet had full control over aether. Even just learning to use Aether Strike and Aether Shell required years of practice. But those had been turbulent times. Mankind warred against mankind, monsters and demons roamed the land, and hope was faint indeed. Inglis, then as a young man, could not afford to spend years training.

And thus, Alistia had led the young Inglis to the liminal sepulcher. It was only loosely attached to this world, its position flitting from place to place, and inside, the flow of time was separate. From the outside, it appeared to be a featureless cube of rock, sealed tightly, but gods and divine knights could create an entrance. Once within, though, they could not open it from the inside. Only opening an exit would allow them to escape.

Thus confined, Inglis had trained herself in the control of aether. It had taken her what felt like several years to finally acquire the knack for basic use of aether in combat, yet when Alistia had released her, only a few days had passed in the outside world.

That was a memory from her far-off youth, in a whole different lifetime. King Inglis would have loved to have visited again but never could due to being a ruler, and circumstances did not allow him to do so before his death.

Now, though, she felt no need to reenter—as time passed inside, so would it for her. It was a training ground for those with no time to spare, those with a crisis looming for which they needed strength as soon as it could be mustered, those who needed to fit fulfilling practice into the shortest gap in their schedule. Inglis Eucus, with her lighter duties, had no need for that.

“Just look at how it glows! We don’t even know why it does that!” Wilkin said.

“So even Highland doesn’t understand this technology...” Leone began.

“Incredible...” Liselotte said.

A mana-based analysis would produce that result. The faint light surrounding the sarcophagus was elemental aether. The stone itself was not mere stone, but the work of the gods. Yet somehow, it had become more firmly anchored to this particular spot. How? What had happened to cause its reuse as a production facility for hieral menaces? In any case, between the ancient dragon Fufailbane and now the liminal sepulcher, Inglis was seeing a lot of things she recognized from her past life lately.

“Chris...? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, uh, nothing!”

Rafinha didn’t buy it. “You’re up to no good again, aren’t you?”

“No, it’s fine, I’m definitely not planning anything— Ah!” A thought suddenly sprang to her mind. A good idea. One that would improve their current situation...

“What? What is it?”

“Oh, I was just thinking I wanted to see inside.”

“Now hold it right there! You really are up to something, aren’t you!”

Listening to them, Wilkin managed a strained laugh. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that. Only Eris and I can go inside. If something happens and it gets contaminated, we might not be able to make new hieral menaces, and then where would we be?”

“Of course! Sorry! I’ll keep a good hold on her!” Rafinha picked up Inglis like a mother cat carrying her kitten.

“If you would.” Wilkin smiled.

Well, I suppose I couldn’t have expected to be allowed inside, Inglis thought. And it wouldn’t be good to antagonize Highland by forcing my way in. Inglis’s actions would be taken as the will of Karelia. Maybe she could see it one day—but by the time that opportunity came, she might have no need for it.

As the conversation continued, she and the others approached the sarcophagus.

“Well, we’re making progress, but is there supposed to be a visible entrance?” Eris asked.

“Oh, about that. With administrator privileges, you can open one right up! Watch this!” Wilkin took the white glove from his right hand, and brushed his hand across the surface of the sarcophagus.

“Ah!” Inglis gasped.

The hand itself was out of place. Wilkin’s appearance was very similar to that of the Papal League’s Archlord Evel, a boyish form he had called a hi-mana coat. But the right hand he revealed was not the slender one of a boy, but the burly one of a grown man. Just one hand being larger aroused her suspicions.

And that mature hand began to glow with a faint light, the same as the light from the liminal sepulcher itself. That is, elemental aether. Thus, that hand must have been a relic of a god or of a divine knight. It seemed like it had been cut off and transplanted into the hi-mana coat.

Inglis had not sensed the divine in the modern world, nor had she encountered another divine knight other than the black-masked leader of the Steelblood Front. Could Highland be responsible for that? Had they destroyed the gods and the divine knights in order to use them like this?

“Ha ha ha...” Inglis’s face lit up on its own, serenely, like a flower blossoming. If Highland had wiped out the gods and the divine knights, that guaranteed they had a certain level of strength. Dux Jildegrieva’s own would have sufficed to defeat divine knights weaker than her—but not for the divine itself. If Highland as a whole could overwhelm the divine as a whole, that meant there were many others among them at least as strong as the dux, if not stronger. Finding them all and taking them on sounded like great fun. There was still so much to look forward to in this world, still so many dreams to pursue.

“Mmm? Something up?” Wilkin asked.

“Oh, no. I was just reflecting on how fascinating your interests must be.”

“Yeah, they are! Look at this light up! Isn’t it beautiful?” Wilkin answered with a smile.

The part of the sarcophagus he had brushed lit up with a spiral of aetheric sigils, which seemed to spread and tunnel into its exterior.

“Wow, a hole’s opening up!” Rafinha exclaimed.

“In such thick stone...” Leone said.

“And you say the equipment for becoming a hieral menace is inside here?” Liselotte asked.

The walls of the sarcophagus were thick, and Inglis couldn’t see very far inside. What she could make out were a large number of things that appeared to be columns.

“From here, it’s only me and Eris, okay? You all stay put. We can’t have any accidents happen. Once it closes up, you can’t open it from inside. If you’re not careful, people shrivel up and die.”

“Wh—?!” Rafinha gasped.

“Shrivel up and...?!” Leone grimaced.

“There’s a bunch of old bones rolling around in there from people who slipped up and got stuck inside!” Wilkin said.

“Well...that certainly isn’t a pleasant thought,” Liselotte said.

“When the entrance is open, it’s connected to the outside world, but once it closes, you’re completely cut off, like you’re in another dimension. Even time flows differently inside; only a few moments might pass on the outside, but inside you’ll be a-rattling!”

“Umm, so if time out here is like that, and inside is...” Rafinha began.

“Time flows much faster inside, then,” Leone explained.

“Leone has the right idea,” Liselotte said.

“Ah, now I get it!” Rafinha nodded intently.

“Rani? Are you sure?” Inglis asked.

“Yeah, of course!”

As someone with a parental view of Rafinha, Inglis certainly hoped so. She was already sixteen; she needed to be sharp enough to keep up with the conversation around her.

“So, anyway! The process of making a hieral menace is long, hard work. Long enough that if we didn’t have such a place, we’d run through their whole lifetime waiting on it, you know? And what use is a weapon left incomplete on one’s deathbed?”

Inglis nodded, following along. “I see. So, what would normally be a far-reaching and overly time-consuming magical procedure can be accomplished practically using this sarcophagus, then?” Inglis asked.

Inglis wasn’t familiar with the details of the process, but it struck her as a clever use of the liminal sepulcher. Alistia and the other gods had thought of it as a training ground, but others had apparently found their own use for it. A different conception of it than that of the gods—she wanted to see exactly what the process was, but it wouldn’t be easy, even though doing so would come in handy for her future use.

“That’s right! This sarcophagus itself is extremely valuable! A relic of an ancient era that we can’t replicate even with our technology! No one but an administrator has ever been able to get it open. It’s on a completely different level from our magic or the simplified dimension created by Artifacts. In a way, it’s kind of a separate world.”

“By the way, is this sarcophagus the only one you have?”

“No. There are more...but where and how many is kind of a secret.”

“That’s understandable.”

Judging by Wilkin’s response, at least the Papal League had a sarcophagus of their own. After all, Eris had been sent to the surface by the Triumvirate, and Ripple and Arles by the Papal League—each great faction seemed to produce hieral menaces and grant them to the surface.

“Anyway, that’s enough explanation. Let’s go, Eris.”

Eris turned to Inglis and the others and spoke. “Yes... Take good care of Ripple while I’m gone. And Arles and Rafael, and Karelia...”

“We will, Eris!” Rafinha replied first, clearly and cheerfully.

“We’ll do our utmost, Lady Eris!” Leone said.

“Please don’t worry at all!” Liselotte said, her back straight.

Inglis was the most disappointed. “I know it’s decided, but I really do feel like I’m missing an opportunity not being able to spar with you for a year or two. Ah, what a waste...”

Eris groaned. “You really do think of nothing else, do you? Well, if I make it back in one piece, I’ll make up for lost time then, so don’t make that face. You’re making me worry about you.” Eris held an awkward expression as she stared at Inglis, still held by Rafinha.

“Eris, you really do love kids, don’t you? Here you go!” Rafinha, smiling, held Inglis toward her. “In one or two years she’ll probably be back to normal, so here, one last hug!”

“Y-Yes... Thank you.” With a smile, Eris accepted Inglis.

“It’s a promise, Eris! When you get back, we’ll make up for all the training we missed!”

“Yes, yes, I know. And you—I hope you’re stronger then too! Though I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that.”

As Eris hugged Inglis, Inglis reflected that her scent was different from her mother Serena’s or Rafinha’s, like that of an elegant, delicate flower.

After a moment, Eris put Inglis down and gallantly turned.

“I’m going. Be well, you all.” Side by side with Wilkin, she entered the liminal sepulcher—the Greyfrier sarcophagus.

“You too!” Inglis and friends, able only to watch them go, nodded as a group.