Chapter 257

Chapter 257 - In a Broadleaf Forest

The ‍​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​​​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​​​​​‌​‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​​‌​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌‌​‌‌‌​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‍meeting place was a small forest within the neutral zone between the West and the Empire.

Most ‍​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍of the forest here was broadleaf woodland, and the broad, green leaves glittered as they caught the sunlight.

Merely ‍​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍standing there warmed the body as though one had wrapped oneself in a soft blanket, and the fresh air delighted the lungs.

However, ‍​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍the blood relative from the East, who had come from a cold coniferous forest, alone seemed to belong to a different picture.

Together ‍​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍with his cynical features, his blood-red pupils were those of a bird of prey piercing through its quarry.

The ‍​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌‌​‌​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌​​​‌​​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​‌‌​‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌‌​‍amethyst eyes facing such a gaze were still pondering how to offer the first greeting.

Normally, she would have returned to her base and thought about it at leisure, but the examinee’s solving speed had surpassed her imagination.

“How did you solve it?”

While searching for a first greeting, she remembered why she had been searching for one in the first place, and so the first greeting naturally came out.

“……”

The blood relative of the East still did not open his mouth and merely shifted his bloodshot eyes past Cos.

Feeling that gaze, the blood relative of the West slowly raised both hands halfway. The sleeves of her robe naturally slid down, revealing her empty hands.

“As you can see, there is no trap. Lord Ventus only followed me because he sensed the Fire Dragon’s presence and became worried. You do not need to worry.”

“I am not worried.”

The Fifth Son spoke for the first time.

“I am merely looking at the faces of those who entered my ship as they pleased.”

His voice was more beautiful than she had expected. It was a strange voice, with the basic tone of a man overlaid by the timbre of a boy.

His height and his body, too, made him look nothing like the age known to the world.

Thinking for a moment that Ryan still seemed more childlike, Cos lowered her arms just as slowly as she had raised them.

“It could not be helped. I wanted to meet you. Fifth Son of Millesdusk.”

“It seems the problem I scattered across the world suited your palate quite well.”

“It did. It was very delicious.”

The Youngest Son let out a small laugh at that review.

“That makes no sense. What you tasted should have been no more than the peel of the fruit. You speak of its taste when you have not even seen the flesh inside?”

“How do you know that? I might have planted not only the flesh of the Dark Elixir beneath its peel, but even the seeds inside it into the ground.”

“If you had done so, you would not have called me all the way here.”

“……”

Cos merely stopped speaking. Her outward appearance, including her expression, remained calm. But like all humans, she could not control even her heart.

For a very brief moment, her heart surged violently, and it helped the Blood Noble find a clue.

In the darkness around him, a faint target appeared, and the Youngest Son quietly drew the bowstring.

“If you had finished dissecting the fruit and calmly digested it as well, your curiosity about me would not have grown this large. The interest that had been stirred in you would have faded again.”

“You speak as though you know me well.”

“I do not. There is no way I could. How could I know someone on the other side of the world? However.”

He stopped speaking for a moment. It was because he had finished aiming at the hazy target.

His index finger, held as sharp as an arrowhead, pointed at the Youngest Son himself.

“Even if I do not know you, I know myself.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It is simple.”

The finger that had pointed at himself now pointed at the First Daughter.

“It means that you and I are the same kind.”

He released the bowstring. The arrow flew toward the hazy target, and because it was hazy, it was impossible to see how many points he had scored.

The target’s name was curiosity. Interest. Fascination. Anything was fine. Anything that could draw the First Daughter’s gaze was enough.

“…The same kind?”

Whether the arrow had aimed for the target’s vital point soon became clear through her amethyst eyes.

Her eyes trembled faintly at times, expressing the emotion contained within them. It was an expression even the Wind Dragon beside her would not know.

However, the player who had once been her could understand what that expression meant. It was also easy to understand.

“Yes. It may be hard to believe, but I am someone who understands you.”

The trembling in her amethyst eyes grew slightly stronger.

The First Daughter of the West was treated like a madwoman even by her own blood relatives, and was suspected of being an idiot if magic was not involved.

It was because she always behaved as though a screw were loose somewhere in her head, taking actions several steps removed from common sense.

That overlapped with the Youngest Son, who had protected his own neck through actions that went beyond common sense.

“You must have heard the rumors about me.”

“…They said you were a madman.”

“Do you not have a similar nickname?”

“I do not have anything like that.”

“You do. You just do not know it.”

A question mark seemed to appear above the First Daughter’s head, but the Wind Dragon flinched and pursed his lips.

Sensing that from beside her, Cos sharply turned her head.

“Lord Ventus?”

“Y-Yes. I know nothing.”

“What do you mean, you know nothing?”

The interrogation continued, but the answer came from the eastern side.

“They called you the prettily mad mage of Wisdom.”

“……”

“Ahem. That is what humans say. It is merely a rather vulgar way to describe you, who live obsessed with magic.”

Cos shook her head.

“I do not care. No matter what others say. So let us leave the topic of nicknames there.”

The conversation returned to the beginning.

“How did you solve the cube so quickly?”

“Do not make such a fuss over my handling of a toy somewhat well. Did you call me here and risk danger merely because of the cube?”

“…No.”

“I did not come here to talk only about the cube either. So let us resolve our business quickly.”

“Yes. You and I will both become busier from now on.”

Cos let out a faint breath and chose her words. What she wanted to say was more fundamental than the Dark Elixir.

“Why did you come to the West? Why did you come to the West and try to start a meaningless war… a massacre?”

When the First Daughter had first sat beside her father in the Magic Tower and heard about what Millesdusk intended to do, she had dearly wanted to ask this question.

She had wanted to ask someone, but there was no one in the West who could answer it. Even her father, the Family Head, was no exception.

The only person who could answer this question was the instigator of the war, the Fifth Son of Millesdusk.

“That is a strange question.”

However, the Fifth Son instead shook his head.

“The First Daughter I had imagined was not someone who would ask such a narrow-minded question. Who planted such binary thinking inside your head?”

“…What?”

“Black or white. East or West. Sorcery or magic. Since the brain is divided into left and right hemispheres, can it only produce two thoughts as well? How foolish.”

“Fool…ish…”

For a moment, the First Daughter Cos went blank. Noise filled her ears, and her vision turned white for an instant.

Foolish, foolish, foolish. It was the first time she had heard the word in her life.

To the First Daughter, who had never even heard anything similar, the Youngest Son kindly said it once more.

“It seems you reached the 7th Circle through pure luck. How did you wind seven rings around your Core with that sort of thinking? Tsk.”

“……”

WHOOOOOM—

Seven rings began to rotate. They rotated fiercely, as though insisting it had absolutely not been luck.

The rings made a violent sound, as though merely spinning would be enough to grind a person to pieces.

That was the emotion held by the master of the seven rings, and it soon manifested as mana.

[How ominous. It is not refined like other mages’ mana.]

—Because that is what mana originally looks like. She is doing that on purpose to show that the 7th Circle has settled stably.

[So it is like a well-trained horse that will find its own way even if the reins are released.]

—Something like that.

As expected, Cos had reached the 7th Circle.

In Act 2, the eastern blood relatives had learned the Six Paths, if only shallowly, while the West had gained a perfect 7th Circle mage.

The Youngest Son lightly clapped his hands.

“That is a good output. I can see your talent for curses.”

“I did not obtain this through luck. I will rise to the next stage as well.”

“Yes. If it is you, you will someday.”

What was the next stage? If she, who could be seen as the First Daughter of the West, were left alone, she would even reach the 9th Circle.

The Youngest Son had not the slightest intention of stopping that process. Of course, he also had no intention of taking a spell just so she could prove it.

Before a 7th Circle spell could emerge, his mouth opened first.

“There are far more than two things in this world. Do you know that?”

“…Is that not obvious?”

“Yes. Even right here, there are two humans and two dragons. That makes a total of four positions.”

His pale hand swept over the two standing in the east and the two standing in the west.

“Just because we stand divided in two directions like this does not mean two people become one.”

“What are you trying to say? That because each person has their own position, I should understand even if you start a war?”

“I am telling you to think from multiple angles. You handed me a regular icosahedron yourself, yet you are the one thinking in black and white. Is that not laughable?”

“……”

Cos’s mana settled down. The seven rings that had been spinning fiercely also calmed.

As the fighting spirit that had been gradually rising sank as well, the First Daughter of Wisdom slightly lowered her gaze.

“My father said Millesdusk would turn every living thing they saw along the way into undead.”

He had said the sky and the earth would be covered with the undead they created that way. However, the path the eastern main force had taken was still green.

“When I went to give you the cube, I did not see anything like that. There were no reports of casualties either.”

“We are not trying to destroy the West and render it land that can never be used again. That is what the demon worshippers who lived in the East do.”

“Then why was it like that in the past?”

“Was I the one who did that in the past?”

Cos was left speechless by the Youngest Son’s counterquestion. Moreover, it was not as if the East had nothing to say.

“You burn, cut, and pierce people with various elemental spells. We curse and kill them, then use them as our limbs. Which of these hurts more?”

Only then did the First Daughter of the West understand what he was trying to say. Once she realized it, a hollow laugh escaped her.

“You mean it is all the same in the end.”

That was true of everything in this world, regardless of whether it was the East or the West.

No matter how great or how terrible an act in human affairs might be, it was ultimately all the same because it was something humans had done.

“…This feels somehow empty. I had placed considerable meaning on the war, in my own way.”

“The world is empty, but you must find such meaning in your own way.”

“Have you found meaning?”

“In my own way.”

“Can you tell me?”

The Youngest Son shook his head.

“Not from this distance.”

The blood relative of the East and the blood relative of the West stood more than a certain distance apart.

It was a distance at which neither could kill the other in a single instant attack. The distance that openly revealed their wariness was the distance between their hearts, and the distance of their relationship.

“Ah… I suppose so.”

Cos, understanding what he meant, nodded quietly. And for some reason, regret washed over her.

“What a pity. If I had not met you like this, I feel as though we might have become far better friends than I expected.”

“I agree.”

“Next time, I will see you as an enemy. If I stand above you, I will kill you without pain.”

With those words as her last, Cos turned around. But there was something he had to say to her back.

“There are no eternal allies or eternal enemies in this world.”

She froze. The foot that had been about to rise into the sky came to a stop.

Her amethyst eyes looked at his bloodshot eyes one last time, and the lips beneath those bloodshot eyes were curved into an arc.

“I saw those words somewhere. I thought it would be good for you to remember them as well.”

“I will. But there are words you should remember too.”

SWIIISH—

The First Daughter’s body slowly rose into the air. The grass and branches were swept about by the wind blowing around her.

“I never forgive those who wound my family.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

The Youngest Son answered while still smiling.

The First Daughter rose into the sky together with the Wind Dragon and disappeared, and the Youngest Son returned once more.

To the Black Ship, which was on its way to Sky Island without anyone knowing.

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