Arched tunnel leading to the square of the ancient palace.

"Allerik."

Hearing his name, Allerik, who had been standing at the very end of the formation studying the blueprint, raised his head.

"...Deputy leader?"

Tesetan stood before him, looking tired.

"What happened? I thought you were ahead with the squad leader."

Tesetan sighed and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

"I decided to take a short break. There are a lot of collapsed sections ahead. Basto is going to cut down some trees and make temporary supports."

Allerik nodded.

Just as Tesetan said, the palace had almost completely collapsed.

The floor was covered with chunks of stone overgrown with brownish-green moss.

On top of that, parts of the ceiling in this arched corridor had caved in.

Because of that, Agavert was taking more time than expected just to reach the clock tower.

Putting the blueprint away into his bag, Allerik asked:

"Are you feeling unwell?"

Tesetan, who had been watching Tie playing with the others for a while, turned his head.

With a frown, he answered seriously:

"Yes."

"What exactly?"

"My head hurts. It’s been like this for several days."

"A headache?"

Allerik frowned.

"Does that mean you haven’t been sleeping?"

Tesetan nodded.

"I haven’t. Some damn nonsense keeps showing up in my dreams."

"Wait."

Allerik rummaged through his bag.

He took out a small vial and poured some green powder into Tesetan’s palm.

"This is for headaches. Take it first."

Tesetan poured the powder into his mouth and grimaced at the bitterness.

Leaning against a broken column, he muttered:

"What’s wrong with me? Some kind of illness?"

Allerik sat down beside him.

"I doubt it’s an illness."

"Then what. Am I actually going insane?"

Allerik looked at him reproachfully.

"Don’t say things like that."

Tesetan irritably ruffled his hair.

"Then why am I having these stupid hallucinations. And these dreams..."

He looked again toward the group gathered nearby.

In the center stood Tie, humming a strange song.

Something about a pack of monsters in the forest.

"...It’s a kid, I can tolerate it."

The King of the Dead definitely couldn’t sing.

"So what kind of hallucinations are you seeing?"

Allerik asked.

Tesetan answered with a dark expression:

"...A baby."

"What?"

"A baby looks at me and smiles. And the dreams are the same."

"...Hmm."

"And that’s not all. I rock it, calm it down, even change its diapers. And yesterday in the dream it even spat up on me."

"Ugh."

"Do they really do that? Just like that? You’ve got a nephew, don’t you."

Allerik grimaced.

"I don’t know. I only saw him when he was very small. But why is it so detailed?"

Tesetan stared at him.

"Exactly. It’s strange, right? But the funniest part is, when I wake up, I can’t properly remember the baby’s face."

Silence fell.

After a while, Allerik slowly looked Tesetan over and said:

"When we get back, I’ll find you a good mental physician."

Tesetan’s brow twitched.

"What’s with that disgusting tone."

"You imagined it."

Allerik replied calmly and stood up.

As Tesetan watched him go, Basto’s voice came from the front.

"Alright, let’s continue."

And immediately, with quick steps, the King of the Dead appeared.

Astie, beaming, spread her arms in front of Tesetan.

"Deputy! Let’s go again!"

The gloomy expression on Tesetan’s face disappeared, and he let out a small laugh as he looked into her bright green eyes.

Much more naturally than before, he lifted Tie into his arms.

A question followed immediately:

"You’ll really carry me again tomorrow too?"

"Yes."

"And the day after tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"And then! While we’re exploring, every day?"

"Yes."

"Hehehe!"

Laughing, the girl buried her face in his shoulder.

Without even realizing it, Tesetan stepped more gently than usual as he jumped over a large puddle. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Still holding Astie firmly in his arms.

Meanwhile, at the outer part of the palace—

"Your Excellency!"

Three Holy Knights ran up to Leonardo, who was sitting on a cut tree stump studying a blueprint.

"You need to see this!"

Leonardo stood up, and the reconnaissance squad leader immediately led him.

"Based on the Association’s preliminary investigation. Are you certain the magic crystal has wrapped around the clock tower?"

"Yes."

The commander’s face darkened.

"Then there’s a problem. We discovered that suspicious vegetation is appearing not only at the tower, but also around the palace..."

Leonardo frowned.

He quickly followed.

They reached the outskirts.

Under a collapsed wall, five Holy Knights stood with shovels.

"I think you should see this."

Leonardo approached the dug-out pit, and his face darkened.

At the center of the mass of earth—

A crack the size of an adult man trembled.

Black smoke rose from the soil, and in the center yawned pitch darkness.

Feeling a sinister heat, Leonardo muttered:

"A Rift has opened..."

"Yes. That means a magic crystal is nearby."

Leonardo scanned the surroundings coldly.

Not far from the Rift—

On a cracked wall, a dense dark-green plant was growing.

It was different from ordinary vines.

The surrounding weeds had already withered and crumbled.

The commander reported in a tense voice:

"Your Excellency. If the magic crystal has taken the form of a plant, its range may not be limited to the tower..."

Leonardo turned around.

Taking out a communication artifact, he asked:

"How many Rifts have been found?"

"We’re still counting, but there are already more than twenty. Some of them are mid-level."

"Check each one. Anything we don’t finish today, we continue tomorrow."

"Yes!"

As the sun began to set, the shadow on Leonardo’s face grew deeper.

"We’re finally back!"

The camp of the united forces.

Noticing the reconnaissance unit returning before sunset, Bale stood up.

The horses, having covered fifty dio in three hours, were breathing heavily.

"Kid! You alright?"

Bale ran up to Basto’s horse and took Tie down first.

"Mm! Tie saw the tower! Not many bone friends!"

Bale frowned.

"Yeah? Then why are you so happy."

If there were few skeletons, she should have been disappointed.

But Tie only giggled and said, "Secret!"

When Allerik and Ribia returned, Leonardo «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» sealed the entrance to the barrier.

The sun completely disappeared behind the hills.

"So. Did you find anything?"

Bale asked Basto.

"Leonardo, you look bad."

Alexander and Edmund also approached.

But Leonardo answered in a heavy voice:

"Bad. A new factor has appeared."

He headed toward the meeting tent.

When everyone entered, he spoke:

"...First, we’ll have to reorganize the assault team. We begin the assault tomorrow."

"What? Assault already?"

Bale stepped forward.

"Why the rush? We were going to investigate everything first—"

"We no longer have that option. We’re out of time."

But at that moment, Ardiana cut in.

Her face darkened.

"The magic crystal has spread. Compared to what the Association discovered two months ago, this is on a completely different scale."

"What?"

"If we leave it as it is, it will soon cover this entire area. Then everything will become even more difficult. We don’t have time for investigation. We have to begin the assault now."