At last, the bright day of the decisive battle came.

Under the round rising sun, Tie tightly cinched the straps of her kindergarten backpack.

Bale leaned out over the second-floor railing.

“Kid! You sure you packed everything?”

Tie nodded solemnly and checked again.

In the huge bag Uncle Basto would carry,

her things were lying neatly.

“Tie’s squad uniform, Tie’s hat from the market, Tie’s pajamas, Tie’s paper and Tie’s water in case Tie needs the toilet in the forest, Tie’s snacks.......”

And really—everything was there!

“Ah!”

But in that same moment she remembered one forgotten thing and quickly turned around.

“Kkamani!”

Luckily, Lucarion was in his place.

He was sitting inside the Hanbit Kindergarten backpack, with only his head sticking out, wearing an indifferent expression.

Only then did Tie happily raise her hand and shout to Bale:

“Tie packed everything!”

Bale nodded.

Then he took his things and went down to the first floor of the tavern.

Basto, who had been sitting by the window, stood up.

“The weapon you gave for repairs?”

“I picked it up a long time ago. What are you suddenly worrying about.”

The tone was sharp, but Basto only took it as a given.

They hadn’t been together long, but he had already figured out Bale’s personality.

“Old man, you done?”

Nordix, who had been talking in the kitchen with the elderly owner couple, turned around.

He didn’t have much.

One old backpack, a staff, and a celestial telescope fixed to his belt.

“I’ve been ready for a while. We can leave whenever you wish.”

Basto rose.

He slung the huge bag with Tie’s things and his own over his shoulder.

“Then let’s go.”

Tie nodded quickly.

Tension and anticipation mixed on her face.

The inn owner Grandma came out of the kitchen and hugged Tie tightly.

“We’ll see each other again, little one. If you’re by the gate again, be sure to stop by Grandma, okay?”

“Yeees, thank you for everything......”

Tie hugged her tight and drew a deep breath.

Then she bowed low to the owner Grandpa.

When Basto opened the door, a cool wind blew under the bright sun.

‘Collected and serious!’

Repeating this to herself, Tie stepped forward briskly.

From the moment she left the tavern, she had to become the King of the Dead again.

‘I can do it. I prepared very, very hard.’

......But this time too, Tie quickly realized.

Life isn’t that simple.

“Oh? The King of the Dead is dozing.”

Several hours later.

Tie snapped her eyes open, which had already been starting to close.

The scenery around them still stretched out monotonously.

Bale beside her drawled with a sneer:

“The King of the Dead is yawning? The King of the Dead? Sleeping in the daytime?”

“Tie isn’t sleeping!”

“Not sleeping? Then what’s that on Basto’s shoulder?”

Tie jolted.

Basto’s shoulder, which she had been leaning on, was wet with drool.

“T-th-that......”

“It’s okay, Tie. Sleep a little more. It’s at least half a day to Pearlcity.”

Tie hesitated.

Then she carefully wiped the drool off his shoulder with her sleeve and, after thinking a little, raised her hand.

“Uncle, now Tie will walk by herself!”

Everyone is walking, and Tie alone is sleeping—she can’t do that.

She was the King of the Dead, after all.

When she climbed down from Basto’s shoulder, she felt rough sand under her feet.

‘I thought as soon as we passed the Capital gate, there would be big buildings right away, like in Jongno-gu.’

But even beyond the gate, it was desolate.

The few scattered buildings looked like nobody lived in them, and the sandy wind kept cutting at her eyes.

If not for the scarf Bale had tied over her nose, she definitely would have started coughing.

“Uncle, is Pearlcity like this too?”

Tie couldn’t hold it in and asked.

Basto shook his head.

“No. Pearlcity is a port city.”

A port city...?

In her head surfaced the TV show “Travel Around the Country,” which she sometimes watched with the lady from Apartment 203.

Cute little houses, a blue sea.

Silvery fish in nets and sailors in shiny aprons pulling ropes...

Tie’s eyes sparkled.

‘It’s probably really beautiful.’

A seaside city in her memories was a real fairy tale.

“Uncle, how many nights will we be in Pearlcity?”

“I don’t know. We’ll just stop briefly before heading to the Populos weapons district. We’re planning no more than two days.”

Until this morning, Tie and the members of “Agavert” had been at the First Gate of the Capital.

When they entered the first time, it was interesting.

Beyond the gate was a lively district, accessible only to those with permission to enter, and to holy knights.

But they didn’t have time to walk around.

‘Today we need to reach Pearlcity. Two days there—and straight to the Populos weapons district.’

The Capital was much bigger than Tie had expected.

After passing the gate, you couldn’t immediately reach the center, where the Imperial Palace and the headquarters of the Holy Knight Order were.

‘Ha, I told you to leave the hammer with the smith by the gate. When are we ever going to make it to Populos, and then to the capital center? Over one hammer, seriously...’

‘That warhammer is custom-made, Bale. Without a real weaponsmith, its durability can’t be restored. Did you forget? In the last suppression, without it you would’ve already died.’

While Basto and Bale argued, Tie drew a map in her head.

‘First to port Pearlcity, then to Populos!’

And then—to the capital center, where Father was.

The problem was that the road from the First Gate to Pearlcity turned out to be pretty hard.

Tie only understood why after they passed the lively district.

Beyond it spread a huge wasteland.

According to Basto, Bale, and Nordix, it had appeared only a few years ago.

‘Because of several large Magic Stones.’

Normally, large Magic Stones within the Capital’s bounds were destroyed right away, so it was strange that this wasteland had been left.

In any case, they decided to go around it.

‘Hey, Basto. You know—ever since the wasteland appeared, even the fastest need a day and a half to get to Pearlcity. Maybe it’s better to rent a wagon?’

Before {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the wasteland there was a place that sold and rented wagons for people who were in a hurry.

But.

‘N-no way......! Tie has no money anymore! We gave too much to that bad holy knight as a bribe, ugh—’

Bale covered her mouth so she couldn’t finish, but they really didn’t have any money left.

Tie had spent all the jewelry to restore Basto’s identification number.

The remaining money the three of them had went to uniforms and other purchases.

Basto seemed to feel guilty, but Tie wasn’t worried.

‘Jewelry can be gathered again.’

The bone friends said:

There was lots of it in graves.

‘Graves?’

‘Yeah! There aren’t any graves here, so we can’t give you any. But if we go where there are lots of graves, we’ll find more!’

And still, one thought bothered her.

‘Things you find on the street, you’re supposed to take to the police and look for the owner.’

Could she really just use jewelry from other people’s graves?

But then she remembered what Grandma 107 had said.

‘Why bury gold in the ground? In Africa... and you don’t even need to go far. In our neighborhood, how many kids without parents are wandering around and suffering. Better to give it to them...’

Tie tilted her head.

If you think about it...

‘Without parents and wandering... that’s Tie?’

Right now, Tie was exactly that “poor child” Grandma 107 had been talking about.