Alon, Penia, and Evan kept moving forward after that.

The journey itself wasn’t difficult.

Contrary to what they’d thought at first—that it would be hard because mutants would come charging at them.

From the moment Ryang-a—no, the girl in the white mask—showed up, the mutants hadn’t appeared anymore.

More precisely—

Bang-!

—there would be huge sounds from places that didn’t enter Alon’s field of view, but.

“......Looks like she switched to taking care of them where we can’t see now.”

“I see.”

“If she’d just done that from the start, wouldn’t it have fit her original intention of hiding her identity better?”

“......That’s true too.”

“But why is she hiding her identity anyway. And on top of that—”

As Alon briefly thought, Like I would know, Evan pointed somewhere.

“......If she’s going to hide her identity, shouldn’t she clean up the mutant corpses too?”

“Do you really need to go that far?”

Beyond the trees, a mutant as big as a house was lying there dead.

At that sight, Alon muttered shortly.

......Honestly, whether she hid the mutant corpses or not, they already knew perfectly well that the girl was Ryang-a.

He didn’t know why she was trying to hide her identity like that, but.

How long had they kept going while thinking that?

Alon found a path that let them climb up to the cliff—just as Ryang-a, no, the girl had said.

“Looks like it’s here.”

“Let’s go up.”

The party started moving toward the cliff, and after a short while—

“Wait, you—stop right there!”

People wearing masks similar to Ryang-a’s suddenly sprang out of the forest and blocked their way.

“......Who are you?”

“You don’t need to ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) know who we are! You can’t climb up here!”

“Is that so?”

“If you really want to go up, we’ll only allow that man over there!”

They pointed straight at Alon in a truly awkward, actor-like tone.

......For an instant, silence wrapped around the area.

Maybe even they thought this was a bit much.

They subtly turned their bodies back toward each other and started talking among themselves.

“Damn it, I told you I didn’t want to do this—”

“You lost, you bastard!”

“What are we supposed to do about this vibe??”

“Ah—aren’t we screwed, this?”

......Aside from mutants howling, the forest was pretty quiet.

So no matter how softly they whispered, there was no way it wouldn’t be heard.

Penia and Alon looked at each other, bewildered.

“Ah—whatever, for now, let only the guy go up and grab the other people. That was the plan, wasn’t it?”

But regardless of the two of them reacting like that, it seemed a conclusion had finally been reached.

“Only the man goes up! The rest of you stay here!”

They quickly turned back around and shouted again, and—

Alon hesitated, wondering if he should ask what exactly was going on.

Then he decided to play along with their act.

Whatever the case with how clumsy their acting was.

Glassy—

In the eyes he could see through the mask, he could feel a desperate will.

Please, if you mess up our play, we’re dead. Please match us—

Their eyes looked like they were begging him.

So.

“......It can’t be helped, then. I’ll go first.”

“I’ll wait here too.”

“Alright.”

“You’re coming too.”

[Hmph, why should I?]

“Shut up and come—”

[?! How can you lift me?]

“I practiced a bit so I could beat you up. Surprised?”

Leaving Evan behind as he lifted Basiliora—

Alon received silent gratitude from the masked ones, then climbed the cliff alone.

And when Alon finally reached the top of the cliff—

The sun was already setting, and he could see a girl standing toward the spectacular view spread across the mountainside.

“Ryang-a.”

At Alon’s call,

the body that had been staring at the sunset naturally turned, met Alon’s eyes—and then made an awkward expression like she was startled.

“Uh— um, Boss? Here— how?”

‘I am acting right now.’

Somehow, it felt like he could hear that mood in the air.

Alon looked at the extremely awkward Ryang-a and briefly wondered what he was supposed to do with this, but—

“Some girl who saved me told me to come here.”

“R-really?”

“Yeah.”

He said it calmly with a kind intention, but Ryang-a, who’d been staring at him in silence, soon—

“......Boss.”

“What is it?”

“......Since when did you know?”

......Regrettably, it seemed she’d seen through Alon’s acting.

Probably because his acting wasn’t that good either.......

Anyway, since Alon was able to stop acting awkwardly right away, he thought for a moment, then—

“......From the start?”

answered like that.

“Hauu—”

Ryang-a made a weird sound, then grabbed her own head and plopped down in place.

“I thought it was perfect.......”

“That......?”

“W-was it awkward?”

“......A little?”

A lot...... rose up to the tip of his throat, but Alon didn’t bother adding it.

After making a “kkuuuuh—” kind of sound for a while, Ryang-a stood up again, her cheeks flushed like she was embarrassed.

Alon watched that wriggling for a long time.

She kept smoothing down her hair over and over and muttering to herself.

She looked like she didn’t know what to say.

Alon, who’d been still, decided to apologize first.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Huh? N-no— Boss doesn’t need to apologize. I’m the one who was waiting.”

“Still, I made you wait.”

At Alon’s words, Ryang-a stared at him, then her expression turned a little sulky.

“......I waited a lot, Boss.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I waited really, really long.”

“My apologies again.”

“When you pretended not to know me at first, I was really sad too.”

“That—”

That wasn’t pretending not to know her.

It was just that Alon, before he’d fallen into the past yet, was in a state where he didn’t know Ryang-a.

So when he hesitated mid-answer, Ryang-a, as if she already knew, said,

“I know. You hadn’t gone yet, right?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry about that part.”

“No, Boss doesn’t need to be sorry. That’s only natural, right? I was just... a little anxious. Like maybe Boss would never get your memories back...... but it’s fine now.”

Then she smiled and continued.

“—You remember now, right?”

“Yeah. Clearly.”

At those words, Ryang-a walked up in front of Alon, then went thump— and leaned her head against his chest.

“Boss.”

“Yeah.”

“I worked hard.”

“......Yeah. Thank you.”

“I kept the promise too, the one where you told me to lead the group well and do what I truly believed was right.”

“Thank you for keeping that too.”

To Alon, that story was from not even two years ago.

But to Ryang-a, it was a story of nearly hundreds of years.

So Alon couldn’t help but say it like that, and at those words—

“Tch— I wanted this to be different, I wanted to meet you again a little more properly, more dramatically.......”

Ryang-a muttered like she was a little disappointed.

“......You did?”

“Yeah. You have no idea how much I prepared.”

That...? Alon thought, but—

“Look over there.”

Alon soon looked out at the scenery beyond the cliff that Ryang-a pointed at.

“.......”

The scenery Ryang-a showed him beyond the cliff was—

even to Alon, who thought he didn’t have much of an eye for judging beauty, it was incredibly beautiful.

“Our village... do you remember?”

“I remember.”

“......Back then, I told you, didn’t I? That there was a place in our village with really, really beautiful scenery.”

Alon nodded.

Back then, whenever she worked with Alon, she’d keep talking about the village, and—

there had been a lot about the village’s scenery too.

“I wanted to show it to you, Boss.”

“This is... the village’s scenery?”

“Yeah. I carved it.”

“......You did?”

Alon’s surprised expression, his blank face breaking.

Ryang-a looked at him like it was fascinating for a moment, then smiled brightly, pleased, and—

“Yeah. It’s almost perfect. I was always looking at that scenery, so I remember it vividly.”

At the same time, like she wanted him to recognize how hard she’d worked, she spoke with a little complaint in it.

“I suffered a lot, you know? The cliff is one thing, but the forest—if you don’t keep managing it, it changes from the scenery I knew. I had to manage it almost all the time, you know?”

At Ryang-a’s words, Alon looked at the scenery again.

A view that could only be described as beautiful.

......Staring blankly at her garden, which she’d maintained since hundreds of years ago solely to show him—

Alon opened his mouth without realizing it.

“......I don’t know how I should express my gratitude.”

“Really... thank you.”

Because he couldn’t help but reflect on it again.

The waiting that had been short for him, but hundreds of years for Ryang-a.

At Alon’s reaction—

Ryang-a, who’d been pouting for a long while, let a smile settle on her lips again.

“That’s enough as a reward.”

She said that, then—

“Welcome, Boss.”

“Yeah.”

And like that, the two of them finally achieved a proper first reunion.

The black dragon thought.

How did things end up like this?

......If you traced it back, things had been tangled from the beginning.

From the moment the Marquis Palatio, someone precious to the possessed one, disappeared.

From the moment it tried to manifest by taking advantage of Seollang’s mind becoming unstable.

That situation itself was good.

If the Marquis Palatio hadn’t returned—no, if even the news had arrived one day later—

the black dragon would have been able to take over Seollang’s body.

The problem was that news of the marquis’s return reached her right before the black dragon was about to manifest.

And since it had already been sure it would manifest in Seollang, the black dragon had revealed itself.

So it ended up bound to Seollang with no way to even go to another vessel, and it fell into a situation where it couldn’t do this or that.

Of course, even so, the black dragon was given one more chance that seemed like it could untangle the situation.

Thanks to its companion, the Sin of Greed, who still hadn’t manifested perfectly yet.

Because Seollang started wavering again, thinking she wouldn’t be able to protect the marquis.

And when she failed the trial given by the Golden Mane Tribe Essence, the source of Seollang’s power, and she started wavering even more.

Aiming for that moment, the black dragon seized another chance to manifest.

......Or so it thought it had.

‘Then lend me some strength.’

‘No, forget giving it to me. Just lend me your strength for a bit.’

‘I’ll use it and give it right back.’

Until it saw Seollang’s face, looking like she was salivating the way someone does when there’s something delicious right in front of them.

Naturally, the black dragon lent Seollang its strength.

It was an unavoidable choice and, at the same time, the best choice.

It was better to at least try tempting Seollang with sweet power than to do nothing.

And the black dragon had confidence, in its own way.

Confidence that once she tasted its power, she would definitely want it again.

So the black dragon lent its strength, and—

......It never imagined that would become a blunder.

“Black dragon! I used your power well again today—here, take it back—”

Seollang, wearing the Golden Mane Tribe Essence, looked at the dragon in the darkness with that salivating expression.

Toward her, the dragon carefully replied.

[Th-then...... you’re telling me to take the power back?]

“Yeah. I said I’d give it back, didn’t I?”

[......How about leaving it as it is?]

“Nope.”

[Even for me, doing this every time is difficult.......]

In truth, taking and giving power was simple, but there was a reason the black dragon was acting like this.

Because of Seollang’s attitude.

She didn’t cling to the black dragon’s power at all.

No, more precisely, she was only using the black dragon’s power as a process.

Seollang was repeating the act of borrowing the black dragon’s power to clear the essence’s trial, then returning it......!

Because of that, even though it was lending power, it was only being used, and it knew it was lowering the possibility of manifesting.

The black dragon tried to rebel somehow, but—

“Really? Then I just won’t borrow it anymore after this.”

[What......?]

“I said I won’t borrow it.”

[You need it to pass the essence’s trial—]

“No, well—at this point, I think I can do it on my own. Thanks for everything up to now?”

At the sight of Seollang turning around as if she truly had no lingering attachment—

[W-wait—!]

“Why?”

[I-I’ll lend it to you next time too—]

“Really?”

The black dragon had no choice but to grab onto Seollang.

......If it didn’t pour power into her, the possibility of manifesting would be 0% itself.

So.

[Y-yeah.]

“Thanks?”

The black dragon looked at Seollang, who somehow already seemed like her face was getting glossy, and squeezed its eyes shut.