Desert city, Colony.

“Haa—”

Lime, Seollang’s secretary, let out a small sigh.

Because of what had been happening in Colony lately.

“......”

From high up in the upper floors of the towering guild building, she cast her gaze north.

As always, the view of golden sand piled in layers to form mountains was quite beautiful, but that wasn’t where her eyes were headed.

Farther back than that.

A bizarre sight—land blanketed not in golden sand, but in something a deep purple.

It was something that had formed not long after stars began falling from the sky, and because of it, the atmosphere inside Colony lately hadn’t been very good.

On top of that, because of a certain Baba Yaga, the mood had sunk even further.

It had already been more than a week since the “Blazing Hand,” who’d become a Baba Yaga and departed with such gusto to investigate that situation, still hadn’t returned.

In this desert, not coming back for a week—

meant death.

And it didn’t end there.

More than anything, the biggest reason the mood had turned rigid was—

Colony’s current king, Karmakses III.

Even though the Baba Yaga had died.

Even though, on top of that, the purple-stained land was slowly drawing closer to Colony—

Karmakses III hadn’t issued a single order.

As if he were watching this whole situation from the sidelines.

And that wasn’t all.

The kingdom hadn’t reacted at all even to the other problems that had been occurring in Colony recently.

If it were the Karmakses III she normally knew, it was something that could never happen.

Lime’s sigh deepened.

Because thinking that far made Seollang come to mind.

‘In a situation like this, what in the world is Seollang doing—’

Lime looked toward one side of the office.

A place where Seollang should, as always, be sprawled out lazily—

but now it was empty.

‘Seollang’s been strange lately too— is Seollang really okay.......’

Worry settled into Lime’s eyes.

Because Seollang hadn’t been looking very good lately.

More precisely, after participating in the last battle from a few months ago—before the Milky Way poured down—Seollang had changed, if only a little.

At first, it wasn’t a big change.

Just talking a bit less, spending a little more time thinking.

But as time passed, Seollang’s condition grew serious.

The talking stopped completely, the stretches of time lost in thought grew longer, and dark clouds came to hang over that once-lively expression.

‘......I heard Seollang was definitely the same as usual when with the Marquis.’

Lime recalled the information she’d secretly overheard at the information guild last time, and—

‘What on earth happened—’

stared at the seat Seollang had left behind, sinking into silent thought.

Then.

“Deputy guildmaster—!”

As if the quiet [N O V E L I G H T] from just a moment ago had been a lie, someone flung the door open and barged in.

“......I’m pretty sure I told you to knock when you come in—”

Lime, who’d been about to scold the guild member with a frown, soon shut her mouth.

Because the expression on the guild member who’d kicked the door open looked serious.

“I think you need to come down right now......!”

Lime headed straight for the first floor with the guild member, and—

when she arrived at a sealed room on the first floor where privacy was guaranteed—

“Y-your Highness the Prince?”

“O- oh, it’s been a while—”

she met Colony’s second prince.

Karsemm, injured all over.

And at that same time—

inside a cave in the west of Colony—

“Haak— haak—”

Seollang was slumped down onto the ground, pouring out ragged breaths.

Exhausted to the bone, Seollang stared at the item that had fallen before her with eyes drowned in fatigue.

It was the essence of the Golden Mane Tribe.

Something Alon had handed over to her a very long time ago.

An essence she still hadn’t completed all the trials for, and so still hadn’t received its full power—

[Are you thinking of taking another trial?]

A voice, just as Seollang wordlessly moved her hand and was about to snatch up the essence after staring blankly at it for a while.

Seollang turned her head toward where the voice had come from.

A black dragon was there.

The black dragon looked at Seollang, who seemed a little unsteady.

At Seollang, whose sclera had turned black like a demonkin’s after already taking in its power.

“Why?”

[Let me say this first: if you try any more than this, your body won’t endure it.]

At the black dragon’s words, Seollang’s body flinched.

Seollang knew that much, too.

And yet Seollang still didn’t stop because—

she’d gained one newly renewed realization.

That she was weak.

That at this rate, she couldn’t even properly protect her precious teacher.

...That she was being left behind.

Countless battles she’d gone through so far flashed through Seollang’s mind.

At the same time, the faces of the companions she’d watched—

the face of her teacher—flashed past.

And within it, there was her too.

A version of her that had been protected rather than protecting.

“......”

After reaching that thought, Seollang moved her hand again.

Her hand grabbed the essence.

Weakly.

A little unsteadily.

####

The day after Alon spoke with the Divine blood that could be called the original source of the Goddess Sironia.

“Teacher.”

“Yutia.”

He was able to meet Yutia.

“Have you been doing well?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry. If it were up to my heart, I wanted to see you sooner—but I had quite a lot to take care of, so I ended up being a day late.”

“No. To begin with, I didn’t even wait that long.”

“If it’s a day, isn’t that a long time to wait?”

“That much isn’t hard to wait.”

At Alon’s unhesitating answer, Yutia’s eyes widened for a moment as if surprised, but then she smiled again.

A smile that drew a longer arc than before.

“It only makes me happy to hear you say that. Let’s go inside and continue talking, Teacher.”

“Alright.”

Yutia, who was about to guide Alon to her office, soon made a puzzled expression.

“Then— where are the others?”

“If you mean other people—Evan and Penia?”

“Yes.”

“Evan went out for a bit, and Penia also moved, saying she had something to say to a mage in Rosario.”

Blackie and Basiliora had immediately latched onto Penia and Evan the moment they heard he was meeting Yutia, but—

without bothering to mention that, Alon followed Yutia and arrived at the office.

The moment they arrived, what he saw was a neat desk, as always.

And on top of that desk was a crystal ball.

A crystal ball cracked here and there, like its durability had worn down a lot—

“?”

A question mark rose over Alon’s head.

“Mm, what is it, Teacher?”

“No— th-”

“Th-?”

“Wasn’t there a crystal ball there until just now?”

“A crystal ball?”

“Yeah, th— the crystal ball that was a little smashed... worn down.”

Because the crystal ball he’d definitely just seen—

had suddenly vanished without a trace, as if it had never been there from the start.

Embarrassment rose up on its own, but—

“Oh my, is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“......I don’t think I saw anything like that?”

“Is... that so?”

“Yes. Please sit, Teacher.”

At Yutia’s calmness, Alon sat down, still baffled.

After sharing brief updates for a while, Alon sensed that the simple talk was coming to an end.

Meaning now, he could ask Yutia what he’d been curious about.

But after coming all this way, Alon hesitated once again.

Could he ask Yutia about Monster blood?

Of course, all Alon was going to do was ask.

A simple question that he didn’t need to think too hard about.

But instinctively, he felt like this question could change something, and while he was only hesitating for a moment—

“Yutia, may I ask just one thing?”

“Yes, what part is it?”

In the end, Alon opened his mouth.

To begin with, the reason he’d waited until Yutia returned was for this.

“Do you know about Monster blood?”

Alon’s calm voice rang through the office.

####

The instant Alon’s question fell.

Yutia’s expression changed, ever so subtly.

Was it the face of someone who knew about Monster blood?

Or the face of someone thinking about the word Monster blood?

Or was she thinking of something else—

Yutia stayed silent, then asked him back.

“Is there a reason you’re asking?”

Yutia threw out the question with a face that made it impossible to tell whether she knew Monster blood or not.

Alon hesitated for a moment, then answered.

“I happened to hear about Monster blood.”

“......Mm—”

At that, Yutia made an “mm—” sound and tilted her head over and over, then—

“Mm, strictly speaking—”

soon, as if it were nothing,

“I think it would be right to say I know about it?”

“You know... about it?”

“Yes, of course not everything.”

“......Not everything?”

“Yes. What I know about Monster blood is because of information I heard from Rine recently.”

And like that, for a while, Yutia told Alon about what had happened not long ago.

“So— you were looking into Divine blood, and information about Monster blood came up too... that’s what you mean.”

“That’s right. But like I said, I don’t know a lot. It’s just—”

Yutia slightly furrowed her brow, as if reviving a hazy memory, then answered.

“—that Monster blood originally was Divine blood, maybe?”

“Monster blood originally was Divine blood?”

“Yes.”

“Is that true?”

“According to the information I heard from Rine, it was.”

“Was there any other information besides that?”

“Mm, I didn’t hear anything else, but— should I talk to Rine about it?”

“......I’d appreciate it.”

Alon nodded, but at the same time, he felt a small sense of relief at the fact that Yutia didn’t really know about Monster blood.

Of course, Alon himself didn’t clearly understand why he felt that way, but.

...Anyway, Alon suddenly remembered one other thing.

Back when Alon had lost his memories, even though he hadn’t said anything at all—

the memory of Yutia naturally giving him advice, as if she knew his worries.

“Yutia.”

“Yes?”

“May I ask just one more question?”

“If it’s your question, Teacher— as much as you want.”

At that, Alon was about to open his mouth again, but—

Clack—!

“Marquis! So you were here after all—!”

Unfortunately, the conversation was cut off by Evan, who suddenly opened the door and came in.

Evan, panting hard, shouted urgently.

“Marquis— it’s bad!”

“What is it?”

“I’m told the Divine blood all got up at once and war has started—! And among them, Colony—!!”

Alon asked back without meaning to.

“What did you say?”

“......”

Alon’s eyes widened, if only for an instant, and Yutia’s eyes—still carrying a smile—narrowed, but only for a moment.

Alon soon regained the calmness he showed on the surface and asked.

“When did that information come in?”

“I’m told it was this morning......!”

“......Just in case, Seollang?”

“For now, from what I’ve heard, it seems Seollang is okay, but.......”

After that short exchange, Alon immediately looked at Yutia.

“Yutia.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

“It looks like— we’ll have to talk later.”

“Alright. Are you planning to leave right away?”

“I think I have to.”

“......I’ll follow right after I finish what I urgently need to do too, Teacher.”

“Alright. The rest of the conversation...... we’ll do it later.”

With the brief farewells done, Alon disappeared with Evan as if running out.

After the hurried footsteps faded into the distance—

in the office where only Yutia remained alone—

“......Hmm.”

Yutia’s face, which had held a serious expression, returned to normal again.

As if the worry from just now had been an act.

And.

“......Monster blood— Monster blood, huh—”

In that quiet.

“This time, who was it that told you......?”

Yutia muttered.

With a deep smile.