Late at night, after everyone had fallen asleep.

Evan was lying on one side of the carriage, sleeping together with Blackie and Basiliora as their pillow.

Penia too had fallen fast asleep, perhaps because she had exhausted herself by immersing herself in magic research until late.

A night without the Milky Way, but with the blue moon softly shining down.

Only Alon and Seollang sat together by a small campfire.

“......”

“......”

Only silence flowed between them.

In truth, from Alon’s perspective, there was a great deal he had to say.

No—beyond that, there was a great deal he wanted to ask.

Starting with whether her body was all right, and even an apology for erasing the lightning that had been all but everything to Seollang by using his law without her permission.

There was a lot he wanted to say.

And yet the reason Alon could not easily begin speaking was the atmosphere.

Yes, the atmosphere.

...It was a slightly ridiculous thing to say, but after seeing Seollang’s mood, Alon decided to hold off on speaking to her.

Because Seollang, sitting beside him in silence, was so deeply lost in thought.

So after how much time had passed while they silently watched the campfire—

seeing that Seollang was still quiet even after quite a long time, Alon finally—

“...What are you thinking about?”

—spoke first.

It was not because the atmosphere was awkward.

It was purely because, seeing Seollang sunk in thought to such a degree, he wondered whether something might be wrong.

But despite Alon’s concern, Seollang only stretched lightly and answered.

“It wasn’t anything major.”

“...Wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, I just got a little of my memory back.”

Seollang’s calm voice.

Alon’s eyes widened.

“...Is that really true?”

Smiling, Seollang stared straight at Alon.

Her tail swayed softly.

Her eyes were relaxed, as if she felt good.

A natural smile.

At the sight of her, Alon felt surprise and a sense of incongruity at the same time.

To be honest, the Seollang before his eyes was clearly different from how she usually appeared.

Normally, she wore a childlike smile, but right now, she gave off something more mature.

That was certainly so, and yet—

strangely, Alon did not feel like this appearance was an act.

And just as he was feeling that sense of incongruity—

“Yeah.”

Still smiling, Seollang nodded, then suddenly grabbed Alon with one hand and—

thud—

climbed onto his body.

The two of them ended up sitting face to face, with Seollang holding Alon with both arms.

“...What?”

Startled by the sudden action, Alon was flustered, but Seollang only smiled mischievously this time, as if it did not matter.

“I’m keeping a promise.”

“...A promise?”

“Yeah. I forgot it before.”

A cryptic answer.

Her tail was still swaying.

Alon searched through the past in his mind.

‘Did we make a promise like that?’

At least, there was nothing like that in Alon’s memory.

But her words did not sound like a lie either.

Seollang showed it when she lied, but there was no sign of that now.

So as he tilted his head, wondering whether he simply did not remember—

the Seollang clinging to him suddenly raised one hand and touched Alon’s cheek.

“......”

Alon did not bother asking what Seollang was doing.

He simply looked at her.

To ask why she was doing such a thing felt difficult, because Seollang’s expression looked far too delighted.

Why was she so happy?

No—was she happy because she was playing with my face?

All sorts of thoughts tangled in his head.

As Alon silently watched Seollang, who was fiddling with the corners of his mouth as if it amused her—

“...Was there also a promise about playing with my face?”

—in the end, he asked again.

Still smiling, Seollang shook her head.

“No. Not that.”

“...What promise did we make?”

At that, Seollang just stared straight at Alon without answering, then slowly began bringing her face closer.

At the sudden action, Alon looked puzzled, but—

“!”

—before long, he ended up startled without even realizing it.

Because Seollang’s face came far closer than Alon had expected.

Close enough that they could hear each other’s breathing with painful clarity.

But Seollang did not stop there, and before long, she drew close until they could no longer properly see each other’s faces—

nibble.

“Wa—”

She bit Alon’s nose.

Not hard.

Just lightly on the tip.

Not forcefully either.

It was to the point that, in a way, it felt more like her teeth had only barely brushed against his skin. After nibbling Alon’s nose, Seollang soon pulled her mouth away.

“♬-”

Then, as if she were extremely pleased, she shook her head from side to side.

Her ears twitching upright.

Watching her—

“...What exactly did you just do?”

Alon asked back as he touched his nose, but before long Seollang was already wearing a playful smile again.

“Secret.”

“Secret—?”

“Yeah, because this is a promise I’m not supposed to explain. What matters is that you remember it, Teacher.”

She said it in an extremely cheerful tone, then—

“Anyway, don’t worry too much, Teacher. I’m getting my memories back now.”

“Getting them back...?”

“Yeah. It’ll take a little more time, though.”

“...Did you find a way?”

“Yeah, so you don’t have to use dangerous magic like that anymore.”

Soon after, she lifted herself off Alon.

And then—

“Thank you for everything, Teacher.”

As if she had finished what she wanted to say, she headed toward the carriage.

Alon stared blankly at her retreating figure, then—

“...Huh?”

—in that moment, he noticed something strange.

‘Did I ever tell Seollang anything about magic?’

The question crossed his mind, and the moment it did, he tried to call out to Seollang, but—

tap—

she had already gone into the carriage.

While Alon stood staring at the carriage in puzzlement—

inside it, Seollang—

“♬-”

—still seeming pleased, quietly hummed to herself as she sat by the window where the blue moon could be seen and looked up at the sky.

What surfaced under the moonlit night were the faint memories Seollang had regained this time.

‘Isn’t that obvious? Do you know how much I like Seollang?’

‘Our Seollang—cute and adorable Seollang—’

Within those hazy memories—

Alon, still smiling brightly, was stroking Seollang’s head again and again as he spoke.

‘It doesn’t matter if Seollang loses her memories a few times. Seollang is still Seollang to me. No matter what happens, that won’t change. So don’t worry. No matter how many times Seollang ends up in danger, I remember, don’t I?’

‘If I remember, then I can tell you, so don’t worry.’

‘Even if my own memories are lost, I’ll give you my memories. As many times as it takes. Again and again.’

As if reassuring her, Alon’s gentle, peaceful voice filled her head.

‘Hm? What if I’m the one who can’t remember instead?’

‘It’s okay, because then I have Seollang, right?’

‘As long as Seollang remembers me, that’s enough.’

‘Then Seollang will bring me back again, won’t you?’

‘What? What if you still can’t remember? Hmm—’

The memories that surfaced for her were far too limited.

There was still far more to find ahead than what she had remembered now.

But even so, it was fine.

‘Then just bite my nose hard. If that happens, maybe I’ll get startled enough to remember something.’

‘What? That’s an expression of affection for your people? Then you can do something else if you want. Or just hit me once, that works too.’

Because Seollang had regained the most important memory first.

‘Anyway, Seollang, you’re the one who brings me—Alon—back.’

...The very important memory she absolutely had to fulfill.

‘I’m trusting you, Seollang.’

And so—

“...Please wait for me, Teacher.”

Seollang quietly murmured as she looked at the blue moonlit night.

With a small—

but absolutely unchanging resolve.

####

The day after Alon spoke with Seollang,she returned to normal with astonishing speed.

Of course, Evan and Penia seemed to think only that she looked a little more excited than usual, but Alon could tell.

Seollang had finally stopped “acting.”

Still, if there was one other thing that had changed from before—

“...Seollang?”

“Hm? Whyyy?”

“...Isn’t this uncomfortable?”

“Mmm? No—? Not at all.”

—it was that Seollang had started sticking to Alon like glue.

Whether they were in the carriage or outside it, Seollang stayed attached to him as though “beside Alon = Seollang” were the most natural rule in the world. At the sight, Evan looked baffled, and Penia’s expression turned subtle.

Around the time they were heading back toward the Empire’s border—

“Hello.”

“...Sculptor?”

Alon ended up meeting the Sculptor, who had appeared out of nowhere.

The Sculptor, who looked as if it had suddenly risen out of the ground, lightly greeted Alon and then said,

“There’s quite a lot to discuss first, but before that, there’s something I need to tell you rather urgently.”

“...Something urgent?”

“Yeah. The humans you were raising are all about to die, you know?”

It soon spat out those words.

“What is that supposed to mean all of a sudden?”

At Alon’s flustered voice, the Sculptor opened its mouth.

“One of the Descended One’s avatars is heading to Palantia.”

“...One of the Descended One’s avatars?”

“Yeah.”

“If the Descended One died, shouldn’t its avatars disappear too?”

“Ordinarily, yes, but it looks like it didn’t disappear, probably because some sort of measure had been put in place. And this Divine blood isn’t weak either—it’s basically an avatar almost on the level of an ordinary Divine blood. It looks like it’s making one last desperate attempt to harm you.”

“...Is that really true?”

“I get the feeling I need to earn some points with you from here on out, so there’s no reason for me to bother lying in a situation like this, is there?”

At the Sculptor’s words, Alon looked at Penia.

“...! I’ll contact them right ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) away!”

Penia understood what Alon meant without difficulty and immediately took out a magic orb from her arms and poured magic power into it.

[......What is it?]

Before long, they connected with Reinysius without much difficulty.

“You need to evacuate immediately over there...!”

Penia at once relayed what she had heard from the Sculptor.

After hearing the whole explanation, Reinysius quietly muttered something.

Then—

[...I see. So a Divine blood is coming to Palantia?]

“That’s right.”

[Not bad.]

It was a completely unexpected reaction.

“...What did you say?”

For a moment, Penia asked back as if she could not understand what Reinysius had just said.

[I happened to have something I wanted to test. I’ll evacuate them first, so don’t worry.]

That was what Reinysius said.

And in that very moment—

KUUUUUNG—!

A massive sound came from far away through the magic orb.

The sound of a building collapsing.

Hearing it, Reinysius said,

“It seems it has arrived, so let’s speak later.”

He soon cut off the magic orb and turned his gaze.

What could be seen beyond the window was a Divine blood clad head to toe in black armor.

From far away, it smashed through the walls that had been built and forced its way inside in a single blow.

A horrifying presence that could be felt even at a distance.

And yet Reinysius merely watched that Divine blood in silence.

“Hmph, so that’s a Divine blood?”

Then a voice came from behind him.

A familiar voice.

“That seems to be the case.”

As Reinysius nodded and replied,

“It’s grotesque.”

“I agree.”

A man walked up beside him.

A handsome man whose entire body was covered in tattoo-like markings resembling circuit diagrams.

“Well—still, it’s not something we can’t defeat. Thanks to this body being perfectly reconstructed the way it used to be.”

“That is, if you and I join forces.”

It was Kylrus, whom Reinysius had succeeded in summoning back into the present world through his research into the Foot That Runs Through the Past.

And then—

“Then let’s go at once instead of wasting time.”

“Agreed.”

With Kylrus’s words, the two of them leaped out the window at the same time—

─────────────────────!!!!

Before long, a golden dragon appeared in the skies above Palantia.

And then—

“...I never thought I’d end up fighting in tandem with you.”

[There’s still nothing else to answer an eternal dragon, so I’ll humor this for now.]

At the same time as Reinysius’s words, Kylrus formed a hand seal with one hand.

And then—

Reinysius’s body, which had been shining gold, began changing into something like a black shadow,

and black wings covered all of Palantia.

And then—

Demon Arrival—

The mage and golden dragon who had once led a forgotten age descended upon the skies above Palantia.