"Why didn’t you kill her? With everyone away, it would have been easy for you to kill her in that state." Vira asked Tija.

Tija was holding onto her leg as Vira flew above Youra.

"..."

She did not respond. Rather, she did not want to.

"Is it because you couldn’t bear to kill your own mother? I thought that you have resolved yourself to do everything in your power to achieve your goal."

Eliminating the queen on the spot could have potentially saved many lives, after all, Tija could have claimed the throne with the help of the people supporting her, including Vira. That way, they could start preparations for the hunt for Leviathan.

"There will be many chances in the future to take her down. I’ve just warned her." Tija responded sternly.

"If you say so."

Vira did not sound convinced but she also realized that talking about that was pointless at this point.

Despite Youra being invaded by the North, it was an eerily quiet night.

In the meantime, Mika, who could not sleep, went to the balcony.

"You can’t sleep, either?" Mika asked his neighbor.

Sara guided each one of the group to an empty room, where they could sleep for the night.

Sleeping on the left side of Mika’s room was Belian, whereas right from him was...

"No, not really." Sylvia, who was also on her room’s balcony, answered.

"Are you scared of tomorrow?"

"..."

She cast her gaze down.

It was not the battles that she was scared of, rather, it was the people.

"I’m from the North." she suddenly stated with a smile that did not reach her eyes.

In the beginning, she tried to keep her origins a secret from the rest due to the rumors and the image of the northern folks. Thus, she started to hide her appearance as much as possible outside.

But she knew that at some point, she had to come out with the truth.

Sylvia chuckled shortly.

"You don’t seem very shocked." she huffed.

"Should I be shocked?" Mika wondered.

"No... This way is fine, too..."

The two looked to the front.

"Is it fine if I talk about myself for a bit?"

"Do what you want."

Following that, Sylvia began to talk about her past.

She was the daughter of the strongest man and woman of the tribe. And even though it was a tradition for the strongest person to be the chief, her father declined the position. The same applied to her mother, who was asked after her father.

The three-headed family lived peacefully and in joy. Still, they were people from the North and it was natural for them to have the desire to get stronger.

Thus, Sylvia trained since she was young. Sometimes, she and her parents went on trips with other families outside of Grat for training. While most people were scared of the Sea due to Leviathan and the rumors involving it, a large percentage of the northern tribe did not care as they lived fearlessly without letting anyone or anything restrict their lifestyles.

In those trips to other nations, Sylvia also visited places, which were known for their monsters, like the Great Jungle in Malnor.

Sylvia crossed the sea a few times in the future and fortunately, neither she nor her parents faced any dangers on the sea.

Everything went well in her life until roughly one year ago when a mysterious woman invaded them.

At that point in time, there were no real hostilities between the southern and the northern parts of Grat, however, that day sparked the conflict that was currently happening.

The woman, who invaded the North, was cloaked in a robe, hiding most of her features but everyone sensed that she was dangerous. However, it did not come to a fight. Instead, she came to talk with the chief. Thus, the chief and his close people, including Sylvia’s parents, sat down and talked with the woman.

But the next thing Sylvia knew was that her out-of-breath mother woke her up and led her away from the village. No matter how many times she asked her, her mother did not respond and only focused on getting Sylvia as far away as possible.

Only roughly did she see her father fighting off the chief and the others when she looked back once.

However, other people from the place chased after the two.

’Flee from here.’

These were her mother’s last words before she turned her back on Sylvia and faced the chasers.

Sylvia, who did not understand anything, listened to her mother and left the place with a heavy heart.

And scared that others could have heard her, Sylvia bit her lips in order to not let them hear her cry. It took her days until she crossed the borders. From there, she wandered aimlessly in the desert. With nothing in her stomach and a dried mouth, she slowly lost her will to keep going.

Fortunately, strangers found her and aided her. And realizing that she was a young girl, the strangers, who were an old couple, offered her to stay with them for a while. But knowing that her presence could cause trouble in the future, she left as soon as possible.

Her mother told her to flee so he tried to get as far away as possible, leading to her boarding a ship which was coincidentally sailing to Malnor. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

On board, she talked with the people who were either from there or from South Grat. It was only there when she learned about Loogam. That was when she decided to enroll there.

The entrance exams would have been held in more than half a year so Sylvia spent her time training and earning a little bit of money to afford a place to stay, food and water.

"And now I’m here..." Sylvia ended her monologue.

"You went through a lot." Mika remarked with narrowed eyes.

"Mh." Sylia nodded softly with her blank smile still on her face.

She looked up to the moon.

"I wonder... If I fight tomorrow, will I see my parents? Will I have to fight them?" she wondered.

"Or maybe I should wonder if they’re still alive or n-"

"It will be fine." Mika cut her off.

"Heh, how can you be so sure?" she huffed.

"Based on your story, you were a respected family, who didn’t harm anyone. It’s the contrary. If a family like yours would be in my village, then everyone would have loved you there. That’s why I don’t think that the chief and the others killed your parents just because of what was said on that night." Mika explained sternly, facing her.

"So trust me. It will be fine." he added, putting his fist on his chest.

Sylvia’s smile turned more genuine as her eyes were also smiling this time.

"I don’t know why but it’s always in situations like these when I feel reassured talking with you." she admitted.

"As long as it helps you calm down, I’m happy to lend you my ear." Mika stated with a faint smirk.

The two stared at each other for a while until Sylvia turned away.

"Well, I should better get some sleep. You should also get some rest for tomorrow, after all, we’re counting on you." she said, twisting her neck to him one last time and grinning at him playfully.

Mika waved his hand and returned to his room.

"..."

From what he learned, the North was not always that aggressive and hostile, leaving him with the question of what actually sparked the idea behind their riots. Why did they start wanting to fight Leviathan?

Was it because of the incident on the night when Sylvia had to flee from her village? If yes, then what did they talk about? What did the mysterious woman tell them to be able to change them?

Mika heaved a heavy sigh.

"I should really hit the sack now..."

Thus, everyone was back in their own room and prepared themselves for the battles tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Sara stared at her room’s ceiling.

She was on her bed but she did not sleep.

"Can I ask you something?" she said indifferently.

[What is it?]

The voice belonged to an old man and was only heard inside Sara’s head.

"I’ve always wondered why I can hear you even though Mom can’t. But now, I feel like I know why."

[Oh, really...?]

Aside from her and her mother, no one knew that she heard a voice inside her head. And according to that voice, it introduced itself as the ’Death Sword’, which was the name of the relic both she and her mother were wielding.

It was already from a young age when she started to hear the voice.

"You deem me as a more fitting owner of the relic, am I right?"

[It seems like you’ve grown a lot.]

It sounded amused.

"Then this makes things easier."

[What are you planning?]

Sara jumped out of the bed and stretched her body.

A confident smile crept onto her face.

"Make me your rightful owner."