Act 21- The Dragon's Familiar

Seirei Gensouki 21 - Ryu no kenzoku (精霊幻想記21.竜の眷属)

## Synopsis:

* English
* Japanese

The boy forgotten by the world’s guiding hand, that is—

Rio, who became a transcendental, due to the cruel rules dictated by God, was erased from the memories of his loved ones. After watching Erika's final moments he departs alongside with Aishia who was equally forgotten in search of a way out of this situation.

On the side, the people who forgot Rio and Aishia, experience an unexplainable frustration due to the sudden mysterious phenomenon affecting them.

「Hey …, who was the one fighting there? 」

The wedge in destiny of more than thousand years ago, calls for a new war!!

世界から忘れられた少年の導き手、それは――

神の定めし残酷なルールにより、超越者となってしまったことで大切な人たちの記憶から消えてしまったリオ。

聖女エリカの最期を見届けた彼は、打開策を求めて同じく忘れられてしまったアイシアと共に状況把握へと乗り出す。

一方、リオたちを忘れてしまった人々は突如自身に降りかかった不可解な現象に言い知れぬもどかさを覚えて――

「ねえ……、あそこで戦っていたのは、いったい誰?」

千年以上前から続く運命の楔は、新たな戦火を呼び起こす……!!
## Content

### Prologue.

In the northwest of the Yagumo region, on an uninhabited mountain range separating the wilderness from Yagumo, there is a 10.000-meter high mountain. There is a girl who has spent close to one thousand years in a hut at its summit. Despite being a one thousand year old woman, for certain reasons, her body and mind stopped growing and she still looks like a girl. She looks to be just ten years old and remains immature, despite still being able to accumulate experience and knowledge. The girl was really alone. She bought things from nearby villages from time to time but didn’t have a real relationship with anyone, but the loneliness never felt painful for the girl because she had a mission. The existence that she calls her master requested her to protect the ones living in the land below. That person has never ordered anything of her as her master, but for the girl, his words were absolute because he is the strongest and most venerable existence in the world. That person said he would go to end the battle. The girl believed it would be like that because the adored one said so. That person departed, the battle really ended, and peace came back to the world.

Despite the battle having ended, that person never came back. The girl only knew that their special master-servant bond was severed. Then the girl lost her master, who was just like a God to her. But that person left behind more words for her. That person said that after the end of the battle, it was fine for her to live as she pleased because her life was just hers, that he allowed it as her master, and that it might be good if she makes friends. For the girl, that person was the father who raised her, her only master, her only family, her only bond with others. But that person was just like her in that regard. He also didn’t have any other connections with anyone else. Because he was sorry for the girl that was as lonely as him, as a father, he must have said those words expecting her growth from meeting different people, but the girl refused. She said she didn’t need it, that as long as he was there, that it would be her happiness if she could continue to serve him from now on and asked him to please come back safely.

It has been already one thousand years, but the girl, Sora, still remembers those days well, that everything was thanks to that person, and that he was the one who ended the battle. She still remembered, even if everyone else had forgotten. She couldn’t allow that there wasn’t anyone who remembered that her master was the one who ended the battle. Even if the legend of how her master protected the Yagumo region still remains, all of the people who lived at that time are already gone. Only Sora still remembers, but that’s fine. Sora feels she is the only one left behind by the world, but that’s fine. She will live the same way her master did. Sora continued to live alone in a corner of the world that her master protected while feeling that way. Until a turning point appeared, the master-servant bond severed one thousand years ago was restored. Sora hurriedly left the hut and looked in the direction of the Strahl region while calling her master’s name, the dragon king (竜王).

### Chapter 1: Forgotten memories and remaining feelings.

That day, at that instant, overwhelming powers that surpassed human understanding clashed; the earth tsunami that looked just like the earth had been flipped and the white light that swallowed it; the powers so big that no one could tell which would win, but it is strange, now nothing remains. What it is in front of their eyes is a scene where no trace of battle remains, a completely intact landscape, and no remaining movements in the odo or mana in the ambient environment after either spirit arts or magic are used, but no one could care about that anymore due to the uncomfortable feeling assaulting them.

Latifa asks anxiously who was the one fighting there, then everyone realizes that it was the origin of their uncomfortable feeling, that no one there could remember who was fighting or why in front of their eyes, that maybe they didn’t know who was there to begin with, that when they had realized the two powers were already clashing, and then everything disappeared like it was a lie. So no one can answer Latifa's question, even if they wanted to. They can’t say the name of the one fighting, because they can’t remember what happened before the two powers clashed. When they try, nothing comes to mind like it had never existed, just as if they had jumped forward in time to when and where they are now. Everyone asks why to themselves in their minds, even though someone should be fighting there up until the light swallows the earth tsunami, their memories don’t go beyond that point, their memories from before disappearing like when waking up from a dream.

Why? They ask themselves again. They don’t know who was fighting there, but they feel strongly from the bottom of their hearts that it is important. They want to know, so their legs move by themselves forward, but suddenly François tells everyone to wait. Everyone stops and looks with troubled faces at François, because they feel they need to go to that place but can’t give a logical reason until Charlotte asks François if they don’t need to investigate what happened in front of them. François agrees with it, but he isn’t sure about everyone all going. He doesn’t know yet what happened or if the battle is really over. His doubts don’t allow him to just let them all go. Despite feeling like them, he thinks some skillful individuals should be sent and thinks about Gouki and Kayoko. While François is thinking, Celia and Miharu volunteer to go. François understands sending Celia as an actual researcher, but isn’t sure about Miharu. Latifa, Sara, Orphia and Alma say they will go too. Satsuki asks François to also let her go. François is at a loss about Satsuki. He wonders why he brought Satsuki to this battlefield in the first place. He asks himself in his head if he brought Satsuki to the battlefield because she wished so or if there was another reason and feels there was some other reason but can’t remember it.

Everyone is as confused and anxious as François because they can’t remember what they should remember. Charlotte says to François that it is a wish of Satsuki, the hero, implying that he shouldn’t stop her. Charlotte says too that she doesn’t know why, but that she wants to go to that place too, and asks for permission to go. François wants to scold Charlotte for her selfishness, but he can’t for some reason. Charlotte tells Liselotte to make her appeal too. Liselotte is surprised. Charlotte tells her that it is her strong point to maneuver while looking at the time and place, but asks her if she doesn’t want to go too. Liselotte says she wants to go too. François and everyone else know that they aren’t acting logically but on emotions, but the strange feelings assaulting them are too strong, so in the end, everyone goes to investigate after François tells them to be careful.

Minutes before, one or two kilometers away from François’ group, Rio thinks this time Erika is dead for good. Rio erases the sword piercing Erika’s heart and it disappears, becoming particles of light just like a spirit. When Rio holds Erika’s body so it doesn’t fall, after the sword disappears, he begins to fall on his back himself, but Aishia materializes and supports his body. Rio apologizes, saying that his body suddenly lost its strength. Rio tries to regain his balance, but Aishia still clings to him and tells him to not force himself. Rio tells her he is fine, just a little tired. Aishia looks worriedly at Rio and tells him that using a transcendental’s power must be putting pressure on his body. Rio is surprised at the unknown words but soon tells Aishia he is already fine. Aishia apologizes for allowing him to be in such a state, despite reducing the burden on him being her duty. Rio says he doesn’t understand it well yet but asks Aishia if it isn’t thanks to her that it ended with just some burden on his body. He also asks her if she can explain to him what is happening.

Aishia says she understands, but... When Rio asks her what it is, Aishia tells Rio that they mustn’t meet with the others and get away from where they are, and that later she will explain everything. Rio says he understands and asks Aishia if the others won’t be in danger if they are away. Aishia says that there shouldn’t be immediate danger, but it might be troublesome for the two if they meet with the rest now. Rio agrees after a slight pause, because Aishia seems to have a reason for all of this. Aishia asks Rio if he can already move. Rio says he can already move and that it has become easier now. Rio separates from Aishia, makes Erika’s body levitate, freezes it, and stores it in the time space-cache. Aishia asks Rio what will he do, Rio says he can’t just leave her like that, that he thinks he (the great earth’s spirit) must be dead but that he will monitor the body's condition for a while, then he will carry Erika to her country and bury her, that there is the matter of the promise too, Aishia looks at the lake, sees everyone coming in their direction, and tells Rio they are coming. Rio tells Aishia to spiritualize before Hell, Ifrit and Aerial can inform Sara and the others of her presence, Aishia agrees and enters Rio’s body for hiding her presence from them, Rio then quickly flies away as if hiding from the girls’ group coming his way. At that instant, Rio couldn’t notice it due to a barrier but there was a lot of magic power gathering in some stones in the ground, the magic power kept gathering and inflating, when he finally notices it Rio stops and keeps his distance with the source of magic power until it became a pillar of light.

The girls who were on their way to the place where Rio and Aishia were stopped in their tracks when they saw the pillar of light. Satsuki asks, screaming, spear in hand, what is happening while her other hand protects her eyes from the light. Orphia realizes that some kind of teleportation magic is being used. Sara hurriedly tells everyone that the pillar of light isn’t a destructive technique. After some time, the pillar of light disappears. A part of the group doesn’t understand what is happening, but Celia, Charlotte, Liselotte and Aria do. Miharu asks them what came to mind. Celia says that it resembles what happened before the heroes’ summoning but that the pillar of light she saw was a different color. Liselotte says that it resembled the pillar of light when Satsuki was summoned. Satsuki and Latifa ask if a new hero was summoned then. Orphia tells Alma and Sara that the humanoid spirit they sensed a little while ago disappeared, Sara asks Hell inside her if it still feels the presence of the humanoid spirit, then she tells everyone that the humanoid spirit disappeared a little before the appearance of the pillar of light.

Charlotte tells everyone to go see what happened, saying that they were on their way there anyway. Latifa tells everyone that there are two people in the distance. When they get close and can see the two standing there, Satsuki is surprised. Miharu asks why she is unable to hide her surprise when she realizes they know the two standing there, Masato and Liliana, especially the boy. Latifa calls out to Masato to greet him and get his attention. Masato, who notices a group approaching him, stands protectively between them and Liliana, sword in hand, but is surprised when he recognizes Miharu and the others. Masato then lowers his sword, relieved. Gouki asks everyone if they are acquaintances. Satsuki explains about Masato and Liliana to him. Latifa asks Masato if there was someone else there until now. He denies it and says everyone was already present when he realized it. Masato asks what is happening when everyone drops their shoulders dejectedly at his answer.

     Satsuki tells Masato that until a little while ago there was a fight where they are, a really incredible one, and asks him if he knows something. Masato denies it. He says they appeared there when he realized it and has no idea of what is going on. Satsuki says she understands. Miharu asks him if Aki and Takahisa are with them. Masato says they should still be at Centostella's royal castle. Liliana says that they didn’t see anyone else and asks if she can ask some questions too. Charlotte tells her that it is fine and to go ahead. Liliana asks where they are right now. Charlotte tells Liliana that they are in the Gregory Dukedom in the Galarc Kingdom. Going by Masato's previous words, Charlotte asks Liliana if they understand that it wasn’t their intention to be there. Liliana confirms it. She says the two were talking inside Centostella’s royal castle and when they realized they were here. Charlotte says she understands. Liliana asks if they were the ones who brought them there. Charlotte denies it. She says that, as Satsuki stated, there was someone unknown fighting in this location and when they came to investigate it, the two were summoned. Liliana says she understands and asks if it is unknown who teleported them.

Charlotte confirms it and says that they have some idea of why they were summoned. Liliana asks what it is. Charlotte says that Masato or she herself might have become a hero. Masato is surprised, and Liliana is convinced because the current circumstances match Masato’s and Takahisa’s stories. Masato asks Charlotte if she means the same hero as Satsuki. Charlotte confirms it. Masato asks which of the two is the hero. Charlotte says she doesn’t know, but that she thinks so because prior to their appearance, the same phenomenon that occurred before Satsuki’s summoning had occurred at their location. Liliana says she understands and is convinced that Masato must be the hero. Masato asks why it is him, with surprise. Liliana says that because Masato is an otherworlder too, like the rest of the heroes, and that there is the sword too. Liliana says that when she saw the sword that he didn’t have on him in the castle, Masato looks at the sword in his hands and agrees. She thought, "Could it be?" And combined with their story of the pillar of light and the sword seemingly being of really high quality, she thinks it must be a divine weapon. Masato asks if it is really a divine weapon and says that everything resembles the moment he appeared in the other world for the first time. Charlotte asks for Satsuki’s opinion as a hero.

Satsuki says that if it is a divine weapon, it should disappear if Masato wishes for it. Masato gives it a try and the sword disappears. Charlotte says that that settles it, that she wants to continue to share information but that they are on a battlefield, so she wants them to accompany her to their main camp where her father is. Liliana is surprised when she hears that. After all, for the king to come to the battlefield personally, something significant must have happened. Charlotte says to Liliana that aside from their summoning, everyone is really confused because they don’t understand what happened surrounding that battle. Liliana asks if it is like that. Masato asks her what's wrong when she became worried. Liliana says she’s just confused due to the sudden situation and asks Charlotte to take them to their main camp. Charlotte says that if Masato and Satsuki are friends, then their kingdoms are too, so she welcomes them as the Galarc Kingdom’s second princess. Satsuki says with surprise that Charlotte can act princess-like in these kinds of situations. Charlotte says that of course she can and asks Orphia if she can help her to take the two to their main camp. Orphia says she doesn’t mind. Charlotte says she wants to leave some people in charge of investigating the place more and asks Miharu and Satsuki if they can come with her since Masato is coming too. Satsuki agrees. Miharu looks around the place with a pained face, as if something was taken from her and agrees reluctantly too, because she doesn’t want to leave Masato alone.

Gouki volunteers both himself and Kayoko to continue the investigation. Latifa says she will stay behind too. The same as Miharu as she feels there is something intriguing about the place they are at now. Sara says she will stay behind too and tells Alma to help Orphia with everyone’s escort. Alma agrees that, after all, the foxgirl Latifa and the wolfgirl Sara are better suited for looking for things thanks to their noses than a dwarf. Celia says she will stay back because she can use detection magic. Charlotte asks Liselotte what she will do. Liselotte decides to go back, thinking it won’t be of any use if she stays with the rest. Masato calls out to Miharu and Satsuki in whispers. Miharu asks him what it is. Satsuki clouds her face when she sees Miharu, hiding her pained face behind a forced smile for Masato’s sake. Masato asks why Sara and the others are with the people from the castle, and Aerial is present outside too. Satsuki tells him that a lot has happened since they separated from him and that she will explain later. Masato says he understands and by the way... Miharu asks him by the way what when Masato stopped in mid-sentence while tilting his head. Masato asks them if he was going to tell them something. Miharu says that if he asks them, they won’t know. Masato says he feels like he was just about to remember something but that he suddenly forgot about it. Masato keeps tilting his head, still not remembering what he wanted to say, until Charlotte asks the three if they are ready to go.

Satsuki apologizes and says they will go now. Charlotte tells the three to get on Aerial’s back. Masato approaches Aerial and says that it has been a while since he rode it and will be in its care while patting its head. Aerial rubs its face happily against Masato. Liliana approaches Aerial with surprise and says that it is pretty big. Masato tells her to be at ease because it won’t attack her. Masato gets on Aerial’s back, offers Liliana his hand, and helps her to get on. Liliana thanks him. Satsuki lets out an admiring "heeee" while looking at Masato’s gentlemanly figure. Masato asks her what it is. Satsuki says she thought Masato was a gentleman. Masato asks how he is a gentleman. Satsuki says that the part of him that helped Liliana up so naturally was, that it seems he grew up while they didn’t see each other. Satsuki asks Miharu if she agrees. Miharu agrees, smiling. Liliana says that Masato is kind and he looks away embarrassed without answering for not giving them more teasing material. Satsuki says she wonders if he had a good role model. Satsuki asks Miharu who she thinks Masato resembles, but stops mid-sentence with a worried face. Miharu asks her what it is. Satsuki says that what she wanted to say suddenly disappeared from her mind. Satsuki feels wrong when the words in her throat can just get out, but she can’t remember anything no matter what. Then everyone goes back to the main camp.

After Aerial leaves, Gouki and Kayoko gain altitude by using mini barriers as stepping points and search for presences around them. Sara and Latifa smell everything around them, searching for clues. Celia asks them how it is going. Sara says that she smells blood, both from a man and a woman. Celia asks her what happened, then shows a confused face. Sara says she smells the same soap they use. Celia asks her if she smells it from them then. Sara denies it, because the smell is mixed with the man’s. Celia is impressed by Sara’s objectivity. Sara says that the smell is still fresh, so it hasn’t been long since the person with that smell left. While Sara and Celia think about why someone has the same soap they use, Latifa calls out to the two and tells them she found a blood trace. The two walk towards the point where Rio pierced Erika’s heart. Sara says the blood is still fresh. Latifa asks worriedly if it is the blood of the ones fighting there. Sara and Latifa smell the air again. Latifa asks herself in her head why the smell feels so familiar to her and, for some reason, she gets teary-eyed. Latifa tries to find the smell’s source by walking around that place while smelling everything.

Celia uses her detection magic in an attempt to find any clues, but she can’t detect anything. She takes a look at the magic power in the air, but the traces of Masato’s summoning sent it into a complete disorder. She can’t gain any clues from it. Sara asks Celia how it went. Celia sighs, says that she will move on and use her detection magic again at another location, and asks Sara how her investigation turned out. Sara says she didn’t do well either, and that the smell disappeared. Celia asks her if there were any other clues. Sara says that the presence of the spirit she felt before has disappeared too. Celia asks Sara if the spirits weren’t really rare in the Strahl region. Sara says that they aren’t so scarce, that they just don’t show themselves. Sara also tells Celia that the spirit they sensed was a really powerful one, so in that sense, it was a rare one. Celia asks her if she means as powerful as Dryas. Sara says it is possible that it is a humanoid spirit. For a moment, Celia makes a confused face while the back of a pink-haired girl appears in her mind, but quickly disappears again. Sara asks Celia what is wrong with her. Celia tilts her head curiously, not knowing what happened while trying to remember.

Latifa calls out to the two while running towards them. Celia asks her if she found any clues. Latifa tells them that the smell has disappeared in every direction. Sara says the smell’s owner could have taken flight, so it would be hard to follow the smell. Latifa asks if the owner of the smell isn’t someone that got dragged in the teleportation and got sent elsewhere. Celia asks Sara if it is possible for the owner of the smell to have changed positions with Masato and Liliana. Sara says the teleportation magic she knows is unidirectional and that she never heard anything about people getting exchanged, but she doesn’t deny Celia’s idea because she doesn’t know if the magic that teleported Liliana and Masato is the same one she knows. Celia tells the two to keep searching for a little more. Sara agrees and tells Celia to follow her and Latifa to look in another direction not too far away from everyone. Latifa agrees and the three separate to continue searching.

Gouki and Kayoko look around them from the air, but they can’t see anyone except the girls. Gouki asks Kayoko if she doesn’t think something is strange. Kayoko says that today is full of strange things and tells Gouki to specify. Gouki asks Kayoko why they left the Karasuki Kingdom and how they knew that Ayame and Zen moved to the Strahl region and died. Kayoko says she wants to ask why he is asking that this late in the game but that she agrees. Gouki says he remembers having Homura's approval to leave Karasuki, so they must have had certain evidence and a good reason, but... Kayoko says he looks like he still has questions despite his conviction. Gouki says he understands he came to this land because he wished for it and asks Kayoko if she isn’t the same. Kayoko agrees. Gouki says that they have to do something here for Ayame’s sake. Kayoko agrees again. Gouki says that it is precisely because of that that he can’t get out of his mind his inability to remember that important thing they have to do no matter what. Kayoko says she doesn’t have any proof but... Gouki asks her what it is. Kayoko says she thinks that something important was somewhere in this place. Gouki agrees. He thinks he volunteered for this investigation due to that.

After not seeing anything from the sky for a little while longer, Gouki tells Kayoko to descend to the ground. When he is just about to say to stop the search, he looks at the ground and sees Latifa running around. Gouki made a face as if something had just come to mind. Kayoko asks him what it is. Gouki says that right now he refers to Latifa as Latifa-sama in his mind. Kayoko confirms it. Gouki calls out in order the girl’s names, then he asks Kayoko why is it that he used dono with the rest and just Latifa is Latifa-sama or Suzune-sama. Kayoko asks herself the same question. They both take a look at Latifa on the ground. Kayoko says that it seems they will need to sit and have a good talk with everyone. Gouki agrees.

Miharu’s group arrives at the lake. Charlotte calls out to François when they meet him. François says, with surprise, that they returned quickly. Charlotte says that some unexpected guests appeared, so they left the investigation to the rest of the party and came back first while glancing at Masato and Liliana. Liliana greets François while curtsying. François is surprised when he recognizes the two guests. Charlotte tells François that the two were teleported to the place where the pillar of light appeared. François says he understands while guessing the situation and taking a look at Masato. Charlotte says she thought the two could have a talk with Liliana, and that they have to talk about a lot of things before returning her to her kingdom. François agrees and says he will make some time for the two right now. Liliana asks if he is fine with it and says she doesn’t mind being made to wait because the soldiers outside seemed busy, so something important must be going on. François says that it is fine because he already gave the necessary instructions to everyone, that he wants to talk about the pillar of light, and that maybe it won’t take them too long. Liliana says she is thankful if it is like that. François asks Satsuki and Miharu if they can take care of Masato while he talks with Charlotte and Liliana, Satsuki accepts.

François walks with Charlotte and Liliana until they reach his tent. After the three take a seat, François tells Liliana he will contact Centostella as soon as possible. Liliana thanks him. François says that it is the natural thing to do as an ally and tells Charlotte with a glance to explain herself. Charlotte explains Liliana’s and Masato's sudden appearance after the pillar of light appeared, that they think they must have been teleported there somehow and that Masato seems to have become a hero because he had on him a sword that seemed to be a divine weapon. François asks for Liliana’s opinion. Liliana says she agrees with Charlotte, describes how Masato and her were talking at Centostella’s castle and suddenly they were elsewhere, and confirms Charlotte’s story about Masato’s sword, then she says that it seems undeniable that a hero was born. François agrees.

François says that the only thing that can summon a hero is a sacred stone, and that if the sacred stone that summoned Masato was in his kingdom, he wants to claim its ownership, but that just because of that, he can’t claim ownership of Masato. He wants to reach a conclusion that can satisfy both parties. Liliana agrees but says that she doesn’t have enough authority to make those negotiations. François says that he understands that and that it is precisely because of that that he wants her to contact her father as quickly as she can. Liliana thanks him for his consideration. François tells her that he doesn’t have any intention of reaching a conclusion that ignores Masato’s will and that, if possible, he wants the two of them to stay at the Galarc Kingdom until the negotiations with Centostella are taken care of, In exchange for them making all of the preparations for that. Liliana agrees. François also adds that if it is Masato’s wish to go back to the Centostella Kingdom, he won’t force him to stay, so he wants her to tell Masato and Satsuki about the talk they have just had. Liliana says she understands and that, after consulting with Masato, she will make the necessary arrangements. François tells Charlotte to take Liliana back to Masato’s location to explain everything to him and Satsuki and leaves her in charge of helping Liliana to contact her kingdom after they go back to the castle. Charlotte says she understands.

Rio, who is listening to their talk using the spirit arts for invisibility from outside the tent, thinks it might be fine to leave Masato in their care. Rio wants to take a look at how the others are doing but decides against it. Thinking Orphia and Alma will detect him if he gets too close while remembering Aishia’s warning about not meeting with everyone for the time being, Rio bows silently to François and Charlotte while entrusting everyone to them in his mind. He then takes distance from the camp and leaves flying.

### Chapter 2: The transcendentals’ mystery.

Rio meets up with Aishia. The two go to a hill some distance away from the camp where Rio sets up the rock house. Rio tells Aishia to take a seat and has a talk with him. Aishia obeys and sits on the sofa in front of Rio while thinking about something. Rio says that it is fine for her to organize her feelings first if it is difficult to talk. Aishia shakes her head and says that because it is about him, she will talk about what is happening. Rio is surprised when Aishia looks fixedly at his eyes. Aishia tells him that the color of his eyes is changing. Rio is further surprised. Aishia says that they are turning red and apologizes. Rio says that he doesn’t feel anything strange, that he doesn’t mind the color of his eyes changing, and that he doesn’t think it is Aishia’s fault. Aishia’s face stays clouded. She says to Rio that she thinks the change in his eyes must be because of the assimilation with her. Rio asks what the assimilation is. Aishia says that in the previous fight, Rio used a power called "transcendental’s authority" but that if a human uses that power alone, they will die, so she fused herself with him and became one. That is the assimilation. Rio asks her if she means that despite being separated now before they became two people sharing one body, Aishia confirms it. She says that if a human body uses forcefully a transcendeltal’s power, it will die, so she fused with Rio and remade his body into something similar to a spirit’s body to avoid that. Rio says he understands and is impressed with Aishia’s abilities. Aishia tells Rio that she can do that because they have a spiritual pact (精霊霊約/seirei reiyaku), a secret technique stronger than the usual spirit contract (精霊契約/seirei keiyaku) unites more strongly the contractor and the spirit.

Rio is surprised at the existence of that technique. He asks Aishia if there are any users of the technique in the spirit folk’s village. Aishia says she doesn’t think they know of its existence, that it was a technique created more than one thousand years ago by the seven wise Gods, and that only a limited number of people can use it. Rio asks about the differences between the two. Aishia says that a spiritual contract is made with spirit arts, while a spirit pact uses special magic to create a stronger bond that allows the use of the assimilation technique. Rio asks if it is fine for him to think that the biggest difference is the possibility of using assimilation or not. Aishia says it is, and that the assimilation gives several benefits to the pactant, like the spirit equipment and the ability to change one’s soul into weapons or armor. Rio thinks about the sword he used in the previous fight. Aishia says that it is as Rio thinks, that that sword is his spirit equipment, something different from the transcendental’s authority, something similar to how a spirit can materialize its body and that he can’t use it if he isn’t assimilated with her.

Rio agrees. He says he has the feeling he won’t be able to take out that sword now even if he wants to, that he feels he can use the authority even now, but... Rio looks seriously at his hand for a moment. Aishia warns Rio, unusually strongly and worriedly, to use the authority only when he is assimilated with her. Rio says he understands that he will die if he uses the authority without assimilating with her, that while staying human he will die if he uses it. Aishia says that besides the spirit equipment, the assimilation has more advantages. Aishia explains that the higher the degree of assimilation, the stronger the pact will become and he will recover easily from physical wounds like a spirit does, and that it is because of that that he won’t die even if he uses his authority. Rio asks if she means that the stronger the assimilation becomes, it means he will get further away from being a human. Aishia confirms it. Rio asks if there are stages in the assimilation. Aishia says there are, from 1% to 100% or even more. When Rio asks how much they assimilated in the previous fight, Aishia says that her intention was to get as close as possible to one hundred percent, and that might be the reason why effects of the assimilation remain after undoing it, like the change to his eyes. Aishia clenches her teeth guiltily, Rio tells Aishia that he doesn’t mind about his eyes, that it is the opposite, that he thinks the assimilation is full of merits.

Aishia says that there are demerits too; that during the assimilation he isn’t either human or spirit, that is stable but really unnatural, that as he said before, the more he assimilates, the further away from human and unstable his existence will be; that she doesn’t know what influence it will have on him if she strengthens the assimilation, like the change in the eye color or the burden on his body; that she thinks the burden is due to using the authority but that it can be the assimilation’s fault too; that there can be more invisible changes and that she doesn’t know if they are good, bad, temporary or permanent ones. Aishia says that if Rio continues to assimilate deeply, in the worst case, he might be unable to go back to being human despite undoing the assimilation. Rio is surprised at how much Aishia is suffering with this, but he doesn’t want her to feel responsible for it, so he says he will get used to it if he has to. Rio asks Aishia if the assimilation isn’t more risky for her. Aishia says that there shouldn’t be any risk for her, no matter the degree of assimilation. Rio asks if it is true. Aishia says that her spiritual body is her main body and she can materialize it too, but that in Rio’s case, he is mainly a physical existence and doesn’t have a spiritual form, so his existence will be more unstable when his body gets closer to a spirit’s during the assimilation, because he is the one getting further away from his natural state. Rio says he understands.

Aishia says that if there are people at risk, then those are the heroes because they also have a spirit pact applied on them. Rio isn’t surprised about this because he was able to guess from the explanation until now, but he still asks for confirmation. Rio asks Aishia if the heroes are assimilated with the great spirits. Aishia confirms it and says that the great spirits are sealed inside the heroes, and that the one inside Erika was the earth’s great spirit. Rio says that it is as he expected. Aishia says that the spirit pact they have is different from the spirit enslavement applied on the great spirits; that the spirit pact is the original technique, while the spirit enslavement is a modified version made by the six wise Gods, a more sophisticated technique that allows you to add things to the contract that places a lot of one sided restrictions on the great spirits; and that all of that was put into the hero summoning system. Aishia says that it is because of that that the spirits resent her and Miharu, that Miharu’s previous life was Lina, the seventh wise God exiled by the other six, and in a sense, her previous life too. Rio is very surprised and confused because it sounds just like them being the same person.

Aishia says she was born just after the end of the divine war, one thousand years ago. Lina separated herself from her divinity and used it to create her, tying her to a spirit contract with the King of Dragons, who would reincarnate and place her inside his soul. Rio says that it is incredible while letting out a deep sigh and looking at the ceiling. Aishia apologizes. Rio tells her to not do it, that he just wants time to clear his head and that they will continue after having dinner. Aishia says she understands. Rio asks if he can take a bath first. Aishia agrees. Rio asks her what she will do. Aishia asks if he wants her to enter the bath with him while tilting her head. Rio gets flustered and red-faced and says he didn’t mean that, that he just wanted her to say it if she wanted to take a bath before him. Aishia tells Rio to go first because she can get rid of the dirt by spiritualizing. Rio says he understands and enters the changing room.

Rio takes a look at his coat’s battered state in the changing room. He thinks it looks unusable while looking at the parts melted due to the great spirit’s attacks, despite it being his hardest armor. Rio thinks it is a waste to abandon it, so he has no other option but to fix the undamaged parts somehow. He thinks he will make a scarf and a short coat. Rio sighs while thinking he did something bad to Dominic’s group. Not only the armor, but the sword broke too, and it will be difficult to recover its pragments from the lake. Rio looks at himself in the mirror and confirms the change in his eyes. Now they are really red. Rio takes off more of his clothes and the magic tool, then his body stiffens in front of the mirror. His hair didn’t go back to black from gray, it turned white. Rio wonders if this is due to the assimilation too. Rio pulls his hair in search of damage, but nothing happens. Rio plucks a bit of hair and, after a while, it goes back to black. Rio wonders what is happening to his body. He takes off his shirt and sees that his old scars are gone. Rio thinks it can’t be helped if he gets surprised at everything. He takes off the rest of his clothes and enters the bath.

At the same time, Charlotte and Liliana have just explained their talk with François to Masato, Satsuki, and Miharu. Masato asks if that means that he can stay where he wants. Charlotte says that if he wants to stay in the Galarc Kingdom, he will be treated just like Satsuki, and if he wants to go to Centostella, some arrangements might be needed, and that he will have to talk about that with Liliana. Masato says he understands. Charlotte says to Masato that a country’s society is like a herd and that many won’t forgive if something beneficial to another herd is given for free and apologizes for the inconvenience. Masato tells her to not apologize in a fluster. Charlotte says she is thankful if he is like that. She smiles cutely at Masato and he gets red-faced. Satsuki and Miharu talk among them about Masato’s weakness for cute girls being still there. Miharu smiles wryly. Charlotte apologizes for making him stay at the battlefield. She tells Masato to enjoy the reunion with Miharu and Satsuki and that she will arrange things to go back to the capital as soon as possible. Satsuki asks Charlotte if there are still battles occurring outside. Charlotte says that their scouts didn’t see any armed groups near the city and that the knights have just gone to investigate the city. She says she won’t know if the war ended until their report comes, but that they will go back to the capital one or two days later. Satsuki says she understands.

Masato calls out to Miharu. Miharu asks him what it is. Masato asks her what happened, the reason for the battle. Miharu tells him that she doesn’t remember it well. Masato asks her why and what she forgot. Miharu clouds her face. She says she remembered that they came to recover the city that was occupied by another country, and then he was summoned, but that she has the feeling that she forgot something she shouldn’t have forgotten. Charlotte confirms Miharu’s story. She also says that, for some reason, a part of their memories of what happened are gone with her own clouded face. Satsuki agrees. She says her memories from before Masato’s summoning are strangely gone, and that when she realized there was an incredible sight in front of her. Charlotte says they must wait until Celia’s group comes back and compare their stories to find out what they remember and what they don’t. Charlotte sighs. Miharu nods with frustration. Then suddenly, a voice talks to Miharu in her mind. It tells her that it's impossible, that the current her won’t remember anything. Miharu looks for the source of the voice around her. Satsuki asks her what happened. Miharu asks her if someone had just spoken. Satsuki tells her that Charlotte just did and that Charlotte nodded to her words. Miharu says she understands. Satsuki asks her if she is fine when she sees her dubious face. Miharu says she is fine. She apologizes and says she must have been listening to things while she was spacing out. Miharu smiles, pretending to be fine, while in her head she wonders if that voice was just listening to things while the strange feeling the voice gave her still persists in her.

Rio and Aishia have just had dinner; they sit in the living room to continue their talk while having tea. Rio says he has thought about a lot of things during this time, that there is something he wants to say and questions he wants to ask. Rio asks Aishia if he can talk first. Aishia asks what it is. Rio explains about his hair changing color too and his old scars disappearing. Aishia makes a worried face, wondering about how far from humanity she took Rio for that to happen. Rio tells her to not make that face, because he didn’t receive any kind of bad after effects. Rio asks Aishia if the heroes are always assimilated with the great spirits. Aishia nods. Rio asks if they aren’t suffering the risks of the assimilation too, or worse things since they are like that the whole day. Rio asks himself why the appearance of the heroes didn’t change, despite their supposedly being exposed to the same risks as him. Aishia says that the most likely reason the risks for them are so low is that they can stay like that the whole day. Rio asks why. Aishia says that normally the degree of assimilation must be low, that if they use their divine weapons or not, it must lower or raise the degree of risk, and that even in battle they shouldn’t go beyond seventy or eighty percent. She thinks that is the reason, but that they might have some kind of special protection included in their contracts too.

Rio asks if that means a lower degree of assimilation means lower risks too, enough to keep the assimilation running 24/7. Aishia nods. She says that the existence will remain stable as long as it is less than 50%. Rio asks if it is fine for him to understand that he must abstain from using the assimilation for long periods if he goes beyond the fifty percent. Aishia confirms it. She says that the higher the degree, the sooner he must cancel the assimilation. Rio says that, in other words, he doesn’t need to worry if he keeps the degree of assimilation low. Aishia agrees but tells Rio to assimilate strongly if he uses his authority, or else he will die. Rio asks why Erika died as a result of the burden of using authority when she should have been able to bear it by assimilating strongly with the great spirit. Aishia says she thinks Erika died because the six wise Gods limited the heroes' degree of assimilation to seventy or eighty percent. Rio asks why they set that limit when the heroes won’t die without it. Aishia says that the six wise Gods wanted to use the great spirits’ powers but not their revival, so they made the hero summoning system. She says that if the degree of assimilation rises, the great spirits will take over and come to the forefront, so the restriction must be to hold them down.

Rio says that it seems that there are some complicated circumstances and asks if it is fine to think there isn't a risk for the heroes if they don’t use their own authority. He asks about the risk of the heroes being taken over like Erika. Aishia says that the heroes’ spirit enslavement benefits them a lot, so the risk of them being taken over should be low. She says that the heroes have total control of the degree of assimilation, but that if they do like Erika and abuse their healing ability for a long time while strongly assimilated, the risk of being taken over is high. Rio asks if he thinks it is fine for Miharu and Satsuki to be together as long as the fight isn’t a serious one. Aishia nods, but says that is only postponing the problem. If they want to resolve it for real, they need to calm the spirits down. Aishia says that would be ideal if possible, but... Rio says that the earth’s great spirit inside Erika overlapped her and Miharu with Lina and was pushing his anger on them. Aishia says that it is because Lina is Miharu’s previous life and... Rio asks if she isn’t hers too. Aishia says she thinks she is but also isn’t. Aishia says she thinks the great spirit thinks Lina betrayed them too. Rio wonders what happened between the great spirits, the six wise gods, and Lina.

Aishia says that if Rio wants to ask about what happened long ago between the wise gods and the great spirits, she will talk. Rio asks her to do it then. Aishia says that far, far longer than one thousand years ago, in the world there was a God and the fourteen transcendental pillars who served him. The king of dragons, the six great spirits and the seven wise Gods. Rio is curious about the new name, the king of dragons, the name that the great earth spirit kept using. Aishia tells Rio that he is the king of dragons, in the same way that Haruto is in his previous life, the king of the dragons is Haruto's. Rio says he understands. Aishia says that God was the one who created the world and ruled it alongside the transcendentals, but one day God disappeared, leaving behind the transcendentals and an order for them and several rules for carrying it out. After that, the transcendentals cooperated to manage the world in God’s place, but the way of doing it was completely different from before. Rio asks the meaning of that.

Aishia says that before leaving, God actively controlled everything in the world, giving prophecies and sometimes also divine punishments. He decided what the history humanity would go through would be, the rules of their society. Humanity lived as God dictated, obeying the prophecies. When evil seemed just about to be born, God erased its roots with divine punishments. Before its disappearance, everything was as God said it should be, a utopia, but then God left and abandoned everything. Rio wonders why God abandoned the world but decides to not interrupt Aishia for the time being. Aishia says that before leaving, God gave a duty to the transcendentals to manage the world, keeping their control to the bare minimum. The humanity that lost God’s guidance began to walk a history that God didn’t decide, their opinions began to conflict, the different senses of values were born, the herd that was united got divided and differences in status appeared, the difference between rich and poor got bigger and the battles between fellow humans began. Aishia says that compared to before God’s absence, the world was in disorder, but according to God’s orders, the transcendentals stayed silent, intervening only when there was no other option.

Rio asks if it isn’t pretty similar to the current world. Aishia says that aside from the absence of the transcendentals, it is, but that in the past there wasn’t any big nation bringing stability, so the quantity of wars and victims was larger then. Because of that, some of the transcendentals lamented the state the world was in, while some others were disappointed. They wondered why God left the world. The omnipotent and omniscient God should have known that things would become like this, full of absurdity. The more they helped God to manage its utopia, the more disappointed they got. Because of that, they wanted to get rid of the world’s absurdity. They said that those who were given a duty as transcendentals must do something about it. Those were the seven wise Gods.

They wanted to bring back God, who had gone to another dimension, so they began to investigate how to make holes between dimensions. Even for them, with their powers, it was difficult, but there were results. They were able to find another dimension, despite not being the one where God was. They began to do experiments and to solve the problems that appeared on their way little by little, but the seven wise Gods weren’t completely united. They had the common goal of finding God and bringing it back, but unlike Lina, the other wise Gods stopped caring about humanity. They tried to open a hole between dimensions despite the risks to the world and humanity. Lina tried to stop them, but she failed and was imprisoned by the other six. The seven wise Gods became the six wise Gods. The six wise Gods continued their experiments, and one thousand years ago, they finally succeeded. The key historical data calls Rio’s attention. Aishia says that it is as he guessed, the wise Gods' experiments caused the divine war. Rio thinks he heard something outrageous. He sighs while leaning back on the sofa, trying to calm his mind. Then he looks again at Aishia and tells her to continue.

Aishia says that from the world between dimensions opened in the western part of the Stralh region came an army of demons. Some of them are as strong as the transcendentals and have an overwhelming quantity of monsters. To defend against the demons, the six wise Gods bestowed magic and powerful magical tools on humanity.They managed to stop their advance, but they were at a stalemate. The wise gods began to consider asking for the help of the rest of the transcendentals. The problem was that they lost Lina’s trust and were scared of the great spirits’ and the king of dragons' reactions after they discovered what they did. The wise gods tried to get Lina’s cooperation for that. Lina agreed to be the one asking for help. She herself wanted this role because she regretted making the world even more unreasonable when she wanted to get rid of its absurdity and regretted her failure in stopping the other six. Lina visited the great spirits at the spirit folk’s village first. The great spirits were angry but gave priority to eliminating the threat, so they departed to the Strahl region with their familiars to join the war, while Lina went to visit the king of dragons.

Then a new problem appeared. A little after the great spirit’s departure, an army of monsters appeared in the Yagumo region too. Rio says that it sounds like it was a very tight situation. Aishia says that it wasn’t just that. She says that when Lina finally persuaded the king of dragons, the six great spirits disappeared, and the six wise Gods used them as the core of the hero summoning system. Lina tried to release them but failed, and that’s why the great spirits think she betrayed them too, like the other six did. Rio says he understands. Aishia says that after that, Lina joined and persuaded the king of the dragons, and together they killed the monsters in the Yagumo region and ended the war in the Strahl region. Rio says he feels the story took a sudden jump forward. He asks how the king of the dragons and Lina ended the war and what happened to the six wise gods. Aishia says she doesn’t know anything about that, and a part of her memories are still clouded. Aishia says she just remembers that the king of dragons exhausted his power to the point of endangering his life. Aishia says Lina, too, and then she detected some kind of bad omen and decided to reincarnate to do something about it, and that then she, Aishia, was born for the sake of giving back the powers to the king of dragons that reincarnated as well.

Rio asks about Lina is Miharu’s previous life and also Aishia’s in a certain sense, in an attempt to help her remember. Aishia says she is a humanoid spirit created by Lina, and that she was given the necessary power alongside the power of the soon-to-reincarnate king of dragons. Aishia holds her head in her hands to endure a headache. Rio is worried and tells Aishia to not force herself. Aishia says that her memories from the past seem to be a copy of Lina’s, that she was just about to die when she created her, and what Lina said to her... At that time, alongside with Rio, what Aishia saw in front of her was her own appearance.

Aishia is asking why, and a woman is apologizing while looking at her. She says she is out of time because it seems he will die before she can transcript everything. She says she will entrust everything to him one thousand years later and to her. Aishia stands in front of the woman while making a dumbfounded face. The woman has drawn a very complicated magic formation on the ground and is trying her hardest to activate it with her bloodied hands. The woman says she leaves him in her care because the reincarnated her will be very powerless and because he is very kind. A man just about to die is lying in the center of the magic formation, his gaze worn out and unfocused. Aishia wonders why she understood that he was the king of dragons when she looked at him. Aishia nods while still looking confused at the two. Then Aishia realizes that this is Lina’s memory, not hers. The woman says it will be bad if she doesn’t activate the spirit pact and puts her inside him before he reincarnates. While Lina is transforming her lifespan into magic power to activate the magic. Rio brings Aishia back from her daze by calling her name repeatedly.

Aishia opens her eyes and asks Rio what it is. Rio asks her if she is fine because she was spacing out. Aishia sees Rio looking at her worriedly. She spiritualizes, then materializes on Rio’s lap and hugs him. Rio is confused and asks her what happened. Aishia says she remembers why her memories are fragmented, that it is because her memories are an incomplete copy of Lina's, and that there are a lot more things she doesn’t know. Rio says he understands. Aishia says that it is because of that that she isn’t Lina, despite having her memories, and Miharu isn’t Lina either, despite being her reincarnation. Rio agrees. He says he thinks the same thing. For him, the name Lina means nothing, Miharu is Miharu, and Aishia is Aishia. Aishia says that her memory isn’t perfect, but that she just knows that there was something that they wanted to achieve despite reincarnating, but that they are Rio and Miharu, not the king of dragons and Lina, so they shouldn’t be tied down by previous lives they have no memory of. Rio says that it might be like that, but that even if it is like that, he is an existence that was reincarnated from the King of dragons, and that he has his soul and his authority.

Aishia insists on Rio and Miharu not having to carry anything. Rio says it is like that, that he doesn’t think he has to live as the king of dragons and asks if Aishia isn’t the same for her, that she is herself, that her memories are unrelated. Aishia says she is different because she was entrusted with something by Lina. Rio says that then he will shoulder with her the thing she is trying to shoulder alone. Aishia says that very dangerous things might happen, that even the king of dragons, owner of a powerful authority, was cornered to death. Rio asks if she wants to say that she will do something by herself. Aishia says she doesn’t want him to die. Rio says he doesn’t want Aishia to die either, and that there is noway he will leave her alone, and that without him she can’t use the authority. Rio hugs Aishia back; she also strengthens her embrace. Rio tells Aishia to not think deeply about things if she doesn’t know what to do and that it is fine to just stay together. Aishia buries her crying face in Rio’s chest while he pats her back.

After hugging for a while, Aishia looks up at Rio. Rio asks her if she is already fine. Aishia nods. Rio says he understands, picks up Aishia’s body, puts her in the seat next to his, and tells her to continue the talk. Aishia says she talked about almost everything she remembers and asks Rio if he has more questions. Rio says he wants to ask about the rules set by God and if it is better to not meet with the rest for the time being was related to them. Aishia nods. Rio asks what the rules are and if she remembers them. Aishia says she remembers them. Aishia says that the transcendentals were the ones in charge of ruling the world in God’s place and that they had the power to destroy the world if they wished. So as to not let the transcendentals be bad groups or individuals, God set in place the rules.

If a transcendental uses their authority, the world will forget their existence. Rio asks if everything related to the transcendentals has been erased. Aishia says that anything that can identify a transcendental will disappear from people’s memories. Rio asks how the legends about the wise gods and the great spirits still remained then. Aishia says that registers of their existence or what they did are fine, but that personal information will disappear completely. Rio asks if the memories are permanently erased and if someone who has forgotten can be taught again what they have forgotten. Aishia says that she thinks they will forget again the moment they remember, and that she doesn’t know what can happen to someone that remembers and forgets over and over, so she can’t recommend it. She says that they will forget even if the transcendental hides their identity. Rio asks if that is magic, spirit arts, or if a global scale technique such as that is possible to begin with. Aishia says that God could do it. Rio says that it is incredible.

Rio asks if those are all of the rules. Aishia says that there are more with a worried face. Rio tells her to continue. Aishia says that the transcendentals will be forgotten too if they use individuals or groups for personal gain, even if they don’t use their authorities. The transcendentals must work for the sake of humanity or the world as a whole. They can just cooperate with concrete groups or individuals if their interests align with the whole world’s. They won’t be forgotten if they use their authority for self-defense or fulfill their duties. The transcendentals will always remember the other transcendentals. Rio asks what happens if a transcendental tries to help someone outside of the exceptions. Aishia says that then the transcendental will forget about that person. Rio thinks that even if there is a proper reason, like protecting the world’s power balance, that is still a terrible rule. Rio asks if that is the reason why he has to keep his distance from everyone. Aishia nods. Aishia says that it won’t happen immediately the moment he helps someone, but that the moment he stays too long with the person, the rule will activate. Rio agrees about the prefereblaness of staying away from everyone if they can’t know for sure how much they can forget and when. Aishia nods.

Rio asks if the current him is a transcendental and if he is affected by the rules. Aishia nods. Aishia says that Rio and Erika, who used the authorities, and Aishia, who was assimilated with Rio, are affected by the rules. Rio says he understands, his voice trembles, he understands he will have to resolve himself to forget about everyone if he tries to help them and is scared of forgetting. Aishia is worried. She wonders if she should have shouldered everything herself after all. Rio pats Aishia’s head and says that it is fine because he won’t regret what he did, that he is glad that she wasn’t the only one who was forgotten, and that even if it might be inconvenient to not be able to rely on the rest, at least the two of them won’t forget the others, so he is really happy about her being with him. Aishia says that the transcendentals barely showed themselves to the humans because of the rules, but that because of that they were allowed to have familiars, Rio asks what is a familiar. Aishia says that the familiars won’t forget about the transcendentals either, that they are bound by the rules too, and that usually they are used as the transcendental’s limbs for hiding their identities.

Rio asks if he has any familiar too. Aishia says she thinks there was a familiar one thousand years ago. Rio asks if she knew about the king of the dragon’s familiars. Aishia says that there isn’t anything about his familiar in her memories. Rio tells her to not mind it because it was more than one thousand years ago, thinking there was no way for his familiar to still be alive. Aishia tells Rio that because the transcendental and the familiar are connected, the transcendental seems to be able to call forth the familiar. Rio asks how he could call his familiar. Aishia says she doesn’t know. Rio asks, while extending his hand, if he has to say something like "come familiar". At that moment, the space in front of Rio’s hand distorts, and a small girl wearing clothes from the Yagumo region who seems to be more or less ten years old appears in front of Rio.

    The girl introduces herself as the familiar of the great dragon king, and greets and thanks them for wanting to see her. Then the girl bows. The girl talks to herself about her speech. She criticizes the grandiosity of her greeting, talking to herself about what would be a good greeting after one thousand years. Both Rio and Aishia look dumbfoundedly at the girl who seems to be practicing her greetings without realizing their presence. The girl finally realizes with surprise Rio’s presence. Rio bows while saying that it is nice to meet her. The girl apologizes for her rudeness, flustered and in a rush while stutters her polite apology, making Dogeza with a beet red face.

### Chapter 3: Familiar.

Rio asks the girl with a troubled face to raise her head. The girl apologizes for her rudeness again without moving. Rio asks her how she knows that he is the dragon king. The girl says that the dragon king is the only one in the world with the power to summon her and that she feels her connection with him. The girl asks Rio if there is any reason for the change in his appearance. Rio says he understands and asks the girl if she can raise her face and take a seat. The girl asks if it is fine for her to do it. Rio says, "Of course," and tells the girl to stand up. Rio offers a helping hand to the girl, and she grabs it with shining eyes, like someone meeting their idol. Rio asks himself in his head if the girl is really the familiar of the king of the dragons. Rio tries to make the girl take a seat and realizes she is glaring at Aishia. When Rio asks her what is wrong, the girl says she can feel that woman’s presence from Aishia. Rio asks the girl what that woman means. The girl says, annoyedly, that she means Lina’s presence. Rio asks her how she knew that. The girl asks why with a sullen face. Rio asks her what she means. The girl asks Rio if he spent the last one thousand years with that woman. Rio says he didn't, and that Aishia isn’t Lina to begin with. The girl is surprised. Rio says he isn’t the king of dragons either. The girl is even more surprised. Rio explains that he has no memories of his time as the king of dragons. The girl asks, screaming, if he forgot about her too, and Rio nods.

The girl says that it can’t be. Rio apologizes when he sees the girl just about to cry. He bows his head while feeling guilty. The girl tells him to stop bowing in a hurry and apologizes for being confused. Rio tells her to not mind it because both are confused. Rio asks the girl to take a seat and asks her if she is fine with iced tea for a drink. The girl says she will be thankful for whatever. Rio takes out sweets and iced tea from his space-time cache and serves them to the girl. Rio smiles when the girl enjoys them. Rio looks at her childish appearance and wonders if she really has been alive since the time of the king of dragons or not. Aishia gives the girl a cloth to wipe her mouth. She wipes her mouth and gets embarrassed for being treated like a child.

Rio introduces himself. He explains to the girl that he is a seventeen-year-old boy from the Strahl region, the son of two immigrants from the Yagumo region, and that Aishia is a spirit created by Lina and that she has a contract with him. The girl sulks while listening to that. She seems to have some bad memories of Lina. Rio explains that Aishia is someone different despite having a part of Lina’s memories and that it was just recently that Aishia recovered those memories and explained to him that he was the reincarnation of the king of dragons. The girl clouds her face with understanding after listening to that. Rio asks her if she believes him. The girl says she will never do something like doubt the dragon king. Rio says he understands. The girl says that Lina also told her that the seven wise gods had been researching reincarnation. Rio asks the girl if she ever met Lina. The girl says she did, and that it was Lina who made the dragon king join the battle, and that he ended the battle, but that their connection had been severed until today. Rio says he understands while the girl gets teary-eyed remembering her loneliness. The girl says that, as expected, the dragon king died. Rio explains to the girl that the king of dragons died shortly after the battle and that his soul seems to be inside his body now, but... The girl asks if he doesn’t have any memories from the past.

Rio says that he knows the king of dragons is the previous life of his previous life, and that he remembers his first previous life but not his time as the king of dragons. The girl asks him if the dragon king reincarnated twice. Rio confirms it. He explains that he was reincarnated in another world before being born as himself. The girl asks if it isn’t strange to be able to remember that previous life in between and not his time as the dragon king. Rio agrees and asks Aishia with a glance if she knows anything. Aishia says that Lina didn’t know the details, but that it seems to be another of God’s rules that if a resident of this world leaves it by teleporting or reincarnating, they will lose the memories of the time they spent here. Rio says he understands. Aishia says that the residents of this world, even if they come back and can keep their memories from their time outside, won’t recover the lost ones. Rio asks Aishia why she has Lina’s memories when she also left the world with him. The girl also asks Aishia if there isn’t any exception to that rule. Aishia says she doesn’t know about that, and that she also lost memories because of the rule when she followed the dragon king’s soul to the outside world. The girl tells Aishia to remember. She asks if there isn’t any loophole. Aishia says that it might be due to her memories being just a copy of Lina’s instead of the real thing that came from her experiences.

The girl says that it can’t be like that, that that woman must have found a way of breaking God’s rules. Rio asks if they can be broken. The girl says that the seven wise Gods were researching ways of breaking the rules and even found ways of lessening their effects. The girl takes out a mask from her own space-time cache. She says that it is one of the dragon king’s and Lina’s spares and can lessen the rules’ power while wearing it. When Rio asks Aishia if such a thing exists, Aishia says that it is not inside her memories. Rio asks if he can avoid the loss of memories by wearing the mask. The girl says that it can protect the transcendental’s memories but that it can’t prevent the memory loss from using the authority. Rio says he understands. The girl explains that the mask is for the sake of avoiding the rule that forbids fighting for someone’s sake. Rio asks if he can fight for someone’s sake if he wears the mask. The girl says that he can within a time limit, and that the mask is an incomplete consumable that will break apart little by little while it is used. Rio asks how many masks she has. The girl says five. Rio asks if she can produce more. The girl says she can’t, that the masks are something made by Lina, and that without her it is impossible. Then she glances at Aishia.

Aishia shakes her head and says that she doesn’t know how to make them. The girl gives her five masks to Rio. She explains that he will be able to fight for someone’s sake until the five break, that the effect will stay active until they break, that the mask won’t separate from his face unless he wishes or the mask breaks, and that the mask will adjust automatically to the form of his face. Rio says he understands. Rio tries putting on one of the masks and tells Aishia to keep one on her. Aishia says she understands, and the girl asks Rio why he gave one to Aishia. Rio explains to the girl that he can’t use his authority without assimilating with Aishia, so he thinks she is being treated as a transcendental too. The girl is surprised and asks why he has to assimilate with Aishia. Rio explains the assimilation, the spirit pact and how being a human makes it impossible for him to use the authority without assimilating. The girl looks enviously at Aishia. Rio asks the girl if the masks have any other effect aside from protecting from the rules for changing the topic. The girl says that the masks can be worn by species with spiritual bodies too and that they have the power to hide the presence of a materialized spirit. Rio says that it seems to be even more convenient to make Aishia wear a mask then. Aishia tries putting the mask on. Aishia asks if her presence is hidden. Rio says he can’t tell because he can’t feel a spirit’s sign. The girl says that it is properly hidden. Aishia asks if it suits her. Rio says it does. Aishia is happy. She says they are a match now. The girl looks at them enviously and Rio asks her for her name to change the topic again.

The girl says that she is Sora with a lonely face. Rio says that it is a good name. Sora says that it is a name she is proud of because the dragon king was the one who gave it to her. Rio asks Sora if he can call her Sora-chan. Sora is happy. Rio says he will be in her care. Sora says the same. Rio asks Sora if she can call him Rio, because he isn’t used to being called "dragon king." The girl says that it is a great honor. Rio asks Sora what the name of the dragon king was. Sora says he was called Ryuo (リュオ). Rio is surprised at the familiar name. Sora asks Rio if he remembers anything. Rio says he was surprised to hear the same name as the legendary hero of the Yagumo region. Sora says she was the one who extended that legend. Rio says, surprised, while looking wide-eyed at Sora. Sora says she couldn’t forgive those fellows who, despite being helped by the dragon king, blamed him and even completely forgotten him, so she gave some education to the king of the time and made him propagate the legend. Sora crosses her arms with a proud "ejem". Rio lets out a troubled laugh, wondering about what Sora means by education and asks her if the travel companion that Ryuo was said to have was Lina. Sora is surprised at the question. Rio asks her if it was different than she expected. Sora says that it was Lina in a hurry. Sora makes "gunununu" while sulking inside her head about Lina looking like she was the dragon king’s special one if the talk continues like that.

Sora is surprised when Rio calls out to her. Rio says that Sora also helped the dragon king at that time, so he at least will thank her in his place. Sora gets red-faced and tells Rio to stop because the dragon king of the past already praised her back then. Rio asks Sora if she is fine with him calling her Sora-chan when she is older than him. Sora says she doesn’t mind it because the dragon king was her eternal master and foster father. Rio asks if he was like that. Sora explains to Rio that the moment she became the dragon king’s familiar, her mental and physical growth stopped, so her age is unrelated. She asks Rio to please treat her as his subordinate, as if she was his child. She gets embarrassed and tells Rio to treat her as a child, not like his own child. Rio lets out another troubled laugh, saying he understands and will keep using the chan. Sora relaxes her cheeks happily.

Rio asks Sora what race she belongs to, despite looking just like a human. Sora explains that she was originally human, but then the dragon king picked her up and she became his familiar. Rio asks if a human can become a transcendental's familiar. Sora says they can and that she did. Rio asks if he can recover the memories of someone who forgot him, turning them into his familiars, since a familiar isn’t affected by the rule about the use of the authority. Sora says she doesn’t know because she's never seen anything like that, but that it might be possible. Rio asks if there is any requirement for being a familiar. Sora says that whoever the dragon king chooses can become a familiar. Rio asks if there are any other familiar. Sora says she is the only one and that the dragon king told her that it is undesirable to have a lot of familiars. Rio asks why. Sora says that one of God’s rules forbids having more than three familiars. Rio is frustrated with the rules that keep getting in his way.

Sora explains that those that become familiars become beings outside of the norm of the world just like the transcendentals, have their physical and mental growth stopped, become unable to disobey their masters, and that it won’t do if they don’t cut their ties with their families and acquaintances, and that that is the reason why the dragon king said that it was bad to make familiars unnecessarily. Rio agrees with that and asks Sora why the dragon king turned her into a familiar. Sora says she was born one thousand five hundred years ago and that she was going to die in a war. The dragon king saved her and turned her into a familiar. Rio apologizes for asking about something painful. Sora says that it isn’t like that, that she is still alive thanks to the dragon king, and tells Rio to ask anything he wants. Rio asks how to turn someone into a familiar and how that someone changes in the process. Sora says the transcendental needs to share his flesh or blood and that she becomes a familiar after drinking the dragon king’s blood. Rio says he understands.

Sora says that how the familiar changes depends on which of the transcendentals is their master. Sora grows horns and a tail. Sora explains that in her case, she became a dragonman. Sora says that she has a dragon-shaped spiritual body besides a physical one, that the horns and the tail are the result of materializing a part of that spiritual body, and that if she wishes, she can materialize her spiritual body and turn completely into a dragon. Sora says proudly that the dragon king’s familiars will become dragons precisely because he is their king. Aishia widens her eyes and says that now Sora is emitting a strong presence different from spirits. Sora says that it is the sign that an incarnated spiritual body emits. Rio asks Sora if the dragon king could change too, between dragon and human. Sora confirms it. Sora says that if a human’s main body is the physical one and a spirit’s is the spiritual one, then for dragonmen like her and the dragon king, they are both the main bodies at the same time. Rio asks if the dragons and demi-dragons have that trait too. Sora says that the demi dragons received the dragon king’s blessing long ago, but that they don’t have a spiritual body or can turn into humans.

Rio asks what the blessing is. Sora says that it is different from turning anyone into a familiar, that it just gives one of the dragon king’s traits, that it gives the blessed one a skin that repels magic power, that her skin is like that too when she dragonifies a part of her body, that it is the same as how beastmen, elves, and dwarves have good aptitude for the spirit arts thanks to being blessed by the great spirits. Rio speaks about his black armor, which is made with the skin of a wyvern that attacked him and was killed by him. Rio asks if he did something bad to the race that his previous life blessed. Sora says that the demi-dragons can know when a dragonman stronger than they is in front of them, and that normally the demi-dragons are unable to attack the dragon king by instinct because of the fear he makes them feel, but that she herself didn’t realize his presence until today, so the wyvern must have attacked unknowingly too, but that Rio has nothing to fear because attacking him is deserving of death. Rio says that that might be a little too radical. Sora tells Rio that he is too kind and that demi-dragon society is full of fellows who prey on the weak ones, attacking a lot of races for eating them, so being countered is obvious, that it isn’t Rio’s fault. Rio agrees with that, saying that sometimes one can just do it.

Sora explains the rest of the traits of a familiar. Sora says that a familiar is ageless and as long as the master is alive, they receive an infinite supply of magic power from them. They can’t disobey their masters. They will always know the master’s whereabouts. They can be summoned by their master if they give their consent. The familiars are affected by the rules too. They will also lose the memories that their masters lost. Sora says that that is more or less everything. Rio asks Sora what she means when she says that it is impossible to disobey the master. Sora says that if the master uses magic power when ordering something, the familiar has to do it no matter what, and that it is a measure against a familiar’s possible rebellion. Rio says that that is brutal and that it will be bad if he isn’t careful. Sora says that the past dragon king didn’t like that power either and that he never used it with her, that he always asked for something with normal words. Sora laughs happily at the common point between her past and present master.

Rio asks Sora if she is tired because the talk got prolonged and because he had a lot of questions. Sora says she is completely fine. Rio asks Sora if it will be hard for her to go back to her home from where they are, and he says that he tried to summon her because Aishia told him that he had a familiar, and then she appeared. Rio apologizes for the suddenness. Sora says that it isn’t a problem at all. Rio asks Sora where she lives. Sora says that it is in a mountain range between the wilderness and the Yagumo region. Rio asks Sora if she has any teleportation crystals or any way of going back quickly to so far away. Sora says she has them, then she asks if she has to leave with the anxious face of a lost child. Rio tells her that she can stay if she wants too. Sora says that she wants to stay, that she wants to be with the dragon king, and that she has been waiting for his return for one thousand years. Rio says that if she stays with them, he doesn’t mind if she needs to make some preparations first. Sora says she got ready for the summoning the moment she felt his presence. Rio says he understands.

Rio warns Sora. He tells her he isn’t the king of dragons, that the king of dragons she knew is dead, because he doesn’t have his memories, he can’t act the same way the king of dragons she knew would, that he might do things the original him wouldn’t have done and that that might sadden her. Sora says that Rio might certainly be reborn as someone different from Ryuo, but that if it is her who spent hundreds of years with him, she knows that no matter if he is reborn or loses his memories, the dragon king is the dragon king, and that the master-servant bond between them, which has returned, is also telling her that. Rio says he wants to ask her something, and that there is something that they have to decide now. Sora asks what it is. Rio says that he knows almost nothing about her and she knows almost nothing about him, and that he thinks if they stay together, there will be division among them. Sora asks anxiously if she is a bother. Rio says he just means he doesn’t want her to feel obligated to serve him because he is the reincarnation of the king of dragons. Rio tells Sora that her life is hers and just hers, that she doesn’t need to be tied to him just because she is the dragon king’s familiar, that he dislikes his existence being something that binds her, and that if she ever has a change of heart at any time, she can say what it is without holding back, because it is fine for her to live as she wishes. When Sora listens to that final sentence that was exactly the same as the last thing that the dragon king told her, she begins to cry. Rio apologizes in a hurry. He asks her if he said something bad. Sora denies it. She apologizes and says it is because the dragon king told her the exact same words one thousand years ago.

    Aishia tells Rio to hug Sora and to soothe her because she has been waiting one thousand years for it. Rio agrees, picks Sora up and hugs her. Rio pats her back and apologizes. He says he might be thinking too much about complicated things, then tells her to live with him.

### Chapter 4: Future policy.

The next morning, while Rio is making breakfast, Sora approaches and apologizes while making dogeza for having to leave the important talk for the next morning just because she cried until she fell asleep. Rio tells her she has nothing to apologize for and that she shouldn’t do dogeza so easily. Sora denies it with a red face. She says she showed him an appearance that was too indecent. Rio tells her that she didn’t do anything indecent. Sora says that she tried to use the situation to spend the night together. Rio tells her that she just asked him to stay in different beds inside the same room and to choose her words carefully because they can create misunderstandings. Rio imagines the scandal in the event that Latifa and the others had heard those words. Rio approaches Sora and tells her to stand up for the time being. Sora is still unconvinced. Rio tells her to take a seat because the breakfast will be ready soon. Sora says she doesn’t mind skipping breakfast. Rio says that he made her portion too. Sora asks if he really did. Rio says it will be troublesome if she doesn’t eat. Sora says that she needs to punish herself, but her wish to atone clashes with her wish to have Rio’s handmade meal and the first breakfast with the dragon king in one thousand years. Sora asks if it is fine if she eats too. Rio says he never told her that she couldn't eat. Rio tells her to stop worrying about yesterday and to stand up. Rio takes Sora’s hand, makes her stand up, and asks her to wake Aishia up. Sora accepts and leaves the kitchen. Rio smiles while thinking Sora’s enthusiasm is funny.

After breakfast, when she’s full, Sora praises Rio’s cooking. Rio asks her if she can cook. Sora says her specialty is frying things. Rio asks her what she usually eats, and Sora says meat. Rio asks if she doesn’t eat any veggies. Sora says that it is fine because she can’t get ill while looking away from Rio. Rio asks if her agelessness protects her from illnesses too. Sora says that the degree of immortality of the familiar depends on who is the master and that she received a very strong body from the dragon king. Rio asks Sora if the past dragon king left her to just eat meat because of that. Sora says that he was always telling her to eat her veggies too. Rio asks more questions, and Sora explains how unbalanced her usual diet is. So Rio decides in his mind to make sure she has a proper diet from now on.

Rio says that now that they have breakfast, he wants to talk about the future, but before that, he wants to ask more questions about the past. He asks Sora and Aishia if they are fine with that, and they both nod. Rio asks Aishia if it is wrong to think Lina put her in his soul and she herself reincarnated into Miharu for the sake of achieving some goal. Aishia nods. Rio asks if they should set a goal for the future to uncover what that goal is. Sora tells Rio to wait a moment and asks if Lina has really reincarnated too. Rio tells her that she reincarnated into a girl called Miharu. Sora asks if it isn’t fine to just ask their questions directly to her. Rio says that Miharu doesn’t remember her time as a transcendental just like him. Sora grumbles about that woman having it easy while dragging Rio down. Rio says that she can’t help it because God’s rules erased her memories too. Sora says that she must be dragging Rio into something bad again for sure. She asks if it is certain that Miharu doesn’t have some key thing on her. Rio asks Aishia what she thinks.

Aishia says she doesn’t know because the current Miharu lost her memories, but that the current her can’t become a transcendental again. Rio asks why. Aishia says that a transcendental’s authority can only be used by those connected to God, only those who have divinity. The transcendentals are the only ones who have divinity, and Lina’s is all with her. Aishia says that the Lina who lost her divinity was reincarnated as just a normal human. Because of that, Miharu can’t recover her former powers like Rio did, that the current her is just a normal girl with a lot of magic power, and it is hard to think that the current Miharu can do anything. Rio asks if Aishia can use Lina’s authority. Aishia says that the authority is engraved in the transcendental’s soul, and Lina’s soul is inside Miharu. Rio asks if Miharu could use her authority if she was given back the divinity. Aishia says that maybe, but she doesn’t know how to do it. Rio says that of course, the Miharu that lost her memories shouldn’t know either. Aishia says that Miharu also doesn’t have a way of preventing the risk of using the authority. Rio asks if it wouldn’t be fine if she assimilates with Miharu, if she can make a spirit pact with her.

Aishia says that a spirit can only make one pact at a time and that they would need to find a willing spirit, but even after finding one, she doesn’t know the spell for making the pact. Rio says he understands. Rio asks why Lina gave her divinity to Aishia when she should already have the dragon king’s on her and it should allow him to use the authority. Aishia says that it is probably for the sake of reducing the burden on Rio that the divinity lessens the burden of using the authority, but that even like that, the burden on a human is too big, and that when they assimilate, Rio has the double of divinity on him, reducing the load. Rio asks if he would have died despite the assimilation if Aishia hadn’t had Lina’s divinity, Aisa says he would. Rio asks if he should think Lina knew that he would use his powers then. Aishia says he should. Rio says he understands but that now he has another question. Aishia asks what it is. Rio asks Aishia how Lina could know what would happen one thousand years in the future. Aishia says that Lina had the power to look into the future, and that was her authority. Rio thinks that it is an outrageous power. Aishia says that the thing that Lina learned from her prediction isn’t in her memories, that it doesn’t come to her no matter what she does. Rio says he doesn’t understand well the criteria for which memories were transcribed and which were not. Sora agrees annoyedly.

Aishia apologizes for that. She says that Lina couldn’t give her all of her memories because, at that time, the dragon king was already about to die. Rio says she has no reason to apologize and that he was able to learn a lot of things thanks to her memories and to reuniting with Sora. Rio asks Sora if she doesn’t agree. Sora admits reluctantly that that was a good thing. Rio asks if Lina knew what kind of life he would lead in his reincarnations as Haruto and Rio and if everything was as she planned. Sora says she dislikes Lina because of that; she is sure that she must have dragged the dragon king into something both now and in the past, despite somehow knowing what would happen. Aishia says that Lina could know to what kind of future someone’s actions could lead and change the future to an extent, but that changing the future isn’t that easy, that there are too many possible futures and not even the intelligence of a wise God could handle the load of knowing every possibility, and that Lina’s authority allowed her to know the future that had the most chances of happening at the time, not every possible one, and that there were also futures she couldn’t change despite knowing then and times when changing the future brought a worse outcome. Sora asks how much Lina had planned then.

Aishia says that reincarnation magic should allow her to choose the destiny of the reincarnation, that Lina could have chosen to reincarnate as Miharu after knowing that the dragon king would reincarnate as Haruto, and that Haruto reincarnating into Rio could have been her plan too, that Lina might have been aiming at something the moment she put Aishia in Rio’s soul and made him be born as Rio, but that every decision that he made during his two lifetimes were his and just his without Lina's influence in them, that they might be in a future different from the one that Lina predicted. Rio agrees. He says that it isn’t good to be too focused on a future that they don’t understand well and that it might not be unavoidable. Sora says that she thinks they could understand more if they recovered Lina’s and the Dragon King’s memories. Rio agrees. He says they could get information quickly if they could do that, but... Rio asks Aishia if she still doesn’t remember why she recovered her memories from the past. Aishia says she doesn’t.

Rio says that then it won’t do if they don’t find a way of recovering her memories. Rio asks Sora if she doesn’t have any clues or knows of any place where there could be any trace of Lina. Sora says that the wise Gods had several research facilities, but that Lina made her laboratory a portable building just like the rock house after being exiled, and that she continued to conduct her research there even while she was traveling with the dragon king. Rio says that it will be complicated to find it and maybe impossible if it is stored inside an artifact. Sora says that the final battle of the divine war was fought in the west of the Stralh region, so they might find something if they explore that place. Rio says that it is good to know of a place with good chances of being a possible location, and that they will explore that place when they have a chance. Sora agrees.

Rio tells Sora and Aishia that their goal for the future will be to discover what goal Lina had in mind at the moment of reincarnating herself and the dragon king, and that for that they will look for traces of Lina and for a way of recovering their lost memories, and that if there are any remaining traces of the other wise Gods or any other event from the past that the two don’t understand well, it might be a good idea to investigate it too. Rio asks Aishia and Sora if they want to add something. Sora asks what they will do about Lina’s reincarnation. Rio tells her that the current Miharu doesn’t have Lina’s memories and it seems she can’t become a transcendental either, that she forgot about Aishia and him, and they are scared of forgetting her due to the rules if they get involved with her, that they can’t just take a wait and see approach in regards to her until anything changes, but that he wants to look into Miharu too if he can do it. Sora says that she will do that investigation then, and that interacting with humanity in the transcendental’s place is one of the familiar’s duties. Rio is surprised by that being Sora’s duty too, but decides to not do it because he doesn’t know if Miharu and the rest will believe her words, even she somehow deals with the castle’s security on her way to them. He tells Sora that if it is necessary, he might ask her to do that. Sora says she understands.

Rio asks if Aishia wants to add something. Aishia says that if there is any other familiar aside from Sora, they might know something. Rio agrees. He asks Sora if she knows anything about any other familiars. Sora says she doesn’t know anything about their whereabouts. Rio asks her if she has met any other familiars. Sora says she has met the great spirits’ and Lina’s familiars. Rio asks about Lina’s familiars. Sora says they were a homunculus mage and two golems. Rio asks Sora to describe what the homunculus and the golems are. Sora says that both races were born from the wise God’s investigation. The homunculus is an artificial human given the good qualities of other races to make them stronger than normal humans. Sora says that the homunculus that became Lina’s familiar became a great genius thanks to their bond and was also Lina’s assistant in her research. Rio asks about the golems now. Sora says that the golems are combat magic tools specialized in fighting given artificial intelligence. Rio asks if the golems can communicate if they have intelligence. Sora says that they can’t, that they won’t move unless they are given magic power and will just follow their given orders, and that the homunculus is the only one who can communicate, but that he followed Lina to the final battle, so it would be good if they were still alive. Rio asks if the ageless familiars can die. Sora says that if they receive a fatal injury, they will because the familiars aren’t immortal and that if a transcendental exiles them, they will also have a fixed lifespan again.

Rio asks about the great spirits’ familiars. Sora says that all of them, including the ones she didn’t meet, were high or mid-level humanoid spirits. Rio thinks the great spirits must have chosen spirits as their familiars because they must have thought them easier to handle than other races. Rio says thanks to Sora and tells them that with Aishia, who can feel their presences, it might be easier to find those humanoid spirits than Lina’s traces. Sora says she heard that all of those spirits followed their masters to the war, that they might have disappeared too. Rio agrees that he can’t imagine those familiars not trying to release their masters or not retaliating for one thousand years, and it seems more possible that they have the tables turned on them. Aishia asks if they should consult with Dryas. Rio agrees with the idea. He thinks she might know of places where there might be other humanoid spirits, even if she forgets about the great spirits.

Rio says that they need to make a decision about releasing the great spirits from their seal if they find a way of doing it, and asks for Aishia’s opinion. Aishia says that she fears they will attack Miharu again if they release them, but if they can do something about that, she thinks it is fine to release the great spirits. Rio agrees. Aishia says that for the three of them, who don't have enough knowledge about magic, it might be impossible to undo the seal if it is a complicated one. Rio says that then they have to look for a way to undo the seal and clear up the misunderstanding while they look for Lina’s traces. Aishia agrees. Sora asks Rio if he really knows the whereabouts of the great spirits. Rio explains to Sora what the heroes and the hero summoning system are. Sora says she understands. Rio also explains the great spirits' resentment towards the wise gods for being sealed, the heroes' being believed to be God’s representatives while not knowing they are assimilated with the great spirits, and the possibility of the great spirits taking over the heroes if they draw too much of their powers. Sora says that that sounds troublesome. Rio explains about Erika, who was taken over by the great spirit inside her, his fight against her, and how he survived thanks to Aishia regaining her memories and helping him to use his power for winning. Sora is relieved about Rio making it through.

Rio explains to Sora that somehow the great spirit could tell that Miharu was Lina’s reincarnation and tried to kill her because he believed that she had betrayed them too, and that he saw him as the dragon king. Sora says that she heard that the great spirits have special eyes that allow them to gather a lot of information for looking at the soul, a way stronger version of the spirit’s ability to detect souls. Rio asks if that is their authority. Sora denies it, saying that the great spirits weren’t the summit of spiritual existences just for show, and that that was just a special skill that came from the transcendental’s specialty, just like the wise gods' special trait was their intelligence. Rio asks if the seven wise gods were that smart. Sora says that the wise part wasn’t for show, and that the dragon king used to say that he couldn’t understand Lina’s research at all, and that their authorities enhanced that trait even more. Rio asks about the dragon king’s special traits. Sora says proudly that it was the strongest body. Rio says that the dragons are certainly associated with the image of the strongest. Sora says that when the dragon king materialized completely into his spiritual body, as she explained the previous day, he was the one with the strongest armor, be it magic or spirit arts, all rebounded against his body. Rio says that's incredible, but the-human him doesn't have a dragon-shaped spiritual body like Sora's. Sora agrees, and she says she can’t feel the sign of a spirit body from Rio at all. Aishia agrees.

Sora is sad about not being able to match-race with Rio anymore. Rio asks about the great spirits’ authority to change the topic. Sora explains that their authority was to create natural events that could ignore the laws of nature and that it was a power given to them so they could keep the balance between nature and humanity. Rio doesn’t understand what Sora means. He asks her if she means they could create ways of making a natural world or just create the thing they imagined. Sora says that she means creating ways like creating nature. Sora tells Rio to think of it as a way of using spirit arts with more power and on a bigger scale, but limited to the attributes they specialize in. Sora says that the dragon king told her that if the great spirits combine their powers, they can recreate heaven and earth. Aishia says that they can cause catastrophes just like Erika if they use them for destruction. Sora says that the dragon king also told her that the great spirits’ duty was to use their powers to give divine punishment in the form of disasters if humanity ever damaged nature too much. Rio says he understands.

Sora says she will explain the authorities of the wise Gods too, if Rio wants. Rio asks if it wasn't to see the future. Sora says that Lina was the only one who could do that. Rio asks if it is like that. Sora confirms it but says that she doesn’t know everything about their authorities because they were secretive fellows, and that the dragon king and Lina didn’t know everything about them either. Rio asks Sora to give a rough description if she can. Sora enumerates several names, like copy and reproduction, disassemble analysis, fate manipulation, etc., and begins to stutter and doubt. Rio asks if she forgot when it seems that Sora just remembers about Lina’s powers. Sora complains. She says that it is Lina’s fault for teaching her all of this when she didn’t understand well-complicated words yet. Rio tells her that it can’t be helped because it is something that she heard more than a thousand years ago, so she doesn’t feel guilty. Rio asks Aishia if she knows what Sora forgot. Aishia says that she just knows about Lina’s powers.

Aishia explains that the wise gods have genius-level intelligence, and that when they combine their intelligence with their authority, they can create almost any object they desire, and that they have a way of knowing what they want to know, including the knowledge and skill required to realize it. Sora explains that the seven wise gods' powers were for the sake of guiding humanity, being their object of adoration, and supporting their hearts. Rio wonders if God bestowed extraordinary powers on each transcendental in accordance with their responsibilities. Sora asks Rio what he is saying when he is the one with the most outrageous authority by far. Rio asks Sora to explain the dragon king’s authority because right now he just understands that it is light that can erase what he wants to erase. Sora says that the dragon king’s authority is called "annihilation", a power that erases any threat to the world. Sora says that the dragon king told her that he was told by God to use that power to protect the world. Rio looks at his hand while remembering the battle with the great spirit. He thinks his authority is certainly powerful. Rio shudders, thinking his power is too dangerous when he realizes that it seems like there isn’t anything he can’t erase. Sora says that the dragon king is the strongest, that in a direct fight there isn’t any single existence that can compare to him. Rio asks if it is really like that because the authorities of the other transcendentals seem pretty brutal. Sora says that it is, that in a clash between authorities, the dragon king’s will always erase the others’. Rio says he understands.

Rio nods to Sora’s words, but he isn’t that optimistic. He doesn’t feel the current him can make good use of his powers, and because there are plenty of times when there isn’t a frontal clash of powers, like when attacked by surprise. Rio is concerned about what will happen if he is unable to erase something, about how powerful the existence predicted by Lina will be, whether he will be able to protect his important ones from it, and even if he wants to help them, God's rules may prevent him from doing so. Sora asks Rio what's wrong with him when she sees his worried face. Rio says that it is nothing and that he just thought it would be bad if he didn’t properly protect her too with his powers. Sora says that Rio doesn’t need to worry about that because the woman who is the dragon king’s familiar is very strong, but Rio has problems believing in her due to her childish appearance and gestures. Sora insists. She says that she is way stronger than Aishia. Rio tells Sora to prove that power then, and Sora hurriedly says she will do it.

Rio, Aishia and Sora fly until a deserted place some tenths of kilometers away from the Gregory dukedom. Aishia and Sora stand ten meters away from each other with Rio in the middle as referee. Rio asks Sora if there would be any problem with the fight now that Aishia is considered a transcendental because she was assimilated with him. Sora says that fights without anyone’s interests involved like this one are fine. Rio tells the two that they don’t need to fight with their whole power and to do things in moderation. Sora says that it is the perfect chance for making clear who is more worthy of being the dragon king’s right hand. Rio tells the two to begin after the stone he will throw touches the ground, to not damage their surroundings if possible, and tells them to stop the fight when he tells them to. Aishia and Sora agree. Rio throws the stone.

The moment the stone touches the ground, Sora rushes at Aishia. Aishia flies back to not be caught, and Sora materializes a pair of wings on her back. Sora catches up with Aishia and exchanges blows with her. They exchange blows while flying all around the place. While watching them, Rio thinks he wants to see how Sora would deal with an opponent that fights from a distance but wonders if there is an opponent able to force Sora into that kind of fight with how fast she can move. Suddenly, Aishia stops in the air. Sora does the same, wondering what she has in mind. Sora admits reluctantly that Aishia is hard to catch. Aishia tells Sora that she is fast too. Sora reluctantly admits that Aishia is better than she thought. Aishia says she thinks Rio already understands her strength. Sora says that her strength isn’t just this much. Aishia says she thinks Rio wants to know how much she can endure long distance attacks in her dragon form. Aishia creates light bullets around her and tells Sora to show Rio how she deals with them. Sora glances at Rio and says she understands. She tells Aishia to do it while thinking she certainly didn’t show much to Rio yet except her speed and martial arts, and that he didn’t see yet a dragon’s defensive power.

Sora warns Aishia that she won’t take any attacks if she doesn’t have to. She tells Aishia to try to hit her if she can, to stop her approach if she can. Sora says that she will dragonify but won’t use long distance attacks; that she will show how she overwhelms her. Sora grows a pair of horns and a tail and dragonifies her arms. Aishia says that it will be Sora’s win if she can touch her back while she flies around shooting at her. Sora accepts the challenge. Aishia flies back while shooting her bullets of light, and Sora pursues her, flying through the gaps in the barrage. When Rio sees the change in their way of fighting, he makes a guess about what their talk must have been about. Aishia stops making her light bullets fly just in a straight line, she puts some light bullets in the middle of Sora’s way and makes the ones Sora already dodged come back to attack Sora again from every side. Sora is surprised at Aishia’s capability to control all of the bullets, thinking it would be hard to dodge. Sora raises her level of body strengthening, covering her whole body in magic power. Sora waits until the light bullets get close and spins her body, making the light bullets rebound against her. Watching her do that, Rio wonders if Sora can erase the light bullets’ kinetic energy too.

Sora says to Aishia that she did it now. Aishia asks Sora if she is fine. Sora says that of course she is fine. Aishia asks if she can continue. Sora says, of course, that it is a direct match from now on. Sora tells Aishia to stop with the small tricks because she will crush them all directly head on. Aishia asks if it is fine for her to use attributed attacks. Sora tells Aishia to use whatever she wants. Aishia makes several balls of every element with a diameter of several meters around her. Sora realizes that Aishia doesn’t specialize in any element and says, as expected of someone created by Lina in her mind. Aishia shoots a water ball at Sora, but a wave of her magic power-clad arm creates a shockwave that erases it. Rio thinks that is some outrageous power to watch that. Sora tells Aishia to continue, that she will show the power of the dragon king’s familiar. Aishia shoots the rest of her attributed balls at Sora, who just rushes at them. Sora gets the attributed balls out of her way by waving her arms at them. Aishia realizes the balls are meaningless and decides that stopping Sora will take a serious attack. Aishia shoots a ray of light at Sora. Sora keeps going forth while pushing back the ray of light with the back of her hand. From the ground, Rio asks himself if this is for real.

When Sora is just about to catch Aishia, she flies back. Sora complains. She tells her to not run away and that it is her win. Aishia says that was the rule they made to begin with, and Sora grumbles when she can’t retort. While pursuing Aishia, Sora says that she can catch her easily if she herself uses long-distance attacks and still has her dragon form as a trump card, trying to imply that she is better than Aishia.

Aishia says she has the trump card of assimilating with Rio too, while flying backwards with her eyes on Sora. Sora says that it is unfair. She asks Aishia why she refers to the dragon king as Haruto, and that acting just like she is his special one is envia... It is not impolite to avoid using honorifics. Rio laughs seeing the two bickering like that. He thinks it is good that he has got a reliable comrade and flies towards the two to announce a draw in the match.

### Chapter 5: In the Galarc Kingdom.

Two days after the fight with Erika, Galarc’s army is finally back in the capital. François visits Rio’s mansion to meet with the girls and discuss all of the strange things that they have discovered until now. Every member of Rio’s group present during the fight with Erika, plus Masato and Liliana, are sitting in the mansion’s living room now. Charlotte says to everyone that she has been researching the strange feelings assaulting them and decided to bring everyone together to discuss her results. Liliana asks Charlotte if it is fine for her to be there. Charlotte says that it is, and she wants to ask her questions about things that happened when she came to the evening party. Liliana accepts to stay. Charlotte puts a paper on the table in front of everyone. Satsuki asks what that paper is. Charlotte says that it is a draft of the kingdom’s historic registers. Satsuki asks what the purpose of that draft is then. Charlotte says that it is a draft from just before their departure to Greille and that it has François’ seal, so to say its contents are the things written in the official books. Satsuki asks what is written in the paper. Charlotte says that the paper writes that Greille was attacked and captured by the Saint Erika’s democratic republic, that the republic’s head of state is the hero Erika, and that, with the support of the hero Satsuki, François led an army to recover the city.

Satsuki doesn’t remember anything about that. Charlotte explains to Satsuki that they must have wanted her cooperation because they needed to be led by a hero if another hero was their enemy. It was because of that that she was on the battlefield with the rest of them as her helpers. Everyone makes an anxious face while listening to that, because they just remember that they went by their own will to the battlefield. Charlotte says that, as expected, no one remembers. Charlotte explains that François doesn’t remember the order to write the draft and approve its contents, that the escribe doesn’t remember being given the order either, but the draft is real, is officially approved and the battle it talks about occurred. Charlotte says that there are more mysteries than just this; that the soldiers from the republic were captured and none of them remembered anything about Erika. Charlotte asks everyone with a shrill voice if that is possible. Charlotte explains the republic’s location, size, and worthlessness as an invasion target, that the soldiers that came from there, excluding Erika, were just nine, and they weren’t stronger than your average knight or adventurer. Charlotte asks for Gouki’s opinion. She asks him if he thinks it is possible to capture their city with just those troops. Gouki says that it is impossible, that maybe if there is a skillful member and a lot of tricks are used, but... Charlotte thanks him and asks everyone if, in that case, it doesn’t make sense to think the one who captured the city must have been the hero Erika that no one knows about.

François says this isn’t funny at all and sighs. Charlotte says that it is intriguing and that it can’t be helped if they want to know what it is that they forgot. François agrees and asks himself why he wrote a draft about events that he doesn’t remember. Charlotte says that there is one more thing that they have no memories of. François tells Charlotte to continue. Charlotte says that after looking into it, she discovered that there is another person that they don’t remember, a person that she thinks must be deeply connected with them in a good sense. Satsuki asks who is that person. Charlotte says that person is the mansion’s owner. Charlotte says that her and her father’s intention was to give the mansion to Satsuki and the rest as a place where she could hang out with her friends, but that when they looked at the documents, it turned out that the mansion was already owned by a certain honorary knight with quite an outrageous career. Charlotte asks everyone to listen to the list of his achievements before saying his name, then Charlotte takes out another paper.

Charlotte says that, going by the registers, that person is the one who protected Miharu, Aki and Masato, who were summoned to a place in the world different from Satsuki’s. He contributed greatly in defending Amande from the monsters attacking it and saved Flora and Liselotte. Thanks to this, he made Liselotte take him with her to the evening party that was Satsuki’s debut. At the evening party, he contributed greatly to capturing the intruders and was promoted to honorary knight. He is the one who rescued Miharu from Takahisa. And later, it was known that, by Christina’s orders, he was the one who stopped the political marriage between Celia and Charles Arbor. He escorted Christina, who was evacuated to the house of Count Claire to Rodania, capturing Alfred and Charles as prisoners of war on their way there. Then he rescued and brought back Cristina and Flora, who were kidnapped by Lucius. And finally, he also rescued and brought back Liselotte, who was kidnapped by the hero Erika. When she is done reading, Charlotte tells everyone that it is quite an outrageous career. Everyone looks wordlessly at Charlotte. Charlotte asks the people whose names were mentioned if the name Haruto Amakawa rings any bells.

Miharu's, Latifa's, and Liselotte’s expressions change after listening to the name, while Satsuki says that it sounds like a Japanese name. Gouki says that it sounds like a name from the Yagumo region too. Celia tilts her head, thinking about something, and Charlotte asks her what it is. Celia says she received a letter from a person with that name. A blurry image of the sender’s face appears in Celia’s mind, but she can’t tell at all if that person is named Haruto Amakawa. Charlotte asks what happened to Celia that she began to space out. Celia says she was wondering why she remembered the letter but not the sender. Charlotte asks Celia if she can take a look at that letter if it still exists. Celia says she will search for it. Now Charlotte says to Miharu that from the look on her face, it seemed something came to mind. Miharu says she thought it was strange because she has a childhood friend with the same name, but that it must be just a coincidence. Charlotte asks if it isn’t possible that he was summoned with her and now she forgot about him. Miharu says that the last time they met was in her childhood, that she never met him again before the summoning. Charlotte asks Miharu if she still remembers his face. Miharu nods.

Charlotte says that if Miharu can remember him, he might be a different person, but that it is too soon to discard him. Charlotte asks Liselotte and Latifa what they know because they are the only other ones whose expressions changed. Liselotte praises Charlotte for seeing through her poker face. Latifa says she knows someone with that name. Charlotte asks where she learned that name, but Latifa hesitates. She would have to explain her reincarnation if she answers. Liselotte says she will explain it. Liselotte says to Latifa in Japanese that she knows that name too. She asks Latifa if she means the university student on the bus with them. Latifa confirms it. François and Charlotte look with widened eyes at Liselotte, speaking in words that they don’t understand at all. Liselotte tells Latifa to let her take care of things. Liselotte says that she and Latifa were surprised because an unexpected name came out. She asks Charlotte and François if they can keep secret what she is just about to explain. François agrees with Charlotte too. She says she wants to listen to what Liselotte has to say very much. Liselotte asks Charlotte and François if they believe in reincarnation and previous lives, if they believe in people being reborn. Charlotte says she believes it is a romantic belief. François says he is open to a discussion with someone with evidence to back them up.

    Liselotte says that she doesn’t have any evidence, but that Latifa and she have the memories of their previous lives. Charlotte is excited. François doesn’t dare deny it immediately because the one speaking is Liselotte. Liselotte says she doesn’t know if it is valid as evidence, but that the products that she created for the Rikka firm are things she did relying on those memories. François thinks about how revolutionary everything Liselotte did was. It might make a little sense. Liselotte says she stayed silent until today due to the fear of being believed to be insane. François says that certainly it isn’t something to be open about. Liselotte explains that in their previous lives, they lived in the same world as Miharu and Satsuki, but that they were unrelated to them, and that she had already confirmed with Miharu that it was the same world. François asks Satsuki for confirmation. Satsuki says she thinks it is true that Liselotte’s memories are from the world she used to live in. François gulps. Now that Satsuki backs Liselotte’s story, things seem even more serious. Liselotte explains that Latifa and her back then just knew each other’s faces because they used to ride often on the same bus, a type of carriage, and that it was the same for Haruto.

Charlotte asks Liselotte and Latifa how they realized that they were reincarnators when they weren’t friends in their previous lives. Liselotte says that it might be a coincidence. She explains that the names of her products are a hint to other possible reincarnators and that the topic must have come up in a talk like that. Charlotte says that more and more she can’t believe that all of these are coincidences. François agrees. Charlotte says that the Haruto who died alongside Liselotte and Latifa could be the same Haruto that Miharu knew, that he reincarnated just like Liselotte and Latifa and became the Haruto that appears in their registers. Everyone gulps. Charlotte asks Miharu about what happened on the day of the summoning, if she remembers who saved her. When Miharu tries to remember that day, the name Haruto comes out of her mouth, but it suddenly disappears from her mind. Miharu tries to remember again and a headache attacks her. As Miharu holds her head in pain, a voice inside Miharu’s head tells her to stop trying to force herself to remember now. Everyone calls out to Miharu worriedly until the headache is gone and she finally raises her head. Miharu says that she can’t remember with a dumbfounded face. After seeing her like that, Charlotte says to François that this might settle things. François asks what is settled, tilting his head curiously. Charlotte says that it is settled that a person called Haruto Amakawa is… François asks Charlotte what's wrong with her when she stops mid-sentence. Charlotte asks François what she was just about to say. She remembers talking about the career of a person called Haruto Amakawa, but she doesn’t remember her next words. Charlotte says she will research some more. The talk ends there with everyone having a strong feeling that something is strange, the sensation of having just forgotten something unnaturally.

After François leaves, Charlotte calls out to Liliana and Celia. Charlotte tells Liliana that she has already sent a messenger to Centostella and expects to have an answer a week or two later. Liliana thanks Charlotte. Charlotte also tells Celia that she got a message from Christina, that a messenger from Restoration came, and that she should come tomorrow with Flora to talk with her. Celia says she understands that the two must want to talk about the meeting with the Arbor faction to be held five days later. While those two are talking, Sara approaches the window, opens the curtains and takes a look outside, but she just sees the patrolling knights. Celia asks Sara what's wrong. Sara says that she thought she felt a presence but that it must be her imagination. But it wasn’t her imagination, after all, Sora was just next to the window and needed to run away to the mansion’s roof when the patrolling knights got close. Sora thinks it just happened the same as always; they can’t remember anything at all and every time they get close to the core of things, they forget again that they can’t go against the world’s correcting force. Sora thinks it is the transcendentals’ fate that nothing changed from one thousand years ago, or even before that. Sora looks sadly at the Rio watching over her from high up in the sky while thinking everyone will just forget again if Rio uses his authority. Sora thinks as always that she is the only one who can remember Rio. She admits sulkingly that Aishia is there now too. Sora thinks it is a good time to stop and goes back to Rio’s side.

The next day, in the evening, Christina and Flora visit the mansion to talk with Celia and Charlotte. Flora tells Celia that she was surprised to hear she went to the battlefield and that she is relieved she is okay. If she went to the battlefield, she was always in the rearguard and the battle ended by itself without anyone understanding what was going on. Christina says that Charlotte already explained the memory loss and that she thinks something mysterious is definitely going on. Celia agrees. Christina asks Celia if there are things she has forgotten too. Celia says that it seems so. Charlotte says that, as she already explained to the two on their way to the mansion, she wants to ask questions related to that to the two of them and asks if they mind it. Christina tells Charlotte she can ask her questions. Charlotte explains to Christina and Flora the talk that everyone had yesterday about the honorary knight called Haruto Amakawa and how no one knows about him despite all of the evidence of his existence. Chrisitna says she understands while making a thinking face. Charlotte asks the two if they remember Haruto Amakawa. Christina says that she doesn’t remember giving the order to crush Celia’s wedding or traveling with that person until Rodania, who remembers meeting Celia at her house and Sara’s group later, but nothing about Haruto Amakawa. Charlotte says that Celia, Sara and the others told her the same thing, but that they don’t remember who defeated Alfred.

Christina agrees. She hardens her face when she notices the inconsistency while trying to remember what happened. Christina says she can’t remember who defeated Alfred either. She says she can just admit that she has lost memories too. Flora says she doesn’t know anything about that person either. Celia says that her memories of the wedding are hazy and that she doesn’t remember why her who should be a member of the Restoration was sent to the Galarc Kingdom. Celia asks Christina how much she remembers about those times. Christina says she just remembers a robe-wearing person kidnapping Celia. Christina says she thinks she sent Celia to the Galarc Kingdom because of her friendship with Sara’s and Miharu’s group, but stops mid sentence, realizing that that reason is too weak. Christina thinks she could understand her decision if she entrusted any job to Celia, but not because of her personal friendships. Celia agrees with Christina and tells her that when she talked with Miharu, Sara and the rest about how they met each other, they discovered a lot more inconsistencies and holes in their memories.

Charlotte explains that Haruto Amakawa isn’t the only forgotten one, that the hero Erika was equally forgotten by everyone, that it is clearly abnormal, but that the majority isn’t taking it seriously, just as if their thoughts are being induced. Christina agrees. She says that while she thinks about all of this, her thoughts are getting hazy, as if something is trying to push them away. Charlotte says that it is as she expected and that the great majority of the people she asked about the same matter felt that way. Christina asks if it is like that. Charlotte says that she can’t be sure about the thoughts being guided or not, but that there were people who thought forgetting wasn’t a big deal, that there were people who doubted if Erika and Haruto existed to begin with, that there are people who forget that they have forgotten things, that the majority of people that are almost unrelated or just barely related to Haruto show this kind of reaction, that only the ones deeply connected to Haruto realize the abnormality and research it, but that in the middle of that they forget things again. Christina asks Celia if it is possible that some great scale magic is manipulating their thoughts. Celia says that she checked that too, but that the magic’s scale and effect are too big and strange, and that no one has traces of having magic used on them either. Flora says that it is mysterious, that it really seems like there is something trying to erase a person from history.

Charlotte says that it is exactly like she says, as if God’s invisible power was the one doing all of this. Christina says she doesn’t think it is like that and that Charlotte looks very excited. Charlotte says that things like this don’t happen often, and that the more this something tries to hide how their relationship with Haruto was, the more she wants to find out. The other three laugh, happily watching her like that. After laughing, Celia says she agrees with Charlotte, that she and the rest feel that they are forgetting something that they shouldn’t forget. Charlotte says that they can just continue with their investigation, then she asks Christina if when she goes back to Rodania after the summit she can look at what their registers say about Haruto. Christina agrees, because it seems that she and Flora also owe a lot to Haruto. Charlotte gives Christina and Flora brooches and asks them to always keep them on them. Christina asks what it is. Charlotte says that inside the brooch there is a paper with her request in case they forget about it. Both say they understand and receive the brooches. Charlotte says that she said everything she wanted to say, so now Christina and Flora can have their talk with Celia.

Christina tells Celia that she wants to talk about the summit with Duke Arbor. Christina says that her plan to put conditions that protect Celia’s family in exchange for giving back the hostages is unchanged and that her father will be at the summit too. Celia thanks Christina. Christina asks Celia if she will assist with the summit. Celia confirms it. Christina says that thanks to their talk, she plans to interrogate Alfred and Charles about the moment of their capture. She asks Celia and Charlotte if they want to be present too. Charlotte accepts the invitation. Celia decides to accept too, while worrying about Charles throwing a tantrum the moment he sees her.

Half an hour later, Flora stays at the mansion with Miharu and the rest, while Christina, Charlotte and Celia go to the castle’s rooms for foreign guests in search of Alfred and Charles. Hugenot sees them in the lobby adjacent to the rooms and greets them. Christina tells him that they have some questions for Alfred and Charles. Hugenot asks Christina if he wants him to assist too, thinking about Charles’ possible tantrum when he sees Celia. Christina says that it isn’t an important talk, so he can give priority to other duties of his if he has them now. Hugenot says that he will go back to his room then because Charles and Alfred have been interrogated enough. Christina guides the other two until they reach a room guarded by Vanessa. Christina tells Vanessa to bring Alfred and Charles to her because she has questions for them. Vanessa obeys and goes to look for them. She enters Alfred’s room and tells him he will be interrogated. Alfred puts down the book he is reading to kill time and follows her obediently. He leaves his room and goes to the hall where Christina, Charlotte and Vanessa are waiting. After that, Christina tells him to take a seat and he does. After that, Vanessa does the same with Charles, who complains about having to answer more questions.

Charles screams with surprise and annoyance when he sees Celia. Celia greets him after sighing. Charles says he didn’t think she would be a traitor either. Vanessa tells Charles to sit down, but he refuses. He asks who she thinks she is. Charles says that this is a great problem. What is it? Celia asks with a cold voice. Charles says that Celia is a traitor too, just like her father. Christina says that he is saying strange things and asks who Celia betrayed. Charles says that he and his family are the betrayed ones, that she deceived them while pretending not to know anything, that she deceived him until the day of the wedding, the good will of the man who accepted her despite being too late to get married. Charlotte says that Charles is unsightly. He screams, "What?" Charlotte asks the rest if they heard anything, pretending that Charles doesn’t exist. Christina says that she is worried about the future of the kingdom and says Celia offered her loyalty and life to her, the first princess, and asks how any of that is treason. Charles says that all of it is treason, that the ones the nobles have to be loyal to are the kingdom and the king, not to her, the first princess, and that everything that she and Celia are doing is treason to the kingdom and the king. Christina says she really wants to laugh when those words come from the mouth of the man who wants to take control of the country from her father, the king.

Charles says that he is doing it for the king’s and the kingdom’s sake, that the Proxia empire managed to steal land from them because of Hugenot’s weak policies, and that it was because the king and Hugenot underestimated Proxia’s power too much. Christina says that that isn’t a reason for betraying the kingdom. Charles reacts indignantly. Celia says that she agrees with Christina and that the Arbor’s actions can just be seen as someone pointing a bow at the kingdom, so because of that, she joined the Restoration. Charles is angry, and Chrisitina says enough of him. Charles asks loudly what she wants to talk about this late in the game. Christina asks Alfred and Charles who turned them into prisoners of war. Charles asks her what she is talking about, but Alfred stiffens. Christina asks him if he remembers who was the one who fought him, defeated him, and turned him in. Alfred says he doesn’t remember with a really confused face. Chistina asks Charlotte if she has any questions. Charlotte says she doesn’t. Christina tells Vanessa to return the two to their rooms.

### Chapter 6: Summit.

Four days later, on the day of the summit, in a room of the building for foreign guests where Satsuki made her debut, Christina leads Restoration’s representatives; Helmut, Duke Arbor, leads Beltrum’s representatives; and François attends as a witness and intermediary. Both sides take a seat and give their lists of demands to François, while Celia and her father exchange worried gazes. François asks if he can read both lists of demands already. Christina and Helmut tell him to proceed. François says that the Beltrum kingdom demands Restoration’s disassembly and the surrender to the Beltrum Kingdom of all its members, and that Restoration demands that the duke Arbor give back to the king his authority as first minister and Marshal and the dismissal of all of the current ministers. François says he will ask just in case. He asks if any of them has the intention of accepting the other’s demands. Cristina and Helmut say they do not accept them at the same time.

François says that the Beltrum kingdom demands the return of two prisoners, the magic sword Light of Judgment and the regalia that was stolen by Christina. Restoration demands respect for the status and personal safety of Count Claire and those connected to him, turning the Claire earldom into neutral territory that bridges both parts. François asks again if they have any intention of accepting those terms. Christina and Helmut say that it depends on the conditions. François asks what conditions they are willing to accept. Christina says that she will give Charles Arbor back if they accept the conditions regarding Count Claire and those connected to him. Helmut says he will consider it if Christina agrees to give back all of the hostages and stolen goods. Christina says that by that method, she has to concede too many things, and that the part about the space for consideration is too humorous. Helmut tells Christina, while glaring at Celia and her father, that he wants her to understand that he is already doing a lot by not eliminating the traitors. Christina tells Hellmut that the traitors are him and his son.

Helmut says that Christina is saying strange things, that she is a traitor and a rebel who opposes the kingdom, which is obvious to the eye. Hugenot snickers at that. Christina says that those words sound just like he is calling her a rebel. Helmut says that she is one. Christina says that she just listened to disrespect towards the royal family. Helmut says that that is another strange thing, that royalty belongs to the king and the nobles, and that she isn’t a noble. Christina says that Helmut is the one saying strange things, and that she needed to explain the same to his son, that they are the ones trying to steal the kingdom from the king. Helmut says that Christina is saying strange things again, and that, including the present, he has spent his life offering himself to the kingdom. Christina says that Charles told her that the nobles must be loyal to the kingdom and the king and asks Helmut if she must understand that he is the same. Helmut says that he is, and Christina says that she is really doubtful in regards to that when it comes from the rule of Duke Arbor that disrespects the royal family. Helmut says that he has no memory of such disrespect, and that everything he does is for the sake of the king and the kingdom. Christina asks Helmut if he at the very least swears his loyalty to her father, the king.

Helmut says he does, that it is precisely due to that, that he despises the rebel Restoration fellows that point their bows at the royal family, and that he doesn’t think Christina is an exception just because she is royalty. Christina says she didn’t attend the summit with any half-baked resolve and that the one she is pointing both her bow and anger at is him and not the royal family. Helmut says that, as the prime minister, he is attending the meeting in the king’s place, so pointing her bow at him is like pointing it at the king himself, and Christina has to think about his word as her father's. Christina asks Helmut if he is going to declare himself royalty now. Helmut says that as the king’s representative, he has the right to wield the king's authority. Christina says to Helmut that he is the only one in the kingdom’s history to have had the positions of Marshal and Prime Minister at the same time, and that it is dangerous to focus power towards someone who isn't the king, and that the way he is monopolizing power is clearly a threat; that a kingdom must have just one king. Helmut says he agrees with that, that there must be just one king, but that his positions were given to him by that king, and that as long as the king has the right to designate his representatives and to take back the right to represent the king, he will always be above him.

Christina wonders why her father isn't allowed to do anything, and why, in the current Beltrum Kingdom, Helmut is the only one who can make important decisions. Helmut says that because of the King’s and Hugenot’s defeat against the Proxia empire, the kingdom was in that kind of urgent situation. The kingdom lost an important base of defense because of how much they underestimated the threat of the Proxia empire, so he needed to take care of things as the prime minister and as marshall. Christina says that isn't Helmut the one who now wags his tail at the Proxia empire despite how much he used to insist on opposing it? Helmut says that politics must change if the situation changes. Christina says that he was already getting closer to the empire even before the loss of the defense base. While pretending to be its enemy, he sold the kingdom to the empire. Helmut asks how he is a traitor despite being the one who recovered the stolen land in the negotiations. Helmut asks Christina to bring before him the one who said such a thing if she can. Christina asks if he will punish that person, and Helmut laughs coldly.

Christina asks Helmut if his relationship with Reiss, the diplomat from the empire, isn’t too friendly. Helmut says that it is normal to be kind to a foreign embassador. Chrisitina says that she also met Reiss once, when he was leading some members of the heavenly lions for the sake of helping Charles to capture her on the way to Rodania. Helmut says that he knows of that and that Reiss just offered his help, worried about the situation in the Beltrum kingdom. Christina asks Helmut if Reiss’ actions were according to his plans then. Helmut says that he decided that there wouldn’t be any problems after receiving a report of the situation at the time, and that Reiss was supposed to be an excellent mage. Christina asks Helmut if he doesn’t have any problem with that excellent foreign mage taking military actions inside their kingdom. Helmut says that it isn’t a problem as long as he stays under the kingdom’s control, that Reiss has diplomatic immunity and was given the freedom to move inside the Beltrum kingdom, that leading an army is a no-go, but that a few escorts is something normal. Christina says that there were more cases of Reiss trying to use the heavenly lions to kidnap her and Flora, like attacking a mansion inside Galarc’s castle walls where she was staying. She asks Helmut if he is fine with that too. Helmut says he has no knowledge of that.

François says that despite his plans to stay neutral until the end, the Galarc Kingdom is also an involved party in that attack’s case. He tells Helmut that he wants a clear answer about whether the hostile actions against his country are in his interests or not. Helmut asks François if asking that question isn’t a supportive action for Restoration and a hostile one against the Beltrum kingdom. Helmut says he wants François to explain his intentions. François says that despite them having an alliance for the sake of keeping the Proxia empire under control, they wordlessly broke it and began to get closer to the empire, so he distrusts the current government of the Beltrum kingdom. He asks Helmut if that is a good explanation or not. Christina asks Helmut if he won’t answer François’ question, saying she wants to know his answer without deception. Helmut says he already said that he has no knowledge of that, that he doesn’t monitor Reiss’ actions in a foreign kingdom, and that he won’t do something like believe only one side’s version until listening to Reiss’ side of the story. François and Christina wonder if Helmut really didn’t know anything or if Reiss did something different from what he told Helmut he would do.

For the time being, François tells Christina and Helmut to go back to the main topic. Both agree. François asks both parties what kind of common ground they have in mind. He asks for suggestions. Christina says that she is willing to make more concessions if she can add more conditions to her demands. François asks what concessions she will make. Christina says that she will give Charles back in exchange for guaranteeing the status and personal safety of everyone related to Count Claire, and that she will give back Alfred or his sword if he accepts the conditions about the territory of Earl Claire. François asks for Helmut’s opinion. Helmut says he is fine with the first half but isn’t sure about the second. Christina asks if he can accept the second half if she gives back both Alfred and the sword. Helmut says he can’t. François asks Helmut what he is so reluctant about. Helmut says that, as he already explained to the Beltrum kingdom, Restoration’s fellows are just rebels, and that in normal conditions it is impossible to reach an agreement with rebels, much less keep continuous negotiations with them or even prepare land for those negotiations.

François says that, while it is an understandable point, it would be impossible to reach an agreement here if he says that. Helmut agrees, saying he just wants to make clear that this isn’t a normal situation. François asks Helmut if he wants to make an agreement just about the condition concerning Charles. Helmut says that if the second condition can be changed to just making the ones related to the Earl Claire messengers for both sides, he will accept. François asks Helmut if he means that he won’t allow the neutrality of the Claire earldom but will treat the Claire family as neutral messengers. Helmut confirms it. François asks if making the earl family a messenger instead of a mediator like Christina wants has any meaning. Helmut says that the Beltrum kingdom has no intention of negotiating with rebels and that the only offer that they will accept will be their surrender. François says he understands. François evaluates Helmut in his mind. He thought Helmut was more gifted towards military matters than political ones, but revises his evaluation. He praises his quickness of mind for not accepting an agreement that could damage the morale and unity of his side or their image of Restoration as an enemy they have to give their all to beat. He thinks his skill for defeating Hugenot and making him runaway is real.

François says he understands Helmut’s offer. He asks for Christina’s opinion because, that way, the Restoration has to concede more than before. Christina says that if the Beltram kingdom wants her to make more concessions, they will have to accept more conditions. François asks her to specify. Christina says that she will accept the agreement if, from now on, during their conflict with the Beltrum kingdom, it is forbidden to damage the kingdom’s residents or punish people for things they didn’t do for unclear reasons like collective responsibility. Helmut asks Christina if she thinks the Beltrum Kingdom is experiencing unjustified purges. Christina asks if it isn’t true that Restoration’s members had to abandon the Beltrum Kingdom due to the unjustified purge, and that they realized this with the excuse of taking responsibility for the loss of the defensive base. Helmut says that the loss of that base shakes the kingdom, and that it is, of course, to make the slothful ones who underestimated the threat of the Proxia empire take responsibility. Christina says that it certainly is, but that the responsibility was extended too widely, and that, despite there not being a logical reason for condemning them, a lot of nobles and their relatives had their jobs taken away, were accused of rebellion and imprisoned just because they were from the Hugenot faction, and even she herself was put under domiciliary arrest.

Helmut says that Chrisitina’s confinement was to protect her from the bad rumors of her from the strong criticism towards the royal family at that moment, and that nobles that belonged to the Hugenot faction are still working for the Beltrum kingdom even now. Christina asks Helmut if he means the ones who were just forgiven after joining his faction. Helmut says that is a horrible and regrettable accusation. Christina says she won’t argue about that now. Christina asks Helmut if he is aware that a lot of the nobles on both sides have relatives on the enemy side. Helmut says he can’t deny it. Christina asks if there won’t be people scared of being purged, punished, or being taken hostage because they have relatives on the other side. Helmut says that he has no intention of doing that. Chrisitina says she doesn’t have any either, but that she doesn’t know if that is the same for every member of their organizations. She says that if the conflict continues for a long period of time, sooner or later, people that advocate for such things will appear, and maybe people who agree with them too. Christina asks Helmut if he can deny that it is barbarian to say that having relatives on the enemy side is someone’s sin. Helmut says he can’t deny it but says that it is just a theory. Christina says that it is a theory because she is talking about what ifs and asks Helmut "so what?". Christina says that if any of the two starts a purge, at worst, things could turn into a battle for making the biggest purge, and that would damage the unity and morale of both sides, and that would leave a great scar on the kingdom. She asks Helmut if it isn’t in both’s interest to prevent that.

Helmut despises Christina’s words as "pretty talk" and ideals in his mind, but has to agree with her reluctantly because he can’t deny its parts based on reality and doesn’t want to look like he doesn’t want to have the option of doing those things taken away from him. Hugenot thinks that the sight of Helmut groaning while accepting Christina’s skills is wonderful, but at the same time that he thinks Christina is reliable, he also thinks she is too generous, that he has no openings for pushing his points, that it would have been easy if the one next to him was Flora instead. He thinks that the sisters have no comparison in regards to that. He thinks he isn’t dissatisfied this time, but that he won’t have many chances to speak during future negotiations, and things will be hard to do.

François says he will recount the list of things discussed until now: the return of Charles in exchange for securing the personal safety and status of Count Claire and those connected to him; the establishment of a mechanism that forbids the purges on both sides using the unjustified spread of responsibilities and the damage to the kingdom’s residents during future conflicts between both organizations in exchange for Alfred, or the magic sword Light of judgment. François asks if he can redact the final agreement if there are no objections to this. Helmut says that he has no objections but that he wants Count Claire to confirm it himself if he is fine with the agreement. François asks for Roland’s opinion. Roland says that if he receives an order, he will do everything he can as a noble for the sake of the kingdom’s future. François asks Helmut if he wants to say anything else. Helmut says he wants the return of both Alfred and the sword. Christina says she will just give him one of the two unless he proposes an alternative. Helmut chooses the sword and says that he wants Christina to give back the regalia that she stole, saying that for his side, that is their most important demand.

Christina tilts her head while playing dumb and asks Helmut why he thinks she stole regalia to begin with. Helmut tells Christina to not play dumb, that the disappearance of regalia, which is the symbol of the succession of the throne, was discovered after her disappearance from the royal capital. Christina says that she isn’t playing dumb, that she just doesn’t remember. Helmut says that regalia is kept in a treasure chamber of the royal house, that the treasure chamber can’t be entered without the permission of the royal family, and that the only ones who know where the chamber’s key is kept are the king, the chamber’s keeper, and Christina, Helmut says that the key is missing and asks who could have stolen it if not Christina. Christina asks who too. Helmut says that the king himself says, too, that the only one who could have stolen it is Christina. Christina tells Helmut that if it is like that, the only one who can judge if she stole the regalia or not and punish her for it is her father. Helmut's words have no meaning, and it doesn’t matter how much he insists on her having stolen the regalia. Helmut says that, as he already informed her, he was given by the king all of the authority regarding their negotiations and that his words had to be treated as if they were coming from the king himself. Christina says that she won’t believe his words are her father’s no matter how many times he says it, that she just believes in the words coming out of her father’s mouth, that the same way she is a rebel for him, he is a rebel for her. Helmut says that that is a big insult. Christina tells Helmut to prepare a chance for her father to do it himself if he wants her to be judged for the regalia theft, that she will always be ready to receive her father, and that if he comes, she won’t run or hide.

Helmut gulps in front of Christina’s queenly visage. François also sends her an admiring glance before continuing the talk. François asks Helmut if it isn’t pointless to continue this investigation without any evidence of Christina's having really stolen regalia. François asks Helmut if he didn’t postpone the matter of regalia because he thought it would just be an endless "you stole it and I didn't." Helmut says he will let things be for the time being, but that if it turns out that Christina really stole regalia, he won’t let her escape. He tells Christina to remember that she won’t just lose her just cause but also Restoration’s. Christina says she understands with a cold face. François says that he will redraft the agreement now that both sides are finished and tells Christina and Helmut to say it if they have any problem with the draft. After several hours of work, the final agreement was finally done that night.

The next day, at noon, in the same room, Charles is in attendance too. He stands behind Chritina’s group, making a really uncomfortable face while receiving Helmut’s glare. François says the agreement will be signed from now on, that he has the original agreement, guarantees that every copy of the agreement is identical, and that every side, himself included, will keep a copy of the agreement.. When François asks Christina and Helmut if they have any objections, they both say that they don’t have any. François says that he will sign it now and reminds both sides that breaking the agreement will be treated like throwing mud at both him and his kingdom’s faces. After all of the copies are signed by every party, the Restoration gives Charles back, Helmut welcomes Charles, calling him stupid while he apologizes to him with embarrassment. Christina says that, as she already stated, the sword is in Rodania right now, so she will have Count Claire pick it up at Rodania and return it to the Beltram kingdom as the messenger of both sides. She then informs Roland to come to her side. Roland obeys and walks until being next to Celia. François says that the signing is over with this and that everyone can leave already unless they have anything to say. Helmut stands and says they will leave, then he and his companions leave.

After Helmut’s group leaves, Celia thanks Christina for her help. Both Celia and her father bow to Christina. Christina says that she didn’t do anything deserving of being thanked, or so Christina claims, despite having left the sword back in Rodania on purpose so the two could have this chance of staying together, and tells the two to enjoy their time together until Roland has to leave with the sword. Roland laughs and asks Celia if she won’t give him a hug after so long without meeting each other. Celia says she won’t because everyone is watching. Christina thinks that with this she managed to remove the root of the worst future risks, that everything is set, and that now she just needs to check the situation and use the regalia. Christina looked in that way at the future, while the moment when she would realize that there are things that one can’t see coming or deal with despite noticing them approach was getting closer.

On the other side, Helmut’s group has gone to the lake near Galarc’s capital and boarded their magic ship. After telling the crew to depart the moment they are ready, Helmut takes Charles with him to a guest room, where he finds an unexpected person. Reiss tells Charles that it has been a while. Charles looks with surprise at Reiss, who is seated inside with Renji next to him. Charles wonders who the boy is and if his black hair means he is a hero. Reiss says to Charles that it was a disaster but that the most important thing is that he is fine. Charles thanks Reiss for the caring words, not knowing yet what is going on. Reiss tells Helmut that it was unfortunate to have Charles taken hostage but that now the minimum goal has been achieved. Helmut says that his stupid son really messed up things. Reiss says that it can’t be helped that it is unfair to blame Charles because then there was a really irregular opponent. Helmut asks what irregular opponent he is. Reiss tells Helmut to not mind him and talks about the future. Helmut tells Reiss that Christina kept playing dumb about regalia, and that he couldn’t say if she had it on her or if she left it at Rodania. Reiss says that Charles is finally back and asks Helmut which of the two it is didn’t stop meaning anything already. Reiss also asks Charles what happened to him for him to be still standing with that dumbfounded face. Charles says he just wonders why Reiss is with them. Reiss tells him he can ask his father with a sinister smile. Helmut tells Charles that now they will depart to Rodania to attack it.

### Chapter 7: The calm before the storm.

Charles asks Helmut and Reiss if they really will attack Rodania now with the agreement just signed. Helmut says mokingly that he isn’t breaking the agreement, that it doesn’t have a single line about not attacking each other. Reiss also says that it is precisely because they have just signed the agreement that they will attack now that Restoration shouldn’t be expecting it at all because of that. Charles asks the two if they aren’t hurrying things too much. Helmut says that it can’t be helped because Christina stole regalia, and that it would be troublesome if she used it to proclaim herself queen. Charles tells the two that there are a lot of fortresses on their way to Rodania that can alert the city of their attack, so they won’t surprise them even like that, and that they will strengthen their defenses before their arrival. Charles asks Helmut if he is planning to crush them with numbers then. Helmut says he has the troops for that but that he has a plan smarter than that. While looking at Reiss, Reiss tells Charles that he was the one who proposed this plan to Helmut. Charles says that it is reassuring to hear that and asks what the plan is about.

Reiss tells Charles that if Christina manages to get the kingdom back, everything they piled up throughout the years will go to waste. Charles says that that certainly wouldn’t be funny. Reiss says that because the other side has excellent subordinates, he decided to lend some battle forces as a proof of the friendship between their countries. He thought Rodania’s conquest would be easy if he included a certain person in the plan. Charles asks about that combat force while looking at Renji next to him. Reiss introduces Renji to Charles as Proxia’s hero. Renji tells Charles he will be in his care. Charles introduces himself and says he is in his care too. Charles offers his hand for a handshake to Renji and is left like that with a dumbfounded face when Renji doesn’t return the handshake and just makes some noises to show he understands. Reiss tells Charles that Renji worked as an adventurer in the past and was known as "Renji the Aaloof." Charles says that it is a wonderful alias. Reiss says that currently, Renji is the most skillful of the heroes. Helmut says Reiss will lead Renji and a few escorts towards Rodania’s defenses and take them out with a surprise large-scale attack of his divine weapon, and the rest of their forces will attack after that.

Charles says that it sounds reliable but asks if it will work, saying that the success of the plan depends on it. Reiss asks if he has any anxiety about Renji being the key of the plan. Charles denies it, fearing being considered rude towards a hero. Reiss tells Charles that the rest of the kingdoms are underestimating the heroes’ powers and wasting them by just using them as political tools. Reiss says that a just summoned hero can already cause events as strong as advanced or superlative magic, but that that isn’t their whole power, and that Helmut already saw that they can really use the kind of large attacks described in the legends. Helmut confirms Reiss's words and says he decided to have Renji join the plan because of that. Reiss says he thought about lending Renji to them because Beltrum’s hero can’t use attacks of that scale yet. Charles says he understands Renji’s power but asks Reiss if it is really fine. He warns Reiss that they can’t guarantee Renji’s safety if he participates in a military operation. Reiss says that it is Renji himself who wishes to participate in the operation to accumulate experience and that he won’t ask anyone to take responsibility for his safety. Charles says Renji is a brave one. Renji says he prefers to live as a mercenary or adventurer rather than a decorative hero. He tells Charles to just think that he hired a good mercenary. Charles says he understands. Charles says that as someone who earns his living on the battlefield, he agrees with his idea of men being as worthy as their achievements and will rely on him. Charles offers another handshake to Renji, so he leaves him alone. Renji reluctantly shakes Chales’ hand this time.

Helmut tells Charles that the operation’s goals are two: Rodania’s conquest and recovering the regalia stolen by Christina, and that he will be joining Reiss’ group during the operation alongside a group of a few knights and will scout the city with them. Charles is dissatisfied because it sounds like a job too small for him. Helmut says he is giving him a chance to earn some honor, that he is being made the leader of his own squad despite him being a hostage until just now, that the scout proper will be done by Reiss and his men, and he just has to bring their report to the main force and stay by Renji’s side after that. Charles thanks Helmut reluctantly. Helmut tells Charles that the surprise attack and scout operation are keys to their plans and that he should think of them as opportunities for him to earning some achievements. Charles obeys. Reiss tells Charles he will give him all of the honor his men get because he wants to keep his participation in the plan secret. Charles thanks Reiss, and he smiles lightly and sinisterly when he is thanked.

Reiss thinks Helmut’s real intention is to use Charles to monitor him, that Helmut must really want the regalia to use him in the operation despite his distrust, and because he can just pull back his army if the surprise attack fails, that the risk for Helmut himself is low. Reiss thinks that with this battle he will find out if Haruto Amakawa, the man who became transcendental and just remains as a name in the registers, will fight for his former comrades or not.

The next morning, Celia and Roland are in front of the mansion saying their farewells to the rest of the girls before going to Rodania with Christina’s group. Roland says that as a father, he is happy about his daughter having so many friends, that it was fun to have dinner and stay with them for the night, and that he wants them to continue to be Celia’s friends. Celia tells the girls she will be back in one or two weeks. Latifa, Miharu, Satsuki, and Charlotte tell her farewells too. Celia thanks them and says she will be fine because Sara, Orphia and Alma will be with her. Roland and Gouki, who hit it off well while drinking together last night, also exchange farewells and wishes of meeting each other again. Celia tells everyone they will leave already because they can't make Christina wait, then the group of five leave.

Aishia listens to everyone’s conversation in her spirit form at a distance where the other spirits won’t notice her and tells Rio, who is observing from high in the sky with Sora, about it while the rest of the girls are going back inside the mansion. Rio tells Aishia that they will do as planned, that he and Sora will follow Celia’s group until Rodania while she watches over the mansion. Aishia tells Rio she understands and tells him to leave the mansion to her. Rio thanks her and asks Aishia if she remembers where he hid her mask. Rio tells Aishia nods. Rio tells Aishia he will leave too then. Rio flies after Celia’s group while Sora follows happily because it is finally just the two of them.

In the evening, at Rodania, Hiroaki, Roana, Rei and Kota, the four have been working on the same thing for a long time. Rei tells Hiroaki that the world’s first light novel is finally at its key point, in a good mood because their book is finally half written. Hiroaki agrees; he says he got quite into it before he realized it. Rei says that it was as much fun as being in the club’s activities and that he wonders if writing a doujinshi feels like this. Hiroaki agrees. He also thanks Roana for her word editing of the book, translating it and not letting them get too far away from the world’s common sense. Roana says that if Hiroaki is having fun, then that is best for her. Hiroaki thanks her for her words and asks Roana if she doesn’t want to go anywhere together later. Rei asks Hiroaki if he is getting romantic. Hiroaki tells him to shut up and to go on a date with Rosa too. Rei says he understands without letting go of his meaning and smiles. Hiroaki tells Kota to get himself a girlfriend already too. He asks him how things are with Mikaela. Kota says that that is unneeded help, and that to begin with, he doesn’t have time for that with his studies, training, and drawing job. Hiroaki tells Kota he is as straight-laced as always, that he should have money to play a little, and tells him to have some fun for a change. Kota says that even if he has the money, he has almost nothing he wants to buy. Hiroaki tells him that it is fine to invite Mikaeka on a date if it is like that. Rei says to Hiroaki that it is useless, and that Kota isn’t over his broken heart yet. A knight enters the room and informs Roana of Christina’s and Flora’s return. Roana tells Hiroaki that it won’t do if she doesn’t go to greet them. Hiroaki tells her to go, that it is fine. Roana excuses herself and leaves. Rei says that Roana is a seriously good and cute girl. Kota agrees. Hiroaki agrees too, a little shyly.

When Christina’s magic ship arrives at Rodania, in a spring in a forest near the city, Charles and five griffin-riding knights have been camped there since yesterday while waiting for the report of Reiss’ group, who entered the city in advance to scout it. Another group of six, made up of Reiss, Renji, and four mercenaries, comes back from the city an hour after the arrival of Christina’s ship. Charles greets Reiss, who confirms that the magic ship they saw was bringing Christina and tells Charles he leaves it in his hands to bring the report to the main force. Charles asks Reiss if he is fine with attacking at dawn because the sunset is close to being over. Reiss agrees. Charles takes out a pen and paper and writes a letter. In the letter, he tells Helmut to have the main force ready to attack at dawn so they can launch the surprise attack at that time. Charles closes the letter, gives it to two of the knights with him and tells them to deliver it to Helmut. Both knights obey and leave on their griffin.

### Chapter 8: Raid.

The next morning, at dawn, the alarm bells sound a lot of times throughout Rodania. Christina wakes up with the noise, changes clothes in a hurry, and goes to her office where Hugenot and Marquis Rodin are waiting with a lot more of the nobles. Christina asks everyone what is happening. Rodin tells Christina that they are under attack and that Count Savoia informed them that a fleet of magic ships has entered their territory. Christina asks if that doesn’t mean that at worst they will be near the city in ten more minutes. Rodin tells everyone he thinks the enemy will disembark its troops in a lake to the west of the city. Christina tells everyone to evacuate their non-combatants to the Galarc Kingdom before the enemy troops are fully disembarked and to prepare every soldier for the battle. Hugenot says he understands and tells Christina that he thinks she should evacuate too, with Flora and Hiroaki. Christina asks him if he is telling her to abandon Rodania and run away. Hugenot says that of course it is just temporary, that he will defend with the intention of winning. Christina tells Hugenot to prioritize Hiroaki’s and Flora’s evacuation then. Hugenot asks Christina if she won’t evacuate. Christina says that it will be a great problem if the head of the organization escapes first, and that if she escapes, she will do it after watching over the battle for some time. Hugenot says he understands and asks who will command the defense, Rodin asks if it is fine for him to take on that duty, Christina says she will put him in charge. After all, they are in his territory.

Hiroaki enters the room with Flora and Roana and asks everyone what is happening. Christina says that they are under attack and that they were informed that Betram’s army is on its way to the city. Hiroaki asks if it is for real. Christina says they expect the enemies to begin to disembark near the city in a matter of minutes. She tells Hiroaki to use the time until they are done with it to evacuate to the Galarc kingdom. Hiroaki nods. Christina tells Roana and Flora to go with Hiroaki. Flora asks Christina what she will do. Christina says that she is the first princess and can’t be the first to run away, that if she evacuates it will be later. Flora wants to say she will stay back too, but Christina tells Roana to take Hiroaki away with her and prepare to evacuate immediately before she can do it. Roana obeys and takes Hiroaki away. Christina tells Flora to come with her because she needs to give her something and leaves with her after leaving Hugenot and Rodin in charge of the room.

Rio and Sora looked at the city from the sky. The noise of the alarm bells reached all the way to the rock house, and Rio hurried to the city to find out what was happening. Right now, he is looking worriedly at Celia, Sara, Orphia, Alma, and Roland leaving his mansion to go to the fortress, holding back the impulse to go to the ground and help them. Sora looks worriedly at Rio because she understands how hard it must be for him to have to stay put right now due to the rules. Sora reminds Rio that there are just five masks, so he isn’t rash. Rio nods. He says he will watch for a little longer before deciding to do anything or not. Sora tells Rio that everyone forgot about him, that they won’t be thankful even if they are saved, and that if he is going to intervene just this much, there won’t be an end to it. Rio doesn’t answer; he just looks worriedly at the ground with clenched fists while Sora looks worriedly at his side profile.

Christina enters her bedroom with Flora. Christina takes out a ring from a hidden safety box inside her closet. Flora looks surprised at the ring. Christina tells her that she might have already seen it, but that the ring is the regalia that is used in the ceremony of succession of the throne. Flora asks with great surprise if she always had it on her. Christina confirms it and tells Flora to go first to the Galarc kingdom, taking the ring with her because it is a really important item. While speaking, Christina uses the rope going through the ring to put it around Flora’s neck. Christina tells Flora that she doesn’t have time for a detailed explanation. She tells Flora that the ring is an item to be used when the time is right and to not show it to anyone until then, and that if something happens to her then she will have to... Flora tells Christina to stop. When Christina asks her what's wrong, Flora hides the ring under her clothes and tells Christina that she will take care of the ring, but just give it back later so she can’t say things like "if something happens to her." Christina says she understands, smiles kindly and nods, then someone knocks on the door. Christina says that it is open. Vanessa enters and tells Christina that the nearby fort reported the detection of enemies as well and asks Christina to come back to the main office. Christina tells Vanessa to take Flora to Hiroaki and Roana’s location and to come back to the office after she sees them depart safely. Vanessa nods and Christina goes back alone to the main office.

Christina arrives at the main office and finds Celia’s group there. Celia tells Christina she has already received an explanation from Hugenot. Christina tells Celia that then she must go with everyone else to the port and board the magic ship that is being prepared to depart. Celia agrees after some hesitation, understanding that if she says that she wants to stay, Sara and the others will stay too. Christina tells Roland to go to the Galarc kingdom too. Roland also obeys for not risking taking any action that might be taken as a break of the agreement if he stays. Christina tells Sara and the others that she leaves Celia in their car. Sara nods, then a young noble inside the office informs that the enemy fleet is in sight looking through a window. Christina tells Celia’s group to hurry and leave, and they do so.

Rodin orders the sortie of their griffin-riding knights. The people in the office don't understand what is going on when the enemy fleet doesn’t land in the lake near the city for disembarking their soldiers and continue coming towards the city. They wonder if the enemy is really planning to land their ships in the city’s port because that would make them an easy target and their losses would be too high that way. Rodin orders the sortie of half of the griffin-riding knights still on standby and orders them to open fire against the magic ships when they are close enough. A mage in the room shoots a spell into the sky to transmit the order, and the knights take flight on their griffins. Then everyone realizes that there is a group of twelve men coming at them from a different direction. They wonder if that is the enemy’s vanguard, but think it must be impossible. A dozen against a city’s defenses is suicidal. Those twelve are immediately surrounded by knights. But then, Hugenot asks if some of those twelve men aren’t riding demi-dragons like Proxia’s knights. Rodin tells him that it doesn’t matter if they have demi-dragons, that it is still suicidal, but then Restoration’s members learn that there are people with the power to break their common sense.

Several minutes ago, Charles’ group waited until the main force was in sight while listening to the sound of the alarm bells. When they finally saw them, they took flight and put themselves in the vanguard. Charles gets cold feet watching Rodania’s forces closing in on them. He asks Reiss if it is really fine to attack from the front like this, that if the enemy is aware of them, then it won’t be a surprise attack. Reiss tells Charles to believe in the power of the heroes who ended the divine war and that they can’t turn back anymore. Charles says he will believe for what it is worth then. Renji tells everyone to fly behind him while he attracts the enemies towards himself. Reiss, Lucci, Arein, and their two other companions obey and put themselves behind Renji. Renji makes his flying lizard accelerate to take the lead when Restoration’s knights have them surrounded and begin to rain magic. As Renji swings his halberd, the cold air pushes back the magic and freezes Restoration’s knights, who fall like that towards the ground.

After looking at that wordlessly for a while, Charles begins to laugh. Reiss tells Charles that he already told him he didn’t have to worry about anything. Charles admits that his worries were unneeded. He asks Reiss if they can’t capture the city with just themselves with things being like this. Reiss says that it might be possible if they ignore the damage to the city, and that it is better to leave the ground to their land forces because the area of effect of Renji’s attacks is too wide. Charles agrees, saying that that way it would certainly be hard to collect taxes after the occupation. He apologizes for getting carried away and tells Reiss to aim at the city’s port because Restoration must be trying to evacuate its important figures there. Reiss agrees; he thinks now that the city’s air defenses are focused on Renji, is a good moment for doing that. Renji also tells the others to keep their distance from him while he uses his powers to take care of the knights in the air. The knights make more attempts to surround and shoot Renji down, but it is useless. Renji pushes back their magic attacks, even if they try to keep their distance. Renji shoots ice spears in every direction and shoots them down.

Arein tells Reiss that Renji is a big catch. Lucci says that he wants to scout him for the squad now. Reiss says he won’t make Renji a heavenly lion, but that the three might work together more often in the future. Lucci says that if every job was as easy as this, it would be wonderful. While the mercenaries laugh, the knights with Charles are scared. They fear Reiss’ group even pointing that kind of power at them. Charles says that it is wonderful that the heroes are so strong, and that he wants Rui to be like this too, by any means. Renji praises the knights for continuing to come at him despite how one-sidedly he killed all of their comrades and smiles full of himself. He tells the knights to let him test with them the power he has acquired. Renji falls back, putting all of the knights in his line of fire and begins a Chuunish chant: "Come, o eternal cold, erode the world the way my will tells you to. Endless frost blizzard." All of the knights in front of Renji freeze completely the moment the cold air coming from Renji’s halberd touches them. The knights in the back of the formation order a retreat, but the cold air is faster than them. Some try to push back the blizzard with fire magic, but it is useless. In a matter of minutes, Restoration’s several hundred griffin-riding knights were annihilated.

Rodin calls out to Christina. Christina asks him what it is. Rodin tells Christina to escape while he sends the remaining griffin-riding knights to earn time. Christina asks if she has to evacuate too, despite Hiroaki and Celia having just left one or two minutes ago. Rodin tells her that it is just a matter of time until they lose air superiority and that then they won’t have any way out. Rodin tells her that he doesn’t know who is riding that wyvern but that he is bad news, that their defeat is already a matter of time, and that postponing the decision any longer will just increase the danger. Christina asks Rodin what he will do. Rodin tells Christina that he will stay back because he is in his territory. Christina says that the city’s evacuation shouldn’t be completed yet. Rodin asks Christina if she forgot about the agreement. Christina says that they are doing this just after signing the agreement, that she can’t tell how much Arbor will keep his word about not hurting the populace, and that if she runs away she will lose her just cause as someone who forsakes her people.

Rodin says that it is precisely because of that that he, the lord, will stay back; that it is him who has to take the responsibility and not Christina; that the kingdom’s army must want to capture her, and if they do it, their defeat will be confirmed. Christina says that they still have Flora even without her. Rodin tells Christina he will say something rude and asks Christina if she thinks Flora can take her place. Christina doesn’t answer. Rodin kneels and begs Christina to fulfill his duty as a governor. Christina says she understands. She thanks Rodin for his loyalty and says that because of that loyalty, it would be sad to lose him, so he has to live. He is forbidden to die. After allowing their escape, he has to find a way to survive, even if it is shameful. She swears to reward his loyalty when they meet again. Rodin tells Hugenot to take care of Christina. In the meantime, Hugenot nods, then he and Christina go after Hiroaki’s group.

While the knights with Charles look in horror at Renji, Reiss looks at the magic ship preparing for evacuating VIPs and thinks Christina doesn’t seem to be there, then he smiles. He has just caught sight of Celia’s and Hiroaki’s groups on their way to the port for evacuating. He tells Charles he found his former fiancée, Charles asks what with surprise and looks to where Reiss points him. Reiss says that Flora and Hiroaki seem to be there too, but that he can’t see Christina, so she must be still in the headquarters. Charles nods. Reiss tells Charles that their allies will catch up to them soon, that they can take care of the port, and asks him if he wants to go to try to catch Christina himself. Charles asks Reiss if he can leave the port to him. Reiss says that, of course. Charles makes a relaxed smile and separates his group from Reiss.

A little before Renji annihilates Restoration’s air defenses, Celia’s group is waiting for a carriage to pick them up. Celia apologizes to Sara, Orphia and Alma for getting them involved. Sara says that Celia has nothing to apologize for. Orphia says that they came as her escorts because they wanted to, and Alma says that thank goodness that they accompanied her. Celia thanks them, teary-eyed, and Roland looks warmly at their exchange. Then they see the beginning of Renji’s battle, they lose their words. The carriage arrives and Sara tells Celia and Roland to get on it while she, Orphia and Alma run around it as escorts. They leave towards the port but have to stop when they find a carriage stopped in their way.

Hiroaki, Flora and Roana are riding in a carriage towards the port. Hiroaki asks if it is for real while watching Renji’s battle through the carriage’s window. He asks himself if that bastard is a hero. He thinks he is doing as he pleases. He thinks Renji must be way too far gone to kill so happily and indifferently despite being Japanese. The carriage stops suddenly. Roana asks the driver what is happening. The driver says he found protection targets and is explaining the situation to them. Roana asks what the driver means, but Rei calls out to her before the driver can explain. Roana also calls out to Rei, Kota and Hiroaki leave the carriage to talk with them. Rei greets Hiroaki when he sees him, and Hiroaki tells Rei and Kota to hurry and enter the carriage too. Hiroaki sees a lot of young noble sons and daughters around Kota and Rei. He also sees Rosa and Mikaela. Hiroaki tells Kota and Rei that they will run and tells Rosa and Mikaela to enter the carriage. Instead of the two, they doubt when they see Flora and Roana, who are way above them in rank. Rei encourages the two, telling them that it is fine because Kota and him are Hiroaki’s friends. While the two get on the carriage, Hiroaki asks Kota and Rei why they are there. Rei explains to him that the non-combatants were ordered to evacuate to the port. Hiroaki tells him that they are going to the same place. While Hiroaki and Rei talk, Celia’s carriage catches up with them. Celia and Roland leave the carriage to ask what is happening. When Roana sees Celia, she greets her and Celia does the same. Celia guesses what is happening and tells Roana that she still has space in her carriage if they need it.

Then Rodania’s sky became a world of ice. Everyone doubts their eyes, loses their words, and stiffens as much as the frozen knights watching the cold air. Sara murmurs that it is bad. As another ice spirit arts user, she understands that she is way below the skill of the person who used that attack. Sara says to Celia, screaming to hurry towards the port, that it would be bad if that person came to where they were. Celia agrees and tells Roana the same, which she tells everyone around them to hurry. Sara, Orphia and Alma make a stance with their weapons when Renji and Reiss dive towards them before everyone can get on the carriages again. Hiroaki curses while preparing his own weapon reluctantly. Renji jumps down from his wyvern and blocks the way to the port, creating a wall of ice behind him. Then he tells everyone that the way forward is off limits and that the port is closed. Everyone looks wordlessly at Renji. Then Hiroaki tells Renji that with just that sentence, he understood that he had a serious case of chuunibyou, that blocked and closed mean the same thing. He must be an idiot who doesn’t understand that he is making himself look lame while trying to act cool, and tells him to introduce himself. Renji asks what in anger. Hiroaki asks him if he is a hero. Renji also asks Hiroaki if he is the hero of water. He tries but can’t remember the name that Reiss told him in advance, but soon stops caring about having forgotten.

Hiroaki tells Renji to say his own name at least once. Renji says he has no reason for saying it. Hiroaki asks if he has to keep calling him "kid" with ahuunibyou then. Renji says that he is a high schooler. Hiroaki says he thought he was a middle schooler because he is short and has chuunibyou too. Renji tells Hiroaki that it seems like he wants to die. Hiroaki guesses Renji’s complex, calls him "kid" again, and asks him if "child" and "shorty" are forbidden. Sara and the others separate from the two heroes while they talk. Renji asks Hiroaki if he is underestimating him. Hiroaki says that it is Renji who is underestimating him and asks him what he is planning to do. Renji tells Hiroaki that he is a hired mercenary and that it isn’t a matter of planning anything or not, but that now he hates him and will make it his reason to fight. Renji points his halberd at Hiroaki. Hiroaki says that it is a coincidence that he hates him too now and calls him a hero without a kingdom and a protagonist pretender. Renji calls Hiroaki a mob-type hero who is exiled after harassing the protagonist. Hiroaki says he hates guys like him who believe themselves to be self-sufficient types of heroes, saying that they believe themselves to be the greatest and the strongest and never bother to speak politely. Renji says that Hiroaki isn’t talking politely either. Hiroaki says that it is fine because he is nineteen and is the older one. He calls Renji a "middle schooler" and says that he seems to be the type that doesn’t talk politely to his senpais either. They exchange some more provocations until Renji gets sick of Hiroaki and makes a stance with his halberd.

Reiss tells Renji to wait, then he lands next to Renji with Arein, Lucci and the two other mercenaries. Renji asks what it is. Reiss tells Renji to not involve himself in his attacks on the people around them because there are some with a lot of uses among them and to not kill Hiroaki either. Renji says he has a lot of requests. Reiss says he asked because he thought he could do it and asks Renji if it is complicated. Renji agrees in a bad mood. Reiss tells Renji to focus on Hiroaki and that he and the others will take care of the rest if anyone else makes a strange move. Then, Reiss looks at the girls. Lucci greets the girls. Sara calls them insistent. Lucci says that it isn’t like that, that he is just going to do something with the grudge of Ven and the others who died attacking the castle. Then Lucci, Arein and the other two unsheathe their swords. Sara tells everyone to stay behind her, Orphia and Alma. Celia says she will fight too. Roland says he will act as the rearguard just like Celia. Hiroaki tells the girls that he will take care of Renji and asks them if he can leave it in their hands if Reiss's group does anything strange. Sara says she can do it and asks Hiroaki if he is fine with that. Hiroaki says that he is a hero too and to leave it to him. Sara, who unlike Hiroaki, seems to underestimate Renji because he is also Japanese and younger, understands Renji’s skills and warns Hiroaki about it, telling him to be careful. Sara also understands Hiroaki’s skills well and wonders if she can really leave it to him, but stops caring because she doesn’t have the leeway for that.

Renji says he will give Hiroaki the first attack and tells him to come at him however he likes. Hiroaki asks Renji if he is underestimating him and frowns. Renji says he isn't, and that he means that he will teach him that he can’t absolutely win against him. Hiroaki says that it is fine and that he will take him up on that game. Renji says that it is fine for Hiroaki to know the difference in power between the two. Hiroaki raises his katana while filling it with magic power and swings it down. A current of water advances toward Renji and Reiss’ group. Renji points his halberd at the water current and freezes it whole. Renji runs over a wall at the side of the street because now the road is full of ice. He asks Hiroaki while swinging his halberd down at him if he didn’t know that the water attribute could not beat the ice attribute. Hiroaki blocks the halberd’s swing while locking weapons. Hiroaki tells Renji that he really is a serious case and that he says a lot of chuuni things that seem taken out of any masterpiece or the other. Hiroaki puts strength into the katana and pushes Renji against the wall behind him. Renji says that just his strength seems to be passable. Renji kicks the wall and jumps in the air. Hiroaki calls him stupid while shooting another water current at him. Renji asks Hiroaki if he didn’t learn from before while freezing the water again. Hiroaki clicks his tongue and begins to shoot one water current after another at Renji. Orphia climbs up a building to keep an eye on Reiss’ group because now that the road is filled with ice, she can’t do it from the ground. While saying that with the fight being like that, they won’t be able to interfere at all, she finds Reiss’ group and observes them. She thinks it is strange that they look like they are expecting someone else to enter the fight soon.

Renji asks Hiroaki what about giving up already, that he can’t win against him. Hiroaki tells Renji to not mount on every provocation and calls him a narcissist and self-sufficient bastard. Renji says he will teach Hiroaki the difference in hierarchy between the two because he is a mob. Hiroaki tells Renji that he isn’t the protagonist either, and that it is a matter of course that the ice attribute is a thing for dark mobs, and tells Renji to go think about the strongest ice magic or something. Renji says that he used it against the knights in an endless frost blizzard. Hiroaki asks if that is for real that he thought about it. After a while, Hiroaki begins to breath heavily because of the tiredness. Renji, who still seems fine, asks Hiroaki if he understood the difference in power. Hiroaki curses at Renji for underestimating him. Renji says to Hiroaki that because he was told to make him faint, he needed to exhaust him, who underestimated him so much, to understand the difference in power between the two. Renji feints at rushing at Hiroaki but doesn’t move and freezes his legs instead. Hiroaki loses his balance and looks at his feet while wondering when Renji did that. While Hiroaki is looking down, Renji hits his head with his halberd while saying that it is over. Hiroaki tries to continue the fight, but he just receives another blow to the head. Flora and Roana scream Hiroaki’s name worriedly. Renji puts the tip of his halberd on Hiroaki’s throat. Sara asks him if he plans to use a hostage. She and the rest harden their expressions. Renji says that he won’t allow them to call it cowardly, that they are at war now. He tells the girls to come at him if they don’t care about what happens to Hiroaki and that he won’t hold back because they are women and that he believes in gender equality. Reiss tells Renji that it is wonderful, that he really grew up. Renji asks Reiss what he would do now. Reiss says that it would be fine if it could end like this. Then a light ball several tenths of centimeters in diameter fell towards Renji’s face.

High above Rodania’s sky, the moment Renji defeats Hiroaki, Rio puts on the mask in silence. Sora calls out to him before he descends. Rio stops. Sora tells Rio that during the divine war era, there were times when the dragon king used his power for the people’s sake when it overlapped with his duty, but that the current situation is just a fight among fellow humans, that is unrelated to the management of the world, and that if he goes, the rules will activate for sure. Rio says he understands. Sora asks Rio if he will still go despite the number of masks being limited. Rio apologizes to Sora because one of her important masks might be used. Sora says that isn’t something Rio needs to apologize for, and what she wants to say is... But Sora doesn’t dare to say the rest: that the him who became a transcendental is an existence who can’t have any bonds with the world’s residents; that those people won’t be thankful even if he helps them, and if they are, they will immediately forget about him; that it might be fine this time because he has the masks; that if he intervenes over and over, they will run out; then he will forget those he wants to help; that one day he won’t even think about helping them; that he will be forgotten despite helping them; that he will forget too; then he will feel an overwhelming emptiness because his reason to fight is gone; that she wants to stop him because she experienced it too.

Rio thanks Sora for her feelings, but says that if he doesn’t move now, he will regret it for life. He is certain of that, so he wants to go, no he will go. Rio smiles kindly at Sora and she gulps. "I will go," "I won’t regret it," "I want to help". Sora gulps at Rio’s resolve and lack of doubt before sacrificing himself, despite how scary it must be to be forgotten and forgetting. Then Sora remembers that it was like that, that the dragon king was this kind of person, that even if he was forgotten, even if he wasn’t thanked, that even if he lost his memories, he was that type of very kind person who continued to give his everything for the people’s sake, that it was precisely because the dragon king was like that she... Sora remembers from her past that despite being forgotten, forgetting and not understanding what she was fighting for, she never felt empty because the dragon king was there. He cleared the loneliness. No, he filled that loneliness with his kindness, just with his existence, so she doesn’t need to doubt it either. The same way a transcendental exists to fill the loneliness of the familiar, there should be a familiar who fills the loneliness of the transcendental.

Sora tells Rio to go and that she will follow him wherever he goes. Rio nods and shoots a light ball at Renji while he descends. Renji rolls to the ground to dodge it and gets away from Hiroaki. Reiss whispers to himself that he will intervene afterall. Now the masked Rio and the robe-wearing Sora stand between Renji and Reiss’ group and Hiroaki. Rio recognizes Reiss and realizes he is alive. Roana asks who are the new intruders. The wyvern that Renji was riding barks at Rio and Sora. Sora tells the wyvern to shut up and asks it who it is barking at. The wyvern gets scared and shuts up. Reiss asks Rio about a compromise. Renji asks Reiss what he means. Reiss tells Rio that he can’t do anything about the troops attacking the city but that he can withdraw the men with him. Renji tells Reiss to not mess with him. He asks what he is planning now after coming all the way to where they are. Reiss says to Renji that Beltrum’s knights already have air superiority, that it is already their victory, and that the city has already been captured. Renji says they have no reason to retreat if it is like that. Reiss says that it isn’t like that, that the man in front of them looks like he is a troublesome opponent, and that they, the hires, don’t need to overdo it. Renji asks Reiss if he thinks he will lose to that suspicious masked man; that he is a man trying to look cool by coming in disguise, but that he is unarmed.

Reiss tells Rio that he doesn’t know who he is and asks him if he doesn’t prefer to not fight against them. Rio doubts whether Reiss has forgotten or not. Rio looks at Reiss with suspicion, even if he is talking as if it was their first meeting. Something feels wrong. Rio and Reiss keep exchanging cautious looks while maintaining their poker faces. Renji gets sick of being ignored and tells Reiss he will fight if he won’t do it while making a stance with his halber in front of Rio. Reiss says he won’t stop him. While they talk, Rio releases Hiroaki and tells Sora with his gaze to take him away. Renji attacks Rio from behind while he is giving Hiroaki to Sora, but a barrier stops Renji’s attack. The girls look with surprise at the advancement of Rio’s spirit arts, while everyone else is just surprised at his stopping Renji so easily. Renji tells Rio, screaming, to not underestimate him while enveloping him in cold air to freeze him alongside his barrier. Rio looks at Renji for the first time and strengthens his barrier. When two spirit art users compare the power of their techniques, there are two things that can happen. One, if the two forces are equal, the techniques will clash and compete; or two, if one of the users is superior, the other’s technique will be canceled. Sara and the others look dumbfoundedly at how Renji’s cold air disappears while he screams that it is impossible. Rio makes the magic barrier go forward and blows Renji away. Rio shoots a light ball at Renji’s stomach. He tries to cover himself with ice in the zone of impac.

Rio thinks it was a good decision and that Renji seems more used to fighting than before. Renji curses after losing the exchange. Renji lands looking like he wasn’t able to prevent all of the damage and decided to keep his distance from Rio, who at least seems way tougher than Hiroaki. Rio gives Hiroaki to Sora and tells her to give him to the people in the back. Sora obeys and takes Hiroaki towards Roana’s group immediately. Celia thinks the sound of Rio’s voice seems familiar. Celia looks dumbfounded while feeling that everything inside her body gave a jump. Sora gives Hiroaki to Roana and tells her to take care of him properly. Roana nods and begins to use healing magic on Hiroaki. Celia enters Sora’s gaze, then she begins to look seriously and fixately at her for some reason. Rio calls out to Sora and she walks back to his side. He asks her if she remembers the girl with purple hair waiting for a carriage that they saw before, Christina, who had Charles's group closing in on her. Sora confirms it. Rio asks Sora if she can escort that girl until they reach their destination, and that he will take care of this side while she does that. Sora tells Rio to leave it to her and that she has some advice for Rio. Rio asks what it is. Sora tells Rio to be brief but overwhelming; that way, the rules’ effect should be lessened. Rio says he understands. Sora says she will be on her way then.

Sora disappears, and then suddenly she is on the other side of the hill between her and Christina. While everyone looks surprised at Sora’s outrageous speed, Rio smiles. Renji asks Rio what he is laughing about with a frown. Rio doesn’t answer. Renji asks Rio why he is ignoring him, as if he thinks he has won. He tells him that he is acting like he has a lot of leeway, but that he mustn’t have any intention of winning, that the city has already fallen, and to not think that he will let him escape. Renji points to the sky with his eyes, so Rio looks at it too; the sky where Beltrum’s knights are steadily defeating Restoration’s. Rio thinks Renji is right, that it is difficult to turn the tables of battle now, that he can’t use all of his masks, that he can use just one, so he has to do just the minimum necessary actions. Rio thinks Renji is the most troublesome of everything, and that without Aishia, he won’t be able to do anything if the spirit inside him takes control. Rio thinks it will be a bother if Renji raises his degree of assimilation, so it is better to make him faint. Rio makes a one and a half meter long pole with earth spirit arts. Rio thinks now that he doesn’t need to hide his spirit arts, fighting might be easier than before while making a stance with his pole.

Renji asks Rio what he can do with such a simple pole. Rio says he can do something like allow the escape of the people with him. Renji says to try it if he wants to do it. If he thinks that pole can stop his cocytus, then Renji rushes at Rio in a straight line and swings his halberd down at Rio. Rio thinks Renji is young and that even if he gets better with training, he lacks experience. When Renji realizes it, the tip of Rio’s pole is in front of his face. Renji steps back to dodge it. He smiles proudly after dodging Rio’s attack, but he creates another pillar of earth behind Renji and makes it hit his head. When Renji bends forwards because of the impact behind his head, Rio steps forward and hits Renji’s face, making him bend backwards again just to hit a second time the earth pillar behind him and making him faint.

    Rei says that it is horrible but also refreshing while looking with a pale face at the series of merciless attacks. Rio touches Renji’s head and uses spirit arts to put Renji into a deep slumber so he doesn’t wake up soon. Rio then touches the ice blocking the street after the fight with Hiroaki and makes it disappear. Everyone makes a fuss about that. Rio picks Renji up and throws him at Reiss, who is the one who can lengthen the fight's duration by shooting from everywhere while running away from him. To seal his mobility, the moment Reiss catches Renji, Rio creates a lot of light balls and prepares them to attack Reiss at the minimum movement. Then Rio’s masks begin to make cracking noises.

Reiss says to Rio that he plans to leave immediately and run away, even if he doesn’t glare at him like that, and that if he can run away, he will do it with his all. Lucci clicks his tongue after Reiss orders the retreat. The mercenaries ride their griffins and leave immediately. Once Reiss's group has taken a certain distance, Rio erases the light balls. Sora calls out to Rio while flying low with Hugenot and Christina in her arms. Vanessa and the rest of Christina’s escorts are giving their all to run after Sora so that she doesn’t leave them behind, strengthening themselves with magic while screaming at her to wait and to not run away. Rio decides to just think it means Sora fulfilled her mission, and that even if she brought Christina without any explanation, it was an emergency, so it is fine, so he will pretend he didn’t notice this time. Then Celia calls out Rio’s name. Rio looks at Celia protected behind the other three girls with surprise because they should have forgotten him. He convinces himself that Celia is just repeating the name she heard from Sora. Rio thinks they will forget it again at the moment he takes off the mask. Sora lands next to Rio, letting Christina and Hugenot fall to the ground and telling him she is back. Both Christina and Hugenot ask what is going on, very confused.

Rio tells Christina to hurry to the port now so that she has the chance to get on the magic ship and immediately escape. Christina asks Rio who he is. Rio tells Christina he will earn some time for everyone and tells her to hurry again. Christina thanks Rio and tells everyone to hurry and run towards the port. When Vanessa and the others finally catch up, they try to interrogate Sora, but Christina tells them to let Sora be and escort the carriage with Hiroaki and Flora. Vanessa and the others obey, they surround the carriage and little by little, the rest of the people begin to run too. Rio tries to leave the place with Sora. At that time, Christina tells Celia to hurry too, but she ignores her, calls Rio’s name and asks him to wait. Both Rio and Sora look back at Celia. Celia tells Rio that she knows about him and asks herself in tears why she forgot about him.

Sara and the others ask Celia what is happening to her while looking like they don’t understand what is going on and being very confused. Celia asks them why they don’t remember him. Sora murmurs that it is impossible. She asks herself how can Celia break God’s rules. Then she realizes that Celia’s face and hair color resemble those of that homunculus, Lina’s familiar. She asks if Celia is something Lina prepared for the future too. Sora is relieved now that she understands what must be going on and looks fixedly at Celia’s face. Then a magic circle appears around Celia’s body and her body begins to release light.

While Celia’s body shines, Celia listens to a voice inside her mind. The voice says that it was a success. The voice says to Celia that it is impossible to give her everything right now, but that she will entrust to her the things that she wasn’t able to give to that girl. Celia is confused and looks around her for the owner of the voice. She asks herself in her mind, "What is this and what is happening?" Rio also looks at Celia, unable to understand. He asks himself in his mind how and why Celia can remember him despite the rules. Rio’s mind gets full of doubts and suspicions, but there were more things too; hope, expectation, anticipation, and joy. Rio is overcome with emotion as he witnesses the miracle.There isn't a way to resist because these are God’s rules. Rio realizes that it seems like somewhere in his heart he has given up like that. But Rio realizes that someone wished this, that someone planned this, that someone is asking if it isn’t fine to use a power that should be used for the world’s sake just for one’s important ones, that someone is asking if it isn’t fine for someone who was forgotten by everyone to be remembered, that this is a history of resisting the sad rules decided by God and recovering his lost bonds. Rio wished from the bottom of his heart for him to not be wrong about that.

### Epilogue: Reunion.

At the Galarc Kingdom, at the same time that Beltrum’s magic ships attack Rodania, Centostella’s magic ship arrives at Galarc’s capital, a ship to pick up the new hero Masato and Liliana who got dragged into his summoning. From now on, Galarc’s and Centostella’s representatives will discuss which kingdom Masato wants to belong to. There is tension between everyone present. At the same time, there are people who meet again after a long time despite the plans of both countries'. One with hope and the other with shock. Miharu says hi just for saying something. Takahisa says that they meet again.

### Next Volume’s preview

The rules decided by God are mercilessly absolute, but a seam in them appears in front of the boy. Is that a miracle by coincidence? Is it unavoidable? The only thing certain is that the boy doesn’t want to lose those bonds. On the other hand, the young hero of fire reappears before the girl he loves.

"Miharu. Won’t you also come to the Centostella Kingdom this time? "

精霊幻想記 22.純白の方程式, Seirei Gensouki 22 - Junpaku no Hootenshiki, Formula of purity.

Scheduled for the 1st of August of 2022 and confirmed to include a drama CD.

\*TLN: A smal detail I forgot to add. Rio, Miharu, Aisia and Celia are already confirmed to appear in the drama CD.

## Gallery

V21 coverV21 clean coverV21 clean previewV21 melonbooks bookcoverV21 bonus tapestryAfter effects of spirit assimilationBring this to Galarc FloraMasato looking cool in front of liliannaThe 7th wise goda Loli Dragon, off course..., what a surprise \*monotone\*instruction: pat her head to calm downAngry Midget Noise...Liselotte revealing her pastHi Chuuni 1, meet Chuuni 2can't wait when he wake up knowing he lost againwait! rio!!Creepy face of the year award goes to....