Chapter Summaries

Galan wandered through Äußerst and found Serie arranging flowers beneath Flamme’s statue inside a Barrier. Serie reflected on Flamme’s dream of making magic accessible to everyone and said she now wanted to pursue it herself.

• Galan left the inn and headed toward Central Square to see the Winter Festival decorations.
• Galan noticed the streets had emptied and realized someone had created a Barrier inside Äußerst.
• Galan reached Flamme’s statue and found Serie arranging the bouquets left by the townspeople.
• Galan asked Serie whether the Continental Magic Association’s founding had encountered difficulties.
• Serie recalled how Flamme devoted her life to spreading magic and said she wanted to pursue Flamme’s dream of an era in which everyone could use magic.

Galan told Serie how widely magic was used in the future and reassured her that Flamme’s dream had not been in vain. After Serie left him at the Winter Festival, Amber wondered whether Lia would prepare a gift for Galan.

• Serie asked Galan how close Flamme’s dream was to coming true, and he described how people across the future used magic in everyday life.
• Galan began to connect Serie’s interest in human magic with her choice to let the war continue, but stopped himself before revealing too much about the future.
• Serie used magic to summon a field of flowers before Flamme’s statue, then disappeared and left Galan with a telepathic invitation to enjoy the festival.
• Galan recalled that Flamme had started the Winter Festival, though he doubted that many people still knew its origins.
• Amber asked Lia whether she planned to prepare a Winter Festival gift for Galan, worried that his feelings might go unreturned.

Amber’s question made Lia confront her jealousy over Galan and ask what she should do. At the Winter Festival, Galan watched the celebrations with Fitz, who delivered a pair of enchanted gloves from the boss.

• Amber asked Lia how she would feel if a girl began spending much of her time with Galan, and Lia remembered her distress when she heard Amber might become his apprentice.
• Lia fell silent, then asked Amber what she should do.
• Galan and Fitz watched the Winter Festival from a platform above Central Square and joked about Fitz being thrown out of the shop.
• Fitz told Galan that he had angered the boss by criticizing the Alchemy Gloves and gave him a pair of jet-black gloves the boss had prepared for him.
• Galan sensed that powerful Binds protected the gloves from erosion.

At the Winter Festival, Galan waited with a gift for Lia, who had left earlier and missed the chance to reach the bonfire. She returned dressed elegantly, and after giving her the gift, Galan asked her to dance.

• Fitz teased Galan about the gift box he had prepared for someone, and Galan admitted Lia had gone away and had not returned yet.
• Lia arrived in a white dress, and Fitz joked that she looked like a bride.
• Galan reassured Lia that she was not too late and told her he had prepared a gift for her.
• Galan kicked Fitz away before he could interrupt, then asked Lia why she had dressed up for the festival.
• Lia said she had been looking forward to the festival a little, and Galan invited her to dance.

Lia realized she had grown attached to Galan and, with Amber’s advice, offered herself as his gift while they danced on the rooftop. Galan confessed his love, and Lia quietly returned it as the new year began.

• Lia admitted to Amber that she cared about Galan and worried she had no gift for him.
• Amber advised Lia to change outfits and tell Galan she would give herself to him as a gift.
• While dancing, Lia thanked Galan for his gift and let herself fall into his arms.
• Lia offered herself to Galan, and he told her he loved her.
• Lia replied that she loved him too as the new year began.

After spending the night together, Galan woke to find Lia asleep on top of him and let her keep resting. In the inn, Fitz assumed the two had become closer and decided to handle the day's work himself.

• Galan recalled carrying the sleepy Lia back to the inn after the Winter Festival and later letting her slip into his bed.
• Lia woke briefly, then curled up on Galan's chest and went back to sleep.
• Galan stroked Lia's head and watched the new day's sunlight while letting her rest.
• Fitz waited for Galan in the inn's lobby, guessed he was still asleep with Lia, and chose to do the day's work himself.

Frog asked Galan to help guard his caravan on a dangerous trip to Weise after the Demon King's Army captured their previous trade route. He explained that the order was a test from a major merchant association and that, despite the risks and his injured men, he felt he had to accept it to reach his goal.

• Galan and Lia got up late and ran into Frog, who had returned that morning.
• Frog took Galan and Lia to a restaurant and asked Galan for help with a difficult problem.
• Frog told Galan that his next order required a trip to Weise along the dangerous Fallen Trade Route, now threatened by the Demon King's Army.
• Frog explained that a major merchant association had given him the order as a test and that several injured men would be unable to join the caravan.
• Frog admitted that he understood the danger but could not give up when he was so close to achieving his goal.

Galan told Frog that the merchant association was likely setting him up and urged him not to risk the trade route. He proposed that Frog strike out on his own by partnering with the potion shop where Galan worked, leaving Frog to consider a new path in business.

• Galan explained that the dangerous route and Rivale’s threat made it impossible for him to leave Äußerst or safely join Frog’s expedition.
• Galan warned Frog that the merchant association might not honor its promises even if Frog completed the commission.
• Galan suggested Frog build an independent business instead of relying on the merchant association.
• Galan proposed that Frog enter the medicine trade by partnering with the potion shop where he was working.
• Frog wavered as Galan described the opportunity to use his existing resources and channels to build a new business.

Galan suggested that Frog enter the potion trade by working with the adventurer equipment shop, giving Frog a new way to grow his business. Frog presented his experience and resources to the boss, who listened as Galan asked him to help.

• Galan told Frog that his potion-making abilities could help him succeed in the potion trade, and Frog considered shifting his resources into the business.
• Frog explained that he had noticed the shop’s popular [Recovery Potion] and believed he could make the new venture work, though moving his resources would take about half a year.
• Galan introduced Frog to the boss as an experienced merchant with years of travel along the [Fallen Trade Route], and Frog showed the boss valuable trade goods as proof of his abilities.
• The boss warned them that major trades were controlled by large merchant guilds, but Galan helped him onto his stool and asked him to consider working with Frog.

The shopkeeper agreed to cooperate with Frog to expand Recovery Potion production and sales, giving Frog a safer way to build his business. Galan realized the expanded operation would greatly increase his workload and headed to confront Fitz about sharing the burden.

• The shopkeeper weighed the risks and profits of working with Frog and decided to take the opportunity.
• Frog excitedly accepted the shopkeeper’s agreement, relieved he could expand his business without sending the mercenary group along a dangerous trade route.
• The shopkeeper and Frog agreed to discuss preparations and cooperation details later.
• Frog thanked Galan, who recognized that increased sales would require much more Recovery Potion production from him and Fitz.
• Galan cursed at the prospect of heavier work, then went to find Fitz so he would not carry the burden alone.

Galan worried that Frog and the boss’s partnership would leave him and Fitz overworked, while he wanted to spend quiet time with Lia. As they relaxed together, Lia reminded Galan that he was already strong, and he began to reconsider how he judged his own abilities.

• Galan and Fitz worried that Frog and the boss’s negotiations would increase their workload, and Galan refused Fitz’s idea of running away to stay with him.
• Galan stayed indoors with Lia, who read a book about herbs in his room while they kept warm by the fireplace.
• Galan told Lia he wanted an ordinary, peaceful life with her and pulled her down beside him onto the pillow.
• Lia asked why Galan was so strong if he wanted a quiet life, then praised how he had faced the Demon General and Rivale.
• Galan realized that surviving battles against powerful Demons showed he was more capable than he had believed.

Galan and Lia spent a rare snowy day resting together at the inn, joking about beasts of burden and growing closer. After sleeping until afternoon, they went outside into the bitter cold to find something to eat, while the streets and shops remained quiet.

• Galan and Lia lay side by side, held hands, and listened to the wind during the heavy snowfall.
• Galan explained what a beast of burden was, and Lia wondered aloud how she had never encountered one in her nearly three hundred years.
• Galan laughed at Lia for taking the term seriously, then swore he would help Fitz for the rest of his life if he had been mocking her.
• Galan and Lia slept until the afternoon, then got up, washed, and prepared to leave the inn.
• Galan and Lia stepped into the cold evening streets, where the snow had stopped and the boss's shop remained closed.

Galan took Lia to Lake’s restaurant, where a meal and conversation helped her feel more comfortable expressing herself in Äußerst. On the way back to the inn, he carried her and reflected on his vanishing left hand and how much he wished their happy moments could last.

• Galan reflected that bringing the boss and Frog together had been a good opportunity, then asked Lia what she wanted for dinner.
• Galan and Lia visited Lake’s restaurant, where Lake recognized them and offered them a dessert to make up for his initial mistake.
• Galan encouraged Lia not to worry about what other diners thought, and Lia resumed eating dessert with gusto.
• After dinner, Galan carried an overfull Lia back toward the inn and thought about his nearly vanished left hand and their time together.

Galan worried that his body was beginning to disappear and decided to look for a house with Lia, but the cost left him unsure how to earn enough money. Meanwhile, Fitz celebrated a breakthrough on an ambitious potion he had been developing in the shop’s storeroom.

• Galan checked that his left hand had not turned transparent again and worried that his time in this world was running out.
• Galan told Lia they should look for a house, but her question about the cost made him consider secretly making and selling potions.
• Fitz, alone in the storeroom while the boss arranged a partnership, celebrated reaching the near-final stage of his potion experiment.
• Fitz studied the scorched-yellow potion and struggled to decide which medicinal ingredient to add last.

Fitz used the rare herb he had risked everything to obtain to complete his Rejuvenation Potion, and the mixture turned an unfamiliar purple. Unable to face the possibility of failure, he drank it, leaving the result unknown.

• Fitz recalled selling his possessions to obtain the herb and losing the guards who had protected him from a Greater Demon.
• Fitz added the preserved herb to the boiling potion, which changed from scorched yellow to gold and then purple.
• Fitz feared the unfamiliar purple potion meant failure and accepted that he might die.
• Fitz filled a bottle with the potion and drank it without hesitation.

Galan and Lia looked for vacant houses while enjoying the sunny day, and Fitz woke in a child’s body after drinking his potion. Fitz remained unsure whether he had succeeded in restoring his youth or merely extending the medicine’s effects.

• Galan decided to continue house-hunting with Lia, despite worrying about the cost and considering asking Frog for money.
• Lia and Galan stopped for roasted sweet potatoes, teased each other in the sunshine, and then continued toward a promising house.
• Fitz woke in a heap of clothes after losing consciousness and realized that most of the day had passed.
• Fitz examined his smaller body in a mirror and wondered whether he had successfully returned to childhood.
• Fitz recalled the purple potion and concluded that it had not overridden the herb’s original effects.

Fitz tested whether his potion had reset his body’s age, and the experiment confirmed that it had not. Meanwhile, Galan’s attempt to view a house ended in embarrassment, and he ran into an angry child at the inn.

• Fitz cut a piece of flesh from his arm and tested it in a reagent designed to reveal whether the herb’s effects had merely been prolonged.
• The flesh decayed and vanished without hatching again, and Fitz reacted with wild joy at the result.
• Galan failed to prove he could afford a house and was turned away by the agent.
• Lia secretly bought roasted sweet potatoes and shared one with Galan at the inn.
• Galan walked into a messy-haired child, who angrily accused him of deliberately ignoring and running him over.

Fitz, transformed into a child, reunited with Galan and revealed that he had developed a Rejuvenation Potion. He then told Galan that further adjustments could produce a potion of immortality, leaving Galan stunned and imagining a future with Lia.

• Fitz appeared at the inn as a child, and Galan recognized him after realizing he knew Fitz's name and mannerisms.
• Galan followed Fitz upstairs to his room, leaving Lia to return to her room and wait.
• Galan congratulated Fitz on developing the Rejuvenation Potion.
• Fitz told Galan that he could make a potion of immortality by adjusting the potion's effects.
• Galan imagined that the potion might let him live with Lia forever, then apologized in case his reaction had made Fitz uncomfortable.

Fitz told Galan he planned to leave Äußerst and promised him a portion of the Elixir of Immortality once he refined it. He asked Galan to look after the shop boss, while Galan revealed he might also leave within two years.

• Galan guessed that Fitz intended to leave, and Fitz confirmed it.
• Fitz promised to give Galan part of the Elixir of Immortality in repayment for his help.
• Fitz asked Galan to look after the shop boss after he left, but kept the reason for his departure private.
• Galan agreed to help, explaining that he might leave for somewhere far away within two years.
• Fitz accepted Galan's answer and said he would work harder to refine the elixir sooner.

Fitz left the city after finishing the Rejuvenation Potion, promising to develop the Elixir of Immortality for Galan and send it to him. When Galan told the boss, the news brought back the boss’s painful memories of losing his wife to Demons.

• Galan asked Fitz if he would take Lia with him, and Fitz said they were destined to meet again.
• Fitz asked Galan to tell the boss that enemies had found him and forced him to leave suddenly.
• Fitz departed, saying he had things he could not escape and would do his best to make the Elixir of Immortality for Galan.
• Galan told the boss that Fitz had left, and the boss rushed to chase him before realizing he was already gone.
• The boss remembered planning a future with Fitz and recalled how his wife had stayed home waiting for him before Demons killed her.