"In short, as time passed, the power of fire gradually weakened, just as you see now. The light faded, and darkness revived."
Ausia swallowed her last bite of food.
"It sounded like a destined fate."
Gilena's pointed elven ears drooped, and her mood sank as well.
"Destined fate?"
Ausia chuckled. "There was never anything truly destined. What the future became ultimately depended on what we fought for ourselves. Even taking a step back, even the universe could be destroyed. Every race was born only to march toward extinction—did that mean we should do nothing?"
"Of course not!" Gilena widened her eyes and retorted earnestly.
"Exactly. It was all the same principle." Ausia casually picked up a scattered bone from beside her and tossed it into the bonfire. "What mattered was the journey. The ending was the goal that drove us forward."
Gilena nodded repeatedly, took out a small notebook from her close-fitting pocket, and wrote down those words.
Ausia had long since grown accustomed to this.
She casually took a bottle of Emperor's Astonishment Series fruit wine, made by Origin Mall, from her personal storage space.
Gilena was staring blankly into space. She sniffed, then noticed the fruit wine in Ausia's hand.
Her bright eyes shifted a few times, as though she had suddenly thought of something, and they became even brighter.
"Lady Ausia, I have a question."
Gilena raised her hand like an elementary school student asking a teacher a question in class.
"Hmm?"
Ausia had just opened the fruit wine and had not yet had the chance to taste it.
Every product in the Emperor's Astonishment Series possessed a flavor that could be called the very pinnacle, and the fruit wine carried a scorching heat that made one feel as though their entire body were burning.
"Could the