(The first day of the New Year! Happy New Year—please vote!)
(Many thanks to 'Chenfeng☆', 'Mo Yu Linshang', 'You Bi Ji Yue', 'Xianyu Laike', 'Black Rock★Feather', 'World's End Ballad', 'Yan Ai Ai', and 'Summer in the Labyrinth' for their tips!)
When Noah controlled Hermes' Boots and slowly descended onto the enormous island known as Extalia beneath the flapping wings attached to either side of the boots, an indescribable silence immediately spread through the entire island.
Ignoring the strange atmosphere, Noah raised his eyes and looked around.
Noah had landed in the very center of Extalia.
Extalia was a massive city built by the Exceeds.
In other words, Noah had landed in the heart of the city known as Extalia.
Buildings stood all around him.
Some were as large as human houses, while others were smaller, likely quite suitable for Exceeds with builds like Happy and Charlulu.
On a street surrounded by buildings of all sizes, cats that walked like humans, each with entirely different appearances, builds, and fur colors, stared at Noah as he descended from the sky, looking at one another in bewilderment.
"A... a human?"
"Th... that's a human, isn't it?"
"He seems to be a human..."
It was no wonder these Exceeds were so astonished.
In Edolas, Exceeds were beings like angels to humans.
And Extalia, where those angels lived, was naturally a place akin to heaven for the humans of Edolas.
Even if this heaven was not as unreachable as the one in myth and lay right where people could see it, its status was still extremely sacred.
Furthermore, the Exceed elders led by the queen strictly forbade humans from entering. Lili had once been exiled merely for bringing a human back to Extalia. One could imagine just how unbelievable it was for a human to