Benares

Considering that she could stamp his booklet, Kaino temporarily gave up on teasing her and decided to show her some respect.

He took out the guidebook and held it out before the Spirit of the Spring.

"Here, the booklet. Stamp it."

The Spirit of the Spring furrowed her delicate brows.

"Have you misunderstood something? To get a stamp, you first need the examiner's approv—wait."

Halfway through speaking, the Spirit of the Spring suddenly froze. She leaned close to Kaino, her nose twitching constantly.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

The Spirit of the Spring's actions startled Kaino into taking a step back.

Why was this examiner acting like a creep?

"Cough, cough. No, it's nothing."

Miss Spirit of the Spring stiffened and hurriedly backed away. Her golden eyes darted around before finally settling on Kaino.

Yin qi yin shan er? Cu mei? She swallowed.

"Have you been to Homu Col—no, never mind."

The Spirit of the Spring stopped midway, then patted her own cheeks.

Spirit of the Spring, Spirit of the Spring, abusing your authority for personal gain is wrong!

"Since you're the first team to find me, you don't mind if I give you a more difficult task, right?"

"If possible, it'd be best to just stamp it directly."

Honest Kaino voiced his opinion.

The Spirit of the Spring glanced at Kaino, ignored him, and continued.

"Legend says that to the south, there is a mysterious and powerful Honkai Beast that constantly wanders along the coast—Benares. Around noon each day, she takes a lazy nap in the nearby sea."

"Find her, then tame her. That is your trial."

Kaino: ???

He felt like he had seen that name before.

"Wait, let me check."

Quickly taking out the Honkai Beast encyclopedia he had bought, Kaino found the section containing information on Benares.

"Benares is a Judgment-class Honkai Beast, right? You want us to tame it?!"

Kaino stared wide-eyed at the Spirit of the Spring, constantly reflecting on whether he had offended her somewhere.

Or was every beast tamer in this world as strong as a Herrscher, easily suppressing Judgment-class beasts?

"Yes, she is Judgment-class. But since you're the first group to arrive, naturally you can handle a harder task."

The Spirit of the Spring nodded, then took out a sheet of paper and tossed it to Kaino.

"To keep you from getting lost, I even drew a route map for you. After taming Benares, remember to bring her here. I'll only give you the stamp once I see her with my own eyes."

"Cough. Of course, this task is a little difficult. I know an examiner from the advanced division. If you truly complete it, I'll introduce you to her. So? Feeling motivated now?"

"No, not at all."

Holding the route map the Spirit of the Spring had given him, Kaino felt conflicted.

She was offering benefits even after they completed an examiner's trial... Could Benares be a Honkai Beast she had always wanted but could never obtain?

After glancing at the Spirit of the Spring, who had picked up her instant noodles again, Kaino sighed and began examining the route map.

Then he frowned.

Compared to the neat, easy-to-understand route map from the swimsuit shop owner earlier, the Spirit of the Spring's map could not exactly be called bad—it was simply beyond the limits of human comprehension.

"What is this supposed to be? A ball of yarn?"

Red Seele leaned close to Kaino and could not help complaining as she looked at the route map.

"We didn't offend her, did we?"

"I agree with you. But it's fine, I can understand it... probably."

Kaino tossed the route map directly into Imaginary Space.

"You can understand it?!"

Red Seele was shocked.

"More or less. When I was little, my younger sister and I used to play treasure hunt games, and her maps were about on the same level as this. But they aren't the same person, so I'm not sure whether my interpretation skills will work here."

Kaino shrugged, then held both hands out in front of him. A flash of blue light passed, and a pitch-black motorcycle appeared in place.

Though it was fairly large, its technological complexity was not particularly high. In addition, Kaino's Honkai energy reserves were continuously recovering, so one motorcycle was no burden to him.

After putting on a helmet, Kaino swung himself onto the motorcycle and pointed behind him with his thumb.

"It's a little far. Get on, Seele. There are handles on the back, so you don't need to hold onto me."

"Ah, okay."

Blue Seele nodded flusteredly and climbed on behind him.

Kaino hurriedly reproduced another helmet and turned around to place it on Seele's head. Then he looked toward Red Seele, who was watching him from nearby.

"Can you keep up with the motorcycle later? Do you want me to slow down?"

"Hah? Are you kidding?"

Red Seele floated to Blue Seele's side and pointed at the Stigmata on her chest.

"I'm essentially Seele's Stigmata consciousness. Even though I usually float around, I actually move relative to Seele."

"Ah, I nearly forgot."

Kaino patted his head and revealed a somewhat apologetic smile.

"Then let's go!"

Kaino twisted the motorcycle handle hard and shot forward.

"Hey, Kaino, aren't you going the wrong way? Didn't the Spirit of the Spring say Benares was in the south?!"

"That's right. But before catching a Honkai Beast, shouldn't we get something to eat first? That Spirit of the Spring's instant noodles had me craving them for ages."

Benares

Seaside City, southern coast.

Although Kaslanas loved eating and had huge appetites, they ate quickly too. However, the beginner division really was rather far from the coast, and the map given by the Spirit of the Spring was indeed far too vague. Kaino rode with the Seeles until nearly 15:00 before finding the place.

After getting off the motorcycle, Blue Seele stared blankly at the sea without saying a word.

"What, missing home?"

Kaino walked to Seele's side, tilted his head, and asked softly.

Usually in television dramas or manga, when someone suddenly stared motionlessly at the sea, they were either homesick or watching the sunrise or sunset.

Red Seele shrugged beside them and snorted.

"Heh, missing home? She's probably just looking at the sea and thinking of someone—her Bronya."

"Looking at the sea and thinking of someone?"

Kaino looked at Red Seele in confusion.

Although the coast was one of Seaside City's biggest attractions, the tourists were currently busy catching Honkai Beasts or searching for examiners. Naturally, they had no leisure to come play on the beach.

Thus, there were strangely only Kaino and the others on the beach at the moment. Kaino did not need to worry about anyone's strange looks and could freely talk to Red Seele.

Though even normally, he did not care much.

"Yes. Seele and that Bronya of hers... Look, Seele has come back to her senses. Let her tell you herself."

Seeing Blue Seele turn around, Seele stopped speaking halfway through.

"After all, it isn't very nice to talk about someone behind her back."

"Huh? Seele, were you telling Brother Kaino something about me?"

Blue Seele looked somewhat surprised.

It seemed she had truly been absorbed in looking at the sea and had not noticed Kaino and the others' conversation.

"Do you really like the sea, Seele? You seemed lost in thought the moment you reached the shore."

"Ah, no. Liking the sea... perhaps that is part of it, but more than that, it reminded me of Sister Bronya."

This was not the first time she had mentioned the name Bronya, but this time alone, a trace of sorrow and reminiscence appeared on Seele's face.

"Seele once made a promise with Sister Bronya that we would go see the sea together... but even now, that promise has never been fulfilled."

As she said this, Seele looked somewhat dejected and lowered her head slightly.

"Seele has already seen the sea twice, but Sister Bronya probably hasn't seen it even once. Seele is here playing and looking at the sea, but Sister Bronya is probably still tirelessly searching for a way to bring Seele back."

"Sister Bronya..."

"Alright, alright. We'll go back in a few days. Then won't you be able to see your sister?"

Kaino reached out and ruffled Seele's hair as he laughed.

"For now, bury that longing for family deep in your heart. Once we return, you can let it all out properly. Right now, just enjoy yourself."

When it came to missing family, Kaino believed his longing for his father and younger sister was no less than Seele's longing for her sister.

Looking at it that way, the two of them really were somewhat alike. Both had family they worried about, and both had accidentally fallen into the Quantum Sea...

"Ha."

Red Seele laughed beside them.

"What are you laughing at?"

Kaino was somewhat puzzled. There should not have been anything funny about what he said.

"I'm laughing because you misunderstood something... Missing family? Is that how you see it?"

"What's wrong with that? Didn't Seele call her—"

"Enough, other me!" Seele suddenly cried out in embarrassment, interrupting Kaino and Red Seele's conversation. "D-Don't say any more."

"Alright, alright. I'll listen to you. If you say not to say it, I won't say it~"

Red Seele drew out the last syllable as she looked at Seele with amusement.

"So what exactly is—Seele, watch out!"

Kaino had originally wanted to continue teasing Seele after seeing how cute her embarrassed expression was, but a flash of white suddenly appeared on the sea and caught his attention. Remembering why they had come to the coast, he pulled Seele behind him and instantly summoned Judgement of Shamash, remaining on guard.

"Seele, give your body to me."

Red Seele's voice sounded from behind him. Then Seele, holding a blood-red scythe, stepped to Kaino's side.

"Seele?"

Seeing Seele's greatly changed temperament, Kaino called out to confirm it.

"...Sigh. I'm starting to regret having the same name as Seele."

Seele sighed, glanced at Kaino, then fixed her gaze back on the sea.

"Be careful. I'm not certain I can defeat that Honkai Beast."

"ROAR!!!"

The enormous creature that had previously only shown a patch of white above the sea now completely emerged from the water. A massive blue-and-white dragon displayed her true form. Her body, over a hundred meters long, stretched across the surface of the sea. Her enormous head roared toward the sky before slowly locking onto Kaino and Seele.

Her icy blue eyes shifted constantly between Kaino and Seele before finally settling on Kaino, whose appearance and colors resembled hers quite closely.

"ROAR!!!"

With a howl, the dragon's claws struck the water, and her entire body lunged fiercely toward Kaino.

Who the dragon had targeted was not actually important. Her enormous body was enough to bring both of them within her attack range.

"Spirit of the Spring, I'll remember this!"