Convergence of Spheres

Elwin nodded and wrote the three characters for "Calradia" in charcoal on a blank space beside the map, then drew a question mark.

"Does your country... have magic? Sorcerers? Mages?"

Karl frowned.

"No."

"No?" Elwin paused. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. No," Karl said. "There are wizards, but they're swindlers who perform tricks. Other than in ancient legends, we've never seen any magic."

Elwin froze. He turned his head and glanced at Ron in the back row. Ron was leaning against a pillar with his arms folded across his chest, his expression unchanged.

Elwin slowly turned back, his gaze roaming across the map.

"Do you have... monsters there? Drowners, trolls, ghouls, werewolves, vampires?"

Karl thought for a moment. "There are wolves, bears, and..." He paused. "Pirates."

"No monsters?"

"No."

Elwin fell silent for a long while. The hall was so quiet that they could hear the crackling of the torches.

"How did you get here, then? A storm? Your ship was swallowed by a whirlpool, and when you woke up, you were here?"

"Yes," Karl said.

Elwin tapped the wooden board twice with his stick, as though urging his mind to work. He began pacing back and forth, muttering under his breath.

"A continent without magic... without monsters... another continent... a storm... a whirlpool..."

He stopped.

"The Convergence of Spheres."

Karl did not understand. "What?"

"The Convergence of Spheres," Elwin repeated, his voice louder. "It's an academic theory on our side.

A long time ago, multiple worlds converged. Creatures from different worlds were left behind in ours. Humans, monsters, magic... they all came to this world during the Convergence of Spheres."

He looked at Karl, then at the other soldiers, before finally turning his gaze to Ron.

"If you come from a world without magic or monsters... then you didn't sail from Calradia to Velen. You came from another world to ours."

The hall fell silent for several seconds.

The soldiers exchanged glances. Some frowned, while others remained expressionless, but no one spoke.

Elwin's gaze remained fixed on Ron.

Ron stood quietly in the back row, arms folded, his expression calm. There was no surprise, no confusion, not even the slightest sign that he was trying to understand or refute it.

He simply stood there, watching Elwin, his eyes utterly unchanged.

Elwin opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but in the end, he said nothing. He lowered his head and looked at "Calradia," marked with a question mark on the wooden board, then slowly set down the stick.

The hearth cast wavering light through the hall. The soldiers' faces still bore confusion and unease.

Another world, the Convergence of Spheres, an unfamiliar continent, monsters and magic...

Just as unrest stirred in everyone's hearts, Ron finally spoke.

His voice was not loud, yet it fell steadily into every heart like a chunk of heavy iron.

"What are you panicking for?"

Ron rose to his feet, his gaze slowly sweeping over every face.

"This world has magic, sorcerers, and scholars who study the Convergence of Spheres. What you heard isn't madness, but a law that truly exists on this continent."

He paused, his tone steady and devoid of the slightest uncertainty.

"We did come from another land, but so what? We survived in Calradia. We can survive here too."

The soldiers lifted their heads and looked toward their general.

"What we need to do now is not obsess over where we came from, but establish ourselves. Repair the manor, train the troops, protect this land that can keep us alive. Once we are strong enough—strong enough to gather those sorcerers and scholars—I will personally lead you in searching for the way home."

Ron's voice fell, clear and resolute, without a trace of empty words.

"This is the promise I, Ron Arenicos, prince of the Calradic Empire and your general, make to you."

The hall fell silent for a moment.

The next instant, no one knew who first answered in a low voice, but more and more voices soon joined together.

"Understood!"

Karl lowered his head slightly.

In the firelight, Ron stood at the very front, his expression calm.

Only he himself knew that the words "going home" were merely a promise to steady their hearts.

What he truly needed to do was carve out a place in this chaotic age where he and the veteran soldiers who had crossed over with him could truly survive.

After Ron finished speaking, the hall was quiet for a moment.

The soldiers' shoulders gradually relaxed from their tense stiffness, but confusion still lingered in their eyes.

Elwin remained by the door, not having left. He pushed up his glasses and took a step forward.

"There is one thing I would like to add."

His voice was not as deep as Ron's. It carried the clarity and unhurried pace unique to a scholar, as though he were correcting a student's mistake in class.

"When you heard about the Convergence of Spheres, you thought it was something strange, didn't you?"

His gaze swept across the soldiers' faces.

"It isn't strange, because you are no different from me or anyone else on this continent."

"Humans are not native to this continent. Elves had already lived here for thousands of years before humans came into this world. Where did humans come from? They came through the Convergence of Spheres. Like you, they came from another world."

Someone in the hall frowned.

Elwin continued, speaking slowly, but every word was clear.

"The earliest human ancestors came by ship—ordinary ships—and were swept by a storm into a rift of the Convergence of Spheres, then appeared on the shores of this continent. Like you, they came from a world without magic or monsters. When they first saw elven longships and griffins flying through the sky, their legs went weak with fear."

"But they survived. They took root on this land, built villages, built cities, built kingdoms. A few hundred years later, their descendants had forgotten that history and believed they had always belonged to this land."

He stopped and looked at Karl.

"The library of Oxenfurt University contains records of our ancestors arriving on this continent through the Convergence of Spheres. I am not telling a myth. I am telling history.

I, Elwin von Held, professor of history at Oxenfurt University, am one of the people who studies this history."

He tucked the stick beneath his arm and spread his hands.

"So listen carefully. You are not outsiders. You are no different from every human on this continent. Our ancestors merely arrived earlier, and you arrived later—that is all."

The soldiers looked at one another. Some parted their lips slightly, while others slowly unclenched their fists.

Elwin took a step back and returned the center of the hall to Ron.

"I'm finished," he said, his voice returning to its slightly hoarse calmness.

Ron looked at his loyal subordinates, and his heart remained utterly unmoved.

Going home?

Once they truly gained a foothold, these veteran soldiers who had followed him would become the pillars of his future kingdom—military lords, hereditary nobles. Titles, families, legacies... they would have everything.

If they stayed in this world, they would stand above others. When that time came, they would naturally make their own choice.

But he would not say it aloud, nor was there any need to. As long as it could keep people alive and fighting, it was worth treating as a promise and making in all solemnity.