On the way to Upper Yard, Robin listened to Loa's story while writing and sketching in her notebook. Then she asked curiously,
"Lord Loa, why do the Shandia want to protect the Poneglyph?"
Shandora's ancestors had protected the Poneglyph even at the cost of fighting until their Godland fell. Why?
Noland's story had never explained it, and Loa had never mentioned it either. But Robin had spotted the question.
People needed a reason to fight, just as they needed a reason to live. Life was meant to be enjoyed, but an entire people would not make such enormous sacrifices because they enjoyed war.
So what were the Shandia fighting for?
To protect Shandora? To protect the Poneglyph?
Then...
Why protect the Poneglyph?
"To pass the true history on to future generations," Loa answered. "The reason the Poneglyph exists is the reason the Shandia protect it."
Put another way, the Shandia existed to wait for someone who could read the Poneglyph and spread the true history to every corner of the world.
That was their ancestors' dying wish, and their mission.
"In other words..."
Robin rested her chin on her hand and smiled at Wyper and the others. "Your mission is complete!"
"You don't have to keep fighting anymore."
"Complete..."
Unlike the others, Wyper had learned more from the Chieftain. He understood the full weight of Robin's words.
The weight of countless lives lost over eight hundred years...
It was enough to take his breath away.
"I see... That's wonderful. It really is..."
The next day was clear, with a gentle breeze.
Warm sunlight fell across Holy Land Shandora, Upper Yard, just as it had eight hundred years ago. The breeze brushed every cheek, carrying the mingled scents of earth and trees.
Skypieans and Shandia alike stood Stillness-ly, feeling the solid