At the victory banquet, the council hall blazed with light. The long table was laden with Kararagi specialties, and the warm yellow candlelight from inside tinted the night beyond the windows a soft gold.
The aroma of wine mingled with the scent of grilled fish and the murmur of subdued conversations, as though this city, which had only just weathered a crisis, was slowly learning to breathe again.
Farsale gently rubbed his fingers against the wineglass in his hand. The amber liquid swayed faintly in the candlelight as his gaze settled on the white-haired woman opposite him-it was his first opportunity to speak with the legendary "Witch of Greed" outside of battle.
A night breeze blew through the window, stirring the blond hair over his forehead and pressing the candle flames a little lower.
"Farsale, I'm delighted you could join our world-saving team."
Echidna leaned back in her chair, tapping her fingertips lightly against the table with her own particular air of careless composure.
"But you must have plenty of questions. Now that we're companions, my omniscient and omnipotent self would naturally be happy to answer a few."
"Thank you, Echidna."
Farsale inclined his head slightly, set down his glass, and folded his hands on the table.
"My first question concerns the witches."
"Of course I understand. It isn't just you, Farsale. The entire world has already developed an aversion to witches."
Echidna's voice lowered a little, like someone leafing through an old book and finding a passage she had long foreseen on a certain page.
"After the factors within the Demon King scattered across the world, people compatible with them gradually inherited them. Or rather-those people were chosen by the factors and became witches with powerful Authorities. Some of them did indeed bring harm to nations and the world second only to the Demon King."
She paused, her gaze drifting toward the streets of Kararagi shrouded in darkness outside the window.
"The Witch of Pride, Typhon, was one of them. Still, it was thanks to the wisdom of your nation's people that she was laid to rest beneath that Watergate City."
Farsale tapped a finger lightly against the table.
"As for the plan to bring in the floodwaters, the Council of Ten involved did indeed mention in their report to me that ordinary citizens had proposed it to them."
His voice slowed a little, as though he were checking as he spoke that he had left out no details.
"However, according to intelligence supplied by the Six Tongues lookouts I stationed there, they noticed a beautiful white-haired woman secretly entering and leaving the city."
His gaze returned to Echidna. In those ruby-like eyes was a gentle yet inescapable scrutiny-not fierce vigilance, but more the slight distance a king needed when confirming an ally's sincerity.
After all, if they were to face an existence and a conspiracy intent on changing the world together, he naturally needed to resolve all his doubts before he could ally with Echidna and the others without reservation.
At present, their common ground depended largely on the existence of that person from another world. But if allies could not frankly face even the shadows of the past together, then the road ahead would be nothing more than another sandcastle on the verge of collapse.
"Just what I'd expect from the Kingdom of Lugunica's rising intelligence organization."
Echidna's lips curved into a faint smile. There was no hostility in it; she seemed more amused by his thorough preparations.
"I will naturally admit it openly-the plan to flood the city was indeed secretly passed to the local administrators through my arrangements, those of the omniscient and omnipotent Echidna."
She lifted the glass of red wine before her and swirled it gently, leaving a thin amber sheen on the glass.
"The purpose was, of course, to save the local people from their suffering-and also to dispel any ideas you might have about witches all being birds of a feather, Farsale."
"After all, I devote my life solely to pursuing knowledge. I've never intended-nor had the ability-to wreak havoc all over the world. I'm far more interested in saving it."
She set down her glass, her fingertips lingering on its rim for a moment. The candle flames cast a faint light into her pale violet eyes, as though illuminating some corner she would never speak of.
Of course, she had also had a purpose of her own in personally visiting the Watergate City-to collect the Witch of Pride's soul.
After all, long before predicting that the Melancholy Fiend would come to hunt her down, she had already conducted numerous experiments, seeking to create a city of dreams to house her soul and even hoping for the possibility of resurrection.
This operation had also been intended to obtain samples from other witches for her research.
Fortunately, her research had proved reasonably effective. She had barely reached the point where she could "borrow" souls from "Od," so the soul collection had gone relatively smoothly.
And because of the Watergate City's terrain, the Pride Factor had been buried forever beneath the surging floodwaters, never to emerge and harm anyone again.
The omniscient and omnipotent witch was very satisfied with this operation, though she still worried about how to continue collecting the other witches' souls and prevent their factors from being inherited again.
But that person from another world had shown her new possibilities.
While helping Flugel examine his "Gate," she had discovered not only his immense potential for Yin Magic, but also that he possessed a body capable of containing every Witch Factor.
However, as these were her greatest secrets, and for the sake of her long-term research, there was no need to reveal these points to Farsale.
"Of course I believe that, and I am also deeply grateful for your assistance in the Watergate City, Miss Echidna."
Farsale nodded slightly, as though fitting a piece of a puzzle into its proper place in his mind.
"As for my next question-"
"It concerns the Divine Dragon Volcanica, doesn't it?"
Echidna picked up where he left off, her tone carrying the composure of someone who had already guessed the answer.
"After all, as a former companion of the Hero, he may also have noticed the abnormal changes in this world. Making him our next destination is indeed key to saving the world. So please explain our subsequent plans to everyone in detail later, Farsale."
"Of course. Allow me once again to express my gratitude for your assistance, Lady Echidna."
"We're all companions in saving the world now. There's no need to stand on so much ceremony, Farsale."
Echidna waved a hand, as though brushing away an unnecessary weight.
"Yes, I was merely responding in the spirit of chivalry."
Farsale's lips curved slightly. It was the first smile he had shown during their conversation that carried no trace of caution.
They each raised their glasses. As the wine passed down their throats, a thin layer of ice in the polite distance between them seemed to wash away in a warm current.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the banquet table, Flugel was fumbling to support Hoshin.
Hoshin's cane had been damaged in the battle and could no longer support him as he walked. He was now leaning on Flugel's shoulder while Satella gently supported his other elbow, the three of them making their way through the crowd in a somewhat awkward formation.
"I really am rather useless. Even my cane was damaged in the battle, and now I need Satella and Flugel to support me..."
There was a hint of self-deprecating apology in Hoshin's voice.
"Don't say that, Hoshin~"
Satella's voice was light and bright, like a leaf landing on the surface of the water. But Flugel noticed that her hold on Hoshin's elbow was much steadier than most people's-a posture born of being accustomed to caring for others, as though she had learned how to catch another person's weight in her hands before she had learned to speak.
Flugel supported Hoshin with the utmost respect, yet his eyes still kept darting toward Satella beside him.
Tonight, she wore a dark purple evening dress that made her look all the more beautiful in the glowing lamplight. The hem swayed gently with her steps, that purple curve appearing again and again at the edge of his vision, like someone slowly unfurling a length of soft satin in the night breeze.
"If you're going to help, do it properly. Why do you keep staring at the girl?"
Vigel spoke as he passed them, his light, mocking tone so practiced that it seemed etched into his bones.
"Don't undermine me, Vigel..."
Flugel lowered his voice, the tips of his ears turning faintly red.
"I'm not undermining you. It's a friendly reminder."
Vigel patted his shoulder, his star-blue eyes holding a smile somewhere between teasing and serious.
"If you're sneaking looks even when someone can't stand steadily, you're not far from becoming a 'losing dog.'"
"What kind of lousy comparison is that... Don't just misuse everything you hear from me. That isn't what the term means!"
"But this comparison comes from the experience summed up by countless painful examples in those things you call anime... Isn't that what it means?"
Farsale threaded through the crowd, a long parcel in his hand. He strode over and offered it to Hoshin.
"Hoshin, since your old cane is no longer usable, please use this one I brought. There's no need to count it as a diplomatic gift. Consider it a present from one companion to another."
Hoshin froze briefly as he accepted the long parcel, as though he had not expected anyone to remember such a small matter concerning him on an occasion like this.
He unwrapped the outer cloth to reveal a brand-new cane. Its shaft was glossy black, its handle wrapped in dark brown leather with a ring of fine silver stitching around the edges.
"I'm truly sorry for the trouble, Farsale."
Hoshin's voice held a feeling he rarely revealed, as though something small and warm had touched an old wound.
"With an ordinary cane, there's no need to worry about using it carefully, Hoshin."
Farsale smiled and waved a hand, his tone relaxed, as though what he had tossed over was not a cane but something lighter.
"There's also something I would like to ask you, Hoshin."
Farsale took an exquisite wooden box inlaid with gold patterns from inside his clothes. He opened it to reveal a palm-sized object that could reflect faces like a mirror, yet was thicker than a mirror and made of a more ingenious material.
"On the old lands before Kararagi was founded, was there perhaps a mirror fragment like this one?"
At the sight of the object in the wooden box, Hoshin looked thoughtful and slowly nodded.
"There is something like that. It's been kept in the city's collection hall all this time. It seems to have existed even before the war in Banan. Echidna also said it was a relic of the Hero... And when an envoy from the Vollachian Empire visited Kararagi a few days ago, they brought another piece like it as a gift."
"But they didn't seem particularly concerned about it at the time-perhaps, between the Witch of Vainglory's alterations to the world and the brutal struggles that already existed there, the Empire has long since let that history fade, or even forgotten it."
"I see..."
Farsale's expression grew slightly grave. His gaze lingered on the mirror-like object for a moment, as though tracing its edges with his eyes, trying to read some information worn smooth by time.
A moment later, he closed the wooden box and held it out toward Flugel.
Flugel followed their gazes over, his eyes settling on the object resting safely in the box, and looked somewhat surprised.
"Why does this look so much like half... No, a quarter of a smartphone? But why is the cut so smooth and clean... Did someone just fish it out of Operation Guzheng in The Three-Body Problem? It really gives me the impression that it's just come out of some kind of precision cutting process."
"So you do recognize this thing, Flugel."
There was a note of confirmation in Farsale's voice.
"This thing that looks like a mirror fragment is called... a smartphone?"
Flugel took the opportunity to pull his own flip phone from inside his clothes and open it in his palm.
Everyone gathered around to look, then looked again at the fragment in the wooden box. Though their shapes were vastly different, the almost industrial precision of their cut surfaces and the texture of some material that did not belong to this world did give the two an indescribable connection.
"They look pretty different, but they're actually the same sort of thing."
Flugel gestured, as though trying to put into words an underlying connection he did not entirely understand himself.
"In that case, we've already gathered three of the four fragments left behind by the Hero. I wonder whether the last one might be in the Holy Kingdom... After all, they've had very little contact with the other three great nations."
Farsale looked thoughtful again, his fingers gently rubbing the edge of the wooden box.
"In that case, let's leave these three pieces in Flugel's safekeeping for now."
Farsale handed the wooden box over.
"After all, as someone from another world, he alone knows what these things are used for-and perhaps these objects left behind by the Hero can be used against Pandora."
"Huh, you're just giving them to me?"
Flugel accepted the heavy wooden box in some surprise. As his fingers touched the fine gold-inlaid patterns on its surface, something indescribable flickered across his fingertips-as though some lingering warmth, diluted by time, still remained on the wood.
"Then I'll be sure to take good care of them. Once we collect the last piece, we can fix it with some kind of restoration magic..."
"What a shame that something so novel can only be left to a small fry."
Reid's voice came from behind Flugel, carrying his usual lazy tone, as though he could not be bothered to say anything seriously.
"Why do you keep popping up out of nowhere, Reid..."
Flugel turned his head helplessly.
"Well, now that everyone's here, let's have Farsale explain our plans from here on."
Wearing a black-and-white evening dress, Echidna walked gracefully over from the end of the long table, her hem tracing a faint curve behind her.
Her gaze slowly swept over everyone, as though checking that each face was still where she expected it to be.
Farsale cleared his throat and stood.
In the candlelight, his shadow stretched long, nearly reaching the council hall's lofty ceiling.
"Our next objective is-to meet the Hero's former companion, the Divine Dragon Volcanica, and seek from him a way to oppose the Witch of Vainglory."
He paused, his gaze moving slowly among their faces.
"Of course, I also have a personal interest in this. The war between the Kingdom of Lugunica and the Vollachian Empire must end. I also need to obtain the Divine Dragon's power, and the aid of a covenant."
He drew a deep breath.
"The details of the plan are as follows-"
The candle flames cast faintly swaying shadows on the wall behind him. No one interrupted.
Everyone listened quietly, as though each were confirming in their own way the weight of the step they were about to take.