That night.

At the ducal estate.

In the dining room.

Orange-gold candlelight illuminated the profiles of every beautiful girl, glazing them in a soft halo. The elegant classical music flowed like a murmuring stream, as if it could soothe the soul itself.

Another candlelit dinner. This sort of scene had played out so many times already that even the maids of the ducal estate had started to feel as though they were trapped in some bizarre time-looping event.

Only this time, the dining table was no longer filled, as it had been the previous two times, with cold killing intent and hidden schemes lurking in the shadows. The taut hostility and confrontation were gone. In their place were only the girls’ lovely, lark-like laughter and Muen’s calm voice, occasionally tossing in a teasing remark or two.

After all, after several consecutive nights of friendly, honest intimacy, no matter how bad their relationship had been before, the three beautiful girls—now thoroughly satisfied and content—had finally entered a state of peaceful coexistence, cheeks like peach blossoms, eyes full of tender spring water, spirits bright and pleasant.

A beautiful girl who had been fully satisfied was always easier to talk to. If she was still difficult, that only meant you had not satisfied her thoroughly enough.

Muen had clearly already managed that. Aside from the toll on his lower back, there did not seem to be any side effects for the moment.

"So at present, the demonfolk have completely disappeared from this world. Their souls have returned to the greater cycle of reincarnation and, in a sense, become human once more."

Swirling the wine in his glass, Muen continued the topic from earlier, speaking at ease before a dining table that the estate’s skilled craftsmen had hurriedly made in a shape resembling a fan.

It was not that Muen had also been corrupted by House Campbell’s extraordinary, unconventional sense of aesthetics to the point of making even the dining table this artistically styled.

It was because only a table shaped like this could keep his distance from each beautiful girl absolutely equal.

Don’t argue, and don’t start saying things like Liya was gentle and adorable, An was calm and obedient, and Ariel was cheerful and broad-minded... all of that was fake. At a time like this, even the slightest unfairness could make the jealousy those girls had only just managed to suppress come boiling back up again.

Keeping the water level—balancing everything evenly—was one of the most important life-saving skills when facing a battlefield like this.

At times, its importance even surpassed a good pair of kidneys... or a good set of knees.

"As expected of Muen. You’re amazing."

Across the table, Liya, seated on the left, was already completely immersed in Muen’s story. Sometimes she would pat her heaving chest because of one crisis after another, and sometimes stars would practically appear in her eyes because of Muen’s heroic actions.

As though Muen, who had only just broken through to the fifth rank, was already the strongest person in the world, able all by himself to beat things like Grand Duke Shenyi or the blood of the Demon God into a panicked rout.

"Don’t make it sound like it was all your doing, okay?"

Sitting in the middle, Ariel crossed her arms over her chest and bared her teeth in displeasure.

"Without me, you’d have been dead already!"

"Hm? Did I fail to mention our charming and powerful Miss Ariel in the story?"

Muen adjusted his tie and said with mock seriousness,

"That’s my mistake. I was originally planning to divide that part into three major sections and nine minor sections, and spend a full hundred thousand words describing it in detail."

"S-shut up!"

Ariel’s little face reddened as she slapped the table.

"Who wants to listen to you ramble for a hundred thousand words? It’d be dawn by the time you finished!"

"Not allowed?"

Muen blinked at her regretfully.

"I think that sounds pretty interesting, doesn’t it?"

After all, a chosen protagonist like Ariel—strong, brave, independent, and unyielding—really was especially adorable when she blushed.

What a pity he had no way of getting hold of the notebook from her chuuni phase. If he could pull that out and read from it now, it would definitely be hilarious.

Of course, that assumed he could survive her Heavenly Flame greatsword afterward.

"If it were Young Master, I’d listen even if it were a million words."

On the right, An kept her attention on cutting the steak on her plate. She did not even lift her head as she spoke, her knife and fork clinking sharply against the dish, as if the slab of meat were a certain pest nearby.

"It’s only the parts mixed with pest-related content that are truly unbearable to hear. If, like before, it were changed into a story purely about Young Master’s own heroism and handsomeness, then it would be perfect."

"Spare me. I can’t do that."

Muen smiled bitterly.

Long-winded self-praise... he was not Pink Bear. Of course he could not do that.

"Eh? Why not?"

Now it was Liya’s turn to sound disappointed. "I think it sounds great. Don’t you, Ariel?"

Liya nudged Ariel with her shoulder.

Ariel did not answer directly. She only let out a firm huff.

"Who knows. It’s not like I enjoy listening to it."

"Still pretending, are you."

Liya pouted in dissatisfaction and immediately reached over to tickle Ariel’s sensitive spots.

"You were so proactive and so straightforward last night—why, you even spread yourself open— You shameless little slut! Let’s see if you’re still going to keep pretending!"

"W-who spread herself open? Obviously that was you... you huge shameless slut!"

Ariel glared.

On the bed was one thing, but there was no way Ariel would let Liya bully her in a place like this. Back then, she had been the one bullying that soft, sweet girl.

"Take this, milk cow!"

Ariel’s hands moved nimbly, instantly deflecting Liya’s attack and counterattacking in one smooth motion.

"Ah, no, not there!"

"Hmph, did you forget? I know exactly where your weak points are. Take this, take this!"

"Mm... ah... that tickles..."

After the intimacy they had shared before, even their childhood-friend horseplay had suddenly turned sensual. In the past, Ariel had always restrained herself because of her slow-boiling-the-frog policy. Combined with how innocent and shy Liya had been back then, Ariel had never gone too far beyond a few ticklish spots.

But now, after learning the true nature of this Silver Sword Saintess, Ariel had cast off those restraints entirely. Her well-trained little hands were absurdly nimble. In just a few moves, she had Liya panting.

"All right, all right, stop playing around."

Seeing the atmosphere in the dining room growing more and more heated and suggestive, to the point where one careless moment might mean not seeing tomorrow’s sun again, Muen hurriedly called a halt.

"Let’s talk about the important matter first."

"The important matter? What important matter?"

"It’s about Liya’s side."

Muen looked at Liya, who had finally escaped Ariel’s demonic claws and was straightening her clothes.

"Going back to what we were talking about just now—how do you think the Church is likely to deal with the Abyss?"

That was what Muen had wanted to ask all along.

The disappearance of the demonfolk did not mean everything was truly over, because the Abyss was still there. That ancient land, symbolic of the continent’s wound, still lay to the west of the Empire, counting out a thousand years—or perhaps even longer.

"The Abyss? Deal with it?"

Though her cheeks were still flushed, Liya had already developed, over this stretch of time, the bearing and composure of a true Saintess. She quickly entered a serious state.

After thinking for a while, she said,

"I’m not entirely sure of the specifics yet, because nominally I’m still out on my circuit and haven’t been involved in the Church’s concrete affairs... but I think this will probably be very difficult to handle."

"Difficult?"

"Yes. No one could possibly have predicted what happened in the Abyss. It isn’t even the kind of thing anyone could have imagined. An entire race, a population of several million, vanished overnight. And from an outsider’s point of view, they left no trace at all, as though they had simply been erased out of thin air. Nothing like that has ever happened in recorded history."

Liya paused, then said, "So even the Church couldn’t possibly have any contingency plan for something like this. All they can do is try their best to keep it from turning into a meaningless conflict."

"Conflict?"

Muen’s eyes sharpened. "You think this could trigger conflict?"

"Of course."

Liya nodded as if it were obvious. Now that she had become a Saintess and had seen countless believers, lunatics, and pitiful souls during her travels, she was no longer the ignorant girl she had once been. She now had at least a basic understanding of human nature.

"Don’t forget—even if it’s barren, the Abyss now... is a completely ownerless land."

"..."

Hearing that, Muen let out a long breath and leaned back in his chair almost instinctively, staring blankly at the swaying candlelight.

Yes. Liya was right. No matter how poor the Abyss might be, it was now a thoroughly ownerless land. And more than that, the secrets buried there belonged not only to the demonfolk, but perhaps to a thousand years ago as well. On this continent, there could not possibly be any force capable of sitting still in the face of a morsel that rich.

The undercurrents had already begun. Ordinary people simply had not noticed yet. And with the war between the Empire and the Kingdom still unresolved, the entire continent seemed to be drifting, without realizing it, toward chaos.

The Love God had already stirred up trouble once. Who would come next? Some other Evil God’s followers? Or some hidden force lurking in the dark?

"The Abyss cannot become the sole property of any one side, not even the Empire, which has paid the highest price all along in resisting the demonfolk. So most likely, under the Church’s supervision, they’ll discuss a solution all sides can accept—or simply designate the Abyss as a jointly administered public zone. But before that, the Church will try its best to suppress information about the Abyss. As for the exact reason..."

Liya frowned slightly and tilted her head.

"I only heard that it was the conclusion reached after His Holiness the Pope spoke with some ancient being. That there are certain things which have to be hidden through their hands or something like that... I don’t really understand that part either."

"An ancient being..."

Muen raised a brow.

The moment he heard that impressive-sounding phrase, the image that immediately popped into his head was a completely unimpressive little-girl face and a pink strawberry lollipop.

If he had to guess, that so-called ancient being was probably Teacher Mela.

So Teacher Mela had already personally spoken with the Pope. In that case, the remaining aftershocks were not something a little shrimp like him needed to worry about. Even if the sky collapsed, it would fall on the tall ones first... though Teacher Mela was probably only about three foot seven to three foot eleven, a one-hundred-percent pure loli body type.

That said, there were apparently things that needed to be specially hidden...

Could those old riddle-speaking fossils just hurry up and die already?

Or if not, they could at least get the hell back to Gotham. Batman would be thrilled.

"But no matter what... for now, the Abyss has nothing to do with us. My attention needs to be on things closer at hand."

Like the war between the Empire and the Kingdom. While Her Majesty the Empress was «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» still fighting on the front lines, if he, the future prince consort, kept staying in his mansion doing the kind of things he liked doing with beautiful girls, then once the enraged Empress found out, she might stop fighting the war and come back immediately just to crack his skull open and see exactly how much nerve he had.

For the moment, Muen suppressed both his irritation at those old fossils and his fear of Her Majesty the Empress, then smiled.

"The world really is a strange place. It hasn’t even been a few months, and already it looks like the war between the Empire and the Kingdom is about to lose its throne as the hottest story on the continent."

Muen had read today’s paper. The headline had actually been about durian prices in Belrand skyrocketing, along with eerie screams faintly echoing out of the palace. The former was one thing, but the latter was almost turning into some new urban legend adults used to scare children who refused to eat.

Apparently the miraculous price hike in durians still had not been enough to put an end to that matter. Hopefully Pink Bear was all right. A Belrand as big as this still needed someone like him watching over it. It would not be good if he died before Celicia came back.

"To begin with, hardly anyone outside the Empire and the Kingdom cared much about it anyway."

Beside him, Ariel picked up the topic as if it were obvious.

"What ordinary people in this world care about most is still the price of bread."

Like her in the past... she knew better than anyone how the price of black bread in Belrand fluctuated.

"..."

The dining room suddenly fell silent.

"W-what?" Ariel snapped in embarrassment. "What’s with those looks?"

"Nothing..."

Kind-hearted Liya placed her piece of meat onto Ariel’s plate.

"We just hope you’ll eat a little more, Ariel."

"..."

Ariel’s face turned sour with grievance. Her cherry lips parted as she muttered a few things, but in the end she said nothing and viciously swallowed down the meat in a single bite.

Hmph. Free food was free food!

She’d eat them into poverty!

She’d make it so later they could not even afford black bread!

"And Liya? The Church doesn’t seem concerned about this war at all." Muen cut his own portion in half and handed one part to Liya. "Most of the Kingdom believes in the Goddess, doesn’t it?"

"Of course. According to the teachings the Goddess left behind when she walked the mortal world, the Church is not allowed to interfere casually in worldly affairs."

Liya answered seriously.

"Is that so?"

Muen twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Not interfere in worldly affairs, huh. But in some small countries, the archbishop’s word carried more weight than the king’s.

Only a great power as strong as the Empire could mostly keep the Church’s influence outside its own affairs.

After all, faith... in a certain sense, was practically synonymous with the word gods.

"In any case, the Goddess’s compassion toward the people of the world is equal. So why would she casually send down wrath over this sort of squabbling between children?"

Liya folded her hands and prayed quietly.

So, Goddess above, please, please let all the archbishops of the Church and His Holiness the Pope equally not care about one tiny little Saintess skipping work and slacking off.

She still had not had nearly enough time being affectionate with Muen yet. Just imagining herself having to go handle Saintess-related duties afterward while those two shameless little sluts, Ariel and An, got to do whatever they wanted in Muen’s bed was enough to make it feel like ants were crawling all over her body from sheer frustration.

"By the way, speaking of that..."

But... just after Liya finished her prayer, before the Goddess had even had a chance to respond to her little Saintess, Muen personally shattered that prayer himself.

"Liya, did you come here alone?"

Muen asked curiously.

"You’re a Saintess, after all. The Church just lets you run around outside alone like this? If something happened to you, that would be a huge problem for both the Church and the Empire you’re currently in."

"..."

Liya’s little face stiffened.

"What’s wrong?"

Muen asked in confusion. "You look kind of off all of a sudden."

"..."

Liya slowly lowered her hands and puffed up in indignation.

"Muen, you big idiot!"

"Hm?"

Muen was so suddenly scolded that he froze. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Of course you did. You never should have woken me up from my beautiful fantasy."

As she spoke, Liya had already darted out like a streak.

"Waaah... I’m sorry, Lin, I forgot all about you..."

Muen: "..."

Ariel: "..."

The dining room once again fell into silence.

"Heh."

Only An, who had been quietly eating the entire time, kept cutting her steak as usual, knife and fork clicking sharply.

"As expected of a brainless pest."

...

Rushing all the way out of the ducal estate—so fast she even scared several little maids pale—Liya reached the place where she had parted from Lin earlier as quickly as possible.

According to their arrangement, Lin should have been standing watch here for her.

"Lin?"

But after Liya looked around, the strong figures secretly guarding the estate were still there diligently watching the area, while Lin herself was nowhere to be seen.

"Did she go back? I mean... that makes sense. No one in this world stands lookout for two days and three nights."

Liya hurried off in the direction she had come from, while also praying sincerely in her heart.

"Please don’t let Lin be mad at me, waaah..."