"How are Ariel’s injuries?"

Dawn was only just beginning to break. After spending the whole night directing the guards—who had arrived far too late—to clear the ruins of the ducal estate, Muen finally had time to come see Ariel.

In fact, Muen had been the one to carry her here in the first place. But at the time, Ariel had been completely unconscious. There had been little point in him staying at her side, and it had been better to leave the stage to her teacher.

Incidentally, he had carried An personally too, just into a different room. With his bed involved, those two would not fight. Without his bed involved... that was less certain.

What Muen had not expected, though, was that after an entire night had passed, Ariel—who usually recovered with astonishing speed—still showed no sign of waking.

"She’s still not awake. Are her injuries serious?" Muen asked with a frown.

"The injuries themselves aren’t serious."

The light of a magic crystal flickered. Wisps of mist drifted out from the ancient ring on Ariel’s finger, sketching the shape of a graceful figure.

Ariel’s teacher, Peles, let out a sigh and said,

"It’s just severe mental exhaustion. She needs to sleep a while longer."

"I see."

Muen sat down at Ariel’s bedside and gently pinched her soft little nose. With a faint pop, Ariel—her nose blocked—could only part her rosy lips and breathe out a fragrant puff of air.

Like a fish blowing bubbles. It was adorable.

No matter how strong and independent she usually was, in sleep she looked entirely like a fragile girl, the sort who made you want to gather her into your arms and protect her with all the care in the world.

And yet in the end, he had failed to protect her. Instead, she had protected him.

"What you used just now... that was Ariel’s Divine Favor, wasn’t it?" Muen asked suddenly.

"Yes. Divine Favor."

"Light and darkness?"

"Yes. Light and darkness."

Peles turned and leaned against the window, her gaze drifting toward the distant dawn.

Night had been broken. The sun was rising. At this moment, darkness and light were meeting at one of the day’s crossings.

"Light... darkness..."

Muen had long known that Ariel possessed multiple Divine Favors, so the fact itself did not surprise him. It just reminded him of something else.

"I read before that the two faiths of Light and Darkness were banned by the Church a very long time ago. Is that true?"

"That was several hundred years ago."

Peles gave a small nod, a trace of memory surfacing in her expression.

"That was when human civilization, reborn from the wasteland after the Age of Great Chaos, entered its first true period of rapid growth. The Empire rose and, as former barbarians, established its authority across the continent. The Kingdom’s culture flourished brilliantly; many famous works of art today date back to that era.

"The Adventurers’ Association, the Stone Cauldron Association, even the Origin Tower—many organizations expanded rapidly during that time, and naturally that included the various divine faiths as well... everything was thriving. And it was precisely then, at a moment no one expected, that the Church of Life suddenly moved with thunderous force to eradicate the two faiths of Light and Darkness. At the time, the Church of Light alone had over a million core believers. Yet even that monstrous force could not withstand the Church’s bloody suppression, and it soon vanished completely into the river of history."

"Suddenly? Without any reason?" Muen frowned.

"Who knows? The Church sealed that past away tightly. Even I don’t know the full truth. For them, it seems to have been a piece of black history that could never be allowed into the sunlight."

"Black history..."

Muen was not particularly interested in that kind of black history. He knew that the rise of any religion was always accompanied by purges and massacres of heretics.

That was not a matter of good or evil, but of ideas and faiths colliding—though of course, there might well be secrets buried in it that he did not know. Still, there was no meaning in chasing something like that now.

He was only thinking of Liya, wondering whether she was safe.

But judging from Liya’s current strength as the Saintess, those absurd Salvation Society clowns should not be capable of harming her.

They probably could not even break through that barrier of Holy Light. Otherwise, they would not have needed to launch this attack on the ducal estate in the first place.

"Come to think of it, does the Church’s Holy Light now contain the power of the Light faith?" Muen suddenly asked.

Light... light... wasn’t the Church’s Holy Light the thing most emblematic of light itself?

Could it be that when the Church suppressed the faith of Light, it did not merely erase it... but also obtained the power of the god behind it?

"Who knows? The Church has too many secrets. Even I know only some of the most marginal things that once existed in history. For questions like that, asking your other little girlfriend would probably be more reliable."

Peles turned her head and gave Muen a meaningful look.

"You have so many little girlfriends, and every last one of them is extraordinary. Why insist on asking an outsider like me?"

"...Well... I will ask her." Muen scratched his head awkwardly. "It’s just that Liya isn’t here right now. And she’s the Saintess—if I ask her about the Church’s black history, she might get mad and start pounding on my chest with her little fists."

Liya’s little fists hurt quite a bit when she was angry.

"...In any case, many things have already been buried completely in the river of time. As for what the truth was, perhaps only those who lived through that era and saw it with their own eyes could know. And by then I was already just a remnant soul. There were many things I could never reach the true core of."

Peles sighed again.

"But no matter what, the Church’s suppression of those two faiths is indeed one of the reasons Ariel doesn’t dare use those two Divine Favors openly."

"So she only dares use them as trump cards when it matters most?"

Muen remembered the move Ariel had used in the underground depths of Gutongs Castle when facing that static-ridden figure.

Thinking about it carefully now, that had been a simplified, scaled-down version of the technique Peles had used against the Third Seat, right down to the method of channeling the power. The only real difference had been the sheer scale.

"Yes. They can only be used as trump cards. Not just because of the Church—her body’s burden is also a major factor. Using too many Divine Favors at once is tremendously draining on her mind as well."

Peles «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» lowered her gaze and looked at Ariel on the bed. Even Muen could clearly see the tenderness and heartache in that half-lidded look.

If it had not been necessary, she surely would not have wanted this.

But...

"I see... Then may I ask a selfish question?"

Muen’s expression turned serious.

"Senior Peles... when you were facing the Third Seat, you should have had better ways to attack, shouldn’t you?"

Peles was an ancient soul who had endured from some unknown era all the way to the present.

In the original story, she had been the mysterious elder in the ring, Ariel’s true guide, a former top-tier powerhouse who possessed countless profound methods.

Though she lacked a physical body, as Ariel’s strength increased and provided her with more materials to repair her soul, she should have gradually been able to bring out part of the power she had possessed in life.

And yet... at that moment, she had still used Ariel’s power. Even the mental energy expended had been Ariel’s. All Peles had done was guide that power perfectly through superior experience and stronger control. But the source of it had still been Ariel, who lay unconscious now.

Muen himself had more than once overdrawn his mind in order to drive the Black Sun. He knew exactly how dangerous it was to push one’s spirit to the brink of collapse in order to wield power far beyond one’s own level.

So even knowing that Peles had saved them, and even knowing that the question was selfish and shameless, he still asked it.

"Why?" Muen stared into Peles’s eyes.

"It’s simple. Because compared with Divine Favor, the other method I possess was even less usable under those circumstances." Peles did not avoid his gaze. She answered directly.

"The other method? What is it?" Muen blinked.

"Ancient magic."

"Ancient magic?"

"Yes. Ancient magic. For an old thing like me, who’s lived for who knows how many years, naturally I understand a thing or two about ancient magic—which has now vanished completely. In fact, in the situation just now, ancient magic would have been the best option. After all, it would only have consumed my soul power. I could have recovered from that with a single night’s rest."

Then her tone shifted abruptly.

"But I couldn’t use it."

"Why?"

"Do you really not know why?"

"Me?"

Muen blinked again.

"Am I supposed to know?"

"..."

Peles turned away and looked out over Belrand, where dawn had risen but most of the city was still wrapped in darkness—or rather, she was looking at some particular place in Belrand.

"Have you ever thought about something?"

"What?"

"Why ancient magic was lost?"

"Why it was lost? Wasn’t it because during the Age of Great Chaos a thousand years ago, the First Evil God descended, and human civilization was almost wiped out..."

Muen repeated what he knew... and then, halfway through, he suddenly reacted.

"Almost?"

"Yes... almost. Old things like me survived from that era to this day. Faith organizations like the Church of Life, which appeared near the end of the Age of Great Chaos, have endured for a thousand years. Human civilization was not completely destroyed. It was... almost destroyed."

Peles turned and looked Muen in the eyes.

"And if it was only almost... then why was ancient magic lost?"

"..."

Without any real thought or hesitation, almost by instinct, an image appeared in Muen’s mind—a tiny figure in a strawberry-print nightgown, with a baby-round face.

Just from her appearance, she seemed so young and harmless. But every one of her titles was enough to shake the world.

An ancient being who had survived from a thousand years ago.

The only Origin-Rank archmage alive today.

The founder of the modern magic system.

Quite possibly one of those who had ended the Age of Great Chaos...

Mela Domir.

"So that’s it?" Muen murmured.

Yes. It was not hard to guess. Only she would possess the ability to bury an entire magical system in history.

"I didn’t want to openly oppose that person’s will on this matter, so I chose the safer option of Divine Favor instead. The Church may be far away, but that person is right here in this city."

Tilting her head, Peles looked rather surprised.

"You don’t seem all that shocked."

"...I am shocked. But once I know it’s Teacher Mela, it stops being quite so shocking."

Muen smiled.

After all, this was Teacher Mela—the same Teacher Mela who could handcraft artificial Divine Favors. Compared to that, sealing off an entire magical system was not that unbelievable.

The only real question was why Teacher Mela had wanted to suppress ancient magic in the first place...

"Aren’t you afraid?"

Peles asked with a smile.

"That person isn’t nearly as gentle as she looks. She may be far more terrifying than you imagine."

"Heh... I don’t need to imagine it. I already know exactly how terrifying Teacher Mela is."

Muen twitched his mouth. If there was anyone in this world who had suffered the most under the torment of that petty old loli, then Muen Campbell absolutely ranked first. There was no need to even think about it.

But...

"How could I be afraid of her? She’s my teacher."

As if remembering something from long ago—and yet not really that long ago at all—the corners of Muen’s lips slowly lifted into a smile.

"Back in that night when I was still like a tiny boat, one that could capsize at any moment in the sea of fate... Teacher Mela was the first person to reach out a hand to me. Because of her, I finally gained the strength to walk out of the storm and the dark."

Morning light spilled in through the window. In that faint dawn glow, Muen seemed to see again the pale little hand stretched toward him in that hospital room.

Strictly speaking, that had been the true turning point for him—the yellow-haired villain who by all rights should have died miserably long ago under fate’s cruel mockery.

"I see... helping you fight against fate?"

Peles lowered her head unconsciously, her eyes coming to rest on Ariel’s peaceful face.

"Just like you," Muen said with a smile.

"Yes. Just like me."

Peles suddenly stretched, as though all the exhaustion of the night dissolved with the movement of her slender waist.

Muen’s words seemed to describe the relationship between her and Ariel too. But between the two of them, who had truly redeemed whom?

After waiting so many years, she had finally met someone who could help her rebuild a body, someone who offered her the possibility of feeling sunlight and warmth again.

Was that not also a hand pulling her out of the endless night on the sea of fate?

It was all the same.