The Kingdom. The royal capital. Saint Aegis Palace.

As the most renowned royal palace in the entire nation, Saint Aegis Palace was famous not only for its age and grandeur. Its beauty and artistry alone were enough to make anyone fortunate enough to walk its halls linger in admiration.

To its southwest lay a garden called Sacred Trace, said to be the place where the goddess once paused to rest while walking the mortal world.

The radiance of the goddess had seeped into that soil. And so, even without the slightest magical reinforcement, that «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» garden remained like spring all year round, picturesque in every season, forever overflowing with countless brilliant flowers.

As the ruler of this nation, Saint Peron V had once loved that garden most of all, because at every moment it filled him with a powerful sense of vitality. Standing amid that endless spring, he had felt as though the marks of age upon him were slowly being smoothed away beneath the goddess’s “Sacred Trace.”

But at some point, Saint Peron V stopped coming there.

Perhaps he had finally realized it did nothing at all to halt his aging. Or perhaps he had truly come to fear that this was a place where the goddess might work miracles, and as a “heretic” who had gradually strayed farther and farther down the road of defying the goddess’s will, he ultimately no longer wished to remain beneath the Holy Light.

And so Sacred Trace Garden gradually fell empty.

Then, at some point no one could quite name, it found a new master.

Another... true heretic.

“Holy Lord.”

The Witch of Repentance, dressed in a black gauze gown, stepped into the garden.

Countless birds and beasts still wandered leisurely through it. None of them feared this unfamiliar visitor. Even the little deer, which ought to have been the most timid and wary, only widened its eyes and stared curiously at the woman’s skirt as it swayed like stirring grass.

“The second stage has been completed.”

“Is that so...”

The Holy Lord of Salvation, Gaius, did not even lift his head. He remained wholly focused on feeding the animals before him.

“So His Majesty the King has finally begun to feel the beauty of the new world?”

“Of course.”

The Witch of Repentance clasped both hands before her chest, and a sickly flush actually rose to her cheeks.

“Though he appears calm on the surface, deceiving himself into believing everything is still under control, in truth his heart was filled with fear long ago. Fear, helplessness, confusion—losing everything little by little, until at last he could only cling to the single straw left to him. The way His Majesty looks as he sinks deeper and deeper, like a fallen girl slipping past the point of return... it’s simply enchanting.”

“Don’t overdo it.”

Gaius cast the woman a glance.

“Our king is still an important piece on the board.”

“Of course.”

The Witch of Repentance drew herself back under control, her expression returning to solemn dignity.

“Everything is for the sake of the new world.”

“Good.”

Gaius fed the last piece of food to the animals, lightly patted the forehead of the tiger sprawled before him and rolling over with its belly exposed in open affection, then rose and looked into the distance.

“Then let us begin the final stage. We mustn’t keep our audience waiting too long.”

“Understood.”

The Witch of Repentance bent slightly at the waist, like an actress offering a bow just before the performance began.

In that instant, some vast sound echoed through the entire royal capital, like the tolling of a bell—or perhaps the start of some countdown.

The rain was still falling. The dim, hazy mist rolled and spread, gradually swallowing the whole city.

And some invisible change began spreading through it as well.

The Witch of Repentance vanished soundlessly. As one of the leading players, how could she possibly fail to appear on stage at a moment like this?

Only Gaius remained where he was, unmoving, merely lifting a hand to shield a small insect on a blade of grass from the endless falling rain.

“God loves the world, but not you. Because of that, the Beloved have become false and arrogant, using countless lies to gloss over this seemingly beautiful world, never realizing that beneath all its bright surface, it has long since been rotten through with wounds.”

Gaius looked at the insect, at the blade of grass, and at all things in the world. With a look of sorrowful compassion, he murmured,

“Then let me be the villain. Let me tear away this false curtain once and for all, return everything to its proper track, and bring the true ‘new world’ down upon this world!”

...

...

“The Kingdom isn’t about to pull some outrageous stunt again, is it...”

The instant those words left his mouth, not only Celicia and Anna, but even Lorne himself froze for a moment.

After thinking it over, he was the first to laugh at himself and shake his head.

“How could that be? That old bastard may have gone mad this many times already, but surely he can’t keep going mad forever. The royal capital is already hanging by a thread in the truest possible sense. If they still start pulling some outrageous stunt at a time like this, that would just be too...”

“Ridiculous?” Celicia supplied.

“Yes. Ridiculous.”

Lorne pulled out the markers he had just placed across the sand table during his deduction and began setting the board anew according to the current situation. Once the pieces had been rearranged, the overall picture became suddenly clear. At this point, that royal capital had unquestionably become an isolated city.

“Look, just look. At a time like this, if they still pull some outrageous stunt, would that make any sense?”

Pointing at the sand table, Lorne shook his head with a sigh.

“At this rate, one wrong move and that old bastard ends up as the king who lost his nation. So unless he’s actually been kicked in the head by a donkey, there’s no way he’d keep doing some—”

“Your Majesty!”

Before Lorne could finish, the tent flap was suddenly thrown open. Dim daylight and the heavy dampness outside poured into the tent together, and the same female Royal Knight from before rushed in without so much as announcing herself this time, breathing hard.

“Something... something huge has happened!”

“What could possibly have you this flustered?” Celicia frowned in displeasure. “Has the Kingdom taken the initiative and attacked us?”

“N-no, not that, but... but over at the Kingdom’s royal capital...”

The female Royal Knight was using both hands as she spoke, gesturing wildly, but what she was trying to report was clearly too difficult to put into words. After flailing for a while, she managed only a few strained syllables.

“Open... it’s all open!”

“What is open?”

“Ah, damn it...”

The female Royal Knight stamped a foot. At this point she could barely even mind protocol anymore. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Your Majesty, you really need to come and see for yourself!”

“...”

Celicia did not pursue the knight’s breach of etiquette. She only exchanged looks with Lorne and Anna.

Though none of the three said anything aloud, the same rather unbelievable thought rose in all their minds at once.

Speak of the devil. Don’t tell me...

...

A few minutes later.

Celicia and the others stood on high ground in the camp, looking through spyglasses toward the Kingdom’s royal capital in the distance.

In the fine rain and mist, the city had become vague and hazy, appearing and disappearing like a phantom, but that still did nothing to erase the oppressive weight it carried as a great fortress-city.

Even from so far away, those towering walls gave the illusion of something that could never be taken.

Yes... that was how it should have been.

But when Celicia’s gaze, looking through the spyglass, fell on the lower portion of those towering walls, all of that pressure, all of that illusion of impregnability, vanished in an instant without a trace.

In its place came something profoundly bizarre, as though some unspeakable thing were stripping naked in front of her. For all her intelligence, even she could not, for a short while, understand what she was seeing.

Because... it was open.

The gates were open.

Beneath those towering walls, those several massive gates, thick beyond measure and reinforced by all manner of magic, stood wide open just like that.

No Kingdom soldiers were coming out of them, which meant they had not been opened for an attack. In fact, when Celicia lifted her gaze, she could not see a single soldier defending them at all.

No warning. No reason. No logic.

Not long ago, Celicia had still been thinking about how to take this city at the smallest possible cost. And now, as if by magic, that same city had stripped away every one of its defenses before her eyes.

The city in the rain was utterly silent.

It seemed to be waiting for guests.