At dawn the next day, a sturdy four-wheeled carriage stood outside Merchant City's eastern gate, shrouded in the bluish mist of a morning whose sun had yet to fully rise.

It was a top-of-the-line carriage Rufus had prepared for them. Its wheels and frame were reinforced to withstand rough terrain, and its magically expanded interior was loaded with supplies for a long journey.

Pulling it were two Iron Horses, Evomon with exceptional endurance and resistance even to deadly poisons. They should have no trouble crossing the notorious miasma zones in the territory of the Kingdom of Belkain.

"You're sure you won't regret this?"

Yuto pushed back his hood as he asked. Levian, who was checking the supplies inside the carriage, scoffed.

"Of course."

She wore a robe over leather armor that allowed her to move freely, with a belt of assorted potions around her waist. Equipped with a magic staff and even a small shield, she looked every inch an adventurer, with none of the trappings of a sheltered noblewoman.

"I've packed plenty of antidotes, healing potions, and first-aid equipment. With this much preparation, we could go much farther than Belkain, couldn't we?"

Levian shrugged and turned to Yuto.

"And I can drive a carriage, too. Well? Don't you feel I'm useful already?"

"I'll do the driving."

With a small chuckle, Yuto headed for the driver's seat. Once he climbed up, Levian plopped down beside him instead of going inside.

"What are you doing?"

"Keeping you company. There's plenty of room, isn't there?"

As she said, the seat was spacious. With Yuto in the middle, Flokiro to his left, and Levian to his right, it still did not feel cramped.

"Surely having me beside you doesn't make you uncomfortable?"

Levian asked with a challenging smile. Seeing her like this felt strange and new to Yuto. The Levian he remembered from before his return had been wounded in spirit. She had not been unkind, but a shadow had always hung over her face.

Now, however, there was no trace of that darkness. Her smile was radiant, her manner bold and brimming with confidence.

"Not at all."

In the two years since his return, he had rarely smiled in front of anyone other than Flokiro. Yet now a smile came so naturally that even he found it surprising. Seeing how Levian had changed for the better from his previous life gave him hope for the future.

"..."

But his smile did not last long. Levian Marigold's fate had certainly changed for the better. Having returned to the past, he could shape a better future.

And yet.

Some things could never be changed. The Kingdom of Belkain was one of them. His homeland, destroyed in his previous life by Shiro Ristal's betrayal and Valistera's invasion, had already fallen in this world.

Whenever he thought of it, unbearable rage and hatred filled him. No matter how desperately he struggled after returning to the past, he could not change the fate of a Belkain already destroyed.

Now he had to go and face that horrific end.

"Yuto? Are you... all right?"

Startled by the sudden contortion of his face, Levian called his name. Her voice drew him out of those terrible emotions, and he shook his head lightly.

"I'm fine. It's nothing."

"W-well, if you are... that's a relief."

Levian knew very little about this mysterious boy. His name was Yuto. He was fourteen. He wielded a strange, powerful force of unknown origin and had a contract with an Evomon named Flokiro.

How exactly had he learned that her father had been poisoned? How had he obtained an antidote to Black Death Venom, a newly developed poison created solely for assassination? She knew nothing about any of it.

Nor had she gone out of her way to ask. She doubted he would answer honestly, and whatever his circumstances, he was her father's and House Marigold's benefactor.

'Why does he want to enroll at Maria Academy? Why... does he want to visit the territory of a kingdom that's already fallen?'

Perhaps this journey would let her learn some of the many secrets the mysterious boy harbored. With that hope, Levian turned her gaze away from his face.

"Let's go."

Yuto flicked the reins. The Iron Horses snorted and strode forward with powerful steps. To the rattle of carriage wheels, Merchant City's walls receded behind them.

Eastward.

Their journey to the fallen kingdom of Belkain had begun.

* * *

Belkain had fallen five years ago.

According to the few survivors, the night of its destruction had been as bright as day. They said the sky had been clear, without a single dark cloud, and countless stars had illuminated the night.

After midnight, as the hours before dawn deepened, they had heard an enormous sound, as though the world itself were collapsing. Startled, they had rushed outside to find that a tremendous bolt of lightning from the heavens had brought down the royal castle. A massive earthquake followed, toppling buildings. Perhaps something had happened to the underground watercourses in the upheaval, for columns of water erupted from wells, while crimson flames spread elsewhere.

All manner of natural disasters had combined to destroy the Kingdom of Belkain in a single night. The calamities had struck in such rapid succession that few had managed to escape alive.

Many people said that Belkain had been "judged" by the constellations. No one knew the precise reason, but such an impossible convergence of disasters could only be understood as their wrath.

What sin had Belkain committed to deserve the constellations' judgment? No one could say. But the people of Callisto regarded the constellations watching over the earth from high in the heavens as gods, beings who were absolutely righteous.

If such beings had been angered, Belkain must have committed a sin too terrible to speak of. Every one of the countless people who died that disastrous night must have been guilty of an unforgivable crime, and surely Belkain's royal family had been its instigators.

Even after that night of calamity, mist laden with deadly miasma drifted across Belkain's lands. Seen from within its territory, the sky was pitch-black darkness without a single star. The souls of the sinners who had perished wandered that darkness as ghosts, denied even the peace of passing on.

The land teemed with Evomon as ferocious as Beasts. Nonhuman races hostile to humanity had made their homes there, while criminals unable to live in cities and grave robbers roamed it.

Because it was so perilous, the roads into Belkain were controlled by guilds and soldiers from nearby cities and kingdoms. That was another reason Yuto had been unable to approach it until now.

With Levian accompanying him, however, he passed the checkpoint without difficulty.

"Halt! Beyond this point is a restricted area..."

The soldiers guarding the walled road crossed their spears to block the carriage, only to falter when they recognized its crest.

A golden flower. The symbol of House Marigold.

"M-Marigold? What brings Merchant City's great trading house to such a dangerous place?"

Levian left the driver's seat and approached them. She presented a travel permit bearing Marigold's seal and her Maria Academy student identification.

"I'm carrying out a research assignment for the academy. We're on our way to study the ecology of the ruined lands."

Her confident manner and unquestionable identification left the soldiers frozen. The continent's foremost merchant house and its finest academy—mere soldiers could not challenge such authority.

"Ah... understood. But, my lady, it really is dangerous beyond here."

"We're aware of the danger and have prepared accordingly. There's no need to worry."

Levian smiled brightly.

"Would you kindly open the way?"

Despite her gentle smile, her manner was firm. Looking resigned, the soldiers soon withdrew their spears and opened the tightly shut iron gates.

"You lie without batting an eye. Have you always been so good at it?"

"I did it for you. Shouldn't you thank me first?"

Back at the carriage, Levian puffed out her cheeks in a pout and plopped down beside him. Yuto chuckled at the sight.

"Thank you. You certainly are useful."

"You'll find me even more useful up ahead."

The carriage passed through the open gates. After they had traveled for some time, the air gradually began to change.

An acrid wind blew toward them, carrying the smells of iron and sulfur, mingled with the foul stench of something rotting.

"Ugh..."

Levian wrinkled her face and covered her nose.

"The air is... worse than I expected. There's poison in it."

She took an herb pouch from inside her robe and offered Yuto and Flokiro several dried leaves.

"Chew these leaves slowly and swallow them. They'll increase your resistance to the miasma."

"This much won't hurt me."

Yuto shook his head. He possessed the power of the Void. His body, enhanced through the stats in his Status Window, would not succumb to poison this weak.

"Oh, honestly! Stop being stubborn and take them."

Levian insistently pushed the herbs toward his mouth. At last, Yuto gave an exasperated sigh and accepted them. A bitter flavor spread through his mouth, and he felt his head clearing.

"Blegh, it's so bitter..."

Flokiro complained miserably as he chewed his herbs. When he tried to spit them out discreetly, Levian fixed him with a stern look and placed a finger on his nose.

"No! You have to chew them properly and swallow!"

"But they're so bitter..."

It was their third day since leaving Merchant City, and Levian had grown quite close to Flokiro. Pressing firmly on his nose, she said,

"Finish your herbs, and I'll bake you some sweet treats when we get back to the mansion. How does that sound?"

"Ugh..."

Flokiro's eyes wavered at the mention of treats. He had always been helpless before anything sweet. Before Yuto's return, Belkain Castle had even employed a pastry chef solely for him. Finally, he squeezed his eyes shut and began chewing the herbs.

Watching them, Yuto smiled faintly. For two years, he and Flokiro had traveled alone. He always made sure Flokiro had snacks, but he had none of Levian's talent for baking.

'She certainly is helpful.'

She had gotten them through the checkpoint without unnecessary conflict, knew a great deal about poisons, and lightened what might otherwise have been a bleak atmosphere.

"The landscape is really starting to change."

Studying their increasingly altered surroundings, Levian took out a notebook and began making notes, observing and analyzing the vegetation.

'She's no mere noble young lady.'

The Levian he saw was resolute and eager for knowledge. Her claim that this journey would be an opportunity for growth had apparently been more than empty words.

The carriage entered the wasteland. The Lasia Plain. Once fertile, it had become a vivid red wilderness after Belkain's calamity, as though the earth had drunk its fill of blood.

"This is... the Lasia Plain...?"

Flokiro murmured in horror. It was utterly unlike the landscape he had seen before Yuto's return. Where golden barley had once stretched like a sea at harvest time, there now lay what looked like a piece of hell.

Red dust swirled on the wind, and skeletal old trees reached toward the sky like fingers. Pools of water lay scattered about, polluted a murky blood-red, while purple poison mist crept around them.

SKREEEE!

In the distance, grotesque Evomon larger than crows circled with unpleasant cries. Their pitch-black eyes seemed to be waiting for those who had entered the wasteland to become corpses ripe for eating.

"How bizarre. The plants are all... twisted."

Levian pointed to a vine some distance away. Leaves that should have been green had turned a blackish purple, and instead of thorns, its stem sprouted growths like animal teeth.

"They seem to have mutated from prolonged exposure to the miasma... but for the landscape to change this much in just five years..."

Listening to her murmur, Yuto looked toward the walls beyond the red wasteland. Belkain's walls. Once a steadfast defense that permitted no foreign invader to pass, they had become prison walls sealing off a cursed land.

The sun began to sink slowly. Night would soon arrive. As long shadows stretched across the red earth, Belkain's walls took on an even stranger, more sinister air. It felt as though the shadows might come alive and descend upon them.

"We'll stop here for today."

Yuto halted the carriage.

"It's best not to travel at night. The nights here... will be far more dangerous than the days."

They had not yet passed through the walls, but many dangers lurked in the wasteland. Once darkness fell in earnest, the ferocious Evomon would begin to stir. Yuto climbed down first and took supplies out of the carriage.

Soon, a crackling campfire lit their surroundings. The three sat around it for a simple meal: dried jerky, hard bread, and warm soup Levian had prepared.

As she drank her soup, Levian stole a glance at Yuto's profile as he stared into the flames. The light wavering in his eyes looked like a silent scream.

"Yuto."

She spoke cautiously.

"You seem to... know quite a lot about Belkain. Even on the way here, you drove without looking at a map."

Yuto's hand paused.

"I only read about it in books."

"That's a lie."

Levian spoke firmly.

"Do you know what your eyes look like right now? They're sad, like the eyes of someone who's lost his home."

She had struck right at the heart of it. Instead of answering, Yuto tossed a dry piece of firewood into the flames. Sparks flared and scattered into the air.

"It's not just today, either. All the way here, as we got closer to Belkain... being beside you made it hard for me to breathe. You felt as sharp as a knife... all jagged edges, like a saw blade."

"It's because I'm angry," Yuto murmured.

"Angry...? Why?"

"At the injustice suffered by people who lost their lives in a single night for no reason. And at the helplessness of being unable to protect them."

Yuto turned his gaze toward her. Faced with those abyssal eyes, Levian caught her breath.

"You wouldn't understand."

His words were cold, but Levian felt the terrible loneliness within them. Without a word, she broke her bread in two and offered him a piece.

"I may not understand, but I can listen," she said calmly.

"And... I can be angry with you. I hate having things unjustly taken away, too."

Yuto stared blankly at the bread she offered. Then a small, hollow chuckle escaped him. Strangely, he did not mind her boldness or her clumsy attempt at comfort.

"Just eat and get some sleep. You'll see worse things tomorrow."

"I'm standing watch tonight, too," Levian insisted.

"I don't want to hold you back, or just be protected all the time. And how long are you going to make me hold this bread?"

At that, Yuto took the bread and bit into it. It was coarse and hard, yet somehow warm.

"As you wish, my lady."

Levian beamed at his answer.