Levian stared at Yuto, her face deathly pale. Human and orc blood spattered his body, and both his hands still held the head of the man whose neck he had broken.

Her gaze shifted between the dead man's face, his tongue hanging out, and Yuto's ice-cold expression. Hesitantly, she spoke.

“Did you... have to kill him?”

“Was there any reason not to?” Yuto countered. He released the man's head and stood up.

“I merely killed a pest crawling around this city. Would you leave a cockroach alone if you saw one in your room?”

“...”

“Perhaps that was a poor comparison. A young lady of House Marigold would never have cockroaches in her room.”

“Don't mock me.” Levian sighed and shook her head. “I just... I just, um...”

What should she say? Plenty of words drifted through her mind, but she couldn't put them together and voice them. She was struggling to accept that Yuto, only two years younger than her, could kill people with such cruelty and composure.

Of course, Yuto wasn't a noble like her. She didn't know the details of his circumstances, but he was an adventurer, skilled enough to overwhelm a knight despite his youth.

'But the power Yuto wields... isn't magic. It looks more like a blessing bestowed by a constellation.'

Many nobles became adventurers, but Yuto hadn't looked like one when he first visited the Marigold mansion. The adventurer's registration card she had checked earlier hadn't listed him as a noble, either.

An adventurer from the slums with a constellation's blessing? That made no sense according to everything Levian knew.

'The closer we came to Belkain, the more sensitive and emotional Yuto became. And now...'

Yuto, who had been watching her hesitation in silence, spoke.

“Levian Marigold. Go back to Merchant City.”

“Wh... what?”

“This place is far more dangerous than we expected. If you stay with us, you'll face even greater danger.”

Yuto turned to look at the royal castle standing beyond the purple mist.

“I told you the sword I'm looking for... is in the royal castle. There's no telling how many Black Mages are in that castle now.”

“...”

“And before I go there, I intend to destroy every last one of those crystals in the city.”

“So you're telling me to go back because it's dangerous?”

“That's right.”

“No.” Levian's expression hardened as she shook her head. “If it's dangerous here, then you're in danger too, not just me. Didn't I tell you back in Merchant City? I'm the top student in the healing magic department.”

“...”

“I may not be as good at fighting as you, but I'm confident I can support you. You're holding back on using that ‘power’ to conserve aether, aren't you? That means there should be plenty of ways I can help.”

“You're stubborn.”

“I hear that all the time. Yuto, there's something I want to ask. You don't have to answer, but I can't bear not asking.”

With a deep sigh, Levian took out a handkerchief and moistened it with droplets of water.

“Are you a member of Belkain's royal family?”

She held out the damp handkerchief to Yuto. He didn't answer, and Flokiro kept his mouth shut as well. At their silence, Levian sighed as though she had expected as much.

“Sometimes silence is an answer. No wonder... Now I understand why you became so on edge as we approached Belkain, and why you looked the way you did in this city.”

“...”

“Besides, didn't you say the precious sword you're after is hidden deep inside the royal castle?”

“I could be a tomb robber who came here after picking up some strange rumor.”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

When Yuto showed no sign of taking the handkerchief, Levian finally sighed and wiped the blood from his face herself.

“I don't know exactly what your circumstances are. But you saved my father's life, so I will never leave you behind.”

“...”

“You're not hurt anywhere, are you?”

“No.”

In the end, Yuto had no choice but to give up trying to persuade her.

“What about heading straight to the royal castle instead of destroying the crystals first? If we destroy them, the Black Mages might notice us and prepare.”

Levian offered her suggestion cautiously, but Yuto shook his head.

“They'll already know we've entered the city. Whether we get there sooner or later, they'll be ready. We'd be better off destroying the crystals and dispersing the concentrated aether.”

The crystals installed throughout the ruins were gathering negative aether from the resentful spirits and sending it to the royal castle.

Magic consumed a great deal of aether. Fighting the Black Mages while leaving the crystals intact would give them too great an advantage. That was why Yuto judged it better to destroy the crystals first.

“And... even now, those crystals are tormenting the spirits in this city. I don't want to let that continue.”

Yuto murmured bitterly. At his words, Levian nodded, sadness crossing her face.

“All right. We'll prioritize destroying the crystals, then. Do you still have enough aether?”

“Plenty, but not enough to waste.”

“Take this.”

Levian drew a potion from the pouch at her waist. It was an aether potion, even a single bottle of which cost an enormous sum.

“I brought five bottles just in case. I'm glad I did. It doesn't look like you need to drink it right away, but keep it with you for now.”

“Thank you.”

Expressing his gratitude, Yuto tucked the aether potion inside his clothes. Then the three climbed back into the carriage.

“Wait a moment.”

Levian stopped Yuto as he was about to tug on the reins, then closed her eyes and concentrated. The surrounding aether rippled in response to her murmured incantation. In a burst of light, a blue dove made of aether rose from her raised staff, flapping its wings.

“It's a detection spell. I put it together on the spot, but... this little one will guide us to places with high concentrations of contaminated aether.”

“You created a detection spell of this caliber on the spot?”

At Yuto's astonishment, Levian puffed out her chest with a proud smile.

“Heh. Didn't I tell you? I'm Maria Academy's top student.”

In healing magic, to be precise, but that didn't mean healing magic was the only thing she excelled at. Levian's magical abilities ranked among the best in the entire academy.

“Aren't you glad you didn't send me back?”

Yuto smiled awkwardly at her boastful tone. After circling above the carriage for a moment, the dove flapped its wings and plunged into the purple mist.

Yuto snapped the Iron Horses' reins hard. The carriage rattled and shook as it sped along the badly cracked road.

It raced wildly after the blue trail left by the dove. Their first destination was a nearby square. Where Belkain's citizens had once celebrated festivals, a grotesque black crystal now floated above the ground in place of festive lanterns.

“Levian, take the reins.”

Yuto handed them over. Around the crystal, the Black Mages' lackeys stood in dismay as they spotted the carriage charging toward them like an enraged boar. Soon, baring their hostility, they moved to block its path.

“S-stop!”

There was a higher proportion of orcs here than among the bandits they had encountered earlier. The orcs weren't paupers or criminals who had come to rummage through the city; the Black Mages had brought them here from the start.

'Is Dark Star working with the orcs?'

He couldn't tell. He considered capturing an orc to interrogate, but abandoned the thought. Interrogating orcs was extremely difficult and troublesome. They rarely felt fear and had a strong sense of loyalty to their group.

'I'd be better off asking the Black Mages directly.'

Five orcs advanced with heavy, pounding strides. Large as the Iron Horses were, if five orcs threw themselves at the carriage, it would have no choice but to stop.

“Flokiro!”

At Yuto's shout, Flokiro leaped into the air. Flames poured from his entire body, swirling into a vortex before showering down like fiery rain.

FWOOSH!

The instant the falling flames obscured the orcs' vision, Yuto kicked off the driver's seat and launched himself forward.

Void Touch unfurled. Black shimmers formed enormous hands that seized two of the orcs. Rather than crushing them immediately, Yuto hurled them like balls at the others.

BOOM!

Four orcs tumbled across the ground. Landing, Yuto kept running without slowing down. In his hand was a spear he had collected from the earlier battlefield.

CRUNCH!

The spear buried itself in the chest of the one orc still standing. Neither its leather armor nor its thick hide could stop the thrust delivered at a full sprint. Yuto twisted the embedded spear and wrenched it free, then hurled it at a man panicking beside the crystal.

THUNK!

The thrown spear pierced the man's head. Yuto saw the fallen orcs getting up, cursing. With an aether potion on hand, he had no need to hesitate over using his Void Skills.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Void Touch formed fists and hammered the orcs. In an instant, all four had been reduced to pulp.

“Aaah... Aaaaaah!”

The men still lingering near the crystal screamed and began to flee. Yuto drew a crossbow and shot bolts into their backs. Two escaped, but he didn't bother pursuing them. His immediate objective was to destroy the crystal.

His expression grim, Yuto approached the crystal. Floating above the ground, it vibrated and emitted an ominous light. The closer he came, the more clearly he heard “screams” coming from it.

The screams of the restless spirits were condensed inside. Yuto bit down hard on his lip. It wasn't merely negative aether, corrupted by the spirits' suffering, that the crystal contained. It had literally imprisoned the souls of Belkain's citizens who had died on the night of the catastrophe.

“How dare they...”

The words left Yuto in a murderous voice as he moved Void Touch.

CRUNCH...!

The hands gripped the crystal tightly. As he applied more and more pressure, cracks spread across its surface.

BOOM!

At last, the crystal shattered, releasing a brilliant surge of purple aether. Amid it, the hazy forms of dozens of imprisoned spirits appeared.

[“Ah, aaah...”]

[“Thank... you...”]

The spirits whispered, but Yuto's expression did not brighten. He had hoped that breaking the crystal might allow them to pass on. Instead, the freed spirits drifted into the purple mist hanging over the city, unable to find rest.

'Don't tell me...'

The citizens who had died on the night of the catastrophe hadn't remained in the city as restless spirits because of the Black Mages' crystals. He had the sequence backward. The spirits hadn't accumulated because the Black Mages were here; the Black Mages had come because the spirits had accumulated.

'A curse...'

The catastrophe that had struck Belkain, and the city spirits' inability to pass on—it was all because of the constellations. As long as they existed, every being living in this world would be treated as nothing more than a toy. Yuto clenched his teeth and turned away.

There was no difference between the world before his regression and this one.

The constellations were wrong.

“Next.”

Heart-rending pain and anger filled Yuto, but he had no time to dwell on his feelings.

The dove was already flying toward the next location.