Several days after leaving Belkain’s gates behind, the carriages arrived in Merchant City.

Throughout the journey, the survivors could not help wearing expressions of mixed emotion. They had survived Belkain, a living hell—and within it, the most dangerous and horrific place of all: the laboratory beneath the royal castle.

There was relief at having barely clung to life and escaped, at reaching Merchant City, reputed to be the wealthiest of Callisto’s cities.

And there was anxiety over having their identities established here, and every crime they had committed brought to light. For some, those emotions became hope for the future. For others, tension and fear.

“Yuto,” Levian whispered as they reached the entrance to Merchant City. “As I mentioned before, we’ll place all the survivors in a convalescent facility sponsored by House Marigold for now.”

She watched the survivors climb out of the carriages. After several days of food, medicinal herbs, and ample rest on the journey here, their complexions were incomparably better than when they had been found underground.

“The facility will establish their identities while conducting thorough examinations. Once we know who they are, I intend to hire those who have no need to stand trial... the impoverished ones with nowhere to go, as workers for our trading company. That’s the fastest way for them to settle legally in Merchant City.”

Her voice sounded stern yet kind. It was also efficient, as befitted a merchant. For those who had returned alive from hell, there was no surer salvation than being given a place to build a new life.

“But... Yuto.”

Levian’s gaze shifted to Elun, who sat beside him, staring impassively at the city walls.

“Wouldn’t it be better to place Elun in the facility for now, too? She needs an examination...”

“No,” Elun said firmly. Without so much as a glance at Levian, she nestled closer to Yuto. “I am staying with Yuto. I have no intention whatsoever of being kept like livestock at this facility of yours to suit human whims.”

“L-livestock?! It’s protection! Protection!” Levian exclaimed, flustered. “I’m suggesting this entirely for your sake! You could enter the facility for now, receive a thorough examination, and if we can’t establish your identity, find another guardian...”

“Yuto.”

Elun still neither looked at Levian nor listened to her. Her tranquil eyes fixed squarely on Yuto.

“Hah...”

Yuto felt his head begin to throb. He knew Levian’s suggestion was perfectly reasonable and sound. But Elun was no pitiful victim who had lost her memory in the underground laboratory, as Levian imagined.

Elun was the Void’s agent, a being hatched from an egg. Her body might look like that of a human girl, but if its internal structure was entirely different from a human’s... a thorough examination was something to avoid.

‘And I can’t explain that.’

It was not that he distrusted Levian, but Elun had a will of her own. He would need her permission to reveal her identity, and unlike Yuto, she had no trust in Levian at all. Even now, she was not looking at her.

“We can’t force her to go if she doesn’t want to.”

Swallowing another sigh, Yuto looked at Levian.

“I’ll keep her with me for now. She’s quite passionate about staying, after all.”

“Passionate?”

Elun’s brows drew together slightly as she muttered the word, but she did not bother contradicting him. She had decided it was best to go along with Yuto if it meant shaking off that woman’s tiresome concern.

“If you insist... all right. For now.”

In the end, Levian had no choice but to withdraw her suggestion about Elun once again. As she let out a deep sigh, Merchant City’s soldiers took custody of the survivors, and the carriage carrying Yuto’s party entered the city.

“Yuto. I have to report what happened to my father, so I need to go straight to the Marigold estate,” Levian whispered. “Of course, I’ll say very little about you... about your past and identity, I mean. Nor will I report every detail of what we experienced there.”

“Then how much do you intend to report?”

“I do have to report that Belkain’s ruins had been occupied by Black Mages... by Dark Star, and were being used as an aether factory. And that they were working with orc warriors.”

Levian gazed into his eyes for a moment.

“May I report that much?”

She was asking Yuto’s consent for the report she would give her father, Rufus Marigold. She had acknowledged and understood that Yuto was Belkain’s rightful and last king. He nodded with a faint smile.

“You’ll have to mention the Black Mages to explain the survivors anyway, so that’s fine. But tell him there’s no need to pursue the remnants of Dark Star.”

“Why not?”

“If you try stirring things up, they’ll only retreat somewhere deeper and darker. Just like the black-market merchants who used your brother. With people like that, it’s better to let them make their own moves than waste effort trying to catch them.”

Levian’s eyes lit up at his words.

“So we can wipe them out in one fell swoop?”

“Though it won’t be as easy as it sounds.”

“I understand. When I report to Father, I’ll make sure to tell him there’s no need to send an investigation team to Belkain. Hmm... Or, Yuto, why don’t you come report to him with me?”

“No. I have something to do right now, too.”

Yuto stopped the carriage as he spoke and handed Levian the reins.

“I’ve taken in a stubborn little girl, so I need to buy a few things.”

“A stubborn little girl. Do you mean me?”

Elun, who had been surveying Merchant City with disinterested eyes, turned to look at him.

“And I can show her around the city while I’m at it.”

Yuto climbed down from the driver’s seat and offered Elun his hand. She stared blankly at it for a moment, then took it and climbed down. When Flokiro hopped to the ground as well, Levian found herself alone on the driver’s seat, looking bewildered.

“Y-you’re going without me?”

“You have to report to your father, remember?”

“Well... yes, but the report could wait a little...”

Still stumbling over her words, Levian felt Elun’s gaze and flinched into silence. As she had felt throughout the journey, Elun’s stare was chilling and unsettling.

Like any good merchant, Levian was quick to read people. Naturally, she had noticed that Elun did not think particularly well of her.

“All right. I’ll head back to the Marigold estate fir—wait, Yuto. You are coming back to the estate, aren’t you?”

She asked just to be certain. Their return from Belkain did not mean their connection was over. Yuto hoped to enroll in Maria Academy in six months, and he needed a letter of recommendation from House Marigold to do so.

But there was no guarantee he would remain at the estate for those six months. He had been living as an adventurer before coming to Merchant City, after all. He might leave the city until it was time to enter Maria Academy...

“I’ll be back by evening. Unless my staying at the estate makes you uncomfortable?”

“N-no, of course not! It doesn’t make me uncomfortable at all.”

Levian hurriedly waved her hands in denial.

“You’re House Marigold’s benefactor. I followed you to Belkain to repay that debt, but, well, I still don’t feel I’ve repaid it all. If anything, I think I owe you... even more now.”

How many times had Yuto saved her life in that perilous place?

“A recommendation to the academy alone can’t repay our debt. Stay at the estate as long as you like, and feel free to squander House Marigold’s fortune. If you need it, I’ll even provide a room filled with the finest furniture.”

“In that case, I’ll gratefully take you up on it.”

Yuto answered with a broad smile. It was far more relaxed than when they had first met, and Levian could not help smiling back.

“Do you like that woman?” Elun asked as she watched Levian and the carriage depart.

“She’s a fine companion.”

“A fine companion... Perhaps by human standards.”

Elun murmured as her eyes followed the receding carriage. To her, Levian Marigold was merely a weak, sentimental human. Yet as the Void’s agent, Elun was utterly dispassionate.

The future Yuto envisioned—that grand saga of rebellion in which he would behead the constellations and bring down Babylon—required more than blades. Elun did not deny that it also required money and information to hone those blades.

“If that woman’s connections can serve as your shield, I have no reason to sever the bond. Indeed, I will acknowledge that she has ample value to exploit.”

“If that’s what you think, stop shutting Levian out so much. If you intend to stay by my side and never leave it, you’ll have to regard her as a companion, too.”

“Companions understand one another and work together. The only ones I can call companions are you, Yuto, and your partner Evomon.”

Elun answered coldly, looking at Flokiro. Under her gaze, his tail drooped and his shoulders hunched. Unlike Yuto, Flokiro still feared the Void to which Elun was connected.

“Still, if necessary, I will make a pretense of being sociable. Does that satisfy you?”

“That’s enough.”

At his answer, Elun turned away to look at Merchant City’s bustling market street. Brilliant awnings in primary colors, merchants shouting, and the multicolored aether glow spilling from lighting fixtures—her eyes passed over it all with profound indifference.

“However, Yuto, I never particularly wanted to tour this noisy city. The only reason I was looking at it was that I found its entire layout truly inefficient and disorderly.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. Nor do I require any daily necessities. I have no need of clothing or scraps of leather. Perhaps because the clothes I am wearing were born with me, there is no danger of them wearing out. Heat and cold impose no limitations on me, either.”

“Elun.”

Yuto interrupted her and pointed at her feet: small, white, bare feet standing unshod on the hard, cold stone pavement.

“You might not mind, but the humans here won’t see it that way. If the city soldiers see a girl following me around barefoot, wearing nothing but a dress, they’ll undoubtedly suspect you’re an illegal resident or a missing slave.”

“...”

“And if they decide that’s what you are, you’ll be dragged off to the facility Levian mentioned.”

“The facility?”

Elun’s eyebrow twitched. The words livestock and protection flashed through her mind.

“You like efficiency. I doubt you want to waste time getting into a dispute with the soldiers and end up forcibly confined in a facility.”

“...”

Elun fell silent for a moment. Yuto’s argument was logical. Human laws and common sense seemed like a ridiculous game to her, but becoming embroiled in that game and wasting time and emotion on it would certainly be irrational.

“Very well.” Elun nodded slowly. “If it is necessary to blend into this world, then it cannot be helped. Lead the way.”

At her answer, a faint smile spread across Yuto’s lips.