After wandering the wasteland, Shei, Tyrkanzyaka, Callis, and the undying one made camp not far from the bottomless pit.

For prisoners who had only just escaped, their camp boasted a remarkably large, bright red fire, practically advertising their presence. It seemed to beg someone, anyone, to come find them.

Seated around the campfire as it cast light in every direction, they were now sunk in profound sorrow.

Tyrkanzyaka stared endlessly into the burning campfire. Whenever a choked sound escaped her, Shei stole nervous glances at her while pretending to tend the fire. Each time she thrust Sky Cherry Blossom into it, the flames blazed higher.

For once, Callis and the undying one sat apart. They would not even meet each other's eyes, as though they were strangers.

At this less-than-helpful consideration, Tyrkanzyaka waved a hand.

"... It is all right."

Yet the words that followed only weighed more heavily on everyone's hearts.

"I must have been too much for him. I am the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka. The progenitor of all vampires, a monster that craves blood... Who could ever accept one such as me?"

As she spoke, Tyrkanzyaka suddenly grimaced and pressed a hand to her chest, as though a worm were eating away at her heart and she wished to pull it out.

But she could never grasp the source of her pain.

The vampire, whose every drop of blood obeyed her will, writhed under a metaphysical agony she had never experienced before.

Tyrkanzyaka grimaced while the others watched her, their eyes darting uneasily about.

Letting out a tearful breath, she addressed Shei.

"More importantly, speak of something else. Is it truly so?"

"H-huh?"

Suddenly singled out, Shei panicked.

Had this been an enemy, she could have fought back. But a problem like this, which strength could not solve, was far too cruel a trial for her. She swallowed, struggling to choose an answer.

Fortunately, Tyrkanzyaka meant another subject.

"... That this King of Sin will truly destroy the world."

"Oh, uh! Right. I, well..."

Shei was about to say that she regressed, but paused.

People content with the present grew anxious the moment they heard the word regression, afraid that the next iteration Shei envisioned might not include their happiness.

At that moment, she effectively held their happiness hostage. They had clung to her, begging her to choose them in the future too. To place that same happiness in their hands again.

For Shei, who had to prevent the end of the world, it was far too heavy a burden.

That was why she did not readily reveal the truth about her regressions.

Besides, even when she did, people had often dismissed it as her having experienced the Holy See's foresight.

'If I tell them about my regressions now, I think they'll believe me, but...'

Shei cautiously studied Tyrkanzyaka.

Though she was suffering from the emotions she had regained, she did not seem likely to wish for a regression. If she learned that all these feelings, this heartbeat she now experienced, might disappear...

Shei started to speak, then swallowed and changed her answer.

"... Yes. I saw it through foresight."

"You saw it yourself? A man such as you?"

"N-no! There's a prophet I know! They aren't great at seeing the big picture, but they know the details really well! They say they aren't with the Holy See! They're trustworthy!"

Shei hastily revised her story. Tyrkanzyaka gave her a slightly dubious look, then nodded.

"Is that so."

Whether her doubts had faded or she simply had no room for them, Tyr gazed endlessly into the distance before suddenly speaking.

"I shall help you."

"... Huh? Really?"

"That does not mean I trust this prophecy completely. The Holy See has always steered prophecies to its own advantage. Yet if this world may be destroyed, I have no wish to stand idly by."

"Hmm, I'm grateful, but... are you sure you'll be all right?"

Shei posed the question with utmost care. There was no need to ask what she meant by all right. The subject permeated the air around them.

Tyrkanzyaka nodded calmly.

"Hugh asked whether I could protect him even if the world came to an end. I answered that I could."

"He said that? When?"

"Before we left the bottomless pit. If this prophecy you know of is true, then I must help you, if only to keep my word. Indeed, even otherwise, should I not see what happens with my own eyes?"

Shei was glad to hear Tyrkanzyaka's promise, but frowned at the shadow of him that lay behind it.

How could anyone be so suspicious? The world's destruction? Did that mean he had known the world would end too?

"Who is that guy, really? Is he with the Holy See or something? Ugh, he's suspicious. I need to pin him down and question him sometime..."

As she muttered, she heard Tyrkanzyaka sigh.

"Hah..."

The campfire flickered ominously at the Queen of Shadows' sigh. Sweeping her gleaming silver hair behind her shoulders, Tyrkanzyaka rebuked Shei.

"You truly are selfish."

"Huh?"

"After all the help you have received from Hugh, you still call him suspicious and insist on prying into his affairs?"

"... Huh?"

Tyrkanzyaka was angry.

It was neither hostility toward an enemy nor contempt for someone contemptible. If anything, it resembled the cold look a parent might give an immature child.

"When you first set foot in my quarters. When you later learned blood manipulation from me. When he taught us under the pretext of instruction. You were the one benefiting from Hugh's consideration."

"Uh..."

Wasn't that just love making her blind?

The Regressor barely stopped herself from blurting that out. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and listened attentively to Tyrkanzyaka.

'Why am I getting scolded?'

All while that question lingered in her mind.

Meanwhile, Tyrkanzyaka let out everything she had been holding back.

"He provoked me at just the right moments, kept our conversations flowing, made a fool of himself, and stirred us up. Yet in the end, it benefited you. He eased the tension that had you so dangerously on edge, brought life to this bottomless pit, and shook us all up, inside and out. Hugh has done no small amount for us. Why do you speak only of your suspicions?"

Sometimes, however, an outsider's perspective revealed something a little different.

After thirteen regressions, this was already her fourteenth iteration. Busy observing a world that changed little by little, Shei found it burdensome to be asked to see through someone else's eyes on top of everything else.

Yet Tyrkanzyaka's lecture briefly brought another perspective to mind.

"He helped me?"

"Even now. If Hugh truly knew of the King of Sin and secured that promise from me, would that not also have been for your sake?"

"Was... it?"

Looking through this new filter, Shei retraced the past, reviewing his actions one by one.

In the end, Earth's Ripple had come into her hands because he had stalled the Earth Sage before throwing it.

At the last moment, Earth's Ripple had twisted its course as though choosing her. But perhaps that, too, had been his doing.

Before that, when Lieutenant General Ebon had invaded, he had attacked the colonel and lent her his strength. Later, while treating Callis, Shei had learned that he had stopped the lieutenant general from sending Azi berserk.

He had always been so kind to Azi that she had thought little of it... but that, too, was help.

And then there had been Finlay. He had taken the lead in rescuing Tyrkanzyaka and revived the Progenitor's heart. Thanks to him, she had shown a more human side than ever before. It had made Tyrkanzyaka obsessed with him, but...

Wasn't this better than having her march forward, scattering blood in her wake?

"Huh?"

Shei murmured blankly. Tyrkanzyaka snorted.

"It was absurd. After receiving so much help, you claimed no one helped you? Drenched in thoughtful consideration, yet thirsting most desperately for help, you suspect him. Must you truly do so? Can you not simply accept Hugh, who has helped you, as he is?"

Little by little, everything he had done took on meaning.

Was that really true? Even the petty provocations that made her bristle? Dragging her away from training to attend lessons? Playfully taking charge of the mood, always pushing and pulling between Shei and Tyrkanzyaka?

"... Help?"

"Without Hugh, would you be speaking with me like this? Would you be sitting peacefully with these people? And the master of Mother Earth's faith? What would have happened to her?"

What if he had not been there? How would Shei have lived in the bottomless pit?

Surviving itself would have been no problem. She was accustomed to solitude. Having trained in seclusion several times, she would probably have lived without incident.

But they would never have lit this campfire and gathered around it as they were doing now. They would never have watched one another's reactions.

She would have finished her business and left at once. There would have been nothing to hold her back.

"Is... that so? He... helped me? Why?"

"It must be his nature. The King of Dogs, myself, and you as well. Has he not helped everyone who bore no clear malice?"

"Uh..."

No matter how many suspicious details she recalled, in hindsight, everything had ultimately helped her. Once she skimmed away the froth of suspicion, only sweet fruit remained beneath.

'He... did help me. He really did.'

Shei admitted it honestly, and at the same time felt a little happy.

Something gently tapped at her heart.

Like touching one strand of an intricately tangled spiderweb and feeling a vibration from the other side, it was the reassurance that she was still connected, that they would hold on to one another.

She had met many good people. She had received plenty of help. There were many with whom she had quarreled but still cooperated toward a common goal.

Those she could call friends had disappeared over repeated regressions, but she had many comrades, and that had allowed her to keep moving forward. Along with her sense of duty and indebtedness, they were in fact the driving force behind her.

But this unseen thing...

It was not kindness that pushed her forward or pulled her taut.

It was a comfort... that seemed to let her relax completely.

"R-right. I see."

After briefly faltering, Shei used Heaven-Reversing Realm to regain her composure.

As she averted her eyes in embarrassment, Tyrkanzyaka snorted and turned away. For a while, only the crackling campfire filled the silent camp.

At last, Shei broke the silence.

"Tyrkanzyaka. Sorry, but... when he revived your heart."

"... Again?"

"No, no! I'm not being suspicious! I just want to hear what happened!"

Waving her hands at Tyrkanzyaka's deepening frown, Shei continued.

"I think I might understand his ability, just a little."

"What is it?"

"Keepsakes."

Shei picked up Earth's Ripple, which she had carefully laid beside her. It was a long, blunt club without decoration, handle, or pattern.

"A keepsake left by a being this powerful always comes with a trial. How you complete that trial determines how much of its power is released."

Then she touched Earth's Ripple to the ground and flicked it upward with her wrist. Something astonishing happened.

The earth it had touched rose like a rapidly growing bamboo shoot.

"But the keepsake he handed me had no trial. And all its power had already been released. Originally, only its power as a 'club' was unlocked... but now, though it's weak, I can use earth arts through this sword too."

"Intriguing... But what does that have to do with my heart?"

"The homunculus dilemma. There's only one way around it. The person making the changes has to be the person being changed."

There was no guarantee someone would not ruin their own body, but at least the process was natural.

Unlike a case involving the homunculus dilemma, Tyrkanzyaka's heart required no particular adjustments. In that respect, it was remarkably stable.

"I think he turned your memories from when you were alive into a keepsake. Using the fact that you're already dead."

Shei's deduction was sharp.

"He probably has the ability to draw out the power of keepsakes. Earth's Ripple, your heart... There's no other explanation."

"A keepsake..."

Tyrkanzyaka laid a hand over her chest and felt her heart beat.

That single card he had driven into her heart. Had it been a keepsake forged from her memories of when she was still alive?

"That makes sense. Afterward, Hugh lost himself..."

Tyrkanzyaka murmured with her hands resting over her chest. Shei toyed with Earth's Ripple as she replied.

"... Having his power around certainly would make things a little easier."

But the world was vast. How could they find someone who had simply up and left?

Shei muttered,

"I don't even know where he came from or where he plans to go. Come to think of it, I really knew nothing about him..."

"... How could you know, when Hugh never told us? No one would know."

"Hmm? The teacher said he was going back where he came from!"

The crackling of the campfire was suddenly loud. Rash's bombshell seemed, paradoxically, to have stolen every other sound.

Half a beat later, Shei and Tyrkanzyaka asked in return.

"What?"

"... What did you say?"

Rash answered nonchalantly.

"We had an honest talk over drinks, though I don't know whether that was true or yet another lie! At any rate, he did say it!"

"Never mind that. What did he say?"

"He said he was already a criminal, so there was no particular reason not to return!"

Shei tilted her head.

"... Where he came from? Where would that be?"

As it happened, someone present could answer that too. Callis cleared her throat loudly and delivered a precise report.

"He was arrested in Amitengrad's District 13-3 on charges of cheating at gambling. He was apprehended on the scene and taken into custody without being able to collect any belongings. If he has assets hidden away, he may have gone to retrieve them."

"Cheating at gambling? Is that really what he was brought in for?"

"Unless the relevant documents I read were false, yes. I came as an inspector myself, so I did not have access to documents with a higher security level..."

In other words, more highly classified documents might contain other information.

That was a rather sweet temptation for Shei.

They knew where to find him now. His destination had come to light.

Only one question remained.

Should they enter the heart of the Military State in search of someone who had left because he did not want to be with them?

"Awoooo."

Just then, Azi, who had been staring blankly at the sky, gave a soft, lingering howl. When the previously silent Beast King opened her mouth, everyone stopped talking and looked at her.

Still gazing up at the sky, she spoke.

"I have to go."

"Where?"

"The humans' country. The country that made me a promise."

Azi looked up at the sky. Starlight reflected in her large, friendly eyes. She looked as though she were lost in contemplation, gazing alone at the stars in the night sky.

'How am I supposed to treat her like a dog when she's like this?'

While Shei grumbled inwardly, Azi spoke.

"I kept my promise. Now it's their turn to keep theirs."

"Who are they?"

"The humans' country. With lots of humans. I have to go there."

"Where is that?"

Even as she asked, Shei realized her mistake. Would Azi really know the names humans had arbitrarily given their cities? She worried about how to interpret Azi's vague, imprecise, doglike descriptions.

"Amitengrad."

Fortunately, her worry proved groundless. With clearer resolve than ever, Azi watched the stars drift by.

"They say it's the most important city in the country. I'll go find the promise there."

Tyrkanzyaka and Shei looked at each other.

They knew where he was headed.

They knew how much they needed him.

And now, conveniently, they had a reason to go.

"I will not disgrace myself by chasing after someone who left me. But if we happen to be traveling the same road, that cannot be helped."

Tyrkanzyaka nodded, the blazing campfire reflected in her eyes.

"All right. This time, I'll turn the Military State upside down. And if I happen to uncover his secrets along the way, well, that would be nice."

Shei answered, swinging her arms in circles.

And so the two women's gazes met across the campfire.