The great sea serpent sucking in water beneath the surface was none other than Armani, the naive merfolk boy. The realization left Turan staring blankly despite himself.

A moment later, something else astonishing struck him about what the boy had said.

"What does my face look like right now?"

"Hm? Your face? Just like it did before!"

At Armani's reply, Turan quickly gathered the surrounding moisture into a water mirror. Reflected in it was the brown-haired, brown-eyed face of Gosan, the self-proclaimed bastard son of Baraha.

'... Does this mask's disguise not work on merfolk? Or is that the great sea serpent's power?'

Whichever it was, he was glad to have found out beforehand. Otherwise, he might have learned a painful lesson while trying to trick merfolk later.

Turan released Vije's legs and used flight magic to descend near the surface, bringing himself level with Armani.

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Drinking water! I'll drink lots and lots and become the biggest serpent in the world!"

From the sound of it, sucking in water was some sort of strengthening ritual. Whether simply drinking water truly made them stronger, or they gained strength by taking the mana of the sea monsters swept in with it, he couldn't say...

For that matter, he wasn't even sure merfolk grew stronger by absorbing mana as wizards did.

One thing was certain: the merfolk boy before him had grown incomparably stronger than before. When they first met, he had been barely distinguishable from an ordinary person. At their second meeting, his mana had been lower-tier noble caliber at best. Now it was nearly in the top-ranking tier.

That made him stronger even than Rowina, the crab princess Turan had met before. Considering that his true form was a great sea serpent, perhaps he should be compared with the merfolk king instead. In a sense, he had grown even faster than Turan himself.

Would it be better to kill him before he grew any stronger?

The thought sprang unbidden into his mind, but he decided to put it aside for now.

Though the merfolk were likely to become his enemies someday, this boy had always treated him with goodwill. There would be time enough for outright hostility once he was certain they could not coexist.

"From what I just saw, it seems you can turn into a great sea serpent now."

"That's right! You could see me down there?"

"More or less. I couldn't get a good look underwater. Could you show me properly?"

At Turan's request, Armani promptly plunged underwater, then resurfaced as a great sea serpent. Was he roughly forty meters long? He was a little less than half the size of the one they had hunted before.

"Smaller than I expected."

Of course, only someone who had seen a larger specimen, like Turan, could say that. By ordinary standards, even a creature that size was nothing short of a natural disaster. The enormous serpent swung his head from side to side, seemingly offended.

"That's because I'm still young! If I drink plenty of water and keep growing, I can get as big as that shed skin!"

Even transformed, Armani's voice remained high and thin like a boy's, but his immense body made it resonate with a buzzing rumble. Still, considering how loud the adult great sea serpent's roar had been, this was almost cute.

"Impressive. But let's talk after you turn back. Your voice is so loud it's hurting my ears."

Armani immediately resumed his merfolk form. He seemed not to entertain the slightest possibility that Turan might launch a surprise attack and kill him here. For all his newfound strength, his innocent, gentle nature apparently remained unchanged.

"Why are you alone, though? Where are your friends from before?"

"We came together by boat. I just came to investigate on my own. There was a whirlpool along our route."

Armani, the culprit behind that whirlpool, smiled sheepishly.

"I should be asking you that. Where's your family? However strong you've become, I wouldn't think they'd let a child wander around alone like this. Can they all turn into great sea serpents now?"

"Hm? Oh..."

Armani's expression clouded. Hesitating to answer, he looked anywhere but at Turan.

"Something happened, I take it."

Was it because he knew they were controlling monsters to threaten humans? Turan discreetly sniffed, but all he could smell from the merfolk boy was the strong, fishy scent of water.

After a moment, the boy sighed.

"My royal father and mother are recuperating at the palace... and most of my brothers and sisters aren't doing well either."

"What? How did that happen?"

They had defeated even their greatest threat, the great sea serpent, together, and Turan had just seen proof that they had taken its power. How had they suddenly suffered such a devastating blow? Armani hesitated briefly before answering.

"Changing your body into a great sea serpent is very difficult and dangerous. Without the right aptitude, you can die, be badly hurt, or go mad."

That could be a fatal weakness for the merfolk. Turan could scarcely understand how he could reveal it so readily. Had he heard it from any merfolk other than Armani, he would probably have assumed it was a deception.

"There aren't any other people who know that, are there?"

"I don't think so!"

Turan clicked his tongue at the cheerful answer. Had House Karmine known, they would never have postponed contact with the merfolk until after the war. They would have attacked immediately, slaughtered them all, and seized and disposed of the great sea serpent's corpse.

"So none of them can do anything right now except you?"

"Some of my brothers and sisters managed to transform well, though not as well as me. They're driving out the other merfolk. They said if we left them alone, they might target our young ones."

That matched what Turan had heard from the merfolk noble: the royals of the other kingdoms had all fled, fearing death at the hands of Armani's clan.

"But you're a child yourself, and you're here alone."

"I'm not a child anymore!"

After that indignant shout, Armani suddenly grew tentative.

"Well, actually, one of my sisters was keeping me from leaving. But I have to get stronger to protect my family, so I had no choice but to sneak out..."

In short, he had escaped again and was out roaming. He certainly was consistent in many ways.

"Well, at least you won't get captured by pirates anymore, so never mind that. Do you know anything about the sea monsters running rampant along the western coast?"

The monster Turan had encountered while infiltrating Karmine territory not long ago had invaded with a clear sense of purpose. And according to a certain merfolk noble, the merfolk royals who could now transform into great sea serpents—the 'high priest's clan'—could command sea monsters.

Armani's eyes widened when he heard this.

"This is all news to me!"

Though Turan could not smell his emotions, it was hard to find any trace of deceit in that innocent face. Despite his great strength, the merfolk apparently still treated Armani as a child and told him nothing. Of course, given that he had run away yet again, it was hard to call that a poor decision.

"Oh! It really works! Look!"

Armani suddenly pointed, and an enormous herring approached from that direction. Through their soul bond, Turan felt a surge of appetite from Vije, who was flying overhead.

"Can you command it however you like?"

"It seems so. I never even imagined I could do this..."

Somehow, Turan had inadvertently revealed another of the boy's latent abilities to him. After summoning and dismissing monsters a few more times, Armani turned to him.

"Kind demon, if what you're saying is true... the monster attacks on humans are probably the work of one of my brothers or sisters who went mad and left home."

"What if they're doing it in their right mind?"

"There's no reason to!"

"There could be. Attacks like that could distract an opponent, for instance."

Armani groaned and put a hand to his head, then nodded.

"If that's the case, I'll stop that too. I'll tell them not to do it."

"Can you manage that?"

"Yes. I don't want to fight you, kind demon."

His firm, measured words sounded so mature that Turan almost forgot how childish he had been moments earlier. Turan nodded and held out a hand.

"Good. I'd like us to keep getting along too. On that note, could I ask a favor?"

"A favor?"

"I'd like a few strands of your hair."

* * *

With his business finished, Turan was returning to the boat when he met Maysa flying toward him. She sighed in relief at the sight of him unharmed.

"What's wrong?"

"You were taking so long that I got worried. Did anything happen?"

"I'm not sure I can say nothing happened... Well, it's quite something. Let's talk when we get back. Everyone should hear this."

Taking out the swing and securing it in midair would have been a nuisance, so Maysa planted her feet on Turan's and pressed close against him as they flew back to the boat. Solif, who had been waiting, whistled at the sight.

"Don't you two make a lovely couple. No wonder you were worried."

"Shut up."

After landing amid their usual brief bickering, Turan explained to Solif and Maysa what had happened.

"So they can turn into great sea serpents..."

"I suspected as much, but actually hearing it takes my breath away."

"That means there'll be more than ten of those monstrosities."

Both remembered their last battle with the great sea serpent—the might of a being that was nothing short of a living natural disaster. How powerful would the merfolk become if all those royals who had fought alongside them could take that form?

"There's no need to worry too much. If they could get that strong, Karmine wouldn't be so passive. Especially considering how wary the gods are of anyone challenging their domain."

As their theft of the dwarves' intelligence demonstrated, the ancient Freyans had been extremely wary of anyone rising to match them. If all the merfolk royals could attain the power of true great sea serpents, which were said to rival the gods, they would likely have set aside the war and joined forces to crush them immediately.

"It's only a hypothesis, of course. I've decided to wait and see where the merfolk are concerned. I've learned that the coastal attacks are likely not deliberate, and more importantly, I got this."

Turan took the hair-storage case from his pouch and tapped the newly filled compartment. Inside lay a handful of Armani's blue-gray hair, wet with seawater.

"He just gave you that?"

"He did. I even told him that if he gave it to me, I could find him and help him wherever he was."

"You didn't take it to help him."

Under their stares, which made him feel like someone who had swindled a child, Turan averted his eyes.

"Anyway, I passed on a warning too. I told him to prepare, since House Karmine might attack after the war."

"Could they stop them?"

"If the merfolk king can become a great sea serpent."

Even young Armani had become that strong, albeit with exceptional aptitude. Royals who had already possessed formidable power were certain to become stronger still. Whether they could properly assimilate that power was hard to say, though, given that they were still recuperating.

"Come to think of it, I wonder how things stand between Arabion and Karmine."

"I was planning to find out once we arrived. Well, we haven't been away that long, so I doubt anything's broken out just yet..."

All three looked west at the same time.

* * *

Exactly one week after meeting Armani, they landed somewhere in the west and first surveyed the surrounding area to establish their location. They discovered they were somewhere in southern Karmine.

Having checked the local geography, the party decided to change disguises again. In Frostwind Forest, only Turan had disguised himself because Baraha would already know Solif's parents. Here, circumstances were different, and they needed new appearances.

As they had when infiltrating the land of lakes, Solif put on the mask while Turan used the age-changing magic tool. Watching beside them, the Baraha couple exclaimed in amazement.

"Truly... I can scarcely believe my own eyes."

"I'm sorry, but could I try that magic tool?"

Solif's mother, Romi, made herself look nearly twenty years younger and gazed spellbound into the mirror. The possibility of recovering her youthful face had clearly captivated her. Maysa watched with an understanding expression.

"I could make you one when I have the time. It would be a little difficult right now, though."

"Oh, n-no. I couldn't possibly ask that of you."

Despite having traveled together for some time, the Baraha couple remained reserved around Turan and Maysa. Before he was their son, Solif had been Baraha's next House Head; it seemed they regarded even his friends as their social superiors. Knowing that insisting they relax would not make them comfortable, Turan and Maysa simply accepted it.

Once disguised, the party flew over suitably deserted areas during the day and stayed in nearby cities in the evenings. After ten grueling days at sea, good meals and lodgings alone did much to ease their fatigue.

Unfortunately, Vije was too conspicuous to accompany them and had to remain outside whenever they visited a city. But since either Turan or Maysa always went out to sleep beside her and keep her company, she did not complain. In truth, she preferred the outdoors to a well-appointed cage anyway.

As they passed through the southern hills and along the edge of the Dakayn Plains, Turan could feel the atmosphere of war growing heavier. Just as when war had broken out in the western wilderness, there were visibly fewer travelers, and people's expressions had darkened.

During a brief stop on the ground for lunch, Maysa looked north and murmured wistfully.

"Ah, I miss my aunt..."

"Want to visit her in secret?"

"No, never mind. It would only put her in danger. I was just saying."

Turan could infiltrate unseen using stealth, but that was beyond Maysa's abilities. They had at least taken a little time to exchange letters with Asiz and received word that her aunt was safe. That would have to suffice.

After several days traveling southwest past the southern Dakayn Plains, they came to a city where Turan and Maysa exclaimed almost in unison.

"Wow..."

"They've rebuilt this much already?"

At first glance, it was merely an ordinary, reasonably bustling city of the sort one might find anywhere. What made it special to them was that it stood in the heart of the western forest region.

Turan had passed through here while leaving Kalamap with Vije, and Maysa while leading the subjugation force herself. Back then, there had been nothing but heaps of corpses discarded after the Dark Elves had fed on them. Considering that fewer than four years had passed, the pace of reconstruction was remarkable.

"People who were hiding somewhere probably came back too. Settlers from the Dakayn Plains and the wilderness alone couldn't account for a city this size."

Indeed, in practical terms, a few tens of thousands of Dark Elves could hardly have had enough hands to slaughter every human. Those who had hidden in the woods awaiting rescue by the subjugation force must have contributed to the recovery, as must the returning displaced people.

Taking in the newly rebuilt city and the resilience of humanity, the five continued west across the forest region.

By daytime on the fourth day, as they began entering Turan's homeland, the western wilderness, the scenery grew visibly desolate. While they were flying, Solif looked down at the wasteland spread below.

"Seeing it again really brings it home. This must be the worst place in the world to live. I'd take Shiraf Marsh over this."

"It is a wonder enough grass grows here to graze sheep."

Everyone but Turan hailed from the land of lakes or the Dakayn Plains, arguably the richest regions in the world. The western wasteland, with its endless expanse of dry, cracked earth, seemed to make quite an impression on them.

Then again, hadn't Turan himself marveled at how much lusher the landscape became each day as he traveled east after leaving Hisaril Hill?

"Oh!"

"Wow, is that...?"

The Baraha couple, riding on the swing, suddenly cried out in wonder at something ahead. Turan set his Holy Relic to the Sun bloodline and looked forward, seeing what had caught their attention.

A pale shape glimmered beyond the distant horizon. The Sky Mountains, the world's western boundary that had been a constant presence throughout Turan's childhood, were coming into view.