“No matter how you look at it, wasn’t that a bit much? Saying you’d make each of us have ten babies — there’s a limit to being manly, you know.”
“Is that really what Sir Teo said? What I heard was him asking us to endure a little longer, promising to cherish us like princesses forever.”
“To , it sounded like he said he’d make every night fun! Though, of course, he said exactly how would be a secret!”
First Elga, then Mirna, and then Nare spoke, one after another.
Walking inside the rift, the noble ladies were chattering about the confession I had made earlier. Whether I had truly said all those things or not, I wasn’t sure myself.
Just listening quietly made feel rather embarrassed. So, pretending to change the subject, I looked around at the scenery and said,
“Hmm, anyway. This place is really sothing. I never would’ve imagined sothing like this existed inside the rift.”
In my eyes, I could see butterflies fluttering around. Yes, butterflies. Beautiful butterflies flitting between the flowers.
And as the existence of butterflies suggested, a vast field of springti flowers stretched out around us, so wide that with just a light reach of my hand, delicate petals easily brushed my fingertips.
Srrk.
Ayra reached out and plucked a single red flower.
“To be honest, I thought so creepy place would show up. I never expected a flower field like this. It’s beautiful.”
It seed the field suited Ayra’s taste quite a bit. Though it bothered slightly that it was so vast we couldn’t even see where it ended.
Still, it was much better than so desolate dungeon. Fragrant, warm, and pleasing to the eye. Was this what the gardens of paradise were like?
But even in a place this beautiful, problems arose.
“So, where exactly are we supposed to go now?”
As Elga pointed out, there were no signs, no markers, nothing but endless fields of flowers stretching on and on.
Just—
Endlessly.
At that mont, Stella asked,
“Co to think of it, my watch isn’t working anymore. How long have we even been walking through this flower field? How much ti has passed since we entered?”
She held out her broken pocket watch for us to see. No matter how much she wound the spring, the watch wouldn’t move.
Now that she ntioned it—
I couldn’t rember when we had started wandering this flower field. It felt like we had just entered monts ago... yet also like over an hour might have passed.
The others seed just as confused.
“Didn’t we walk for, like, five minutes?”
“I feel like it’s been at least two hours.”
“I thought we’d been walking for half a day already!”
First Elga, then Mirna, and then Nare.
Each of them perceived ti completely differently. How could that even be possible? No matter how strange this place was, wasn’t the gap between five minutes and half a day a bit much?
Wondering what Ayra thought, I glanced at her. She had brought the red flower she plucked earlier up to her nose and was sniffing it intently.
Ayra said,
“It seems that here, the concept of ti is all jumbled up. I’m used to it, but for those experiencing it for the first ti, it must be disorienting.”
Ayra showed no sign of panic, remaining composed. She possessed the 《Clairvoyance》 talent, allowing her to see through ti and glimpse the past, didn’t she?
“In this place, the flow of ti doesn’t matter. It seems like it’s passing, but really, it might as well be standing still.”
Perhaps that was why Ayra could remain so unaffected even in a place where ti itself was distorted. Her steadiness was reassuring, and I found myself regaining my composure as well.
I said,
“Is everyone feeling alright? No one’s feeling strange?”
Ssk, ssk.
Everyone patted themselves down, checked their bodies, and nodded.
“I think I’m fine. But it’s really weird. If ti doesn’t flow here, does that an we won’t age no matter how long we stay?”
Elga’s guess sounded plausible. If ti didn’t pass, there would be no reason to age or grow old.
“With all these flowers blooming... is this the so-called paradise that the Solar Fla Sect talks about?”
At Elga’s question, Mirna glanced around before letting out a small hum of thought. Finally, after so hesitation, she answered,
“A bright field of flowers, a separate world where no one ages and everyone remains eternally young... It does resemble the paradise described by the Solar Fla Sect, but...”
Hearing her voice trail off made it clear that sothing didn’t sit right. Indeed, there were many aspects here that made it feel a bit off to call this place paradise.
There were no angels. No residents in white robes. No golden houses glittering in the light.
And no drinking water, no food in sight.
You couldn’t exactly live by eating flowers and butterflies, could you?
The strange thing was, despite what felt like a considerable passage of ti, no one was getting hungry or thirsty.
It was a bizarre place.
Like a single, eternal mont, frozen forever within a field of flowers.
Still, its beauty was undeniable, and so, in my heart, I silently christened this nymph-friendly space “the Eternal Flower Field.”
It would be nice to bring Marmar and the other imps here soday to play.
If we ever got the chance.
Ssk.
━Gyuiing.
“Ah, Yingying!”
At that mont, Cloudling Yingying, who had been nestled in Nare’s arms, suddenly flew off sowhere. Startled by its sudden movent, we were all thrown into confusion.
Why was it doing that?
We had no choice but to follow after it.
***
As I said before, this Eternal Flower Field was filled with nothing but colorful flowers and fluttering butterflies no matter where you looked.
It seed like it would go on forever — or so I had judged in my heart — but as always, human expectations tend to be betrayed.
━Yingying-ying.
Cloudling, who had left Nare’s arms, suddenly quivered, having discovered sothing. As we approached it—
“A campfire...?”
Whose voice was that? Elga’s? I wasn’t sure, but whoever said it, they were exactly right.
In a spot where the flowers had been flattened, there were clear traces of a campfire, like the aftermath of so alien landing site in a mystery novel.
Ssk.
Stella knelt on the ground and gently sifted through the warm-looking ashes with her hand.
“There’s still warmth here. Which ans whoever built this fire hasn’t been gone long. Although, in a place where ti doesn’t flow, I’m not sure how much that really tells us...”
Stella's answer trailed off uncertainly. None of us could tell how much ti had actually passed since the fire was put out. But the aning was clear.
I said,
“Soone was here. There are other people besides us.”
At that mont, Nare, who had been looking down at the ground, suddenly pricked up like a startled cat. She stretched out a slender hand between the flowers and picked sothing up.
“Sis, look at this...!”
“What is it...?”
Both Nare and Mirna focused their attention on the thin scrap of tal she had found. It was exactly that — a fragnt of tal. Or to be more precise, a brooch.
The silver brooch glinted, shaped like a dragon standing tall on two legs and roaring. There was no way we wouldn't recognize it — the emblem of House Draco.
Ssk, rummage, rummage.
Mirna dug through her pockets and pulled out sothing of her own — another silver brooch, shaped exactly the sa.
“This... is the Draco family’s insignia. Why is it here...? My father? No... maybe my grandfather? Maybe they’re nearby...!”
Mirna looked genuinely excited.
Since the campfire seed freshly extinguished, it made sense to think that whoever dropped the Draco insignia couldn’t have gone far.
It was then that Stella spoke.
“It’s probably the group that traveled with Opal.”
Opal.
Opal von Bellhawk.
There wasn’t a soul among us who didn’t know that na. He was one of the heroes said to have defeated Solomon. A man of trendous achievents — and a tragic end.
“Looks like Opal and his companions were here. And I think you all know why, even without saying it.”
Just as Stella said, we could guess easily enough why they had lit a fire here.
The city of Gargarta, where the sky shattered, was said to be the place where the Demon King Solomon t his end. Sowhere here, perhaps, was the spot where Solomon had died.
Then Elga asked,
“But if soone dies in a place like this... do they actually die? I an, isn’t this a place where ti doesn’t move? What happens?”
None of us could answer her.
Because none of us had the knowledge to.
“Hmm.”
Maybe Nare had gotten curious too, because after a long silence she said,
“Hey, if ti doesn’t matter here... could it be that we might run into people like Opal or even Grandpa? Maybe it’s not impossible?”
Stella let out a long stretch.
“Well. Who knows. For now, let's follow the traces nearby.”
She brushed her palm along the scattered grass and footprints.
And so, following her lead, we chased after the trail.
Before long, sothing strange happened.
I had «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» thought this endless flower field would never end, but after walking a little, a structure appeared — sothing that looked like a temple out of myth. Or rather, the ruins of a temple.
The columns had collapsed, the roof was crumbling in places.
Grass and flowers sprouted up between the marble floors, making it impossible to tell how long it had been abandoned.
Still, it was overwhelmingly majestic.
The pillars and ceilings were so tall that I had to crane my neck just to take them in. Just imagining what it must have looked like in its pri was awe-inspiring.
As we stood in silence, overwheld—
“Teo, look over there.”
Ayra grabbed my arm and pointed with her hand.
There, at the far wall of the temple, was a door. A stone door designed to be pushed open from both sides.
I was strangely drawn to it, and found myself slowly approaching, reaching out to push against it.
Kuuug.
But trying to push that ancient, weather-worn door with my ager strength was hopeless. After stepping back in frustration, Mirna spoke.
“There’s writing here.”
At her words, I looked down at the ground.
Sure enough, there were crude letters scrawled in what looked like red paint — no, blood.
“This is... blood. Looks fresh, too.”
Mirna rubbed the blood between her thumb and forefinger and began reading the inscription.
“We buried history beyond this door. Those who open it without resolve shall lose all they possess—. That’s what it says.”
“That’s my grandmother’s handwriting. Isabel von Tarantella. I know it.”
At Ayra’s words, we fell silent.
We weren’t fools. We knew exactly what kind of “history” was buried beyond that door.
At that very mont—
Before my eyes, words floated into view.
『Open it.』
『Turn back.』
It had been a long ti since I had seen such clear, floating letters. But the anings of those two simple phrases were so different that I froze in place.
It felt like two different people were speaking to at once.
“Co to think of it...”
Just as sothing was about to surface in my mind—
Just as I was about to take another step toward the door—
“Hey, you there."
Soone called out from behind us.
"I don't know who you are, but if you’ve got no business here, why don't you step aside?”
At that voice, I stopped moving.
Sothing deep within the unconscious part of my brain reverberated sharply.
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