CH 92

During that time, Edwy and Aaron were also at the mountain which Dilon and Corete had led them to. After all, there was a small open space here that Zynis had made his base.

“Huh? Father is not here.”

“Neither are the birdfolk. I told them to gather here.”

Dilon and Corete looked around as if something was wrong.

“Ortha went to take some scales to the villa. They liked her, and so she’s being hired temporarily.”

“So, she came too.”

Edwy wasn’t surprised by Dilon’s explanation.

They acted separately in order to avoid drawing attention, and then after reuniting at the foot of the mountain, they talked about what had happened.

“Beware of the mirror lake. What a vague thing to say. That’s very Amia.”

“Are you close with the merfolk chief, Edwy?”

“No, he treats me like a child. However, as I was with the Saintesses, he did give us a vague warning.”

“The Saintesses…”

Dilon touched the back of his head with a conflicted expression.

“Father and the birdfolk seemed to be so taken in by them. Are they really that special?”

Edwy looked at Dilon with an exasperated expression.

“Good or bad? Adorable or admirable? All of that is beside the point!”

“Oh, uh…”

Dilon was overwhelmed by the force in his words. But it seemed like he was just praising them.

“I’ll say it clearly. We do not have the authority to decide if the summoned Saintesses are good or not.”

“But…”

“No arguments. They were torn from their families in order to be brought here. How do you think they would feel if you said they were a disappointment?”

“Well, maybe…”

Dilon muttered vaguely, but Edwy had no intention of letting them off so easily.

“What if it was Ortha?”

“My sister? That’s ridiculous.”

“I’m sure their families felt the same. But could you imagine if Ortha was sent to a different country alone, where there was no beastkin?”

“…”

“I’ve never seen your kind before. Why aren’t you human? I wish you were quieter. You’re too normal. Stop being spoiled. What if people said those things to her?”

Dilon’s hands tightened into fists. The Saintesses’s were getting a similar amount of attention as any other girl around him, and yet he had felt that they were being spoiled.

“I’m sure you have heard about the inland incident. But Dilon, what really hurts someone, is not what the enemy thinks, but careless words from those who are close to them.”

Dilon couldn’t reply to that.

Just then, Corete raised his nose to the sky.

“The wind has changed. The wind that’s rising from the lake has the scent of Zynis, the two birdfolk, and two humans in it. Below.”

“Below? But we passed through there.”

Dillon said. And Corete answered.

“They must have come after then. I didn’t notice because of the direction of the wind. Besides…”

He said as his nose wrinkled.

“Hey, Dilon. About the miasma…”

“Aye. It’s been rapidly getting thinner since yesterday. Oh?”

“Yeah.”

Both of them looked upward.

“The miasma is gathering together?”

Edwy looked down with realization.

“Maki and Chiharu! Those two are always so…”

“What are you talking about?”

Edwy didn’t answer them. Instead, he said,

“How do we get down!”

“Down the road there. The miasma is coming from the same direction.”

“Let’s go!”

“He-hey.”

“Prepare your second form!”

Dilon and Corete were shocked by Edwy’s words at first, but they quickly returned to themselves. The miasma. Second form. It was likely a monster.

The four of them rushed down the hill. They quickly sensed that Zynis was close by.

“Over there! What!”

There stood Zynis, in his third form, and two birdfolk. And in front of them, stood a young boy and girl. And in the sky above…

“I can’t even count them. Gazers…”

There were so many that he muttered out loud. The monsters looked just like they did when facing an Adventurer in a dungeon. Like they were about to attack. And to Edwy, Maki and Chiharu looked a lot more nervous than they had been at the border town. Next to him, Dilon and Corete changed shape. Their nails became strong and thick. Their maw extended and their fangs sharpened. It was their second form. On close inspection, the birdfolk also had their claws out.

“Maki! Chiharu!”

To Edwy, it seemed that the monsters reacted to his voice, and grew larger. As Dilon and Corete moved in to attack, Zynis stepped in front of them.

“Wait.”

“But!”

“They told us not to interfere.”

Zynis’s calm voice made them pause. Still, they remained on their guard as they looked at the boy and girl and the gazers.

“They are so wild.”

“Agitated. You were supposed to grow slowly but were unleashed too early. You became gazers too soon?”

“The cave was small and you couldn’t grow. Do you want to get bigger? You don’t want to return to a stone?”

It was if they could hear the sounds of agitation. However, while they seemed nervous, the boy and girl faced them quietly.

“So, do you want to travel outside a little?”

The gazers swayed to the side.

“What are those two saying?”

“Shh. They are able to hear the voices of the monsters.”

“What!”

“Be quiet.”

Edwy scolded Dilon. Next to them, Corete and Aaron watched in disbelief.

“You don’t want to travel? Oh, you sure are willful.”

The girl said. And the gazers buzzed angrily. However, it seemed more like they were sulking and muttering. Sulking? That was ridiculous. Dilon shook his head.

As they talked, the boy and girl seemed to grow less nervous, and they even smiled.

“What should we do then?”

Why was that even a question? Monsters should be defeated. That was it. Dilon was incredibly annoyed by the boy. Now that he thought about it, this was the boy who had been selling the Soluna oranges. He recalled the dark eyes and the hands that had held his. No, they hadn’t done that. Dilon shook his head again.

“Can’t you just all join into one big gazer? If you’re too small, you can become bigger.”

The girl said innocently.

“You’ve never done that before? Of course, you haven’t. But you’re made of miasma, aren’t you? Can’t you just all gather together?”

What a ridiculous request. Suddenly, Dilon felt sorry for the monsters. The monsters in the sky seemed confused as they started to converse with each other.

“What? You’ll try? Yes. We’ll watch.”

As if they represented the others, two small gazers came out to the front and faced each other.

The boy and girl held their hands together in front of them as if they were praying.

As the two gazers quietly came together, their large eyes closed and then stuck together. Then their silhouettes seemed to blur, and then it grew larger and a single eye opened.

“It worked!”

The gazer blinked slowly.

“How do you feel? You feel good?”

Apparently, they didn’t feel agitated anymore. Upon seeing this, the other gazers started to melt into each other.

“He-hey, maybe three is too…oh…uh… Isn’t that too big? I told you.”

The girl said with exasperation. Still, they continued to melt together until there were only five large gazers in the sky.

“You calmed down now, so you don’t mind returning to magic stones? Why are you in such a rush?”

The boy said with a sigh.

“Oh well. Come on then.”

The boy and girl stretched out their hands. The gazers approached as if they wanted to be petted. And then the stones clinked to the ground.

“Impossible…”

“This is the power of the Saintesses.”

Before they knew it, there was not a single monster left. Dilon, Corete, and Aaron stood there in shock.