“Chrys, I’m always on your side.”

“Naskan, you’re such a piece of trash…”

“I will never do anything you hate.”

“Scumbag. Just die. Ugh… I’ll kill you myself…”

“It’s okay if you want to kill me with your own hands. Just calm down.”

“D*mn, ah, huh, huh… Huuh, this, ugh, b*stard.”

“All right, fine. You don’t have to dirty your hands. I’ll just kill myself, right?”

Naskan quickly came up with a clear answer. This was in response to something she had said not long ago about how she would kill him.

Chrys, crying like a child, shrugged her shoulders.

Sadly, that seemed like the right answer somehow.

Anyway, this reaction was identical to many others who had used divine power before. Seeing the future and having an outburst, sometimes triggered by a single word. It seemed like she would soon come back to her senses. Without even noticing, his lower body had returned to normal.

“Chrys, it’s okay if I die, right?”

Naskan whispered sweet words, hoping to soothe her pleasantly. After a while of huffing and puffing, Chrys finally spoke.

“You’re insane.”

“Whoo…”

He went on to sing the ceremonial song up to its fourth verse. Hearing the insults, his perverted lower half stood up again. Why can’t he do anything but react to such things?

“…Why would you kill yourself?”

“I’m sorry.”

“….”

“I’m sorry. It was my fault.”

“….”

“Please forgive me.”

After a long silence, Chrys finally sighed deeply.

“Why are you apologizing for something you didn’t do?”

“I wouldn’t have apologized in the illusion you saw. So, I should do it in reality.”

“Whoo…”

“I’m not that insane, bad, scumbag, b*stard you think I am.”

Seizing the moment, Naskan listed all the insults she had hurled at him and denied them. Embarrassed, Chrys stopped crying and snickered, then rubbed her tear-streaked face with both hands. It seemed like, despite the intention, it worked to calm Chrys down.

Having vented both her anger and tears, she stepped out of Naskan’s embrace. She moved a few steps away and scratched the back of her head, appearing quite sorry, though it was unnecessary.

“Hey, Dawn. It seems like I’m really a disaster…”

❖

With Naskan’s help, using Twilight’s power, she saw a vivid scene.

To summarize:

Chrys was trying to escape from Naskan, who had become the Lord, to meet someone. However, he stopped her and confined her.

Hearing his words, it seemed she was in a state of such magic depletion that her life was in danger, refusing care from Dawn while also refusing to receive magic. The reason for her confinement was likely an attempt to forcibly provide her with magic.

And when her emotions escalated to their limit, the sound of a rift cracking open was heard.

Due to the uncontrollably expanded great rift, the world ended just like that.

Having heard a summarized version that omitted specific actions, Naskan first insisted he would never resort to something like confining her. He then roughly ran his fingers through his hair, looking like he couldn’t believe it, but Chrys was at a loss, too.

There were many troubling points, and she found things just as incomprehensible.

“…Who were you trying to find?”

Naskan cautiously brought up one of the questions.

“Well, I don’t know… I would need to see it properly to know.”

“It’s frustrating.”

“It seems like a problem we can’t solve just by talking among ourselves. Let’s ask the Lord. It’s true the Lord has kept things from me.”

“Why am I considered the Lord in the first place? Our current Lord is perfectly healthy.”

Indeed, the current Lord of the divine realm was quite young. There weren’t many scenarios in which Naskan would suddenly take over as Lord, except perhaps in a far future that Chrys had seen.

Or unless something had happened to the Lord.

“I was curious about that, too. I was actually planning to contact the Lord.”

Whatever the Lord had entrusted, contacting her seemed crucial now.

Chrys took out the magic tool again to contact the Lord, but despite the long ringing, she didn’t pick up. After trying a few more times to the same result, she put down the device.

“She’s not picking up. Let’s try again…”

Drrr. Drrr.

As she was about to make another attempt, the device suddenly rang.

“What. Who’s that?”

“Do you expect a call from anyone? Answer it.”

As Chrys immediately activated the tool and held it to her ear, an urgent shouting voice came through.

[ Twilight! There’s been a big problem! ]

It was a call from the Twilight Knights residing in Sedition.

Chrys showed the magic tool to Naskan and tapped it with her finger, asking if he had heard that as well. After seeing Naskan nod, she asked the presumed captain of the Twilight Knights what the huge problem was.

“What’s the big problem?”

[ Ah, you’re listening. A rift has opened. ]

“…A rift opened again?”

[ “Yes, Twilight. It opened suddenly without any warning, similar to the phenomenon that occurred over Sedition during the last ritual. Coincidentally, it opened right at the passageway connecting Sedition to the spirit realm. But that’s not the important part…” ]

The fairy paused for a moment.

[ “It’s said to be because of Twilight.” ]

“That’s nonsense.”

[ “Yes, of course, it would seem so. But too many are joining that nonsense. The Skylte b*stards have all stormed into Twilight’s Lair, repeating that senile’s nonsense. We can’t just let this slide, what should we do?” ]

“…Skylte?”

[ “Yes, Skylte. Not trainees like us, but the real Skylte. I’m not sure what caused such a large number to move, but they encountered that rift trying to enter Sedition.” ]

There was nothing to respond with. Chrys just swallowed hard.

[ “It seems those guys also suffered significant damage because of this rift. Half of the trainees here have hastily returned to the spirit realm.” ]

How long did they listen to the talkative fairy’s words?

Through the magic tool, another fairy’s voice could be heard, faint but distinct in its unique tone.

[ “Even if I did apply to join Skylte, to follow such nonsense… It would have been dreadful if I didn’t have a choice.” ]

[ “That must really be some senile nonsense.” ]

[ “Agreed.”]

[ “Quiet! We’re in the middle of communication now!” ]

The voices were chaotic for an urgent message. The one attempting communication, presumed to be the captain of the Twilight Knights, didn’t seem to have much authority.

[“Ah, of course… Suddenly losing so much of the guard force has indeed put a proposal on our table. But, thinking it over, the only conclusion is that it’s time for that senile tree to go. We were always the troublesome ones, so it didn’t matter to us, but not to the other fairies. For now, we’ve managed to send them back, though they might come again. The atmosphere is also not too good. Anyway, it’s best if you don’t come to Sedition for a while.”]

Chrys had expected the Parent Tree to try and hide the incident. She hadn’t anticipated such blatant disclosure. It was almost like war was knocking at their doorstep.

[ “Ah, and Twilight.” ]

“Yes?”

[ “Astel and Metius wanted to say something to you. It’s nothing serious… about the place where the rift opened. They were originally in charge of guarding that route. They said if you hadn’t taken them for a mission suddenly, they might have died in that rift, and they would like to greet you if possible.” ]

“Ho…”

Even in such times, those kids managed to bring a smile.

__