After leaving the armor shop, we returned to the Adventurer's Inn, Arsen's Delicious Food.

　When we opened the door, the little fat owner, Arsen Polk, who was behind the counter of the tavern on the first floor, immediately found us.

'Welcome back, Mr. Illtimina, Mr. Merle,'
I'm back.
We're home, Mr. Alsen!

　He smiles as we greet him.
　Then he beckons us with his plump hands, 'Come on, come on.

'?

　I looked at Illtimina-san and then approached the counter with her.
　Arsen-san, perhaps to keep the other adventurers in the tavern from hearing me, lowered his voice a little.

'Solstice, you're awake and safe, okay?
What?
Are you sure?

　To our surprise, Arsen-san nodded loudly, 'Yes.

"He seems to be doing fine already. He ate at least three portions of his lunch, too.
Three for three?
Oh, my God.

　Me with a pout and Iltimina with a wry smile.

　But I guess that's a sign that I'm feeling that much better, yes.

(Thank God, Solstice...)

　Illtimina-san beside me is also exhaling heavily from her armor, with a white hand on her large chest.

(Yeah, if you're feeling better, I'd like to thank her.)

　I wanted to say thank you for saving my life in the woods.
　I wanted to say thank you.

　Mr. Arsene notices my impatience and smiles gently.

"Come on, you two, let's get to know each other.
Yes, sir.
Yes. --Mr. Illtimina, let's go, let's go!

　I tug on her hand to hurry up.
　Ms. Illtimina follows with a wry smile, "Don't be in such a hurry, Marle," she says.

　So we walk through the ground floor tavern and up the stairs that lead to the third floor.

　Halfway up, up ahead, a glimmer of silver disperses.

'Oh, are you two back?'

　There was a silver-haired Mr. Kilt standing there.
　She must have been on her way down the stairs.

　Now she was not equipped with a great sword of lightning or black armor, and she was dressed roughly in a sleeveless shirt and trousers. Even her rich silver hair was now tied behind her head in a ponytail.

　It's kind of refreshing.

(In this way, Kilt looks like a normal woman, too.)

　My gaze is drawn, unintentionally, to the new attraction, Mr. Quilt.

　Ms. Illtimina confirms.

'Kilt. Sol's consciousness has returned, right?
Hmm. It was right after you came out. You woke up almost by mistake.

　Quilt laughs and nods at me.
　I can't help but ask him, too.

'So, is Solstice okay now?'
No problem. There are no signs of brain damage. He even ate his lunch.

　A little far-eyed Kilt-san.

　Haha.........Is it still true that there are three servings?　

(But it was good.)

　Me and Illtimina-san look at each other and laugh at each other.　

''Hm........''

　We hold hands and laugh, and Mr. Kilt looks a little thoughtful as we hold hands and laugh.

　What is it?

　It bothered me a little, but right now I wanted to see Solstice more than that.

'Well, Mr. Kilt, we're going to see Solstice.
See you later, Kilt. --Bye, Merle. Let's go.

　We try to get past Mr. Quilt and up the stairs.
　But

Wait.

　That white hand was holding Iltimina-san's shoulder. Eh.........?

　As we looked back at him, Mr. Kilt said.

'Merle, go ahead and see Sol. --But Illtimina. You'll have a few words with me, and you'll come with me to the bar on the first floor.
What?
You want to talk?

　Mr. Illtimina was surprised.
　Kilt-san nodded widely with a genuine expression.

　--there's a strong light in those golden eyes that doesn't allow for refusal.

''I understand.''

　At the party leader's command, Illtimina-san couldn't help but nod her head.

　Then she laughed at me and clapped her clasped hands together gently with her other hand.

I'll see you later, Merle.
Yes.

　Those white fingers moved away.

　I watched the two beautiful women descend the stairs in their place - and Kirt-san's gaze suddenly looked back at me.

''.........''

　Their golden eyes were as hard as iron, yet somehow sad.

　With an incomprehensible anxiety, I stood there until their figures disappeared from my sight--.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇.


　I stood in front of the door, in a corner room on the third floor.

'Soooo, ha.'

　I take a deep breath.
　I'm kind of getting a little nervous, not expecting to meet Solstice alone.

　I don't think I've ever had a one-on-one with a girl my own age in a previous life.

(No, really, I'm an adult now.)

　But maybe it's because my memories of my past life are so fuzzy.
　I have a feeling that my mental age is being dragged down by this Merle's body, and I'm getting pretty young.

(And Solstice seems to be quite moody...)

　Well, I don't hate it.

Good.

　I slap my cheeks with a pang and get into the swing of things.

　Then I knock on the door.

　Concon.

Here we go.

　The girl's voice came back, sounding more easy-going than I expected.

　As if that were an invitation, I turn the doorknob.

I'm home, Solstice.

　I walk into the room, calling out to him.

　The room is the same as it was before I left.

　No, that clean bed is another one that has been added. I'm sure Mr. Arsen prepared one for me as well.

　And in the bed next to it, the girl who was sleeping was no longer there.

''Huh?　What the hell, it's a rag. --Welcome back.

　The startled voice came from a girl sitting at a desk in the room.

(Oh, are you wearing glasses?)

　Solstice wore a pair of large, round glasses.
　She was dressed in a dress, just the waist of a dress, held in place by a waistband, with the hem of the dress just above her knees.
　Her soft, purple hair was now parted in two at the back of her neck and tied up with a string. The ends of the hair had been dropped in front of her body, gently hiding her breasts, which were beginning to swell.

　What was it?
　Just the glasses make this girl look like a quiet, intelligent girl....

　She had a deceitful appearance, and was now looking at a few stacks of papers spread out on her desk.

(Oh, yes. I should thank you.)

　Remembering, I call out to Solstice's back.

'You know what, Solstice?'
Hmm?
So, about yesterday, you know, for, uh, helping me out in the woods.
Stoppage!

　....What?

　It was a sudden, loud voice.
　I stopped, and she looked back at me, glaring at me.

'Don't say any more.'
'What?　But I just want to say thank you--
'Daaaaah!　I told you not to say it, I said it!

　The impostor's mask has come off.

I can only stare at Solstice with a pout as she breathes on my shoulder, "Ha, ha.
　She wiped the sweat off her forehead.

You know what?　If you say that, I'll have to say the same thing, now that I've been rescued from Gad. Do you understand?
Uh-huh.
But I sure as hell don't want to talk like that to a rag!
..........
So, it's a win-win situation, and I'll have no comment on this from now on. Okay?　Do you understand?　If you don't understand, I'll throw a spell in your face.
Okay, okay.

　I nodded coyly, seeing the seriousness in his eyes.

'Then okay,'

　She put her hands on her hips and nodded in satisfaction.
　Then she puts the upturned chair back and goes to her desk as if nothing has happened.

　Hmmm.

(.........how radical and embarrassing is that?)

　This was the first time I'd ever experienced embarrassment that even threatened me.

　I sat down on my new bed, half-impressed, half-dumbfounded, and somehow, I sat down on my new bed for myself.

　Solstice doesn't seem to be interested in us anymore, focusing only on the stack of papers at hand. Looking at that serious profile, it was kind of hard to talk to her.



　Distantly, I would think of such things.

　Pella, Pella.

　Every now and then I hear the sound of Solstice flipping papers.

'Hmmm?'

　She let out a voice that sounded somewhat impressed, and unexpectedly, she looked back at me.

''Hey, you're........Marle?''
Hmm?
You drew this, didn't you?　Tell me a little more about it.

　Huh?

　She fluttered and shook the stack of paper she was reading.
　It looked like a landscape painting of some sort, drawn in ink.

(Oh ... that's a sketch I made in the depths, of the landscape of the tower and the stone pedestal.)

　I was pissed.

"Why does Solstice have that?
I took the liberty of picking through my sister Irna's things.
I don't need...

　What?

It's good. You're my sister.

　Solstice is smiling at you with no signs of ill will.

　Yeah, well, I have no right to interfere with the relationship between the Wong sisters.

But that's not the point. Explain it to me, okay?

　As she said it, she sat down next to the bed I sat on with a bobble.

　Our arms touch each other and I'm a little nervous.
　She's a kid, but Solstice is an amazingly beautiful woman, and her profile is incredibly well-rounded. The fact that she's a bespectacled girl also seems a bit sly.

'Are you listening to me for a minute?'
Oh, I'm sorry. What?
''f*ck it!　Here it is, here it is!

　I regained my composure and accepted the sketch thrust in front of my face.

(Oh, the goddess statue?)

There's something coming out of my hand... what?
Oh, yes. It's the healing spirit water. It comes out of here all the time.
"Spiritual water for healing?

　Solstice looks very surprised.
　I nodded, 'Yes.

'There was a little hole in my wrist, and it came out of there. There's a shell pedestal underneath, in this part of the shell, there was a drain, and it looked like it was being flushed underground.
"Huh?

　She mumbles admiringly and runs her brush over another piece of paper.
　Apparently, she's taking notes on my story.

'Then what about this one?'
This is a stone pedestal. There are seven of them in the woods near the tower. But six of them were broken and only one of them survived. -Didn't you find a map in the sketch?
Is that it?

　Yeah, yeah.

This is the tower and this is the stone pedestal. It's about 1,000 meters in a straight line, don't you think?
"Uh-huh.
Also, this is the Toggle Cliffs, and there was a mural here.
A mural?
Yeah. Illtimina said it's probably a mural from the Divine Demon War, though.
Oh, wow, they're here?

　What is it?
　Her eyes have a tremendous twinkle in them.

　The way her body is coming together is getting quite bold.
　The sweet smell of her hair and her hot, childlike skin makes me a little nervous.

　But Solstice herself doesn't seem to mind.

So what's this then?　What's this?
Ah, the living quarters of the tower. This is where I used to live. You know, Illtimina, I believe you brought some of the books here with you.
'What?　Oh no, where!

　She darted to the corner of the room and threw out the contents of that large backpack with a whimper.

　Ah, Illtimina-san had put it away so carefully........

(Even if she gets mad at me later, I don't know?)

　You've been fishing for a while.

'There it is!　That's it!

　She found it, spread it out on the floor as it was, and began to read it on all fours.
　I stand up and sit down next to her.

'What's this?　It's not a collection of ancient Thanatosian wizardry drawings... what?　Is this really intact and complete?　Oh, really?!
It's the magic circle on this cover.

　I place a sketch of a stone pedestal next to the book.

'I can see it with this one,'
.......... Yeah, it's the same!　　It's hard to compare, isn't it!
I'm sorry.
Oh, no, no, no!　That alone is an awesome harvest!

　She smiled brightly, and then she raised her upper body and folded her arms, this time with a difficult look on her face.

''But I've put it away! I left my dictionary of Thanatos' magic letters in the capital. ........I didn't expect to find these ruins......

　...........

'You know what, Solstice?　When you get to King's Landing, do you know what the letters on this magic circle mean or something?
I suppose. In the royal capital of Muria, there is also the Royal Library, and the guild has expert 'magicians' who specialize in magic, so even if it takes some time, they should be able to decipher it, right?
........... I see.

　I think about it.

"Well I have to go to King's Landing.

　I stare at my hands - at Marle's hands.

　I had to know more about the Divine Demon War, about this tower and this stone pedestal, about Thanatos.

　I have to do the same for the six glowing children I saw in my dream who died - I don't even know why, but for some reason, those feelings are strong inside me.

(I know, Merle. I'll find the answers.)

　When you talk to your hands like that.

Hey, Merle?　If there's anything else you know, tell me.

　Giggling, Solstice pulls me by the elbow.　
　The eyes that look up at me seem to glisten, somehow.
　I give a small smile and ponder.

'I guess you could call it something else. And also about the skeleton king and the magic pendant, I guess?
What's that, what's that?　I want to know more about--

　That's how Solstice urged - and then

　thump-thump

　Suddenly, there was a violent knock on the door of the room.

'Marle-kun, Solstice, are you there!

　She sounded very upset.

Mr. Arsen?

　I looked at Solstice and I looked at each other.
　I got up and opened the door of the room to find a very impatient Mr. Arsen with sweat dripping down his plump face and a very impatient look on his face.

'What's wrong, Mr. Arsen?'
What's the matter with you? I'm in trouble!　Merle, you and Solstice, come on!　Kilt-san and Illtimina-san........!
What?

　What's going on with Mr. Illtimina and the others!

　Me and Solstice hurriedly ran past Mr. Arsen and down the stairs to the first floor tavern.