Mr. Illtimina, who is the same age as me, and I run through the forest.

　Eventually we see a river.

　It's a three-mile wide river that runs through a depression about a mile off the ground - lots of water, and it's flowing fast. There are many parts of the river that have whitecaps when it hits the rocks.

(Not good if you fall in.)

　I knew at a glance that the river was quite dangerous.

'There he is!'

　Illtimina shouted and pointed downstream.

　I gave her a look and found mine.

(Solstice!)

　Thirty yards downstream, a small girl straddles the trunk of a tree that grows sideways from the shore.

　Soft purple hair.

　Big crimson eyes.

　Her innocent expression is exactly like the Solstice I know, yet the innocence she's lost shines through.

(Like an angel....)

　I couldn't help but admire it.

　But I quickly remembered how bad the situation was.

　The tree the young girl Solstice straddles stretches sideways, and directly below her is the surface of the rushing water.

　A small hand that was stretched out - a butterfly with emerald green shimmering wings perched on a branch at the end of it, slowly opening and closing its beautiful wings.

''Uh, wow...''

　I was so engrossed in that butterfly that I couldn't see my surroundings.

　No matter how small and light the little girl Solstice was, by all accounts, that tip couldn't be expected to be able to support its weight.

　Meki, Mishimish.

　The branches creak so loudly that we can almost hear their creaking sound.

　We run frantically.

"Solstice, no!

　Illtimina shouted loudly to her sister.

　'Bigg!'

　But it had the opposite effect.

　The sudden voice of her sister startled the young Solstice and made her stiff body jump - at the moment, she lost her balance.

(-- Ah.)

　In front of our wide-eyed eyes, a young girl falls from the trunk of a tree.

　In contrast, a beautiful butterfly flutters into the sky.

　Solstice reaches for it and heads towards the bouncing surface of the white waves.

　All of these things seem to be in slow motion.

"Solstice!

　I screamed.

I'm not going to let you go.

　bang

　When he let his ears and tail grow, he kicked the earth like it was going to explode and took a huge leap.

　--Deliver!

　In the air, reaching out hard.

　Crunch.

　I got you!

　I tug on that little hand and hold it tightly in the air and look towards this child's sister on the shore.

　Illtimina looks very surprised at my transformation.

'Catch it!'

　He screamed.

　buzz

　He swings his fox-like tail wide and twists his body using its centrifugal force as well.

　Po~n.

　Then he threw the little girl Soltis's small body towards the little girl, Iltimina-san, as if drawing a parabola.

''So, Sol!''

　She catches her sister in a hurry and loses her momentum and falls on her ass.

　Still, my sister doesn't let go of her sister.

(Alright!)

　We're both safe - the moment I saw that.

　zapaaan

　I myself fell to the surface of the water with a violent splash.

(U, ku.........?!)

　The flow of the water, which was more than I expected, immediately took away my freedom.

　In the water, my body spun around and around, and I couldn't even feel up and down.

　Gunghh, gosh.

　Ouch!

　We hit the rocks in the river a few times.

(d*mn!)

It was a tremendous torrent that even the power of the divine dog couldn't resist. The power of nature's water can never be underestimated.

　Moga Moga.

　Still, I struggled to get my face above the surface of the water.

''Phew!''

　I managed to take a breath.

　And.

Merle!

　I heard what sounded like a scream from Miss Illtimina, half drowned out by the water. If I looked, I could see the pale expression on her face in the distance.

　And.

　doo-doo

　The sounds I heard in the ruins are getting closer.

　I looked in that direction.

(U, wha.........)

　--a waterfall.

　There was a waterfall with a 15-medium drop where the river was cut off in my stream.

　I tried to swim to the shore, but I couldn't.

"Pfft.

　In spite of my desperate resistance, I decide to prepare myself.
　And.

　Boom, boom, boom, boom.

　My little body jumped out of the river's flow and fell into the waterfall basin with a huge amount of water.


　◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇


　It was a strong shock, but I fell into the waterfall basin and I was alive and well.

''Pfft, haha.''

　Face to face in the water.

　The splashes were terrible, but fortunately, the river below the waterfall was calm.

　I moved my arms and legs frantically and managed to reach the gravel-covered riverbed.

'Ha, ha, ha,'

　He immediately fell on his back.

(...lucky me.)

　I thought so.

　Right now I wasn't equipped with anything except for the 'fairy sword'. Other than that, I'm only wearing the top and bottom of a cloth suit.

The 'Fairy Iron Armor', the 'White Silver Armor', the 'Traveling Clothes', the 'Magical Activator Armlet', I had left them all on the cavalry car.

　That's why - I was saved.

　If I had been equipped as usual, there was a good chance I would have drowned, unable to float out of the bottom of the waterfall basin under that weight.

　Bashuuuut.

　Ears and tail disappear with white smoke.

(Ita........)

　The 'divine Qi' flowed through his still-inflamed body, which made the pain even more intense.

　Unable to move for a while, he looked up at the sky.

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

　It's a beautiful sky.

　I'm still not sure if this is really the world we lived in seven years ago, but the sky is still as blue and beautiful as it was seven years ago... and that's how I felt.

　And.

Merle!

　rustling sound

　The nearby bushes swayed and Iltimina ran to me.

　Her left hand was firmly connected to the little Solstice's hand.

''Da, you're okay!　You're alive!

　The girl, Illtimina, kneels down beside me and lifts my head, which is wet with both hair and clothes, without hesitation.

　Muñum.

(What?)

　The elasticity of the twin hills, which is hard to believe to be thirteen years old, assaulted me.

'I'm sorry.... Thank you for saving my sister.''
Uh-huh.

　She looks like she's about to cry.

　I can't help but look away, turning a little red.

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

　And beyond that, I saw the face of the little girl Solstice.

　Her large crimson eyes widened even more, and she was staring at me with great interest.

(Cute.........)

　Once again, up close and personal, I thought.

　The young beauty was far more vulnerable and more protective than the thirteen-year-old Solstice.

　Innocence and innocence.

　There was a divine glow that only this age group possessed, different from the girl who had a somewhat cold eye for the world.

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

　We stare at each other for a while.

　Petticoats.

(Oh?)

　A small hand taps my forehead.

'Ah-gato.'

　A dazzling smile at a poorly worded thank you.

(----)

　No, it will melt my heart....

'Hmmm, Sol...'

　My sister's smile made the girl, Illtimina, laugh too.

　Accompanied by her, I laughed too.

　And then, with my own strength, I raise my upper body.

　

''I'm glad you're both safe,''

　I laugh and say.

Well it's all thanks to you, Merle. Thank you so much.

　She smiles at me, sitting on the ground, and she smiles too, and bows her head to me.

　Then the girl looks around.

　We were on the gravel of a riverbed with a waterfall.
　The trees of the forest were all around us.

　She pointed in the direction of the downstream.

From here, though, you can head straight down south and get out of the woods.

　I said.
　'I guess he kept his promise to show me the way out of the forest when he found my sister.

'But it's going to take me two days. Our village is closer than that, and if you want, Marle, you could come to our village.

(...what?)

　To my surprise, she smiled slyly.

'I can't leave you wet, Marle, and most importantly, I want to thank you for helping us out.
Are you sure?
Of course.

　Nodded broadly, the girl, Illtimina.

　Thank God, I thought.

　I can't leave her like this, I couldn't just leave her like this, I felt that way.

(But........is it okay?)

　I remember.

　The adult Illtimina had told me that the village they lived in was the hiding place for the 'demon blood people' who were fleeing persecution.

　Is it okay for an outsider to enter the village so easily?

You'll always be rewarded for what you owe me - that's what my father always said.
..........

　Father.

(Yes.)

　I wanted to meet Iltimina's parents.

'Then I'll take you up on your offer.
Good.

　She smiled happily at my answer.

　And then I noticed that Solstice, the little girl who had left her sister's hand, was walking dazedly towards the forest.
　Did she find something unusual again?

'Oh!　Hey, Sol!
Huh.

　stunned

　The older sister hurriedly chasing after her, and the younger sister trembling with fear.

　I laughed at the sight of the sisters.

　I looked up at the sky with a smile on my face, the sky was so beautiful, and the shimmering sunlight shone warmly on us forever.