It was only when he reached the top floor that he was asked to take care of himself by Teacher Klaisman.
　He went down the stairs with a satisfied look on his face as if he had done the job. A weight seemed to have been lifted off his shoulders, and the sound of his nimble footsteps could be heard echoing through the air indefinitely.

　In contrast to such a teacher, Ars wrinkled his brow and looked down in thought. Walking without looking ahead seems dangerous indeed, but that must not be a problem. Maybe it's a good thing that he's willing to take a few other mistakes.
　Either way, if it becomes dangerous, he can call out to them himself and raise them. So Loki walks ahead of Ars for a bit.

　However, as expected of her, she was also concerned about the eyes he had just raised, so she called out to him without thinking.

''Al, what's wrong?　No, I don't know what's wrong with you. Are you referring to the underground tunnels that Instructor Klaisman was talking about?
'Ah, Babel has a history of being created as a research facility in the first place. We've talked about the [Ballar Castle] hypothesis I mentioned before, haven't we? I said that Babel might have originally been Ballar Castle.
Yes, I did hear that on the way to the meeting.
'The point is, since it was made that way, it should indeed not be irrelevant. The same goes for the distance. Since it was built by royalty, it couldn't have been another country's territory until the current Tower of Babel was built.
'Maybe so. If, as Al said, Balar Castle was built before the Tower of Babel, it would be too much of a bug to say it was irrelevant.
You said it was a possibility, but that's why Cicernia had a certain amount of access to Babel and had more information about it than any other country.

　Loki was superficially calm, but as if it made sense, he said, "It does! He raised his voice.
　The reason why Cisernia had some knowledge of the situation in Babel was because the Ahrzeit family was deeply involved in this one matter. Of course, it's not clear how it happened or who initiated it, and it was impossible for Cicernia herself to break into Babel.

'And what the hell was Babel's research all about in the first place?

　A sudden question came to Ars's mind, and he said it without any particular thought - an unconscious outburst like a sleeper.

''Isn't this a protective barrier to keep the demons away?''
..........

　Although it was a very simple answer, but that's where Ars remembered being trapped. In other words, if the research was taken over from Barral Castle, then Babel's research was before the invasion of the demons in the first place, so it was strange to be wary of demons whose existence had not been confirmed at that time.

　If they knew of the existence of the demons, then where did they get it from.......
　The Arzecil continent, where the current seven countries are located, is the last bastion of the invasion.

　They walked side by side down the corridor of the top floor, passing several windows. From there, the hierarchy of the association's headquarters could be seen, and the view was flowing with a much better view.
　Without noticing it, Ars is sinking into a sea of thoughts.

　It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get a good idea of what's going on.

'Al, Al!　Maybe, but not here?

　Loki stopped and indicated the door. There was a handwritten nameplate attached to it, 'Room for the Chairman'.

'Wow~ No dignity, no shit. I mean, it's easy to understand.
How can I say it? How can I say it, I feel like it's very personal, or is it just my imagination?
No, I think that's mostly correct. Anyway, it's a good thing that we don't have to search for it. It's going to take me a long time to get into it.
'Yes. It's a pain in the ass to get tangled up in.

　Ars and Loki face each other once twitching in front of the door. The two of them have been spending the same time with Ilyce at the outer world base [Wiktor], albeit for a short period of time. Perhaps because of that, they have often seen her childishness, or rather her troublesome side.
　Perhaps that's why she feels uncomfortable even knocking against Ilyce.

　If the act of two people facing each other and looking at each other is off-topic, it will be difficult to break the gaze. The air turns awkward for both of them as if they were chained together.
　But it was Loki, unusually, who cut it off early. She drops her gaze to Ars's chest, as if urging him on with caution.

'Be careful what you say about Babel.
I know. I'm not that insensitive, but it can't be forever, can it? It's not good for her.

　Ars, who meditated with one eye, issued a tone of admonition to the contrary. It would be terrible to bother confronting him with a heavy story. Perhaps the other one in the room. It wasn't supposed to be a pleasant story for her.
　Still, if she's going to live in this world for a long, long time to come, she can't just run away from it. At the very least, Ars would do everything in his power to make her see and feel the different worlds.

　As if tearing through the new air, a door is suddenly and wildly opened.
　There was Ilyce, wearing a bright red robe and an exasperated smile on her face.

''You two, why don't you stop standing around and come in?　This wasn't supposed to be a place to milk each other like that, was it?
"...Ilyce!　Please don't say anything vulgar. We were talking about something serious.
Oh, I heard what you said about being tangled up.
'That's it!　Besides, you pick a place for that sort of thing, right?

　As Loki squirmed and was embarrassed, Ilyce, who had been working with the old woman, lifted her cheeks in disgust.

I'm sure you'll be able to find it. You have to say it out loud or else you won't get anywhere.
It doesn't matter. Just get it in.

　Ilyce looks out of the slightly open double doors, which means he's blocking the entrance to enter the room.
　Ars immediately feels painfully aware that he's been tangled up and that his prediction has come true.
　In any case, he didn't want to go on for too long, and he couldn't keep up with Ilyce, who was trying to start such a topic in this place without a care in the world.

　Shifting her gaze from Loki to Ars, Ilyce let out a rude sigh, as if to say, oh dear.

''I'm here at this busy time of year. You've got some business to attend to, kid.'

　Seeing Ars nodding simply, Ilyce invited them indoors, as if in resignation.
　In fact, Ars even had a section of his hat on her skill as chairman. As expected, you can't help but say that she is doing well. I won't say it out loud.

　As expected, even Ars didn't expect the association to get off the ground so quickly.

'You seem to be doing well. Is everything ok?
It's only more work since you decided to deploy to Balmes on your own. The association won't really get going until after the trials are over.
You know better. You knowingly sent me to a meeting. So, what's going on in there? You're on a mission to explore a deposit.
I'm sure it's not a mistake. It's a good idea to have a strong track record, so we can't impose a lot of pressure on them too soon. It's not a bad idea, but it's a simple mission to get there and back.

　As Ilyce says, the reason behind this is to create a track record for the future use of the academy students in the association as well. All the academies have come forward knowing that. There are some physical reasons for this, but for this test operation, a lot of preparations and backup personnel have been gathered. The association is also preparing for the test operation with an exaggeratedly thorough preparation.

"It can't be helped. We're not using military personnel, you know.
It's taking some time, but we're leaving it up to the field to decide, and we'll have reports coming up on the direct end.

　Despite the conversation, Ars and Loki scurry into Ilyce's office and own room, which is the first time they have entered Ilyce's office. The room is larger than Ars's laboratory and has a hard carpet on the floor. The ceiling is about two stories high, and there's even a glass-walled briefing room with a long table at the end.

　Rather than bookshelves, there are shelves filled with documents lined up along the walls. If you glance around, you'll see that there are also books on magic and other specialized books that are firmly in place. Originally, she was always gathering information to keep up with the times in magic. In short, she's eager to study.

''--!　Al........Al!

　Suddenly, Loki tugged on Ars's hem to get his attention. He was quite impatient, and his haste was unprecedented.
　He turns around, but Loki's face remains turned sideways, not looking at Ars, and his finger complains about the direction of the problem.

　Following her, Ars turned his head in the direction she was pointing, and he was just as confused as Loki. Ars struggled to know how to react.

　There was an object in front of him that was too curious. The right thing was there, I suppose I should describe it.
　Ilyce walked in a straight line to her desk without regard to us. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to get an explanation from her, but I have the feeling that her back is spying on my reaction in an amused way.

　Ilyce's clammy eyes poured in from over her shoulder.

　To put it simply, there was a strange person in front of Ars and Loki.
　He was sitting in a manual wheelchair with a blanket draped over his knees and his ankles visible through it, so thin they were nothing but bone and skin.
　The ankles were stringy and the skin was pure white. Even the blood vessels seemed to be visible through them.

　If you lift your gaze further, you will find golden hair that is tied back. It's a beautiful, well-kept hair. The light of the room floats above the hair. But even though it's clothed, that golden hair still sits on my lap like a little animal curled up. How long does it have to be cut to grow that long?


　A sudden question arose in Ars and Loki's mind, but that wasn't what puzzled them in their reaction.
　Although they were dressed in cute, frilly clothing, the important thing is that Ars and Loki could not see their faces.
　In other words, they are wearing a headdress that completely resembles an animal, with the hair sticking out of the smooth gap in their necks. The headgear has pinched ears, round painted eyes, and a few beard-like strands extending sideways from the cheeks. Quite simply, he was wearing a cat's headdress. It could not be described as flattering and elaborate.

　What should I say to that girl, who completely hid her expression, neither Ars nor Loki could speak immediately.

　They could hear breathing a little raggedly, whether it was hot or hard to breathe through the air holes they had to breathe.

　Then the girl in the wheelchair changes the angle of her headgear to look up a bit. It is completely unreadable what she is trying to convey from her expression. It's just that the depths of her eyes are completely dark, and it's rather frightening.

　You can't ignore it, but you don't know if you should compliment him on how well it looks on him, or if you should worry about his head.
　The cover-up then turned the black eyes set up as a design and then tilted cockily to the side. It may not be the right size, but it is swinging restlessly and dizzy like a neck-flipping doll.

　The girl seemed to be in a bacchanal hurry and secured the coverings between her hands.

　Of course, both Ars and Loki know about her. They know her, but they even felt that she had changed a lot.

''...What are you doing, Latifah?
Hey, brother, it's been a long time... "'You said you'd come see me, but you're late, and you're making me wait, and you're late.

　The muffled, odd sounding voice was pinched like it was leaking through an air hole. It was hard to hear, but what was even harder to hear was the whispering towards the end of the word.
　Whether it was intentional or not, even at this distance, Ars and Loki couldn't hear what he was saying with a mogogul.