Chapter 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 .