“I apologize.” Amelia turned around and wiped her tears. Despite that, a few tears found themselves building up on the edge of her eyes. “Just… give me a moment.”

“…” Meiko clutched her left arm and looked to the side. She bit her trembling lips as she forced herself not to see Amelia’s state. “Take your time. I’ll… wait on the opposite side of the statue.”

For a moment, nothing but Amelia’s sobbing filtered through Meiko’s ears.

“I… can’t let sympathy get the better of my judgment.” Meiko shook her head and tapped her cheeks once, twice. “It could be an act. Don’t let it bother you. This is for me. This is for Father and everyone else. I need to… get back.”

I really… don’t belong here.

Meiko cuffed her ears with the palm of her hands.

Don’t listen. I want to see Father, Grandmother. There’s also that new sweets shop opening next to the convenience store. Anna told me she’ll let me help with the store. She told me she’ll need someone who knew how to prepare tea. I need to get back.

Meiko shut her eyes.

I can’t just leave my previous life. I want to see them. I want to touch them… I need to… be reunited with them. I have a life. A second life is not needed. I do not need a fantasy. Even if it’s hard… I have my own reality. I have a world I used to live. I just can’t leave it just like that. I… don’t have anything in this world I can fight for. I really want to return…

Meiko bit her lips.

But Kanna helped me. Amelia… helped me. Mola and the others too. They helped me get by. So at least… in exchange for the help they gave me… I need to help them.

But there are limits. I need to set a limit. I must not give everything for anything. Or else… I’d be a fool.

You are no Hero, Meiko. You are an ordinary girl caught up in a mess.

Sniff.

Amelia brushed her nose with her fingers.

“Uh… Of all the things that could happen, why did I break down?” Amelia’s lips trembled. “Am I really that hopeful? Am I really that hung up for a chance to escape my problems? Ah… I don’t know anymore. I don’t know myself anymore…”

Amelia leaned her back on the statue and slid down to a sit. Her hands covering her face, Amelia sobbed. “What will I say?”

Amelia looked back to the words Celes once said to Amelia.

“Celes, is it really possible for a Hero to return to their previous world?”

Celes simply smiled as she sat on the twisted tree bench she grew before. “What do you think?”

Amelia frowned. “I’m asking here because I do not know.”

“Oh. Then, let me revise the question.” Celes stood up and walked towards the nearest grave marker. She looked up to the Tree of Origin before turning around to face Amelia. “Are you hoping that it is possible?”

“Yes,” Amelia answered swiftly. “At the least, I do not want to lie to Meiko. I did say the truth there was no known method for her to return but… I did say that I’d look for one. And maybe answer that possibility after exploring Academia or the secrets the Scholars kept hidden from the public.”

“All things considered, yes. It is possible for a Hero to return.”

Amelia tilted her head. “All things considered? Then, there are conditions?”

“Yes.”

“Then, have you succeeded even once?”

Celes, again, simply smiled. She turned around and faced the Tree of Origin once more. “What do you think? What do you see?”

“…” Amelia blinked her eyes. “That’s… pretty vague.”

“The answer is obvious Amelia. You are seeing the answer itself.”

“It may be for you, but I don’t even have the slightest idea. I don’t even know why you are cleansing the souls of the Heroes… Wait…” Amelia’s eyes shot open. “Are you cleansing their souls so they can return to their world just like they used to?!”

Celes chuckled. “Amelia, not once have I tried to send a Hero back to their previous world. The possibility is there. But I have no reason to do so. Every single Hero born into this world ends up here. There is no exception.”

“But why? Isn’t that… the right thing to do?”

“Is it?” Celes returned the question. “Was it really the right thing to do?”

“But they don’t belong here. Going by that logic, they should be returned to their rightful place.”

“Even if it’s their own creator was the one who threw them here?”

“That’s…” Amelia shifted her eyes to her feet. “Are we just objects to the Gods? Our Gods?”

“It may or not may be the case. However, even if it that was not the case. Hero’s being a sentimental being is no reason for me to return them from where they came from. It does not benefit me as a guardian. However, you, Amelia, is a different case.”

“What do you mean?”

Celes smiled. “You yourself is the answer, Amelia.”

“…”

Myself… Again, Celes, that is too much of a vague answer.

Amelia continued to sob.

Why must you test me like this? Do I really have to keep on thinking for every second of my life? Can’t I have a rest? It’s one problem after another. I am accomplishing nothing. I am achieving nothing. It’s all hopes and dreams. I need… an answer. A proper answer.

Amelia’s necklace glimmered.

Are you listening, Celes? Please, just tell me a straight answer. Let’s not beat around the bush.

[Amelia, have I really brought you so low?]

No. I understand. I know you want me to learn. To think for myself. To be independent. However, this time around, I want a straight answer. Continue from where you left before. I need… Meiko’s help. I need to convince her. I want her to believe in me. I want her to fight alongside me wholeheartedly. And for that… I need an answer. A concrete answer.

[… Then, Amelia, do you wish to trade?]

Trade? Trade what?

[I will let you and Meiko progress with your problem, however, when the time comes, you will let me do as I please with you.]

Do as you please… At what lengths?

[There are no boundaries.]

But why? What do want to do with me? And when?

[I cannot tell. However, rest assured it is simply a safety margin for me.]

Amelia suddenly realized that her sobbing has long stopped. And as she thought of forfeiting her life, at least, if it’s my life in exchange, let me say a proper farewell to everyone, Amelia gulped.

Celes chuckled. [Then we have a deal.]

A moment after, everything turned white for both Amelia and Meiko. They felt a sudden pull and sensation of free fall struck their minds.

“W-what’s happening!” Meiko screamed as darted her eyes. “Amelia?! Wait, the Babel is gone?!”

Amelia, on the other hand, blinked her eyes and embraced the sensation of falling as if it was the norm.

“What kind of transportation is it this time?” Amelia muttered, used to the surprises Celes does now and then.

“Amelia! What’s happening?! Did we trip some sort of trap?” Meiko tried swimming towards Amelia, but to no avail, her distance to Amelia remained the same.

“Relax, Meiko. It will be over soon?”

“Don’t joke like that! I don’t want to die this early! And here I was reminiscing the old times!”

“No! We’re not dying! We are just… simply falling, that’s all!”

“It’s not ‘that’s all’, you know?!” Meiko cried. “If we hit the ground, we’ll splatter like goo!”

Amelia knitted her brows. “Just relax, will you?! Nothing bad is going to happen to us!”

“How can you be so sure?!”

“Just trust me!”

A second later, Amelia and Meiko felt a light bump from their rear.

“See? Nothing bad happened,” Amelia said, scanning the surrounding greenery. “But why a forest though?”

Meiko put up a hand over her chest and breathed. “T-that was scary. I thought I was going to die.”

[How was the surprise?] Celes in her doe form walked from the shade of trees into the clearing where Amelia and Meiko was.

“Getting somewhat used to it,” Amelia said.

[I see. But I believe it’s enough to pull you both back into reality?]

“W-w-wait! A talking dear?!” Meiko scuttled backward until her back hit a tree. “Ouch!”

[You have seen a number of beasts underneath Academia, Meiko. I believe this is no surprise to you.]

“It is! And how did you know that?!” Meiko panicked. She embraced herself and made herself as small as possible.

[I have my ways.]

Amelia knitted her brows. “Celes, are you… teasing Meiko?”

[You may believe what you wish to believe, Amelia. That aside.] Celes tapped the ground with her hoof. The next moment, the ground trembled. Soon, several roots burst from the center o the clearing and formed a table and two chairs. [Both of you. Sit.]

Amelia promptly took her seat and said, “Meiko, there is no danger. I know it’s a lot to take in but… please don’t use your common sense for now. Better to shut it off completely for a moment.”

“That’s a tall order…”

“This concerns my promise. My promise on how to get you home. I’m fulfilling the end of my promise, so, please, calm down and sit.”

Meiko’s trembling stopped. “You mean, you found a way for me to get home?”

“Yes.” Amelia turned towards Celes. “She will tell us to be exact. And this will be the first time I’ll be hearing it too so… I want to hear it.”

“Ah…” Meiko clenched her fist and took a deep breath. She stood and then took her seat opposite Amelia.

[Now then, Amelia, I’ll have you to bind you with this contract first.]

A magic circle formed in front of Amelia. The sigils, the number of layers the magic circle had, were all in the realm Amelia could not understand. At the very least, she could tell it was a complicated spell.

[Thrust your arm into the magic circle and the contract will take effect.]

Amelia nodded. She raised her left arm and inched it close to the magic circle. As soon as her finger touched its surface, the center portion parted like a sliding door. Then, as her hand went deeper, the layers of circles covered Amelia’s arm and clamped like a lock. The moment her hand reached the last magic circle, the magic circles glimmered and vanished.

[Now then. What is it do you want to know first?]

“Can Meiko return to her original world?”

[Yes.]

Meiko gasped in response. “Really?! I can?”

“Can Meiko do it on her own?”

[No.]

“W-wha?” Meiko stood from her seat and raised her voice. “But why?! Why can’t I! T-there’s magic for it, isn’t there? I know there is! It’s just that the conditions are! Are…”

Meiko covered her mouth as her voice faded as she recalled the conditions to unlock the magic that brought in Heroes from another world.

It’s too much…

Amelia looked towards Meiko and asked, “Is what Meiko thought as the answer to her prayers another option?”

Celes chuckled. [You know well it’s a no, Amelia.]

“I figured.”

“Huh?” Meiko blinked her eyes. “W-what do you mean?”

“We’ve been there, Meiko. And I told you, you cannot trust your own power.”

“H-how can you be so sure? The conditions are… gruesome, true. But… they are convincing, at least.”

[You will do well not to believe to your gift, Hero Meiko.]

“Telling me that doesn’t convince me at all.”

“Then, can you return Meiko?”

[I have the ability to do so.]

Meiko’s eyes shot open. “Then! Plea—”

“However, given my situation, I cannot. No matter how long time passes, I cannot and will not return Heroes to their original world. The deed does not benefit me or Origin in any form.”

Meiko fell to her seat and slumped forward. “But why? I was just… caught up in all these.”

[That thought of yours is false, Hero Meiko. The Gods does not simply pick randomly who their candidates are. There is a reason as to why you were chosen. And that reason, I cannot tell. So, at the least, you are by no means an innocent bystander.]

“Ah… What did I do wrong…?”

[The question is what you did right, Hero Meiko.]

Meiko fell into silence.

“Then, if you won’t and can’t return Meiko to her world, then who does? The Divines? The True Divines? The Gods themselves?”

[Other than me, there is their God, of course. However, them returning the Hero they sent here is close to nil.]

“Then?”

[The last option, as I told you before, is you, Amelia. You are the Heroes’ only option of return.]