“Hmmm…”

The Oracle, whose hair was now as dry as anything else in this room, was looking at Nakama closely. The little girl was sitting on her lap, staring back with her head tilted.

“At first glance, the seal on her seems to be a rather easy one to undo,” Oracle Galina said, “but there’s actually not one, not two, but three smaller formations that are actively regenerating the seal. This seal seems to have only regained functionality recently, however.”

She cleared her throat. “It’s nothing much for me to solve, since I’m an expert at formations, but this will take some time. This formation was probably created by a Lord with a similar level of expertise in formations — taking it slowly is for the best.”

“Okay. What do you need?” Gaius replied.

“Getting down to business…I like it.” She licked her lips. “To be honest, though, I won’t mind doing it for free. You’re going to do the one thing I wanted to ask of you anyway.”

Gaius narrowed his eyes slightly. “What do you mean by that?”

“You’re intending to head over to World’s End eventually, right?” She asked. “Maybe not immediately, but when the battle begins to go south for the Five Lands’ forces. I can see it in your eyes.”

The boy didn’t say anything, and Galina, thankfully, didn’t press her case. Nakama’s stare, however, was making him feel somewhat uncomfortable. He didn’t recall making any promises to not participate in fending off the demons’ invasion, however.

But he couldn’t meet her gaze, for some reason.

“Let’s move on to the main topic,” Kolya interrupted. “Sofia, does that mean that you can break this seal?”

“Very much so,” she replied. “But there’s a risk to it. It seems that Nakama’s beast trait has a habit of activating subconsciously — if there’s no seal at all, it’s possible that she’ll be roaming into dreams for days on end. Girl, you must learn to control your beast trait, or else you may very well never see Gaius again.”

Nakama jumped. “Control?”

“Yes,” the Oracle replied. “You have a very troublesome beast trait. And to make things worse, most of your kin perished in the Second Extermination. You will have to learn how to control it on your own.”

“Does that mean you know her origins?” Gaius interrupted. “What family did she come from?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” the Oracle replied. “For now, I will not undo her seal just yet. Quite a few beastfolk families seal up the beast traits of their children until they become strong enough, or when they have attained enough control over it. During the Second Extermination, sealing up beast traits were essential in hiding from the humans too, so whoever unsealed this previously must have thought about that instead.”

“I see.” Gaius nodded. “But the ones who undid her seal previously said that Nakama’s body condition would deteriorate over time.”

“And they’re not wrong. But this can be countered by cultivation and a good amount of food,” the Oracle replied. “Hmm.”

“Yes?”

“No, nothing,” she replied. “For now, I would rather complete the seal and have her work on becoming a Squire. That way, she will not suffer from nightmares. I will write down the methods to fully undo the seal for you — it is a rather easy process, albeit lengthy. Of course, you can find me anytime once she’s a Squire, if you’re not certain about the process.”

“Thank you, Galina.”

“Hmm. A child addressing me like that gives off a rather novel sensation.” She ran her fingers through her red hair. “I know you’re like us, but did the summoning process make you more mature than other children your age?”

Gaius shrugged and made a non-committal noise.

“Well, at least we got that solved,” Pinnacle Kolya remarked. He cricked his head, and the sounds of bones cracking made Gaius wince. “Come to think of it, how much time has passed?”

“Nearly a week,” Gaius replied. “You were standing there in a daze, when you could have been doing something better. Were you really emulating an NPC?”

“Maybe?” Kolya rolled his eyes. “Anyway, to Paragons like us, one week can pass in a moment or so. And more importantly, we should be making landfall soon. Do you want to go over to the bridge to take a look?”

“A…bridge?” Isabelle repeated. “Why would there be a bridge here?”

“A navigation bridge,” Kolya added. “Take the chance to see the ship officers in action, and watch the Unity land. Interested?”

“Watch this land?” Nakama asked, skipping on the spot. “Yes please!”

“You’re a little darling,” Galina said. “So polite! So cute! I want a child too!”

The Pinnacle cleared his throat. “After the invasion, maybe. This just doesn’t feel like the right time, does it?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re raising a flag,” the Oracle replied. “Alright, my mind’s made up. We’re going to have a child.”

“Have a child?” Nakama asked. “How?”

Gaius choked, and then lifted her away from the Oracle’s lap. “That’s something Isabelle will teach you when you grow older.”

He glanced at the blushing Knight. “Right?”

“Y-yes.” Isabelle shuffled her feet. “You’re too young right now. Ahem. Anyway, let’s go see the bridge, okay?”

“Yes, yes, the bridge. Pinnacle Kolya,” Gaius said, a hint of warning in his words, “let’s go and watch the landing!”

“Of course, of course.” The Pinnacle’s voice was mechanical, stilted. “Let’s go watch the landing. Oracle, dear, I suppose we can have some time at night to do what we want, if you so insist. After all, we don’t know how the world might end up. “

Gaius coughed really loudly, and then left the door, his footsteps annoyingly loud. Nakama looked up, at Gaius, then at Isabelle, her face filled with confusion, but none of them were going to say anything else.

Within a few minutes, they were at the Unity’s bridge, their eyes focused on the growing landmass that was the Central Circle.