Colonel Aziz got up, along with everyone else, as the Conference of the Four finally ended the debate on the last agenda — the Eastern Territories’ fate. The Eastern Paragons working with Shizo had offered a passionate plea, but ultimately, the Western Holdings and the Southern Continent had stood on the side of the North. Aziz wasn’t sure why that even the Southern Assembly had thrown their support behind the Mortal Light Dynasty, given their traditionally acrimonious relations, but politics made fickle bedfellows.

“You’ve almost stepped through the door,” said Marie, who was beside him. “You ready?”

“Almost,” Aziz replied. “I’m feeling light-headed, but I still have my mental faculties. Lots of things are flashing through my mind now, and the vow I’ve decided on is repeating over and over in my head.”

“That means that you’re almost guaranteed to succeed, then,” said Marie. “There are many ways to force a breakthrough; you just need to manually recite your vows with intent and purpose. For those who are truly ready, however, they’ll be experiencing the same thing as you. It’s a sign that your current behaviour is already aligned with the vows you have in mind. You’ll be breaking through any moment now.”

“Any moment?” Aziz asked. “In that case, shouldn’t I find a good place to sit down at to do something as important as this?”

“Why do you need one?” Marie asked. “The process is really quick. Hours might seem to have passed, but no matter what, the breakthrough process takes less than a second in real time. Have you forgotten about the books and records you’ve read?”

“The ones where the good guys become a Knight, when cornered and on the verge of death?” Aziz asked. “I’ve read half of The Legend of Heroes, but they all seem to have the same ‘become-a-Knight’ gimmick at the end.”

“I know,” Marie replied. “Although this might look like plot armour or a contrived coincidence, fiction is based on reality. Protagonists of such stories have lived up to their implicit vow throughout the story; at the final moment, when everything seems to go against him, not losing faith in their convictions is what allows them to break through.”

“The subtext implied that it was the Human God’s doing, though,” Aziz replied. “I mean, why else would those people offer thanks to the Human God?”

“Wait, which edition were you reading? Anything from beyond the fifth edition of The Legend of Heroes cannot be said to be factually accurate,” Marie replied. “Since that was when the Holy Temple brought out the rights to printing them. Most historians agree that from the sixth edition onwards, the underlying currents of every saga was rewritten to hint at Anren’s influence behind the scenes.”

“Eh?” Aziz looked at Marie, who was milling behind the other members of the Republic’s delegation, and followed her lead. “Does that mean that you have the first few editions?”

“The third one,” the marshal replied. “Got it for eight hundred gold.”

“Eight hundred?” Aziz rubbed his eyes. “That’s a lot. What’s your salary like now? Are you getting paid ten thousand gold a month?”

“Don’t be silly, it’s only one-fourth of that,” Marie replied. “Still better than yours, though.”

“Then give me a raise,” Aziz replied through gritted teeth. “I’m still getting a captain’s pay, right? At the very least pay me properly!”

“I’m working on it,” Marie replied. “It’s just that we have some anti-human sentiments going around in the higher echelons. The State Council’s trying to weed those fellows out, but it seems that they’re extraordinarily skilled in not leaving a paper trail. Even when we ask the Ministry of Finance, or any other ministry for that matter, we just get confused replies and half-hearted efforts.”

“Does this anti-human movement also relate to me getting harassed and receiving anonymous letters to resign?” Aziz mused out loud.

“What?!” Marie whirled around to face the colonel. “You’ve been receiving things like these?”

“Yeah, although I’m not sure if they’re from your fan club or from this anti-human movement you speak of,” Aziz replied. “I mean, some of these letters were angry because we went out on a trip together in the East, while the rest are telling me to get you to work in a more public area. And there are still others that say that I, a human, should be maintaining a respectful distance from the belle of the South.”

Aziz winced as the marshal grabbed his shoulders. His teeth began to rattle as she shook him up and down.

“Wait, that hurts! That seriously hurts!” His eyeballs dancing in their sockets, the colonel grabbed Marie’s hands and tried to stop her from inflicting any more damage. “I know you don’t like the truth, but you have to face reality! You have a rabid fanba— argh!”

His vision began to swim as the marshal shook him ever harder. At the same time, the words that had been repeating in his head since the morning began to grow in volume, seemingly bouncing off his skull and leaving echoes behind. His vision began to swim, turning into a blur that melded with the up-down movement courtesy of Marie.

Strength began to ebb from every part of his body, receding into his bones like the tides of the Never-ending Ocean. Within moments, the only thing he could hear were the echoing words in his head, as well as an uncomfortable feeling of being plucked out of his body.

Marie’s eyes were wide-open, and the other members of the Republic’s delegation were rushing over to him, but his ears were no longer working. In fact, Aziz could see his own body from an outside perspective, but before he could do anything, the world began to change.

The hall had vanished, and all around him was a deep fog.

Ah…I’m about to break through. This must be the place where I say my vows out loud, right? Aziz looked around curiously. He’d heard of this place before, since there were entire bookshelves devoted to this place.

In literature, this place was called Podia. A world of fog, people who came here could only see a tall figure staring impassively at them, capable of peering through the soul. The colonel gulped, trembling slightly as he laid eyes on the unmoving, divine figure hidden in fog.

But that figure wasn’t alone.