After fooling around with Aria for a few more seconds, Gemini got up and stretched his body. As a great god with a physical body, he didn’t quite have the luxury of just sitting still and doing absolutely nothing. Even if his mind could take it, his body definitely wouldn’t.

“Paba…muh.”

“Papa’s stretching, Aria,” Lila replied. “His job is to sit there the whole day. It’s a tough one. Can you hear his bones creaking?”

“You make it sound really easy, though,” Gemini complained. “If only sitting there was my actual job…”

“That’s what you’re doing, though,” Lila replied. “You’re just sitting there and staring down on the Wildlands, dear. What else would you want me to say? I mean, even that sounds easy.”

The Demon Sovereign reflected on his job scope, before noting that all he had to do was to give out some orders. His subordinates would fall over themselves to execute them afterwards…and Pai-Relix was more than capable of actually formulating good plans for him to use. Sure, he probably did give a few good ideas, but none of them would have worked in any other context. It was no different from him giving answers that should have been wrong, only for them to be correct by sheer luck and circumstance.

“Wait,” Gemini muttered, “am I actually useless?”

“You?” Lila thought for a moment. “Nope.”

“You actually need to think for a second to come up with an answer, though,” Gemini pointed out.

“Point.” Lila rubbed her nose. “But you came up with Enduring Peace in its current form. You decided not to use Bal-Nan’s suggestions and chose to display a kindness that should only be afforded to one’s own forces.”

“And everyone bent their back over to accommodate my suggestions,” Gemini replied. “It’s one thing if they’re actually good, but if anything happens—”

“Killing them all won’t trouble your conscience,” Lila replied, her face a mask of granite.

“Lila. We aren’t going to do any killing as far as possible, okay?” Gemini rubbed her head. “Don’t get mad at them. It’s natural to want to escape from a prison…even if it’s a glided one. And we definitely aren’t trapping them in cages made of gold.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Don’t worry. Why would they escape? Where would they escape to?” Gemini walked over to her back and hugged her. “I chose to give them good accommodations, so that they would find living in the Wildlands an icky alternative. It’s a good master plan!”

He paused. “Also, I get the feeling that we look like some evil couple, talking about our plans…let’s just keep work out of our interactions from now on, okay?”

“Oh, I wasn’t the only one…”

“Auh!”

Gemini squeezed Lila lightly, and then straightened his back once more. Pacing over to the window, he looked out at the clear skies, and then at the black dome that covered the Wildlands. Enough sunlight leaked through to illuminate the Wildlands, creating a perpetual dawn. Just enough to see, but nothing else.

How did this black dome work? It would be a problem if he couldn’t work out the specifics. As the designated successor of the Demon God, he had a responsibility to at least understand the mechanisms of the Wildlands’ final defence. He had been researching it right until Operation Enduring Peace began, but now that Gemini was free to use his conscious mind once more, he was now turning it to more important things.

“Say, Lila, how do you think this black dome works?” Gemini asked.

“You’re asking me?” Lila looked up.

“Just want some input from someone that’s neither an Exemplar nor a Demigod,” Gemini replied. “What do you think this is? Based on instinct.”

“Instinct?” Lila, whose hands were occupied by little Aria’s, frowned. “Maybe it’s interfering with flight somehow. To begin with, how do people even fly? Why can Demigods fly here, but not Exemplars?”

Gemini nodded. She had brought up the same question as everyone else. Was it really the difference between those who had divinity and those who didn’t? In that case, what about divinity made the difference?

“That’s a good question.” Gemini mulled over the issue for a few moments.

After the war, both sides would need to rebuild. If only Demigods could fly here, their rate of recovery would be significantly lower than that of the Five Lands. It would be harder to respond to emergencies too.

Therefore, their next priority once the war ended was to deal with the black dome, as much as it protected them. It would be useful if they could find a way to toggle it on and off, like a last resort, but that was being optimistic.

“Should I head to the centre of the Wildlands?” Gemini mused.

“At the Demon God’s seat of power?”

“Yes,” Gemini replied. “If I’m not wrong, there’s probably something really important there. Like a core. I can feel it tugging at me, calling out for me to take ownership. It’s just that I haven’t had the time to explore the place fully.”

Lila nodded. “Maybe we can go there after the peace treaty is concluded.”

“Would be a good holiday for us, true, but I think I’ll need to check it out earlier.” Gemini smiled at her. “Once peace is attained, we should head out and sample the culture of the other tribes.”

“Sample…” Lila licked her lips. “Is there anything good to eat?”

“We’ll have to ask the others for that,” Gemini replied. “Oh. Look. Finally. A response to our entirely illogical set of actions so far. About time.”

He hugged Lila once more. “I’ll be back soon.”

Lila nodded. “Stay safe out there.”

“Auh!”

Rubbing Aria’s head, Gemini left the house, turning into a streak of light that blazed through the skies.