After teasing Lila about how gullible she was, Gemini got her to carry Aria. Carrying Aria was probably the best method to cheer anyone up; she had this instinctive ability to make everyone she interacted with open up and smile, even if it was someone like the Republic’s Minister of State.

“So, five hundred gold. What should we do with it?” Gemini asked. “To begin with, is there any kind of food that would actually cost even a hundred gold?’

“Maybe some absurdly luxurious ice-cream?” Lila asked.

“That’ll just be a rip-off. Come on, what kind of ice-cream is a hundred gold?” Gemini chuckled. “Let’s just fill our tummies with anything that smells great.”

“Poor Aria.”

“Auh?” The baby in Lila’s hands looked up at her.

“I’m not letting you eat unhealthy stuff. You’re too young.” Lila rubbed her head. “Besides, you just got by your teething period.”

“Buh.”

“That’s probably her way of expressing disappointment, right?” Lila asked. “I mean, she usually goes ‘auh’ in a sad tone, but somehow, this utterance just tugs at my heartstrings…”

“Let’s just go and get some food suitable for Aria first. If she’s full, she’s not going to start wanting the unhealthy things,” Gemini replied, before bending over and placing his ear on Aria’s tummy. “Besides, she’s hungry.”

“Again?”

“Again.” Gemini shrugged. “Seems like she digests porridge too quickly.”

“Oh dear. Alright, let’s feed her first, then.”

With that, the three of them wandered off in search of shops that sold suitably healthy meals for babies. With Lila at the lead, Gemini looked around at the billboards, which were still flashing all kinds of optimistic news about the invasion of the Central Circle. In fact, they were already showing how the North’s Locomotives obliterated the Demon God with a single volley of the North’s godkiller weapons, the Peacebringers.

Gemini himself wasn’t sure how these Peacebringers worked, but he was quite sure that the Abyss Sovereign wasn’t just going to stand there and take those shots. After all, he had actually participated in the Great War, and apparently even witnessed the Demon God’s end.

“Quite scary, isn’t it?” Lila’s voice spoke in his ear.

Gemini nodded. “If I was on the receiving end, would I have done better? Probably not, I guess. The great gods think the same way too. That’s why they insist on making the Five Lands do the brunt of the fighting. If the Abyss Sovereign is defeated, the great gods must learn to navigate a world with Locomotives and Peacebringers. Therefore, for their own survival, the Five Lands must suffer as many casualties as possible.”

“In the end, we missed the period in which the Abyss Sovereign was the weakest,” Lila noted. “The enemy’s resolve is now so firm that I can feel it even from here. The Abyss Sovereign is so determined that reality itself is already bending to his will.”

“Spoken like the spouse of the great Demon Sovereign.” Gemini nodded approvingly. “Yes. We brought him enough time to affirm our will. To make up for their shortfall, the great gods decided to walk the land, to internalise the huge stakes that follow.”

“Wait, that’s what they were doing?”

“What, you thought they just wanted to relax?” Gemini smirked. “Nope. Like me, they’re all reinforcing their will to fight. They’re reminding themselves that the whole of Orb is at risk, should the Abyss Sovereign’s festival of creation come to a close. The great gods truly intend on taking up the burden to protect the world.”

Lila smiled, and in return, Gemini held her hand slowly. There were some things that didn’t need to be said between the two of them, like the source of Gemini’s resolve.

“Auh?”

Gemini chuckled. “Come on. Aria looks really hungry now.”

As the little family continued down the streets, the billboards continued to display more and more videos about the Five Lands’ massive expedition. An enormous fleet of ships floating on the Never-ending Ocean, a giant crowd of flyers, gatherings of familiar spirits...

If the Abyss Sovereign had seen such a unity a year ago…

Gemini shook his head. It was all simply theoretical at this point, but he couldn’t help but feel some pity at how the Five Lands was demonising the Abyss Sovereign.

“Hmm?”

“Something wrong?” Lila asked.

“Yeah. Something troubling,” Gemini replied. “It would seem that the Demigods of the Wildlands just crossed the border between the Wildlands and the Five Lands. For some reason, these punks are intending to…take part in the assault on the Central Circle.”

“You didn’t authorise this, did you?’

“You do remember that I chose to relinquish my rulership of the Wildlands, right?” Gemini replied. “What they do is none of my business; my job is to stay in my Divine Realm, and relax with the two of you.”

“You sound very decisive in that regard,” Lila noted, a grin on her face. “I approve.”

Gemini laughed, before shaking his head. “Still, I can’t help but feel worried. Those guys are very straightforward, and most of them have been used to dying in fights. With their immortality gone…”

“Yeah. Maybe you should do something about it.”

“…Here we go again.” Gemini rubbed his neck. “But let’s not think too hard about these issues for now. I’ll have all the time to think once we’re back at the battlefront. I’m going to take it easy for now.”

“That sounds fine to me,” Lila replied. “And Aria’s been patting her tummy for the past minute or so. We should seriously get her some food before she starts crying.”

“She rarely cries, though.” Gemini smiled. “So cute.”

“Well, she did cry quite a bit back then, before you brought us over to your Divine Kingdom,” Lila replied. “She was so feisty back then, heh.”

“Feisty?”

“Yeah. Your influence probably helped in calming her down,” Lila replied. “Or was it because Chamberlain kept coming to play peek-a-boo?”

Gemini tried to imagine the old man playing peek-a-boo, and then shuddered. “A rather disturbing image. Thanks, Lila.”

An impish grin entered his eyes. “You’re welcome.”

Rolling his eyes, Gemini pointed at a nearby shop that proclaimed to be the number one porridge shop in the whole of Orb. “How about that place?”