“Here we are!” Nelly jumped out of the transport wagon, “Oh home! How I’ve missed you so much!”

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad.” I chuckled, “Actually, given everything that’s happened, I’d even go as far as to say that the entire trip was remarkably unforgettable.”

“Geez, would you shut up about it already?” Cecily slowly made her way off the wagon, “I’m already scared as it is about finding out I’m pregnant. You don’t have to remind me constantly, y’know?”

“Whatever you say.” I rolled my eyes before turning to the Gryses, “Hey, we didn’t really have a proper celebration back on the island, so what do you guys say about joining us for some tea and treats?”

“We’d be delighted to.” Adam smiled, “Then please, lead the way.”

Entering our dear abode, the first thing Nelly did was immediately leap onto the couch. Really, where did she learn this behavior? And to think, despite her wanting to grow up to be a princess and all that, she’s rather slovenly when it comes to winding down after a long trip. Geez, she couldn’t have waited until our guests left at least?

“Nelly!” Cecily reprimanded her, “Sit properly! Is that the right way to act around guests?”

“Haha, please don’t worry about it.” Elaine chuckled, “It’s nice how she’s so lively. I too grew up as a commoner girl, so if anything, I’m glad she’s so comfortable that she doesn’t need to act all stiff around us.”

“Hmm…” Cecily sighed, “Even still, I don’t want her to make this a habit. Commoner or not, you must absolutely act gracefully, Nel!”

“But I’m tireeeed~!” Nelly voiced her complaints before changing topics suddenly, “Hey, hey. Is it gonna be a boy or a girl?”

“What’s with the sudden question?”

“I want a little brother!” She smiled, “Because a cute little sister is no good! She’ll take my place in the family!”

“That won’t happen!” I reassured her, “But I agree. It’d be nice to have a son. Oh, but I’d love a daughter equally as much!”

“This is kind of nostalgic.” Elaine turned to Adam, “Back when I was pregnant with little Allen, I was quite worried about all sorts of things. These worries all seems so funny to me now, but back then it was quite frightening.”

“Seriously!” Adam teased, “I practically had to tend to your every demand because of your hormones being all over the place. There’d be days when you’d get angry at me over the tiniest things, then on another day you wouldn’t let me go, crying and crying about everything you felt guilty about. Oh, just remembering it fills me with so much joy…”

“Don’t go spouting all that stuff!” She blushed, “Sigh, but seriously, Cecily’s pregnancy may have come a bit suddenly, but it’s nothing if not good news. Honestly, I say we hold a banquet.”

“A banquet!?” I jolted, “Wouldn’t that be counting our chickens before they hatch?”

I didn’t mean anything by this, but apparently the others took it as me being wary about the entire pregnancy because of the experience I had with Marina. I could tell this was gonna be a misunderstanding as soon as the words left my mouth, but at that point it was already too late.

“R-Right, sorry…” She muttered.

“You got too ahead of yourself, dear.” Adam reprimanded her, “You know full well what he went through, and yet you still said such an inappropriate thing.”

“No, no, it’s alright!” I defended her, “Forget what I said just now, I didn’t mean it that way! I just said something stupid without thinking it over beforehand!”

“Even still,” Cecily agreed, “You’re not wrong when you say that. Even you two held the festival to celebrate your son’s birth after he was confirmed to have been born safe and sound. I heard celebrating too early leads to misfortune anyways, so I’d rather we sit on it for now.”

Damn, the air in the room got all stiff and awkward after I said that. And to think I didn’t even mean it like that. What do I do now? How do I successfully restart the conversation? It’s these very thoughts that kept filling my head, but no matter what, it seemed like all hope was lost for our conversation to be salvaged. We continued sipping our tea in silence, that is, until Nelly suddenly spoke up.

“Geez, why’d everyone suddenly go so quiet?”

“Yeah, ha-ha…” I weakly agreed.

“Come on, if you’re gonna be boring like this, then I’m gonna go outside and play with Sir Teddington.”

“Ah, alright. Have fun.”

While she bolted to the door and put on her little boots, it seems like the adults were interested in the topic of Nelly all of a sudden.

“Does she… usually play with her teddy bear all alone?” Elaine seemed worried.

“Now that you mention it, she really doesn’t want to let go of that thing.” Adam joined in, “I know for a fact that there are neighborhood kids that play not too far from here. Are you shielding her from them preemptively or is she getting bullied?”

“Hm?” Cecily raised an eyebrow, “No, it’s nothing like that. She just really likes playing in the house. And besides, even when she does leave, she’s usually no further than the yard, where we can see her at all times.”

“Are you saying you’re not gonna let her roam around on her own in the least?”

“Well, there are some dangerous people.” I replied, “You never know who might show up, so we’re still a bit wary. That being said, she’s not complaining, so the system works.”

“The system works for now, Lune.” Adam warned, “But do think about it from your point of view. When you suddenly got the urge to leave your hometown and head out to explore the world, what did your parents do?”

“Ah.” I suddenly realized.

I’m turning out to be just like my parents, aren’t I? But come on, isn’t seven years old a bit too young to be thinking about exploring the world around you on your own? Oh, but then again, I was only thirteen when I left… No, but wait, Adam and Elaine are just talking about letting her roam around town for a bit, right? But Whitehood and this “no man’s town” can’t be compared at all in terms of safety! Whitehood had knights who regularly kept beasts away, not to mention it was a rather small village, so no one would even think of doing something sinister, because the news would spread like wildfire.

The same can’t be said for this place. Despite it not even being considered a real town on the map, what with it not even having a name, it’s still a bustling community that’s growing at a rapid pace. Plus, it’s got a ton of tourists that show up all year long, so there’s no limit to what kind of suspicious people could suddenly show up and target Nelly.

“I think…”

“Mom, dad!” Nelly rushed back into the living room, not even bothering to take her boots off, “A letter came in the mail! It’s from Uncle Ed!”

***

“Nelly, take off your shoes when entering…! Sigh, never mind.” Cecily took the envelope, “Yeah, this isn’t a mistake. It really does say Edward Saint here.”

“What do you think it’s about?” I asked, “I send him some letters occasionally just so he knows we’re doing fine, but this letter’s quite beaten up.”

“Well, you won’t get anywhere with wild guesses.” Adam noted, “Go on, read it already!”

Geez, the last letter I got from Ed was a couple of months ago, I think. It basically just answered some of the questions I had asked him in my letter, as well as addressed some other points, such as talking about Arthur and Anna and the likes. He seems to be having a ton of fun over there, which makes me quite happy. Now let’s see here…

“What?” I gasped.

“Hey what’s going on?” Cecily looked over my shoulder, “Yikes…”

Ed is a verbose guy. He likes making his letters as nice to read as possible, what with countless grammar checks and sublime handwriting, so I was all but expecting another wall of text to have to sift through as I read about another mundane episode of his life back in Trivis Numerica, but this was different. In giant letters, only a single word was written with sloppy penmanship – “HELP”.

“What do we do?” Cecily worried, “He didn’t specify what the threat is, so we have no way of knowing if we should go back there and risk getting caught by Silvia’s entourage.”

“Let’s think about this logically, he asked us to come to their aid.” I reasoned, “So that means it must be something that he knows he can’t solve, but we can.”

“Wait, who’s this Ed person?” Elaine asked.

“Edward Saint, I believe we’ve met before on the very same banquet I met you two.” Adam joined, “I never forget a name, after all. Do you reckon it could have something to do with the Carmen attacks?”

Hearing his words, I could feel sweat start to form on my face as my heartrate increased. Just what does he mean by that? Carmen attacked another country, am I hearing this correctly? Ugh, suddenly my ears ringing, if I don’t calm down quick, I might just collapse.

“Adam, please elaborate.” I faced him.

“You haven’t heard?” He questioned me, “A couple years back, Auros had suddenly declared that no more wars are to be held on the territory of Sulfury, as well as the founding of a new central country.”

“Ah, yes.” I looked away, “So I’ve heard…”

“Yes, well, that’s quite bad, for multiple reasons.” He continued, “Sulfury was used as an international battlegrounds for eons, and so this sudden action forced the King of Carmen’s hand a bit. He had immediately mobilized an army to take over the surrounding countries of Entropa, hoping to use the situation for his own gain and expand his Kingdom’s territory.”

“What?!” I jumped from my seat, “You’ve gotta be kidding me! That’s a lie, right? You’re just messing with me, right?!”

Suddenly, the strong ear-piercing ringing in my head had morphed into a devilish orc’s laughter. This was most definitely Auros making fun of me for doing something as reckless as I did. Dammit, fuck!

“Lune, calm down.” Cecily spoke calmly, “It’s as you said, Ed wouldn’t put us in harm’s way for no reason. The fact that he sent you this letter specifically means that he wholeheartedly believes that we’re more than capable of stopping this situation.”

“Cecily, what are you saying?” Elaine tried to sway her resolution, “You’re under a lot of stress now, so you must not be thinking straight. Don’t worry about it, Adam and the other world powers have been dealing with the threat for months now. I’m sure your friend is safe.”

“And if he’s safe, that means that it’s safe for us to come and check up on him, no?” Cecily used Elaine’s logic against her, “Don’t try and stop us, because we’re leaving immediately. Right Lune?”

“I…”

I don’t want to, I wanted to say, but I was too ashamed to say the words clearly. I don’t want to go on any more life threatening adventures, dammit! I just want to live happily with my family as I am now! Is that too much to ask?! Dammit, Cecily’s pregnant, she won’t be in a position to do anything, so if what Adam’s saying is really true, then protecting her might get difficult…

While I was mulling it over, I had suddenly remembered another mundane topic I engaged in with Ed a very long time ago. It was on our first day of this grand journey, I remember it so vividly. We were talking about the stars…

“Check it. The Sun’s rising. It’s finally dawn, but the stars can still be seen.”

“Whoa, you’re right. I wonder how that works. Wait, now that I think about, what even are stars?”

Back then, the topic of stars came up, and we were busying ourselves with thinking about where they came from. It’s been ten years since that day, and even now the origin of the nigh endless stars in the sky remains an enigma.

“Yeah, but what if… We made it our goal to one day learn the secrets of the stars during our travels?

“I rather like that idea, Ed! Then before anything, let’s make a pinkie promise to never forget this!”

That’s right, I can’t just abandon Ed for my own safety. God knows what he’s going through over there, and yet while he was battling tirelessly for his life, I was just sitting on my ass here, enjoying a comfy life with my family. But that isn’t right, my family isn’t here. It’s in Trivis Numerica, where my mother, my father, Arthur, Anna and countless others are. My family isn’t complete without Ed there.

“I want to go.” I finally steeled my resolve, “Adam, you’ll help us get there, right? I’d like a safe way to get to Trivis Numerica as soon as possible.”

“…Sigh, just how did you manage to survive this long with that reckless attitude of yours?” He chuckled, “Alright, who am I to put a damper on a dear friend’s parade? I’ll procure you a way there, just give me a day or two to prepare.”

“Yes!” I turned to Cecily, “You ready to curb stomp that King to the ground?”

“Like never before!” Her Yellow Iro flashed, “We’ll make him regret stepping out of line!”