There was no sky, just a finite yet extremely high ceiling glowing with countless blue rune-like patterns. The ceiling itself, from a distance, seemed supported by several golden, magically enlightened pillars disposed across the four horizons.

"Welcome to the fortress," the boy announced with a rather morose voice.

Using Aryan’s teleportation magic, the two of us arrived at the so-called Fortress where Maa and Nia went after parting ways with me.

The place he teleported me to wasn’t a room inside the fortress, as I would’ve expected it to be, but rather a place outside the so-called fortress, which gave a clear view of the Aristocracy hideout.

When I was told by Maa that she was, along with her fellow aristocrats, hiding in a fortress, I was expecting, well—a fortress. Instead, what I got to witness was an entire underground-like city, built around a giant structure which I could only assume to be the infamous fortress.

Well, maybe calling it a city would be slightly inaccurate, for it, even from the distance I stood, lacked the liveliness of any normal city. Instead, it came across to me as nothing more or less than an absolute display of architectural might and prowess, with white, tall fort-like buildings standing, clustered, atop and beside one another.

Rather than a city, despite its glorious architectural disposition, it felt more like an abandoned giant mausoleum.

I also couldn’t help but notice the moment I was teleported here, the difference in air, which made me understand how exactly the Aristocracy were hiding from the church.

Upon being teleported here, I was invaded by a similar sensation to that which I felt upon entering the human continent after all those years spent in the monster continent.

It's, of course, not that the atmospheres here and beyond the barrier were similar; in fact, they weren't; it was just that the sensation of passing through from one domain to another that felt similar.

In other words, if the continent within the church’s barrier was considered a domain, this place was, in and of itself, replica or not, an individual and separated domain from the human continent’s.

A separate domain … within the Church’s domain… The Archbishops and the Holy Paladins of the church would be seething to death if they were to learn about this.

Put aside how this whole domain was upkept, I had to give it to give that it was a brilliant idea.

"We’re teleporting again," announced Aryan before teleporting me a second time, this time straight to what I immediately realized was the fortress main entrance.

As I looked toward the entrance, I immediately recognized a familiar face, with whom I hadn't seen in a few days, almost a week.

She approached me."

"Finally, we’ve been waiting for you." Nia announced, embracing me. "I have been missing you."

"It has only been one week, less than two."

"Still," she asked, her stare condemning, "didn't you miss me?"

"I did… of course, I did."

"You’re sure?"

"Yes. In fact, may the seven calamities befall upon me if I didn’t."

She gave me a withering glare before simply smiling it off.

"Good morning and welcome to the Fortress, Young Lord." Lidy greeted me with a warm smile, following closely behind Nia.

"Good morning Lidy and thanks for having me," I answered.

I wanted to say something to Aryan, who brought me here, but the latter interjected with an "I’ll take my leave here," before he teleported himself away, leaving only the three of us.

"He is just a bit confused. He was close to Austen and Schlain. "Please, just give him the time to sort himself out," Lidy said, apparently excusing Aryan on his behalf. Not particularly minding it, I simply nodded it off.

"Maa is?"

"She is currently taking care of something. She will attend to you as soon as she can. So in the meantime, please, Young Lord, allow me to show you your quartier. " She proposed, before leading us to the inside of the fortress.

***

With Lidy leading our way, I was made to visit the interior of the fortress. Unlike what the rest of the town had forewarned, the fortress was, to say, quite full of life.

While being escorted, we met, just like it would be in a castle, a maid and a domestic servant, but no guards whatsoever. I noticed, while wandering around, nobles and commoners, whom I recognized as being aina-users, but what came across to me as the most shocking was when I saw little children accompanied by a tutor who, upon noticing us, or at least, Lidy, bowed respectfully.

It was noticing the incredulous gaze I cast that Lydie commented, "As the Young Lord knows, those we mainly have here are members of the Eirwens brotherhood." She threw me a rather self-explanatory gaze before continuing,"–and the scavengers, who are children of light who serve ‘The Mother'."

"These children earlier were?" I asked, knowing that they couldn’t be children of light, for from what I knew starting fifteen years ago, no more children of light were born.

"Those are the scavengers' children." Nia intervened.

"I… see."

I had to admit that children were literally one of the very last things I was expecting to see here.

"Before ‘The Mother’ took them in, here inside her fortresses, scavengers used to raise their children hidden... Well, I personally don’t know where the scavengers' children were raised exactly, but now they live here in this fortress. It’s way safer than anywhere else on the continent for scavengers’ children."

"I see."

"Other than that, we also have, here in the fortress, regular nobles who, faithful to the cause, chose to live with us."

"Are there a lot of them?"

"Here, they still remain a minority, but in the other fortresses they make up for a majority of their population."

"Yes, of course."

Lidy went on to explain what I might be interested in knowing, and the more she went, the more I became intrigued with the woman she strangely called "the mother," because, while both Maa and Lidy describe her as a righteous and deserving person, I know very well she might not be as white as she passed herself off, but judging that is for when I meet her.

Maa told me a lot about her, and I've learned about what she fights for, who and what she is and once was, but having not yet met her, I can't form an opinion on her just yet.

Once we had reached a remote aisle of the fortress, Lydia led me to my room, leaving everything up to Nia, who took her leave.

Upon setting eyes on the room, I could already feel the hand of Maa on it. The room was arranged similar to how mine was in the Rosetta Manor, so it was quite a nostalgic sight to behold.

I went to take a seat on my bed, and noticed Nia silently taking a seat in a corner of the room.

"What is it?" I asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I felt you were strangely silent earlier," I remarked.

When I just arrived, she seemed normal, but along the way, I noticed her being lost in thoughts.

"You think?"

"Yes,… did something happen? Is it Maa... "

"No, it's not about her," she hesitated to reveal, but eventually admitted, "it's about Aunt."

"Aunt?"

"I–I mean ‘the Mother,’" She immediately corrected.

I was about to ask if she had met her but then realized that, of course, she had, so instead I asked, "What of her?"

She once again hesitated before just announcing, "I’m sorry—I think it would be best if you meet and talk with her or Maa first before we talk about it."

Maa?

"I think she and " the mother" would know better how to explain it than I will."

From the sound of it, it didn’t sound like it was just something about that person, but between the three, if not four of us apparently.

"This makes me feel even more curious about what it could be, but I understand. I will do that. – But Nia. " With my hand, I motioned for her to come over, which she did.

She approached and just stood there, in front of me.

"Hum?"

Without saying anything, I grabbed her, drew her close, and embraced her hips with both arms.

"Eh,... wha-what is this for?"

"Did I already tell you that I’ve missed you?" I asked,

"No you didn’t."

"Well, that’s because Lydia was there, and as you know, I’m, you know, very shy... and there are a lot of things I’m shying off in front of people."

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is."

Laying my head against her, I asked, "So, other than that, is there anything else? Something you want to talk about... what happened here?"

"Just like she had said, for Austen, the younger brother, Maa, and Lydia have done what they said they would. I didn’t even have to personally intervene. "

"I see."

" –Except, maybe with Shania."

That was a name I'd long since last heard.

"Shania?"

"Yes. She, just like the boy, Aryan, was close to the Eirwein brothers. "

"She was present when it happened?"

"Yes, even though ‘The Mother', Maa and Lydia warned her about it, she insisted on being present… so when I had to, I…"

Suddenly, remembering what Aryan tried to pull on me that day, I understood what she meant.

"I’m sorry," I apologized.

I felt bad about this, for, though it was her wish to follow Maa back to the fortress, it was still me, worried about what Maa and Lydia were planning to do, that requested Nia to look after them.

Still, she, Shania, was really the last-well, maybe not the last, but definitely one of the last people I was expecting to hear from to be involved in all of this.

To me, she was still a child who barely knew how to speak, so when Maa told me that she was at the center of everything, I was left speechless.

Yet as surreal as it was, it came across to me that her involvement today was, just like Maa and Lidy, all because of one existing constant, me.

It seems I have failed to grasp the full extent of the consequences of what happened that night.

"I heard from Maa you were close to her."

"Who? Shania?"

"Yes."

"Yes, she was—literally the only child roughly my age I was around with. She was still a little child when I last saw her... I wonder what she looks like now."

She was what–six or seven years old when I left Manor for Beaufort. And after that, I never saw her again.

"Oh... so you want to see what kind of lady she has grown up into?"

"Hmm... Yes... Wait, why do you make it sound like that?" I asked Nia doubtfully.

"Sounds like what?" she said, pouting, "I was just saying what I think you thought."

I couldn't do anything but laugh at her reaction, so I, my arms still wrapping around her waist, laid down on the bed. She, following in the motion, ended up atop me, from where we engaged in a staring contest, her blue eyes into mine, mine into hers, "Maa, Shania and her parents are part of what was once my childhood and had to go through a lot because of me, so, of course, I am curious and excited to see what had become of them."

I rolled around on the bed again, this time putting her under me. "But that's gotta be it. Nothing else, or at the very least, nothing wicked for you to worry about," I murmured to her ear before retiring myself, leaning up to deposit a kiss on her lips.

As I let go of her lips, she said, with a teasing smile, "... very convincing, Mister."

"I can be even more convincing than that, you know," I announced once again, fervently feeling her lips with mine.

In the heat of things, my hand, which was, fair to say, quite wildly wandering, reached out to a certain part of her chest. I only snapped out when she stopped me, firmly gripping my wrist.

I knew and understood from the reaction she threw, that it happened reflexively. Still, I didn't pursue what I was doing as she gently retracted her grip. Instead, I leaned out and laid my head against her chest, from which I could hear her throbbing heart.

"Let’s just do this in our rhythm," I suggested.

Her response was silent, but the warm hug she gave was not.

It was a few moments after that that it happened. I wouldn’t know how to describe it exactly, since there was a physical way to describe it, since it was simply not something that one could with mere eyes notice.

It felt as if, around us, no—in fact, around the whole place, in an immense burst, an immense quantity of pure mana was released.

As if an otherworldly entity was summoned to this place.

"It’s her," Nia announced, having felt the same thing as I did, "the mother. She’s back to the fortress."