After Solomon’s departure came an age that could be referred to as the age of the apostles. It is a fact unknown to most, but following that age was the age of the first Lord and Princes, the age where, as the last Apostles fell or took their leave, humanity was taken over by the apostle’s children and the church was created. It was at the very beginning of that age that she, who spawned the next age, displayed her first sign of existence among men. It was then, at the dawn and the dusk of that age, that were born, from what she had become, the very first children of light, nobles born to commoner parents.

***

A few days have passed since my first meeting with ‘The Mother’.

The day following the one where I had a discussion with the mother, was quite calm, having left the room with a rather tense, silent yet very awkward note.

Despite being out of the fortress for the past few days, she made it clear she was expecting some sort of answer from me, an answer I don’t see myself giving anytime soon.

Nia and I were standing on a terrace overlooking the entirety of the place the aristocracy's members referred to as the fortress, which was, fair to say, not just a fortress but an entire city.

It happened again at that point, as though a cataclysm, a powerful concentration of mana emerged out of nowhere. The disruption was felt throughout the fortress like a cataclysm, but having witnessed it before, I knew exactly what was going on.

"She’s back…" Nia muttered.

Indeed, it was as Nia said, that disruption was a signature of her return, she, "the Mother," was back at the fortress.

Taking a peeping glance at Nia from my shoulder, I couldn’t help but notice the glance she threw at the entrance.

She noticed the gaze I cast at her, turned to face me, looking at me eyes to eyes.

"You want to see her, don’t you? … why won’t you go?"

"Yes... but..." she mumbled hesitantly.

"You should know that I am not yet selfish enough to stand in the way of what you want. What I feel toward her only regards the mother and I. In no case does it involve her. As bitter as it is for me to admit, I can only understand and accept your fondness for her, "I announced.

"Really?"

Her expression was still unsure.

"If you want to attend to her, go ahead. I’m not petty to the point of seeing that as a sort of betrayal of any sort. " I said, depositing a peck on her forehead before heading for the nearby door.

***

After separating from Nia, I decided to make a trip to Maa’s room for a talk, only to hear that she left the fortress early this morning to be back the next.

Not knowing what else I could do, I decided to wander around the fortress to waste time. Though it was what one could describe as a fruitless activity, I nonetheless deemed it better than holing myself up in my room doing absolutely nothing.

As I walked by, I felt zapping in the air, yet another one of these mana distortions. Other people might not even realize the occurrence, but I, who do, already feel fed up with them.

It was as I wandered through the fortress's aisles that I stumbled upon children. There were six of them. They were seven to ten years old, and the one guarding them was none other than Raziel.

"Pri- Ronandt."

"Hi, Raziel."

Having once seen the tall and muscular man, fighting and gutting out his enemies like nothing, I couldn’t help but mumble, contemplating, "You’re keeping children?"

"As you can see."

"Say, say, Raziel, who is he?" one of the children asked, immediately followed by the other clinging onto him.

"His name is..."

"My name is Ronandt," I said, personally introducing myself. "Nice to meet you all."

"Nice to meet you, Ronandt," they all greeted in unison.

With that, they all proceeded to introduce themselves one after the other. It was then, once done, as I raised my eyes toward Raziel, that I noticed him looking at me and asking; "What were you doing earlier?"

"Nothing. I was just wandering around. "

He didn’t seem convinced, but still moved on nonetheless, "Princess Nia is?"

"To the mother's side."

He didn't seem surprised by my words, which prompted me to ask, "Shouldn't you be by her side?"

I knew from Maa that this man was, alongside my mother, one of the very first to join the ranks of the aristocracy in that war of hers, and as such, I knew that he would always be somewhere lurking close to her. The only time he would leave her side would be to fulfill an order he personally received from her.

"Today my presence was unrequired by 'the Mother'. Besides, as you said, Princess Nia is already at her side. "

Oh, dear.

Poor you. If you aren’t careful enough, Nia might, and she could, take over your place anytime she’d wish to.

Raziel, as if hearing my thoughts, promptly added, "And it's not like I always and only get orders from the mother, so I wait."

"Oh, is that so?"

With that, we were both left in a strange silence. It was at that moment, noticing our discussion stalling, that one of the kids said, "Crow, let’s go now."

The first kid was immediately followed by the others, who drowned Raziel with the same urging and pleading words.

It seems they were on their way somewhere when I stumbled upon them.

"Okay, I hear you all. No need to insist," he said to the children before turning his attention back to me. "Ronandt, why wouldn’t you come with us? I might show you some places in the fortress you’ve yet to see. " He proposed.

"Since I have nothing to do, why not?" I announced, agreeing to come with them.

Led by Raziel, we headed for our destination.

It was as we walked toward it that I came to learn that they were on their way to the arena. Despite the fact that I've never been there, I've heard Nia mention the place. If I'm not mistaken, that's where Maa and Lydia confronted the other Erwein's brother, Austen.

We arrived at the arena fairly quickly at the rate we were walking. To be more precise, we arrived at a lofty perch overlooking the arena, from which we descended stairs to the arena.

It was going down those stairs that we ran into a young girl who, like us, was walking those stairs but was heading up rather than down.

Though it was not instantaneous, I, vaguely, recognized the girl, despite how much she had changed.

"Hello, Shania," the children said in unison.

"Hi, you all," she greeted back while simply continuing their ascension.

She went past the children, then me.

The girl, who, from appearance, was roughly 14 or 15 years old, holding a sabre, looked, if not straight up, stared at me with an expression that I recognized as a "resentful reproach."

No doubt that with that stare she gave me, she knew what task I'd been given.

Nia had told me about her, as she said, that she and the boy Aryan were close to the leaders of the brotherhood, in fact very close.

And from what I’ve heard, she tried, just like Aryan did by trying to teleport me away but failing, to interfere. She tried to stand up against Maa's and the mother’s orders. Forcing Nia to use strength to refrain from interfering.

I did voice out to Maa and Lydia some of my concerns regarding this matter and what it would devolve into since I was pretty much certain that it wouldn't just end with the brothers' death, but they seemed rather unconcerned, unworried, and only dismissed my concerns by asking me to give it time.

Having seen this, I'm really left perplexed as to whether I should get worried or not.

Anyway, the best I can hope for is that this won't devolve into a mess like the one the brothers were involved in.

"You knew her, didn’t you?" Raziel, having seen all of it unfold, noticed.

"Yes. I did," I confessed.

Since Raziel didn’t comment further, we simply continued our walk, and soon we reached the said arena. To what end? The answer was simple: to show the children how magic is used and to teach them how to use their magic safely.

These children, who were sons and daughters of children of light born of the Scavengers, were made to undergo coronation and were allowed to regain their ability to use magic way earlier than nobles were.

"Still five years old... isn’t that a little bit too early?" I asked Raziel, who, just like me, from the sideline watched the children trying things with their magic.

Upon being asked, he looked at me understandingly and explained, "Maybe, but back when we, the scavengers, hadn't moved to the mother's fortress yet, we found it better to coronate them as early as possible."

He seemed to have noticed that I was perplexed as to why they were still carrying on this tradition when they were somewhat safe from the church here, as he continued, "In fact, if it weren’t for the danger of leaving them unbaptized really comported, we would have let them just like us, children of light, grow unbaptized."

"I see."

He implied without saying that the Church and the nobility were not wrong in implementing that ritual, which even I had to admit, I had agreed to.

After all, not everyone was born with a magical ability like mine, which was self-sentiently capable of mimicking the effect of a baptismal on myself.

"See... see what I did." One of the children called, summoning fire elements, which then took the shallow silhouette of some sort of bird.

Before I could even wonder if it was safe for children to play with, the fire summon dissipated into nothingness.

"Say, I’ve heard you earlier being called ‘Crow’ by the children. I also heard some of your fellow scavengers calling you that. Is it some sort of rank?"

"Yes it is. The appellation ‘crow’ is just how we call the one strongest member of our family, the one who can protect but also the one second to the Pater Familia."

"Pater Familia? What is that?"

"The 'Father', we called him. He was the one who took us in and our family. He was also the one who founded our Scavengers order."

"Where is—"

"Where is that ‘father’ now?" I was about to ask, but then stopped as I realized how stupid that question was.

"He parted ways with us," Raziel nonetheless confirmed, "entrusting us, scavengers, to ‘the Mother’."

I see.

So that’s how she took over them. The previous leader has directly transferred leadership to her hands.

"How was the scavenger that you all were entangled in all of this?"

This time, as if I had finally asked the question I shouldn't have, he silently stared at me.

I explained. "I know you were born a child of light and were hiding with your family. That’s pretty much all I know about you. " I explained.

He didn’t seem convinced, but he nonetheless explained, "Life, before we met ‘the mother,’ was like what you would imagine how fugitives would lead their lives: nomadic. We ran from place to place, blending into the village, saving from the church every child of light we heard of. That was the kind of life we led before meeting her. Nothing grandiose, but nothing less. "

"I know what you are, I heard about it from the mother," he said, his gaze still fixed on me. "I know I owe you, in several regards, my utmost respect, but I also heard of how you reacted to the truth about "the mother". I can understand your aversion to her kind, but I can tell you that if you expect anything from us to antagonize her, you will find nothing. "

"I did not."

"Yet, I could tell. I may have lost some brothers, sisters, and friends in her quest, but in the end, we are what we are, children of light. "

"We owe her everything, to our very existence. She is the one we sprang forth from. You will not find any of us, scavengers, questioning or contesting her decisions. She and her purpose is that which is why we fight, for we are the children of light, the ones that have not forgotten," Raziel said with absolute conviction.

I still wanted to ask one last thing but decided not to voice it.

After all, though I didn’t support that woman, who was to question his loyalty to the one he, as he said, chose and found purpose to fight for,

"Ronandt, it has been years since I have heard of you, from Mathilda, from Serana, from the mother. I know and I won’t deny her part of the responsibility for everything that has happened to you. But you, just like most of us, might just be one of her indirect "victims." She might not have voiced it as such, but I know she does realize it is the case. Which is why I request—no, I have no right to request that of you. Consider just that I would expect you to, at least, consider her offer. Nothing more, nothing less."

***

After some time spent in the arena with Raziel and the children, we, as it came time for lunch for the children, split up. I then, having no one else to spend time with, decided to make my way back to my room. I, not being in too much of a hurry, didn’t hurry myself back to my room. After all, there was still the possibility that Nia wasn’t even back there.

The fortress being a thorough labyrinth, wandering around and allowing oneself to get lost was quite an easy task, which was exactly what I did to kill time.

I didn’t know where I was, but I was now walking across a large corridor. It was while doing so that I walked past a room, an open one that gave an open view to the outer part of the fortress, but to be fair, it wasn't that that caught my attention, instead it was what I saw from the corner of my eyes the moment I walked past that room's doorless entrance.

To that sight I froze in place, my back stiff. I moved away only a moment later, making sure I wasn't standing wherever I was certain they would notice my presence.

On that room's balustrade were two people. They were conversing.

A voice, which I recognized to be Aryan's, lamented: "--No matter what I do, I cannot face her or the others."

"They must hate me now, as does she, if they know what I've done to Mr. Schlain, which I believe they do. " I heard Aryan speak in the same tone I've always heard him speak in since the day we met until today.

He sounded down, on the verge of crying.

"I've betrayed them... led Mr. Schlain to his death... What should I do? " Aryan inquired about the other person.

The other person didn’t immediately answer, but she eventually did.

"I don’t think I can give you any advice because even if I did, I doubt it would be a good one," she laughed derisively.

The voice speaking was that of a woman.

"It’s been almost nine years since that night I came to your mother's house, and though I do not regret having taken you in, I regret that things have unfolded this way."

That voice was…

"My boy, I never wanted this for you, yet I realize I have, just as much as she has, my part of the responsibility, a huge one, in this."

That voice was hers.

I was certain it was hers, yet I still couldn’t help but throw a peer within the room.

"Though this is nothing, I would like you to know that ‘the Mother’ and I love you so much. And we understand that we will never be able to repay you for the love you gave and the sacrifices you made for us. "

As I peered in, I saw her taking him, Aryan, in her embrace.

Since that night, it was the first time I had seen her.

Memories of her face resurfaced in my mind.

But, from where I stood, I could only see her long black hair. It was my first time seeing her up close since that time, and just like that night, all I could do was watch.

But even that had to soon come to an end since, while peeping on them, I noticed Aryan, from the corner of his eyes, looking in my direction.

It appeared that I was peering too intently.

Whether or not he did truly notice me, I knew it was time for me to take my leave.

I made my way back to my room, this time no longer wasting time, for this time I was certain Nia would be there.