In Bellevue, Grand Duchy, early in the evening

Paul strode to the church's altar, where a man, the Holy Paladin Ymir, stood waiting for him.

The man was staring at the statues of Sora and her daughters, as Paul had done the last time he visited this location.

Paul silently joined the man, then after a while ventured, "Fascinating, aren’t they?"

"What exactly?"

"The attention to detail in these sculptures... the absurd amount of detail put into them... that's what makes them so captivating, so alive, so real. It wasn't until I saw Djeem in person that I realized how accurate most paintings and statues of him are. Which leads me to wonder: is this sculpture as accurate to Sora and her daughter as the crown’s painting was of Djeem? Are these sculptures also accurate to Sora, your grace?"

"Douglas, I have no answer to that question of yours. I have never seen Sora’s remnants. The only remnants the royal family had in their possession were those of Djeem and Kine; now both are in you and your people's possession. "Retrieving a scroll, Ymir put the said scroll atop the altar, beside which the two of them stood. "I have given you everything you asked for; now leave my family alone... unless the faceless one needs my head as well, as he did when claiming my fellow Fourteen's. If it it’s that, let’s be done with all of this at once," he announced, not even batting an eye at the prospect of death.

"Nothing of that sort will happen, your grace. The Faceless O– No, Ronandt, came and got what he came here for; from now on, no more blood will be shed."

"Is that so? I presume I am expected to thank you for that."

"I must say I am quite saddened by how lowly your grace thinks of me and my family. We are not, unlike what your grace believes, the enemies of the crown. It was in this kingdom that I was born. It is within this kingdom that I grew up. And it was also within this kingdom that, in our darkest of times, my family and I found haven."

Closing the distance to the Archbishop, "I will today dare to say it out, clear and loud: I, just like your grace, share the same duty and desire, which is to protect that which we both hold dear: brothers, sisters, family, this kingdom’s peace, prosperity, and sovereignty."

"Yet it is an undeniable fact that we stand in the midst of changing times, changes that threaten the security of that which we hold dear," Paul said with these words, holding his hand out for the Archbishop to shake, "which is why I would like for us, the Douglas family and the royal family, to weather this storm out together."

It took a few seconds for Prince Ymir Altair to grasp the extended hand, but he did so eventually.

"For yet another four thousand years, carved into the rock, may our names and legacies live on."

***

Not so long after Prince Ymir Altair's departure, Paul Douglas was left on his own inside the place, at least until a series of sarcastic claps revealed that he was in fact not alone.

"Such a great speech, such eloquence."

"Summerhall… You heard it?"

As the Grandminister Summerhall reached Paul's side, he announced, "How could I miss such a moment in history? As of now, with that speech, if you were to request that I hand over my family’s remnants, I would gladly do it, in the name of the kingdom’s prosperity," he teased.

"You might be convinced, but he seemed to still harbor doubt when it comes to my good faith."

"But wouldn’t that just mean that all you would have to do is prove it? That’s not much compared to all you’ve pulled up since your sister’s speech almost three years ago."

"Indeed, but before I can do so, I need to perform a proper clean-up. After all, how can I demonstrate my good faith when all I have when I turn my back are gossipers tarnishing my and my family's names?

"Not even one day after being granted the title of Grandminister, and you’re already plotting to make heads fall. The future looks grim and bloody. Yet hearing these, I can’t help but think that that would’ve made the old man proud, don’t you think?"

"Him… proud? I doubt it. I think you have forgotten how difficult it was to please that senile old man. He certainly held a covetous interest in the stability a title like this one promised, but in the end, it remained a fact that the idea of being affiliated with a state was not a prospect he was looking for."

"Well, that’s regrettable."

" —But regardless, it remains that I am proud of what I achieved today. Which is why I would like to properly celebrate this."

Both men exchanged glances, then shared a smile.

"You would like to celebrate like we did, in our younger days, because if you do, I know the perfect place."

"We’re not all that young, but as long as it’s a respectable enough place for me to enter, I’m, just for tonight, in."

With these words, the two friends left the place.

In Bellevue, Grand Duchy, early in the evening

Paul strode to the church's altar, where a man, the Holy Paladin Ymir, stood waiting for him.

The man was staring at the statues of Sora and her daughters, as Paul had done the last time he visited this location.

Paul silently joined the man, then after a while ventured, "Fascinating, aren’t they?"

"What exactly?"

"The attention to detail in these sculptures... the absurd amount of detail put into them... that's what makes them so captivating, so alive, so real. It wasn't until I saw Djeem in person that I realized how accurate most paintings and statues of him are. Which leads me to wonder: is this sculpture as accurate to Sora and her daughter as the crown’s painting was of Djeem? Are these sculptures also accurate to Sora, your grace?"

"Douglas, I have no answer to that question of yours. I have never seen Sora’s remnants. The only remnants the royal family had in their possession were those of Djeem and Kine; now both are in you and your people's possession. "Retrieving a scroll, Ymir put the said scroll atop the altar, beside which the two of them stood. "I have given you everything you asked for; now leave my family alone... unless the faceless one needs my head as well, as he did when claiming my fellow Fourteen's. If it it’s that, let’s be done with all of this at once," he announced, not even batting an eye at the prospect of death.

"Nothing of that sort will happen, your grace. The Faceless O– No, Ronandt, came and got what he came here for; from now on, no more blood will be shed."

"Is that so? I presume I am expected to thank you for that."

"I must say I am quite saddened by how lowly your grace thinks of me and my family. We are not, unlike what your grace believes, the enemies of the crown. It was in this kingdom that I was born. It is within this kingdom that I grew up. And it was also within this kingdom that, in our darkest of times, my family and I found haven."

Closing the distance to the Archbishop, "I will today dare to say it out, clear and loud: I, just like your grace, share the same duty and desire, which is to protect that which we both hold dear: brothers, sisters, family, this kingdom’s peace, prosperity, and sovereignty."

"Yet it is an undeniable fact that we stand in the midst of changing times, changes that threaten the security of that which we hold dear," Paul said with these words, holding his hand out for the Archbishop to shake, "which is why I would like for us, the Douglas family and the royal family, to weather this storm out together."

It took a few seconds for Prince Ymir Altair to grasp the extended hand, but he did so eventually.

"For yet another four thousand years, carved into the rock, may our names and legacies live on."

***

Not so long after Prince Ymir Altair's departure, Paul Douglas was left on his own inside the place, at least until a series of sarcastic claps revealed that he was in fact not alone.

"Such a great speech, such eloquence."

"Summerhall… You heard it?"

As the Grandminister Summerhall reached Paul's side, he announced, "How could I miss such a moment in history? As of now, with that speech, if you were to request that I hand over my family’s remnants, I would gladly do it, in the name of the kingdom’s prosperity," he teased.

"You might be convinced, but he seemed to still harbor doubt when it comes to my good faith."

"But wouldn’t that just mean that all you would have to do is prove it? That’s not much compared to all you’ve pulled up since your sister’s speech almost three years ago."

"Indeed, but before I can do so, I need to perform a proper clean-up. After all, how can I demonstrate my good faith when all I have when I turn my back are gossipers tarnishing my and my family's names?

"Not even one day after being granted the title of Grandminister, and you’re already plotting to make heads fall. The future looks grim and bloody. Yet hearing these, I can’t help but think that that would’ve made the old man proud, don’t you think?"

"Him… proud? I doubt it. I think you have forgotten how difficult it was to please that senile old man. He certainly held a covetous interest in the stability a title like this one promised, but in the end, it remained a fact that the idea of being affiliated with a state was not a prospect he was looking for."

"Well, that’s regrettable."

" —But regardless, it remains that I am proud of what I achieved today. Which is why I would like to properly celebrate this."

Both men exchanged glances, then shared a smile.

"You would like to celebrate like we did, in our younger days, because if you do, I know the perfect place."

"We’re not all that young, but as long as it’s a respectable enough place for me to enter, I’m, just for tonight, in."

With these words, the two friends left the place.

"Aside from the ruckus you left in that poor duchy, you did well recovering their remnants, Faceless One."

"I don’t think I need your praise, but yes, I did."

With the Mother beside me, I stood there, with in front of me the crystal coffins of both apostle remnants, Djeem, the accursed, and Kine, the flamboyant.

In their respective coffins, the sight of the two of them being in the same room reminded me of the painting I saw in the Royal Palace.

"Kine—the Paladin and the Archbishop that stood in my way—used her remnants as the core for the weapon that I assume was originally built to take down a primordial dragon. Now that you have her—no, them—in your possession, what will you use them for? For I doubt you just sent us to fetch them for nothing but the sake of having them in your possession."

"I thought you weren’t interested in what I needed it for? Wasn’t it what you said when I entrusted you with this task?"

"I did. However, after seeing how she was used, I'm curious as to what you, in turn, intend to use her for."

"Since you asked, I will tell you." Stepping forward, the mother reached out onto Kine’s crystal coffin. "But first, let me ask you: what do you know about her?"

"She was Kine, mostly known as the apostle Kine, the Flamboyant, said to be the "strongest" and "mightiest" of the Seven," I replied, playing along with her game. "Mother of the woman who later became the mother of the firstborn of the royal line. Did I get something wrong?"

"No, you were right through and through. Nowaday's stories paint her as a mighty and powerful fire and lightning-welding champion, which is true, but the stories are wrong, if not straight-up deceptive, when claiming she was the strongest of the seven. Yes, she was powerful, but you and I both know that this honor belongs to none other than Mon, also known as Solomon the Loner, a man whose strength and existence in the day outshone that of his six fellow Godsends, a man ultimately feared by his peers for his monstrous strength and powers. When it came to fearing Mon, Kine was no exception; she dedicated the majority of her life to becoming stronger, perhaps hoping to one day overcome Mon, but that day never came to be, and most certainly she was more aware than anyone that it would be so."

"Kine was a warrior, a power-hungry fighter, looked up to by many. No one, however, admired her as much as the two siblings, Ferdinand and Amelia, for whom she would be the mentor. One could even say that it was their departure that led her to that decision... As for Djeem and her, they were nothing more than partners and friends. Having children and starting a family was never something she had wished for in her life, but faced with the void left by Mon's abandonment of his duty as humanity's protector, she ultimately chose to give birth to a daughter for Djeem to raise and train as the next protector of humanity, out of a sense of duty or perhaps guilt towards humanity. "Elena," she would call that child, and that child would be the last she gave birth to."

"As for Djeem, just like Kine did in the face of Mon’s abandonment of his self-assigned duty, he changed. Obsessed with the idea of living up to the unparalleled natural born and all-powerful genius that was Mon, he came up with the idea of using his magic and himself, as Mon did, to fuel and conjure a watery barrier around the place where humans lived, which he called a kingdom. Unfortunately, he was neither Mon nor anywhere near as powerful as Mon to be able to continuously cast such a powerful barrier. It was from his personal realization of that fact that he became aware of an advantage he understood he and his peers had over Mon: "their numbers and an ascending line.""

"So it was him that the idea found its root in."

"Yes, it was him. He persuaded his brethren to join him in the twilight of their lives and be part of the pillar supporting the Blue Barrier, which will, in his words, "forever protect humanity."

"Using himself as the first brick in the structure, he became, with his water magic, the pillar to the second known barrier to humanity. Not long after his death, Djeem, the Accursed's death was regarded as the only noble-worthy one, and thus dying to become a part of the barrier became what it is now: something nobles spend their entire lives preparing for. "Millennia have passed, a lot has changed, and yet this duty of dying and being part of the barrier has remained, even though the barrier of which they are now part is no longer the same one that Djeem became part of."

"So, to answer your question, Faceless One, it is true that, just like the Archbishop did with Kine’s remnants, I intend to use their remnants to achieve my goals. I’m certain you now understand how I intend to use Kine."

"Easily."

"And for Djeem’s remnant."

"Roughly. I can easily imagine that it has to do with the second barrier."

"Indeed, it has. Having witnessed it with my own two eyes, I know for a fact that humanity cannot survive without the protection of a barrier. Since I know my actions—our actions—will eventually cost humanity the barrier protecting her from creatures of the monster continent, I believe it is my duty to provide them with something else to cling onto."

"I see…"

"..."

"What’s with this silence, Faceless One? Could it be that my little intervention improved your opinion of me?"

"If it has, you have just accomplished the opposite."

"What a shame."

"Still, now that you’ve told me what you plan to do with these two, I have another question: what do you want to do with the one you sent Nia after?"

Perhaps she had already predicted my question, but when I asked, she merely smiled without answering.

"You said it yourself—it is not even a remnant but a corpse, you said. I have my own idea of what it could be, but still I would like to know."

"I’m afraid that I cannot tell you. But I’m sure when the time comes, you will understand."