Leona was having a hard time focusing after the overload of information she just had received.

“Where to start…?” Robert, the man seated in front of her, was scratching his head as he pondered how to explain to her. “Well… I suppose I could always start from the very beginning.” He clenched his right fingers which made all of them crack. “I was a champion of the void god, Lastraeous. My original role was to be a hero for worlds that would eventually face total destruction.”

Leona raised an eyebrow as she repeated his words as if believing she heard it wrong.

“A hero?”

“Yes. At first I thought it would be the chance for me to finally find a purpose in my life, but I couldn’t be further from the truth.” He sighed. “I started out as an adventurer from a naive idea that heroes would eventually rise up from the common folk to defend them. That was me. An otherworldly hero that didn’t even know common knowledge and yet tried to meddle in another world’s affairs in order to ‘save’ it.”

“Hang on a minute… so you come from another world?”

“Yes, the Earth. A planet far more advanced than any of the ones I’ve been before.” He seemed genuinely happy for a split second before his face turned dark. “Little did I know that my knowledge would bring destruction to the worlds I’ve been before.”

“Another world different from ours…” Leona muttered as she couldn’t wrap her head around it. She knew the world she lived in was vast but the concept of existing other worlds similar to hers out in the universe seemed too surreal. “How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know.” He answered genuinely. “I did everything I could to save those worlds. I have been hailed as a hero, a king, a sage… but even as my hard won victories brought those worlds a fleeting sensation of peace. It also hastened their own destruction. They were destined to be destroyed by my hands.”

“But this… this doesn’t explain how you even know the fate of those worlds in the first place or how you traveled through all of them.”

“Remember what I said about being regarded as a sage?” Behind his nonchalant attitude and casual remarks, lied the eyes of a man who had seen too much. “It was only after the third world that I came to realize that I inevitably brought those worlds to their end. Because that was Lastraeous’ plan all along.”

Her eyes widened as he spoke about the god.

“What do you mean?”

“Gods, by nature, are entities born from the desires of sentient beings. To have faith in something, is to believe that ‘something’ exists. The dragon god of the land, Akantor from the elves, the goddess of life and death, Eleonora from the humans and the demon’s god Ludifrey or Loki, in their language. All these gods are born from something, be it hatred, hope or jealousy. Lastraeous is the same, he is the god of the void. The end that every being rejects and fears.”

“Death.”

“Exactly. The void is the amalgamation of those souls. Through this accursed power he was able to transport me throughout the universe in search of worlds to ‘save’.”

Leona pinched her nose ridge as images of the few meetings she had with said god flashed in her mind. The vast yet empty broken world teeming with the souls of the damned.

“But then if he is the meaning of the end, shouldn’t you be a grim reaper instead of a hero?”

“It’s not like I wasn’t. By condemning those worlds I brought even greater calamity as opposed to their original demise.”

“Wait. You explained before that gods are the manifestation of the desires of those that believe in them, right?”

“That is right.”

“Does that mean that Lastraeous’ goals are to bring the worlds you been traveling to-”

“Their ultimate demise. Just like how each of us have our own desires, they too have theirs. It can shift with time, but it remains just another god’s whims. Lastraeous’ power and desires comes from the suffering of others.” He clenched both of his hands tightly, leaving audible cracks echoing through the chamber. “He lavishes in the eternal despair of those souls.”

Leona lowered her face and massaged the sides of her eyes. It was a lot to take in.

The memories Avalon had shown her just served to cement the idea that if she had accepted the void god’s power, she would be walking down the same path as her other self. A mere puppet with strings ready to be cut at a moment’s notice.

“Then…” She uttered while rubbing the corner of her eyes. “What made you choose me specifically to tell all of this? I was not, nor am, by all accounts, someone outstanding.”

“Heh, you don’t even realize how much worth you really are.” He glanced at the pedestals with the people that seemed to be frozen in time. “That woman named Xenovia. She was the reason why I helped you back in Londria.”

Her eyes went wide.

“So it was you who helped me save Krieg!”

“I had my reservations as to who could bear the mantle of a hero, a true hero. But she knew you had it in you.”

Leona’s eyes traced to the unconscious woman. Her blonde hair reminded Leona of herself when younger as a singular tear formed in the corner of her right eye.

She cleaned it with her sleeve and turned back to Robert.

“But I don’t even know who she is.”

“Regardless of how she knows you, she bade me to look after you. To help you become the true hero we need.” He chuckled sourly. “Though it might have been childish of me to test you like that. I’m sorry.”

He bowed which caught Leona by surprise.

“Don’t apologize.” She swallowed dry as a bitter taste formed in her mouth. “I judged you for harming those two and yet you saved Krieg-”

“I am not that saintly as you think I am, Leona.”

“Huh?”

Once she looked him in the eyes she noticed a glint of malice, not unlike when she confronted Jakob. It sent a terrible chill down her spine but she managed to just shake off the uncomfortable sensation by taking a sharp deep breath.

“No matter.” He continued. “The point that I wanted to bring light to, was your question regarding who I am. Now, are you ready to hear about you and your knight Krieg?”

Before he could continue further, Miyamoto extended his right arm in front of him.

“Let me have a word with her.”

Robert raised an eyebrow in surprise but nodded and sat back, interlocking his fingers together and placing it against his left thigh as if preparing to hear a story. The swordmaster on the other hand, stood from the ceramic seat and kneeled before Leona, bringing his head and hands low to the floor.

“What are you-?!”

She had never seen someone prostrate like that before which was a bit shocking at first.

“I must apologize to you, Leona. My hubris came at a great cost to you. My niece.” She was about to reach for him when her hand flinched upon hearing those last words. “I thought the best way to aid you was to lend you my strength directly so you could directly tap upon my skills with the blade and yet all I did was to cause you pain and suffering.”

It was strange being called a niece. Being the sole heir of the Crossford family in Arcadia and not having any uncles or cousins meant that she never knew what the feeling of being called a niece or cousin was.

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“Please raise your head.” She stood up from the stool and extended her hand out. “If it wasn’t for you then I wouldn’t have been able to defeat Akamui in the first place.”

Robert had a smirk on his face as if pleased to hear those words. However, Miyamoto still kept his head low.

“If I had taught you from the very beginning then you wouldn’t have lost an arm.”

“It’s gone already. Nothing I’ll do now will change that fact so please, raise your head.”

He lifted his face only to see her extend her hand to help him stand.

“Leona.” He stood up on his own. He was roughly the same height as her, just barely taller. “Your kindness is wasted on me.”

He looked upon her with a nostalgic gaze. She couldn’t help but smile.

“I’m just speaking the truth. Krieg, Phoebe, you, if not for all of you I wouldn’t be here today.”

“Ahem.” Robert cleared his throat. “I know you two must be absolutely dying to keep this going but we don’t have enough time, nor I have patience so let’s keep this brief.” He motioned to Miyamoto with his open palm. “Go ahead. Spill the beans.”

The swordmaster gave him a stinky eye.

“Must you be so impertinent?”

“I am much older than you, you know.”

“Your age hardly matters on this occasion, but nevertheless…” He turned to Leona and slightly bowed as he introduced himself once again. “My name is Miyamoto of Nara, former ruler of the Kingdom of Nara. My wife was your great aunt so that would make me your great uncle. It’s my pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“Leona Crossford, sole heir of the Crossford family.” As opposed to bowing, she offered him her hand for a handshake. “The pleasure is all mine. Great uncle.”

He hesitated for a second before taking her hand and giving a tight handshake. A soothing warmth filled Leona’s breast as she exchanged greetings with her uncle. It was as if she found part of herself that was missing in that far fledged continent.

“Either way-” Robert spoke, which made both of them turn to him. “-I’m sure you have a lot of questions on your mind but do save them for later. Let’s head to the city, the others should be waiting there.”

“You’re not going to teleport us there are you?”

Leona was wary of the teleportation spell as the bout of sickness was something she didn’t want to feel again.

“You’ll be fine.” He touched both of them on each shoulder and prepared to snap his fingers. “Just close your eyes.”

She did as instructed and the distorting sensation was greatly reduced albeit she could tell her stomach was disagreeing with her.

“Ngh…” Upon opening her eyes, she noticed they were standing by the red torii gate. Krieg, Phoebe and Setsuna were waiting on the left side of the gate with the shrine maiden awfully close to the high elf. On the right side, Kaeli stood with a faint smile on her face while a younger girl stood by her side.

She wore a similar set of clothes to Setsuna, albeit shorter to fit her smaller stature. Her head reached around Leona's chin, her rounded face and soft expression made the tactician think she was some sort of doll before she motioned with her head to Kaeli. Her cheek length straight black hair was slanted diagonally down following her jawline while the fringe was a straight cut, framing her delicate face.

Once she noticed Robert, her eyes began to shine but she composed herself just as fast before she approached the newly arrived group and stood before the tactician.

“Greetings Lady Leona.” She placed her hands on her thighs before bowing. “My name is Yuna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah.” Her politeness caught her by surprise as she bowed slightly in return. “The pleasure is all mine, Yuna.”

Looking closely, she had the appearance of a sixteen year old, maybe more. But the way she spoke was much different than her apparent age.

“Leona!” Krieg rushed upon her side the moment he noticed her. “Are you alright?!”

She smiled warmly in return.

“Yes. I’m alright.”

“Thank goddess…”

Miyamoto was staring at Krieg with a sort of pain in his eyes before he faced away from him as he tried his best to come to terms with the unaware son right in front of him.

In the meantime, Phoebe was impatiently tapping her foot with one of her hands loosely hanging around the belt where she kept her daggers hidden.

Who kept her in check was Setsuna who had an amicable expression despite holding her staff strangely close to the high elf.

“Phoebe dear.” The shrine maiden spoke in a soft tone. “Can you wipe that terrible expression off your face?”

“It’s quite hard to do so, big sis Setsuna.” She was still staring daggers at Kaeli who was just outside of stabbing range. “When the person I want to kill is right in front of me.”

Robert chuckled while clapping to get everyone’s attention.

“Now, now, there are many things I’m sure everyone wants to discuss, but let’s go grab a meal first and foremost.” He started to walk along the street parallel to the wall. “Phoebe, you’re forbidden to kill anyone and Kaeli, don’t get close to her.”

“Tch.”

The assassin clicked her tongue which was met with a gentle smack on the head by Setsuna’s staff. Kaeli silently approached Yuna and with a subtle bow, they both walked together.

Krieg and Leona exchanged looks of confusion but decided to go along with the idea. Miyamoto stood behind them with a look of anxiety on his face before moving on with the group.

The tactician and her knight were in the middle of the group when she decided to ask him.

“Say Krieg, what did you do after I was gone?”

“If not for Lady Setsuna, I would’ve forced Phoebe to lead me to where you were.” He had his hand resting on the longsword handle. “I didn’t know what to think the moment you disappeared right in front of my eyes.”

“That was probably thanks to Robert.”

“Who?”

“That man leading the group. He’s… sort of like Miyamoto’s mentor, I’ll explain more when we have time.”

He nodded. Their brief exchange was cut short by Yuna, who approached them and kept walking at the same pace.

“Lady Leona, I wanted to ask you a few things, if you don’t mind.”

She smiled warmly.

“Go ahead.”

Her eyes sparkled with interest.

“How much do you know about magic?”

“How much? I just know four elements out of the six. Water, ice, fire and wind.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? What about light and dark?”

“Huh?”

“The seventh and eighth element.” The clueless expression on Leona’s face was enough for Yuna to tell that she really didn’t know anything of what she was talking about. “Let me rephrase that. The combination of all elements and the lack of all elements. Those are light and dark elements respectively.”

Light magic’s concept was reasonably easy for her to understand, but the dark magic was something just too out of the ordinary for Leona to wrap her head around. In her mind, removing all elements would mean coming up with just raw mana, not an eighth element.

“Yuna, don’t go filling her mind with magic theory.” Robert said out loud as if he could hear everything they were talking about. “The poor girl didn’t even know about light magic just a few seconds ago.”

“Ah, I’m so very sorry.” She bowed slightly despite him not looking at her. “I just couldn’t help it. It has been so long since we had guests.”

“I know. You’ll be able to talk to them properly soon. We just need to talk a few things out before we continue on.” He glanced over his shoulder to Leona. “Do you have food allergies?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, maybe that is not a common question in Arcadia. I tend to forget this world is not that advanced.” Krieg gave her a puzzled look from the peculiar way he spoke but she simply gave him a reassuring gesture with her hand. Robert cleared his throat before he continued. “Any foods that your parents told you aren’t supposed to eat? Or foods that make you feel itchy.”

“Ah, so that is what you meant. No, not particularly.”

He turned forward with his hand on his chin while muttering under his breath, which was inaudible to Leona.

“Hmm… might still be on the safe side to avoid shrimp… maybe shrimp tempura should still be okay if I remove the entrails…? Then again it’s best to go with beef just in case…”

“Dad.” Setsuna approached him while dragging Phoebe through her clothing. “Are you sure we should have Kaeli with us?”

“There won’t be a problem, you are with me after all.” He chuckled to himself. “She would have been as good as dead if she didn’t save Leona in the first place. Not that she knew any of this of course, but let’s chalk it up to dumb luck.”

“But still… if she is a paladin…”

“Do you not trust your dad?”

Setsuna flinched while shaking the hand with the staff in front of her body.

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

He ruffled her hair with a smile on his face.

“There is nothing to worry about. As long as the dragon in question isn’t Valkahaz, then I can handle them with one eye closed.”

“Will you really tell her about… well, everything?”

“Yes. That is what I promised to Xenovia.”

Setsuna glanced at the ground as they walked.

“Will we be okay?”

“Of course. This is the world line she chose and the one the previous ‘me’ helped her get to.” He stopped by an unusual looking establishment, the front was covered by thick blue parted cloth with the drawing of a rabbit on it. Robert parted one of the sides with his left forearm which revealed a sliding wooden door. “We’re here. Leave your weapons by the entrance and take off your shoes. I don’t want any of you dirtying the floor.”

“Huh?”

Leona raised an eyebrow and stopped on her tracks—prompting him to look at her.

“What?”

“Why?”

Never once in Arcadia or rather, any establishment that she went into asked any of the patrons to take off their shoes or put their weapons away. He sighed and shook his head.

“I’m the owner of this place. Rest assured no one will take them away.” He opened the sliding door which revealed a warmly lit interior with polished wooden floor and quiet atmosphere. The whole place felt antique. “What kind of people can enjoy food while carrying weapons?”