Some time later.
"All these PomPoms had completely disappeared before."
Tie said that to the squad members gathered in her room.
"......PomPoms?"
Basto muttered in confusion.
Tie nodded.
"Yeah! That’s what the World Tree said. Almost all the spirits got corrupted and disappeared, and these few were slowly recreated little by little."
"Spirits......."
This time, it was Bale who murmured the word.
His gaze followed something before stopping.
On Tie’s shoulder.
One of the “PomPoms” sat there curled into a round fluffy ball.
The little creatures that looked like furry puffballs constantly circled around Tie.
"At first they couldn’t even talk, and they didn’t have eyes either! They were just like little droplets, but......."
Tie’s eyes sparkled.
"Tie talked to them, held their hands, called them by name, and they really started answering! Like, ‘Yeah!’"
Right then, one of the PomPoms poked its head out from Tie’s hair.
Tiny black eyes gleamed as it glanced over the squad members before immediately hiding behind the girl again.
"The World Tree said that if you want to talk to PomPoms, you have to open your heart and explain things properly. You can’t just yell, ‘Help me!’ You have to explain exactly how you want them to help."
"So in other words."
Allerik stepped forward with interest.
"You’re saying the Squad Leader can use these PonPons as a type of magical artifact?"
Tie’s eyes widened in horror.
"Hek, Uncle! Not PonPons, PomPoms! And they’re not artifacts, they’re friends who’ll fight together with Tie......."
Ribia jabbed Allerik in the side with her elbow.
Allerik glanced toward Tesetan.
"Ah, slip of the tongue. It’s just very surprising."
Curious, he continued,
"Honestly, I didn’t even know spirits existed until after joining Agavert."
His gaze shifted toward Lucarion, Pupu, and Marbas sitting in the corner of the room.
"But unlike you three, these Pon— PomPoms have extremely obvious elemental magical energy. Won’t the priests notice......."
"You don’t need to worry about that, Allerik."
At that moment, Basto stepped forward.
"That old man Nordix explained everything clearly yesterday. Luciano can read the power of you, the other mages, and the paladins. But."
Basto looked at Tie.
"He’ll never be able to read Tie’s power. Because Tie completely inherited the World Tree’s power."
"Hek, right! The World Tree said the same thing."
Tie abruptly raised her hand.
"The PomPoms will hide really well, and nobody will notice Tie’s seed either, so you don’t have to worry. Lucarion, Pupu, and Marr might get noticed if they’re by themselves though......."
The girl skipped over to the three of them.
The PomPoms obediently bounced after her.
"But if they stay close to Tie like this, nobody notices them either! Umhahaha!"
Pupu immediately pressed its nose against Tie.
Standing nearby, Marbas asked seriously,
"And what exactly counts as ‘staying close’? Surely this doesn’t mean we’re required to walk around fused together as one body at all times?"
"Yeah. You just can’t go too far away! The World Tree said Tie’s body works like a barrier, so everything connected to the World Tree hides really, really well around her."
"I see. She may be a weirdo, but her abilities are real."
Tie tilted her head.
"What’s a weirdo?"
Marbas frowned.
"Hm. A weirdo is......."
He dragged out the word as though unsure how to explain it.
Then he subtly glanced off to the side.
Ribia, who happened to be standing at the end of his gaze, widened her eyes in disbelief.
"Ah, no. Did that crazy piece of firewood just look at me?!"
Pretending not to notice anything, Marbas turned away.
Tie’s mouth also fell open as though she suddenly understood something.
"Ohhh......!"
"Exactly."
Marbas answered solemnly while meeting Tie’s eyes.
And at that exact moment, a pillow flew straight at him from the bed.
"Aggh!"
Hit directly in the face, Marbas toppled backward over a chair.
Tie muttered again,
"Weirdo......."
"Miss! This is a misunderstanding!"
Ribia jumped to her feet.
With her brows drooping pitifully, she hurried over.
"No, that wooden lunatic started it first......!"
But right then—
"Squad Leader. Someone’s coming from the main building."
The door opened, and Victor, who had been standing watch outside, entered the room.
The room immediately fell silent, and the squad members exchanged glances.
Walking through the gleaming corridor of the main building, Lucian Mel clenched his jaw tightly.
‘You couldn’t even handle an ordinary fire. And after that, what exactly am I supposed to trust you with?’
The scolding he had received after yesterday’s fire still wouldn’t leave his mind.
Luciano.
The man destined to become the god of a new generation—
And the one who would one day place Mel beside him.
‘As though I wanted to disappoint His Holiness. Who could’ve known a fire would suddenly break out in the diocesan administration building.......’
Anxiety washed over him again, and his forehead throbbed painfully.
Underneath his robes, Mel tightly clenched his fist.
"Uncle Bastooo. Tie’s legs hurt."
Walking beside him was the King of the Dead.
The child had been whining nonstop since early morning again today.
‘Exhausting people from the very start of the day.......’
That morning—
When he arrived at the pilgrims’ quarters, the King of the Dead had still been asleep.
Mel had waited outside the door for a long time, but she simply refused to wake up.
‘How immature.’
Though Astie was a child, she seemed to have completely forgotten her purpose.
She had come to assault the Magic Crystal, yet she possessed not even the slightest tension.
More than that, the girl showed no fear whatsoever toward Luciano and displayed no caution despite being inside the Main Temple.
‘She doesn’t even understand what an honor it is to meet Him and reside within Sercanos.’
Mel shook his head.
Then quietly glanced toward Astie.
‘A child I dislike from beginning to end.’
The girl frighteningly lacked any sense of restraint.
Probably because she had always been surrounded by people telling her nothing but “Good job” and “Everything’s fine.”
Did a child like that even know what hardship was?
She had never gone hungry.
Never truly been alone.
And after becoming the King of the Dead, she had probably lived among warehouses overflowing with gold coins, meaning she knew nothing of poverty either.
‘If she hadn’t displayed such an overwhelming amount of magical power, I would’ve eliminated her long ago.’
Mel quietly sighed.
At present, Astie was an eyesore and endlessly irritating, but in truth Luciano needed her.
Because the child was the perfect specimen for the experiment they had spent so long failing to solve.
‘The magical power this child was born with is special. Because it contains the power of the world of death, which even the World Tree cannot interfere with.’
The power of the world of death.
If the World Tree governed all life upon the earth, then another god ruled over the world after death.
‘The god of death.’
Now nobody even remembered its name anymore.
Long ago, after an ancient covenant, it had completely vanished from the surface of the world.
That disappearance had been the fulfillment of a powerful contract dividing the boundary between the living and the dead.
‘Your Holiness. Perhaps the weakening of the World Tree’s power is the key.’
That had been Mel’s conclusion.
And it was precisely what Luciano had most wanted to hear.
‘The world of the living and the world of [N O V E L I G H T] the dead maintained a fragile balance of power for a very long time. But after your reincarnation, the World Tree began to waver, and taking advantage of that, the god of death once more extended its hand toward the world of the living.......’
Luciano had been extremely pleased by Mel’s words.
That reaction alone had been enough to encourage him.
‘Perhaps it is also related to the disappearance of Lucarion, the demigod who connected the world of the living and the world of the dead.’
‘.......’
‘Now that the World Tree is collapsing, that demigod has either gone out of control or already been consumed. Because of that, the balance was disrupted, and if mages possessing the properties of the world of death have begun appearing among the living as a result.......’
‘Then Kroa, which belonged to the world of death, has leaked into the world of the living?’
‘Yes! Doesn’t the appearance of the King of the Dead prove it? As does the fact that she manifested dark attribute magic power.’
At that moment, Luciano’s face had filled with deep satisfaction.
‘You’ve finally started thinking properly, Mel.’
Then, as a reward, Luciano had bestowed a portion of his power upon him.
That power still pulsed vividly inside Mel’s body even now.
His graying hair had turned black again, and his withering skin had begun regaining vitality.
Mel quietly looked back to check whether Agavert was following behind him.
A smile spread across his tightened lips.
‘Thank you, Nordix.’
In truth, none of these conclusions had belonged to Mel at all.
They were Nordix’s theory—the very same Nordix whom the pope had imprisoned within the diocesan administration building after his failure to locate Lucarion.
‘Nothing bad will happen if I secretly give him three days of freedom without His Holiness noticing.’
Mel had traded that theory for three days of freedom.
He didn’t know exactly what Nordix intended to do during that time, but the old man would probably spend it obsessing over his underground test subjects again.
‘The moment the King of the Dead becomes dependent on Silencium, this tiresome mess will finally end.’
Mel’s mood improved, and his footsteps grew lighter.
The gate leading to the Forest of Roxe.
The artifact necessary to cross that boundary.
He still had no idea that the key he had always kept in his possession was no longer in his hands, but somewhere else entirely.