At the western end of the Falind continent, Manggot.
Here, the Empire’s order of knights was stationed.
Because an order had come down from the imperial palace.
The knights drove the monsters outside all the way back to the coast and opened a path.
A path to launch ships onto the sea.
Thus, a single ship had anchored above the shoreline,
and if you went out to sea from that ship, there was another ship farther out. After that, another ship, and another after that.
Seen from the sky, the ships were lined up in a single file.
On the very foremost of those ships, on the deck,
“This is as far as we go.”
a woman in black clothes, with black hair, her black fan spread open, cast a calm gaze far out over the sea.
“Lady Quinie. Are we stopping here?”
“Yeah, you’ve done well. It’s a relief it matches the calculations exactly. We’re out of ships now.”
Quinie de Viet. She was the owner of this long line of ships.
The knight at her side took a deep breath and let out a sound of admiration.
“Even so, it’s still hard to believe.”
“Right? I also didn’t know I’d saved up this much money.”
Quinie was both a merchant and a knight.
Strictly speaking, her family had dealt in commerce for generations, and she herself was well versed in matters of money, but Quinie, the current head, had obtained a knight’s title.
Sufficient money and a certain degree of authority, plus influence wielded through all kinds of connections, had moved ships of this scale.
But it was true they had been on a knife’s edge.
“Of course, there’s that as well, but.”
The knight spoke.
“That the imperial palace’s order of knights, and ships and forces of this scale, are all for a single man.”
“Hee-hee, and all just for the sake of mere ‘movement’ at that.”
The man the knight spoke of was Aster Evans.
Aster had to cross from Agoris to Falind.
However, the sea was guarded by Poseidon, and with half-baked flight he could not escape from Poseidon’s grasp.
Thus they had come up with a plan.
‘Aster’s Ilseom needs “stepping stones,” you said.’
Aster intended to cross the sea using Ilseom.
However, even if he had become able to use Ilseom consecutively, that didn’t mean it could go on indefinitely. Eventually he would fall, and to use Ilseom again he needed something to land on.
Those were precisely these ships.
This long line would become Aster’s stepping stones.
“Is it really possible for him to reach a distance this great?”
“Well, Aster’s not the type to brag idly.”
If she had just a bit more money, she would have placed the ships closer together, but no matter how you looked at it, she didn’t have that much capital.
From Quinie’s perspective, the current distance between each ship was such that she could barely make out the next one at the edge of the horizon.
To leap that distance in an instant was already closer to teleportation than a mere jump, wasn’t it?
However, Quinie opened her fan and smiled leisurely.
They would be surprised if he crossed that distance in an instant. But they wouldn’t doubt it.
Back when she had been at Constel, Aster was already outside the normal scale.
“Then the problem isn’t on this side.”
“Right.”
Whether Aster could truly leap a distance this great—that was no longer something to worry about.
No, it was still something to worry about, but it had been pushed far down the list of priorities.
Without taking her eyes off the distant sea, Quinie spoke.
“The problem is over there.”
In the direction Quinie was looking lay Agoris. Even if it couldn’t be seen from here.
However, Quinie’s ships could not approach any closer. If they advanced a little farther from here, they would be caught in Poseidon’s sight.
“By the way, how did you calculate the distance? I mean, how far is still a safe distance from Poseidon.”
“I didn’t calculate it.”
“Pardon?”
“This distance is the maximum range Aster himself guaranteed he could reach from Agoris to here. Regardless of Poseidon.”
At Quinie’s words, the knight blinked several times. His expression quickly turned grim.
“......Then if that distance were shorter than the range Poseidon perceives.”
“This ship would have high-fived the clouds in an instant and then crashed.”
Flap flap, Quinie gently waved her fan.
Then she looked at the knight and smiled brightly.
“Well, since that didn’t happen, it’s fine, isn’t it?”
***
Aster was on the beach.
More precisely, he was hiding behind a tall rock that jutted up from the beach, watching Poseidon.
At his side was Ludovic as well.
“Is this really going to work?”
“Yes, in theory.”
At Ludovic’s uneasy question, Aster nodded. He seemed unaware that saying “in theory” only made the listener more anxious.
From here, Aster had to leap to where Quinie was.
From Quinie’s position, the ships could at least faintly see one another’s locations, but from here he could see nothing but the horizon, let alone Quinie’s ships.
Simply put, Aster had to leap a distance beyond the horizon.
“I’ll say this in advance, but don’t expect me to be able to throw you that far, all right?”
“Of course. That would be impossible.”
“Impossible......! R-right. Of course.”
Ludovic bristled for a moment, then calmed down again. He had only recently come to realize that Aster’s words carried practically no ulterior meaning. Knowing it didn’t make it any less irritating, though.
“Even so, please put everything you have into it. We don’t know exactly where that ship over there is.”
Aster had exchanged information through communications with Gregory and Malia, and he had given the Empire the maximum distance he could move.
Beyond that horizon, Quinie’s ship definitely existed. Even if he couldn’t see it.
Ludovic glanced at the enormous man standing out on the sea and asked,
“Then what about that Poseidon?”
“For now, we’re just waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Literally, waiting for a gap to open.”
A gap?
A gap to open in that Poseidon?
“Don’t tell me you’re expecting that if you wait long enough, Poseidon will get tired or exhausted or something, right? The sea is Poseidon’s domain.”
“Of course it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
At Ludovic’s words, Aster paused as if thinking for a moment, then spoke.
“According to Frondier, Cybel is in Palma City.”
“......Huh? Yeah. So what about it?”
“What I still don’t understand about Frondier’s intentions is why he sent Cybel to Palma.”
Most of the people in Frondier’s group knew where Aster was right now. And what roles each of them played.
With the war against the gods ahead of them, Frondier had gathered as many pieces as he could. They were each fulfilling their roles in their respective places, or waiting for the moment when they would act.
But Cybel alone was different.
He still couldn’t grasp the intent behind sending Cybel to Palma City.
At that, Ludovic asked,
“You don’t know his intention, so how does that become a reason to wait for Cybel?”
“If it’s Frondier, he’ll have made arrangements.”
“......You mean he’ll have made arrangements for you to cross this sea. And that those arrangements are Cybel?”
“Probably.”
“On what grounds?”
“Because he’s Frondier.”
Ludovic was dumbfounded. Before he realized it, his mouth had fallen open; he shook his head.
“......You’re not joking, no, no. You’re not the kind of guy who jokes.”
“What are you saying. I’m someone who enjoys joking.”
“Wait, really?”
“No, that was a joke.”
......Should I kill this guy.
Ludovic stared at Aster for a long moment, then finally sighed and turned his gaze to follow Aster’s.
It wasn’t that he believed Aster’s words, but there was nothing he himself could do. All he could do was hope that this, Aster’s easygoing expression, was not mere bluff.
On Agoris’s beach, there was Aster, and out at sea, the long line of ships Quinie had deployed.
All preparations were already complete.
Now they only needed a single brief opening in which Aster could come across.
***
Poseidon stared at the serpent in momentary surprise, then deliberately hardened his face.
[Jormungandr.]
[It’s an honor you remember me, Poseidon.]
The serpent’s mouth stretched wide and a human voice flowed out. The serpent’s lips barely moved, yet the voice that emerged was astonishingly clear.
[Coming outside for the first time in a while, my skin stings. The sunlight is as dazzling as ever.]
[......Nothing has changed.]
[Weren’t you going to burn the sky?]
Jormungandr’s mouth split long. Whether that was mockery or not, Poseidon’s expression twisted.
[......We weren’t the ones who burned the sky.]
[Then shall we say it was humans?]
[Did you come up from the deep sea just to have this kind of conversation?]
[Of course not.]
Jormungandr shook his head. Looking at Poseidon, he spoke.
[And I didn’t come to meet you either.]
[What?]
[I’m supposed to meet someone here.]
[Supposed to meet someone? You, who’ve been in the deep sea all this time, who could you possibly meet? No one should be able to reach you.]
[Turns out there is someone. Well, they didn’t actually come all the way to where I am, but.]
At Jormungandr’s words, Poseidon’s eyes widened. He froze for a moment, trying to understand.
Soon his expression sank deeply.
[......Don’t tell me, Pandemonium?]
[That’s right. You know it well.]
[You’re saying you’re going to meet again someone you met in Pandemonium....... You, don’t tell me.]
[Yeah, I died once.]
The serpent spoke as if it were nothing.
[You know that, don’t you? Sea monsters tend to have a few extra lives.]
[You’re the only one who defies the order of all things like that.]
[What are you talking about. Kraken was that type too.]
On the surface of the water, the serpent writhed back and forth as if to tease Poseidon.
When Poseidon didn’t react much, the serpent let out a small sigh and spoke.
[It seemed worth it, that much.]
[Worth it? You mean someone is worth you dying for? The one you said you were going to meet?]
[I never said they were human.]
At Jormungandr’s words, Poseidon’s expression grew more serious than ever.
[Who in the world......]
[They’ll be here soon. Look, over there.]
Jormungandr’s head slowly moved to the right.
──Naturally, when Jormungandr appeared at this moment, it was also clearly visible to Aster and Ludovic.
A ridiculously enormous serpent. It was now meeting Poseidon at eye level, but judging by its sheer volume, it was undoubtedly larger than Poseidon himself.
And when Jormungandr moved his head, Aster naturally followed that gaze as well.
There, just in front of the shore, was a sheer cliff face.
From atop it, someone waved their hand.
‘......!’
Aster’s eyes flew wide.
He couldn’t see the face, but he knew who it was.
There was only one person with hair that color.
“Jormy~~!”
The woman on the cliff shouted.
Poseidon narrowed his eyes and looked at the cliff. He couldn’t see well from here. Partly it was the distance, and partly it was because Poseidon was simply too big. It was like how you couldn’t distinguish the face of an ant.
[......You’re close enough to give him a nickname like that?]
[No, that child just called me that for the first time.]
[Fearless brat.]
Whoever it might be, Poseidon did not permit anyone to enter his domain.
[Jormungandr, no matter who you’re meeting, having someone come here without my permission, one of you is already more than enough,]
Poseidon spoke that far, but his warning came too late.
“Jormy~~! I don’t know how to do things like flight magic!”
The woman atop the cliff shouted again. Only after hearing that one more time did Poseidon realize.
The woman’s voice carried far better than it should have from that distance. It was the manifestation of aura. And in tremendous quantity.
On top of that, the voice itself sounded familiar from somewhere.
In the meantime, Jormungandr shook his head as if exasperated.
Then the sea heaved greatly once, and,
[Come on, get on.]
Jormungandr’s body reached the cliff.
“Wow! Thanks, Jormy!”
[Jormungandr! What do you think you’re doing!]
Poseidon # Nоvеlight # shouted, and the woman ran merrily along Jormungandr’s body.
‘Jormungandr is offering his body himself.’
The sight was so strange that Poseidon watched as the woman drew closer.
‘......No, looking closely.’
As she came gradually nearer, Poseidon realized who she was.
Pink hair, green eyes.
An appearance and a peculiar aura that made you question whether she was truly human.
‘That’s.’
Frondier’s girlfriend.
Frondier had been granted passage. Then was it fine for his girlfriend too?
But how was that girl even alive?
Hadn’t he blasted her into the sky?
How could she be laughing so brightly?
She knew Jormungandr?
All kinds of questions surged into Poseidon’s head in an instant.
Seeing Cybel’s appearance, Poseidon’s mind froze for a moment.
Through that gap,
Sss─
a single straight line cut through the sea from between the rocks.
[......Ah!]
Aster Evans.
Departure from Agoris.
