During that time, Edwy and Aaron were also at the mountain which Dilon and Corete had led them to . After all, there was a small open space here that Zynis had made his base .
“Huh? Father is not here . ”
“Neither are the birdfolk . I told them to gather here . ”
Dilon and Corete looked around as if something was wrong .
“Ortha went to take some scales to the villa . They liked her, and so she’s being hired temporarily . ”
“So, she came too . ”
Edwy wasn’t surprised by Dilon’s explanation .
They acted separately in order to avoid drawing attention, and then after reuniting at the foot of the mountain, they talked about what had happened .
“Beware of the mirror lake . What a vague thing to say . That’s very Amia . ”
“Are you close with the merfolk chief, Edwy?”
“No, he treats me like a child . However, as I was with the Saintesses, he did give us a vague warning . ”
“The Saintesses…”
Dilon touched the back of his head with a conflicted expression .
“Father and the birdfolk seemed to be so taken in by them . Are they really that special?”
Edwy looked at Dilon with an exasperated expression .
“Good or bad? Adorable or admirable? All of that is beside the point!”
“Oh, uh…”
Dilon was overwhelmed by the force in his words . But it seemed like he was just praising them .
“I’ll say it clearly . We do not have the authority to decide if the summoned Saintesses are good or not . ”
“But…”
“No arguments . They were torn from their families in order to be brought here . How do you think they would feel if you said they were a disappointment?”
“Well, maybe…”
Dilon muttered vaguely, but Edwy had no intention of letting them off so easily .
“What if it was Ortha?”
“My sister? That’s ridiculous . ”
“I’m sure their families felt the same . But could you imagine if Ortha was sent to a different country alone, where there was no beastkin?”
“…”
“I’ve never seen your kind before . Why aren’t you human? I wish you were quieter . You’re too normal . Stop being spoiled . What if people said those things to her?”
Dilon’s hands tightened into fists . The Saintesses’s were getting a similar amount of attention as any other girl around him, and yet he had felt that they were being spoiled .
“I’m sure you have heard about the inland incident . But Dilon, what really hurts someone, is not what the enemy thinks, but careless words from those who are close to them . ”
Dilon couldn’t reply to that .
Just then, Corete raised his nose to the sky .
“The wind has changed . The wind that’s rising from the lake has the scent of Zynis, the two birdfolk, and two humans in it . Below . ”
“Below? But we passed through there . ”
Dillon said . And Corete answered .
“They must have come after then . I didn’t notice because of the direction of the wind . Besides…”
He said as his nose wrinkled .
“Hey, Dilon . About the miasma…”
“Aye . It’s been rapidly getting thinner since yesterday . Oh?”
“Yeah . ”
Both of them looked upward .
“The miasma is gathering together?”
Edwy looked down with realization .
“Maki and Chiharu! Those two are always so…”
“What are you talking about?”
Edwy didn’t answer them . Instead, he said,
“How do we get down!”
“Down the road there . The miasma is coming from the same direction . ”
“Let’s go!”
“He-hey . ”
“Prepare your second form!”
Dilon and Corete were shocked by Edwy’s words at first, but they quickly returned to themselves . The miasma . Second form . It was likely a monster .
The four of them rushed down the hill . They quickly sensed that Zynis was close by .
“Over there! What!”
There stood Zynis, in his third form, and two birdfolk . And in front of them, stood a young boy and girl . And in the sky above…
“I can’t even count them . Gazers…”
There were so many that he muttered out loud . The monsters looked just like they did when facing an Adventurer in a dungeon . Like they were about to attack . And to Edwy, Maki and Chiharu looked a lot more nervous than they had been at the border town . Next to him, Dilon and Corete changed shape . Their nails became strong and thick . Their maw extended and their fangs sharpened . It was their second form . On close inspection, the birdfolk also had their claws out .
“Maki! Chiharu!”
To Edwy, it seemed that the monsters reacted to his voice, and grew larger . As Dilon and Corete moved in to attack, Zynis stepped in front of them .
“Wait . ”
“But!”
“They told us not to interfere . ”
Zynis’s calm voice made them pause . Still, they remained on their guard as they looked at the boy and girl and the gazers .
“They are so wild . ”
“Agitated . You were supposed to grow slowly but were unleashed too early . You became gazers too soon?”
“The cave was small and you couldn’t grow . Do you want to get bigger? You don’t want to return to a stone?”
It was if they could hear the sounds of agitation . However, while they seemed nervous, the boy and girl faced them quietly .
“So, do you want to travel outside a little?”
The gazers swayed to the side .
“What are those two saying?”
“Shh . They are able to hear the voices of the monsters . ”
“What!”
“Be quiet . ”
Edwy scolded Dilon . Next to them, Corete and Aaron watched in disbelief .
“You don’t want to travel? Oh, you sure are willful . ”
The girl said . And the gazers buzzed angrily . However, it seemed more like they were sulking and muttering . Sulking? That was ridiculous . Dilon shook his head .
As they talked, the boy and girl seemed to grow less nervous, and they even smiled .
“What should we do then?”
Why was that even a question? Monsters should be defeated . That was it . Dilon was incredibly annoyed by the boy . Now that he thought about it, this was the boy who had been selling the Soluna oranges . He recalled the dark eyes and the hands that had held his . No, they hadn’t done that . Dilon shook his head again .
“Can’t you just all join into one big gazer? If you’re too small, you can become bigger . ”
The girl said innocently .
“You’ve never done that before? Of course, you haven’t . But you’re made of miasma, aren’t you? Can’t you just all gather together?”
What a ridiculous request . Suddenly, Dilon felt sorry for the monsters . The monsters in the sky seemed confused as they started to converse with each other .
“What? You’ll try? Yes . We’ll watch . ”
As if they represented the others, two small gazers came out to the front and faced each other .
The boy and girl held their hands together in front of them as if they were praying .
As the two gazers quietly came together, their large eyes closed and then stuck together . Then their silhouettes seemed to blur, and then it grew larger and a single eye opened .
“It worked!”
The gazer blinked slowly .
“How do you feel? You feel good?”
Apparently, they didn’t feel agitated anymore . Upon seeing this, the other gazers started to melt into each other .
“He-hey, maybe three is too…oh…uh… Isn’t that too big? I told you . ”
The girl said with exasperation . Still, they continued to melt together until there were only five large gazers in the sky .
“You calmed down now, so you don’t mind returning to magic stones? Why are you in such a rush?”
The boy said with a sigh .
“Oh well . Come on then . ”
The boy and girl stretched out their hands . The gazers approached as if they wanted to be petted . And then the stones clinked to the ground .
“Impossible…”
“This is the power of the Saintesses . ”
Before they knew it, there was not a single monster left . Dilon, Corete, and Aaron stood there in shock .