“But he failed to fully destroy the Sugula, and fragments of its body rained down all over the world as Kaguya,” Curalius continued. “The Kaguya consumed all living things and destroyed the planet’s surface. The Elf of the Sun, Leishi, cooperated with Renge, breaking the continent into three smaller ones. They sheltered the surviving races on the eastern and western continents, while Renge and Leishi gathered the Kaguya on the central continent and burned it all away. With that, only small amounts of Camilla and Kathra remained in the world, while the Kaguya and the Dwarf inside the Bottle were destroyed. The human and demi-humans left the eastern continent, with each of them taking root in one of the other landmasses, and the world began to recover. Now, the Sugula threatens to fall yet again. But unlike what happened two thousand years ago, we have a Holy Woman wielding the power of the Stella on our side.”
Curalius turned her wrinkly face toward me and smiled kindly.
“Ah…” I let out this surprised utterance.
The kings and representatives all fixed their eyes on me, too. I shrunk back timidly.
Aaaah, don’t stare at me…
“I-Is there anything I can do, King Curalius…?” I muttered.
“If nothing else, there’s no need to burn this world to the ground this time,” she replied. “If we try to burn the planet like we did last time, the Elf of the Sun’s mana will be depleted, and he will pass away. Just like Leishi did…”
“He’ll what?!” I gasped.
What’s this all about?! I turned to look at Shida, who simply folded his arms in front of his chest, his eyes closed. He knew?!
“The grimoire’s power is limitless,” he said. “But in exchange, using it is taxing for this young body of mine.”
I stared at him in stunned silence.
“Don’t worry about me! If need be, I’ll use all my powers as this generation’s Elf of the Sun. I inherited the grimoire from the great, olden king, and so I must rise to meet my duties!”
“Shida…” I muttered sadly.
Renge, who stood beside Curalius, cast down his gaze.
Was Shida willing to use the grimoire knowing that all this time? But, wait, I’m here right now, so it’ll be fine, right? No matter how big the Kaguya that comes falling down might be, my Stella can purify it!
“I understand!” I said loudly. “If the Kaguya falls over the world, I’ll go wherever it’s needed to purify it!”
“Thank you,” Curalius said. “You truly are a reliable Holy Woman. And I ask that you help her too, Elf of the Sun. With her help, there won’t be any need to burn everything away. But still, we can’t allow it to fall to the surface. Once it comes close enough, we’ll have Renge destroy it.”
“Right…” Renge said. “If we don’t do that, it’ll start eating away at the earth as soon as it can. We can’t let that happen.”
Eating away at the earth…
That was what the Kaguya with a Will of Its Own meant when it said the world would become one with it. It was madness. Since the Kaguya could “eat away” at anything, once it made contact with the earth, it could end up consuming the very world itself.
That’s the one thing we can’t allow.
“Still, the Mythical continent is too small to accept all of the human continent’s denizens,” Curalius said. “The demi-human continent must accommodate, too. That’s the matter we must discuss. In ten days, Renge will destroy the Sugula just before things reach the point of no return. When that happens, the burnt, severed Kaguya will drop over a large area. And once it falls over this continent, all life, assets, and culture that exist here will be swept away.”
“What?!”
“That’s terrible…!”
“What are we supposed to do then?!”
The representatives of the human countries all cradled their heads with concern, their faces pale. To them, it was simply “horrible.” But—
“N-No… Just ten days…?” Zabado said. “That’s impossible! You’re telling us to evacuate every human off our continent in a mere ten days?! And what are we to do after we evacuate?! The demi-humans’ continent is populated by entire countries, and the Mythical continent has the Mythicals taking up residence there! The food won’t last! What are we supposed to do?!”
“Lord Zabado…” Dad said, his voice and expression disappointed.
“You complain now, but this is why we asked Marcus to speak to the different countries over the past couple of years,” Renge said, speaking up for my father and glaring at Zabado. “That’s strange, surely you were listening to him. There’s no chance that you ignored his warnings, is there?”
“Ugh!”
Most of the human continent’s representatives looked away and kept their mouths shut. That was their answer.
“I’m shocked beyond words,” Shida said loudly enough for everyone to hear as he leaned against his chair’s backrest casually.
For three years, Dad traveled to all the different countries to inform them of the situation, but his warnings fell on deaf ears.
Oh, this is why big wigs are so frustrating…! I clenched my fists under the table, frustrated that my time apart from my father had gone to waste on these people who weren’t even willing to make any concessions.
“There’s not much to be done,” Curalius said, her voice cutting through their myriad of complaints. “Humans are forgetful and vain. They act like the whole world’s crisis is none of their concern. And now they panic, even though it’s too late…”
“B-But still, King of the Mythicals…!” Zabado said. “I mean, put yourself in our shoes, being told that this thing floating in the sky for years would fall on us… Who would believe that?!”
“That’s right! How were we supposed to believe that?! And we heard that the Holy Woman would purify it, so…” another human representative spoke up in agreement.
“Lord Zabado, Professor Ordes, haven’t I been telling you to expect the worst possible situation could happen?” Dad asked them.
“Ugh…”
“Yes, but… I mean, still, that thing falling from the sky! It’s unrealistic!” Professor Ordes argued.
This professor was a man of influence from Saikorea. He was also a friend of Sirius and Jilril, a school headmaster who once invited me to study at his academy there. Jilril and Sirius weren’t important enough politically to attend this war conference. But seeing a big player from a country of scholars bemoan about the situation in front of us being “unrealistic” was a little pathetic. It was a country that made the pursuit of knowledge its slogan, and Ordes was their representative… And yet, here he was, denying reality because it didn’t fit into what he found acceptable.
“I see,” Renge said tersely. “So you overlooked our warnings and advice on the basis of them being ‘unrealistic.’”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant…” Ordes stuttered.
“Tch! That’s why humanssss are insufferable! Us lizardmen will never acccccept them into our denssss!” the lizardmen representative declared, his voice booming through the large room.
“The Ogres won’t accept them, humans, either!” the ogre representative roared. “The elf, dwarf, and kobold countries are bigger, so you can go to them for help.”
“What?!” Lord Zabado exclaimed, irked.