Malenia hesitated for a long moment before finally choosing to address the girl in front of her as sister.
What… what's going on with you?" she asked.
Trina shook her head gently.
"It's nothing. I just wanted to change my form. Oh, right—going forward, you can call me Trina."
Malenia nodded, still somewhat confused.
She didn't really understand why Trina had changed forms, but as long as her brother—
No, as long as her sister—was happy, that was enough.
Trina stepped forward and hugged Arthur.
Nestled against his chest, she said softly, "Thank you."
Only she and Arthur truly understood what that "thank you" meant.
Strictly speaking, Miquella and Trina had always been a single being with two souls—two personalities.
They weren't like Marika and Radagon, who fought one another for control of the body.
But even so, only one of them could exist openly in the outside world at any given time.
And without question, it was almost always Miquella—the dominant personality—who stood at the forefront.
Trina's opportunities to appear were exceedingly rare.
Especially after Miquella left Leyndell, the Royal Capital, Trina had almost no chance at all to come into contact with the outside world.
That situation only began to change after Arthur removed Miquella from the cocoon of divine slumber.
Whenever Miquella fell asleep, Trina could briefly emerge.
Even then, she never wanted outsiders to know of her existence.
Arthur himself had only discovered Trina by chance—catching her secretly observing the outside world.
Trina didn't want others to know she existed because, to her, it felt meaningless.
At any unknown moment, Miquella could awaken again, and she would be sent back into the dream world.
But now, Arthur had given her meaning.
She could finally walk the world as an independent individual.
The price was Miquella's disappearance—but that didn't matter.
She had inherited everything Miquella was.
Everything except his physical sex.
She was both Miquella and Trina.
Two soul-personalities fused into one, with Trina as the dominant self.
That was why she had hugged Arthur—and why she thanked him.
Arthur patted Trina on the head.
"Alright, no need to keep thanking me," he said.
"You heard what I just told Malenia about the Zen Garden. Go explore it together for now and get familiar with the place."
Then he turned to the others.
"And you as well. This is where you'll be living from now on."
That last sentence was directed at Latenna and the jellyfish sisters.
If nothing unexpected happened, these spirit beings would be spending most of their time in the Zen Garden from now on.
Because of Arthur's act of manifesting the Sacred Tree, the objects they had once used to anchor their souls had been absorbed by it.
Ashes, spirit crystals—those were all gone.
Now, the Sacred Tree itself had become their foundation.
Even Aureliette, who had once possessed a physical body, was now a purely spiritual being.
But that wasn't really a problem.
Arthur's human transmutation techniques were already extremely mature.
If any of them wanted a body, he could create one at any time.
"Oh, right."
Arthur pulled Leyna over and introduced her to Trina and Malenia.
"This is Leyna. She's Rykard's daughter—so you can consider her your niece."
Then he turned to Leyna.
"These are Trina and Malenia. They're your aunts. Take them around the Garden and show them the place."
"And this is Latenna. She's the older sister of that giant Albinauric I brought back earlier. You can take her to see her sister as well."
As for the jellyfish sisters, Arthur didn't give any specific instructions.
They were incredibly easy to please.
Some time ago, he'd taken them to see the stars over Liurnia of the Lakes, and since then, they'd chosen to follow him.
Their only request was to see beautiful scenery.
And the Zen Garden had no shortage of that.
Leyna nodded obediently and led the group of spirits away, leaving only Arthur and Radahn behind.
Arthur gazed at Elphael, now standing upon and shaped around the Sacred Tree.
After a moment of thought, he abandoned the idea of merging the Sacred Tree into the Erdtree.
One reason was that he didn't want to ruin Elphael's overall aesthetic.
Another was that the Sacred Tree now served as the anchor for Trina and the others' souls.
He was worried that if he fused it with the Erdtree, their souls might be absorbed as well.
So in the end, Arthur decided to leave the Sacred Tree as it was.
He'd just treat it as a uniquely styled landmark within the Zen Garden.
At that moment, Radahn slung an arm over Arthur's shoulder.
"I say, brother-in-law," he said with a grin, "are you planning to collect all of my father's daughters in one go?"
Arthur rolled his eyes.
"Hey now, don't slander me. I just didn't want Ranni's siblings to die out there in the Lands Between."
Radahn didn't believe a word of it.
He'd heard directly from Ranni how Arthur had dealt with their brother Rykard.
No mercy whatsoever—every strike full force.
In the end, Arthur had even extracted Rykard's power to forge Leyna a new body.
And now he was claiming he didn't want Ranni's siblings to die?
Radahn might've believed it if you removed the word siblings and just left sisters.
Sometimes, Radahn even wondered—
If his relationship with Ranni hadn't been so good, would Arthur have bothered saving him back then?
Radahn rolled his eyes in return.
"Then explain to me why every single person you saved just happens to be female."
Arthur shrugged.
"Their gender isn't something I get to decide."
Radahn rolled his eyes again.
He didn't even feel like calling Arthur out anymore.
Radahn swore to himself—if Miquella turning into Trina had nothing to do with Arthur, he'd go eat every single carnivorous slug in Hagrid's pumpkin patch.
Deciding not to pursue the topic further, Radahn said,
"Fine, whatever you say. I'm going back to riding."
He leapt onto a flying steed and galloped off.
Arthur watched him leave, then turned away as well.
The party he'd dispatched in Soda Dungeon 2 had already been defeated and returned.
It was time to level them up—and send them out again.
Advance Chapters Available on Patreon
patreon.com/WhiteDevil7554