Dusk painted the heavens in long streaks of amber and crimson.
The great sun slowly sank beyond the horizon, and the Holy Land of Mary Geoise lit up one layer at a time, as if the entire city were waking into a second life.
Rows of elegant streetlamps drove back the gathering darkness, bathing the white roads and lofty buildings in a noble glow.
The same was true for the Physics Research Institute inside Roselith Manor, where the lights still burned brightly despite the late hour.
The place remained lively, almost noisy.
"Tom, are you going to play that hand or not? If you fold again, I'm quitting."
An impatient old voice rang out through the laboratory.
"Shut it, Siva! A real man thinks before he moves. Give me another minute!"
The one answering him was a massive Fish-Man with a pair of bull-like horns, broad shoulders, and a thick build that made him look like a moving wall.
It was none other than Tom, the legendary shipwright of Water 7.
Around the table sat three men.
One was Tom.
The other two were elderly researchers in white lab coats.
The first old man, the one who had just spoken, was Siva.
He wore a pair of round spectacles on the bridge of his nose, and his thick side-whiskers made him look both eccentric and spirited.
The second old man was tall and lean, with a drooping mustache and a perpetually scholarly air.
His white coat hung loosely over his shoulders, giving him a slightly untidy appearance that somehow still carried dignity.
That man was Flani.
Spread across the table before them were several stacks of playing cards.
Tom's eyes moved back and forth between the cards in his own hand and the expressions of the two old men seated across from him.
He stared for a long moment, his face full of struggle.
Then, after one final glance, he suddenly slapped his cards down.
"I'm taking it! Rocket and bomb!"
"Well played."
Siva's expression immediately twisted.
"Then the stakes double."
Flani adjusted his glasses and calmly placed his own hand face-down.
"I'm out. You two continue."
The tall old scientist was the only one who had remained mostly silent up until now, but the moment he withdrew, he casually leaned back and folded his arms as if preparing to enjoy the show.
Tom was just about to continue the next round when he noticed something strange.
Neither Siva nor Flani was looking at the cards anymore.
Instead, both of them were staring past him.
Tom blinked.
Before he could turn around fully, Flani was already the first to speak.
"Long time no see, Lady Seraphina."
"Long time no see, Mr. Flani."
A clear, calm voice sounded from behind them.
At some point, Saint Roselith Seraphina had already entered the courtyard outside the research hall and stepped into the brightly lit room.
She had been drawn in by the unusual liveliness and hadn't expected to find the three of them gambling with cards in the middle of the institute.
Flani had spotted her almost the instant she arrived.
His eyesight and observational habits were always sharp.
Most of his research centered around wave transmission, signal theory, and long-range communication technology fields that had consumed years of his life without producing the kind of results the World Government was willing to fund.
Back then, he had nearly gone bankrupt pursuing his ideas.
It was only because Saint Roselith Victor, the head of the Roselith Family, had been recruiting researchers at absurdly generous rates that Flani had finally accepted a position at the estate's private institute.
At first, he had only intended to stay temporarily.
Then he realized the work conditions were so outrageously good that leaving became almost impossible.
"You've been busy lately, Seraphina."
Siva also greeted her, and the moment he did, he shamelessly pushed his cards away as though the game had never happened.
Since the hand was already going poorly for him, he was more than happy to use Seraphina's arrival as an excuse to avoid losing.
"I've had a few matters to deal with, old man Siva."
Seraphina answered with a faint smile.
Compared to the more rigid and serious Flani, Siva was much more lively.
He was the type of old man who could get along with anyone.
His personality was free-spirited, his speech casual, and his temper straightforward.
He had always been obsessed with weapons engineering and military machinery, but much of his preferred work was tightly restricted under World Government law.
When he heard that a Celestial Dragon estate had established a private institute and was quietly gathering researchers from every field, he had rushed over with his application almost immediately.
He had assumed he would be entering a den of arrogant nobles and bureaucratic nonsense.
Instead, he found a place where he could research freely, drink good tea, argue with other geniuses, and occasionally gamble with cards.
Naturally, he had stayed.
"Why does he get called Mister Flani while I get called old man?"
Siva looked thoroughly dissatisfied.
"We're both old. Why am I the only one getting bullied?"
Seraphina only smiled and said nothing.
The answer was obvious.
Because he was the one acting like an old rascal every single day.
"Because you're never serious for even five minutes."
Flani didn't miss the chance to strike while the iron was hot.
"If you keep this up, you'll lose what little dignity you still have left."
Siva instantly exploded.
"You long-faced fraud, say that again!"
He slammed his hand on the table so hard that the cards scattered everywhere.
He even rolled up his sleeves as if he were about to settle the matter with his fists.
Tom stared at the two old men in front of him with a blank expression.
Then he sighed.
"Have the two of you forgotten that we were in the middle of a game?"
His voice carried a trace of helpless grievance.
These two geezers were obviously trying to wriggle out of paying up.
Still, his attention quickly shifted.
He looked at the white-haired young woman standing before them.
Her Marine uniform was immaculate.
Her silver-white hair shimmered beneath the institute lights.
Even though she stood there quietly, her presence alone gave the room a subtle but undeniable pressure.
"And you must be Miss Seraphina?"
Tom finally spoke directly to her.
He had heard about her more than once by now.
The scientists in this place had already told him that the true owner and overseer of this institute was the young lady of the Roselith Family.
The same Celestial Dragon who had personally ordered that he be brought here alive.
"Mr. Tom, I've wanted to meet you for a very long time."
Seraphina smiled sincerely.
And that sincerity was real.
No matter how much she tried to keep her composure, the excitement in her heart was difficult to suppress.
This was Tom.
The man who built the Sea Train.
The shipwright who carried the blueprints of Pluton.
The Fish-Man whose skill, vision, and courage had changed the fate of Water 7.
Looking at him now, Seraphina found his appearance strangely familiar.
Tom's broad frame and large build actually reminded her a little of Victor.
If her father had somehow become a Fish-Man and grown a pair of horns, he would probably look something like this.
That thought nearly made her laugh.
"Lady Seraphina, if you're after the blueprints to the Ancient Weapon Pluton, then I have nothing to say. I know nothing, and I'll tell you even less."
Tom's expression became cautious almost immediately.
The warmth in her tone only made him more suspicious.
He was not naïve.
He had already seen enough of the world to know one simple truth:
No one shows kindness without a reason.
Especially not a Celestial Dragon.
So the moment Seraphina treated him with unusual respect, Tom's instincts instantly went on alert.
He had heard many things from Siva and Flani these past days.
That the institute's young mistress was different.
That she did not act like other World Nobles.
That she was easy to get along with.
That she valued talent.
That she even wore a Marine uniform and worked under the banner of justice.
Tom had listened.
But he had not fully believed.
After all, the person who had him brought to Mary Geoise was still a Celestial Dragon.
That fact alone was enough to make any sane person suspicious.
"Pluton?"
Seraphina blinked.
"What Pluton?"
Her confusion was genuine.
Tom narrowed his eyes.
For a moment, he studied her carefully.
Her expression didn't look fake.
There was no flicker of greed.
No feigned politeness hiding calculation.
Only real confusion.
"You truly don't know?"
Tom asked slowly.
Seraphina tilted her head slightly.
"Mr. Tom, first of all, you really don't need to call me 'Lady.' Just call me Seraphina."
She spoke casually, as though the title meant nothing to her.
Then she continued.
"And second… I think you've misunderstood something."
"I had my father save you because of the Sea Train."
Tom froze.
Siva and Flani also quieted down.
Seraphina stepped closer, her expression earnest.
"When I first learned about your work, I was genuinely shocked."
"The Sea Train is not just a shipwright's dream. It is a machine capable of changing nations, trade, logistics, travel, and even the balance between islands."
"It is a masterpiece of engineering and vision."
"I read through the design principles that were brought here with the reports."
"The rail stabilization concepts."
"The buoyancy distribution for sea-based tracks."
"The locomotive pressure systems."
"The structural reinforcement for withstanding ocean conditions."
"The more I read, the more convinced I became."
"Someone like you should never have been discarded."
Her voice was calm, but every word carried weight.
"I could not allow a scientist and shipwright of your level to be buried by politics."
"So yes."
"I asked my father to intervene and save you."
"That is the truth."
Silence filled the room for a moment.
Tom stared at her.
This time, the suspicion in his eyes wavered.
Because what she had just said…
…was not the sort of thing someone would say if they only wanted Pluton.
She had spoken specifically about the Sea Train.
Not as a curiosity.
Not as a passing topic.
But as something she had truly understood.
"See?"
Siva immediately smacked Tom on the shoulder.
"I told you she wasn't after your secrets."
Then, as if the emotional atmosphere wasn't already fragile enough, the old man added shamelessly:
"By the way, that means I won the bet. About the doughnuts."
Tom's expression instantly darkened.
So that was what this was really about.
Flani coughed into his fist and looked away, pretending he had nothing to do with it.
When Tom had first arrived here, he had been deeply wary.
Not only because he had suddenly been dragged into the territory of the World Nobles, but also because he had no idea what had happened to his two apprentices.
He had feared the worst.
But over the following days, he had slowly relaxed.
The scientists here were odd, but they were not malicious.
They treated him as a colleague, not a prisoner.
And after seeing the newspaper report confirming that Iceburg had successfully become the new leader of the Galley-La Company's future operations, Tom had finally let out a breath he had been holding.
At least that meant his boys were still moving forward.
Even so, his guard around Celestial Dragons had never fully disappeared.
So when Siva suggested a wager betting on whether Seraphina intended to exploit him or genuinely wanted to preserve his work Tom had taken it.
Now, it seemed he might really have lost.
"…So that's how it is."
Tom scratched his head, looking slightly awkward.
Then, after a pause, he bowed his head a little.
"Thank you very much, Miss Seraphina."
"It's nothing."
Seraphina shook her head gently.
"It's what I should have done."
Tom exhaled slowly.
Then he looked at her with a much more serious expression.
"In that case…"
"What exactly do you want from me?"
Tom was never the type to circle around a topic.
He asked directly.
Because even if he now believed she had saved him because of the Sea Train, he still could not imagine that anyone let alone a Celestial Dragon would do all this without wanting something in return.
And in truth…
He was right.
Seraphina's gaze deepened slightly.
She had not gone to such lengths simply to admire his genius from afar.
No.
Tom was too important for that.
He was not just a shipwright.
Not just an engineer.
Not just the builder of the Sea Train.
He was one of the few men in this world capable of helping her push the age itself forward.
And for the future she intended to build…
She needed him.
A lot.