"Just as you said before, Mr. Caelus, no matter what I do from now on, no matter how much good I accomplish or how much I try to make amends, the evil I committed in the past will not disappear. If they seek revenge against me for that and demand that I pay the price, I can understand it.
"But have you prepared yourself as well, Mr. Caelus? If they eventually learn that you were the one who decided on this sacrifice, that their rare period of peace was destroyed because of your decision and they were forced to face the terrible apocalypse they were originally destined to endure, will they blame you? Will they resent you?
"If they remember this pain and tragedy, and those who lost loved ones or suffered because of it eventually come seeking revenge against you, will you be able to accept that as calmly as I would?"
"If someone comes after me for revenge because of this, I'll tell them it was a necessary sacrifice and apologize to them. If they want compensation, I can provide something reasonable. But if they make excessive demands and keep asking for more out of greed, I won't indulge them without limits."
"It seems you draw a very clear line... Very well. I have the answer I wanted. I'll make some adjustments to the Black Tide and increase its intensity somewhat. I'll also allow the Twelve Titans, who had faded from history, to appear again. Let us see what kind of story unfolds when an Amphoreus whose technology and society have already advanced to the point of crewed spaceflight is forced to confront the return of its ancient myths."
After saying that, Lygus abruptly disappeared.
"Partner, what exactly was Lygus trying to accomplish by asking you all that? Was he trying to change your mind, or make you give up on saving Amphoreus?"
"It's simple. He's conducting an observational experiment. As far as this universe is concerned, I'm the largest source of variables in existence. I can introduce unknown factors into the universe itself and cause events to develop beyond the expectations of every observer.
"Any scholar who enjoys research would inevitably become curious about a variable as large as me. It was the same at Herta Space Station. Even though Herta and the others knew my involvement might cause the Simulated Universe to malfunction or even break down entirely, they still wanted me to participate because a scholar can never completely suppress curiosity and the desire for knowledge.
"Even after observing me across so many cycles, Lygus still wants to understand me more deeply. He wants to know how I would react if the people I wanted to help eventually turned against me, and what kind of moral boundaries I follow. So he came here personally, asked the question, and obtained the answer he wanted.
"It doesn't matter what answer I gave. All he wanted was an answer that came from me. Whether I lied, concealed something, or told the complete truth, the fact that I answered at all was enough."
"...Why does that somehow sound weird?"
Cyrene suddenly had the strange feeling that even a machine was trying to steal her Partner away from her.
"Partner, I'm heading out first! I'll definitely do my best to help Aglaea understand the true meaning of Beauty!"
Before leaving, Cyrene leaned close to Caelus's ear and whispered in a voice low enough that only the two of them could hear.
"To me, Partner, you're the most beautiful thing in the world."
She then hurried toward the door. Just before stepping outside, she turned back with the mischievous smile of a girl delighted that her little prank had worked, then disappeared beyond the doorway.
Watching Cyrene leave, the corners of Caelus's lips rose slightly.
...
"You finally decided to get rid of those ridiculous yellow-and-purple clothes?"
"You're one to talk. Didn't you finally take off all those flashy gold accessories that made you look like some edgy delinquent?"
Phainon and Mydei were standing inside a training ground wearing matching standard-issue training uniforms. Ever since they had met, the two had constantly mocked and traded jabs at each other. Judging by appearances, they really were close friends.
A light-purple-haired girl sitting in one corner of the training ground watched the entire exchange. She adjusted her round glasses, picked up her tablet, and began drawing something on the screen.
As she continued drawing, Phainon and Mydei were both suddenly struck by an inexplicable chill, causing their verbal sparring to stop for a moment.
"Princess Shut-In, why is your face so red? What exactly are you drawing...?!"
Cipher clearly knew the purple-haired girl. She curiously leaned over for a look, then immediately jumped several steps backward as though every hair on her body had stood on end.
The girl known as Princess Shut-In frantically switched off the tablet in her arms, lowered her head with a bright red face, and refused to say a word.
"All right, everyone! Gather up!"
With the instructor's arrival, the young Chrysos Heirs scattered around the training grounds quickly assembled.
After such a long age of peace, these boys and girls with golden blood were physically far stronger than ordinary people their age, but when it came to actual combat skill, they were considerably less experienced than the young people of ancient Amphoreus. After all, they had grown up in a world where they had never needed to think about fighting.
Now that the Black Tide had appeared, however, many forms of advanced technology could no longer function properly inside areas engulfed by it. In those places, they had little choice but to rely on the oldest method of all, human strength.
The Chrysos Heirs, empowered by their golden blood, were unquestionably the people best suited to fighting the Black Tide. They were also the ones prophecy claimed could save the world.
Now that the burden of saving the world had suddenly fallen onto these young people, they naturally needed to learn how to fight.
During the first practical combat lesson, the instructor was surprised to discover that among this group, most of whom were still in high school or university, several were already remarkably capable fighters.
Mydei and Phainon were using nothing but their bare hands against each other. To a professional, their movements still looked somewhat immature, but it was obvious that both had received considerable training and had probably been practicing since childhood.
The only reason they seemed inexperienced was that neither of them had ever truly seen blood. Because of that, both still instinctively held back during combat and could not fully commit to their attacks.
"How many matches does this make now?"
Phainon dodged one of Mydei's hooks and asked with a grin.
"If you insist on counting this one, then it should be number nine hundred and sixty-four."
Mydei blocked a straight punch aimed at his abdomen and answered calmly.
"Then let's see who takes the lead this time! Loser pays for drinks all day!"
"Looks like I'm getting free drinks today."
"Don't get too confident. Pride comes before a fall!"
Even as the two young men continued their verbal battle, their fists never stopped moving.
Ever since childhood, Phainon had admired the heroes in comic books and constantly trained himself because he wanted to become one. That was also how he became friends with Mydei, someone who had been raised with the expectation that he would become a hero.
One pursued the dream out of genuine admiration.
The other was chasing a dream borrowed from someone else.
As the fight grew more intense, both of them gradually became caught up in the moment, and their hands and feet inevitably began moving without restraint.
Eventually, as though they had reached some unspoken agreement, both threw a punch at exactly the same moment.
Their fists slammed into each other's faces.
Then both collapsed onto the ground.
The two young men tried to struggle back to their feet, clearly intending to continue, but the instructor stopped them before they could start fighting again.
And so their nine hundred and sixty-fourth match ended in a draw.
The two boys lying on the ground looked at each other, then burst into laughter. In each other's eyes, the other looked completely ridiculous.
They had always been like this.
Young, reckless, and full of spirit.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)