Published: August 10, 2026
The moment I squeezed my eyes shut, my sense of balance went haywire. My body tilted, and I was seized by a strange sensation of floating.
A moment later, I was yanked close and scolded in a low, rapid voice.
"Don't zone out, fool."
It was Ferdinand's voice.
For the moment, I decided to cling to the arm holding me.
Just as I thought, This should do it! I fell with a thud.
It felt like falling off a bed, so it didn't seem like a very great height. But because I had completely lost my balance from that floating sensation, I took the impact full-on.
Against Ferdinand's armor.
"Kyah!?"
When I opened my eyes, all I could see was Ferdinand's armor.
Apparently, I had fallen onto Ferdinand.
"That hurt......"
"Don't speak so casually and move already!"
He snapped at me with an irritable voice, then flipped my body over with a violent motion.
Huh?
Before I knew it, everything had turned upside down, and Ferdinand swiftly rose to his feet.
He was already holding his stave.
......He pulled me in himself, and then got mad at me?
That's seriously unfair!
I'd been yanked in, dropped, rolled around, and now my head was spinning.
As I sat up, feeling nauseous as if my brain had been shaken, we somehow found ourselves in the Garden of Beginnings.
In the center of the circular courtyard paved with pure white stone, instead of the usual great white tree, Aervelmine had taken form.
Judging by the deep furrow in his brow and the mana rising around him like a haze, he didn't look in the least bit pleased.
......Lord Aervelmine seems extremely unhappy? I wonder what happened?
As I tilted my head while looking at Aervelmine, a startled voice came from the edge of my vision.
"Lord Aervelmine?"
It seemed Gervasio was here too.
Like us, he had apparently fallen with a thud, and I could see him getting to his feet.
I slowly looked around the Garden of Beginnings.
Ferdinand, stave raised and ready for battle.
Gervasio, kneeling toward Aervelmine.
And me, holding my head and trying to suppress the queasiness.
Aervelmine glared at the three of us with obvious displeasure.
"When the foundation of Jurgenschmidt must be filled with mana as soon as possible, what exactly are you, who possess the qualification to do so, doing?"
Apparently, Aervelmine had manifested so he could complain to us.
The white tree form likely couldn't speak.
"Quinta, despite bursting in with such an outrageous method, I granted you the wisdom of the goddess of wisdom mestionora. And yet you did not return to complete that wisdom, nor did you show any sign of coloring the foundation at all. When you finally did return, it was someone else. And even that one, despite my command to kill one of them and complete The Book of Mestionora, coldly refused. I had finally begun to relax, thinking someone willing to dye the foundation had appeared at last, only to find the light of wisdom cut off and my path to the foundation blocked. Why do you interfere, Quinta? Do you not understand that Jurgenschmidt's collapse is drawing near!?"
It seemed most of Aervelmine's anger was directed at Ferdinand.
Some of that wrath seemed to be aimed at me too, but since it alternated between us, I figured he still couldn't tell us apart by mana.
Ferdinand, being glared at by a former god, remained expressionless and transformed his stave into "Grutrissheit," then began examining something.
"You say collapse is imminent, Lord Aervelmine, but because Rozemyne poured mana into the national border gate, we have roughly twenty years before that collapse occurs. It may be a fleeting span to you, who have watched over Jurgenschmidt all this time, but for us it is longer than the time it takes for a child to be born and come of age."
"Is that so? There is unexpectedly much time, then. Does Lord Ferdinand's Book of Mestionora contain even that?"
"Please show me," I said, hurrying to my feet and moving closer.
But then, right in front of me, he snapped The Book of Mestionora shut with a bang.
"You may show it to me!"
"Lord Ferdinand, you cheapskate!"
"Let me confirm one thing. Can you see the current situation?"