The night grew late. The Alliance forces were still clearing the area. Some soldiers had begun carrying their equipment back. Some of the station personnel had already been evacuated. Our ship was still standing where we'd left it. Dirty. But still intact.
I stared at it. "Huh..."
"Tomorrow's going to be a pain."
Rin came back and stood beside me. "Why?"
"Repairs."
She smiled. "And the bill."
I immediately turned toward Captain Kaynan, who was talking to Veyra in the distance.
I grinned. "The captain's paying."
Rin laughed. "Like the captain's actually going to pay."
I laughed because that was exactly what the captain was like. I yawned. For the first time since the battle began, my body was finally starting to feel truly exhausted. I walked toward the ship. But before I went inside, I stopped. For some reason... I looked up at the sky again. The dark clouds slowly drifted away from the moon. Moonlight bathed Ozgur City.
Everything looked peaceful. As if nothing had happened. As if tonight were just an ordinary night. But I knew that wasn't true. Because now we had too many questions. Who was that group, really? What were they looking for? How did they know about the object the captain had picked up? And what bothered me most... what did any of this have to do with Terra Vitae?
I rubbed my head. "Ah..."
I sighed. "I'll think about it tomorrow."
I went inside the ship. Tonight... I just wanted to sleep. But deep inside the ship, in a place no one knew about... the object wrapped in black cloth suddenly emitted a blue light. Once. Then it went dark. There was no sound.
No alarm. No one noticed. Except... a small symbol that hadn't been visible before slowly appeared on the surface of the cloth. The same symbol Kaynan had found at the site where the mage had disappeared.
In one of the ship's tightly locked rooms... the object wrapped in black cloth lay motionless inside a storage compartment. There was no one there. No sound. No movement. But a few seconds later— a faint blue light appeared from beneath the cloth. It blinked once. Then vanished. A moment later... it appeared again. This time, it was brighter.
A faint pattern slowly became visible on the surface of the cloth.
A symbol.
The same symbol Kaynan had found at the battle site.
But before the light could finish forming the pattern—
"Click."
The door opened.
The light vanished at once. Kaynan stood in the doorway. He stared at the object for a moment.
There was no smile on his face.
"So..." He walked closer.
"...you're still reacting." Kaynan didn't touch it.
He simply stood there, observing the object. For a while, he remained silent. Then footsteps sounded from the corridor. Kaynan quickly wrapped the object up again. His expression returned to normal. Relaxed. As if nothing had happened.
He turned toward the door.
"Looks like the next few days are going to be interesting."
Kaynan left and closed the door. Behind the closed door...
the object fell silent again. No one knew what it really was. No one knew why the symbol had appeared. And no one knew...
why the object had begun reacting after Zen met that mage. But one thing was clear. The trouble they'd faced that night... wasn't over yet.
Morning came too quickly.
Far too quickly for someone who had nearly died just a few hours earlier.
I slowly opened my eyes.
Sunlight streamed through the gap in the window of my cabin and hit me right in the face.
I blinked several times.
"...Is it morning already?"
I pulled the blanket back over my head. Maybe if I pretended to still be asleep, morning would go away on its own.
CLANG!
I opened my eyes.
CLANG!
"..." I took a long breath.
CRASH!
I sat straight up.
"Who's fighting a war this early in the morning?!"
I climbed out of bed with my hair a mess. The moment I opened my cabin door, the sounds of activity filled the ship's corridor. Some of the crew walked by carrying toolboxes. Others carried magic stones of various sizes. The sound of crackling energy came from outside. I walked out. When I reached the parking area, I saw our ship. It actually still looked intact.
There was no destroyed section of the hull.
The engines were fine, too.
Only one part was seriously damaged: the magic shield.
Several shield-generating crystals looked dim, while the energy conduits around the ship's defense system still gave off tiny sparks.
I sighed.
"So it's just the shield..."
"Were you hoping the ship would be destroyed?"
I turned around.
Rin stood a few steps behind me, carrying two cups of something to drink.
"If the ship were destroyed, we'd have more of a reason not to leave."
Rin gave me a flat look.
"What kind of logic is that?"
"The logic of someone who wants a vacation."
"The Oceanid Festival already counts as a vacation."
I took one of the cups from her.
"It's not a vacation if you have to work." I said as I took a drink.
"Ptooey—this is coffee." I spat out the drink I'd just swallowed. I sniffed it.
"This... is coffee?"
"Yeah... obviously." She smiled a little.
"...It's bitter."
Rin sighed.
"It's coffee. If you want something sweet, go get some hot chocolate. Besides, that belongs to the captain."
"Wait, why didn't you tell me?"
"Because you're the one who's going to get yelled at." She walked toward the captain's quarters.
I stood there in silence.
"......Whatever. I should go find something to eat outside."
I watched the crew at work. A technician was installing a new magic stone in the shield control room. The stone was light blue and emitted a faint glow.
Once it was installed, the energy conduits around the shield system began to light up.
I watched intently.
"When will it be ready, boss?"
One of the crew members answered.
"If we're only replacing the main magic stone, it shouldn't take long."
"So we can leave?"
"If the alignment process succeeds, most likely."
"Hah. That was a short vacation."
"Hahaha, don't be so disappointed. There'll be plenty of beautiful mermaids at the festival." The crew joked crudely, with unmistakably lecherous expressions.
"Don't drag me into your perverted plans." I said, then headed to the cafeteria to eat.