“...Did Aisla do that?”

[No.]

For a moment, Camilla wondered whether Aisla had done it the way the red little dragon had before, but the little white dragon hurriedly shook her head.

“Then what is it?”

Cardinal Martio did not possess that much holy power. If he had, he would have saved the children whose bodies had stiffened before Camilla ever did.

Back then, he had once said that for the first time, he had resented the Main God because his own holy power was too weak to be of much help to the children.

[That means the old Main God geezer acknowledged that child.]

Arena answered Camilla’s question.

[The Main God really did respond to him.]

Arena looked at Pope Martio, who seemed so shocked that, unlike himself, he was standing there with his mouth hanging open, and a faint smile touched her lips.

[If it’s him, he’ll do well from here on too.]

Arena stared at the Tree of the Main God and the pope for a long moment, then turned her gaze to Camilla.

“...?”

Seeing Arena simply looking at her in silence, Camilla sent her a puzzled look. Did she have something more to say?

[Camilla.]

At her call, Camilla stopped thinking.

[I had fun.]

“...What?”

[Because of you, my end wasn’t boring at all.]

“......”

Camilla’s eyes widened at Arena. Only then did she get a feeling for it.

She quickly looked around, and soon found a familiar figure. She saw the reaper Havel watching this way with an indifferent gaze.

“She’s leaving.”

She had heard it in passing before. That Havel had been trying very hard to take Arena away, since Arena had been chosen to become a god.

There had even been a time when Havel had subtly asked Camilla for a favor, asking her to try persuading Arena for him.

*****

“Arena looks like the kind of person who listens to anybody?”

“...No.”

“I’ll try persuading her, but I can say you’re the one who asked me to, right?”

“......”

At those words, Havel had left without saying anything. Camilla had thought he had no choice but to give up in the end, but...

“So that’s why?”

Why Havel’s expression had looked especially bright when he had been talking with Arena not long ago.

It seemed Arena had already been preparing to leave this place back then.

[Take care.]

At her farewell, Camilla could not say anything.

Had she really gotten attached in the meantime? It was not as though this were the first goodbye she had ever faced, and yet her lips simply would not part.

Slide.

Arena stepped close and pressed a brief kiss to Camilla’s forehead.

Was it just her imagination? It felt as though something warm seeped into her.

[Call for me whenever you need me. I’ll lend you my strength.]

“What?”

You can come back?

When Camilla sent her a somewhat dumbfounded look, the usual mischievous smile rose at Arena’s lips.

[Give my regards to Zeno too. He’s been sulking at me and barely saying a word these days.]

“Ah.”

So Zeno already knew too.

That Arena was leaving, that is.

“You’ve looked especially drained lately. So that was why.”

[He’s so petty.]

Unlike her grumbling words, regret showed on Arena’s face as well. It made sense. The two of them had gotten along rather well, after all.

[Huh?]

At that moment Arena’s gaze shifted to the side. Her smile deepened even more.

Following that gaze, Camilla could see it too. Far away, Zeno stood looking this way with eyes that seemed a little bitter.

Neither Zeno nor Arena moved closer to the other. They only looked at each other in silence for a while.

At the end, Arena looked at Pope Martio. Perhaps that was why she had decided to leave this place.

“She complained every single time.”

She had always worn an annoyed expression and said she was thoroughly sick of it, but if there was one person who had worried about the order more than anyone else, maybe it had been Arena.

Now that a proper pope had come to lead the order, perhaps she finally felt relieved enough to leave.

[I’m going.]

After gently stroking Camilla’s hair one last time, even though she could not really touch it, Arena walked over to Havel.

With the bright smile she gave toward Camilla as the last thing Camilla saw, Arena and Havel vanished in an instant.

“......”

Camilla stood there, staring silently for a long time at the place where Arena had disappeared.

Goodbye, Arena.

She offered the belated farewell to herself.

Chapter. Sena’s Choice

“Sena, I can do that.”

Juri, a maid who had worked at House Sepra for a long time, spotted Sena cleaning diligently with a rag in hand and hurried over.

“No.”

Sena slowly shook her head.

“I can do this much.”

“You don’t have to do things like this.”

Sena, who had only recently come into House Sepra, was currently in a strange position.

Her standing was not all that different from Juri’s own, but Rio, the second young master who had been adopted into House Sepra, called Sena big sister and followed her around dearly.

Since Rio was like that, it was fair to say that the Duke of Sepra and even Arsian were also giving the child special treatment in ways both obvious and subtle.

Sena even ate with them like family. The only duty given to the child was to play with Rio, so at present there was no one here who treated Sena as just some ordinary maid.

“I’ll clean Young Master Rio’s room. I want to.”

“Hm.”

Watching Sena clutch the rag tightly and keep shaking her head, Juri let out a small sigh. She had read the child’s anxiety.

After working in House Sepra for so long, she could tell at a glance. What Sena was anxious about, what she was afraid of right now.

Does she think she’ll be thrown out?

There were children like that sometimes. Children with very low self-worth tried to make themselves feel needed by doing anything at all.

The three of them cherish her that much.

Did Sena still not feel that? Or perhaps she knew it too well, and that was why she was even more anxious.

Because she did not want to leave here.

“All right then. Could you just wipe the window over there?”

Nod.

As though telling her she was doing well, Juri lightly patted the child on the shoulder and then left.

“......”

Sena watched her in silence for a moment, then picked up the rag and started cleaning.

[I will give you power. Power that can let you have everything.]

Again?

Sena let out a sigh at the voice digging into her head.

“What kind of power are you even talking about?”

[Power that can let you have everything you desire!]

“That’s what I’m asking. What exactly is that power?”

[This power—]

“Can it heat up that tea that’s gone cold over there?”

[I can smash that kettle.]

So it can’t heat it.

“What about those wrinkled clothes over there? Can you ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) iron them?”

[I can kill the one who wears those clothes!]

...What is it even talking about? Anyway, that means you can’t straighten clothes either?

“Then can you wipe the dust here for me instead?”

[I shall burn this entire house to the ground.]

“...What kind of useful power is that supposed to be?”

[.......]

Not even bothering to hide her expression of utter disbelief, Sena picked the rag back up.

Perhaps shocked by what she had said, the voice that had been burrowing into her head fell quiet for a while.

“Hey.”

[.......]

“Did you get sulky?”

[I did not! I do not know how to do such a thing!]

...It’s sulking.

They had started talking not long ago.

At first, when it kept putting on all kinds of airs and repeating that it would give her power, it had been a little frightening, but now she felt nothing. This being was remarkably... clumsy.

“What’s so good about getting power?”

[You can have the world.]

“I don’t need that.”

[Everyone will kneel before you!]

“Why is that good? Do you like watching people kneel?”

[.......]

That was how it started.

[Do you not want revenge on the world?]

“What’s so good about revenge?”

[Everyone will look up to you!]

“...Doesn’t sound that great.”

[W-Wait, don’t say that. Think again!]

The more she talked to it, the more it felt somehow second-rate. The weight it had at first kept fading away.

“Hey.”

[What? Have you changed your mind?]

“What do you even do?”

Sena asked because she was genuinely curious. She had no idea what sort of being this was, talking to her inside her head every single time.

[I am power itself. I am human desire and hope.]

“So you don’t have a body?”

Was that why she could only hear a voice?

As if her guess was correct, she heard no answer again. Had it gotten sulky again?

“Why me?”

Sena changed the subject. She was curious about this too. Why her, of all people? There had been other children there too.

[Because I liked the darkness inside you.]

“Darkness?”

[Your resentment toward the world was stronger than anyone’s. Those like that always desire me.]

“...Me?”

I resented the world?