Page 218

Mid Morning - Early Winter : Outside of Northern Valtivar

*thump-Thud* -This spot should be isolated enough...- *FWOOSH-CRACKLE* With a strong flap of my wings, I hurled Ilios and I through the canopy above us. *CrAcKLe*

*fwoosh* Quickly piercing through the ceiling of leaves and branches, I was met with a sudden wave of warmth from the morning sun and couldn't help but close my eyes and let out a deep, relaxed breath.

"Haaah.." But as I continued to climb in altitude, I started rethinking my initial plans.

-Today.. maybe I should take my time...-

Although I originally planned to take a trip through the void to get to Bahamut instantly, after feeling how nice it was to fly without being in any sort of rush, I decided to take my time and enjoy the flight. -It's not like Bahamut is that far, anyway...-

Leaning back and rolling over, I faced the horizon opposite the sun and finally started using my routine high-speed-travel spells. *tsss-fwoOoOOOSH* -If only it was still nighttime...-

But then, as if I started turning back the hands of time, the sun started to set below the horizon behind me.

Before I knew it, I could see stars, galaxies, and distant nebulas distorted by the atmosphere near the horizon, but no matter how beautiful the view there was, I couldn't pull my eyes off the moon. -W..woah...-

The moon, covered in its usual mountains, valleys, craters, and beautiful colors from the countless minerals composing its surface, was something I had come to memorize over the years. Yet, still, at that moment, I felt like I was seeing it for the first time.

-Did divinity.. really enhance my vision this much?- The details I could see on the moon's surface were simply incomparable to anything I'd seen before.

But although it made the view of the moon all the more enchanting, when I finally turned my attention to the all-too-circular crater with the web of odd, shiny cracks spreading from its center, my mind went blank. -W..what the...-

Although it was still challenging to distinguish exactly what it was, my theory that the cracks were natural and the reflection was from a liquid that filled them was immediately disproven. -That kind of reflection can't come from something in a crack...-

Although it could have been the atmosphere slightly distorting things, the ground around the dozens of cracks was abnormally well-lit, as if illuminated by the reflections right next to them.

-But if that's really the case.. then the only plausible idea is that they're actually structures of some kind. ..-

Previously, I would have found that idea absolutely insane, but after stumbling across the Acardi Laboratory at the bottom of the ocean a few years ago, that outlandish theory became a very real possibility.

But I still had my suspicions. -Would the Acardi really have reason to build such a megastructure?-

Although the system of irregular lines wasn't too big when looking at the whole moon, it was still hundreds of kilometers in diameter, with the abnormally smooth and circular 'crater' it sat in being ten times that size.

-It just.. doesn't make sense...- No matter how I looked at it, it looked too imperfect and, honestly, like it lacked the efficiency I had come to recognize in everything the Acardi made.

-But that may just be my naivety... The lab and containment center looked to be built for a generally human-sized species.

If a structure that big was meant to house a large population of people, some of the structural 'irregularities' could be accounted for. ..-

But even that idea sounded outlandish the moment I thought about it. -Would a civilization as advanced as the Acardi really bring such a massive population of people to the moon of a planet they were only beginning to research in the first place?-

I wanted to kick myself for even considering it possible, but at the end of the day, I didn't have a better idea.

"Haaah..." -Maybe.. I just need to go up there and get a closer look myself...-

But just as I idly started thinking about the multitude of things I would need to figure out before I could even consider going on such a trip, Ilios tapped my back. *tap-tap*

"Hm?" Casually glancing where he was looking, I saw the massive northeastern-most mountain of Bahamut, Mount Sidero.

It was a huge mountain, almost entirely made of mana-strengthened iron, a very precious resource, but instead of harvesting it, the upper echelon of Bahamut turned it into a high-security prison, where the few inmates ever sent there would be slowly starved until they either died or finished their sentence.

It was a place akin to hell.

All the stories I ever heard about the place were indescribably terrible, to the point that I thought they were exaggerated.

But after seeing its dark and uneasy vibe in person, the stories about how the strongest-willed and most torture-resistant dragons somehow lost their minds after only a few weeks gained some credibility.

-But why did Ilios point at it?- Although it was indeed an interesting sight, we were still nearly 5,000 kilometers from Grandmother's estate, and even though I did get lost in thought, I didn't lose track of where we were.

The part that bothered me was simply that no matter how closely I looked in the direction Ilios was pointing me, I couldn't see anything too out of the ordinary.

At least, that's what I thought. "Huh?" Flying toward me, blending in with the ocean behind him, was a sleek, dark blue dragon that looked to be at the beginning of the ancient stage. -What is he doing?-

Turning off my thruster magic while idly contemplating whether or not to let him catch me, I watched the man's serious expression turn aggressive.

-Does the mythril band around his ankle mean he's a prison guard?

- Although it could have been a simple piece of jewelry, seeing that the other dragons scattered around the mountainside of the prison wore the same thing, I assumed that's what it meant.

-And considering he's not trying to sneak up on me, he must just be trying to figure out who I am. -

It made sense since I was going to fly straight over them, but at the same time, I was a bit too high up for him to get up to me, and slowing down to meet with him felt troublesome. -It's not like he can recognize me from this distance anyway, right?-

Turning slightly and using light magic to make myself even more impossible to spot, I casually glided over him without so much as a sound.

"Haah..." Glancing back at him after a couple minutes, I saw him still frantically looking around and trying to find me before finally shooting off a blindingly bright fireball. -What the...-

Immediately responding like it was a signal flare, the dozen other dragons scattered around the mountain started frantically moving about, with half of them taking to the skies and starting to look around as well. -Are they.. trying to find me?-

At first, I thought it was simply them being cautious and raising their guards, but even after the prison fell below the horizon behind me, I still had to actively dodge the eyes of even different, armor-wearing dragons that took to the skies in front of me. -What the hell is happening?-

I tried not to think much of it at first, but after being forced to glide in silence for several hundred kilometers, I got sick of avoiding their eyes and jumped through a gate. *Vwoom*

"Haah..." I let out an annoyed breath as I hastily moved a mass of mana to keep the void away from Ilios, but I quickly got sidetracked when I noticed him moving around like normal. "Huh?"

Usually, creatures would look like they were 'frozen in time' when in the void, and while I knew Ilios was different since he could always move some, he was never able to move this freely.

-I wonder if the divinity he absorbed is what made the change...- Glancing back at him again after a bit of idle thought, I watched as he actively dispersed the mana I used to protect him from the void.

The moment he did, his fur started flowing as if it were underwater, and ever-so-slowly, a smile of satisfaction came to his face.

Before I knew it, the lingering anxiety about the troubles I accidentally caused outside started to fade away, all in favor of seeing Ilios's adorable smile.

"Haah..." -I guess.. I'll just ask Grandmother what it was all about when I get there...- Finally tossing away my last bit of worry, I looked around and quickly found the void marker I left in her estate. -Let's finally finish this flight, shall we?-