"Lord Raon."
Denning Rose called out to Raon while catching her breath.
"Did you know about what's happening in Sepia?"
She widened her eyes in surprise, wondering how he could know about something she had only recently heard herself.
"No. I just learned about it from you, Lady Denning Rose. However..."
Raon shook his head, indicating it wasn't prior knowledge.
"I merely thought something like this might happen."
Given the previous incidents and what he knew about that person's character, it wasn't surprising at all that this might occur.
"W-what's happening? Could it be that remnants of the White Blood Religion still remain?"
Dorian's jaw trembled in fear. The mention of mist and wind carrying the scent of blood seemed to remind him of the White Blood Religion.
"The White Blood Religion is still alive?"
Martha gripped her sword while deeply furrowing her brow.
"Good thing they showed up. I need to be the one to kill them!"
She ground her teeth, vowing to completely erase the name of the White Blood Religion.
"While remnants of the White Blood Religion do still exist, their leaders are not Archbishops, just lower-ranking Bishops. They pose no threat to Zieghart or the Five Kings."
Denning Rose lowered her hand, indicating that the remnants were so weak they might as well not exist.
"If magic powerful enough to pressure Sepia is being used, it definitely isn't the White Blood Religion."
She shook her head, stating that not a single Blood Demon stronger than a Grandmaster remained in this world.
"Could you tell us exactly what's happening in Sepia?"
Raon turned toward Denning Rose.
"We haven't been able to fully understand the situation in Sepia yet."
Denning Rose clasped her hands together apologetically.
"What I know is that red mist and wind are swirling around Sepia, preventing humans from entering and elves from leaving."
"So all access is blocked."
Raon nodded, saying he understood what the problem was.
"Yes. As you know, Lord Raon, Sepia currently trades with humans, especially with Zieghart. However, I hear they're suffering great losses because the red mist is blocking all travel."
She frowned, saying the path to Sepia was completely blocked.
"Then Sepia couldn't have created this mist."
Martha raised her eyebrows, suggesting it must have come from outside.
"Should I go cut it down?"
She licked her lips as if asking them to leave it to her.
"No, I can push it away with my magic."
Evelyn, not wanting to lose to Martha, summoned a magic circle above her palm.
"Hmph."
"Hah."
The two women smiled at each other, but there wasn't a hint of friendliness in their expressions.
"Ugh..."
Dorian quietly stepped back, seemingly fed up with Martha and Evelyn's brute force approach to solving problems.
-You. What exactly do you know?
Wrath tapped Raon's shoulder as if giving him a massage, telling him to quickly share what he knew.
'I'm not sure right now either. However...'
Raon gently gripped the scabbard of his Wooden Ring Sword. He smiled faintly as he felt a pure, fragrant wind blowing down from the sky.
'I might be able to solve this problem.'
***
"Grandfather!"
Siyana, a High Elf and the current Guardian of Sepia, raised her voice as she entered the small, worn-down hut.
"Have you eaten?"
She approached the former Guardian Sterin, who was sitting deeply reclined in a tilted chair.
"Siyana..."
Sterin slowly raised his head. His entire body was withered like a dying flower petal, and his face was etched with deep, indelible wrinkles.
"You must be busy, why did you come here?"
Sterin painfully parted his dried lips.
"I came to make sure you eat, Grandfather!"
Siyana lifted her chin as if asking why he would even question such an obvious thing.
"I keep telling you I'm fine..."
Sterin shook his head, saying he could feed himself and not to worry.
"If I don't come, you don't eat at all!"
Siyana sighed as she placed the fruit she brought on the old table.
"I still have some of the Nadine bread you gave me."
Sterin pointed to the Nadine bread by the window. It had hardened like a stone, seemingly untouched for a long time.
"Not that, you need to eat something nutritious!" (E/N: Blasphemy. Nadine bread is very nutritious.)
Siyana cleared away the Nadine bread she had made and put the fruit in its place.
"Alright. I understand. I understand."
Sterin chuckled, still unable to win against his granddaughter. He picked up a ripe apple with trembling hands.
"Hah..."
Sterin seemed too weak to even bite into the apple, only leaving teeth marks on its skin before lowering his hand.
"Grandfather..."
Siyana bit her lip hard, distressed at seeing Sterin unable to even eat fruit properly.
"I'll cut it for you!"
She forced cheerfulness into her voice as she cut the apple into small pieces with a wooden knife.
"Thank you."
Sterin let out a heavy sigh, seemingly frustrated with his weakened body and mind, before putting the apple slice Siyana had cut into his mouth.
"To think the one who developed Nadine bread because eating was too much trouble would end up cutting fruit for me. I suppose elves really do need to live a long time to see such changes."
He gave a gentle smile, seemingly satisfied with how Siyana had changed for the better.
"I can do anything for you, so you must live for a very long time!"
Siyana held Sterin's wrinkled hand tightly, asking him to stay with her.
"While we elves live longer than other races, when it's time to go, it's the same for everyone."
Sterin shook his head with an awkward smile.
"One cannot go against the will of nature."
"Grandfather!"
Siyana furrowed her brows as if she didn't want to hear such things.
"You can become a far better and more benevolent Guardian than I ever was. Don't many already follow you?"
Sterin smiled at her, saying she was doing very well.
"No! I'm still far from good enough!"
Siyana's eyes reddened as she begged him not to say such things.
"With my brother gone, I can't lose you too, Grandfather."
She buried her face in Sterin's chest, begging him to stay with her until the end.
"Alright. I will..."
Sterin forced strength into his trembling hands to gently stroke his granddaughter's head.
"Hic..."
Siyana slowly lifted her head after leaving tears and mucus on Sterin's shirt.
"Looking at you now, you're still a child after all."
Sterin smiled faintly as he wiped the tears and mucus from Siyana's face with a handkerchief.
"That's what I'm saying. I'm still a child!"
Siyana pouted her lips, insisting that she was still young and immature.
"Heh."
Sterin smiled softly, finding his grown granddaughter adorable.
"Ah, have you heard from Elayim lately?"
"Yes. She contacts me often."
Siyana nodded, confirming that Elayim frequently reached out to her.
"She said the spirit realm stabilization work should be finished soon."
The Water Spirit King Elayim and Fire Spirit King Ifrit were still tied up with stabilizing the spirit realm, making it impossible to summon them at will. However, as the work was nearing completion, Elayim had started initiating contact more frequently.
"That's good to hear..."
Sterin nodded gently, seeming relieved. His eyelids trembled, perhaps tired from talking so much.
"You should lie down now."
Siyana supported Sterin as she helped him lie down on the bed.
"I'll be going now. I still have work to do."
"Alright. Take care."
Sterin lowered his eyes deeply, acknowledging Siyana's hard work.
"I'll come back!"
She left Sterin's room, saying she would visit again in the evening.
"Haah..."
Sterin let out a long, heavy sigh as he looked up at the ceiling, worn like his own skin.
'Though I understand Siyana's feelings, it's not easy to keep holding on.'
Siyana only followed him and Rimmer. With Rimmer dead and himself racing toward death, Siyana's complexion grew darker with each passing day.
'What a heavy burden.'
With her abilities, Siyana could become a Guardian surpassing himself. But she was still fragile and inexperienced. Having spent so long shut away in her room, she had much to learn, and her heart was as delicate as glass. As she said, he wanted to teach her more and let her gain more experience.
'I should have gained that insight.'
Thanks to Raon, he had gained a small insight when Eden and the Dragons attacked Sepia. He had tried to reach a state of extended life based on that insight, but his failure had instead accelerated his aging and hastened death's approach.
'I'm sorry.'
Though he was forcibly holding onto life's thread for Siyana's sake, the limits were all too clear.
"You fool."
Sterin squeezed his eyes shut and let out a long sigh.
"Why did you have to go like that..."
***
With a firm press, Siyana bit her lip as she leaned against the outer wall of Sterin's house.
'Grandfather. I'm sorry.'
She knew well that Sterin was struggling and finding it hard to hold on. But after losing Rimmer, she felt she might die too if Sterin were to leave, so she wanted to stay with him however she could, even if just for a little longer.
'If Lord Raon were here, I could have endured it.'
Raon was someone who could reassure her just as much as Rimmer and Sterin could. Just seeing him would ease her heart. But Raon was so busy working for Zieghart and the Continent that even having two bodies wouldn't be enough. Even though she wanted to call him, she couldn't.
"Guardian."
Erian, the head of the Guardians, approached Siyana and bowed.
"How is the former Guardian?"
"He keeps struggling..."
Siyana bit her lip, seeming to feel guilty.
"Guardian. Please don't blame yourself too much. The former Guardian surely understands."
Erian firmly gripped Siyana's trembling shoulders.
"Guardian..."
Siyana closed her eyes deeply before opening them again as she listened to Erian.
"You're right. As the Guardian, I must not let myself be downcast."
While it might be different in front of Sterin, she couldn't show weakness when she had elves to protect.
"Let's deal with that first."
Siyana frowned as she looked at the red mist and wind covering Sepia's barrier.
'What is that mist?'
The wind and mist carried a thick scent of blood as if soaked with the blood of countless people, yet strangely, it didn't emit any malevolent aura.
"No matter how I look at it, I can't understand who did this or why."
Erian also frowned, saying this was his first time seeing such strange mist.
"The problem is that it won't disappear easily."
As Siyana lowered her finger, a unicorn shimmering with blue light emerged from thin air. It was a highest-grade water spirit.
"Attack."
When she pointed at the red mist covering the sky, a massive stream of water burst from the unicorn's horn and pierced through the mist. Whoosh! However, the mist immediately repaired the torn space as if nothing had happened. Even water magic imbued with highest-grade spirit energy couldn't penetrate the red mist and wind.
"It looks like a powerful curse. However..."
Siyana narrowed her eyes as she watched the undulating mist.
"It shows no aggression at all."
Usually, when attacking a powerful curse, it would retaliate with even greater force, but this mist showed no reaction and simply continued to envelop Sepia.
'The White Blood Religion is destroyed, and it's not time for Eden or Derus to make their move either. No, more than that...'
Siyana's fingertips trembled as she watched the red mist undulating like waves.
'I sense a familiar aura in the wind surrounding that mist.'
Strangely, within the wind carrying that repugnant blood scent, she felt a nostalgic and pure aura. Though so faint she wanted to dismiss it as imagination, she felt it every time she looked, making her heart heavy.
'Still, I must erase it.'
Grandfather would worry. Sterin was now so aged he couldn't even sense that mist. She needed to push away this mist and wind quickly before adding to his concerns.
'Besides, it's blocking access to Sepia.'
The mist was blocking both external intrusion and exit from within. It seemed intended to isolate the elves. As Siyana gathered her spirit energy to its maximum to summon multiple highest-grade spirits at once...
"Guardian!"
Leylan came running, shouting with urgency.
"They say humans are entering from the west!"
"Humans?"
Siyana's eyes widened in surprise.
"How, with that mist there? No, who's coming in? Are they enemies?"
"They say they couldn't identify the faces because of the mist."
Leylan shook her head, saying they hadn't been able to determine their identities yet.
"Then how did they get in? The path is blocked by the mist."
Siyana lowered her eyebrows, showing her confusion.
"The mist..."
Leylan's lips trembled as if she couldn't believe it herself.
"They say the mist opened a path for them!"
***
A whoosh filled the air as the Great Forest was shrouded in red mist like a blackout curtain. The wind sound coming from within the forest was so intense it felt like a raging storm.
"Uaah..."
Dorian's jaw dropped as he looked at the red mist enveloping the forest.
"I-it's real? The mist really does smell of blood."
His shoulders trembled as if the mere sight frightened him.
"It's rather large..."
Martha swallowed hard, apparently not having expected this scale.
"I can erase it."
Evelyn shot a burning spear, claiming she could handle it with her magic. But even after being hit by her magic, the red mist remained unchanged.
"Erase my foot! Let me try!"
Martha snorted and launched a sword strike, but the mist didn't waver at all, standing firm like castle walls.
"Did you actually swing your sword? Not even a breeze."
"Grr..."
Evelyn sneered, and Martha frowned.
"..."
Raon approached the red mist without saying a word.
"Lord Raon. It's dangerous! They said the mist strongly repels people!"
Dorian shouted, reminding him of what Denning Rose had told them.
"It's fine."
Despite Dorian's warning, Raon didn't stop and placed his hand on the red mist. With a small sound, the red mist that was said to repel humans and imprison elves gently parted at his touch, opening a path forward.
The pure fragrance of the Great Forest and its massive foliage swayed as if welcoming him.
"Uh..."
"What is this..."
Martha and Evelyn widened their eyes in disbelief.
"As expected."
Raon rubbed his chin, saying he had expected this.
'You can feel it too, right?'
He turned his gaze to Wrath with a faint smile.
-I'm getting tired of this.
Wrath frowned as he looked up at the sky rippling with red mist.
-That pointy-eared fellow. When will he finally disappear!
Even a zombie isn't this persistent!