The throne room of Belzerg was carved from white marble and veined with gold, lit by tall stained-glass windows that painted pale rainbows across the stone. It was no longer the hall of knights and court jesters.
It had become a place of rulership, solemn and cold, shaped by war and responsibility.
Queen Lalatina Dustiness Ford, no longer the old Darkness, descended the final step of the dais, her polished white armor gleaming under the high light of noon.
She stopped before Aqua, studying her.
"You say Kazuma lives. You say he's not himself. And you ask for my aid."
Aqua nodded silently.
"Then I ask something in return,"Lalatina said at last, her voice formal, detached."Before we speak further of our... former companion, there is a task I require of you. Consider it a test of your competence."
Aqua's eyes narrowed slightly."You doubt me?"
"I do," Lalatina said without hesitation."And not out of contempt. But the woman I once knew would never have lasted ten years chasing ghosts. And if you've changed... I need to see with my own eyes how far that change truly goes."
She turned, pacing slowly toward the stained-glass depiction of the kingdom's sigil: a golden lion with wings, surrounded by thorned roses.
"Belzerg lies in ruin, fragmented. Even our royals are no longer safe. Iris… is missing."
Aqua's breath hitched. She had known the girl well.
Bright, brave, so full of ideals. A younger sister figure to them all.
"She is believed to be held captive somewhere within the heartlands of Belzerg,"Lalatina continued."A prisoner of either opportunistic remnants of the demon army, or worse... of those within our own ranks."
Aqua's brow furrowed."But why would your own people—?"
"I don't know," the queen admitted."But it gets worse. Princess Althea... My cousin and Iris's closest friend... Vanished shortly after. Her disappearance was kept quiet by the royal court."
"Out of shame?"Aqua asked softly.
"Or conspiracy," Lalatina replied."I was not told. I was warned. Discreetly, through an anonymous letter. And the moment Claire and Rain. Princess Iris's protectors. left to investigate, they too vanished."
Now Aqua understood. This wasn't just a search.
It was a tangle of betrayal and silence. The kingdom was being slowly hollowed from the inside.
"Why didn't you go yourself?" she asked.
"I rule a kingdom. I cannot vanish like the others. The land barely held after the demon invasion… I am its last pillar."Her voice didn't waver, but her gaze sharpened."And if I die chasing ghosts, the people will follow."
There was a long pause between them. The air carried the distant toll of bells across the battlements.
Aqua finally spoke."So you want me to find Iris. And Althea. And if I can... bring them home."
"Yes."Just one word.
Firm, commanding.
"Why me?"Aqua asked.
Lalatina looked at her for a long time.
Then, quietly."Because even now, I don't know if I can trust you. But I want to. And this is your chance to show me I can."
Aqua bowed her head slightly."I understand."
The queen nodded."I will give you what intelligence I have. Discreet paths. Known points of contact from before the disappearances. But you will go alone."
Aqua looked up, her expression unreadable."You're sending me into a nest of shadows. Alone."
Lalatina met her gaze, unwavering."Then show me that you're still capable of standing alone. That you're still worthy of the title you once claimed so loudly."
Aqua's eyes flickered, just briefly, but she nodded.
Some hours later, after quiet murmurs to her attendants and several heavily armed guards retrieving sealed crates and ancient ledgers from deep within the keep, Queen Lalatina returned to Aqua with a calm, deliberate poise. The air was tinged with the scent of dust and wax, as if history itself had been unearthed.
"Aurevell was born from fire and ash,"Queen Lalatina began, stepping toward a thick, rolled parchment she kept sealed beside her throne."when the heart of Belzerg was overrun by demon forces, the nobles scattered like dry leaves. My family's ancestral lands were spared only because we bled for every inch."
She unrolled the map across a stone table before Aqua, revealing a fractured kingdom. Black markers denoted fallen cities. Red for occupied zones. One region glimmered in gold ink.
A fortified crescent in the northern hills.Aurevell.
"Belzerg is no longer a single body,"Lalatina said, her gloved finger tracing the shattered borders."It is a corpse, and the scavengers feast upon it. Aurevell is one of the few pieces still standing. We don't answer to the crown anymore. We are the shield the rest of the world looks to."
Aqua studied the map, her eyes narrowing.
"Iris disappeared within these lands,"Lalatina continued, tapping near the ruined city of Lenterra."an outpost in the east. Word is she was seen there before it fell. Shortly after, my father brought a girl to my court. Althea Belzerg. A cousin I had never met. Said to be a survivor from the capital."
Aqua looked up."She wasn't?"
"She was. And... she wasn't." Lalatina turned, her tone hardening."She was fire and poise and steel in her tongue. I grew to care for her. But she was restless. When rumors of Iris resurfaced, she left without my leave. Alone. Claire and Rain followed after, when she failed to return. Said she had a contact who could help."
She walked to a nearby chest, unlocking it with a heavy silver key. Inside were neatly bound letters, coded maps, sealed vials, and a thin envelope marked with a red wax seal in no discernible crest.
"This,"Lalatina said, passing the envelope to Aqua,"is what led them east. An anonymous letter with coordinates and a warning: 'She lives, but not as you remember.' I cannot ignore the chance that this was a trap."
Aqua slowly took the documents, absorbing the gravity of each detail. Her fingers ran over the faint handwriting.
Sharp, deliberate, surgical in intent.
"You'll follow their trail. Alone."Lalatina commanded.
"I understand." Aqua replied.
"No,"Lalatina said, eyes locking with hers."Understand this too... if you fail... if Iris is lost... you will bear it. Not as a goddess. But as a woman who dared to promise protection."
There was silence. No grand farewell, no dramatic exit.
Only the sound of boots against stone as Aqua left the chamber with a quiet dignity.
The corridors of Aurevell's palace were hushed at this hour. As Aqua stepped through its arched gates and into the soft sunlight of late afternoon, she felt the brittle wind tug at her cloak.
Just as she reached the outer courtyard, she heard it.
A faint giggle. Light. Feminine. Almost playful.
Aqua paused.
She looked toward the winding alleys that branched from the courtyard. Merchants, nobles, children... all blending into the living mosaic of Aurevell's capital. The sound could've come from anyone.
So she moved on.
Unaware that behind the veil of the crowd, high on the roof of a watchtower, a single eye watched her retreat.
From the alleyway's curve, far enough that Aqua could not see, a figure in crimson watched. As the former goddess disappeared into the crowd, a faint, almost musical giggle echoed once more.
"The fish swims into the hook..."came the murmur, barely louder than the wind.
Only then did the figure pull back her hood, revealing a sharp-eyed woman, older now, her crimson gaze cold and calculating.
Meguminfaded into the shadows of the alley like mist in the morning light.
The wind tugged her scarlet mantle as she turned from the ledge, disappearing into the shadowed stairwell.
Below, a chamber lit by soft blue torches pulsed with power and chill.
She stepped inside.
A figure sat upon a throne of black stone, gloved hand resting upon one cheek, his other hand toying with a pocket watch.
"Report,"he said in a voice that was Kazuma's... but not.
"She has the documents. She's heading east. Just as you expected."
Kazuma smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.
"Excellent. Everything is proceeding. Let her run. Let her believe."
He leaned forward, his gaze sharp and still familiar. Those same tired yet cunning eyes Aqua had once known.
"The reunion will be... unforgettable."