The wave that had once been shattered now brings with it an even greater tidal surge.
The Aqua Empire, where only a disorderly current had persisted because of the Yellow Dragon Montanus, was slowly regaining its former flow after Montanus’s fall.
Within the fortress located in Nereis, the heart of the Aqua Empire.
Empress Nereia stood in silence, her eyes closed as if concentrating on the flow.
The streams running along the deep seabed foundations intermittently illuminated the floor of the fortress.
“……So it has finally been made.”
Nereia was sensing the birth of a new dual-attribute core.
Her retainers stood quietly beside her, watching her mood.
Sian was the first to speak.
“They call it the Geyser Core, Your Majesty. Ignis has fused our core with their own……”
“A geyser……”
Nereia slowly opened her eyes, and her gaze went straight to her retainers.
“Terra, those insolent things. First they hand our Wave Core over to Metallum as they please, and now they have handed it to Ignis as well? Just what do they think they are?”
Her voice was calm, yet it carried an emotion impossible to fathom, like the deep abyss of the sea.
She slowly moved her steps and looked out at the currents beyond the window.
Within the endlessly flowing waters, a quiet torrent lay hidden.
“The only core we permitted was the Mucus Core. The Mud Core might have been created by Terra first if things had gone wrong, but we claimed it before they could. And now, after the Crystal Core, even the Geyser Core has come into being. How insulting.”
The retainers knew Terra did not attempt core fusion directly, but they remained silent.
Levian carefully stepped forward.
“Your Majesty, Ignis is also said to have produced a new troop type called steam infantry. A dual-attribute troop type, like water yet hot as fire.”
Nereia answered without turning her gaze.
“Another fusion of opposing attributes. If it were a fusion with a core that stood below theirs in compatibility, that would be one thing, but does our core not stand above theirs? Even if they have created it, it will not be of much use from their perspective.”
Ignis’s Geyser Core was similar in nature to the Mud Core possessed by Aqua.
The Mud Core, born from fusion with the earth-attribute Earth Core that blocked the flow of water, was not particularly useful to Aqua either, but it had been created to seize it before Terra could.
“But if, perhaps……”
Her pupils trembled faintly.
“If we could get that core into our hands, then instead we could deal no small blow to them.”
Naus continued.
“But they likely know that as well. They must know that the Geyser Core will not be of much help to them. In the end, there is a high chance they will only use the cores they had already secured.”
Nereia did not answer for a while.
Her gaze slowly shifted from west to east.
As she watched the undulating waves, her emotions, too, began to move little by little.
“In any case, this is not an issue to be dismissed lightly. Even if that core does not cause us particularly great harm, we cannot possibly tolerate our core being consumed in this manner. The Crystal Core and the Geyser Core. Neither name was given by us, was it?”
Nereia returned to her seat.
A single droplet of water fell from her fingertip onto the floor.
That droplet soon slid down, forming a small current along the grooves in the floor.
“We are still at war with the other four empires.”
As soon as her words fell, the atmosphere in the meeting room froze at once.
After a brief silence, Nereia looked around at her retainers.
“It is time to decide our next move. What do you think is the most urgent matter for us?”
Naus answered first.
“The true danger to us is Terra, after all. Montanus is gone now, but we do not know when it may revive again.”
Nereia frowned slightly.
“Montanus……”
Levian added.
“Terra is the only empire that does not possess a dual-attribute core, but perhaps because of that, they seem to have succeeded in summoning a dragon before anyone else. Spreading other nations’ cores in all directions may also have been intended to make all of us except Terra obsess over dual-attribute cores.”
This time, Sian spoke.
“If that was truly their intention, then it would be best for us to begin strengthening ourselves from within, even now. We can now summon the Storm Beast as well. If we deepen the fortress and barracks by just one more stage, we too will be able to call a dragon.”
Nereia fell into thought.
At present, the Aqua Empire had suffered an enormous loss of troops because of Montanus, and had not yet fully recovered.
Aqua’s fortress, too, had only one stage remaining until its final phase, but the amount of Wave Cores required was also considerable.
Sian said quietly,
“From what I hear, Terra is collecting the cores of the world instead of fusing cores. There is also a space inside Terra’s fortress where they store cores, and inside it are said to be not only their own cores, but our Wave Cores and the cores of other empires as well. We will need to investigate further how they obtained them……”
“I understand.”
Nereia’s voice rang out.
“We must not be played by Terra’s schemes. Terra is currently gathering every attribute in the world for some reason, and it seems we are helping them collect those cores. Since they are located at the center of the world, they would not be far from any empire.”
She placed her finger on the map floating above the water’s surface.
According to their investigation, the territory of the Terra Empire had been revealed to be the second largest after the Ignis Empire.
As Terra expanded its territory, it was slowly approaching Aqua as well.
“For the time being, it would be best to focus on accumulating our own cores.”
At Nereia’s words, the retainers nodded.
Sian still could not shake his curiosity about what Terra’s plan was, but he did not bring it up.
Naus clenched his fist.
“We must prepare quickly. We must stay ahead. We cannot allow our resources to fall into their hands again.”
Nereia slowly nodded.
Her hair swayed like waves.
Rising quietly, she was calm as the deep sea, but within her, a fierce torrent was rising.
“Our flow has begun again. If they have obstructed our current, then we shall answer with an even greater wave.”
Outside the fortress, the state of the forces was being reorganized.
The deep-sea spearmen and tidal warriors were being newly trained, but the Storm Beast was not summoned.
This was to secure the Wave Cores needed for the deepening of the fortress.
Nereia left the fortress and was moving along the coastline.
Her retainers followed behind her.
Nereia said,
“It will take quite a long time to deepen both the fortress and the barracks, and I cannot be certain that nothing will happen until then.”
Levian then said,
“Even when that time comes, if Sylva comes to support us, there may be no major problem. However…… I think, this time, we should exchange word in advance.”
Nereia raised her head and looked east, where the Sylva Empire was located.
Sylva, whom they had met from the early days of the empire’s growth and had been with ever since.
A place where their relationship had briefly grown distant due to differing positions, differing conditions, and differing circumstances, but had recently begun to show signs of drawing close again.
Nereia slowly let her voice ring out.
“I feel somewhat ashamed. They have given us much help, yet there is not much we can give them in return. We must now understand why they once helped Ignis as well.”
Sian lowered his head as if deep in thought.
“We still have no way to stop Metallum. Sylva likely had no other choice either.”
Levian then said,
“If anything, Sylva is probably in a more difficult position than we are. It seems somewhat similar to the situation when Metallum approached us before, but even so, we were relatively free in our decision to welcome a new alliance, while for them, it was a matter of survival……”
Naus shook his head slightly.
“But it is also true that because of that, Ignis gained an opportunity to grow stronger.”
Levian looked at Naus.
“Even so, that was temporary. Since then, Sylva has not handed their core over to any empire, have they? The direct cause that shook the relationship between us was not Ignis, but Metallum. We need to judge more rationally. Sylva must have been wounded, just as we were.”
Nereia quietly drew in a breath.
The droplets of water around her scattered for a moment.
Stillness sank beneath the surface.
Nereia and her party were gradually moving toward Sylva.
Her voice rang out once more.
“Who do you think is our greatest enemy? Ignis, Metallum, or Terra?”
Levian answered carefully.
“I believe it is Terra. No matter how widely Ignis spreads its flames, in the end, it will be difficult for them to withstand our water. Metallum is a threat to Sylva, but it can do us no harm.”
He paused once, then continued.
“But Terra holds the advantage in the opposing relationship, and they have already attacked us directly several times. So, inevitably……”
“Then the answer is decided.”
Nereia’s voice grew firm.
“We and Sylva have a common enemy. That is Terra. And Sylva is also the place most like us. Like us, they do not cease growing; they may bend, but they do not break. Sylva possesses such a nature.”
Sian took up her words.
“The restoration of the alliance, then. The relationship between water and wood can never be severed.”
Nereia nodded.
“We shall head to Sylva at once. I will tell Drian. That we are ready to flow together again.”
Before they knew it, they had nearly reached Aqua’s eastern border.
Montanus’s corpse had vanished, and over it, the coastline was being set in order.
The boundary between sea and forest that had been severed by Montanus was gradually recovering.
A single breeze swept over the green forest of the Sylva Empire, over the land where trees and moisture mingled.
Empress Drian quietly raised her head and looked up at the sky.
The sky seemed to hold Aqua’s watery hue.
“The waves have reached the forest once more.”
The wind stirred her hair.
She looked at a single dewdrop that had settled on her fingertip.
It quietly seeped into her palm.
A moment later, blue figures appeared, carefully stepping through the undergrowth.
The forest did not speak, but the leaves swayed as if welcoming them.
Drian sensed their presence and approached them.