In a world of chaos, the waves flow quietly inward.
In this situation, with the Ignis Empire plunged into crisis by the appearance of Aureus, the White Dragon of the Metalum Empire, the seas of the Aqua Empire remained calm as ever.
“To think it has already arrived in Ignis. This must be quite troublesome for them.”
Nereia and her retainers had already learned of Aureus’s appearance.
Even that it had already clashed with Ignis.
“What a turn of events. To think that fierce Ignis is being pushed back…….”
Levian spoke within Nereis’s fortress, the Blue Cradle.
Then Naus followed.
“Ignis has never been held in check by anyone until now. The only powers capable of checking them are us and Metalum, but because Terra lies between us, we have no opportunity to face Ignis directly, do we? The same must be true even now. Then that leaves only Metalum, and at last Metalum has moved.”
Levian looked at him and spoke again.
“To be precise, it would be more accurate to say their dragon has moved. Wouldn’t it be similar to Montanus, whom we faced? Montanus was not a being that moved according to Terra’s commands. That is why it took quite some time for it to reach even our deep sea. Metalum’s dragon also headed for Ignis on its own as soon as it was summoned, and their army followed the dragon.”
Sian tilted her head.
“Even so, if they are already in the midst of battle, it seems to have arrived faster than expected. It appears there were effectively no delays on the way?”
Levian nodded and answered.
“That is correct. Its destination had already been decided from the moment it was summoned. To attack Ignis, that is.”
Nereia briefly closed her eyes, then opened them again.
“It seems Ignis is still in dire straits. Understandably so, for Metalum naturally would not have sent Aureus, the White Dragon, alone. As it moved, they would have moved their forces with it to provide cover.”
Because Aqua had already experienced an attack by Montanus of the Terra Empire, they could guess what the situation would be after Aureus’s appearance.
Moreover, from their standpoint, it was a situation they could essentially just watch.
For Aureus, composed solely of the energy of metal, could never harm Aqua.
Naus opened his mouth.
“Normally, one energy can threaten two other energies, can it not? One through mutual opposition, and the other through mutual generation. Metalum’s dragon can threaten both Silva and Ignis at the same time, yet it is somewhat surprising that it chose Ignis, which is in a mutually generative relationship, rather than Silva, which is in a mutually opposing relationship. It is fortunate from our and Silva’s standpoint, but…….”
Nereia answered his words in a low voice.
“Four times.”
“Pardon?”
The gazes of her retainers all turned to her at once.
Nereia continued in a composed tone.
“Until now, Ignis has attacked Metalum a total of four times. Since we have not experienced their position ourselves, it may be easy to overlook, but the feelings they hold toward Ignis are not simply a matter of mutual opposition or mutual generation. They have suffered at Ignis’s hands no fewer than four times.”
Naus asked.
“Have they finally begun their revenge? And with the dragon itself……?”
“That is my supposition. If it is to that extent, there would be nothing strange about the dragon carrying out revenge.”
“Hmm…….”
Levian lowered his head slightly and pondered for a moment.
“To be honest, I believe Metalum could have retaliated against Ignis at least once at any point before now. Were they not once strong enough to defend Terra’s lands in their stead? With those forces, they could have avenged themselves against Ignis directly, yet they needlessly provoked poor Silva instead, hurriedly withdrew their army, and only now have finally begun a proper revenge.”
“Perhaps they were quietly enduring it, even though they had a sufficient chance of victory.”
Levian raised his head and looked at Nereia.
She added,
“Metalum chose a definite course. A plan to bring an end to Ignis.”
As her voice rang out, silence settled within the fortress.
Droplets flowed quietly down the condensed walls of the fortress.
And over that ripple, Nereia’s voice spread once more.
“It is an unfortunate situation for Ignis, but it was something that would happen eventually. One could call it karmic retribution. We exchanged attacks with Terra as well, and Silva did the same. Metalum, too, suffered harshly after trying to attack Silva even at great cost.”
Her retainers listened to her words in silence.
Nereia continued speaking.
“Yet the only one that had suffered no trouble until now was Ignis. They stirred up one place after another and paid almost no price. The karma they accumulated has only now begun to take effect.”
Nereia did not regard Aureus’s appearance and Ignis’s situation as serious at all.
Her reaction suggested that even if Ignis met its end, it would not be a problem.
Naus asked her one final question.
“Your Majesty, if Metalum’s dragon truly survives, will its next destination not be Silva? If such a thing happens, what should we do?”
“Even then, there will likely be little for us to do. I hope Drian has prepared well in advance. In any case, what I mean is that if it is not something that will become a threat to us, there is no need to intervene.”
Nereia rose from her seat.
She walked toward the edge of the fortress and looked down upon her sea.
As if speaking to herself, Nereia said,
“We were unable to proceed with other tasks because we were accumulating wave cores necessary for the deepening of the fortress. Still, I am at ease, since we have strengthened our forces in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances.”
Sian asked,
“Is Terra showing no particular movement either? What are they doing now?”
Levian answered,
“Perhaps because all the dual-attribute cores have been born, they do not seem to be doing anything else. However, since Metalum withdrew its army, it appears they intend to raise their own forces directly and defend their lands.”
Terra was not moving.
That was not necessarily a situation to be considered fortunate.
For Terra had always shown even more unexpected movements in proportion to the length of its silence.
Levian spoke in a worried tone.
“It is something I have always thought, but the fact that Terra is positioned at the center is the greatest problem for us. Because of Terra, our flow cannot move outward. It is not as though we absolutely must do so, but while the other empires are gradually expanding their influence, are we not continuing to remain in the same place……?”
“No.”
At Nereia’s voice, everyone looked at her.
She was looking back at them.
“We are deepening the fortress. The final stage is now before us. If we, too, summon a dragon, the history of the world will be written by our hands.”
Nereia turned and approached the throne.
She gave Sian an order.
“As soon as enough cores have been prepared, begin the deepening of the fortress.”
“Yes, I shall obey your command.”
The three retainers bowed their heads in unison.
Though Aureus’s shadow was falling darkly on the other side of the world, not even a single ripple stirred here.
Whether Aureus’s appearance was truly an event unrelated to Aqua was something no one yet knew.
“At last…… it begins.”
Sian’s current architects gathered around the fortress.
Now, the wave cores had been collected in the amount needed to deepen the fortress.
“We will begin the deepening into the fortress’s final stage.”
Sian declared quietly.
When Sian raised both arms, the architects followed the motion with her.
The wave cores transformed into crystals of water and began to form the walls of the fortress.
Even inside the fortress, the water’s surface rippled faintly.
The first change in the fortress was the direction of the currents.
The waves that had always flowed in a fixed direction began to flow from around the fortress toward the fortress itself.
Those flows gathered into one, forming a massive whirlpool.
The water flowing inward rather than outward gave off an oppressive feeling all by itself.
“The interior is being reinforced…….”
Sian reported quietly.
“The flow of water can now restore itself on its own. Even if it is disturbed by external influences, it can soon find its own direction again.”
A moment later, the floor of the fortress began to turn an even deeper blue.
That blue light spread from the surroundings toward the center.
This was the fortress’s second change.
“The crystals of water are becoming completely solid.”
Sian spoke with confidence.
“With the condensation of water perfected, it is stickier than mucus. Not even earth will dare split these crystals.”
The fortress transformed into an even harder crystal, and its scale also grew.
The space for storing cores expanded, and its summit rose higher, allowing it to detect the flow of currents even farther away.
Lastly, at the center of the fortress, atop its summit, water surged upward like a fountain.
Its form was as though it were showing the flow of water its direction.
And at the same time, it resembled a declaration.
That this fortress was the beginning of the deep sea, and at the same time, the end of the deep sea.
There was not much time left until the deepening of the fortress was complete.
Within the fortress undergoing deepening, Nereia watched the sea around it.
There was neither satisfaction nor unease in her eyes.
Only the tranquility of one who reads the flow dwelled within them.
“Now, water will no longer lose its way.”
And once that flow finished making its resolve from within, it would be ready to advance toward the battlefield.
The effects of the fortress’s deepening were already reaching the surroundings, even though the deepening had not yet been completed.
The citizens of Nereis, who had entrusted their bodies to the flow, naturally gathered around the fortress.
“This is the fortress of our Aqua Empire?”
“It truly is beautiful. As expected, it suits the Blue Cradle.”
“It’s as if the fortress is controlling the flow. Order is forming within the currents.”
The citizens still did not remain in one place.
They continued to flow without stopping, but with almost no randomness, moving along fixed routes.
Sian and the current architects continued their work without paying any mind to the citizens’ reactions.
Once the deepening into the fortress’s final stage was finally complete, no further chaos would exist in the seas of Aqua.
At that moment, as the blue fortress of the Aqua Empire gradually emitted a deeper light,
from the heart of the Silva Empire, the forest of the east, a blue hue was also newly dyeing the woods.
“There is not much time left now.”
Drian, Empress of Silva, gazed at the flow of life spreading through the dense leaves.
The trees that had been growing quietly beside her finally stretched toward their zenith.
At the end of growth, a new choice would be presented before “it.”
Would its actions bring stability to this world, or would they bring yet another chaos?