What was the meaning of the unexpected clue the flames had obtained for their expansion?
After Empress Drien of the Silva Empire returned, Emperor Vulcanus of the Ignis Empire was in his fortress, mulling over his conversation with her together with his retainers.
He opened his mouth.
“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem she came purely for the purpose of helping us.”
Barkas, standing beside him, replied.
“Of course not. I acknowledge that we escaped our crisis thanks to Silva, but I cannot help being suspicious of the fact that she came to see us again afterward.”
Vulcanus was still deep in thought.
He had not yet rejected Silva’s proposal.
He had merely put his decision on hold.
Pelos said,
“In any case, we have a chance of obtaining Silva’s core from the forest. If that research succeeds, we will no longer need Silva’s support. Then there will be even less reason to accept their proposal.”
But that was not the only reason Vulcanus was troubled.
Even now, it weighed on him that Silva’s Nemorensis had saved his empire and sacrificed themselves.
No matter how little Ignis needed to accept Silva’s proposal, it was difficult even for Vulcanus to coldly reject them without taking that grace into account.
Vulcanus slowly opened his mouth.
“That is true. But… we cannot overlook the fact that we received great help from Silva.”
He rose from his throne and paced about.
Ragdor, who had been standing quietly, spoke to him.
“Your Majesty, now that I think about it, there seems to be something Silva did not say. On the surface, it looks like mutual benefit, with us exchanging cores, but would they truly use the flame core only for themselves? The empire Silva keeps close to them is Aqua.”
Barkas agreed with him.
“That’s right! If we give our core to Silva, there is a possibility it will flow to Aqua as well. In the end, Aqua’s military strength would grow stronger.”
At his retainers’ words, Vulcanus’s eyes glowed red.
“As expected, that won’t do…”
He returned to his throne and sat down.
“It is regrettable, but the reason we cannot carelessly hand our core over to Silva is because of Aqua. Unless we receive a firm promise from Silva that they will not leak the flame core elsewhere, we have no choice but to be cautious.”
Ignis had also seen through the plan Silva intended to carry out.
The very reason Silva had approached Ignis in the first place had been their conversation with Aqua’s researchers.
Pelos nodded and said in a low voice,
“Besides, we are busy enough nurturing our own fire…”
Ragdor asked,
“Then would it be best to sever our relationship with Silva going forward?”
Vulcanus remained silent for a moment, then shook his head.
“We will not sever it. We will continue to withhold our answer.”
The light within the fortress flickered even more fiercely.
Ignis’s fire was still burning only itself.
Some time later, Vulcanus took his retainers and moved beyond Ignis’s northern border.
The direction they headed was the center, as they had decided before.
That place, too, had once been Ignis’s territory, but after Metallum’s attack accompanied by Aureus, the defensive wall had collapsed, and they had to deploy their forces there once again.
Ignis’s troops marched across the red-hot land, but their pace was not fast.
Because they had stationed most of their strength in the forest, the remaining troops were limited.
“It cannot be helped.”
Vulcanus said to his retainers.
“We are starting again. Our expansion is slow for now, but once our power grows again, we will regain our former state.”
Barkas said,
“This speed will only be maintained until the research in the forest is complete. Once the research is finished, our fire will spread even faster.”
Vulcanus gazed toward the distant horizon.
The mountain range belonging to the Terra Empire’s territory and their fortress came into view.
As he silently looked toward that place, a Crimson Flame Knight came running and knelt.
“Your Majesty! Terra is approaching the forest.”
“Hmm?”
Vulcanus and his party stopped in their tracks.
A flame flickered briefly in Vulcanus’s eyes.
“So Terra has discovered the forest’s existence. That much does not matter, but I wonder what they have come to say this time.”
Ragdor let out a short sigh.
“It seems they have come to interfere in our affairs again.”
Vulcanus said to the Crimson Flame Knight,
“Guide us to their location.”
His brief, sharp command fell.
His troops turned direction and headed toward the forest, raising red dust behind them.
Some time later, Vulcanus’s army arrived at the forest in the southwest.
Unlike Silva’s forest, the forest occupied by Ignis had a heated wind brushing through its leaves.
Thud, thud, thud…
A heavy figure appeared through the red air.
It was Emperor Terramont, who ruled the Terra Empire.
Behind him followed his retainers and soldiers of the earth.
“Hmm.”
Vulcanus and his party stood before them.
“What business do you have in our forest?”
Terramont looked straight at him.
“This is your forest?”
“As you can see.”
Vulcanus’s tone was confident.
“It is our forest now. The world has bestowed a rather fine gift upon us.”
Terramont continued with another question.
“What are you doing here?”
“Why, we are working to make this forest completely ours. The energy of the trees dwelling in this forest, that is.”
Ignis’s researchers paid them no mind and remained absorbed in their research.
“Then you intend to harvest Silva’s core from this forest?”
Vulcanus glared at him as he answered.
“You know well. That’s right. In any case, don’t you people have no need for any cores except your own? No, to be precise, was it only one of each that you needed?”
When Vulcanus had given him the geyser core, Terramont had taken only one.
He did not attempt fusion with other cores, but for some purpose, Terramont seemed to be collecting only one of each.
Terramont said,
“If you give it to me, I would be grateful. If you have that much to spare.”
Vulcanus was irritated for no good reason.
“Even if I had it to spare, I have no intention of giving it to you! What nonsense are you saying after appearing out of nowhere?”
Terramont’s retainers also looked quietly at Terramont.
They, too, seemed unable to understand his actions.
Terramont continued throwing questions at Vulcanus.
“Now you will produce ember cores without end. Against whom do you intend to use them? Metallum? Or us?”
“That is none of your concern.”
Vulcanus’s voice was hot, but his tone had settled coldly.
“In any case, if we succeed in obtaining Silva’s core from this forest, we will no longer need to rely on the other empires. There are likely other places somewhere where different energies well up. If so, we will be able to govern all energies by ourselves alone. That is all I will say.”
Terramont shook his head slightly.
“Do you truly think so? It seems you view the world far too simply.”
He turned his gaze away for a moment, then continued calmly.
“I do not think those of your caliber would stop thinking at only that point. The ember core, as a dual-attribute core, is a powerful core. But you are surely seeking even greater power.”
At his words, Vulcanus’s eyes wavered for a moment.
“Hmm. Is that not only natural for anyone? What are you trying to say?”
Terramont asked,
“Fusing two attributes must not have been difficult. But fusing three attributes has not gone as well as you expected, has it?”
At his words, not only Vulcanus but also Ignis’s researchers turned to look at him.
When Vulcanus said nothing, Terramont continued.
“For energies to intertwine with one another, there must be balance. If the power leans to one side or two, fusion becomes difficult. The problem is that one energy can only intertwine with one other energy. Then it is only natural that water and wood cannot fuse simultaneously with one fire core in your possession.”
The researchers looked at one another.
Vulcanus, too, became curious about his words.
“Then are you saying it is impossible?”
Without realizing it, he lowered his tone.
Terramont answered,
“But what if it is a dual-attribute core? A dual-attribute core possesses two energies together, does it not? If so, would it not be possible for two kinds of external energy to fuse simultaneously with a dual-attribute core? If you try to balance the three energies by that method, it should be possible.”
Vulcanus silently looked at him.
Terramont slowly turned his body.
“I will look forward to it. To see how much you can accomplish.”
He said nothing more.
Then he gradually moved away with his soldiers.
Vulcanus quietly watched Terramont’s back.
After Terramont left, Vulcanus asked his retainers in a low voice,
“How does that man know that we are researching a triple-attribute core?”
Barkas and Ragdor could not answer easily.
Pelos cautiously opened his mouth.
“Rather than Terra having discovered it, he may have guessed in advance. It seems he thought that we would certainly be interested in a triple-attribute core.”
Vulcanus looked at the researchers and said,
“There is no need to concern yourselves with Terramont’s words. Focus only on this forest.”
“Yes, understood.”
Lexa, Calteon, and Nexor bowed their heads to him.
After Vulcanus and his retainers returned with the army, the three researchers gathered.
“Try balancing the three energies?”
At Calteon’s words, Lexa shook her head.
“We’ve already tried as much as we can. In fact, we already know that much to some extent. Balance is obviously important. And we’ve already confirmed that two other energies cannot fuse simultaneously with one energy.”
Nexor said,
“So he’s telling us to use a dual-attribute core, right? But we tried that too, didn’t we? We tried fusing Silva’s core with the geyser core, but it didn’t work well either.”
“Wait.”
Lexa said to him.
“That was a case where the balance didn’t match. It was a combination of a dual attribute and a single attribute.”
Calteon folded his arms and lowered his head.
“But fusing single-attribute cores together is impossible too. What exactly are we supposed to do…”
At that moment, he jerked his head up.
“Huh?”
Lexa and Nexor looked at Calteon.
“What is it?”
“Could it be…”
Calteon spoke as though something had occurred to him.
“Could it be that we have to fuse only dual-attribute cores?”
The researchers stared quietly into empty air.
In their minds, they began to imagine the fusion structure between dual-attribute cores.
“Dual-attribute cores… and balance…”
At last, Lexa slowly opened her mouth.
“This seems possible.”
She said to the other two researchers,
“Let’s hurry. First, we harvest Silva’s core from this forest, and then we immediately resume the research into the triple-attribute core. This method is definitely worth trying.”
The researchers began moving again.