"Damn it, why is everyone talking in riddles?!"

Muen opened his eyes. In his mental space, aside from the hanging black sun, only the Black Book floated there in silence.

Dennis’s soul fragments had already vanished completely. It seemed that the Holy Lord of Salvation’s casual tap had not merely shattered the illusion, but wiped away even the last scraps Dennis had left behind.

With not even dregs of the soul remaining, Muen naturally could not squeeze any useful intelligence out of this lead anymore. He had spent half the night busy with all this, only for it to end in failure anyway.

If there was any takeaway at all...

"So he wants me to go to the Kingdom?"

Muen stared at the magic stone in the cell. Through its light, it was as if he could see that old bastard in white putting on airs all over again, which was profoundly irritating.

"But since it’s an invitation from the great Holy Lord of Salvation himself... then I have no choice but to make the trip."

Muen raised a hand and slowly clenched it into a fist until he seemed to close that light entirely inside his palm.

"Come on then, old bastard. Let me see what kind of spectacle you people are really capable of making."

...

...

The next day was clear and sunny.

After a full day of work, the half-ruined ducal estate had finally been cleared out. The losses could only be called catastrophic, but fortunately, most of the area reduced to rubble had been relatively unimportant courtyards and gardens.

A small mercy in the middle of disaster.

Though when Father got back, he was probably going to be heartbroken for quite a while...

At a time like this, however, Muen did not rush to tally up the losses. After quickly steadying himself from everything that had happened the night before, he immediately went to Ariel’s room.

"Ariel’s awake already?"

"Mm. She only woke up this morning."

Peles wiggled her brows at Muen with a teasing look, then turned into a wisp of pale smoke and slipped back into the ring.

"You two talk. I’m going to sleep for a while."

"..."

Having a teacher with this much emotional intelligence really was nice... Muen sighed from the heart. If it were Teacher Mela instead, not only would she refuse to leave, she would absolutely stay on purpose just to watch the show.

That trashy little gremlin would definitely be the type to feel zero embarrassment and even offer an earnest critique of length and quality.

Fortunately, Teacher Mela was not here. At this moment, it was only him and Ariel.

Muen sat down at Ariel’s bedside and gently lifted her blanket, only to find that she too was already under it, blinking her big eyes as she secretly peeked at him.

"Do I look good?" Muen asked.

"Not bad."

"Just not bad?"

"A little more than not bad..."

Ariel pouted. "Just a little."

Her usual sharpness had softened considerably with her injuries not yet healed. Muen easily drew Ariel into his arms, meeting no deliberate resistance at all. If anything, there was a faint hint of coy refusal that wasn’t really refusal.

"I happen to think you look very beautiful."

"Hmph. All you do is sweet-talk me. Who knows whether you actually mean it?"

Ariel gave a cold little snort, but her head settled into Muen’s chest of its own accord.

After a while, she suddenly asked,

"Really very beautiful?"

"Truer than pearls, truer than diamonds, truer than crystal." Muen took Ariel’s little hand in his. "If you still don’t believe me, you can feel my heart and judge for yourself whether I’m lying."

"All right, all right. Who could possibly tell something like that by touch? That’s embarrassing."

That was what she said, but she did not pull her hand away. On the contrary, having gotten the answer she wanted, she narrowed her eyes in satisfaction.

Like a lazy little cat basking in the sun.

After they stayed like that for a while, Muen rested his forehead against Ariel’s shoulder.

"I’m sorry."

"What are you apologizing for?"

"For getting you hurt."

"What does that have to do with you?"

Ariel ground her silver teeth. "This is all because of those damned Salvation Society bastards! Picking on the weak with the strong, no sense of honor at all! If they had any guts, they’d fight us one-on-one at the same level!"

"Yeah. Those people are all a bunch of scumbags."

Muen sighed. "But scumbags still have to be dealt with."

"What do you mean?"

"I’m going to the Empire’s front line first, and after that I may head into the Kingdom as well," Muen said.

"Because of the Salvation Society?"

"Yes."

"Then I’m going too!"

Ariel’s brows shot up, and she immediately started cracking her knuckles.

"I’m making them pay this back tenfold!"

As she said that, Ariel shot Muen a glare.

"And don’t even think about stopping me."

"Relax. The reason I’m telling you is because I want you to come with me."

Muen smiled faintly and wrapped both hands around Ariel’s small one again.

If it were anyone else, he might have stopped them out of worry.

But who was the girl in his arms right now? This was Ariel. Ariel Bugaard, the overpowered heroine herself.

You didn’t need to worry about her. You only needed to walk beside her. She would keep pace with you, and if you weren’t careful, she’d even leave you behind... because she was Ariel Bugaard.

"For now, just rest properly. Try to recover completely before I leave."

Muen kissed Ariel on the cheek. "Understood?"

"Mm."

Ariel nodded lightly. At times like this, she seemed especially obedient.

"Good."

Tucking Ariel back under the blanket, Muen rose to his feet, his heart still warm.

And once again, he felt genuine contempt for what Gaius had said before.

Destiny?

The adorable creature in front of him right now, looking like a sweet little wife, that was real destiny, all right?

A bunch of lunatics trying to manufacture slaughter should really stop pretending they were the will of the world.

Ridiculous.

"Make sure you get proper rest."

Muen reminded her again, and Ariel only puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and grumbled back, "You’re so naggy."

"See you later."

There was still plenty to do. After only a brief moment of warmth, Muen turned and left. Now that he had confirmed Ariel would be going with him, he began working through his plans in his head.

First he needed to see Celicia and get past Celicia’s side of things... if he survived that, he would see whether there was anything he could do at the front line, then head into the Kingdom, and together with the destiny that belonged to him, see what exactly the Salvation Society was—

"Ugh!"

A stifled moan of pain yanked Muen out of his thoughts.

He froze for a moment, then spun around sharply and saw Ariel curled up under the blankets, her little face twisted in pain severe enough that even she could barely endure it.

"Ariel!"

Muen lunged back to the bed and grabbed her wrist. "What’s wrong with you?"

"Mm... ngh!"

Ariel was already in too much pain to speak. Muen’s eyes sharpened, and he yanked open her collar, only to find that on her smooth body, two clear and mysterious patterns—one pure black, the other pure white—were winding around each other without end.

Two completely opposing powers were colliding inside Ariel’s body. They had originally coexisted peacefully within a single body, but now, for some unknown reason, they had begun attacking and eroding one another, completely turning Ariel’s body into their battlefield.

"This is... the two Divine Favors of light and darkness?"

"Move!"

A hazy figure rapidly solidified out of the ancient ring. Peles drifted forward and pressed a finger to Ariel’s brow.

A vast surge of soul power poured instantly into Ariel’s body, forcefully helping her suppress those two rampaging powers.

"Ariel! Steady your breathing! Focus your mind!"

Peles barked the words out. With all of her help, the ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ light and darkness gradually calmed, and several minutes later finally shrank back into the depths of Ariel’s body once more.

"What the hell was that?" Muen asked at once.

"...It seems Ariel’s mental exhaustion was even worse than I thought. She nearly lost control of the Divine Favors inside her, and that caused the two forces to run wild."

Peles looked full of self-reproach.

"Then is Ariel okay?" Muen first offered Peles a few words of comfort, then asked.

"There’s no major problem. She just needs more time to recuperate."

"In other words..."

"I’m sorry. She probably won’t be able to go with you." Peles sighed.

"I see..."

Muen looked at Ariel.

She was still pale. Even with the toughness of her body, it had been hard for her to bear. One could imagine how violent the clash between those two powers inside her had been.

Was this still aftereffect from when Peles had forcibly borrowed her power to fight Third Seat?

"It’s fine. This is better. Let her rest quietly. I’ll go get some medicinal ingredients to help her recover."

Muen did not dare take it lightly. He did not even have time to stay with Ariel much longer before hurrying toward the door. Peles thanked him from the side and sighed as well.

"I know you really wanted to take Ariel with you, and Ariel wanted that too. What a shame. Just bad luck, of all times for this to happen..."

"Yeah. No one could’ve seen it coming. Bad lu—"

Muen suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Wait.

Luck?

Was it really luck?

For some reason, the words Gaius had said earlier suddenly resurfaced in Muen’s mind...

"Ariel, are you lucky?" Muen suddenly turned and asked.

"?"

Having just barely caught her breath, Ariel looked a little confused. "Lucky?"

She looked at the hateful blond bastard who had made her suffer over and over again, puffed out her cheeks, and said,

"As long as I’m not running into a certain someone, my luck is pretty good."

"Pretty good?"

"Like... if I get lost, I can still find my way out just by throwing a branch and following it."

"..."

Thinking that if he ever got lost and tried the branch trick, he would only somehow wander straight into an Evil God’s lair with his dogshit luck, Muen had to work pretty hard to recover from this gap in life itself. After thinking a moment, he said, "Then let’s flip a coin."

"Flip a coin?"

"Exactly."

Muen took out a coin and turned it over in his fingers to show Ariel.

"Heads means you come with me to deal with the Salvation Society."

"Tails means you don’t go and stay home like a good girl while you recover."

"Heads or tails, go or don’t go. Let the coin decide. How about it?"

"That’s a little too childish..." Peles frowned. "What Ariel needs right now is rest."

"If Ariel can throw branches when she’s lost, then what’s wrong with flipping a coin at a time like this?" Muen cut Peles off and looked at Ariel. "What do you think?"

"Sure."

Ariel naturally agreed at once. Of course she wanted to go adventuring with Muen, and she also knew that under normal circumstances, Muen would never let her follow him in this condition.

So flipping a coin really was a good method.

Yes. Her luck had always been pretty good.

"I’m flipping it."

Ariel took the coin from Muen’s hand and tossed it casually. The coin spun up into the air, and Ariel silently prayed for heads, it had to be heads...

Muen stared at the coin as well.

Ariel was a child of destiny, the overpowered heroine of the original novel.

Along the way, she had suffered through endless trials brought by that so-called "destiny," but she had also received many gifts from that same "destiny." The life-and-death crises she had experienced on her journey until now were no fewer than his own, and in turn, she had obtained the favor of several gods—something ordinary people could never hope to receive.

One could say that, as a "destined protagonist," every direction in which she moved forward was, from a certain angle, absolutely "correct."

So at this very moment, in the coin that Ariel had tossed and filled with her own hope, was there perhaps some kind of "correct destiny" contained within it as well?

Clink...

After a brief span of time, the coin landed smoothly. It rolled quite a long distance across the floor and only finally toppled over after bumping against the wall, wobbling once before falling still.

Muen lowered his eyes and looked at the answer—

The tulip engraved on its surface looked vividly lifelike in the sunlight coming through the window, carrying a kind of delicate beauty. Ariel let out a disappointed sigh and rolled around under the blankets in frustration, inwardly cursing that damned Muen...

Tails.

The coin had landed tails.