The sun, peeping over the horizon, was beginning to shine upon Sundown Residence’s garden. Constellation Scorpio’s meeting with the Plenum was tomorrow, and Gaius saw it fit to use a bit more time to prepare for it. The boy in question was sitting cross-legged on a patch of neatly-trimmed grass, his eyes half-closed in silent mediation. He had been cultivating every night where possible, but his cultivation hadn’t budged an inch ever since his showdown with the Last Star. He was a semi-Knight, a word used to describe someone who could breakthrough anytime, but chose not to.

There were a lot like him, when he asked Isabelle and Nexus about that. The act of becoming a Knight entailed the creation of an oath. Most people, however, never became Knights for two reasons. Either they never understood that to be a Knight, one had to live by a self-declared code of conduct and not do things that went against them, or didn’t want to give up their freedom to do whatever they want.

Gaius was part of the latter. But it wasn’t just that he didn’t want to give up his freedom — Orb had shown him, time and time, that there were entities that were capable of manipulating minds. Simply becoming a Knight could potentially expose him to such entities…after all, he hadn’t forgotten how he’d nearly changed back in Heritage, when Gaius realised that he was too…casual about killing. One such being had nearly sent him down on a road to becoming a manslaughter, something that would have changed his very existence. After seeing, for himself, how Scorpio’s temperament had been twisted and warped, Gaius could not bring himself to trust Orb.

Who were the overseers of such a vow? Who were the enforcers? He’d asked Nexus these questions, but the artificial intelligence couldn’t answer him. Once again, it wasn’t that Nexus couldn’t speak, but rather, it legitimately didn’t know the answers. All it could do was to give him conjectures, and that as it.

The rushing current of power within his body began to slow down as Gaius opened his eyes. The sun had extricated itself entirely from the black ring that continued to tint the horizon itself, and Sundown’s garden didn’t really have that many trees for shade either.

At some point in time, during his practice, Isabelle and the caretaker had entered the garden. The ex-noble was wearing overalls — which, considering that this was Orb, was definitely a design by yet another otherworlder. Gaius could simply ask Isabelle when such a design became popular, and he would know whether there was yet another person like Flynn in this world or not.

But he wasn’t really keen on digging out even more confusing things right now.

The two, clearly unaware that the boy had awakened from his practice, moved towards the miniature rice paddies that Gaius watered last night. Both of them were discussing something in hushed words, and for a moment, the boy thought about the possibility of a harvest.

Life goes on, no matter where you are and what you do. The boy smiled to himself. These little things were the paints that coloured life, giving the days colours that weren’t just red and black.

Gaius closed his eyes once again. He didn’t want to disturb Isabelle’s little moments, and instead opted to spread his senses out into the world. In such a state of extreme tranquillity, he could sense a few presences flying around the area. Mi-Zu was coming to life once again, and its hardworking inhabitants were gathering around their workplaces once more.

It didn’t take long for Isabelle and the caretaker to be done. After Isabelle sent the latter off respectfully, Gaius opened his eyes and got up.

“How’s the harvest?” Gaius asked.

“You were—never mind.” Isabelle looked at her overalls, a rueful smile on her face. “It’s not ready yet, but it should be quite soon. The maturation duration for Mi-Zu’s rice is actually less than two months, compared to that of around four months for other varieties, and—”

She caught herself from rambling, and shook her head. “I guess this is a rather boring topic for you, right?”

“No, it’s not. Me sitting there, just focusing on my body, is the truly boring topic,” replied Gaius. “And if everyone found farming to be boring, we would all have died from starvation long ago. It’s good that you found something you like. Everyone should have a hobby.”

“You say that, Mas—Gaius, but what hobbies do you have?” Isabelle replied.

“…I should pick one up.” The boy chuckled to himself for a moment or so, before returning to normal. “Anyway, I actually wanted to ask you something, now that I thought of it.”

“What do you want to ask?”

“When you became a Knight,” said Gaius, “did you know who you were vowing to? What happens when you break your oath?”

“Who I was vowing to?” Isabelle repeated, confused. “Aren’t you vowing to yourself? And if you break your oath, you lose most of your powers.”

Gaius tapped his chin. “I mean, who makes you lose most of your powers if you break your oath? What kind of entity can do that?”

“Naturally, it’s…” Her words trailed off.

“Go on,” Gaius prompted. “Who is it? The Human God?”

“I-isn’t it him?” She held her head, and the boy could see, in her actions, the shadow of Campmaster Magnus, when the boy told him about his blind spots. “It…isn’t?”

“Steady your breathing, Isabelle,” Gaius warned, his tone firm. “Don’t lose yourself. I’m not sure what you’re facing, but face it head-on, without any fear. Look at it, and identify what you’re seeing.”

She took a deep breath. It was evident that she wasn’t steady on her feet, but Isabelle gritted her teeth, and regained her footing. Her breathing returned to normal, but in the next instant, her eyes snapped shut, and a tremendous amount of energy began to descend upon Sundown Residence. A massive field of grey clouds began to whirl above the skies of Seireiden, blotting out the sun and the four-coloured skies.

Lightning flickered, splitting the dark sky into two. Gaius felt fear crawl up his skin. What’s with this? When I asked Campmaster Magnus a question like this, there wasn’t such an intense reaction at that time! Is it because we’re on the surface of Orb now?

The elites of Seireiden were clearly alarmed. Tens of presences were flaring up all over the capital city, their origins clearly not worried about secrecy whatsoever, in the face of what they perceived to be an incredible threat. But none of them dared to move, and for good reason.

Gaius could feel an enormous threat bearing down upon him. His instincts were shrieking for him to not move and to not do anything.

Something was coming.