"You... what did you just say?"
Eleonora stared blankly at the boy in front of her.
Rayleigh raised a hand and swept it through his hair. In an instant, the white strands turned black as ink.
Then he closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, his pupils had returned to that abyss-like black.
"I'm from Orario. I came here this time after accepting a request from Lady Phobos, to bring her and one of her children back with me."
"Eleonora, we haven't known each other for very long. It would be hypocritical to talk about trust, so I've decided to simply abduct you instead."
Three days.
His connection with this girl had not lasted longer than that.
But because of various circumstances, he had learned quite a lot about what she had gone through.
Were they friends?
Probably not.
Did they have a favorable impression of each other?
Possibly.
After all, both of them had good looks.
When a handsome boy and a beautiful girl met, it was easy for attraction to start from appearances.
But that was still far from enough to entrust one's life to the other.
Rayleigh simply did not want to watch a pitiful princess become Ares's tool for mass-producing "prodigies."
To put it simply...
He found it unpleasant, so he decided to interfere.
"Orario... Hephaestus. Are you an adventurer?" Eleonora asked, a little surprised, though not exactly shocked.
She had made guesses about Rayleigh's identity, she just not sure about it.
After all, the idea of an adventurer from Orario sneaking into Rakia Kingdom alone was far too ridiculous.
She had not thought real people could be as foolish and reckless as the heroes in stories and picture books.
But reality seemed to have slapped her in the face.
"You said... you're taking me to Orario?"
"I can take you there."
"Then take me with you."
"As you wish."
Rayleigh extended his hand toward the girl.
Eleonora placed her hand in his, as though accepting an invitation to dance.
As the royal palace grew smaller and smaller in her sight, the princess's emotions became complicated.
She did not have many memories of her mother.
All the memories she had of her mother's face were of that sorrowful expression.
She had always thought that would be her own future.
But now, she was soaring freely through the sky like a bird.
The "birdcage" gradually vanished from view.
And the dark clouds inside Eleonora's heart began to part.
Rayleigh took Eleonora and flew straight out of the royal capital.
He did not go through the secret passage.
...
After leaving the city, the princess looked out over the vast land with shining eyes.
In the past, the towering walls of the royal capital had been the end of everything she could see.
The last time Rayleigh had carried her through the air, it had been night, so this was her first time seeing the horizon like this.
So this was... the world!
So this was... freedom!
"Waaah!"
"Hey, stop moving around. I'm going to drop you."
Rayleigh looked at the girl's excitement and felt somewhat moved.
When he had first arrived in this world, he too had been filled with curiosity toward it.
Setting out on an adventure had made his heart leap with joy.
The excitement and thrill in his chest had been impossible to stop.
Was this what people called returning to one's original spirit?
For some reason, the many worries that had troubled him before, and the pressure that had built up in his heart, seemed to have vanished.
Even breathing felt smoother.
So this was what it meant to be blinded by being too close to the situation.
He clearly knew the direction this world was headed in.
He knew about many conspiracies and hidden truths in advance, yet in turn, those very secrets had suppressed his original self.
The Great Feud, the nightmare of the 27th Floor, the tragedy of justice, the creature, the corrupted Spirit, the Promised Day, the city destroyer, the Xenos, the unexplored regions, the ancient monsters, the Black Dragon...
The more he knew, the more he craved strength.
He had not even realized that his own mindset had begun to slip into impatience.
Suddenly, he somewhat understood why Hephaestus had looked at him with such worry before.
So his patron goddess had already seen that far ahead.
'As expected of my goddess!'
Rayleigh took Eleonora to rest in a small town.
He still could not fully relax.
Because their opponent was Rakia Kingdom.
Of course, that was not solely because of its strength.
It was because of Ares.
The blizzard he had stirred up was a natural disaster for the royal capital.
If this had been an ordinary country, they would now be trying every possible method to calm the people and organize rescue efforts.
But Rakia Kingdom was different.
Because Ares was a war maniac, and also an idiot whose brain was made entirely of muscle.
Would he choose to show concern for the people, comfort the citizens, and organize disaster relief?
Rayleigh could say with certainty that the god would never care about any of that.
After reorganizing his forces, Ares would immediately launch a pursuit, all for the sake of reclaiming his important "strategic resources."
Princess Aisha and Welf Crozzo of the Crozzo family.
These two hopes for Rakia Kingdom, and for the rise of Ares Familia, had been taken away at the same time.
There was no way Ares would give up on them.
"Bakudō #58: Kakushitsuijaku."
Because they had exceeded the range at which he could sense Reiraku, Rayleigh relied on the Reiatsu he had recorded from Lulune and used tracking Kidō to locate her.
Numbers flashed across the circular mirror-like surface before Rayleigh pieced them together and obtained a set of coordinates.
After correcting his route according to those coordinates, Rayleigh took Eleonora and set off again.
...
Roughly seven hours later, Rayleigh finally caught up with Lulune, Phobos, and Welf.
"You finally caught up!" The beastman girl looked visibly relieved.
Only the gods knew how nervous she had been, having to escort two people who needed protection while also staying alert for pursuers and bandits.
Lulune now fully understood how important it was to have a powerful ally to rely on.
With a companion as strong and monstrous as Rayleigh around, most problems no longer needed to be worried about.
After her initial excitement, her attention quickly shifted to the princess behind Rayleigh.
"And she is?"
Before Rayleigh could explain in response to Lulune's question, Phobos had already spoken first.
"Aisha! Why are you here?"
Phobos looked at Eleonora in astonishment.
The princess answered, "Lady Phobos, my name is Eleonora now. Aisha is the name of Rakia's princess. It doesn't belong to me, and I don't want to accept it."
As one of Ares's subordinate gods, Phobos knew what had happened to Eleonora.
In a sense, Welf and this princess were in the same situation.
"Your Highness."
Welf dropped to his knees.
After all, he was a noble.
Although he was not especially skilled in etiquette, he had received the education expected of him.
Since childhood, he had been taught how to behave before royalty.
Eleonora crouched down and helped him up.
"Are you a citizen of the kingdom? I've already thrown away my former identity. Right now, I'm only Eleonora, so you don't need to treat me with such respect. Aside from the blood I happened to be born with, I have nothing worthy of that kind of reverence from you."
Welf froze.
He stared blankly at the princess before him.
She had clearly lost everything and become someone with nothing at all.
Yet for some reason, Welf felt that Her Highness the princess looked very happy.