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“Well, that doesn’t matter now.” Seletina said.
“It doesn’t matter?”
“I’m interested, but it’s not as important as what we have on our hands right now.”
“Escaping from here, right…”
“That’s right.” Seletina nodded firmly.

She was curious about whether Gadius really had a hand in her reincarnation, however, that wasn’t important right now. And even if they did ponder it, no one knew if they’d come up with an answer in the end. Rather, they had to urgently do what needed to be done in this city that was on the verge of collapse.

Sitting down in a nice chair, Seletina once again spoke to Imitia.

“Imitia,” Seletina said, “I have a request. Can you lend me the ship?”

Lending Seletina the ship would be tantamount to unloading the entire load, as they’d discussed before. It would also mean relinquishing the caravan’s wealth and losing the trust of the other kingdoms.

However, it also didn’t mean that everything would fall apart if Imitia agreed to Seletina’s request. They would manage to save some of their money, and their relationships with the other kingdoms could be built back up again with goods and good will.

What they would get in exchange would be saving a lot of lives in Ulbdor. Just that.
Frankly, Imitia couldn’t care less about the lives of the residents here. Taking care of the caravan was much more important to her than the lives of some strangers she’d met while passing by. And Imitia also had what it took to be ruthless.

“……”

Imitia looked at Seletina with a cool gaze. The blonde girl, Seletina, was sincerely bending her head down. Imitia was reminded by this scene of how obstinate Orthus had been in the past.

In truth, this was not a good deal for Imitia. Any merchant, or any person with a bit of common sense would give a definite no to this request.

Imitia let out a deep sigh.

“Raise your head.”
“……”
“Just raise it.”

Seletina finally looked up at Imitia’s request. Imitia’s cheeks loosened the moment she saw Seletina’s slightly displeased look.

Seletina, or rather Orthus, was a man with a heart as pure as gold. He would gladly give his life for others, and wouldn’t think anything of it. A hero among heroes. Some would even call him a saint. And Imitia too believed that to be more fitting.

He was an abnormality who seemed to have somewhere lost the bad part that made up most of people’s hearts. This was also why Imitia had fallen for him.

The hand that was so big and strong that it extended to her when all she could hope for was a comatose path. His eyes that saw all life equally.

(You haven’t changed at all, Orthus.) Imitia smiled.

Although his looks had changed, her friend was just the same as she knew him. Which is why she was able to agree.

“Sure.”
“What?”

Seletina’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

In front of her Imitia stood there with a wide smile on her face.

“Pack up as many people as you can on our ship.”
“R-Really? Are you serious?”
“What’s with those questions? Weren’t you the one who asked?”
“That’s…”
“But I’ll have the Aldelight family compensate me fully. And we’ll only take care of unloading the cargo. It’s your job to bring the people here. We won’t do anything else.” Imitia said and lit a fire to her pipe.
“Imitia!”
“Whoa!”

Seletina jumped up hugging Imitia.

At that moment, Imitia’s cheeks blushed.

“H-Hey! Since when did you get so cuddly?!”
“It’s fine, isn’t it? We’re both women now!”
“It’s not fine! I’m still trying to figure out how I should go about dealing with you!”

Imitia exclaimed, however, it was also then that she noticed the tears forming at the edge of Seletina’s eyes.

“Imitia, thank you. Truly. A ton of lives will be saved thanks to you.”
“For goodness sake. I know that much…” Imitia said, patting Seletina’s back.

Seletina’s back now was, naturally, way smaller than Orthus’, and it didn’t seem as dependable.

◆◆◆

Hush now, hush now,
Sweet child of light,
Time for sleep, all is right.
Dreams await, no need to fear,
Darkness is near.

Hush now, hush now,
He’s on his way,
Hush now, hush now,
Before all is swept away.

The voice, which seemed to seep into the crevices of his brain, even seemed like a chant. A beautiful female voice. High, precious, yet poisonous. He could see the moonlight shining on the black girl. The girl flipped her skirt as if dancing while twirling her jet-black umbrella. She enjoyed the black silhouettes, as her red eyes flickered with pleasure.

Singing lullabies was the most popular in the Kingdom of Elugor. He too had heard them with his brother when he was young.

Lying down, he was about to fall back into a slight sleep as he felt the power of his whole body fizzle out… His budding consciousness was so fragile, yet it was at this moment that he saw the girl smiling at him.

“Sleep. Your turn is yet to come.”

Just having someone tell him that it was okay to sleep put him at ease, allowing him to close his eyes.

The girl twirled and danced underneath the moonlight.

“Ah, I can’t wait. Every story needs a villain. You’ll be the main lead, and I’ll be the heroine.” The girl said, raising her hand towards the moon.

The girl’s eyes were gazing at the distant moon. An image of a blonde noble girl reflected in her crimson eyes.

Hush now, hush now,
Sweet child of light,
Time for sleep, all is right.
Dreams await, no need to fear,
Darkness is near.

Hush now, hush now,
He’s on his way,
Hush now, hush now,
Before all is swept away.

The girl continued to dance and twirl under the moonlight. Her stage? The collapse of the city known as Ulbdor.