"Chirp, little Chirp, please don't cry, okay? Mom is sorry for what she said. From now on, I won't say those words again. "

In the courtyard of the castle, Aya found herself helpless with the pendant stuck on her leg. To be honest, Aya's human form was less than 1.8 meters tall, with proportions close to the golden ratio, but her legs were just average in length. If only Chirp had remained in its original form, it would have been fine. But now, the body and appearance of Chirp, stuck between ** and a young girl, seemed a bit off.

Princess Tiran was unceremoniously amused on the side, almost rolling on the floor laughing.

"Don't laugh, damn it! This girl is somewhat your daughter, shouldn't you take responsibility?"

Upon hearing this, Tiran finally restrained himself slightly – at least that was how Aya felt. The laughter that disregarded image finally came to a pause.

"But she calls me dad... well, not mom," Tiran said earnestly, raising a finger.

Aya's face darkened, while the laughter beside her resurfaced.

In the end, it was the promise to play together with Chirp for three days that managed to calm the crying Chirp. However, Aya was also exhausted, both mentally and physically.

"By the way, where did Mimi go?"

It was only when Aya held Chirp's hand, preparing to find some late-night snacks, that she suddenly realized Mimi was not around. It was quite a strange situation, as Mimi would usually be the first to greet Tiran upon his return. Especially with Chirp present now, it was odd that Mimi, who cared most about the two of them, was absent.

...Could it be that she found out through some unknown means that Tiran and herself had done something and was now hiding, planning to assassinate her to keep it a secret?

Recalling the somewhat yandere vibe occasionally emitted by Mimi, Aya instantly felt that this possibility was very likely. She quickly looked around vigilantly.

"Chirp knows! Mimi is in the study!" Chirp eagerly raised their hand to answer.

This study was not Tiran's room filled with classical literature and academic works for show, but another office where the castle steward managed all the internal and external affairs of Gilliast. Normally, the workload was shared by Mimi and Justice, but with Justice injured and Shuma returning to Ikante, Mimi had to handle everything by herself now.

After a major battle, Gilliast suffered significant losses, increasing the workload that originally required two people to work on. It was no wonder Mimi was too busy to come out.

"Let's go check on Mimi later, it's better to say hi." Aya suggested.

"Oh? Weren't you good at avoiding her whenever possible? Why the sudden change?"

"...Haha, you're mistaken." Aya chuckled awkwardly. How should she put it? Perhaps out of the notion of honesty being the best policy... Mimi and the others only had a rough idea of what happened in Lockinge, and the most crucial part, such as what exactly occurred between herself and Miss Tiran, she had no clue about.

She couldn't even imagine what Mimi's reaction would be if she found out. She would probably immediately start planning how to get rid of her, right? A mere beating would be bearable; the most terrifying thing would be if she acted as if nothing happened on the surface while resorting to sly tactics like poisoning her food secretly...

Hmm... I wonder if confessing now can earn me some leniency.

"It sounds reasonable, but before that, let's go and get things done first," Tiran let out a long sigh.

Aya, slightly puzzled, held Chirp's hand and followed Tiran's steps, passing through the sky bridge connecting two high towers and leaving the courtyard, arriving at the castle's backyard.

Gilliast Castle was not an ancient fortress with a long history, but merely a gift prepared by His Majesty the King for Tiran's coming-of-age ceremony. To cater for future functional needs, a large empty space was deliberately left behind the main building complex. However, Tiran had no thoughts about this, so apart from the initial garden, there were no other structures.

-- Until today.

And now, this empty space had a new purpose.

"A graveyard..."

Aya murmured softly while holding Chirp's hand.

Behind the garden, a roughly two-meter tall stone monument stood, surrounded by soft grass filled with swords and weapons, including standard-issue guard swords and daggers, as well as unique weapons such as long spears, battle-axes, heavy swords, and hunting bows, totaling 137 weapons belonging to the 137 warriors who died defending the castle.

Tiran stood in front of the monument, gently touching the rough, unpolished surface in silence, as if mourning silently.

Since only about two days had passed since the end of the battle, the priority of building a monument like this was obviously lower than war-related matters. It was said that Mimi had insisted the craftsmen cut this stone monument in the gaps of repairing the castle walls.

Although there were no buried remains or extra decorations, a stone monument and 137 weapons at least made this a place for remembrance.

"Miss Mimi is truly something..."

Aya sighed in her heart, probably guessing Tiran's thoughts for persisting in building this memorial garden.

"Chirp, what are Mommy and Daddy doing?"

"Remembering those who have passed away...something like that," Aya replied uncertainly. Chirp, being an artificially created being, might find it difficult to understand this, but of course, he wasn't in a position to claim he fully understood it. With the rarity and longevity of Dragons, finding a fellow to mourn due to separation or death was quite difficult.

For example, her unreliable parents... They might still be carefree even after her death, as life held so many uncertainties. Besides her own parents, Aya didn't know any other of her kind.

"What... is death?" Chirp's pair of animal ears twitched on his head, showing a puzzled expression.

Aya paused, suddenly realizing she couldn't immediately provide a suitable answer. Because for Dragons, possessing strong and resilient souls, their souls could exist for some time after their physical bodies perished instead of dissipating rapidly like weaker beings. During this time, the Dragon Deity would guide the souls of their kin back to the Dragon's Grave.

No one could clearly describe what sort of place the Dragon's Grave was, not even the Dragons themselves. It was a realm that only existed in the passing down of souls through generations, a place one could only journey to after death, The Realm.

"It's probably separation," Aya pondered for a moment before solemnly stating, "Regardless of whether consciousness can be preserved after death or where the soul goes, one thing is certain."

"The loved ones, the wishes to fulfill, the mistakes that cannot be rectified - once dead, they all can only be bid farewell to."

"That must be a terrible thing... ( ๑ŏ ﹏ ŏ๑ )" Chirp's ears drooped softly against her hair, releasing Aya's hand that she was holding onto tightly, clasping her hands together in front of her chest to pray.

Indeed, quite terrible.

As Aya looked at the girl in front of the gravestone, her thoughts involuntarily drifted to a distant time. After all, there still existed an insurmountable gap between the lifespan of humans and Dragons, Holy Rank notwithstanding.

Tsk... it's really troublesome, why did I fall for her? Clearly, she is a flat-chested, awful personality who always scams people.

Well, while she was sarcastically ranting on one side, Aya had already started to consider if there were any methods to prolong life. Speaking of which, didn't the Dragon Knight's contract have a similar function, sharing life force?

"Hey, what are you spacing out for?"

Her shoulder was suddenly tapped, and Aya, who was just brainstorming, quickly raised her head, nervously looking around only to find Tiran had silently appeared beside her.

"Finished?"

"Of course," Tiran snorted, "Whether it's a silent tribute or a memorial service, in the end, they are all ways to comfort the departed, but since it's about comforting, shouldn't we do something more meaningful?"

"Such as?"

"Like reclaiming Bilgen."

...

West of Milanía, beyond the kingdom's territorial waters, a pyramid-shaped massive shipyard floated in the endless azure expanse.

Shortly after the plan to advance towards the Beacon City failed, the Undying King immediately retreated from Milanía's territorial waters. This offshore fortress, serving as a technical validation logistical center, gathered a large amount of cutting-edge maritime supply, repair, and construction technology for Gleyus, worth many times more than warships. However, its combat strength was not very high, and Gleyus found it hard to accept the idea of it being sunk.

But in order to prevent the only foothold on the continent from being occupied, a large number of fleets gathered at the Bilgen naval base, where even Holy Ranks hired by the Mastonians were stationed. If they continued to stay near the coast or in the port, it would be truly unimaginable if a Silver War Maiden flew over on a dragon and simply cleaved the target so strategically important. After comprehensive consideration, retreating to the open sea was the safest option, as compared to the vast ocean, the Undying King was not an easy target to be found. After all, the people of Gleyus did not believe a Holy Rank would be flying around every day as a reconnaissance aircraft.

"Still no movement from them?"

In the command room at the highest point of the Undying King, Raymond glanced at the small flags representing the armies on the map that had not moved for a long time.

"If you're talking about preparing for an attack, then no, of course not. It's only natural. It's only been two days since all this happened, I doubt they have even completed the evacuation of civilians from the city... and besides, their current forces are totally inadequate to retake the Bilgen naval base... can't you even see that?"

Terryman replied a bit impatiently. In his eyes, this guy named Raymond was simply an anomaly. Apart from making a deep impression during the initial battle where Holy Ranks were brought in, everything else he had shown since then did not do justice to the rank of "Major General."