Even with a large-scale event like a festival going on, the Goldcoast region had inevitably quieted down after midnight. The road leading up to the manor was so silent it practically felt haunted.

Taking a carriage back at this hour would’ve taken far too long, so to save time, Aya transformed back into her dragon form and flew the three of them home.

—It was late enough that nobody should notice a giant dragon skimming low over the ground anyway.

Dragging their exhausted bodies along, they changed shoes in the entryway before Aya and Tiran slumped down onto the living-room sofa.

“I’m not letting this go! That Demon Lord actually tricked us! If I ever see him in person, I’ll never let him off!”

“My heart’s so tired. I wanna sleep…” Aya leaned half her body against the back of the sofa, tracing circles with one hand beside her.

Come to think of it, what had the result of her previous match with Her Highness the Princess been again?

“Uh… I can’t remember.”

“Senior Aya, I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while. Who exactly is this Demon Lord you keep talking about? Is he a Demon?”

“Chirp wants to know too.” Chirp and the little Angel each brought Aya and Tiran a glass of water, while the little girl curiously swished her tail.

Senior Aya was one thing, but even that cunning princess looked completely burned out. What kind of opponent had they run into?

“Thanks… But I don’t know who he is either. He was just the number-one player on the minigame leaderboard.”

Tiran lifted her cup and took a sip, then silently shed tears of emotion. As expected of water brought to her by her adorable daughter, its sweet, refreshing taste completely soothed her heart, which had been burned into a wasteland.

“When you get right down to it, we only ended up like this because we were determined to compete with each other. Thinking about it carefully, getting depressed over competing with a stranger whose face we hadn’t even seen was pretty stupid…”

Aya couldn’t help sighing. She gulped down all the water in her glass, as though nothing else could ease the frustration in her heart.

“But could someone that skilled be the person who followed Dad this morning without being noticed?”

Chirp pondered this thoughtfully.

!!!

“You’re right! It’s completely possible! With my abilities and those of Lady Tiran, anyone who could follow us without being detected couldn’t be too far behind us in strength.”

“Leaving aside all those flashy tricks, judging by that guy’s power, control, and archery skills, he’d definitely be a rare and formidable opponent in a fight…”

“Then… should we go look for him now?”

“…Uh, maybe not. I’m so sleepy.” Tiran yawned, stood up, and headed toward the bathroom.

“We could stake the place out over the next few days. The festival’s still going on, so if it really is him, he might show up again.”

“I’m in~~”

“Hey, wait a second! You’re trying to hog the bathroom, aren’t you?! Sneaking off ahead is so unfair!” Aya realized Tiran’s little scheme and called her out loudly.

“I don’t care! First come, first served!” The girl suddenly accelerated and charged ahead, reaching the bathroom at the end of the hall first.

Aya chased after her without backing down, but the bathroom was only a dozen or so meters away at most. Before she could even start accelerating, the race was already over.

“Damn it!”

“…Chirp, why don’t you come take a shower upstairs with me?” The little Angel helplessly took Chirp by the hand.

“Mm-hmm.” Chirp nodded and obediently followed the little Angel upstairs.

In the changing room of the first-floor bathroom, the one with the large bathtub, Aya had failed to claim the first turn. All she could do was lean helplessly against the frosted glass panel of the inner door and patiently wait for Tiran to finish. It would’ve been too embarrassing to go upstairs and fight the little Angel and Chirp for a place in the shower, right?

“Honestly, was it really necessary to race for it? You’re acting like a little kid.” Tiran’s voice echoed faintly from inside.

“You say that after stealing the spot for yourself? You really don’t feel embarrassed at all…”

Aya tugged at the corner of her mouth, then simply sat down.

“In that case, why don’t you come in and bathe with me~?” Her Highness the Princess invited her in a seductive voice.

“Huh?! Th-this…”

All kinds of wonderful images instantly flashed through Aya’s mind, and she could clearly feel the blood pressure rushing to her head.

“N-no, forget it, forget it. The tub probably isn’t big enough for two people anyway.”

—That was a lie. The real reason, of course, was that Aya knew she wouldn’t be able to hold herself back if the Princess, who had already gotten a taste for physical intimacy, started teasing her while they were pressed skin to skin…

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Then I’ll trouble you to wait outside for a bit.”

The sound of the shower stopped. A moment later came a faint splash, followed by Tiran’s satisfied sigh.

“Come to think of it, do you really want to find him? That number-one guy?”

Waiting around doing nothing was boring, so Aya asked casually.

“At first, I simply refused to lose. But considering that strange gaze, I’d feel safer if we found out who he was.”

In the bathtub, Tiran hugged her knees and submerged everything below her nose, blowing bubbles with a muffled voice. “And you said you felt like someone was watching you before, didn’t you? If that’s the case, shouldn’t we investigate it properly?”

“I just find it strange. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for someone to be watching me.”

“Maybe he just couldn’t resist your beauty, Aya.” Tiran tossed out the suggestion casually.

Following Tiran’s words, Aya imagined the possibility and was reminded of the awful experience she’d had in the adventurer town sixty years ago. Her body shuddered on reflex.

“Don’t say that! You’re bringing back some terrible memories.”

“Haha, sorry, sorry.”

Tiran rose from the water, pressed her hands together, and stuck out her tongue at Aya’s blurry silhouette beyond the frosted glass door.

“But who do you think that guy is? Could it be Yuan again?”

“That would make perfect sense. It feels like whenever there’s trouble, that guy is always behind it.” Tiran wholeheartedly agreed.

“Speaking of which, what exactly is he trying to do? He’s… a ‘transmigrator’ like you, right?”

“…According to Xingjian, that guy has a way to return to the world I originally came from. There’s no doubt he’s a transmigrator. And if what Kongming said is true, he’s a monster who’s been alive for ten thousand years… Huh?”

Tiran, who had been thinking over the question, suddenly hesitated.

Strange. Judging from that guy’s manner of speaking and the way he carried himself, he seemed to be a modern person from the same era as her. Yet he had arrived in this world a full ten thousand years earlier. Could the gap really be that huge?

Did that mean the flow of time in the two worlds wasn’t synchronized?

Wait, could it be…?

Tiran swallowed, suddenly feeling a subtle throb in her heart.

After spending more than ten years in this world, the amount of time she’d lived in the two worlds was actually becoming almost equal. She had gradually forgotten what her former self had been like—so much so that she hadn’t remembered until the day of her birthday, when she saw the depths of her memories within the illusion created by Sullivan.

—This world wasn’t actually so bad, and her life here was happy.

That thought had gradually gained the upper hand, and so her desire to “go back” was no longer as strong.

Besides that, there was probably another reason: she had “given up.”

After all, she had thrown away more than ten years in that world. Even if she returned, how was the version of herself who had been gone for over a decade supposed to face it all? How would her family and friends see her?

She really didn’t want to think about it. Maybe staying like this wasn’t so bad, after all.

But what if the flow of time really was different? Yuan had lived for ten thousand years and possessed a way to return to that world. Was the reason he still held on to that desire because he knew the time he’d lost could actually be reclaimed?

“Hey? Tiran? Lady Tiran? Why did you suddenly stop talking?”

Aya sounded puzzled from outside the door.

“Ah—cough, cough! It’s nothing! I just spaced out for a moment!”

“Is that so? Good. As long as you’re okay.” Aya nodded.

Some time passed.

“…Um, Aya? Could you pass me a bathrobe or some clothes to change into…?”

“Tch. That’s what you get for rushing off like that.”

Aya had been about to hand Tiran the clean bathrobe hanging nearby when she suddenly rolled her eyes and revealed a crafty smile.

If Tiran could’ve seen it, she probably would’ve realized that Aya’s smile looked exactly like her own whenever she was plotting something.

“I can bring you the bathrobe, sure. But in exchange, I get first dibs on the bathroom for the next few days.”

“Are you threatening me, missy?”

“Well, if that’s how you want to take it, I can’t help that. In that case, Lady Tiran can go upstairs and get her bathrobe herself… while naked~”

Aya picked up the bathrobe beside her and turned to run.

“You little… Aya!”