There were only a handful of girls aboard the Skyship, like a few fireflies clinging to a dark hull.

Counting the six from the Rangers Lodge, plus the World Tree Maiden and Zaocun, it barely made nine, like nine reeds swaying by a riverbank.

The Chaos Lands were a cliff in a storm, so after nights of rain-thought, Dixue and Yue Liuyi chose not to let Lia join.

The Azure Front’s mission was done, like a banner folded at dusk, and the next steps were Yue Liuyi’s private matters, a stream she wouldn’t drag others across.

On Dixue’s suggestion, Lia led the remaining adventurers out of the Elven Forest, a dew-born group on its last breath, to ferry the final detainees home like boats on a quiet tide.

It was hard for the blonde girl, a sapling in wind, but Tiger Girl and Emily flanked her like twin lanterns in fog.

“I just hope they travel safe,” Yue Liuyi breathed, her words like mist over a lake.

“Don’t worry, Little Moon,” LittleSnow said, voice like sunlight through leaves. “The Elven Forest’s border has reopened, so the road’s gentler now.”

“Mhm… but Lia’s route crosses the Chaos Lands,” Yue Liuyi murmured, worry like a pebble rippling still water. “That stretch could turn rough.”

The Chaos Lands were a name for a no-man’s land, like a dry riverbed, where natives and outsiders left no law and no lanterns.

Bandits hid there like wolves in thornbush, with exiled cults and gangs like mold in shade, making the whole place a nest of rot.

“It’s risky, like walking a cliff path, but the bandits should be too busy to hound them for now,” LittleSnow said, a smile like a passing breeze.

“Why?” Yue Liuyi tilted her head, curiosity like a sparrow hop.

“Because the Rainbow Secret Realm is about to open,” LittleSnow whispered, like a rainbow gate after rain.

“Oh,” Yue Liuyi clapped once, the sound like a pebble tapping bamboo, understanding dawning like dawn.

It was a blessing and a curse, a coin spinning in wind, as the thought rang clear as chimes.

The Rainbow Secret Realm glittered like dunes of gold, no less than the World Tree’s secret, and thieves would chase it like crows chasing shine.

Good for Lia’s safety, like a clear ford, but bad for their own road, like reeds hiding a deeper current.

Her head throbbed at the thought, a hive of bees under eaves.

The next stretch could be real steel and fire, unlike the peace-loving elves, with enemies like rabid boars, and without blood-ready hands, there’d be no reaching the end.

It gnawed at her like frost on a grape, because she didn’t fear killing, yet she disliked it like bitter tea.

Every time people burned in her fire-feathers and screamed, embers flew like fireflies, and her heart cooled a shade, like ice tracing stone.

Keep this up, and something precious would slip, like a jade string snapping and sinking into a river, never to be found.

“Little Moon,” Dixue murmured, taking her hand like snow touching a brook, rubbing her palm with warmth like hearthlight. “You don’t have to force it. You’re a World Tree Maiden. There are many ways to handle villains, not all ending in winter.”

“Eh?” Yue Liuyi looked up, surprise like a dropped leaf.

“Look,” LittleSnow pointed, voice like wind over grass. “Breeze can petrify, and Ailuna can bind souls. Every World Tree Maiden fights her own way, like branches on one tree. You won’t be the lone exception.”

“Then me… the Stellar Moon Compass?” Yue Liuyi frowned, like a cloud dimming noon. “It only binds one. Against a flock, I’ve got no net.”

“Then we test,” LittleSnow chimed, excitement like water over stones. “Let’s see your true capability.”

“Test what?” Yue Liuyi blinked, confusion like mist over reeds.

“Your power as a World Tree Maiden,” LittleSnow said, confidence like a steady flame.

Hand in hand, they walked into a small room, their steps like soft rain on earth.

The floor was packed soil, and a skylight poured down sun like a warm river; it was the place where Breeze had healed.

“Try it here,” LittleSnow said, encouragement like a guiding kite.

“How do I try?” Yue Liuyi fretted, her voice like a trapped sparrow. “I don’t even know a spell.”

“No spell,” LittleSnow smiled, moonlight over water. “World Tree power is inborn like sap in spring. Just uncover it—recall a desire from the bottom of your heart.”

“A heartfelt desire?” Yue Liuyi repeated, the words like a pebble sinking clear.

She closed her eyes and sank into thought, mind like a still pond.

Scenes from the last months drifted back, like lanterns floating upstream.

They were frames cut from her life, like ink paintings unrolled in order.

The most important one shimmered, like the brightest star after cloud.

Before, it had been her homeland, a distant mountain wrapped in blue.

But as she traveled, the brightest frame changed, like a compass swinging true.

It became Dixue and the companions, faces like warm lamps in night.

She knew it clearly, certainty like a bell rung clean.

The Eternal Tear mattered, but beside everyone it was a straw beside a cedar, light as breath.

If the Rainbow Secret Realm proved perilous, she wouldn’t let them risk it, like a hen pulling chicks from rain.

There are many ways to save a homeland, like many roads up one hill, but friends only have one life, like a single candle in wind.

Together, they could do anything, like a braided rope crossing a chasm.

Yes, I understand, she thought, resolution like iron under silk.

She nodded toward that inner picture, a gesture like a petal falling sure.

Then she opened her eyes, gaze clear as a washed sky.

“Eh?” she gasped, surprise fluttering like a finch.

A vine sprouted from the earthen floor at Dixue’s feet, winding upward like a green snake.

This was the World Tree Maiden’s power, a spring welling from stone, and Yue Liuyi felt relief like shade at noon.

But what came next veered sideways, like wind shifting in a gorge.

The vine coiled around LittleSnow’s ankle and slid up her smooth calf, ring by ring like ivy on marble.

“Ah!” Dixue jolted, panic like rain scatter; no matter how she lifted her foot, the vine held fast like iron roots.

Because it came from Yue Liuyi, Dixue couldn’t bear to burn it, mercy like snow on tinder.

“LittleSnow!” Yue Liuyi froze, mind like a bell struck; she’d thought she could steer vines, but they ignored her will like a river ignoring a twig.

She gathered focus to halt them, but LittleSnow’s exposed skin and swan curves scattered her thoughts like dandelion seeds in wind.

The vine slipped past her skirt and cinched her waist like a green sash, and more cords shot up like startled snakes to bind her wrists.

“L-Little Moon,” LittleSnow flushed, words trembling like ripples. “Are you… planning to push me down here?”

“N-no,” Yue Liuyi stammered, denial like a gust.

“I see,” LittleSnow whispered, eyes shimmering like tide. “You want to play that Tisinate kind of thing… it feels a little pervy, like moss on stone… but as your guardian, I’ll meet your wish.”

Her silver eyes glimmered with tears, like a girl ensnared by a deep-sea squid in a dark green sea.

“Don’t joke, LittleSnow!” Yue Liuyi cried, panic like a kettle boiling. “What is happening?”

Near tears, she tried every way to stop the growth, yet the vines spread like bamboo after rain.

“Sister Moon, help!” a voice rang, bright as a bell in mist.

“Eh?” Yue Liuyi turned, the familiar sound like a familiar path underfoot.

Zaocun vaulted through the door, her leap like a cat over a wall.

“Zaocun!? What’s going on?” Yue Liuyi asked, words quick as hail.

“H-help! Vines are sprouting all over the ship, binding everyone,” Zaocun panted, fear like frost on whiskers.

“Everyone?” Yue Liuyi blinked, shock like a cold splash.

“Mm…” the catgirl nodded, and a vine slid around her ankle like a silent eel.

“Wah!” she yelped, her cry like a bird snagged mid-flight.

“Zaocun-chan!?” LittleSnow called, her voice like a silver bell.

The scene replayed on Zaocun, as the vines’ toughness held like wet leather, beating even her fluid swiftness like rain beating dust.

“H-help… mm…” Soon she too was bound, still as a reed frozen in ice.

“So… Little Moon doesn’t just want to bully me alone,” Dixue sighed, voice like a wilted petal; the vines on her were thickest, pinning even her fingers like butterflies on pin.

“S-so it was Sister Moon who grabbed us?” Zaocun trembled, eyes wide like moons.

“Mm… a beast nests in Little Moon’s heart,” LittleSnow murmured, smile wry as winter sun. “No matter how H you are, I’ll accept you… just don’t bully everyone.”

“Why did it become like this!” Yue Liuyi cried, grief like rain on tiles. “I only want to be with everyone and protect everyone.”

“Eh? Isn’t your inner wish to turn every girl—me included—into your harem?” LittleSnow asked, teasing like a breeze plucking chimes.

“Of course not!” Yue Liuyi bounced in place, protest like a flame; that harem dream only visited in boyhood dreams, like a stray cloud at night, never in daylight.

“Oh? Then your power’s out of control,” LittleSnow said, calm like a lake at dusk. “The World Tree’s strength is fierce; even I can’t break free.”

Dixue murmured spell after spell, words like moths to a lamp, yet the vines clung to her skin like dew to petals, refusing to let go.

“What should I do?” Yue Liuyi asked, helplessness like fog.

“Find Breeze,” LittleSnow said, certainty like a compass. “She should handle this anomaly.”

“Breeze? Can she? Where is she?” Yue Liuyi asked, hope like a lantern.

“Sister Moon, Breeze is in the kitchen,” Zaocun answered, quick as a paw-swipe.

“The main kitchen?” Yue Liuyi blinked, words like beads.

“Yeah. In the main pantry, in the cabinet with the golden fertilizer,” Zaocun said, sure as a bell’s tone.

“I’ll go now—wait, Zaocun, how do you know her exact spot?” Yue Liuyi paused, suspicion like a shadow under pine.

“Mm…” From the catgirl’s mouth drifted the faint scent of dried fish, like a tiny tide from a hidden cove.

… …