“Yelena, our investigator isn’t responding. Her status has been marked as missing.”

Above the clock tower, shrouded in mist, Yelena gazed up at the night sky alone. The rain had stopped. The broken moon seemed to have parted the clouds at the arrival of the [Pure White Fireworks], casting down pure white moonlight. It irritated her immensely.

“Understood. Keep investigating. I’ll deal with her personally.”

Yelena left the communications channel and looked out over the city below. In this ancient town, fast asleep, something was brewing.

“For unity,” Yelena murmured in Dibithe. Her silver wings slowly unfurled beneath the moonlight.

A thin mist veiled the Tower of Babel on the horizon. To Yelena, the Blade of Babel, far from the Federation, was nothing more than prey beneath her claws.

......

Pace told Pollyce a story.

A story about an ancient family from Snowpeak, brought to the brink of extinction after losing a political power struggle in Dibithe.

Once, the snow eagle with outstretched wings had gleamed atop the highest peaks, gazing down over the Ademir Continent.

But everything changed after Mikhail Irenforno, the [Steel Lord], reached the summit of the Mountain of Myriad Blades.

“You probably know that before the weapon of mass destruction known as the [Tower of Babel] was completed, the [Great Unity]—made up of Dila, Yi Telan, Wilkin, and Gleu Yade—joined forces to wage war against the Academy Federation.

People knew that if the Tower of Babel project succeeded, every nation would be within its range.”

Pace sat across from Pollyce, his expression grave. In the dim, yellow light, everyone gathered around the wooden table, listening to the young head of their family tell his story.

“I know. The [Academy War] changed everything.” Pollyce lowered her gaze, remembering what she’d seen in the Charon Special District. “The unfinished [Tower of Babel] went out of control at the very last moment.”

“That’s right. The Sky-reaching Tower, built in an attempt to surpass the gods, went out of control. It destroyed the Great Unity and razed part of the Academy Federation’s northern territory, along with all of Gleu Yade.”

Pace’s voice was low. This was a dark piece of history he’d heard all his life.

“An entire country... erased from the map, leaving behind a wasteland like hell.”

Everyone in the tavern fell silent. Of course, they all knew the story. The Tower of Babel had become a nightmare. When children refused to go to sleep, their mothers frightened them with the widely known, dark nursery rhyme:

“We grew up beneath the Tower of Babel’s reach.”

“I know all that. So what does it have to do with your family?” Pollyce was frustrated by how everyone had sunk into such a gloomy mood, so she broke the silence. “Dibithe didn’t take part in the [Academy War], did it?”

“That’s right. Dibithe was in the middle of a civil war, divided among warlords. It couldn’t unite its forces to join the fight.”

Pace picked up his wooden cup and took a sip of wine. He wiped his mouth, then continued:

“But the outbreak at the end of the [Academy War] changed Dibithe’s civil war—or, you could say, it changed one man.”

“Mikhail Irenforno, right?” Pollyce answered at once.

“That’s right.” Pace nodded approvingly. “I’m impressed, Little Princess. You know your history pretty well.”

“Mm.” Pollyce simply twirled a lock of hair. When Pace got no real reaction to his praise, he continued:

“Back then, the [Steel Lord], Mikhail Irenforno, was only a warlord. He witnessed the Tower of Babel’s destructive power from Snowpeak, and it turned everything he knew upside down.”

“Mikhail realized that unless the other nations of the world united and formed a common front, Academy would hold onto its dominance forever.”

“So, as if granted a divine revelation, the Iron Lord swept aside every warlord with unstoppable force, then marched on what is now the [Iron Fortress].” Pace paused, muttering, “I think it was called the [Monac Fortress] back then...”

“So... your family came here to sell wine?” Pollyce clicked her tongue. “That seems a bit much...”

“No. After the decisive battle known as the [War of Unification], the Iron Lord wanted ‘unity,’ not ‘total annihilation.’ So the Monak Family was given a large manor halfway up the mountain.” Pace’s eyes suddenly filled with memories. That manor had probably held every memory he had. “I was born there. I grew up beside that frozen lake...”

“That lasted until the Iron Lord’s son, Venia Ilenfono, took over some of his power.”

“The Iron Lord’s... son?” Pollyce looked puzzled. She’d hardly heard anything about Venia. “What happened to him?”

“He was a cruel, luxury-loving brat. Nothing like his father, who’d devoted his whole life to the cause.” Pace’s hand trembled slightly around his wooden cup. “I don’t want to go over his background again. To put it simply, he saw the Monak Family as a thorn in his side, then joined forces with the Iron Lord’s adopted son—his older brother, Ivar Saikepasi...”

“Wait!?” Pollyce suddenly stood up. “You’re saying Ivar was the Iron Lord’s adopted son?”

“That’s right... Heh. You’re from the Federation, and you had no idea.” Pace gave a mocking smile. “Ivar grew up in Lodun. After the Iron Lord brought him into his service, he adopted him.”

“Then why would he be...”

A chill of fear rose from the depths of Pollyce’s heart. Ivar, the one who’d reached out to her in the icy rain, had been moving back and forth between the hostile powers of Dibithe and the Federation. She really knew nothing about him.

It didn’t matter anymore. Pollyce’s heart suddenly sank, and she shoved all those numb feelings aside. Ever since learning the truth about her father’s death in the Charon Special District, she seemed to have been numbly burying her true feelings.

“I... didn’t make it in time.” Pace sighed. He stared at the wooden cup in his hands, at his reflection in the wine. “...Even if I had, I’d only have gotten myself killed. Vance and I went fishing that day. When I got home...”

“Are you sure it was him?” Pollyce asked softly. Her lowered hand gripped her skirt tightly.

“I couldn’t mistake him... Ivar Saikepasi. He led a group of men away from the manor. When I ran to the house like a madman...”

There they were, the bodies by the fireplace.

“The old butler who’d come with me dragged me away from my sister and father’s bodies and brought me here.”

Pace downed the rest of his wine and said no more.

A suffocating feeling flared in Pollyce’s chest. She could almost see herself eight years ago, standing in the icy rain with her back against her father’s gravestone. She’d known all along that the Tibetan People lived by a brutal creed: the strong took what they wanted. But she’d never imagined that creed could place itself above the law.

“Didn’t you ask the Iron Lord to give you justice?” Pollyce asked. “If Venia had no right to take the Monak Manor, then why...”

“I did.” Pace slammed his cup down on the table. “He said, ‘Take it back yourself. The Monak Family as it stands is of no use to unification.’”

“That’s when I started preparing to take revenge.”

Pace looked around at the old, worn ceiling. Something burned in his eyes.

“But now, I can’t even run this lousy tavern properly.”

Everyone in the tavern fell silent. Their present hardship and the disgrace their family had suffered seemed to converge, forming a mire that threatened to swallow them whole. Pollyce could clearly see Pace struggling in it, desperate and sinking.

“So? Why are you looking for Ivar?” Pace turned the question back on Pollyce. “It can’t be a small matter if a [Blade of Babel] would come all this way to a tense Dibithe, even with the Charon War’s aftermath still hanging over the region.”

Pace stared straight at Pollyce. She hesitated over whether to tell him. She didn’t trust Pace, and she knew he didn’t trust her either. But the story of this down-on-his-luck Young Master had unexpectedly struck a chord with her. For a moment, she couldn’t decide. Should she trust Pace, who’d been through something like she had?

She’d trusted Ivar. What had that gotten her?

Pollyce frowned, then finally spoke:

“I’ve got a score to settle with him, that’s all.”

......