"Air...... what?"

Lucarion blinked in confusion.

Tie immediately grabbed him and dragged him toward the corner beside the bed.

"The thing that sucks in bad holy power! Then cleans it and releases good power back out! An air purifier!"

Tie remembered Hanbit Kindergarten.

Every spring, the teachers would always turn on the air purifier.

'Little Quail Class~ today the wind brought bad dust called yellow dust~ This dust is unhealthy, so make sure to wear your masks, okay?'

'Teacher! Tie has a question!'

'Yes, what is our Tie curious about?'

'Then why is it okay not to wear masks inside the kindergarten?'

'Ah, that’s because the kindergarten has an air purifier, so you can take your masks off.'

'An air purifier......?'

'It sucks up all the bad dust inside the kindergarten and releases clean air back out. So everything is okay.'

That day, Tie had looked at the loud, enormous machine very differently.

And there was something similar even inside the Grand Temple of Sercanos.

Something used to purify Papa’s contaminated holy power......!

"Let’s go right now!"

Lucarion blinked.

"We need to find the air purifier and turn it off!"

Tie had kept wondering why Luciano still had not lost control.

The World Tree’s power, which he had forcibly stolen for himself, could never remain peacefully inside his body.

"And where is it? The place with the strange flow?"

When Tie asked again, Lucarion hesitated before answering:

"......Nearby. A little farther from here, near the confessional."

"The confessional?"

"A place where believers confess and repent. But from the outside, it looked half destroyed."

"Why?"

"I don’t know. It seems like they’re demolishing the old structure and rebuilding it......."

Tie swallowed hard.

'Whoa, it’s even a construction site......!'

She remembered the movies constantly shown on television during holidays back when she lived in Jongno.

Sometimes they were filled with grown men fighting nonstop.

'And whenever people fought, it was always at construction sites.'

Tie swallowed again.

The Watchtower in the old palace, and now the Grand Temple of Sercanos.

Ruined places always hid something.

"Let’s go tonight."

She whispered again, and worry flickered through Lucarion’s red eyes.

But Tie continued confidently:

"We’ll be able to sneak through without getting caught!"

Then she turned her head.

"Pupu!"

At her call, Pupu’s face immediately poked out from the bag resting in the corner of the room.

"Pupu, come here."

Tilting his head, Pupu hesitantly climbed out of the bag.

And the moment he came closer, Tie suddenly lifted him into the air.

"Tie actually already knows everything. This is camouflage right now, isn’t it?"

Pupu flinched.

"Kyuu......."

Several times.

Pupu had shown Tie his true form.

But Tie herself had never directly brought it up before.

Whenever Pupu transformed back into the baby elephant, she pretended nothing had happened and treated him exactly the same.

"At first Tie was confused, but last time I understood for sure! You’re actually a huge scary grandpa, right?"

Pupu looked away.

People only treated him like an old man because of his white hair, which was honestly a little unfair.

But Tie’s words were true.

"......Tie is sad that Pupu isn’t a cute baby elephant, but now Tie is ready to accept the truth too."

Tie gently placed Pupu back down on the floor.

Then she carefully sat cross-legged in front of him and said:

"So now you don’t have to pretend to be an elephant in front of Tie anymore!"

Behind them, Marbas choked on his own cough.

Unable to meet Tie’s eyes, Pupu’s gaze darted frantically around.

And what exactly was he supposed to do now?

The moment he took his true form, she immediately became frightened and shy around him.

Then Tie spoke again:

"Actually, that’s why......"

"......."

"Can’t you transform into Tie instead of an elephant?"

Krazar’s eyes widened.

Bright green eyes filled with expectation sparkled directly in front of him.

"You can, right? Hm? You can do it, riiight?"

That night.

"......Shh, this way."

Two children moved along the wall behind the Pilgrim House, tightly holding hands.

Lucarion walked in front, with Astie following behind him.

"The bone friends say there are three of Luciano’s subordinates over there......!"

Lucarion nodded.

He sensed it too.

The presence of three people emerging from the Grand Temple’s main building.

"And on the right too...... ah, and behind us!"

But at that exact moment, Tie sensed something and abruptly froze.

Lucarion instantly pulled her into his arms and crouched together with her beneath the wall.

Cold sweat slid down his temples.

'Maybe we should have waited longer.'

For some reason, priests who had remained inside the buildings earlier were now appearing outside more and more frequently.

'Did they notice something?'

He knew it should have been impossible, yet anxiety still spread throughout his body.

Step.

Step.

Footsteps echoed out of the darkness.

And along with them came distant voices.

"What a pain. They closed the upper gate because of the expedition squad."

"No kidding. They’re saying even the sacrifices will only be moved along a single route for now, so everyone has to be careful."

"When is that squad finally leaving? Hopefully this won’t drag on too long."

The priests were steadily drawing closer to Tie and Lucarion.

If the distance shrank any further, they would definitely be discovered.

Tie was just about to risk deploying a barrier despite the danger of exposing her magic.

And right then—

"Hey."

In the distance.

A bright light flared from the opposite side of where Tie and Lucarion were hiding.

The priests immediately turned toward it.

Holding her breath, Tie shrank deeper into the shadows.

A calm voice rang out.

"I came out for a walk at night and got lost. I don’t know how to get back."

Tie swallowed hard.

There was no mistaking it.

That was—

'Papa!'

Tesetan.

He was the one who had stopped the priests from the opposite side.

The priests hurried toward him.

"What......! You are not permitted to leave the Pilgrim House."

"Return immediately. Do you not know that after midnight, the Grand Temple of Sercanos enters sacred silence?" 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Tesetan casually tilted the torch in his hand.

"I know. Outsiders are not allowed outside at all, right? The rules are still as strict as ever."

"If you know that, then......."

"But I came out before midnight. I already told you I got lost."

"Haah...... we’ll escort you back."

Answering irritably, the priests naturally positioned themselves on either side of Tesetan.

Tie stared after Papa as he walked away, her heart pounding violently.

Before leaving the Pilgrim House, Tie had briefly explained the plan only to Papa.

After hearing everything, Papa had initially opposed it.

He wanted to go together with Tie himself.

But right now, it was too dangerous for so many people to leave their rooms at once.

Pupu could still cover for Tie’s absence using transformation.

But Tesetan’s absence could never be concealed.

"Let’s keep moving."

After confirming the situation had settled, Lucarion tugged Tie’s hand once more.

With a tense expression, Tie followed after him.

[Two to the north. Moving toward the main building.......]

[Priests near the Pilgrim House.......]

The whispers of the bone friends still echoed in her ears.

And after walking like that for some time.

"Here."

At last, a building appeared ahead of them.

The confessional stood half collapsed, awaiting reconstruction.

And beside it, beneath a fountain overgrown with weeds, something glinted faintly.

Tie cautiously approached.

It seemed the fountain had been dry for a very long time.

The stone pedestal at its center was covered in moss and lined with cracks.

Then Tie’s gaze caught on one stone near the bottom of the pedestal.

It alone was suspiciously clean.

"Lucarion. Look."

Moving closer, Tie sprawled herself in front of the stone.

"This stone is the only one that’s completely clean......."

But the moment she touched it—

grrrrk—

with a heavy sound, the central pedestal rotated halfway around.

And at that instant, Tie froze.

A spiraling passage leading downward opened before them.

Damp air drifted up from below, carrying the smells of mold...

and faint traces of oil.