Sunken Mire was being kept confined by Elisia under the pretense of protection.

She wanted that anyway, claiming that being locked up by nobles was far better than being with Scarlet Abyss.

When I went to see her with Elisia, Sunken Mire greeted me while lounging comfortably on a bed, reading some weird novel.

"S-sir Undercurrent?”

That girl, still calling me that, obediently handed over the Gospel when I asked for it. She said something quite strange, though.

"Scarlet Abyss? They’re not doing anything…”

"What?"

"I-it’s true.”

The Gospel I received from her showed no missions at all.

Which meant that Scarlet Abyss wasn’t doing anything, in conclusion.

No orders had come down, so there was nothing to do.

"Hehe…C-can I leave now?”

As Sunken Mire tried to quietly slip away, I dragged her back with water pressure and questioned her further.

"Since when has it been like this?”

"About two weeks before Absolute Frost’s descent… The last order we got was to gather at the tower. After that, nothing came down, so I thought you wiped them all out, Sir Undercurrent.”

"Stop with the flattery. You know they’re not the kind to go down that easily.”

"But you defeated Decay, didn’t you? So isn’t it only a matter of time?”

Sunken Mire tilted her head, sounding genuinely curious rather than flattering.

"Among the Upper Tiers I knew, Sir Decay was the strongest and scariest, like a leader. Even if the ranks got replenished, once you took him down, I figured it wouldn’t be much of a fight anymore. Honestly, there was a lot of talk about it internally.”

"What do you mean by ‘a lot of talk'?"

"Ah, I kind of betrayed them while I was at it.”

I looked at Elisia, wondering what nonsense she was spouting, but she answered casually.

"I heard that those warehouse types had a lot of something called World-Sealing Elixir or something, right? I figured if we stole those, they’d collapse. I got Sunken Mire’s help and took care of all the warehouses who couldn’t leave their posts. I hadn’t thought of it at first, but she suggested it herself, saying that she wanted to prove her usefulness.”

"See? I was a huge help, right? Right?”

Seeing Sunken Mire puff up with pride, I was left speechless.

At the very least, I swore to never, ever trust this girl and nodded.

"Y-yeah. Good job. So?”

"That’s what I heard while torturing and coaxing those warehouses. Scarlet Abyss’ situation isn’t great right now. Their location’s been exposed to the Empire, Decay is gone, and they can’t even grasp your abilities…At this rate, they’re headed for annihilation, but the Upper Tiers aren’t doing anything, so everyone’s getting anxious.”

"..."

"So I figured the Empire had the upper hand..."

Sunken Mire nervously tapped her index fingers together, watching my expression.

"But something bad must’ve happened, right?”

"Nothing like that.”

"I-if you say so. But I’m really good at reading people, you know? And right now, Sir Undercurrent, your face doesn't—"

She said something she didn’t need to and earned herself some punishment. I sealed her mouth with water pressure and organized the situation based on what she’d told me.

'...Why aren’t they giving any orders?’

I already knew the Upper Tiers treated the Lower Tiers as expendable.

But precisely because of that, the more you coaxed and deceived them, the easier they were to handle. Yet right now, they weren’t even bothering to explain the situation, acting as if it didn’t matter whether anxiety spread or not. That wasn’t just arrogance. It was dangerous.

If all of this was true, it was a weakness we could exploit.

A vital point, sticking out at just the right moment.

...Almost as if it were asking to be struck. Or was that just my imagination?

After a brief moment of thought, I realized the unfortunate truth and let out a sigh.

I wasn’t in a position to determine whether this was a trap or not.

"Sunken Mire."

"Y-yes!”

"Tell me about another warehouse you know.”

"I already told you everything. There’s no one left."

Sunken Mire tilted her head, putting on an innocent expression.

"Really?"

I smirked, scanned the surroundings with my Tide Sense, then found a chest under her bed and dragged it out with water pressure.

The reaction was immediate.

"S-Sir Undercurrent?! What are you doing?! What?!”

"Confiscating the World-Sealing Elixir.”

"Whaaaat?! I’m dead if you take that!!!”

"Then die. Don’t lie to me.”

"I-I’m telling the truth...”

"I know you. You’re not the type to lay all your cards on the table. You’d leave yourself a backup plan. Something you can crawl back to Scarlet Abyss with if you got kicked out of here. Am I wrong?”

"Do you have any proof??? You’re just guessing!!”

Sunken Mire threw herself flat on the ground, hugging the chest and wailing pitifully.

It was such a perfect performance it almost made me look like the villain.

"Lady Elisia! Please help me! We’re friends, right?! I’m not that kind of person!”

"Hm? We’re not friends."

"...What?"

"And I trust Jern. Sorry. Ah, actually, I’m not even that sorry.”

She shrugged casually, delivering what might as well have been a death sentence.

After a brief tug-of-war with my water pressure, Sunken Mire lost and curled up on the floor like a fetus, admitting defeat.

"It’s not like I really hid anything or lied, but there is someone I know…”

"I figured as much. Who is it?”

I urged her on with a sigh.

I needed to find that person, then squeeze whatever I could out of them to reach someone who knew the prophecy.

There had to be a reason Scarlet Abyss was acting so strangely even after securing victory, and that reason had to lie within the prophecy.

And if that reason meant there was still a way to twist that victory, then that meant we had one more chance.

Sunken Mire hesitated, then spoke.

"It’s…Heavenly Balance.”

"?"

"S-she lends out World-Sealing Elixirs when things get really bad. I remember where that place is…”

All the troublesome steps were skipped in an instant.

* * *

Sunken Mire explained it like this:

"Miss Heavenly Balance is what you’d call a shrine maiden, you know? We don’t really know what she actually does. We just know that even the Upper Tiers can’t go against Miss Heavenly Balance’s words. That’s about it. Just someone really important?”

“...”

“But that’s not all she does. When you’re truly desperate for World-Sealing Elixirs, like you’re about to die without them, you can ring an offering, and she’ll exchange it for World-Sealing Elixirs.”

“...”

“The offerings…are usually corpses of wizards or Fallen. Though I heard someone once brought just random bodies and still got an exchange.”

“Anyway, I’m telling you this not because I was planning to betray anyone, but because it wasn't useful before. Even if you brought an army, the shrine maiden would see it immediately and just run away. Then it’d lose all value, so I figured I’d just tell you later, Sir Jern.”

We were currently riding at full speed on the plains.

My back already hurt, and with this fellow chattering nonstop behind me, my headache only got worse.

I glanced back at Sunken Mire, who was chirping like a bird, and warned her.

"Got it, so just guide me. Is this the place?”

"Y-Yeah.”

Barely looking around, Sunken Mire spoke up again hesitantly.

"But…Do I really have to go all the way in?”

"You’re the one who said it."

Heavenly Balance was a false shrine maiden modeled after Sharmia.

Whether she truly possessed prophetic abilities or not, even if she just had something close to it, capturing her would be nearly impossible.

The closer we got to the mountain where Heavenly Balance accepted offerings, the more likely it was she’d already be watching us.

Which meant bringing Knights or wizards there would be pointless.

That was where Sunken Mire came in.

"You’re riding from here. You can handle a horse, right?”

"I can, but do you…really think she’ll believe this?”

Sunken Mire bound my hands and feet and gagged me with practiced ease, then loaded me onto the horse like cargo, speaking with concern.

Being tied up on horseback was even more uncomfortable. Especially since Sunken Mire wasn’t exactly a great rider.

"No idea. But if a traitor like you betrays me again, ties me up, and brings me back, she might believe it, considering what a piece of trash you are.”

"I don’t just do that anytime, you know? It’s just that Scarlet Abyss is really on the brink right now. I’m simply wondering if it even means anything for me alone to knock you out and drag you back…”

"Yeah, that would be hard to believe.”

"Then why are we doing this? It just looks stupid.”

I didn’t answer.

Because explaining that we were desperate enough to resort to something this stupid might make her actually betray me for real.

Since I didn’t respond, Sunken Mire just kept riding nervously, talking awkwardly the whole time, until we reached a small, completely ordinary-looking mountain.

This was probably it.

Sunken Mire got off the horse, carefully lifted me in something resembling a princess carry, and walked up the slope, searching around the middle.

"Somewhere around here…Ah.”

What she found was a small stone slab. It was about the size of a short bed. If a tall person lay on it, their feet would inevitably hang off of it.

There was nothing particularly mystical about it or anything. It was just a strangely shaped rock. She gently laid me on top of it, then whispered in my ear.

"You put the offering here, take a nap, and when you wake up, a World-Sealing Elixir will be left here. No one’s ever actually seen Heavenly Balance.”

"And the offering?”

"No idea. So should I just sleep? Or search the area?”

"Hmm…”

We had ridden for two nights straight, so it was now broad daylight, the sun blazing overhead.

Whether she searched or not, would anything even turn up? If anything, it might be better to reassure Heavenly Balance, who might already be watching us.

Still pretending to be unconscious, I whispered even more quietly.

"Just sleep.”

"Got it!"

As if she’d been waiting for that, Sunken Mire immediately lay down on the pillow she’d prepared and stretched out.

"Snore..."

I wondered if she could really sleep in this rough mountain terrain, but her ability to fall asleep within 3 minutes of closing her eyes was almost supernatural.

Staring at her in disbelief, I let out a sigh and closed my eyes, calming my pounding heart.

'Was this maybe a bit too reckless?'

I’d essentially rushed here solely relying on Sunken Mire’s word.

If Heavenly Balance appeared, it would inevitably turn into a fight, and this time, I’d have to handle it alone, without Dercia’s or Brimdal’s help.

'Even so...'

I had to do it.

If I didn’t uncover something now, nothing would change.

And so I extended my Tide Sense, waiting for Heavenly Balance to appear from somewhere.

1 hour.

2 hours.

3 hours...

Like this, 8 hours passed.

And yet, absolutely nothing happened.

"You insane bastard!”

Just as I finally lost patience and was about to snap at Sunken Mire, who was still sleeping into the evening…

Something beneath me shifted.

"?!"

The solid stone suddenly turned soft like jelly. As I tried to pull away, I felt something dragging me deeper into it, so I quickly reached out my hand.

-Squelch!

My hand grabbed onto a branch. The sensation was firm enough that I could escape it if I wanted to.

But after a brief moment of hesitation, I felt the stone hardening again and let out a sigh.

"If this really is a trap…”

I’d kill Sunken Mire no matter what.

With that thought in mind, I let go of the branch.

My body was instantly swallowed into the stone.

...It felt like diving into tofu.