“My name is Hilde. I’ve been expecting you. I’ll explain everything after showing you around. Not like there’s much to see in this corner of the world.”

  I can’t believe we’re not fighting for our lives right now. The girl with the hood mysteriously showed up and actually welcomed us. Her voice was soft and almost monotone, but every word was pronounced with conviction. The hood covered her face, and we couldn’t see much other than two orange locks of hair that flowed down to her shoulders. A hand poking out from the hood gestured us in.

  Our immediate response was to draw our weapons. Who could blame us? After what happened back in the town, it was hard to feel safe here anymore. Who are you? Are you an avatar? What did you say? Don’t you want to attack us? We had all sorts of questions that she completely brushed off.

  Hilde turned her back to us and followed the trail that led back to the cottage.

  “*Sigh…* Let’s go…” Flanne, who was staying in the back, gave us a push. Is it safe? If it is, why isn’t she up front? The Flanne I know isn’t that self-centered…

  We put our weapons away and followed the girl, lagging slightly behind. She veered off the trail and stopped near the impossibly large hole. One of her hands rested on top of the stone wall surrounding it.

  Is she trying to give us a tour? I wish Endell’s big sister had been this nice to me…

  From up close, I can finally understand what this hole is. It’s a well… It’s not a cliff nor a hole, but a well. Around the size of a city block. The village with the wolves was probably around the same size. It was just that big.

  And deep…

  “This is the Pillar of Void.” Hilde looked down.

  The well went so deep that no amount of light could light up the bottom. One by one, curiosity won out, and we leaned over the wall for a little peek. Grey, stone bricks formed simple patterns all the way down. Or at least while they were still visible. The stone was rough and worn out, but that was a practically invisible detail with how far most of the bricks were.

  “Lives up to its name…” Hecate muttered with a smile.

  The darkness past a certain point was so overwhelming that void was the only thing that was right to call it.

  “I don’t see any pillars, though…” Sarasa squinted really hard. “Is it at the bottom?”

  “No… That’s not it. The void you see is itself the Pillar of Void.”

  Nothing like the Pillar of Silver. Sarasa nodded like it all clicked. I see, I see… Makes complete sense. Acting smart. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about asking a question.

  “How deep does it go? What’s at the bottom?” Carol casually asked.

  “The Pillar goes down and extends into the Void. I’m afraid there’s no good answer to those questions, your highness.”

  Huh? Hilde lowered her head slightly when answering Carol. What did she say just now? She’s not trying to make a move on my Carol, is she?

  “High… What’s that supposed to-” Carol was interrupted by a sudden buzzing.

  An insectoid monster that looked like an ant emerged from the darkness of the Pillar. It climbed over the trees surrounding the well and flew off somewhere. What the hell was that? Not too long after, a winged creature carrying another creature did the same on the opposite edge.

  “Those are beings given Life by the Pillar of Void. The Void’s Life and influence reside within every being born in this world, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. Those known as fairies being the former.” Hilde sensed some confusion and explained, but before we could ask questions, she turned away and started walking again. “Let’s keep going.”

  Can we really just follow her? Is it safe? We were all still on the fence about it. Flanne was still the slowest. Hilde has been glancing at her this whole time, while she did her best to avert her gaze. Why’s Flanne being so shy? I need some answers.

  The cottage was made out of wood and had a small porch on the front. There was a large table with many chairs then, but they were in really bad condition… I wouldn’t want to sit there.

  “My queen, if you would…” Hilde gestured to the table while turned towards Carol. She’s at it again… Grrr…

  “A- are you talking to me? I don’t know what you’re expecting, but if you want me to use my powers, forget it. Already took some recoil earlier, not doing it for some furniture.”

  “You did… Well, there’s no need for your highness to use your own Life here. Simply place your hand on top and command the Void’s Life to do your bidding.”

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  The longer this went on, the more questions popped up. Carol was frankly tired, so she just went for it.

  She placed her hand on the table, and it started glowing. The glow spread to the chairs, the porch, and even the cottage. The worn-out brown wood rapidly changed, becoming more intricate and colorful. The tones got brighter, white and blue paint coated almost every surface, and the shapes gained details and intricate decorations. The cottage looked clean, the porch was perfectly smooth, and the table and chairs would fit right at home in Bea’s room. What a drastic change…

  “Not even alchemy could recover something this well… What’s going on here?”

  “Not even healing magic! Who are you?” They’ve reached their limit, huh?

  “I’ll answer all your questions, but for now, take a seat.” Hilde ignored the two and pulled up a chair for Carol. Who does she think she is? I pushed her away and held the chair instead.

  “Go ahead.” Carol was surprised and stifled a laugh. Arggh! Dammit! Look at what you’ve made me do!

  Carol sat down. I sat next to her, and Hilde walked to the other end of the table, completely unbothered.

  “As you may have suspected, I, Hilde, am an avatar of the Pillar of Void, yet at the same time, I am not.”

  Huh… She’s not like Endell’s big sister, then? “What does that mean?”

  “Like a proper avatar, I carry out the will of the Pillar, but I am not the embodiment or manifestation of its power. It would be apt to think of me as an agent.”

  “I get it…” I stared at her. I don’t get it. At all… “So, who were you calling a sister earlier? Was it… Flanne…? Is Flanne an agent too?” I was worried she may have sensed Endell at some point, but from the way she was acting…

  “*Sigh…* In a way, you’re not wrong.” Flanne answered this time. “The power of the Void is split into two agents. Those two agents acting together would make up a proper avatar. A perfect manifestation of the Pillar’s will. Hilde’s role is that of Caretaker of the Pillar of Void, while I was supposed to be the Queen of Illusions.”

  “Supposed to?” Carol turned to Flanne.

  “Yes… I renounced that position a long time ago and ended up serving Bea instead. That’s why I tried to convince you not to come here… I didn’t want to get punished for running away, but since I’m here on her orders, perhaps my time is up.”

  “Is that the reason you never returned?” Hilde gasped under her hood. “You’re so paranoid, sister… As one of the Void’s most precious creations, you should have known better. There’s no greater testament to the Pillar’s power than its own Life pursuing their own lives.”

  Is that some kind of riddle?

  Flanne heard that and still winced. “Still…” It wasn’t a risk worth taking… “Either way, Carol, to answer your question, the crown you took was supposed to be mine. I was supposed to be the Queen of Illusions, but the crown ended up with you instead.”

  “So… is Carol this Queen of Illusions you’re talking about now?” She’s rising up in the world. “What does that mean exactly?”

  “The Queen’s job is to create and manage illusions, while the Caretaker’s supposed to breathe Life into them. Now that she has the crown, her ability to create illusions is second to none. She’s even allowed to give them life temporarily, but it comes with a cost, the Queen’s own life. The Caretaker is the other way around. The illusions she can create are flawed, but her ability to weave life into them is absolute.”

  “The damage I received was because I had to use my own Life? I understand now.”

  Is she really a queen now? That’s amazing… But wait a second... The Queen and the Caretaker working together make up the avatar… If Hilde’s the Caretaker and Carol’s the Queen, then the reason she was being so nice to her earlier is…

  “I’m not giving Carol to you! Understand?” I jumped and squeezed her. “She’s coming home with me, so don’t get any crazy ideas! I’m not letting you have her!” How dare you, Hilde…

  Huh? Suddenly, I was receiving a lot of strange looks… What the hell? “I don’t think you have to worry about that…” Flanne said.

  “You heard her. Now stop embarrassing us, idiot.” Ughh… Elbow straight to the gut…

  “My sister is right. Bringing together both agents is not a goal for the Pillar right now. You can borrow the crown and its powers until your life naturally comes to an end.” What a morbid thing to say, Hilde… “Besides, even if we wanted to bring both agents together, it’d be impossible. I lost the Caretaker’s power too.”

  “Huh?!” Flanne slammed her hands on the table. “You lost them? How is that possible?”

  “Maybe it’d be more correct to say that they were stolen.” Stolen? How could a power like that be stolen? Carol took a crown with no owner, but that’s a completely different level. Hilde continued. “Around two months ago, a brown-haired girl showed up here through a portal and stole them.”

  “Brown hair…? Two months ago…?” That description and the time frame match up… Carol and Hecate were arrived at the same conclusion. “That’s Ayumu! That’s the girl we’re looking for! She’s the reason why we’ve come here! Tell me everything you know about her!”

  “Don’t worry.” Hilde nodded. “I intend to do just that. Where do you want to start?”

  Hilde probably knows a bit about our backstory and our goals here. When I went to the Pillar of Silver, the avatar said the Pillars know more or less everything that goes on in Balterra. And since the Pillars know, so does she, as someone who’s closely related to the Pillar.

  “Wait! Before that, I have some questions too. I’m not following this all at.” Galene and Abby were feeling left out. “What was that about portals just now?”

  “I didn’t realize you weren’t privy to the state our world finds itself right now. As the one with the power of the Hero, I believe you should be allowed to know. I’ll explain everything.”

  Hilde explained the connection between our worlds to all of us, but Galene and Abby were the only ones that knew nothing about it. From Flanne’s reactions, she didn’t know the whole story either, but she wasn’t as surprised as the other two.

  The rest of us tried our best to seem at least a bit surprised. But I don’t think Galene completely bought it… Just the fact that we were involved with Ayumu, someone from the other world, told her everything she needed to know.

  Either way, it didn’t seem like she got suspicious of us this time. What she got were answers to her previous doubts.

  “To put it simply, our Balterra needs the connection to the world known as Earth to exist. But on Earth, there’s a force equal to the Pillars that’s aiming to cut that connection. The girl that took the Caretaker power, Ayumu, was working with the avatar of that force. That avatar managed to suppress the Void’s powers and gave Ayumu the means to seize my powers.”

  Ayumu was helped by the Separator?

  The Caretaker’s ability was to give life. Even without saying anything, Carol, Hecate, and I were able to figure out the mystery that had plagued us recently. The monsters from objects were created by Ayumu using the Caretaker’s power.

  “Uhmm… Hilde, do you know where Ayumu is right now? I was told that since they were your powers, you’d be able to somewhat sense where they are… Can you tell me everything you know? Past movements and all?”

  “Well… She used to spend all her time on Earth, but recently she’s been spending almost every single day on Balterra. I can’t give you the exact location, but she’s in a city north of the influence of the Silver and north of the battlefields of old.”

  Very kind of Flanne to interpret it for us. “North of the battlefields of old would be north of Ebrilyon… I think.”

  “That would be the country we went to because of the wolves, right?”

  Galene confirmed. “I believe so.”

  And if I’m not mistaken, that’s where Thivadi, the noble that gave us the wolves quest, is from. Huh… What a coincidence… It has to be a coincidence… I mean, what are the odds…?

  … (line)

  “Your excursion into the Forest of Illusion was a complete failure, huh?”

  Thivadi called the young man to his luxurious mansion to give him some news. The usual for them. Molt, however, already knew how his partner’s plan had panned out. Instead of a normal greeting, riling Thivadi was more amusing.

  “That’s not important.” Thivadi sat behind his desk and dismissed Molt’s joke right away. “And it’s even less important to you since you actually got a lot out of it.”

  “Huh? I did?”

  “You did. Because I’m starting to see your point. That blonde girl you were worried about might actually be a big thorn for us. Especially if she turns out to be the one they’re calling the Ebrilyon Princess’s Shadow.”

  “You mean the one that wiped Armand’s forces? I wouldn’t be surprised.” Molt made himself at home and crossed his legs on Armand’s couch. “Oh, but don’t go getting any crazy ideas, okay? Just because she wiped one of your rivals, don’t go trying to make friends with her.”

  “*Sigh…* I don’t think I could even if I wanted. She doesn’t seem like someone we can negotiate with. And that’s exactly why I’ve come up with a different solution. I’ve found someone with a grudge against her. Someone who knows her weakness, and someone who may be able to bring her down. Go ahead. Come in.”

  The door to their meeting room flung open. A girl with brown hair entered the room and sat across from Molt with a bored look on her face. Where the hell did Thivadi get a girl like her from? Not a demon, but not like any human Molt had met before. She had a different kind of air to her. And strange clothes.

  “Say hello to our new comrade, Molt. Her name’s Ayumu Asada.”