The next morning when I woke, the tense feelings from yesterday had cleared as if they'd been a lie. My eyes were sharp, my head somehow refreshed.

  Apparently I'd been more exhausted than I'd realized. From the entrance ceremony until today, it had been one unexpected event after another. Without noticing, I'd kept my shoulders tense the whole time. Unlike the days of training, mental fatigue was surprisingly hard to notice.

  "Fwaaah..."

  After a big yawn, I finally sat up. Sunlight streaming through the window was dazzling. Today was the day off from classes. I'd told Martha she didn't need to come in the morning. Complete solitude for the first time in days.

  After washing my face and quickly preparing myself, I returned to my room—to find a breakfast tray placed on my desk.

  "...Knew it."

  She'd apparently prepared it last night. Even a warming magical tool was included. Despite telling her it was a day off, this kind of consideration was just who Martha was. Taking a sip of warm soup, I felt power spreading warmly from deep within my body.

  After finishing the meal, I opened the window and moved my body lightly.

  Though I had no scheduled plans today, what I needed to do was decided. Just one thing.

  I steeled my resolve and called out in my mind.

  "Lou."

  'Yes yes~!'

  An immediate response. She'd been awake.

  "Today we're having a serious talk."

  'Ah, you did say something like that. So what's the talk about?'

  A leisurely tone. But I had no intention of being roundabout.

  "I'll ask directly. You—Lady Lumina—how much do you know about this world?"

  I asked directly.

  'Um... about this world? Hmm, I know a fair amount? But I'm not a god, I'm a spirit. I don't know everything.'

  "Can you see the future?"

  'There's no way I could see something that uncertain.'

  An unexpectedly straightforward answer. Not a "god" but a "spirit"—her declaring that herself proved her position more than anything.

  "But you can sense what you called the melody of fate, right?"

  I brought up the phrase she'd used at the pact ceremony.

  'That's right... it's difficult to put into words but...'

  Unusually, Lou was choosing her words.

  'For example, if pitch-black clouds were approaching from far away, what would Dylan think would happen?'

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  "It's going to rain?"

  'Yes, exactly. I said something grandiose about fate, but what I can sense is only about that level. Like a weather forecast, a rough premonition. So—if when those clouds arrived overhead, it suddenly cleared up, how would you feel?'

  "...That would be eerie."

  'That's what I meant by discord. Well, it's just that my prediction was wrong.'

  Lou said this without shame. But contrary to that light tone, the content was extremely heavy.

  "That 'wrong prediction' example being—Kreis contracting with Fenrir?"

  'Correct! Originally, that wolf was supposed to contract with the hero Leon. That would have been the most fitting flow as the world's melody.'

  That matched the scenario I knew. But the world hadn't gone that way.

  "...Why didn't it?"

  'Who knows? Well, in the original prediction, the one who should have been at that place was the hero Leon anyway.'

  What a heavy fact stated so lightly.

  'Besides, that wolf's always been selfish. Probably something like finding a more interesting radiance, don't you think?'

  As if it were someone else's problem. Her tone suggested discord was just that level of thing to her. But for me, it was nothing less than a matter of the world's survival.

  "Then one more question."

  I lowered my voice.

  "Among the clouds you can see now—what's the biggest, blackest one?"

  Lou's voice, which had been laughing cheerfully in my head, stopped.

  Silence.

  Eventually—a resigned yet slightly serious tone returned.

  '...Unfortunately I can't tell what it is. But—several years from now, an unavoidable storm will come. One tremendously large and pitch-black, enough to cover the entire sky.'

  My throat made a gulping sound.

  That was unmistakably—the Demon King's existence.

  Lou didn't know this world's scenario itself. That's precisely why those words carried vivid weight. Not "knowing" the future, but "sensing" it from the world's melody—that precision was terrifying.

  "...So you gave power to the hero and saint to prepare for that storm."

  'Yes, exactly. If you know a storm is coming, isn't it kindness to provide an umbrella or raincoat? So they could face the coming calamity, I entrusted my available power to those two with the best compatibility.'

  A somewhat proud ring colored that voice. But—what was the reality?

  "And the result is a shut-in hero?"

  'Ugh...!'

  At my sarcasm, Lou hung her head as if unable to make a sound in protest.

  'Th-that's the biggest miscalculation... I gave them umbrellas, then one locked himself inside and won't come out, and the other is selling that umbrella saying "Endorsed by the Saint!" What's up with that, honestly!?'

  Her voice raised, I could tell she was flailing in my head. Though our positions and perspectives differed, I sympathized on that point alone.

  The hero wouldn't stand up, the saint abandoned prayer. However—after talking with Alicia, I felt I couldn't judge that itself as wrong. There were lives prayer couldn't save. So she chose to act herself. That even seemed inevitable.

  But as a story—it was fatal. That was all.

  "Couldn't you have done something more? Like speaking to them?"

  Divine revelation, in other words. A saint hearing the goddess's voice, a hero rising at the goddess's words. Such stories existed in multitudes.

  'As you know, I have almost no power!'

  Lou's voice rang out as if puffing out her chest. Well, I'd been made painfully aware of that just yesterday.

  "Even so... the current situation is bad, isn't it?"

  '...That is, yes. You're right.'

  A hesitant answer. She had awareness of the problem. But a tinge of resignation showed through—that she could no longer do anything about it herself.

  "...I see."

  Answering briefly, I didn't press further.

  I couldn't bring myself to blame her. She wasn't running away or averting her eyes. She'd simply run out of cards to play.

  That's precisely why she'd contracted with me, an irregularity. A last hope, or a desperate gamble—probably both.

  I didn't know how much she, as a spirit, thought about the human world. But at least—she didn't wish for this world's destruction.

  I could be certain of that much.

  I exhaled deeply.

  "...Let me ask one last thing."

  'What is it?'

  The usual light response. But I sensed her bracing somehow.

  "The discord you mentioned. When did you first sense it?"

  Silence fell.

  Only the herbal tea's steam rose quietly. Outside the window, gentle wind swayed the trees, bird calls audible in the distance. It was so peaceful you couldn't imagine we were discussing storms.

  Lou didn't answer. Couldn't answer, or didn't want to?

  But—that silence itself was the most eloquent answer of all.