Do Not Forget Your Original Purpose

Once that absolute shitshow of a situation had passed, we finally had a proper meeting with the prophet we had been waiting for.

The pure-white girl lying in the bed parted her lips, her complexion brighter than before, her skin smooth and shining.

"Forgive my rudeness at the start. Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Nona Moira Saint-Pierre."

Nona set her excitement and high spirits aside. Wrapped in a mysterious calm, she went on in a soft, measured voice.

"If you have anything you wish to ask, ask me all of it. I will lay out everything I know, here and now."

"Then I'll go first. They say you gave a prophecy before you collapsed. Can you tell us what it was?"

"Of course, goddess of the volcano. The prophecy I spoke was this."

"A few of those are remarkably intuitive. Enough to recognize at a glance."

Dan Miryu's face soured. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠His head turned, ever so slightly, toward me.

"Terra tried to interpret the prophecy in its own way. Unfortunately, nothing came of it."

"Why not?"

"Because we never knew the part that mattered most."

The myth-ender. He. Forever. The Five Materials.

The rest was easy enough that even an ordinary person could have guessed. That much, though, Terra could not understand no matter what it tried. Its celebrated geniuses only stacked prediction upon prediction, and the results stayed stubbornly out of reach.

"Mother, the figures behind those mysteries have gathered now."

"Gathered?"

"Yes. You may consider my first prophecy nearly solved."

Nona pointed at me.

"'He' is already in this room. That gentleman, there."

"Yep."

I raised a thumb. Queen Knight's eyes, and Tough Guy's, clouded with suspicion.

"At the end you said we had to help him... Are you saying he's that special?"

"Special does not begin to cover it. Without him, Forever will knead this world like clay."

At the sight of Nona discussing the end of the world as if it hardly mattered, Queen Knight swallowed a groan.

"What did you see in him?"

"I'm sorry. That is a word my mouth does not dare to hold."

Queen Knight remembered Pele seizing Nona by the collar.

"My origins are a little unusual, that's all. Nothing that would greatly change ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the larger picture."

I shrugged. Queen Knight looked as though she had a great many more questions.

Nona moved on.

"How is the situation in Britain?"

"Several of the Round Table and three fleets have moved, unofficially. On the surface they're calling it a military exercise, but..."

"They will have gone to the Mariana Trench. The Russian fleet will be there as well."

Queen Knight confirmed it.

"Did they clash?"

"They clashed. The damage is severe."

Russia had lost a warship. Britain had lost a knight of the Round Table, and one of its warships had been left half-destroyed. For the moment, things had settled into a lull.

"Russia and Britain seemed to be searching for something. We never managed to learn what."

"What both nations are looking for is one of the Five Materials."

I took up the thread.

"A troublesome thing that broke off from Forever. The fragment that governs the mind."

Beneath the Mariana Trench lay the Crown of Mind. Britain and Russia meant to seize what rested a full ten thousand kilometers down.

"We have to stop it from coming out into the world. If we fail, either Britain or Russia will be laid to waste."

"Is it even possible to physically bring something up out of the Mariana Trench?"

"It comes out on its own. There are amusing toys up above throwing a fit to come and take it. Do you really think it could bear to stay down there?"

Among the Five Materials, the Crown of Mind was unusually playful. Playful enough that merely speaking its name invited it to exert its influence.

"That is also why Britain and Russia are in danger. A tool is toying with them."

"To think an object like that exists in the world..."

Queen Knight frowned.

"You said Five Materials. There are four more like that?"

"Yes. We currently hold two of them."

"......!"

A ripple spread through Queen Knight's eyes.

"We also know where the other two are."

"Then we ought to recover them quickly and keep them safe."

"Impossible."

Those two were not things one could simply call recoverable. Record could be settled if we drew the Guardian over to our side, but Space had no remedy at all. Judged by difficulty of ownership alone, it stood vastly higher than Death.

"Why?"

"It is not yet time for them to be revealed. Mother, please endure a little longer. Very little time remains before all five of the Five Materials are revealed to the entire world. Right now, it is Britain and Russia."

Nona stopped her in my place.

"Those two countries have no time. We must secure it before the court magician appears."

"The court magician..."

Queen Knight stroked her chin, as if something had come to her.

"The one who appeared out of nowhere in the British royal household and took the post of outside advisor to the Round Table?"

"We're too late."

Nona bit her lip.

"It seems they've already been turned. This is a disaster."

"We should assume Britain has been seized. In that case, we may as well assume she has Russia in her grip as well."

"She may have reached as far as China."

Nona and I sighed.

"What of the sun in the east?"

"It has risen safely. We need only wait for the day it hangs at the zenith."

"Thank goodness. If we can only deal with the police and Ilshikgyo now..."

"Queen Knight. Where is Captain Earth?"

Queen Knight cleared her throat.

"He is handling a personal matter in the United States."

"So he's cheerfully beating someone to a pulp."

"Did he leave any particular word?"

"Yes. We will have to leave the United States to him. We can only pray he settles it soon."

"And is there a countermeasure for Ilshikgyo?"

"We have one fragment. It would be better if the other fragments were here as well, but do you know anything?"

"I'm sorry. Nothing that specific..."

"The first prophecy alone was a rich harvest. Don't lose heart."

"Hehe. Thank you."

I clapped once, sharp, to jolt the room back to attention.

"All right. I imagine you've all got ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the gist by now..."

"We have not!"

Pele smacked the back of my head.

"Ow! Why'd you hit me!"

"Hey! If this was how it was going to be, why'd you call us here! The two of you just chatter away to your hearts' content! Are we scenery?! And the knight's kid is babbling nonsense on top of it?! I don't understand a single word you're saying!"

This is exactly why talking to a prophet wears a person out!

I grew sheepish at how quiet the room had suddenly become.

San-gun was asleep, and Hong Yumin stroked him. Dan Miryu scratched his cheek. Tough Guy stood in silence.

"You have to think of the people listening. You skip every step, slap down nothing but the conclusion, and expect us to just accept it?"

"I-I'm sorry."

Under Pele's piercing glare, Nona apologized while sweat poured off her.

"This is the first time I've been able to talk with someone who actually understands me, so I got carried away without realizing."

"I get it. Prophets are lonely by nature."

Pele stroked Nona's head.

"Well. That just means you were that lonely. You've had a hard time of it, young as you are."

"...For the record, I'm nineteen."

"I'm tens of thousands."

Pele yanked Nona's cheeks out wide.

"Just hurry up and give us the prophecy that's still coming. Something's going to blow up either way, isn't it? Feels like it might even be a war."

War. At that heavy word, silence swallowed the hall.

"A war to bring Forever to completion will break out. The world will be swept up in the fires of war, and the myth-ender will move to collect."

Nona's eyelids slowly drew apart. In the white eyes that thin skin had hidden, countless stars glittered. The prophet turned over the future kept in those stars.

Dan Miryu clenched his fist tight.

The starlight looked straight at me.

Nona drew a deep breath.

"So that this world is not disposed of."

The starlight left Nona's eyes. They slowly closed, and she sank into unconsciousness.

"...She's asleep."

Pele looked like she'd just bitten into shit.

"Let's go. I think we've heard everything that matters."

"Would you stay the night before you leave?"

"Forget it. We'll talk by phone later. There's a lot to do once we're back."

"Understood."

One after another, we followed Pele out of the sterile room.

Queen Knight looked at Nona for a moment, then turned out the light.

In the pitch-black room, only the soft sound of breathing lingered.

And then—

the full moon that had worn the guise of those white eyes

quietly concealed itself.