Between the forest of centaurs and the steppe of the minotaurs, there are uplifted mountains. The last time he flew by, Ed didn't notice any danger - the peaks were tall but not barren, not even high enough to be covered with snow that didn't melt all year round. The water is murmuring in the deep stream, and the sunny slopes are densely wooded, and between the mottled stone walls, tenacious shrubs and vines are entwined to create an overflowing green. In the early morning, the clouds and mist blown by the wind across the mountains are indescribably beautiful...... However, in Muru's writing, in the dreamlike landscape, lies the most terrifying creatures on the continent.

It may have been a bit like the orcs who once roamed the Eastern Continent, able to walk upright like a human, but covered in gray-green scales and dragging a heavy tail...... Also, the head looks like a lizard.

Ed reads the priest's description to the ice dragon and asks if it has ever heard of the creature.

“...... Lizardmen. The ice dragon reluctantly spoke, "A murderous and greedy race. There is a theory that they were created by the dragon and brought to Hertland as a ...... The army that will occupy this world one day. ”

Ed was silent for a moment.

"Why did dragons create this kind of ...... "Things?" he asked, "Hill Giants, Lizardmen...... and so on. ”

He swallowed a not-so-nice adjective, but the meaning was self-evident.

"It's just some kind of legend that I don't know who made up, just because the lizard looks a little bit like a dragon!" the ice dragon growled unhappily, not telling its friends that this was the only legend about the origin of the lizardmen, "It's slander...... Anyway, this has nothing to do with the ice dragon!"

This Ed believed it. Ice dragons are said to be ...... Lazy, in most cases can not move, and rarely get involved in all kinds of things that require trouble. Ed once found a book in Icabard's library, and the author took the trouble to explain that it was because the ice dragon was "a little stiff and frozen" because it was too cold all year round.

...... This, of course, is best kept out of the way.

Muru's catastrophe began as he approached the mountains. To the south of the mountain range is a river that crosses the continent, and to the north of the river, it is not solid land that spreads to the foot of the mountains, but large swamps and wetlands. Ed remembered it, and when he looked down from mid-air, the ground between the cobweb-like waterways was cut flat like a flat green flannel, embroidered with dotted flowers, and the occasional white waterfowl flew leisurely by, all without seeing the danger that Muru faced.

The mud that is difficult to walk on, the beasts and monsters beneath the calm waters, the exhaustion and despair of looking around...... After all this, when he reached the foot of the mountain, the priest could not help but kneel and pray, thanking the goddess for her protection, without which he would never have made it to this place.

However, not long after entering the mountains, he became the prey of the lizardmen.

"A fool even more stupid than you. The ice dragon commented unceremoniously, "He is alone, a priest who can't even wield a sword, and he has to break into the mountains when he can't cast spells...... Even if he didn't have a lizardman, he wouldn't have a good chance of surviving!"

“...... But he survived!" said Ed, unconvinced.

Indeed, Muru survived. He escaped from the lizardmen, got lost in the mountains, was caught again, and escaped again...... If it weren't for the fact that the lizardfolk seemed to be a little curious about him, an "animal" they had never seen before, and their brains weren't very good...... He must have been turned into a piece of meat stewed in an iron pot long ago.

He had fallen into a mountain stream and had to live in a cave for years when he couldn't find a way out, but he survived, and made it out of the mountains alive and into the plains where the minotaurs lived.

"It's funny. Ed couldn't resist sharing with the Ice Dragon, "Such a 'ferocious and greedy' creature with no weakness in combat is sandwiched between the centaurs and the minotaurs, two equally warlike, wiser, and more well-organized races, so that it will be difficult for them to do little harm to the scattered Noa villages and the halflings who are almost completely incapable of fighting." And with such an enemy, centaurs and Nouans, minotaurs and halflings, can instead maintain a more peaceful and mutually beneficial relationship. ”

It seems like someone deliberately arranged it...... Like some kind of delicate balance.

The ice dragon snorted in exasperation.

"So what?" it says, "there is no 'balance' that cannot be broken. ”

Especially, if there is some kind of powerful, external force involved......

"I know. Ed sighed.

He knew that Hertland wasn't perfect...... But where in this world is there a true perfection that will never change? All good things can only be maintained by the efforts of those who cherish this beauty.

As he walked through the mountains, Muru had only a stronger faith in his heart—he firmly believed that this was some kind of ordeal, that he could only get to this point under the care of the gods, and that when he walked through the meadows guarded by the minotaurs and came to the settlement of the halflings, he was as fragile and dazed as a lost child, not because he had lost his faith, but because the goddess had given him such a heavy task, which he could not complete.

He's come from the southern coast to the present, and he hasn't been able to get any creature on the continent to believe in his goddess from the bottom of his heart.

So he stopped praying. He was ashamed of such a failure—he had failed her, and he should not have even begged for her forgiveness.

He didn't realize that he had fallen into some kind of almost pathological obsession. And what heals him is the cherishing and satisfaction of the halflings for their life, which is not really very rich, and it is their simplest happiness...... It was the meticulous care and unrequited dedication of his halfling friends - Wigg didn't even think it was a lot of effort.

Their kindness and contentment nature, just as the Noa people believe that they "don't matter" while still working hard with determination and confidence, bravely accepting the onslaught of the other world rather than turning it away...... Even the pride of the centaur is self-contained, and the enthusiasm of the minotaur is frank. They can live freely in their own way, and in their own way to achieve happiness and tranquility, why do they have to believe in a supreme being?

I've heard it countless times...... After decades of never hearing it again, Muru Coto, priest of the water god Nior, finally understood what the Sage Felicity had said: "Faith should come from the heart." ”

Life flows like water, as fine as mist, as vast as rivers and seas, forever in the palm of your hand—these are the last lines that Muru left in his diary.

They are always in the palm of her hand, no matter what they may be...... Whether they know it themselves or not.