They prepared for the worst, but they didn't get the worst. Although it was much later than usual, the sun eventually rose.

It struggled to emerge from the clouds piled up on the edge of the sky, but the golden light that spilled into the earth was even more brilliant, as if it wanted to leave the last of its enthusiasm for the world it was leaving. Tonbuch had already had a faint chill of winter, but in a moment it turned back to midsummer. Both humans and animals were restless and exhausted in the sudden heat.

Imbalance – almost everyone thinks so. When the moon of magic rises, the original balance is upset, and the sun loses its normality, which is the "truth" that can be easily deduced. The night before, Ed was trying to prove that the power of the full moon might be harmless, and the next day the "maybe" turned into a resounding slap in the face. Even if he wonders exactly what caused such an "imbalance", his reasons are not convincing.

"You mean, the sun and the moon are the eyes of a dragon that created this world?" said an old priest who repeated it in a mild tone, but it was more uncomfortable for Ed than incredulous or angry—it was forgiving and reassuring, as if he were dealing with a naïve child who would persistently believe in some ridiculous story.

“...... That's what we saw with our own eyes, and he could only insist," we heard with our own ears. ”

Although they did not see the moment when the sun and moon rose into the sky at the beginning of creation, they saw the corpse of the great dragon in the darkness on the other side of the world...... They heard what she said "in the beginning."

But you can't prove that it's necessarily true. The old priest shook his head, looking at him almost lovingly, "Maybe it's just an illusion that someone has stuffed into your head." ”

Ed stammered, not knowing how to refute it. Can he say, "Go to the end of the world yourselves, jump down with the current, and see at a glance?...... No, if anyone were to do that, he would try to stop it, because the outcome would be unpredictable.

He didn't even know if Starfire would welcome him and Is's interruption again.

"You're not sure which moon is the original one, are you?" said Fili Zeri, who had already heard the story, from a different angle, after all, he had taken for granted that he had made the sun and the moon familiar together. Now he had to accept that the moon that suddenly appeared was real, and even he found it difficult.

"It's not that simple. Mondstadt shook his head, "At least what we think of as 'balance' is not a matter of adding or subtracting from the two ends of a scale, or changing weights......

They have made many speculations in the midst of the arguments, but none of them have been able to prove it without any conclusive certainty. When everyone finally had to leave, the argument did not stop - even the clergy of the same temple did not have a single voice in such a situation.

"Actually, that's a good thing. ”

As he left the Temple of Dawn, Filly optimistically said, "It's better than being a stagnant pool of water and just waiting for someone else to come up." ”

During the decade when the Temple of Water became more and more powerful, the other temples gradually became accustomed to standing silently on the sidelines. Jealousy is of course, but the fatigue that comes from a long period of silence and comfort may be worse than the ambition that comes from jealousy.

The appearance of the Sword of Light and the coming long night seem to bring back the fighting instincts of the "flock of geese" that Mondstadt satirized...... That's a good thing.

"Have you really seen geese?" said Filly, laughing uncontrollably at the mage's description, "that thing hurts to peck at people! If you don't use spells, you may not be able to beat a flock of geese." ”

The mage, who was about to follow Ed home, nodded meaningfully, "I've never looked down on the goose...... But isn't it ridiculous when they feel that everything they see is their own territory?"

Filly raised his hand to admit defeat. Not to mention the fact that it was somewhat awkward to discuss this as a paladin, and he had no intention of starting another argument with a mage who was good at insinuating on such a pointless topic.

Ed was a little listless. Under the blazing sun, the stone slabs under their feet were dazzling, and the streets, which had been silent for a long time, seemed to be a little more lively than the previous days. Ed felt as if all the people who were still in Stonebuch had run out, talking to each other and pointing at the sky...... Where were all these curious people last night?

When he returned home, he realized where such "liveliness" came from. While they were arguing in the Temple of Dawn, Balk, who had received the news from the messenger who had been silently listening, had sent out his men to investigate how many of the remaining people in Stonebutch had suddenly possessed the kind of "special powers" that Ed had put it.

This decisive and quick action stunned Ed, who was accustomed to procrastination.

“...... So, did he find it?" he asked.

"I've found a lot. Naria replied, remembering to seriously ask the uninvited Master Mage what he wanted for breakfast, giving Mondstadt a particularly sincere smile.

"What kind of 'power' is really weird!" "Tess, who had nowhere to vent her excess energy so she simply ran out to help, couldn't wait to add, "Someone suddenly becomes infinitely powerful, someone can get water out of the tips of their fingers, someone has their nails growing rapidly......"

She slapped the table and giggled, "Nails grow fast! What's the use of that?

Then her face fell, and she suddenly became unhappy again: "I also want to have some strange power—— of course it's not too strange." Why didn't I? I felt something!"

Naria pushed her aside by the face and told Ed the most important news in a few sentences: "There are less than three thousand people left in the entire Tonbuch, including the guards left, and more than three hundred of them are very sure that they 'feel something', but only about twenty people do have some unusual abilities, let's not talk about whether it is useful or not...... That's a lot of people, that's a lot?"

The lines on Ed's brow deepened. Such a situation was actually unexpected by him, and he thought that the "power" ...... It's the power to cast a spell in another way, like him, or like a white crow. But from the flowers that turned metal from Ariyah's hands, to what Tess called "water coming out of the tips of her fingers"...... The power of the whisperer turned out to be ...... Colorful form to manifest it?