Leno had a smile on his face.
A wide one.
The kind that stretched from ear to ear simply from watching his old friend feud with the child he had impulsively taken in as a student.
"What's wrong with you?" Reoloy asked.
Gordoi's patience snapped, slamming a fist against the wall hard enough to rattle the room.
"My daughter was put in danger because of you!"
Reoloy stared at him.
"…You sent us out there," he retorted. "And she wasn't even injured. I almost died."
"That just means you're not—"
Leno clapped once, the sharp sound cutting cleanly through the halls.
"Enough," he said calmly. "Let's proceed with what we came here to do."
Today marked Reoloy's full discharge from the hospital. With him being eager to challenge the ruins, he was here to receive a final verdict on whether he was allowed to go.
They had chosen Leno's office for this meeting for another reason as well—the matter of the new outsiders still needed to be addressed afterwards.
"So?" Reoloy asked expectantly.
"...You pass," Gordoi said with a sigh.
"For real?"
The blacksmith slid down the wall of the massive hall until he ended up seated on the floor.
"The final criterion was never about the monsters," he continued. "It was about whether you could win those kids over."
That caught Reoloy off guard—though he didn't show it.
"You won't understand it yet," Gordoi added. "But once you experience the ruins for yourself… and if by some chance you manage to conquer them, it'll start to make sense."
Silence settled over the room.
"Great then," Reoloy said at last, turning toward Leno. "I'll head out tomorrow."
The chieftain raised a brow. "Alone?"
"Lohan went ahead," he replied. "I'll meet her in the mountains."
Understanding flickered across the man's face. He had been wondering where the young lady had gone off to a few days prior.
He nodded. "Then we'll wrap up the authority transfer and move on."
Leno tilted his head slightly toward Reoloy, silently prompting Gordoi to conclude their business.
The blond hesitated, but extended his hand at Reoloy.
"I, the keeper, grant the temporary authority of entry."
A white light flashed from his hand and struck the boy square in the chest, bringing him to his knees in agony.
'No one... said... this would hurt!'
After about ten minutes, the pain subsided, and he sprawled flat on the floor, staring up at the ceiling in silent annoyance.
"That should do it," Gordoi said, dusting off his hands. "You can now freely enter and exit the ruins over the period of this next week."
Reoloy scoffed. "I'll only need one day."
The two men shared a look, but said nothing in response.
"Anyway," Leno continued, leaning slightly forward. "The outsiders. Who are they?"
After the encounter at the beach, Graham and Hugo had been detained in a facility on the outskirts of town until further notice.
Reoloy could have vouched for their release. He hadn't.
Realistically, why should he?
If he were still the helpless kid washed up on the water's edge, he might've considered adding them to his lineup for the ruin raid.
But he could fight now. And Lohan already filled the role of support if needed.
The only ones he had any real interest in were Cisco and Selene, since he already had use cases in mind for them.
"We were on a boat together," Reoloy said simply. "Running from some questionable forces. They betrayed me and threw me overboard."
"Hoh?" Leno's eyes sharpened with interest. "Then how did you meet the great guardian?"
Reoloy shrugged.
"I didn't reach for Nameless," he said. "Nameless reached for me."
Once again, Gordoi and Leno exchanged a glance.
They realised that he knew more than they had thought.
"Did the guardian tell you that name?" Gordoi asked carefully.
Reoloy blinked once—realising his slip—but didn't miss a beat.
"Yes."
'There really is more to him...' Gordoi mused.
"They just happened to end up here after betraying you, with no ship?" Leno pressed, his tone sharpening. "You clearly weren't a coordinated unit. So, unless Nameless is casually handing out survival passes, I find it hard to believe you all simply made it through by chance."
Reoloy sat up, meeting the chieftain's gaze head-on.
"I've already stated my intentions from the start," he said. "I just want Luvarne. Nothing more. You can keep them as prisoners or even execute them—it doesn't matter to me. I'll be out of your way once I'm done here."
For a brief moment, he thought he caught something like shock on Leno's face, but it vanished almost instantly, replaced by a stern, unreadable expression.
"...You don't know?"
Reoloy's eyes flicked between the two men, confusion sharpening.
"Excuse me?"
Both Leno and Gordoi shook their heads.
"It's nothing," Leno said, beginning to pace the hall in his usual slow manner, thinking about things that only he knew. "You said we could do as we please… but what would you have us do?"
The reincarnator's confusion only deepened.
Still, he decided to take advantage of the opening.
"There are two others who should still be somewhere around here," he said. "Help me find them and hold onto them until I come back."
"Hm... okay."
Reoloy pushed himself up to his feet, nodding once at the men before making his way toward the door. Their business, for now, was finished.
"Reoloy," Gordoi called.
The teen paused and glanced over his shoulder, listening.
"Depending on your mindset going in," Gordoi said. "The ruins can be either a moderate challenge… or hell. Remember that."
Reoloy held his gaze for a moment.
Then he turned away, lifting a hand in a casual wave as he left the hall.
---
"You're moving onto the next thing before you've even had time to prepare."
Reoloy walked through town with Lavere, passing the restaurant from that first night here—now just another quiet landmark in a string of recent memories.
"There isn't much I can do to prepare for this," he said plainly. 'After all, this itself is my preparation.'
Lavere froze mid-step, staring at his back until he stopped and turned slightly.
"Why are you in such a rush?"
Reoloy didn't need to think.
The answer was too obvious to him.
"To save the world," he replied, earning a few slow blinks from her. "Or, if I'm being honest… to protect my adventure."
He stared up at the stars wistfully, and for a moment, Lavere was reminded of the great elder Berk.
"There's a guy I need to meet," he began, a faint, almost childish spark gleaming in his eyes. "And even before and after that… there's so much to see. To hear, taste, smell, feel. I promised I'd live this life to the fullest."
He paused, glancing at her.
"So I need to get stronger. And the best way to start is with Luvarne. I can't afford to let time slip by."
Lavere sighed. "So where are you going?"
"To see some prisoners."
"Really? Now?"
"I can only really go now."
Lavere exhaled through her nose but didn't say anything else, simply falling into step beside him once more.
The outskirts of town gradually came into view as they left the denser streets behind. The further they walked, the quieter everything became—fewer voices, less movement, even the air itself seeming colder somehow.
The detention centre stood ahead of them: squat reinforced stone walls and mana-sealed iron gates built with practicality in mind.
It wasn't a prison designed to intimidate.
It simply existed to serve its purpose.
A guard at the entrance straightened the moment she saw Lavere, then hesitated when her eyes shifted to Reoloy.
She remembered the captain's words.
"If the outsider boy comes... let him through, but keep an eye on him."
Reluctantly, she placed a hand against the entryway mechanism and threaded mana through it in a precise, coded sequence.
The gates opened with a heavy metallic grind.
Inside, the atmosphere shifted again—quieter still, yet denser in a different way. Mana-suppressive materials lined the floors and walls, dulling ambient energy. Hallways stretched deeper inward with clean, efficient brutality.
No windows.
No comfort.
Just containment.
Reoloy walked through it all without much concern.
"You're going in by yourself?" Lavere asked coolly.
"They're some of the only people who can answer a question of mine," he replied. "It can wait, but I'm getting impatient."
Eventually, they reached a sealed corridor guarded by several layered doors thick enough to withstand spell bombardment. One of the guards unlocked them in sequence before stepping aside.
"Ten minutes only," he stated flatly.
Reoloy didn't respond.
He was already walking in.
The doors sealed shut behind him one after another with ringing metallic impacts.
The room beyond was small, rectangular, and intentionally sterile white. The only furniture consisted of two cushioned benches protruding from opposite walls. No sharp edges. No decoration. No openings beyond a narrow mana-screened slit near the ceiling that allowed filtered light to spill in.
Graham and Hugo sat apart from each other.
Both looked worse than before—not physically injured anymore, but hollowed out by lingering trauma and disbelief.
This place clearly brought back memories of Cube.
Their black clothing had been replaced with plain white garments, and even their movements felt delayed, as though their bodies still hadn't fully accepted that they were alive.
The moment Reoloy stepped in, both of them froze.
Graham's eyes widened first.
"…How are you alive?"
Hugo opened his mouth slightly, then closed it again.
Reoloy stopped a few steps into the room, hands tucked into his pockets.
"I'm the world's favourite," he said simply. "There's no need to beat around the bush, so I'll just ask straight up. How and why did I arrive at Cube, and what made me want to leave?"
Graham laughed once—short, disbelieving.
"You've got to be kidding me," he muttered. "You don't remember?"
Hugo leaned forward slightly, studying him with unusual seriousness.
"Unlike us, you were Cube royalty," Graham said. "I don't know why you wanted to scurry off when you were their golden child."
Reoloy tilted his head.
"Royalty..." He leaned back against the entrance. "Why was I considered that?"
The room went quiet again, heavier this time. Hugo and Graham's expressions flattened completely.
'He actually lost his memories...!'
Graham's face hardened, something between anger and relief leaking through.
"Because you were special," he spat. "The great Number 103. The hope of the facility."
Reoloy finally looked directly at them.
"I see. So that was me," he said. "Good to know."
'These guys don't know anything more about "me" that I actually care to learn...'
A pause.
Then he sighed.
"Who are Numbers 998 and 1213?"
Hugo cleared his throat, chiming in for the first time.
"Lohan... and Selene."
Reoloy nodded. "I figured."
'But Selene is 1213,' he thought, subtly shifting pieces into place within his mind. 'Does that confirm my hunch?'
Suddenly, Graham lurched to his feet in anger, only for the weakness in his body to betray him. His legs gave out almost immediately, and he crashed face-first onto the floor.
"What's the point of this?!" he gritted out. "Why are we just answering your questions?! What's in it for us?!"
Reoloy smirked at him almost mockingly.
"I should ask you. I didn't force you to answer."
Graham snarled. "Why you—?!"
"Graham," Hugo interrupted sharply. "Shut up."
The ashen-haired boy looked over in shock at the brunet.
For as long as he had known him, Hugo had done nothing but kiss up to him.
Hugo, meanwhile, kept his eyes fixed on Reoloy.
"Don't you get it?" he continued quietly. "The only way out for us is through him." He gestured toward Reoloy. "This isn't the time for pride. We should be apologising instead."
Reoloy stared at him for a long moment with an unreadable expression before scoffing softly.
"No need," he said, pushing himself off the wall. "Just answer one more question."
Hugo immediately brightened, rubbing his hands together nervously.
"What is it?"
"Why did you two hate me?"
Silence.
Behind him, the layered doors began unlocking one by one with heavy mechanical shudders.
"So you don't know either," Reoloy murmured, shaking his head faintly. "That's fine too."
He turned and walked out.
"Hey! What about freeing us?!"
"Hello?!"
"Don't—!"
SLAM
Lavere approached immediately, carefully studying his expression.
"Did you get your answers?"
Reoloy closed his eyes briefly, recalling the white singularity he had seen at death's door before awakening to his supernatural senses.
"In a way... yes."
---
~ The next day ~
They stood at the foot of the mountain.
Despite Reoloy's repeated complaints, everyone was still busy checking through his supplies one last time.
"I'll be fine!"
"You can never be too sure."
"Who even are you?!"
"Don't you remember...? I'm Edren..."
Reoloy stared blankly as a platinum-haired girl and an energetic purple-haired one comforted the utterly devastated blue-haired boy.
"That's enough!" A gruff-looking, middle-aged brunet man barked over the noise, instantly silencing the area.
He carried a futuristic bow with no visible arrows and exuded the sort of presence that made even experienced fighters straighten instinctively.
"The rest of you kids turn back," he ordered sternly. "I'm the only one permitted to guide him the rest of the way."
Groans erupted immediately.
"That's lame," Edam muttered. "I wanted to see the doors at least."
The man turned toward her, his severe expression softening instantly.
"Edaline dear, listen to your fathe—"
She instantly drove a flying kick into his face, stomping him out even after he hit the ground with shouts of "Don't call me that!"
Watching him curl up defensively as he got brutalised, whatever respect he held evaporated.
"Ah," Reoloy muttered dryly. "They're all insane."
Suddenly, a heavy pat slammed into his back and nearly sent him stumbling forward.
He turned to find Roy, Amali, Avron, and Lavere standing behind him.
"Don't die out there," Amali said. Her tone was light, but concern still bled through.
"I won't," he replied, nodding.
"Remember," Roy said, lifting a finger. "One day."
"Even without you saying it, I know."
Reoloy turned to Avron and extended a hand.
"Tangerine."
"Outsider."
That alone was enough.
Finally, his gaze shifted to Lavere.
There wasn't much left to say between them.
"Go start."
Reoloy grinned, holding out a fist.
Lavere stared at it for a second before lightly bumping it with her own.
With that, he turned and began making his way up the mountain trail, his assigned guide scrambling after him and only barely managing to catch up.
"Is that really okay?" Edam asked as she walked up beside Lavere, arms folded behind her head.
Lavere watched the steadily shrinking figure climbing toward the peaks.
Then she smiled faintly.
"He's chasing something brilliant. All I can do for now is support from a distance."
The group slowly turned back toward town.
But before leaving completely, the blond looked over her shoulder one final time—toward the towering mountain range and the unknown waiting beyond it.
And quietly, she wondered what kind of person would return from those treacherous heights.