On the first day of their celebration, Alnea went around the city with the girls, showing them the beauty that he had discovered in its order a couple of weeks ago. Or at least tried to. For them, order did not hold much beauty. They were all from Orthodoxies, after all. Especially Vestia and Yuri. Both of them had travelled immeasurable distances, and seen a lot of places. The order of the Lost City did not hold much charm in their eyes.

  Even when he specifically pointed out the mesmerising way that the streets of the city were planned, forming a complex network of rivers, all gushing towards the desert, and the buildings that stood in their midst, withstanding their waves for millions of years, they did not seem to be impressed. It was not until Enn was about to descend into the horizon, that they finally agreed with him. The Lost City did hold a unique beauty.

  However, the beauty of the city was not in its order, as he had claimed. Instead, it was in the illusory world, formed by the dimmed rays of Enn glancing off the corners of the buildings glowing in red, seemingly breathing life into the dead city. Even if it was just for a moment, they had all seen it. The illusory world of red, overlapping with the city they were standing in, hiding in a plane that could only be seen and not touched.

  “…What was that?” Cecilia said, after recovering from her daze.

  “…The Lost City,” Vestia mumbled. “I had heard of rumours, but this is the first time I saw it…”

  “The Lost City… But are we not in the Lost City already?”

  “…Do you know how the Lost City gained its name?”

  “…Isn’t it because of how hard it is to find? Even Mystic Wanderers can get lost if they are not careful, let alone True Wanderers. Only Grand Wanderers and above can have the certainty of finding the city in the desert, thus gaining its name, the Lost City.”

  “That is just one of the reasons,” Vestia said, with a hint of hesitation in her voice. “This city has been around for millions of years. Maybe, at first, it was indeed hard to find it. As time passed though, Wanderers discovered the rules with which the city hid itself, and then found ways to bypass those rules. That is just how Wanderers are. In any case, though the city may be illusive, it can still be found. That reason alone is not enough for it to be called as the Lost City anymore.”

  “…Then is it because of what we saw just now?”

  “…That’s right,” Vestia said, glancing towards the place where they had just seen the glimpse of the red world manifest above them. “The Lost City… A city lost in the world… can only be seen, but never touched. As per the rumours, it is a side of the city lost in time, existing in a world parallel to ours, that just so happens to overlap with our world every once in a while, causing the two sides of the city to overlap with each other, resulting in the vision we just saw.”

  “…Has no one tried to reach this other side of the city?”

  “Since there are rumours, there are naturally people who want to test it. There are people who spent years trying to cross into the other side of the city at the exact moment that the two cities overlap. Some even tried to search for the world housing the other side of the city. Unfortunately, the time that the two sides of the cities overlap is just too short, causing it to remain lost in time. Thus, the name, the Lost City.”

  “…Does it truly exist? The other side of the Lost City, I mean…”

  “Of course not,” Vestia said, looking at Cecilia with a confused gaze, as if she was wondering if something was wrong with the latter’s head. “After millions of years of exploration, everyone has come to the conclusion that the other side of the Lost City is just an illusion. A rare illusion that only a few ever get the chance to see, but still an illusion. Or else, it would have already been found by now… Why am I telling you this? Are you not from Rianra? You should know this place better than me.”

  “…I am just giving you the chance to show yourself off in front of Alnea,” Cecilia said, faking a cough. Fortunately for her, the red glow of the city, as Enn dipped into the horizon, helped her hide the blood rushing to her cheeks. Or no amount of cough would have been able to hide her embarrassment. “You should be grateful to me.”

  “…Then I should really thank you for your graciousness,” Vestia said after a moment, with a grin spreading on her face. “But if I hog all of his attention, then I will feel guilty for stealing him from you.”

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  “It’s alright. I do not mind—

  “But I do. As teammates, and companions who are going to spend their lives together, I should not think about just myself. So, I will let you explain the principles of the illusion to Alnea, and let him see your intellectual side. That should not be a problem for you, right? Or do you want him to see you as only a Warrior?”

  “…Of course not,” Cecilia said through gritted teeth, glaring at Vestia, before turning towards the place where the vision had appeared a few moments ago. “The illusion… It was formed by…”

  “Reflection,” Yuri said, coming to Cecilia’s rescue in time. “The vision was formed by Enn’s rays being reflected from all the buildings in the city converging at one point…”

  “That’s right. It was formed by reflection of Enn’s rays,” Cecilia said, finally regaining her smile, as he turned towards Alnea. “How is it? Do you have any other questions?”

  “…Did that even need an explanation?” Alnea said, blinking in confusion. “Was it not obvious from the beginning?”

  “…What?”

  “The illusion. It was obvious from the beginning that it was formed by Enn’s rays being reflected off the edges of the buildings. You could practically see the rays coming together to create the illusion, and then dispersing away at the end.”

  “…Do you want to fight?”

  “…Now that I think about it, I really do have a question,” Alnea said, quietly taking a couple of steps away from Cecilia. “Do you finally see the beauty I was talking about?”

  “…Are you talking about the vision we just saw?” Cecilia said, tilting her head. “You were just as surprised as us though. It should not be part of the beauty you were talking about.”

  “So what? It is still a part of the city. Besides, didn’t Yuri say it earlier? The vision was formed because of Enn’s rays being reflected from all the buildings of the city converging at one point. And that was possible only because of the way the city is designed. So, if you agree that the vision was beautiful, then you must also agree that there is beauty in the way that the city was made.”

  “…That’s just being unreasonable,” Cecilia mumbled, but Yuri did not stand with her this time.

  “He is right,” Yuri said, finally withdrawing her eyes from the place where the vision had formed, before turning towards him with a wide smile. “Sometimes, we refuse to see what is in front of us just because of our past experiences, and the prejudices we have built over the years… Thank you for sharing the beauty of the city with me—with us, Alnea.”

  “…There is no need to say thanks,” Alnea said, scratching the back of his head, awkwardly shifting on his legs, while Cecilia glanced at them with confusion, and Vestia pondered on Yuri’s words. “I just thought that I should share what I found with you… And we had nothing else to do either.”

  “…That’s true,” Yuri said, as her smile turned into giggles. “You look cute when you are all flustered.”

  “…I would prefer looking handsome over cute.”

  “Grow up first, and then I will think about it,” Yuri said, flashing a grin, before glancing at Vestia and Cecilia. “Where should we go next?”

  “…Go visit other Districts?”

  “I do not think that is a good idea,” Alnea said, rejecting Cecilia’s suggestion. “Let’s wait for the city to announce its new rules before exploring new places.”

  “Then let’s just roam around the Northern District,” Vestia said, glancing at the buildings around them. “It’s almost the same anyway. Only the people are different.”

  “We can also appreciate the night side of the city,” Cecilia said, raising her hand in the air, and clenching her fist, as if trying to catch the light passing through her fingers. “The blood red light glowing in the darkness of night has its own charm.”

  “…I thought that you did not find anything beautiful about the city.”

  “I changed my opinion. Do you have a problem?”

  “No,” Alnea said, hurriedly shaking his head.

  “Good,” Cecilia said, nodding her head with a smile. Before she could say anything else though, she felt something nudge against her legs. Glancing down, she found Forne looking at her with its big round eyes, making low purring sounds. It was only then that she recalled that she had also brought out Forne with her. Wracked with guilt, she looked back at Alnea, and after some hesitation, added, “Can we stop by the Arena on the way?”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Alnea said, clenching his fists, and rotating his wrists, creating popping sounds of bones grinding against each other. “Let’s go to the Arena to move our bones a little, or I think I might get rusted.”

  “…So, you think that you will get rusted if you spend time with us?” Yuri said, glancing at him with a slight curve to the edge of her lips.

  “…That’s not what I meant—

  “Then what did you mean?”

  “…It’s just that we only walked around for the whole day—

  “We played some games too.”

  “…You won every time.”

  “So, you are a sore loser?”

  “…No…”

  “Good, then I win this time too.”

  “Hey! You are cheating!”

  “Come on. Let’s go feed our cat.”