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♪The papyrus reeds sway by the river, its waters of purest lazurite♪

♪It wends its way by the golden dunes, fed by our gifts of gems♪

♪May I see Him by the waterside, may I follow Him to eternity♪

Amidst the ardent applause and passionate singing, the winners stiffly walk along the shining, bejeweled street.

A reed boat bearing the heavy weight of history slowly sinks into the river. Golden slipper and Minoan silver medal alike become no more than a string of bubbles.

Regret? How could I possibly have any regrets? Meeting you has been the best thing to happen to me this entire competition, Hatshepsut Hanim!

What worth would a competition ranking hold compared to such privilege...? If I may be so bold, I believe a group photo of us losers with the champion would be fittingly commemorative.

Would you do me the honor of having a photo with me, resplendent Hatshepsut Hanim? If you would hold the first-place prize statue as well, that would be perfect.

Haha, of course... Thank you for your kind words...

I joined in a most absurd competition.

Yeah, that was absurd indeed.

I intended to seek history, honor the feats of heroes past, be steadfast in my pursuit of victory, and confront fate itself.

Yeah, confronting fate and... the other thing. Basically, your ten old silver medals are a single shiny new one.

But don't worry. This is Sargon, after all, so that's no failure.

'Golden sands above, gold itself below.' As the lords ameer and padishahs say, sand can be as precious as gold.

Don't sweat it. Maybe you'll go down some windy road, you'll find yourself recognized, and that golden cup will be handed right over.

Handed over?

Let's say, maybe you were to chat with the lucky winner of the cup, and wheedle your way into his trust...

—You're right!

Huh?

The treasure I put forth was recognized. This means that Minoan culture itself was also recognized.

Even if the assessment of the judges was strikingly superficial, the scoring of the silver medals and my position are sufficient proof that even Sargonian historians hold a basic respect for Minos.

I should have words with the collector of the goblet. If he were to understand the deep history behind it, perhaps he would be willing to sell it back to me at a price I can afford.

You call <i>that</i> recognition?

Well, if it's enough to cheer you up, I guess we'll call that a victory.

Thank you very much, Narantuya. You are too kind.

Just like the wise men debating around the white columns, you have awoken me. I will not lose the honor that those silver medals represented. In fact, I have now won even more in turn.

The trick played upon me by fate is unworthy of notice, by comparison.

Moreover, if immersing those medals in the water would aid the people to see what they wish to see, then I am happy to serve.

If throwing this gem into the river would summon the god I've heard so much talk of, then I—

WAIT!

I can see you're feeling a bit better, but calm down. Don't throw it away.

I have a plan... Or I guess, I have a person I wish to see.

If you don't really care about the gem, could I... borrow it for a while?

The traps are ready.

Relax, I was real careful putting them together. The more someone knows, the less they'll suspect.

Good.

I also slipped the invitation into the girl's bag. I made sure to wear gloves for handling artifacts, no way I left any fingerprints behind.

Nice work.

I'll handle the back end of our plan. Any questions from you two?

I have one! I don't understand why the Padishah's daughter would fall for our bait?

This gem doesn't seem that special. It's got lots of impurities, like the stone Ajani and I pulled up from the sewer the other day...

Don't worry about what the rich folk think.

Watch the door tonight. Keep your eyes peeled. Don't let her send anyone over to take it before the time is right.

Yeah, okay... We won't let you down this time.

That's right! We won't let anyone in!

Meow?

Mio arrives before the table, having deftly avoided every snare in the heavily-trapped room.

The glimmering gem on the table is reflected in the cloudbeast's bright eyes.

An anonymous letter, alongside an indistinct photo of the gem. The letter specifies a time and place for you to be, alone.

An incredibly obvious trap. You should not go, Pepe.

Well, I have to go. How else am I supposed to get the gem?

But...

But what?

You agreed to take me to the man-made lake in the city tonight.

Did I say that? Or maybe you misremembered and it's actually tomorrow night?

Ever since my brain was replaced, I have not misremembered a single thing.

If that's true, you would have remembered where all the gems were.

You could ask Anat. She wrote a loooooot of official-looking documents about you lately.

I also have a few observational reports and paragraphs of a draft for a paper on this ancient general, actually.

Maybe she can take you there.

...I might need to take a few more shifts, if so.

Do you really have no idea who sent this letter?

The tourist who got second place seemed like a nice lady.

I might have been too easy to read at the Harvest Gathering. Everyone could probably tell I wanted the gem.

But we need it to get more information out of Zubayr. Whether it's info on my hidden treasure or data for your thesis.

Even so, I advise you not to take the risk.

Even if I've been across all of Sargon by now?

I do recall you nearly failing to make it back twice when we were still in school. Good thing Titi and I decided to look for you both times.

Oh yeah. You recruited a team of adventurers on burdenbeasts to find me, all so I could judge which of the two of you translated some ancient document more accurately.

If Titi was here, I might have some backing on going to the meet-up spot.

Good thing she isn't here.

...She's not? Where is she, then?

'Cause inconvenience'... She said that like I was out to mess things up for her.

*sigh* I helped her out with all the documents before. She wouldn't faint from all the pressure at the office, right?

—! Wh-What was that noise?

If you're my cute little jewel construct, then come out like a good kid. No need to freak me out...

I'm going to count to three. If you're not out by then, I'm going to use my Arts on you. You've been warned.

One, two... three!

Meow—!!!

Oh, darn it! It's you again, little cloudbeast!

Sorry, buddy. Do forgive me. *sigh* Alright, here, some pats on the head, please don't get mad.

I know you're a bit of a bad-tempered scratcher, but let me explain! I've got a good reason for being a bit jittery today!

Meow...

Do you still remember when we were all at the museum earlier? I got freaked out by a bunch of things suddenly jumping all over the place.

...And then, today, I got in another fight with Anat.

Please, please, please don't be as mad at me as her, you cute little cloudbeast you.

(Purring)

*sigh*...

I know, I know, we're always getting into fights—over academic matters, of course.

I know that she really wants to publish her research for everyone to see.

I also know that it's not easy to get the opportunity to hold a special exhibit like this, so she's being real cautious, and also kinda overstressed...

So stressed that in the end, she didn't dare press on with her original goal.

It's obvious I'm trying to make sure she doesn't give up on the special exhibit, right?

Medjehtiqedti unconsciously speeds up her cloudbeast petting.

As she does, Mio purrs louder and louder.

But the girl pays no heed. She is lost in her thoughts, petting and petting and petting and petting...

She used to be real quiet in the past. Whenever she was nervous, her arms and legs would flail about.

Whenever she'd have to give a speech, everyone would be snickering at her by the end of it.

But even if her voice was overpowered by the laughter, she would persevere and finish her speech.