rogue_2

Following the scattered fragments in his memories, Mizuki searches for mankind's last haven.

In these memories, humans have not gone extinct, and one last city remains standing on land.

For a human, going to the human city is a foregone conclusion hardly worth mentioning.

With such thoughts in mind, he walks onto the land, alone.

The Seaborn have completely transformed the entire continent.

There is no more Originium, no more barrens.

As far as the eye can see, the entire land has become a verdant expanse, all manner of plants teeming with life. Animals prance across the wilds and soar through the skies in packs, partaking freely of the land's inexhaustible bounty.

After crossing a stream and climbing a hill, Mizuki feels a tinge of weariness and hunger, so he plucks a few fruits from the plants and pops them straight into his mouth.

The Seaborn have no need to taste their food, but these fruits have clearly retained their original taste. The only difference is, they are even more delicious, and more filling.

Previously, having enough to eat and drink was one of the few pursuits life afforded him; but now, such an ideal can easily be fulfilled simply by extending one's hand–

Suddenly, he hears a loud rumble in the distance. A mountain range rises from the ground and begins to wander across the land.

The Seaborn's departure was like a beacon, rousing these ancient progenitors from their slumber. The land to them is both familiar and foreign. They explore the flowers, plants, and trees before them with a mix of suspicion and curiosity.

When the Feranmut vanishes, Mizuki once again sets off on his journey to find the city.

He recalls the way humans identify one another, that they have various convenient and conspicuous ways of drawing borders and forming cohorts.

But even after walking for a long time, Mizuki does not even happen across a single 'road.'

'Did I remember wrong?' He cannot help but to doubt himself, then scratches his head, trying his best to recall his impression of humans over the millennia.

However, apart from the human who brought him into the laboratory and the human he trusted the most, his memory contains only a hazy impression of that city's towering walls.

Finally, he comes up with a brute-force method.

'If I can't find them, then I will have them come to me.'

He builds and lights fires in several prominent places, carves messages of kindness in every human script he can remember, and then climbs a tall mountain where he can see all the fires to await someone to answer his call.

Finally, the moment Mizuki was waiting for has come.

A Liberi finds a way to the mountain under the cover of darkness and holds a knife to his neck, asking him questions in a Victorian tongue laced the flavors of many nations.

Most importantly, her ensemble sports a tower-shaped epaulet with a small line of characters engraved on its lowest part.

A name that lingered on the tip of his tongue thousands of times suddenly wells up in Mizuki's heart:

Rhodes Island.