After several days and nights passed, Klaha had seen countless things.

Or rather, they weren’t things that could be counted in the first place.

Everything she saw was new, and it was extremely rare for the same thing to appear twice. One cannot count the droplets of water flowing in a river. Let alone the sea—it was beyond impossible.

Roylen and Wilae, upon realizing Klaha’s interest in flora and fauna—her curiosity about the environment—began explaining the names and properties of everything that caught her eye.

She wrote down most of it immediately when her hands were free, and when they weren’t, she jotted it all down at night before sleeping. But about halfway through the journey, she realized that this knowledge would be more useful on the return trip rather than on the way there. And by the time they had traveled another half of the distance, she also understood that the return journey wouldn’t necessarily be the same as the way there.

It was a land that could not be described simply as "rich."

In just seven days of travel, she was made painfully aware of how little she knew about the world. Giant trees with roots stretching toward the sky. A massive lizard—not a magical beast—whose tail could wrap around its trunk twice over. A sea that divided the forest. A submerged forest within it. A squirrel swimming through the center. A bird that swallowed it whole before soaring upward—floating rather than flapping its wings. A sudden downpour of mud-laden rain in the evening. Liquid flowers drifting away in the runoff. A mirage after the rain that revealed a bridge of seven moons.

Surely, these were sights one would never even dream of.

And surely, from now on, they would appear in her dreams.

She understood that this was a journey with a purpose.

But if allowed—Klaha would undoubtedly call this journey something else.

A dreamlike journey.

"Good morning~. You’re up early again."

"Good morning, Lililia."

And speaking of dreamlike things—there was one more.

Most people would probably call it "human relationships."

It was a bright and clear morning. The signs of dawn still lingered, with the eastern sky visible through the gaps in the trees, tinged faintly with orange. Yet, as soon as the blue-gray haze of the morning clouds dissipated, it would rapidly become daytime. It was that kind of hour.

Since she woke up first, she was the first to prepare.

A small pot was set over the fire. Tiny bubbles began to rise to the surface. Lililia sat across from her, watching.

"It’s almost boiling."

"Thanks~."

It was a familiar scene.

She always woke up first. Then Lililia would wake next. It was surprising in a way, but according to Lililia herself, "I slept too much on the boat, so now I can only sleep at night..." and also, "I get tense when I’m outside my home." Klaha found it odd that someone who got tense outside would manage to sleep during an adventure, but she let it slide.

The water boiled, and she removed it from the fire.

The beans had already been collected and ground. She set up the dripper with a filter and slowly poured the hot water. A pleasant aroma spread through the air as she poured it into two cups. "Thank you," Lililia said again. They sipped their drinks at the same time.

A peaceful moment passed.

A miraculous one, Klaha thought.

"Haha. This doesn’t really taste like coffee. It’s more like..."

"Doesn’t it smell a bit like red beans?"

"Oh, that’s it! But since it’s not sweet, it feels a bit strange."

"Shall we try sweetening it?"

"No way. You can do that?"

They were getting along.

With none other than the highest authority of the church—one of the Four Saints, Lililia.

At first, it had been awkward. She was an important person, and beyond that, she was breathtakingly beautiful—someone one wouldn’t even see in dreams.

But after spending these quiet moments together multiple times—whether on the boat or in the forest—and with their roles complementing each other (Lililia specialized in strengthening others, and Klaha, as a front-liner, was less reliable than Ziel and thus had room for enhancement), they naturally started working together more.

Surprisingly—

Talking to her had become comforting.

"It’ll be a bit of an experiment, but if we mix in some of yesterday’s leftover fruit—"

"Wait. I’ll taste it first to make sure it doesn’t ruin a chef’s palate... Hehe."

"How is it?"

"Klaha, I think Roylen tricked you. This is red bean. Completely."

They had even reached the point where they could laugh together over silly things.

And even more surprisingly—it wasn’t just with Lililia.

"Oh, look, here comes the trickster."

"That’s quite an accusation to start with."

"Oh dear, in the short time I haven’t seen you, you’ve turned into a villain."

The third to wake were Roylen and Wilae.

Both relationships were also progressing well—or at least, that was what Klaha personally believed. To put it precisely, she "thought" she was building good relationships with them.

"Why are you dragging the professor into this?" Roylen said, smiling wryly. Wilae chuckled beside him.

Before reaching the Grand Library, Wilae had once taught at an academy, and Roylen had been part of her research lab at the time. In a way, he was Eunice’s senior apprentice, and apparently, they had a faint acquaintance.

"So, what’s the morning accusation about?"

"Professor Wilae, Roylen deceived Klaha by giving her red bean and calling it coffee."

"I’m disappointed in you, Roylen."

"It just happens to taste similar. But it’s delicious, isn’t it?"

"Well, strictly speaking, it’s not really a type of coffee," Roylen continued as he prepared coffee for himself and Wilae.

Klaha took notes.

In this way, she was slowly building relationships.

To be honest, she still felt somewhat unworthy of receiving knowledge from "the Vice Director of the Grand Library" or "the foremost expert on the Southern Sea of Trees." But she also understood that, for the sake of their exploration, gaining knowledge about the Sea of Trees was undoubtedly beneficial to the group. That awareness allowed her to let go of some of her reservations and interact with them a bit more freely.

And yet, this situation was still hard to believe.

That was why every morning, as Klaha wrapped both hands around her cup, she strongly reminded herself—she was not here because of her own ability. It was simply because she happened to be the one standing beside Ziel.

Even so, she resolved to fulfill the role expected of her, and to do so even beyond expectations.

Today, too, she would do her best.

"Mornin'! It's so hot today, I have zero motivation!"

"G'mornin'! My legs refuse to move. Let's go home!"

"…………"

As she was thinking, the fifth and sixth ones arrived.

Dewey and Ney stumbled over, their voices somehow still full of energy despite their sluggish movements.

She had managed to talk with these two to some extent, and had learned a little about their backgrounds.

Dewey, a magic tool craftsman who had already established his own shop at a young age, said that this country was his homeland.

His grandmother, the former shop owner and his mentor as a technician, had decided to retire, and he had returned home with her. At the same time, his older sister and her husband were busy raising their children, so he was roped into helping out at the family’s general store. What was supposed to be a temporary leave had somehow stretched into two years. Through his dealings with Roylen as a business partner, they had become friends, and that connection had led to him joining this investigation.

"Ah, Dewey, about that measuring instrument we talked about yesterday—"

"Oh, yeah. The mana spot caused some misalignment, so I just tightened a few screws and gave it a whack."

"Please do not just randomly tighten screws and whack things!"

"Trust in my talent."

He had no physical strength. He claimed he had no combat ability either. But Klaha knew—he was the one who had created the curse-breaking glasses Ziel wore. And he was also someone Roylen had chosen for the team, trusting him to handle any malfunctions in the measuring instruments during their exploration.

"Hm,"

He looked up at her gaze and—

"Mornin'. …I can't shake the feeling that I've seen you somewhere before. Klaha-san, have we met before?"

"Stop hitting on people first thing in the morning. It's embarrassing."

"Look who's talking?"

"Ah, ahaha……"

For some reason, he had been like this ever since their first meeting, so she couldn't exactly say they had truly bonded. But at least they had built the kind of relationship where they could discuss what was necessary when needed.

"Man, work today, work tomorrow. It never ends, huh?"

"Yeah, work sucks."

"Right? It really does."

And then there was the person sitting beside Lililia, inexplicably finding common ground in their stance on labor—Ney.

"Klaha-san… but you seem to like work, don’t you?"

"Eh. Ah, well, maybe. I do find it enjoyable a lot of the time."

"That’s not good. People like that, when they end up in a bad workplace, get their self-worth completely eroded, and it affects the rest of their life."

"……………………"

She was incredibly blunt.

She had a quiet, refined appearance, which made the contrast even more striking. And more often than not, her words hit a little too close to home, leaving Klaha at a loss for words.

"Yeah, bad workplaces are bad."

"Saint Lililia, you understand so well. For example, a workplace that forces you to walk under the scorching sun every day—that kind of place isn’t good, right?"

"But here, no one gets mad at you for sleeping on the boat."

"You’ve got some nerve…"

Ney was apparently a somewhat distant relative of Roylen.

She didn’t possess any particularly outstanding skills. She had a modest talent as a mage, but her main role was just as her title suggested—Roylen’s assistant. Their long-standing relationship seemed to allow her to intuit his instructions and act as an extension of his arms. She slept early at night and woke up late in the morning, so they hadn’t had many opportunities to talk, but she felt they had gotten a little closer.

Honestly, it was far better than she had initially expected.

There had been a faint sense of isolation at first, but now the journey had turned out to be quite enjoyable.

Because of that, conversation flowed smoothly.

"Looks like we'll have a lot of clear skies today. I'll remind everyone, but please be sure to stay hydrated on the way."

"Yeah, I’m at the age where dehydration is a real risk, so I’ll be careful."

"Professor, please don’t say things that are hard to respond to and would make your fans cry."

"Oh? Looks like someone here thinks aging means losing something. Is that what you believe, Professor Wilae?"

"I do not approve."

"Whenever this group gets together, Professor Roylen always ends up getting wrecked. It’s kinda funny."

"Ney-kun, don’t just sit there enjoying the show."

"But if it rains, that would be awful too. If Lililia-san hadn’t been there the day before yesterday, we’d have been done for."

"Ah, so it begins. Everything was saved by my presence."

"I didn’t say that much."

"Lililia-san, your holy magic is incredibly water-resistant. I know a similar spell, but the size and precision are completely different…"

"I could probably build a house underwater. Want me to make one for you, Klaha-san?"

"I-I appreciate the thought, but…"

"Do you really need ‘the thought’ of ‘building you a house underwater’?"

I don’t, Lililia declared without hesitation.

While Klaha was still processing that (and simultaneously reacting to Lililia adding, "But if it’s next to Klaha-san’s house, I might want one," with a startled, "Eh...?"), Roylen suddenly spoke up to gather everyone’s attention.

"Most likely, we’ll be stepping into the ruins today. There are a few things to go over before that—"

He glanced around, seemingly confirming the headcount. Lililia added, "Those two were up pretty late last night," and Wilae stood up, saying, "Shall we wake them?"

So, Roylen said—

"Let’s wait until everyone is together."

Needless to say, Klaha had always been close to Ziel.

On the other hand, when it came to Eunice—