"Although you held the sword-drawing marriage contest, and although I drew the sword, Cantarella, you are free."
Noah waved his hands haphazardly, struggling to organize his words.
He never expected Cantarella to be so direct. The moment he drew the sword, she immediately called him husband.
Damn, who set this up!
"I drew the sword because I have my own reasons, so actually, I didn't come for you. Sorry, that was a bit blunt, but I hope it doesn't hurt you."
"Is that so... I understand."
Cantarella nodded, letting out a long breath, expelling the slight heat building inside her.
So from the beginning, it was her misunderstanding. But... he could have let her keep misunderstanding. Why did he choose to be honest?
This person... doesn't seem like the flirtatious type Counselor Changli described.
Whatever. No matter what, since he has already drawn Tyrvine, even if he wants to give up the path ahead, she won't let him go!
Once everything is settled, whatever he wants from the Fisalia Family, as long as the Fisalia Family can provide it, he can take it.
"Let's go. We'll head to the next stop and talk as we go."
Along the underground of Porto-Veno Castle, the two quickly arrived at an underground station, boarded a train, and headed toward the ruins of Avinoleum.
"I've always had one question."
Sitting on the train, with scenery on both sides quickly rushing backward, Noah touched the divine sword in his hand and spoke up:
"As you said, this sword is an instrument to test the Sentinel's Resonator. Logically, it should be an important artifact of the Fisalia Family. Why display it so openly, and... hold a sword-drawing marriage contest?"
"That... is a long story."
Cantarella pondered for a moment:
"Do you know that the true Sentinel of Rinascita is actually the wind-breaking steed, not the horse-headed sea-tailed one?"
"I know."
"Do you know that Imperator's situation is actually not optimistic—They have been eroded and mutated by the Threnodian?"
"I know."
"Do you know that the Sentinel and Ragunna are actually already on the brink of peril, and could fall at any moment?"
"I know."
Not this—how does this person know everything?
Cantarella's eyelid twitched slightly, and the long speech she had prepared was forcibly swallowed back.
"Then, have you also been targeted by the Threnodian's whispers?"
"Not that."
Noah shrugged.
Perhaps the Rover role has some hidden perks he doesn't know about, making him immune to lower-level Threnodian whisper influences, or perhaps Leviathan doesn't want to chat with him.
In any case, at least for now, Leviathan's whisper contamination has not manifested in him.
"Tell me something I don't know."
"The Fisalia Family has an extremely cruel saintess trial, where candidates ingest various torturous poisons to select those with unwavering will to overclock and resonate with the Sentinel."
Cantarella gently covered her forehead, trying to recall:
"Unfortunately, this method has never succeeded. I was once one of them. During the resonance process with the Sentinel, I could glimpse fragments of the truth."
"At that time, I learned that only by drawing Tyrvine could one enter the ruins where the Sentinel resides, and I also saw the Sentinel's mutated body hanging upside down in the high heavens."
"Their remaining consciousness told me that besides a Resonator drawing the sword, there was also one man who could, and that man had a pact with Them—perhaps he had already arrived in Ragunna."
Hearing this, Noah's breathing grew heavier.
He could completely confirm that the person Imperator described to Cantarella was the Rover.
Unlike Jué, who had forgotten the Rover, Imperator still remembered the Rover.
But... from the sound of it, Imperator seemed unaware that the Rover not only failed to keep the appointment and come to Rinascita to find Them, but the Rover himself had also gone missing.
Cantarella continued:
"The Sentinel ordered me to find the person who could draw the divine sword at any cost... When I regained consciousness in reality, there was an extra mirror in my hand."
Mirror? It's the Decree-defiling Mirror of Nightmare! So that's how it flowed out from the Threnodian Leviathan's hands.
But why would Imperator want to find the Rover at any cost?
Noah's heart skipped a beat. He held back the urge to ask and waited for Cantarella's follow-up.
"It was also then that the Order of the Deep and a group from the Fractsidus simultaneously discovered the existence of the mirror and Tyrvine."
"Fortunately, they didn't recognize their value. Through the Fisalia Family's maneuvering, they first took away the more portable mirror, allowing Tyrvine to be preserved."
"Later, after the Order researched the mirror, they developed ideas about the divine sword again. The Fisalia Family had no choice but to expose this sword to the public eye, using the sword-drawing marriage contest as a pretext to draw everyone's attention."
This way, it was more convenient to find the Sentinel's Resonator, and public opinion protected the divine sword.
But because no one succeeded in drawing the sword, everyone mistakenly thought it was a scam, further worsening the Fisalia Family's already poor reputation.
"So that's how it was..."
Noah rubbed his chin, thinking seriously:
"Then why did you leave Ragunna before?"
"One reason was to request help for Imperator from Sentinels across Huanglong, another was to search for the person the Sentinel mentioned in a larger place, and the third was that the Order was secretly trying to steal the sword—I had to take it and leave."
Cantarella sighed faintly:
"Unfortunately, I ran my legs off across Huanglong, begged everyone I could, sacrificed all dignity, endured countless rejections, and felt despair time and again. Only by chance did I meet that friend from Jinzhou."
Her words sounded light and casual, but the heartache behind them was probably known only to Cantarella herself.
She didn't have a god's-eye view and didn't know Noah would come to Rinascita. To protect the divine sword, she could only do her utmost in her own way.
"You've worked hard."
Noah looked at Cantarella with a complicated gaze and placed Tyrvine by his side:
"From now on, leave everything to me. You can just treat the whole thing as a vacation. I'll handle it all."
"Oh?"
It was truly the first time someone told her she didn't need to do anything—just lie back and win.
Cantarella was a bit surprised but still shook her head:
"Still, don't be too optimistic. After all, we don't know what we'll face after entering those ruins."
"There won't be too much. I promise."
His confident words drifted away with the wind. The train finally reached the terminal station—Avinoleum, once the largest theological seminary built by the Order.
Noah stepped into this once solemn and sacred site of the Order, now reduced to broken decay, feeling as if he had traversed a long river of time, witnessing the tragedy of a civilization's fall.
Collapsed gatehouses, tilted stone pillars, incomplete sculptures... Here, every step stirred up thick dust left by time.
Following the path paved with shattered stones, Noah walked forward while drawing his gun, casually shooting down the few Tacet Discords he encountered along the way.
"Walking is still too slow. It's delaying my speedrun."
Noah frowned, glancing sideways at Cantarella beside him:
"Can you glide?"
"Yes."
"Take flight."
The two unfolded their gliding wings simultaneously, and sure enough their speed was several times faster than walking.
...
On the other side.
Within the Avinoleum ruins.
Sunlight filtered through the blurred Sonoro Sphere barrier, illuminating the rubble and dust covering the ground.
Besides the alternation of day and night, there were no other changes here. Time stretched endlessly long, yet it imprisoned a free soul.
"Today's story is... The righteous knight battles the evil Threnodian!"
Cartethyia controlled the puppets in her hands, making them collide repeatedly, simulating the sounds of strikes with her mouth.
When the puppet representing the knight fiercely knocked down the one representing the Threnodian, the girl finally smiled and continued the simple story:
"Knight Cartethyia, victorious!"
Looking at the empty brick-and-stone ground before her, the smile on the girl's face suddenly faded, replaced by a long sigh:
"Not fun... If only the Carnevale would start again."
Thinking of this, Cartethyia picked up a stone and carved a mark on the ground.
Just 364 more marks like this, and the next Carnevale would begin!
Dropping the stone, the girl looked around at the ruins' scenery she had seen countless times, pursed her lips slightly, raised the two faded-color puppets again, and forced a smile:
"Today is still long. Let's tell it again... The righteous knight battles the evil Threnodian..."
Cartethyia opened her mouth, telling this story she had repeated who knows how many times once more to the silent bricks and tiles around her. Occasionally, a cold, desolate wind brushed by, serving as her applause.
The ground suddenly trembled, causing the performing girl to look up in surprise.
Not far away, the unbreakable Sonoro Sphere barrier was cracking with fissures, as if this silent ruin was slowly opening to the outside world.
The barrier shattered like broken glass, creating an opening. For the first time, external light shone in without any obstruction.
The puppets in the girl's hands stopped moving. Her clear eyes trembled, reflecting two tall figures.
"The... laurel bearer!"
He had truly come, just like in the fairy tales, holding her "glass slipper" to find this "Cinderella."
But... who is that woman beside him?