A little later, Clara and Seravelle ca to et Lucien.
When Seravelle saw Lucien again, her steps stopped for a brief mont.
Then she lowered her head.
"Lord Luc."
The greeting was polite. Too polite.
Clara noticed imdiately.
Her eyes moved from Seravelle to Lucien.
Then back to Seravelle.
Sothing in her expression slowly brightened.
Earlier, she had greeted Lucien with respectful composure. She had been careful, but not restrained to this degree.
Now, after seeing the Human Ancestor, her behavior had changed.
Clara’s conjecture solidified.
The Human Ancestor and Lucien might be connected.
Clara could not hide her grin. The kind of grin worn by soone who had uncovered a holy secret and already begun preparing where to file it in doctrine.
Finally, Clara’s smile beca gentler.
"MY LORD, may I go to the South with Sister Seravelle again to negotiate the terms for the land?"
She emphasized My Lord this ti.
Seravelle’s fingers shifted slightly inside her sleeves.
Lucien did not notice the small movent.
He was already used to Clara calling him that now.
After reaching the Eternal Realm, Lucien had beco confident enough to stop hiding his identity too strictly. He no longer forced his closest people to avoid titles. The world already knew too much. The ti for pretending to be harmless had passed several calamities ago.
But for Seravelle, that title had gained new weight.
She had heard Clara call him my lord before.
Earlier, it had sounded like devotion.
Now, after the Human Ancestor’s echo, after seeing Clara’s faith bend toward Lucien without breaking, Seravelle could not help thinking of sothing else.
She lowered her head a little more.
Then she hid the thought.
Clara noticed.
Of course she did.
Lucien noticed none of it.
Naturally.
...
"Okay," Lucien said. "I will leave the Void Disc to you."
He took out the Covenant of Pathless Sovereignty and handed it to Clara.
"Would you like to bring Sister Kira and the others as guards?"
Clara shook her head gently.
"It is all right, My Lord. The South is safe."
Lucien looked at Seravelle.
Seravelle finally raised her head slightly.
"The Monastery will not harm Lady Clara."
"That is good to hear," Lucien said.
Then he looked back at Clara.
"Then," Lucien said. "Be careful, both of you."
Clara accepted the Void Disc.
Space began to fold around them.
But before the teleportation completed, Seravelle suddenly reached up.
Her fingers touched the edge of her blindfold.
Clara turned toward her.
Lucien also looked over.
For the first ti since they had t again, Seravelle removed the blindfold.
The cloth fell into her hand.
Lucien froze.
Seravelle’s eyes were not ordinary.
They did not look blind.
They looked as if the night sky had been folded into two quiet mirrors. Deep within them, faint lights drifted like distant stars. Around those lights, silver rings moved slowly, like ripples left behind by a bell struck in the dark.
She looked at Lucien directly.
Not at his face.
At sothing deeper.
Lucien felt his skin prickle.
For one brief instant, he felt as if the countless threads of faith connected to him had all been touched by a sound too soft to hear.
Seravelle said nothing.
She only looked.
Then she lowered her gaze and covered her eyes again.
The Void Disc activated.
Clara and Seravelle vanished.
Lucien remained still.
The room was silent.
After several breaths, he swallowed.
"What was that supposed to an?"
Lucien looked at the empty space where the two won had disappeared.
Then he rubbed his forehead.
"People with strange eyes truly are weird."
Lucien felt unsettled.
He did not know what Seravelle had seen.
But he did not feel any danger.
That’s enough.
•••
Clara and Seravelle appeared inside one of the inner chambers of the Silent Monastery of the Ninth Bell.
Clara turned toward Seravelle imdiately.
"Sister Seravelle."
Seravelle had already restored her blindfold. Her fingers still touched the knot behind her head, making sure it was properly fastened.
"Yes?"
Clara stepped closer.
"What do you think of My Lord?"
There was no subtlety in her voice. Only pride.
Seravelle paused.
For a mont, she did not answer.
Seeing with her uncovered eyes had clearly cost her sothing. Her breathing remained steady, but the tension in her hands revealed that the world had beco too loud again before she sealed her vision.
Finally, she said softly, "I am uncertain."
Clara froze.
That answer was unexpected.
Seravelle was the Holy Maiden of the Ninth Bell.
She could see truth and falsehood.
For her to say she was uncertain ant the matter was beyond simple classification.
Clara’s smile faded into focus.
Then she asked the question she had truly wanted to ask.
"Do you think he and the Human Ancestor are connected sohow?"
At those words, Seravelle went completely still.
The small bell in the chamber trembled once without being touched.
Clara did not speak further.
For several breaths, Seravelle remained silent.
Then she bowed her head.
"I am uncertain."
It was the sa answer.
But this ti, it sounded heavier.
Clara understood.
Seravelle was not denying it.
She simply could not speak of it with certainty.
That was enough for Clara.
Her eyes began to shine again.
Seravelle sensed the change and said, "Lady Clara."
"Yes?"
"Please do not turn uncertainty into doctrine."
Clara’s smile beca holy.
"I would never."
Seravelle remained silent.
Clara added, "Imdiately."
Seravelle sighed.
Their friendship had indeed grown quickly.
•••
Days passed.
This ti, the ssage from Clara arrived in the middle of Lucien’s review of southern maps and suspicious Origin Core fragnt resonance reports.
[My lord, Sister Seravelle has spoken with the Abbess.]
Lucien sat upright.
The next line appeared.
[The discussion went well.]
Lucien’s eyes brightened.
Then he continued reading.
The Monastery had agreed to cooperation.
After Seravelle gave her testimony, the Abbess had offered land.
A massive one.
A southern valley and its surrounding highlands, once used as a shelter region during the miracle drug disaster. The place had old roads, and wide land suitable for large-scale reconstruction.
Lucien stared at the report.
Then laughed.
The southern land was finally secured.
The next step was obvious.
Lucien sent imdiate orders.
Workers would be transferred first before Lilith arrives.
He already understood her rhythm.
When Lilith arrived, she should build.
Workers would prepare everything before she ca.
Clara would use the Void Disc to bring the first teams.
They would clear the land, mark underground structures, remove remnants, map water flow, and prepare the foundation for Genesis Forging.
And just like that..
Work began in the South soon after.
...
The first teams arrived quietly.
Clara walked through the place with Seravelle. Many monks and nuns ca to help Lootwell workers.
Neither woman spoke for a long while.
Then Clara placed one hand against a cracked wall.
"This place protected many people."
Seravelle nodded.
"It also failed many."
Clara turned toward her.
Seravelle’s voice remained calm, but the grief beneath it was old.
"The bells rang every night here. So survived because of them. So died listening."
Clara lowered her gaze.
"Then we will not erase this place."
"No," Seravelle said softly. "We will let it continue."
Clara smiled.
That word mattered.
Continue.
•••
anwhile, Lucien’s smile lingered after reading more of Clara’s reports
Once, he had thought leading one village would have been enough.
A village was already work.
A territory was worse.
A world was frankly unreasonable.
But circumstances had never asked whether he preferred reasonable things.
If Lucien failed to unite the world, then countless people might die without ever understanding what had killed them.
That thought settled inside him like iron.
His smile slowly faded into determination.
Now the South had been secured.
Soon, the East would rise.
And when the five continents finally stood connected, the Big World would no longer be a collection of isolated survivors.
It would beco sothing that could answer.
Lucien looked at the pulsing points of suspicious Origin Core fragnts.
His gaze sharpened.
"Build first," he said quietly.
"Then we investigate properly."
Inside his Divine Energy Core, the Tree of Creation rustled again.
And sowhere in the South, beneath a bell that had once carried grief, the first thread of Grace began to answer.
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