Most of the villages had no names.

As their destruction was an unavoidable fate, there was no reason to even bother doing so.

"Is this the place you were planning to visit?"

Two men walked at a relaxed pace toward the entrance of a beastman village, discussing the reason for their presence in the area.

Orion looked in the distance, seeing the massive tree overlooking the Talviera Mountain Range and the continent itself.

Around its tall trunk and branches, tiny dots appeared to fly around it. Those were the dragon's firstborns: the First Generation of dragons created by Velridar.

At most, only five dragons appeared to move around the tree.

"Yes."

Noah, leading Orion and Tetra, nodded.

'It was my duty to lead Noah to his next goal. With Enri's power joined with mine, it became easier to pinpoint attacks on the continent.'

'All that was left to do was tell Noah where to go, and that was it.'

Tetra explained her role in leading Noah to complete his duty. Without the past Tetra, Noah would have been a Hero, unable to save anyone, as he would have been oblivious to the events happening on Triazils.

'I see. So this place is one that will be attacked soon.'

'Correct.'

The moment Noah and Orion walked past the entrance, someone walked out behind Noah.

"Hello."

This era's Tetra caught their attention.

"As expected of you, I was wondering when you would be appearing."

With a severe frown on his face, Noah turned to her.

"I know you're here for business, but would you mind relaxing when I'm in front of you?"

Tetra smiled dryly while playing with a strand of her long pink hair bashfully.

"..."

Noah's eyes squinted, telling her that he wasn't here to joke around.

Answering his serious gaze, she sighed.

"Fine, fine. Give me a moment."

Letting go of her seductive attempt, she shook her head with her hands above her head in a defeated posture.

"Thank you."

Relaxing his facial muscles, Noah nodded.

'This is... difficult to watch.'

'I can relate to you.'

Orion internally nodded to his era's Tetra, who sounded relatively annoyed.

'Seeing how he reacts to you now, I can already tell he knows what you've been trying to do.'

'Stop! I know! If only I was aware of his family at the time, I wouldn't have made that mistake!'

He could imagine Tetra kneeling on the ground, grabbing her head while thrashing her chest back and forth.

Seeing herself hitting on Noah and seeing the cold reaction he always had to her, she cringed.

Suddenly, Tetra glanced toward Orion.

"Yes?"

Feeling her gaze, he asked.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Is there something you need from me?"

She nodded.

"We've been watching with suspicion for the last few days. Understand that it is difficult to trust you unconditionally."

"Seeing your recent interaction together, we've decided to give you the benefit of the doubt and will trust your story nonetheless."

Her face darkened.

"It is a fact that Miasma has been showing changes that do not correlate with his previous actions."

"That's why, please, continue to support him. We will search for a way to return you to your era. No promises, though."

A surprised look appeared on Orion's face.

"I see. Thank you."

He had no idea what to say. Orion arrived in this era with only the knowledge of his world and the presumptions of what could have happened to Miasma.

His journey with Noah was unexpected, but this was the only thing to do, as he

was all alone in this place.

With so few ways to feel at peace, the thought of becoming Noah's enemy never crossed his mind.

And, in his situation, there was nothing he could even do to fight back.

"Confirming Miasma's strange activities and the corrupt beasts' changes was one way to check the credibility of your words."

Tetra looked back at Noah.

"There are numerous corrupt beings with cores still, but we've noticed an influx of coreless beasts marching toward this village. Noah, could you defend this place?"

With a decisive nod, Noah showed no hesitation.

"That's why I'm here."

He looked further into the village. There, beastmen looked at the three strangers with worry and fear.

"I won't allow these people to suffer any longer."

Beastmen were practically extinct by this point. There were less than thirty villages left untouched, putting the number of beastmen alive at close to five hundred.

They were massacred by humans on the first occasion, as the history between them was one of constant clashes, continuing even after the entire civilizations of both factions crumbled alongside the Valkyries.

The beastmen had lost their will to fight, ending up in this state of slow destruction caused by their lack of resolve to endure their fate.

That's where Noah came in.

He turned to Orion and pointed past the entrance, into the village.

"Could you wait here? I am going to meet with the ones in charge of this village."

With a nod, Orion agreed.

"Alright. Give me a moment."

With a hidden smile, the first Hero entered the village and began to exchange with the terrified residents.

"Wait! I'm coming with you!"

A little late to react, the living Tetra ran after him, leaving Orion alone... but not really.

'...'

Hearing the exhaling noise from Tetra inside his core, Orion smiled.

'Feeling bad?'

'Is this some kind of sick punishment? Watching my older self act like a fool, running after a man who won't ever look her way?'

The heartbroken tone in her voice was enough to understand that she was slowly forcing herself to kill her emotions.

'Let's talk about it for a bit. We have some time to think it through.'

Pressing his butt on the fence built in the village, Orion crossed his arms and remained motionless as he spoke with his saddened friend and only companion.

'Talk about it? About my feelings for Noah?'

Orion internally nodded.

'You were also the Remnant of Love, were you not? You know my feelings for everyone and know how important they are to me.'

'Tetra, are you that oblivious to your feelings?'

Her tone indicated frustration.

'Of course not! I love him! More than anyone else...'

'But this love... it is more painful than you can imagine.'

Listening to the murmurs of Tetra, Orion kept silent.

'The love you built with everyone. It felt so warm, so lovely... so... real.'

'My love isn't like that. I am obsessive, as you've noticed with those interactions. I break the personal space of the one I love and try to force my way into his heart.'

He could hear her voice trembling.

'I am the one who can feel love, but I might be the one who isn't destined to find love.'

'After his death, I had no choice but to accept it. Learning from Enri that she traveled through time to save him countless times was a shock, and I was unable to let it go.'

She became so accustomed to expressing her true emotions to Orion that she inadvertently continued.

'But now... I get it. My love went nowhere. Noah already had someone important to him, and I was simply inching my way through his life.'

'I know I have to let go. To stop thinking about him...'

That's when Orion gave his opinion to ease her aching heart.

'No one said you had to forget, is there?'

'What do you mean?'

Sitting on the fence, Orion looked into the sky, watching the clouds pass rapidly over his head.

'There is more to it than simply saying, 'I am not worthy of love'.'

'Of course you are worthy of it. It is because of your existence that so many people build families and warm places to return to.'

'You were far too engrossed in this love because it was your first, I think?'

The clouds were also seen by Tetra, who watched through his eyes.

'You don't have to forget him, but you should turn the page on those emotions you have for him.'

His expression hardened.

'I say it for two reasons. The first being that you won't be able to see him when we return to our present.'

'The second... is to preserve your mind from crumbling down in case you have to see Noah's death a second time.'

He heard a vivid gasp.

'I had no thought of that.'

Orion felt bad for what he was about to say.

'I can't let you lose control of yourself. I need your power if I want to return to the others.'

Those words were cold. In fact, he hated himself for playing this card.

But he had to do it to avoid letting Tetra walk down a path of freedom instead of the path of regret she had taken until now.

'That's... true. Enri told me the same thing: to never let my emotions take over, or it could spell disaster for the world.'

Orion nodded.

'You could... turn like Miasma. Invert into your other self, ultimately forcing yourself to cross blades with those you care about.'

'Henrietta...'

She missed her friend greatly, and simply imagining having her as an enemy only made her heart ache.

'It is not a matter of choosing who's better than the other. It's to put boundaries where you need to.'

Leaving on those words, Orion straightened and moved away from the fence.

"Orion, we've got a problem."

Noah and Tetra arrived rapidly, worry in their voices.

"I know."

The situation changed as a cloud of flying gray beasts covered the sky.

"This is not a normal situation. Flying corrupt beasts are rare, so to see that many..."

Tetra made a hard face.

"I've seen my fair share in the past. If only I had my crossbow..."

Orion, looking at his right hand, said.

(---swer---)

(---call---name--)

Voices echoed in Orion's mind.

"Ah!"

A sudden headache broke his concentration, and he grabbed his head in pain.

'Those... voices... Were?'

He looked around but found no one.

'What is... happening?

Orion began to black out.