Nighttime fell on the desert town of Outpost, and the group of four were currently lounging inside the confines of the War Room.

The goggled youth had led the cat-eyed vagabond and her passengers to a clearing by the western wall, where an entrance to a series of tunnels lay hidden beneath a pile of boulders. With his guidance, those snaking tunnels eventually led them to the secluded place, where they relaxed away from the imminent dangers of getting spotted by the Blue Army troops.

"Are you sure it's okay to hide your Behemoth outside?" he asked worriedly. "What if the Blue Army would extend their patrols to the western wall?"

"It's fine," said Silt. "Even if they find it, they can't touch it. Only I have access." She glanced around the collection of ancient shelves. "It's amazing that you know of such a place, but I don't."

"Yeah, well, I discovered it on accident," he replied as he scratched his head.

"This place still reeks of aether," Lou waved his hand. "You weren't kidding about the unlocking thing. Hey, boss, everything okay back there?"

The young smith sat huddled at a corner of the room, with a depressed look on his face.

"I-It's nothing," he answered. "I'm fine." But Marlowe had other ideas.

"Ever since we've entered the tunnels, you've been silent. Don't tell me you still feel awkward around Miss Silt. Come on, now. There's nothing to worry."

Ripley still felt some tension left over from the ride in the desert. With Silt's stinging words, he had broken under the pressure and lashed out at his helper, and because of that, his feelings of uneasiness had grown tenfold. He also felt bitter, as Silt didn't even apologize to him, leaving her previous words to the wind as they relaxed underground.

"I'm sorry about Ripley," Marlowe turned to Silt. "He's always like this. Whenever he gets into a fight with someone, he just mopes around and stays silent. But don't worry. He'll come to in a few hours."

"Are you sure it's okay to leave him there?" she worried. "I kind of feel bad for the smithson."

"Oh, now you feel bad?" Lou smirked. "You're the one who started it."

"I meant what I said back there! It's not my fault he took it differently."

"But your words broke him. I may have just met him yesterday, but he's a formidable guy. He doesn't hesitate when he gets serious. See this leg? It's his fault. If I didn't know any better, I would've been dead by then. That's why I went along with him. Now go on and apologize to the kid. He needs it."

After a moment, she stood up and approached the moping Ripley.

"Ummm," she offered him a drink. "About earlier, I didn't really mean to hurt you like that."

But he only turned his face away from the vagabond. He couldn't trust someone who had hurt him earlier.

"R-Ripley? Listen. I can tell you stories about your father while he was with the Blue Army, if that makes you feel any better."

"So what?" he replied in a monotone voice.

"Psst, Silt!" Lou whispered loudly. "Just say the magic words!"

"I don't know any spells that work for this situation!" she barked back in the same hushed tone.

"Not that one! Tell him you're sorry, for crying out loud!"

"You know I can't do that, you stupid knight!"

Of course, Ripley heard it all, but he didn't budge an inch. From what he can gather, Silt was trying to apologize to him, and Lou was pushing her on. He couldn't care less about this exchange between the two mercenaries. Finally, Marlowe stepped between them and pushed them away from the smith who needed some time alone.

"That's enough, you two. All Ripley needs in some space. We can just leave him alone and talk about stuff. Like this room! What do you think, Miss Silt? Does it fancy you?"

"Now that you mention it, yeah, actually. You know what I think? This looks like an underground chamber for military officials, and judging by its position on the map, this is actually a very old war room from the time of King Marcus IV. And most of the stuff in here is left untouched too!"

"Except for that burnt spot over there and the stench of aether," Lou interjected. "I think I'm gonna gather it all up and leave you two to your business."

As he headed to the spot he talked about, he passed by the young smith and told him a few words.

"Listen, kid. Don't let what Silt said get to your head. She only said that because she's concerned about you, who went out of your way to save your father. Knowing her, I'm sure you two will make good friends."

With that, he patted Ripley in the back a few times and proceeded to gather the remaining aether from the unlocking. When he brandished his sword, glowing bright as he lifted it from the scabbard, a faint wind swirled and gathered around it. Once he had done so, he returned the sword in its sheath and went back to where the two thieves were.

"You have all this stuff dating back to the bygone era, and you didn't think of selling it all?!" Silt gasped.

"I did!" Marlowe said. "It's just that the people of Outpost don't accept these kinds of things as commodities, is all!"

"Tell you what. Let me have this room and everything in it, and I'll give you whatever you want."

"Anything?"

"Well, as long as it's within the bounds of reality, and it's of equivalent value, sure!"

"Hmm," he pondered, then snapped his fingers. "I want all the stuff inside your Behemoth!"

"Done," and the two thieves shook hands in agreement. Then Marlowe asked one simple question.

"Why does Miss Silt keep wearing that bandana?"

"Huh?" she quickly looked at Marlowe with surprise.

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"Of all the things to ask, that's the best you can come up with?" Lou glared at the goggled youth.

"Why not?" he shrugged. "I mean, I wanted to have an adventure, but I think Ripley's rescue qualifies as that, and you're the one that will give us a ride. Besides, your fashion sense had bothered me for quite some time, and it seemed like there's some secret behind it."

"Oh, it's something you don't want to know," Silt answered. "And before you push me into telling, know well that some secrets are better left undisturbed."

"She keeps a bald spot on her head that can't be cured with magic," Lou jabbered, and Silt bumped him on the head and vehemently denied that claim, telling him that he also knows the reason. When Marlowe asked Lou, he simply said, "Silt's right. It's best you don't know. Why don't ask a different question?"

"Okay, then. How did Miss Silt get her Behemoth?"

"Oh, that?" It was Lou who responded. "Well, let's just say it was a gift from me during a siege. You see, the people of that town, I forgot the name, they were desperate to escape, and they badly needed someone who can drive it, but I can't. Lucky for them, she happened to be around, and since she knows how to handle it, I gave it to her."

"Wait, that Behemoth was yours?" Marlowe interjected.

"Was. I mean, it was part of the Blue Army's corps when they made the charge. Behemoths come in different kinds, you know. The one we rode on was a standard issue transport vehicle, but there's also things like the Guardian-class that resemble people."

"I didn't know you had a thing for Behemoths, knight," Silt said.

"Well, it's part of Blue Army knowledge, after all. By the way, only the Bulwark uses Behemoths, never the Shorin."

"Which I find very strange," said Silt. "Do you know why?"

Ripley wanted to know the reason, thus he looked on to the three who were starting to gather around a large table. Silt noticed this, and she gather her breath as if to muster up some courage.

"Anyway, how about I tell you a story?"

"A bedtime story? But we're too old for that!" complained Marlowe.

"That's for you to decide. This is an important story of the history of everything. Besides, telling stories like this help me feel calm, and I think this will answer all your questions. Though I'm sure you'll be asking a lot more after this."

And so Silt, the cat-eyed vagabond told her tale:

"Once, there were gods, and they roamed the land together with us, their children. But after a time, the gods began to die out one by one, until there was nothing left of the land but desolation and ruin. The people, so dependent on the gods, were left scrounging for whatever they could find in order to survive. This was called the Age of Nil, because there was nothing worthy to be found.

"Until one night, the sky parted, and a star came hurtling down the barren landscape. From this star came out a newly-born goddess. She was beautiful beyond compare, and she wore a raiment made out of space itself. When she saw that the people living there were suffering, she used her powers to restore the lands to their former glory. The grass returned, and the waters flowed once more. Seeing this, the people began to flock to her feet, calling her the-Goddess-who-returned."

Upon hearing those words, Ripley immediately recognized the story, of which his father had told him every night before they set off to the realm of sleep. It was about the-Goddess-who-disappeared, how She gave to Her people the gift of magic, and how the kingdom of Bulwark was formed, but as the story continued, he found some differences in Silt's version, and his curiosity was piqued.

"To prevent the mistake of the ones who came before Her, She taught Her people how to care for the land so that it won't return to sand. She also taught them the all-important magical arts, which only the gods were able to do. And because She loved Her people so much, She decided to stay and live with them, as Her predecessors did. But fate wouldn't let things pass the way She wanted.

"After at least a hundred years of staying with Her people, fire rained down from the sky and scarred the earth, and from these scars came towering demons made of fire. These demons assaulted the lands which the Goddess loved, and with it, Her people. She did Her best to safeguard the land She had started to call home, using Her immense talent in magic, but the demons' fiery skin had cooled into metal, which rendered Her attacks useless. They came rushing in, and ultimately, the Goddess was overpowered.

"Left with no choice, She mustered all Her power into a singularity inside Her body, which exploded in a massive light that enveloped the entire planet. This light contained Her very essence that we now call mana, and the earth became rich with it. It's this mana that clung onto the demons and finished them, because once the particle touched them, they became stiff as their metal bodies, and so they became unmoving.

"Of course, that's the reason why she's called the-Goddess-who-disappeared. A few hundred years had passed since Her sacrifice, and to honor what She did, the people erected a kingdom in the exact spot where She made the suicidal attack, and they called it the Bulwark Kingdom. And that concludes my story."

"Hold on," said a voice. It was none other than Ripley.

"I cannot help but point out that your story is different from what my father tells me every night. First off, the gods didn't die off, they left their children because they thought they were imperfect. That's why we can't cast magic perfectly like how She can. Secondly, the Behemoths came down from the sky, not from scars underground, as you say. And lastly, you didn't include the part where the Goddess actually sinned, and it's the reason why the Behemoths came raining down."

"Wait, you mean those demons are actually Behemoths?!" Marlowe spat out.

"They're called that because they were so big in the first place," Ripley continued, "and before She made Her sacrifice, that war raged for quite a long time. I find it strange that you tried to omit it."

When the young smith finished with his take on the story, which he had done in an angry tone, the sleepy air of the War Room changed, and noticing this, Silt the storyteller actually smiled at the challenger, but it wasn't a smile of comfort. It was a challenging grin.

"Hmm," she said. "So I see you know Her story differently. Well, then. If the Goddess really did sin, what was this sin that She committed?"

"She actually made love with a mortal and raised a family, all on Her own, and Her descendants dot the entire globe in their skills in magic. I think Lou might be one of those descendants."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Lou heavily denied that claim. "Don't involve me in that story!"

"That's a bold claim, smithson," said Silt. "Tell me, then. Why do you think the Behemoths came from the sky?"

"Because the gods who left sent them there, and my father told me they are still out there somewhere. In fact, he thinks some of those old gods actually came down here to exact judgment on the Goddess."

"And do you suppose they're still here?"

"I-I really don't know."

Ripley resigned himself, as he genuinely didn't know the answer to that question.

"Those were some strong words, smithson. I actually had fun," and Silt laughed. "I underestimated you there. I gotta hand it to you, knight. He really knows his stuff."

"Yeah, I told you. He can fight back," he nodded.

"So does that mean you two are okay now?" asked Marlowe.

"Y-Yeah," Ripley said. "I'm sorry about what happened earlier, when we were hitching a ride on your Behemoth."

"Don't be!" she replied. "It is I who should be sorry. I didn't think you would bite in to the standard Bulwark version of the story, and not only that, you actually know the Church version, which is a bit more accurate!"

"Wait, there's more than one version of the Goddess story?" Marlowe jumped from his seat.

"Of course," said Lou. "I think there's at least six versions of it, four of which are known in the Kingdom, but the general public only know of two, the Bulwark one and the expanded history that includes the reigns of previous kings. The other two, the Church and the Fanatic, you need to be a distinguished bigwig to get to hear it. I think Silt knows all of the versions and their differences?"

"Yeah, but I still haven't heard enough to warrant a clear picture," Silt said. "Anyway, Ripley's right. The knight might have been a descendant of the Goddess. That's probably why he's so good at the magical arts. I can only manage a handful of weak spells, but he has a whole repertoire."

"Stop it, Silt. You're flattering me."

"Wait," the blonde youth raised his hand. "What about what you said before the story began? Why do you find the Bulwark using Behemoths strange?"

"Haven't you figured it out, Marlowe?" said Ripley. "The demons that tried to attack the Goddess were an ancient kind of Behemoth. What do you think will happen if the Bulwark citizen found out that the army that's protecting them is riding a demon that probably descended from those same demons?"

"Eeeeeehhh?!" was Marlowe's only response at the bold revelation.

"Remember what I said earlier," the thief raised her finger. "Some secrets are best kept hidden. The entire reason for the war is because of the truth."

"The truth about what?" he asked.

"The truth about the goddess' landing. That's what!" she simply replied.

"Then, what about my weapon?" Ripley questioned.

"Well, let's just save that for tomorrow. I think we all need a good night's rest, don't you think?" Lou yawned.