As Degurechaff led them down a very clean street, lined by tall buildings, Gaius found himself looking at the place. The new Ark City looked very much like Twilight Elysium, other than the fact that there were children running around the place.

A lot of children, in fact.

“What’s with the kids?” Gaius asked. “There’s quite a lot of them.”

“Well, when in danger, the impulse to reproduce becomes very compelling,” said the general. “Add on a huge array of benefits we’ve been pushing out recently to help families raise kids, and children just keep popping out.”

It was somewhat odd to hear Degurechaff describe the phenomenon of high birth rates in such a manner, but it was probably due to the changes that he underwent when in the Wildlands. To his amusement, however, lots of children had altered their course when they saw the general, and before long, they were surrounded by a bunch of children.

Most of them were waving makeshift toy swords around, and after listening to their chatter, Gaius had partially understood the reason behind Degurechaff’s popularity.

“It seems that Gemini’s heroism was acted out on stage by General Degurechaff himself,” Gaius whispered to Isabelle.

“Nice to know,” Isabelle whispered back, “but why are you telling me?”

“I just felt like showing off my deduction skills,” Gaius replied.

“Alright, you genius. As expected of my husband! Your wit towers to the skies, and your intuition is never wrong!” Isabelle paused. “I think I need to upgrade my repertoire of praises.”

After a few minutes, in which the general was forced to act out some scenes from whatever play he’d starred in, the children finally dispersed…of course, not before they got some autographs from him.

“What play did you act in?” Gaius asked, as General Degurechaff returned to his duty of leading them.

“It’s a play that immortalises the late Gemini,” he replied. “It’s quite…”

“From what I can tell, Gemini chose to stay behind, right?” Gaius asked.

The general looked around. “Gemini had this thing called a Severing Cube, granted to him by the Sentinel of Space. The original plan was to use it on the passageway that linked the Wildlands and the Five Lands after everyone escaped through it, but the Demon God did something to Gemini after he used his Constellation abilities.”

“A Severing Cube?” Gaius swallowed. The name was too familiar and too recent for him to not remember it.

“What’s wrong?” Degurechaff asked.

“N-no, nothing.” Gaius thought about the little wooden cube in his possession, which had followed him up into Orb. He had placed it in some random corner of Isabelle’s room after he moved over, but he couldn’t quite remember anything else. “What happened next?”

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“Instead of severing the binding the Demon God placed on him, Gemini chose to sever the passageway from the Wildlands’ side,” the general replied. “And that was it.”

Gaius let out a sigh.

“As far as anyone here is concerned, he is our saviour,” Degurechaff replied. “Instead of risking a premature confrontation, Gemini chose to stay behind to secure our way out.”

“Yes.” Gaius smiled. “It’s a pity that I’ll never get to see him. I owe him a debt to gratitude, for saving everyone here.”

“You and everyone else,” the general murmured.

They walked on in silence for a few minutes, before he brought up another topic. “Right, you two are together now?”

“Yes,” Gaius replied.

Isabelle nodded. “Yep.”

“Why do you ask, though?”

“I’m just reminded of my own…circumstances, that is all.” The general sighed. “What’s the couple life like?”

“Great,” Gaius replied. “Isabelle spoils me all day long, and I love it.”

“Gaius cares for me with all his heart,” Isabelle answered. “What more can I ask for?”

“Mm. Interesting.”

The way he said that word, however, made Gaius feel that the general had swallowed some bitter pill. From the looks of it, the general probably was single…and he wanted to complain about it.

“So, erm…who confessed first?” Degurechaff asked. “Is it alright for the man to make a move? Or would it be better if the woman did it?”

“…Isabelle?”

“I know, Gaius. Doesn’t this sound really familiar?”

Gaius looked at a grey building. Its hexagonal patterns were thrown into stark relief by the false light coming from above — the ceiling was an exact reproduction of the outside sky — and he wondered if the elderly of Orb was conditioned to ask this damn question whenever they saw a couple.

“Familiar?” Degurechaff asked.

“Yes.” Gaius, who was holding Isabelle’s hand, raised their linked hands up into the sky. “But let's not dwell on that bit. To answer your question: does it matter who does what? If you ask me, I don’t think so. So long as you desire a future together, does the order really matter?”

Lightning seemed to flash in the general’s brain, and he nodded slowly. “I see. I see.”

Gaius decided not to ask about the revelations the general had received, although he really wanted to poke fun at Degurechaff, who was by all means a rather eligible bachelor.

However, since they were on a visit to his mother-in-law, Gaius didn’t want to do anything that might spoil his image, so he held his tongue and held Isabelle tighter.

“Right. Isabelle, isn’t your sister here?”

“Supposedly yes, but…”

“How did she get into Ark City in the first place?” Gaius wondered out loud. “From his surprise, your sister clearly didn’t make her objective known, so…”

“Maybe she came in on a different reason,” Isabelle replied. “Well, we just need to look for very high-profile, ostentatious individuals that entered Ark City, and we’ll find her.”

“Is it really alright if you define your sister with these traits?” Gaius asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Isabelle replied, waving her hand airily.

General Degurechaff, who was listening by the side, chuckled. “I think I know who you’re talking about. With some luck, you might be able to find your elder sister too.”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean by that?” Gaius asked.

“Well, we were looking for some skilled and independent artificers a while back to build a particularly special building,” said the general. “And there was this really…uh…well. There was this really special girl, who, now that I think about it, looks very much like Isabelle here. You…might want to be prepared, though.”

“Why?”

“It’s better if you see it for yourself.”