The boatman looked at Isaac with an expression that seemed to ask what on earth he was talking about. Staring suspiciously at Isaac, wondering why this guy was giving such an absurd answer, his gaze shifted to the cats. The cats tapped their own heads with their tails and shook them side to side, saying, 「He’s just like that. He’s our Manbang-ie.」 「He’s a little lacking, you see.」

A brief urge to grab them by the scruffs and shake them arose within Isaac, but even that quickly felt like too much effort.

Isaac thought back to the intense emotion the Prince had mentioned. What was deeply rooted within that man was hatred and rage toward witches. Throughout his entire life, having felt almost no other emotions, that was the only strong and clear emotion he had ever experienced. And yet, he had felt an intense emotion toward Isaac, who was now a full witch—or perhaps even when he was a half-witch.

‘What could it have been?’

‘Was it hatred? No, it couldn’t have been just hatred.’ If it had been, Isaac’s head would have long since been severed from his neck, his corpse dumped somewhere during all the time they had spent together. But the Prince had also said it wasn’t affection—not that Isaac had expected it to be.

‘Then, what was it?’

It was impossible to know the answer now, yet the thought clung stubbornly to his mind. If only he had heard what the Prince was trying to say that final moment, maybe he would have known.

That remained the sole stumbling block in his heart, even as he tried to sever all other lingering attachments and cross over.

「It might have meant he intensely hated you.」

「Maybe it meant he was intensely enraged.」

「Right, right. It was definitely something better left unheard. No doubt about it.」

The cats chattered away. No matter how many hundreds of times he told these punks not to read human faces……. Isaac glared at them fiercely from the corner of his eye, but naturally, they didn’t bat an eyelash.

But Isaac soon let out a soft sigh and nodded. Yes, they might be right. In fact, the chances of that being true were quite high.…… Still, it would have been better to hear it before leaving. Rather than leaving with this much regret and lingering attachment.

「An intense emotion…… Humans harbor so many strange and incomprehensible emotions, and their mood swings are so severe that it’s nearly impossible to figure them out. They curse someone, saying they hate them, yet they want to know their every move. They scream that they love someone, yet they torment them relentlessly.」

The boatman, swinging the oar in his hand, which seemed entirely useless for moving this massive sailing ship, shook his head side to side. Another witch nearby chimed in.

「They are just an incomprehensible species, anyway. You just have to memorize it. ‘Ah, that’s just how they are wired from the start.’」

「But isn’t it exactly because of those traits that it’s so easy for us to softly seduce them and devour their souls? You could call it a human virtue.」

The witches burst into cackling laughter. Their tongues, wickedly licking their lips, looked inexplicably chilling, causing Isaac to quickly avert his gaze.

「You should never trust the surface of human words. Humans are beings capable of deceiving even themselves. ——But there is one thing that is certain.」

Resting his chin on the end of the oar propped against the floor, the boatman said,

「An intense emotion means that, whatever it may be, they think about that person for a long time, and very often.」

“——.”

Isaac closed his mouth. Suddenly, a hot, tingling ache spread through his chest. He held his breath for a moment against the inexplicable throbbing in his heart.

For a long time, and very often. Regardless of what the emotion was, the greater it was, the more intensely and frequently it occupied one’s thoughts and heart.

Emotions are never one-dimensional, so it’s impossible to feel only love or only hate toward the same person in a single day, meaning you can’t sum up an emotion with just one name.

So while it’s difficult to attach a single label to an emotion, that much is clear. The more intense the emotion, the longer that person occupies one’s mind and heart.

Just as Isaac almost always kept the Prince in a corner of his mind, whether they were together or not.

Did he think of me often? Whatever that emotion was, did he think of me a lot, and for a long time?

“……I miss him.”

Isaac muttered like a sigh. Catching that tiny sound with ghost-like hearing, the cats mercilessly whacked the back of his head with their tails, shouting, 「What is there to miss?!」 「Snap out of it!」 but he couldn’t help saying it. That single phrase welled up so fully in his chest that he couldn’t swallow it back down.

“I miss him….…I know I shouldn’t be by his side, but I still miss him.”

“What am I supposed to do about missing him? It’s not like I’m forbidden from just saying it.” Isaac spoke gloomily as he looked at the cats. The cats glared at him fiercely with their large eyes, but gradually lowered their eyelids. With faces that seemed to say, ‘What are we going to do with this pitiful fool?’

「But you’re going to leave anyway.」

They stated. The moment he heard those words, Isaac’s heart plummeted. But after a brief pause, he nodded.

「Then don’t think about it.」

「Don’t think about it for a long time. Don’t think about it too much, either.」

The cats whispered. Those words seeped into Isaac’s ears and leaked back out as a sigh. Isaac slowly nodded his head.

If he didn’t think about him for a long time, if he didn’t think about him too much, his feelings would gradually subside. The intense emotion would calm down. This intensely strong emotion.

Even this emotion—the first time I’ve ever liked someone this much.

‘……Really?’

A small voice echoed back from a corner of his mind. But he shouldn’t even be thinking that. Isaac turned his head and looked down at the city’s night view. Since it was late, the city was submerged in darkness with almost all lights extinguished. Beneath the dark sky where only birds flew, only the Royal Palace shone white in the light.

During that time, witches boarded the ship one by one, and by the time the night sky could grow no darker, the very last witches remaining in this land had all boarded.

「Let’s see…… Excellent, everyone is here now.」

The boatman, looking around the inside of the boat, counted on his fingers in the air and nodded. Isaac’s heart gave a heavy thud.

Everyone who needed to board had boarded.

Once this boat departed, there would be no more witches left in the human world. Witches in the land of witches, humans in the land of humans—they would live separated like that. Never mixing with each other again.

And Isaac would never be able to return to this place again.

The boatman pulled the rope. The staircase hanging below the boat was drawn up. The last path connecting them to the human world vanished.

“Ah……”

Isaac unconsciously stood up, but when he met the boatman’s questioning gaze, he couldn’t say anything. What could he say? There was nothing left to say.

The pulled-up stairs were stowed inside the boat, and now the ship was ready to depart. The boatman looked up at the sky, which was slowly beginning to lighten.

「It’s a bit earlier than usual, but we’ve got everyone, so shall we slowly get going…………Hmm?」

The boatman, who was just lifting his oar, narrowed his eyes and looked across the sky. A bird was flapping its wings, flying toward them from the far side of the night sky. By the time Isaac recognized the fairly large bird as an owl, the cats, who had been lying with their paws on the tinderbox next to Isaac, suddenly perked their ears up and stood.

「It’s the tinderbox piece!」

「The corner has returned!」

The cats bounded up with joy, dancing around the box. The owl soon descended toward the cats, who were darting back and forth, staring at the owl with palpitating eyes. Directly on top of the tinderbox, to be exact. And upon it, dropped what it had been holding in its talons.

*Click,* a tiny wooden piece fell. A small piece that perfectly fit the box’s broken corner.

Seeing the cats jumping wildly, shouting 「IT’S HERE~」 and 「WOO-HOO~」, Isaac quickly turned his gaze back to the owl, which was already flying away into the distance. How on earth did it see that tiny piece from so far away?

“I guess your eyes aren’t just unnecessarily huge for nothing……”

Before Isaac could even finish his unconscious mutter, the cats, ears perked, shot him a dirty look. The moment a front paw swiftly brushed past, a row of scratch marks appeared on Isaac’s forearm.

“Ouch! That hurts!”

「That’s enough! Now that the tinderbox piece is here, let’s launch the boat immediately without looking back! Boatman! Let’s go!」Ignoring Isaac’s complaints of pain, the cats rushed the boatman. The boatman’s fingers curled tighter around his oar as he raised his eyes to the sky, a flicker of disquiet shadowing his face.

「But what’s with all these birds in the middle of the night? We might crash into them while launching the boat.」

「It’s dangerous if there’s a bird collision while launching into the sky,」 the boatman muttered. Following his gaze as he hesitantly held the oar, Isaac looked up and saw that, sure enough, birds were flying erratically everywhere in the night sky.

Falcons.

Dozens, ah no, more than that, of falcons raised at the border were flying over the capital’s sky. The falcons circled above the hillside where the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat was anchored, almost as if they had chased the owl here.

And far, far above them, a massive white falcon was gliding.

“……That falcon is…….”

「BOATMAN! HURRY UP AND LAUNCH THE BOAT!」

「AH, ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY IF WE’RE LATE?! WE DON’T HAVE TIME, LET’S GO, HURRY!」

The cats, suddenly frantic, climbed onto the railing of the gunwale, tapping the boatman’s shoulder with their tails and chattering away. The boatman’s gaze darted bewilderedly between the birds wheeling overhead and the cats at his feet, then his brow knitting in confusion.

「You definitely did bring the wrong corner piece to this treasure.」

「AH, STOP TALKING NONSENSE AND LAUNCH THE BOAT ALREADY!」

It was when the cats let out a screech.

The sound of horse hooves echoed from the bottom of the hillside. The sound of someone galloping at a terrifying speed was rapidly getting closer. *Crack, crack,* the sound of tree branches breaking as if charging straight through the dense forest accompanied the hoofbeats. A frighteningly reckless momentum shook the ground as it approached.

Isaac stared intently in that direction. He didn’t even blink his faintly furrowed eyes.

That familiar sound. That familiar presence.

A presence that he had thought he would never see here again was piercing through the dark mountain and galloping toward him. Above their heads, the falcon cried out. A long, sharp screech tore through the sky.

The falcon’s cry. The relentless horse hooves.

Amidst the sounds slicing through the night air, a figure finally revealed itself through the pitch-black forest.

“——.”

Clinging to the gunwale, Isaac stared intently at the sight.

The shadow emerging from the darkness, riding atop a horse after charging through the forest as if breaking through a battlefield—that sturdy man was someone Isaac knew very well. The very person he had been thinking about just moments ago.

The Prince.

The Prince looked at the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat. He looked at Isaac standing at the gunwale.

Their eyes met. Even from a distance where reading expressions should have been difficult, Isaac knew with absolute certainty that their eyes had met.

Isaac’s shoulders flinched. As if recognizing it too, the Prince, glaring fiercely with flashing eyes, fixed solely on Isaac as he hurtled toward them.

「I DON’T KNOW, I DON’T KNOW, HE’S HERE, HE’S HERE.」

「SEE! I TOLD YOU TO LAUNCH THE BOAT QUICKLY?! DON’T BLAME ME IF YOU DAWDLE AND END UP LOCKED IN A CAGE?!」

The cats yowled and shrieked. Bewilderment twisted the boatman’s face as his gaze traveled skyward, then downward to the cats, and finally at the terrifying man galloping fiercely toward them from the distance. The boatman widened his eyes.

「What is that, a human? Why is a human here……?」

「Oh my, a human came? Then maybe we should have one last little snack before leaving the human world……, ……Oh my? Isn’t he the human who made a total mess of the Great Banquet a while ago?」

A witch, who had approached and tilted her head wondering what was going on, suddenly tilted her head further and spoke. Upon hearing this, the boatman twisted his brows and said, 「Is that so?」

「So that’s the bastard who killed off my passengers and wiped out an entire route? I can’t just let that slide.」

「A human dared not even approach the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat,」 the boatman grumbled sullenly and pulled a small bottle from his pocket. He threw the glass bottle containing colorful liquid out of the boat.

*Crash,* the glass bottle shattered against a rock. The liquid that spilled out suddenly erupted into billowing smoke, as if exploding.

In front of the Prince, who was closing the distance to the sculpted boat in a flash, the billowing smoke birthed a massive demonic beast.

A beast with the head of a lion, the horns of a goat, the body of a tiger, the wings of an eagle, and the tail of a snake blocked the Prince’s path. The beast, massive as an elephant, let out a terrifying roar and bared its teeth. From its blood-red maw, capable of swallowing a human whole, toxic acid dripped, letting off white smoke.

“Aiolia……!”

Staring blankly at the demonic beast summoned straight from hell, Isaac muttered.

But it didn’t stop there. The boatman threw glass bottles one after another. *Crash, crash, crash.* Every time a glass bottle shattered, hideous demonic beasts leaped out from the massive plumes of smoke.

“GIVE ME THOSE!”

Isaac, his face stiffening, grabbed the boatman’s arm to snatch away the bottles. The boatman, widening his eyes, said, 「What? What? I don’t have any more.」 He blinked at Isaac and turned his pockets inside out to show they were empty.

Four or five glass bottles had all been shattered. The demonic beasts, any single one of which could easily lay waste to a large town, matched the number of bottles. They blocked the path to the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat, their eyes burning like firelines as they sought something to tear apart.

“——.”

Isaac bit his lip hard. His heart ran cold.

‘No. He can’t get hurt—.’

「You unleashed all those demonic beasts? I was hoping for a show, how boring.」

「Unleashing one or unleashing several, it’ll end in a boring massacre anyway.」

The witches leaning over the railing muttered. That was true, but the answer that followed was chilling.

Just as they said, against those terrifying, ferocious demonic beasts, there was only the Prince. In fact, obscured by the house-sized beasts, his figure could barely even be seen from the boat.

No, Isaac mumbled through his lips. Beside him, the cats observed the beasts before urgently clinging back onto the boatman.

「LAUNCH THE BOAT! I SAID LAUNCH THE BOAT QUICKLY! WE DON’T HAVE TIME!」

「Ah, why do you little guys keep rushing me?! Hold on, I’m launching it!」

Annoyed by the constantly pestering cats, the boatman angrily lifted his oar. And, as if pressing down against the earth, he thrust the oar outside the boat and swung it. Simultaneously, the boat shuddered and moved. The boat, which had been floating at human height, began to slowly, very very slowly, ascend.

“Stop the boat! Wait, I need to get off——.”

Isaac looked desperately toward the Prince, who was hidden from view by the beasts, and shouted urgently. But the cats dangled from his waist, shouting, 「GET OFF WHERE?! THE BOAT IS LAUNCHING! IT’S DANGEROUS, SIT DOWN!」

Meanwhile, the demonic beasts began to rush toward the center with horrifying shrieks. Ear-splitting noises rang out terrifyingly.

“PRINCE KYAN!”

Isaac unconsciously screamed.

He felt like his heart was going to burst. The blood drained from his hands and feet.

No. He can’t get hurt in a place like this. He might not just get hurt; he might die. No, if it were anyone else, they would already be dead.

Right then, one of the demonic beasts let out a massive shriek and twisted its body. As the beast fell backward, revealing the boat, more than half of its neck was sliced open, spewing blood like a waterfall. And only then, in the spot where the beast had fallen, did the Prince’s figure become visible.

Drenched crimson in the blood spewed by the beast, the Prince was looking this way. His eyes, fixed on the boat that was gradually beginning to float above the ground, flashed a terrifying blue.

「Huh? One of them died?」

The boatman, pulling the boat upward, looked down indifferently and widened his eyes. The hand rowing the oar stopped for a moment. The ascending boat also halted.

During that time, the remaining beasts lunged at the Prince.

The demonic beasts of hell swung their talons at him. Baring fangs dripping with venom and spewing fire, they moved with astonishing agility despite their massive bodies to attack the Prince.

A beast resembling a giant bull swung its chain-like forelegs. A long talon mark was carved across the chest of the Prince, who couldn’t dodge in time while surrounded by other beasts. Blood splattered sharply. However, even as he surrendered his chest to that talon, the Prince’s sword, leaping into the air, drove deep into the crown of a beast that had revealed a fatal opening while attacking him.

Surrounded by a horde of other ferocious beasts, the Prince, who had no time to dodge the attack in that fleeting instant, a long talon mark was carved across the chest. A spray of vivid crimson blood burst forth. Yet, even as his chest bore the brunt of that savage strike, the Prince’s blade swept upward and, at the same instant, plunged deep into the crown of the beast’s head—the very creature that had exposed its opening the moment it lunged at him.

*Shhck!* The tip of the sword pierced through its skull and thrust out beneath its jaw. As the Prince dragged the sword straight down, the beast’s head was split cleanly in two vertically. The beast, slowly tilting amidst the black blood bursting forth, collapsed to the ground. A loud *BOOM!* shook the earth.

「……Uh. Xanthyria is…….」

The boatman muttered blankly. Blinking as he watched, he contorted his face and craned his neck forward.

「Is that really a human……? Strange, it looks like a human……?」

「DON’T STOP YOUR HANDS! HURRY UP AND ROW, ROW!」

As if he couldn’t even hear the urgently nagging cats, the boatman glared with wide eyes at the spectacle unfolding below.

And beside him, Isaac watched the Prince without even being able to catch his breath.

The Prince was cutting down the demonic beasts with terrifying momentum. The beasts, possessing steel-thick hides and brutal strength, were falling one by one. But with each fall, the wounds on the Prince’s body multiplied.

During that time, even the Prince’s brave and fierce horse had its neck severed by a beast’s talon and collapsed. Stepping off the corpse of the horse that shuddered and died, the Prince now faced them with nothing but a single sword and his bare body.

His chest, his back, his limbs—there was no place without a wound. Deep gashes revealing bare flesh and bone were carved all over his body. His skin was scorched black by the hellfire and venom the beasts spewed, countless blisters erupting everywhere.

If it had been an ordinary person, they would already be dead or have fled. No, they wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

Three beasts remained.

The Prince, too, was battered and broken without a single uninjured spot on his body.

It all happened in a very short span of time. The boatman, who was staring down below with wide, terror-stricken eyes, as though unable to believe what he was seeing, very nearly dropped his oar. Just as he scrambled to clutch it again, another colossal demonic beast crashed down. At the same time, one of the Prince’s thighs had been torn halfway through by a demon beast’s talon, flesh split and gushing blood.

Isaac looked at the Prince. As if sensing his gaze, the Prince also looked at Isaac.

Their eyes met.

The Prince’s piercing blue eyes seized Isaac.

“——.”

‘Why?’

‘Why had he chased him this far? Why didn’t he turn back? Why doesn’t he turn his body and flee even right this instant?’

‘Why is he looking at me like that? With such a desperate face.’

His heart pounded like crazy. Looking at his pale, faintly trembling fingertips, Isaac clenched his fists.

Beside him, the boatman, who had been glaring down with a suddenly serious face, abruptly gripped the oar tightly.

「I need to launch the boat immediately. I have a bad feeling about this.」

「SEE, WE TOLD YOU! YOU SHOULD HAVE HURRIED!」 The boatman paid the yowling cats no mind. He began rowing with a fierce, hardened expression. As he forcefully rowed against the empty air, the massive sailing ship began to float upward slowly, as if meeting a current.

Isaac could see the Prince’s face harden. The boat rose to the height of a house, to the height of a large tree, and soon, to the height of a tower.

And then——.

“ISAAC!”

For the first time, he shouted.

Like a word barely suppressed finally tearing through his throat.

That desperate voice.

It was the first time Isaac had ever heard that voice—so close to boiling over with despair.

Isaac leaned over the gunwale as if he were going to fall. The Prince was staring up at the ascending boat with terrifying eyes. Isaac could clearly see his expression crumbling darkly.

He felt like his heart was going to break.

Right then,

“——K-Ky,”

Isaac’s face hardened even further. The frozen tongue wouldn’t easily form words. Two demonic beasts were lunging at the Prince simultaneously.

The boat continued its unrelenting ascent, yet the Prince could not tear his gaze away from Isaac. By then, it was already too late to dodge the two beasts rushing toward him.

He would inevitably have to take at least one attack head-on. And whichever it was, it would be a fatal blow.

‘No.’ Isaac hurriedly turned around and grabbed the harpoon lying beneath the bow. Beside him, the boatman approached, bewildered, saying, 「Wait, surely you’re not going to use that on them,」 but the words didn’t register in Isaac’s ears.

The beasts had already closed in right next to the Prince. And the Prince, prepared to take the attack from the beast coming from behind, swung his sword at the beast charging from the front.

His sword slashed through the air and cleaved the beast’s torso. *Squelch——* the blood of the beast splitting in two covered the Prince. The Prince’s skin, raising his arm to cover only his face, sizzled and burned. And in that exact moment, the beast that had struck from behind was driving its talons toward the Prince’s heart——.

“——.”

The moment the sharp talons dug into his flesh, a harpoon flying through the air pierced the beast’s chest. From its chest through its back, the harpoon thrust out viciously.

The beast stopped moving. Struck by lightning from an unexpected attack, the beast stood frozen, then slowly lifted its head. Its crimson eyes, blazing like fire, looked at Isaac leaning over the gunwale. The one who threw the harpoon. The beast’s eyes burned like flames.

Beside him, the boatman gasped, taking in a sharp breath. Isaac also swallowed his breath.

The beast’s eyes, burning crimson with rage, were looking at none other than Isaac.

The beast roared. The agonizing scream, laced with pure wrath, rang out terrifyingly, as if to tear the night sky apart. In the very next second, the beast looked straight up at Isaac and kicked off the ground, taking flight. The eagle wings sprouted from the beast’s back flapped powerfully.

The beast shot into the sky in an instant, reaching the Crescent Moon-Silver Boat hovering at the height of a spire, and Isaac locked eyes with the beast right before his nose.

Eyes like crimson fire. Filled only with rage and murderous intent.

「Man, MANBANG-IE!」

It sounded like the cats screaming. The moment the beast’s blade-like talons, capable of lopping off a human head in an instant, sliced into Isaac’s skin,

“——!!!”