Sometimes, Shiomi wondered if he ought to be more careful with his words and actions.
Take teaching Baobhan Sith, for example.
After discovering that Baobhan Sith had been secretly studying while he'd been worrying about her like a fool, Totorot became so excited that she couldn't sleep all night. She ended up practicing with Baobhan Sith, learning the most basic things together.
And the two of them kept running back to Shiomi and Aesc for help.
As a result, Shiomi couldn't even use Magecraft to isolate their tent for a bit of intimacy with Aesc.
The night passed in confusion, and by morning, Shiomi was too tired to safely operate the all-terrain magic vehicle—he was honestly afraid of dozing off and driving everyone straight into the Great Hollow.
"Here, here—this character should be written like this, right?" Totorot said, holding her notebook up to Baobhan Sith.
"It should flow more smoothly, right?" Baobhan Sith tried writing it out.
"Oh, oh, oh—!"
Watching the two of them study with such enthusiasm, Shiomi covered his face and muttered to himself.
"Did I just end up raising two more kids? That can't be right..."
"What?" Aesc tilted her head. "Why 'again'?"
"Ah..." Shiomi paused for a moment.
He couldn't help but think of Sakura and Karen.
If his reasoning was correct, he had spent two thousand years in the Lostbelt—but in Proper Human History, the two of them would have only been with Chaldea for a few days before fleeing to the Wandering Sea.
If he hadn't deliberately sealed those memories with Magecraft, Shiomi was sure they would have faded into vague fragments by now.
Even so, the sheer stretch of time made the memories feel distant—like trying to see the far side of a wide river.
"Tenkei... is there something you haven't told me?" Aesc asked quietly, gripping his hand as though she were confronting him about an affair.
Shiomi pressed his lips together. He had planned to tell her "someday," but it seemed that day had come sooner than expected.
"Actually... I had two children," he said softly, holding her hand tighter.
"Eh? Two children?" Aesc's expression shifted—not shocked, but curious, even amused.
"Don't jump to conclusions," Shiomi said, shaking his head. "Neither of them are my biological children. One was entrusted to me by an acquaintance who couldn't raise her. The other I adopted under the title of Successor Magus for... certain reasons."
"Like how Mother adopted me?" Aesc asked.
"In broad terms, yes." Shiomi nodded.
Aesc blinked. "They're human?"
"Of course."
"What do they look like? Boys or girls?"
"Why are you asking that?"
"Well... if they're my husband's children, that makes me their mother, doesn't it?" Aesc said with a gentle flush on her cheeks, her tone brimming with anticipation.
Shiomi couldn't help but chuckle. "You take that surprisingly well. I thought you'd be angry."
"Why would I be?"
"In my world, hiding the fact that you have children before marriage is... pretty serious," Shiomi admitted with a sigh. "I was prepared for you to scold me—or even hate me for it."
"Hmm... if you'd told me from the start, I probably would've felt awkward," Aesc mused thoughtfully. "But after everything we've been through... I can't bring myself to be angry anymore."
Shiomi gave a sheepish smile. "That's... kind of unfairly forgiving."
"Which only proves my husband is quite cunning," Aesc said brightly. "Though, I suppose that's one of the things I love about you."
Shiomi could only respond with a quiet hum.
"So, those two children—"
"Both girls," Shiomi said. "Once we finish exploring the Great Hollow, I'll show you their memories directly through memory sharing."
"Then let's hurry and finish this exploration," Aesc said, immediately shifting focus. She grabbed Shiomi's hand and pulled him toward the Great Hollow.
From the camp, it was only about an hour's journey by feel. Soon, the barren landscape opened before them, and at its center loomed the vast, unfathomable Great Hollow—finally within the Savior's sight.
The interior of the Great Hollow was unexpectedly flat. Aside from a few plants growing along the sheer cliffs, there was almost nowhere to climb down from. Even a foothold would have to be crafted from scratch.
So instead of attempting to scale the walls, Shiomi chose a different method.
"Use my thread?" Totorot asked. "It's really strong, but… are you sure about this?"
Aesc nodded. "I'll reinforce your thread with Magecraft. That way, when Tenkei descends, it won't snap under his weight."
"But why does the Sage have to be the one going down?" Baobhan Sith asked.
"The answer's simple," Shiomi said, crouching at the edge to assess the interior. "If something happens, I'm the only one who can be sure to survive."
Grímr, Ector, and Wryneck had been sent by Shiomi to the other three sides of the Hollow. From four evenly spaced points, they monitored the inside and its surroundings.
"What's the situation inside?" Aesc asked.
"It's… stable?" Shiomi frowned slightly. "The traces of the Great Calamity we sensed before started somewhere around here, but the Hollow itself shows no irregularities..."
Grímr and the others reported the same result.
No matter how they observed or how deeply they probed, not a single trace of abnormal energy could be found.
And that—no anomaly at all—was the strangest anomaly of all.
As Britannia had expanded through centuries of war and bloodshed, why was this one place left untouched, unfilled, and unchanged?
Nearly ten thousand years had passed—enough to turn seas into forests and mountains into plains in Proper Human History.
"Then..." Aesc hesitated.
"I'm going down," Shiomi said. "With Aesc's support, Totorot's thread can extend about eight thousand meters. If it's still not enough... then that's where we stop."
"And by 'stop,' you mean...?" Aesc asked.
"Retreat." Shiomi shrugged lightly. "Then we regroup, prepare more thoroughly, and try again."
His calm, unhurried confidence seemed to steady Aesc as well. She chose to trust his judgment completely.
"Should we call Grímr and the others back?" she asked.
"No. Have them continue watching from their sides." Shiomi narrowed his eyes, wrapping Totorot's thread securely around his waist. "My gut tells me there's something down there—something that needs to be confirmed."
Aesc gave a silent nod and strengthened the thread with a reinforcement spell.
Shiomi then traced a sigil in the air, completing a self-regulating protection spell across his body.
"Well then... I'm going."
He stood at the edge of the Great Hollow, spread his arms wide, drew in a deep breath—and leaned forward, plunging straight into the dark abyss below like a great black bird diving into endless night.