Click.
The sound of Yuuto's finger snap split the night air.
From the pirates' ship walls—
planks of wood lifted, stretched, cracked, then turned into roots that crawled rapidly.
Those roots wrapped around the crew's hands and feet, lifting their bodies off the deck and binding them one by one, including the unconscious captain.
Yamato whistled in awe.
"Woooww, magic really is handy."
Yuuto slid his sword back into its scabbard, his shoulders sinking from mental exhaustion.
"Yamato, I'll leave the rest to you.
Have Merlin and Belfast handle the loot… and squeeze information out of them."
"Got it, Captain," Yamato answered reflexively.
Yuuto let out a heavy sigh.
"I… am going."
Yamato frowned.
"Where are you going?"
"To the island. To calm down. I'll come back later."
"Need me to take you there?"
Yuuto shook his head.
"No. I want to be alone."
Click.
The wind danced around his body, wrapping him like a cloak.
Whoosh—
He flew off and vanished into the darkness of the night.
"I'm off, Yamato."
"Yeah… see you later," Yamato muttered.
---
On the Belfast
Yamato landed back on the deck.
Lady Avalon, Kuroneko, Miku, and Belfast immediately came over.
"Oh Yamato, you're back," Lady Avalon said, lifting her staff, as relaxed as ever.
"How is it? Everything okay?" Kuroneko asked, a bit worried.
"Were the enemies strong?" Miku joined in.
"Welcome back, Miss Yamato," Belfast said politely, then glanced around.
"Where is Master Yuuto?"
"Everything went smoothly," Yamato replied.
"Yuuto is resting."
Yamato then pointed to the side of the ship.
"You all, come with me. We need to deal with the spoils and the prisoners."
Lady Avalon smiled faintly.
"A busy night, it seems."
---
Yuuto landed on the shoreline and let himself drop to sit on the sand.
From afar, the Belfast's lights glittered on the dark sea, and the captured pirate ship sat beside it.
"Phew… rough first night," Yuuto muttered.
He placed his sword at his side and stared out at the ocean.
The cold night breeze was soothing, yet his thoughts were still spinning.
Footsteps approached.
Slowly, Yuuto turned his head.
Irene was walking toward him—unhurried, not hesitant—just watching him with the eyes of someone who had lived a long time.
"Oh, Irene. Are you all right?" Yuuto asked with a tired smile.
"Yes."
Irene stopped right beside him, looking Yuuto's body up and down.
"An unpleasant sight," she commented flatly.
Yuuto gave a small smile.
"Oh this… don't worry. It's the enemies' blood."
Irene snorted.
"Who said I was worried about you?"
Yuuto chuckled softly.
"Oh, is that so."
Irene didn't sit, but stood close enough to show she wasn't leaving—just… not good at comforting people.
"I heard the sounds of battle from here," Irene said.
"Were the enemies so strong that you look this exhausted?"
Yuuto stared at the sea.
"No.
It's just… my mind wasn't ready."
Irene watched him longer than before.
"The soul inside that body… did he not help you?" she asked.
"Arthur?" Yuuto dug his fingers into the sand.
"No. He didn't help. He just… stayed silent."
Yuuto looked up at the sky.
"It feels like Arthur wants me to learn from this first battle."
He clenched the sand in his fist.
"Whether it's Arthur's soul, Sin Pride, or Genuine Fae…
it's like all of them are leaving me alone. To learn and grow by myself."
Yuuto glanced at Irene standing beside him, her body still stiff but her dragon aura slowly easing.
Suddenly,
Click.
Yuuto snapped his fingers.
Irene immediately turned, suspicious.
"What are you doing?"
"No way I'd just let a woman stand there the whole time, right?"
Thin roots emerged from the ground, crawling up and fusing together, forming an elegant wooden chair with a curved back.
Yuuto pointed at it.
"There. Sit."
"Hm… not bad." Irene judged coldly, but still sat down.
Yuuto made a second chair beside her, then sat as well.
The two of them stared out at the ocean together.
They sat in silence for a while, listening to the waves and the night wind.
Irene spoke first.
"You've received gifts that changed your personality and race. Are you not afraid of losing yourself?"
"Hm, you mean Arthur's body, Sin Pride, and Genuine Fae, right?"
Irene gave a small nod.
"Yeah," Yuuto continued. "At first, when I got Arthur's body, I was scared… I thought I'd become someone else. But I didn't. Arthur protected me. He let me see his life—every wound, every victory, every mistake."
"So he let you take over his body. Was that out of pity?" Irene asked.
"No." Yuuto shook his head slightly.
"I still remember Arthur's face back then. There was no pity. He handed me his sword… to protect the world."
Irene stayed quiet, listening.
"And the others?" she asked again.
"Sin Pride was pretty bad at first. It tried to twist my personality. But with Arthur's help, I managed to control that magic."
"Weren't you angry about that gift? It tried to change your personality."
"Yeah, at first I was angry. Because of Sin Pride… I almost became a killer. And I almost hurt someone who tried to help me. But in the end… I'm grateful."
Irene raised a brow.
"Grateful? For a gift that doesn't give power?"
"Even though Sin Pride didn't give me strength, I got something valuable—experience… I got to see so many kinds of 'pride' in humans. I learned a lot about people's hearts. That experience is precious."
Irene turned her face away a little.
"A… decent answer."
"Thank you," Yuuto said with a small laugh.
"And your fae side? Genuine Fae?"
Yuuto drew a breath.
"Genuine Fae, yeah. Pretty troublesome. I almost lost myself to it. If it weren't for Arthur's help—"
"Him again?" Irene squinted. "He sounds like a babysitter."
"Haha, maybe." Yuuto chuckled.
"Anyway… my fae side was really chaotic at first. I almost messed up someone's marriage because of it."
Irene's brow rose.
"Oh? What, did you accidentally seduce someone's wife?"
"No, not the wife. The husband got tempted and almost… swung to the other side because of me. If not for the memory-wiping spell Merlin-sensei taught me, that couple would've definitely broken up."
Pft—
Irene almost laughed. She covered her mouth but failed.
"T-that's… quite something," she said, hand over her lips.
Yuuto smiled at that expression of hers.
"Now I can control my fae aura. Merlin-sensei helped a lot."
He looked up at the sky.
"My fae side is annoying… but it also made me more sensitive to the world and to feelings. So I'm grateful I got it."
"So basically, your gifts didn't erase you…
they made you grow?" Irene asked.
Yuuto nodded.
"Yeah," he answered with a small smile.
"You could say they're teachers. Even if two of them… are pretty troublesome."
"Arthur teaches me humility, Sin Pride teaches me many forms of pride, and the fae side teaches me about the world," Yuuto said.
Irene stared at him in silence.
After a while, she spoke again.
"But do you not regret losing your human side? You've completely lost it now. Because of those three gifts?"
Her tone was flat, but her eyes were serious.
Yuuto didn't answer right away. He looked at the sea, then spoke quietly:
"No. I'm sure I'm still human."
Irene frowned.
"Why can you say that?"
Yuuto turned to face her and asked back:
"What do you think makes humans special?"
Irene crossed her arms.
"They're weak and die quickly?"
Yuuto smiled a little.
"Almost right."
He lifted a hand and tapped his chest, where his heart was.
"This."
"Something Arthur has trouble understanding," Yuuto said.
Irene tilted her head.
"The heart?"
"Yes," Yuuto answered softly.
"That's what guides human actions. They're weak and cowardly because of their hearts… but they can also be strong and brave because of them. With a heart, humans can be as kind as angels… or as vile as demons. They always exist in the grey area."
"They act based on their hearts—and I'm sure my heart is still human," Yuuto said.
Irene went silent.
Those words pierced something inside her—something she had buried long ago.
Painful memories flashed by.
Humans she protected.
Humans she trusted.
Humans who then tortured her once she began turning into a dragon.
Irene's hand clenched on the armrest until the wooden chair cracked.
"…Just because of that, you still think you're human?" Irene said quietly, tension in her voice.
Yuuto slowly stood up, then walked closer.
He stopped right in front of Irene, who now looked like she might explode.
"Yeah. And I also believe you have a human heart too."
Irene shot to her feet.
Pink dragon aura flared around her—wind circling, nearby sand lifting into the air.
The wooden chair Yuuto made shattered to pieces.
"Why are you so sure I still have that?"
Her voice trembled with anger, but also… fear.
Yuuto didn't step back. He didn't release any dragon or fae power.
"Look, you already proved it. You're angry and afraid right now," Yuuto said.
"Don't toy with me!!!" Irene shouted, swinging her arm.
"I'm not messing with you!!" Yuuto replied.
He then raised both hands and placed them on Irene's shoulders—gently, but firmly.
His gaze pierced straight into Irene's eyes without hesitation.
"I'll prove you still have a human heart. And if you really don't… then I'll make one for you. So wait for me, Irene."
Irene's breath caught.
In Yuuto's eyes, there was no pity.
No arrogance. Just conviction—pure, simple, and strangely… warm.
The dragon aura around Irene slowly faded away.
She looked aside, her face returning to calm.
"Fine. I'll wait… to see whether you can do it or not."
Yuuto smiled a little when he heard that, then turned around.
"Let's go back to the ship. The others must be waiting."
He held out his hand to Irene.
Irene stared at that hand for several seconds…
then pulled her own hand back behind her.
"No need. I can fly on my own."
"That so? What a shame," Yuuto laughed lightly. "I thought we'd fly while holding hands."
Irene glared faintly.
"…At the very least, we can fly together."
Yuuto nodded.
"Okay, whatever you like."
Click.
Yuuto snapped his fingers, and his body rose, carried by a swirling wind.
Irene spread her dragon wings and shot into the air, flying right beside him.
Under the moonlight, the two of them flew side by side toward the Belfast.
And for a few seconds…
Irene stayed quiet, staring at Yuuto's back as he flew ahead of her,
her gaze filled with hope.