Frost’s large hand gently covered Yuriella’s hand.

“I’ll have the magician we infiltrated into the Imperial Palace search for him. That will be faster. If you step forward, it may draw the Emperor’s attention and put Nero in even greater danger.”

“But−.”

“Let’s go home first. The damage from the attack is severe.”

“What? Attack? No, who… why…?”

“It’s the Empress Dowager’s doing. As a return gift for our surprise present, she said it’s already been sent to the mansion.”

Yuriella gritted her teeth in surging anger and sorrow upon hearing from Frost about the damage to the mansion.

How could they commit such a ruthless act?

Why do they use their power and abilities only in such vicious and cruel ways?

‘I must become the true owner of the holy sword Airy as soon as possible. I can’t endure this anymore. I have to stop their madness now.’

Seeing the Emperor break the magic of the Magic Tower Master today and overlay his own black magic on top of it, Yuriella felt it deep in her bones.

At this rate… it’s dangerous.

Yuriella thought she should try contacting Airy once she arrived at the mansion.

‘Airy needs to find her main body soon…’

*

At that time, Airy was sweating profusely, trapped inside the double rainbow at the peak of Mount Dopio in the northern part of the East.

“Lady Airy. Is this really a rainbow? Look at me! I’m flying around without wings. Look at me, Lady Airy~.”

Nikon Nivera, Airy’s companion and former elite royal knight, marveled while waving his arms and legs in the bright yellow section inside the large rainbow.

“Lady Airy! Come here~. Come quickly and take a look~.”

Nikon swam over to Airy, who was exhausted from being trapped in the green section of the rainbow, trying to find a way out.

Airy pouted and snapped fiercely.

[Stupid Nikon! Foolish Nikon! If I could go, I would have gone already. We’re trapped in the rainbow now. If we can’t find the exit, we might die here!]

“Eeh. The fool is you, Lady Airy. The one who stupidly suggested entering the rainbow was you.”

[Do you not want to live long?]

Although Airy furiously flapped her two pairs of transparent wings, Nikon just lazily lay on his back in a backstroke position, lightly kicking his legs.

“Come and kill me if you can come over here.”

[You insolent Nikon! Just find me a hole to get out of here. I’ll leave you behind in this rainbow and go by myself!]

“Hehe. You can’t do that, can you?”

[Want to see if I can’t?]

“But you know what? I saw something really amazing. There’s a harp inside the rainbow. A harp this big.”

[What…?]

“This rainbow is amazing, but that harp is truly incredible. How can there be a harp embedded in the rainbow?”

[Where is it? Where is it?]

At Airy’s urgent prompting, Nikon tilted his head quizzically.

“Why are you acting like that? Do you know that harp?”

[That harp is my sword. I’ve been searching for it all this time. Where is it, that harp?]

“Hey. You should have told me earlier. Was that the main body?”

Nikon flipped his body over and swam to the top of the yellow section of the rainbow. His gestures telling Airy to come quickly were quite arrogant and insolent.

But Airy’s heart was pounding at the thought of finally finding her main body, and she didn’t even think about pulling Nikon’s hair out.

‘Yuriella… It seems we’ve finally found it. Now you will truly become the owner of the holy sword Airy!’

Once she finds the main body, she can stand proudly by Yuriella’s side, not as this small and insignificant fragment of the wind, but in her true spirit form!

‘She’ll probably be amazed at how cool my real appearance is.’

Imagining Yuriella’s jaw-dropping admiration, Airy’s mouth gaped open.

‘With this, I can prove that I’m bigger, stronger, and much cooler than the Crimson Phoenix.’

As Airy paused for a moment, chuckling to herself, Nikon swam back and knocked on the green section of the rainbow.

“Lady Airy. You look really ugly right now. Don’t go around laughing like that.”

[Useless former royal knight, shut up.]

“Lady Airy is cold to me, but I will keep your secret, Lady Airy.”

[My secret?]

“I will never tell anyone that the mighty holy sword Airy was trapped in a rainbow and couldn’t move an inch. Especially not to our leader.”

[Hmph. Ignorant Nikon. Have you ever seen a rainbow like this?]

“No.”

[Of course not! This rainbow is special. Because my special main body is here, the nature of the rainbow must have changed.]

“Ah. Is that so?”

[Yes! That’s right. Hurry up and guide me!]

Nikon nodded his head and advanced again, vigorously waving his arms and legs.

‘Ah. Finally, the hardship is over!’

Memories of wandering around the East in search of the main body of the holy sword Airy, enduring Airy’s scolding and all kinds of hardships, flashed by like a montage, and his heart swelled with emotion.

“I had a good feeling about it this time, Lady Airy!”

[You said you had a good feeling every time.]

“This time, I had an especially good feeling. The villagers at the foot of the mountain said that the double rainbow had been there every single day for five hundred years. Whoa. To think it was because of Lady Airy’s main body. You are truly an amazing being, Lady Airy.”

[I am such an amazing holy sword. Remember that well.]

“Yes, yes. Lady Airy! There it is. That’s it!”

Nikon eagerly pointed with his hand at the harp embedded between the yellow and green sections at the end of the rainbow.

It was a harp taller than the tall Nikon by a head.

Despite being embedded in the rainbow for five hundred years, the harp was beautiful, with a smooth body and a brilliant luster, without a single small scratch.

“It’s truly beautiful…!”

The harp-shaped holy sword Airy changed colors constantly, following the billowing wind.

One moment it seemed to hold a sparkling green light, then suddenly it was a red sunlight, then it changed to a pale lavender. It would lose all color like a transparent crystal, then slowly stain with a light blue hue from the bottom.

Nikon simply gaped at the feast of colors that could not be described by the names written on painters’ palettes.

“Wow. I thought since it was a holy sword, it would be in the shape of a sword. A sword in the shape of a harp, how amazing.”

Nikon marveled at the harp again, then glanced back at Airy, who showed no reaction.

“Lady Airy?”

[….]

“Are you so moved that you’re speechless?”

[It’s gone….]

“Pardon?”

[It disappeared….]

Airy muttered in a dazed voice, staring at her mystical, glowing main body.

[What disappeared?]

Airy’s mouth twitched sorrowfully. Transparent tears welled up in her tiny eyes.

“Lady Airy. What’s wrong? Did something go wrong?”

Airy, who had been sobbing, finally burst into a loud cry, “Waaah!”

[It’s gone. The strings, the strings are gone! Waaaah!]

Only then did Nikon realize that there were no strings at all on the harp. He was so mesmerized by its mystical and brilliant appearance that he failed to notice the absence of strings.

“Lady Airy. Can’t it work without strings?”

[If a sword only has a hilt and no blade, is it still a sword? Is it a sword?]

“Aah. What happened to the strings?”

[I don’t know!]

“Think carefully. Did you pluck them off here? Or did you pluck them off somewhere else and just leave the frame here?”

[I said I don’t know! I don’t remember anything at all!]

Airy’s shrill, ringing voice pierced Nikon’s eardrums.

“Hmm. Lady Airy. Let’s think positively. Anyway, you found the ‘hilt’, right?”

[We need to find the strings! When will we find them all and return to Yuriella?]

“How many strings are there on the harp?”

[A harp’s strings are forty-seven, but I have more.]

“More?”

[Because Airy is special. The harp strings of the special Airy are ninety-nine. Hoo-hoo.]

Airy buried her small face in her hands and began to weep intensely.

Ever-positive Nikon scratched his fingers, then snapped them with a bright smile.

“Ah! But maybe we can get out of the rainbow, don’t you think?”

Airy turned to look at Nikon with swollen eyes.

“Because even though the holy sword’s strings are gone, the ‘hilt’ is here. Give it a try. Lady Airy, you’re special, so can’t you do it with just the hilt?”

[Of course! Airy is special and strong!]

Airy flew towards the harp, placed her small hands on the pillar part that spanned the green section, and gently closed her eyes.

Whoong~. Whoong~. The harp began to vibrate.

Nikon’s eyes grew wide as he saw the iridescent ripples of wind slowly spreading around.

The double rainbow that had been firmly in the sky over Mount Dopio for the past five hundred years began to sway like waves in a fierce wind, according to the vibration of the harp.

“Wow…!”

Nikon opened his mouth so wide that his uvula was visible and tilted his head back to look up.

The sight of the seven-colored rainbow spreading wide across the sky was spectacular.

Airy watched until the double rainbow had completely dispersed and disappeared, then reduced the harp to half her height and pulled a strand of wind from the air, tying it to the harp and carrying it on her back.

“How cute. The holy sword has shrunk to the size of a fingernail!”

[If you knew what the holy sword Airy is capable of, Nikon, you might be so shocked that your liver would fall out.]

Nikon raised a finger, shaking his head.

“First. I learned that you can make a rainbow appear for five hundred years and disperse it in an instant. What else can you do?”

[Each of the ninety-nine strings attached to my main body is a blade of wind.]

“Really? So you’re saying one holy sword is actually ninety-nine swords?”

Nikon made a queasy expression, then tilted his head.

“That’s strange. Lady Airy, why did you give such a tremendous weapon of slaughter to Priest Angelo, who can’t even kill a single ant?”

[The holy sword Airy is also a sword of healing. Before becoming a priest, Angelo was an excellent doctor. He became a priest because he wanted to heal people’s souls. Angelo had a deeper sincerity to heal than any owner I had met before.]

Nikon, who had been nodding vigorously, tilted his head again.

“Then did you choose our leader incorrectly?”

Nikon whispered in a very small voice close to Airy’s ear.

“Do you know how terrifying our leader was when wielding the holy sword Flamma? The fire was blazing here and there. But imagine if he wields the holy sword Airy. Ninety-nine wind blades swooshing here and there!”

Just imagining it seemed to frighten Nikon, as he shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

Airy raised her small chin and snorted, “Hmph.”

[There are ninety-nine strings, but each time you pluck and strum the harp strings, it makes a sound. The number of wind blades created by that sound can increase to hundreds or thousands depending on the ability of the holy sword’s owner.]

“Really?”

[Since Yuriella is the owner I chose, she will also be able to do that.]

“Wow. If she’s that much of a monster, wouldn’t even the mighty Northern Grand Duke run away in fear?”

When Nikon spoke with a genuinely worried face, Airy’s gloomy expression bloomed.

[So what you’re saying, Nikon, is that Yuriella will be stronger and cooler when wielding my main body than Flamma?]

“No, that’s not what I meant−.”

[Yes. That’s what you meant. You wanted to say that the only holy sword suitable for Yuriella is me, Airy. Right?]

Airy’s gaze demanding an answer was quite murderous.

Nikon thought of the family motto hanging in the living room of his hometown, “Live honestly”, and the face of his father, who was the guiding light of his life.

He also thought of his lover Riena, who had showered him with tearful kisses, telling him to come back safely without getting hurt.

The choice was not difficult.

“Of course! The holy sword that suits our leader is indeed the sword of wind! I don’t know when we’ll find all ninety-nine strings. But I will pray to the goddess every day to let our leader wield it coolly after finding them!”

Airy’s narrowed eyes held a hint of murderous intent, as if the answer was not satisfactory.

[So what you’re saying, Nikon, is that it’s uncertain when we’ll find all ninety-nine strings. The possibility is slim enough that you have to pray to the goddess?]

“No, that’s not what I meant−.”

[Nikon, you rascal! You thought Flamma was more suitable for Yuriella just now too, didn’t you?]

Nikon tightly closed his eyes. He thought the rough wind that was about to hit him would slam him into a valley somewhere on Mount Dopio, making his legs tremble.

But for some reason, Airy was quiet.

Opening one eye slightly, he saw that Airy had landed at some point and was pressing her hands on the ground with her eyes tightly closed.

“Lady Airy?”

[Shh!]

Soon, dust began to rise around Airy and slowly wrote letters in the air.

It was a message sent to Airy by Popo.

[Return desired. Nero missing.]