Alice and Ysnay

"What is it?" I asked the white-haired girl as soon as I boarded her carriage.

Alice, however, was not looking at me. Instead, she was completely focused on Ysnay.

She was entranced, as though she would have seen an incredible treasure, or something incredibly horrifying.

Ynsay giggled amused. "Little girl, you should not stare at others like that."

As though Ysnay's words had magic, Alice returned to her senses. She instantly grew pale and stared at Ysnay as though Ysnay was a monster.

"W-Who are you? N-No, w-what are you?" Alice asked in a shaking tone.

"You can call me Ysnay." Ysnay smiled. "I'm His Highness Prince Claus's second personal servant… Mm, currently, I'm also doing the role of his secret teacher."

"N-No… T-That is not true…" Alice denied it without hesitation. But her voice sounded frightened.

Realizing something was wrong, butler Aaron and knight Hannah tried to move, but then, their bodies froze.

At some point, thousands of threads had appeared around them, sealing their movements completely.

Ysnay smiled. It seemed like she was enjoying playing with them.

"Tell me, what does fate say about me?"

Alice was startled. Then, without asking how Ysnay knew about her ability to see through fate, Alice closed her eyes and tried to felt Ysnay.

Soon, though, her face grew even paler than before.

"T-That is impossible!"

"Oh, what did fate say?"

"… Y-You are the prince's second personal servant… And his secret teacher… B-But that is impossible, I know prince Claus doesn't have a secret teacher!"

Ysnay giggled. "You are so entertaining."

I sighed and hit Ysnay in the head. "Stop messing with her." Then, I looked at Alice. "It's better if you stop trusting fate in her presence. Otherwise, the consequences will be terrible."

In the end, although both Alice and Ysnay were seers and users of fate, their levels were completely different.

Alice was a young seer, only able to see the threads of fate and barely manipulate them. Her abilities over fate had almost no offensive power.

Ysnay, on the other hand, was an Immortal that used fate to forge her way to immortality.

To her, manipulating fate is something as easy as waving her hand.

If Alice is a young fish swimming in the sea of fate, Ysnay is part of the sea in itself.

Alice was pale and frightened. It was the first time she felt her abilities over fate were not reliable.

She felt as though everything she was seeing was a lie.

"P-Prince, who is her?" Alice asked me while shivering.

"An old friend." I sighed.

Alice's eyes opened wide.

She remembered some words I told her before.

About how she reminded me of an old friend.

I sighed. Then, I waved my hand, unleashing part of my will.

The threads tying Aaron and Hannah were instantly broken, and Ysnay's influence over Alice disappeared.

Ysnay looked at me and pouted, clearly dissatisfied with my interference.

In the end, though, she just shrugged and stopped messing with Alice.

Under the influence of my will, Alice calmed down noticeably. She gave me a grateful look before glancing at Ysnay like a frightened rabbit.

"Then, Alice, what do you wanted to talk about?" I asked the young seer to shift the topic away from Ysnay.

Alice understood my intention and took a deep breath.

"… About the gang's situation… I want to know what are you going to do next."

I shook my head. "Nothing. I don't need to interfere anymore."

Alice frowned.

"… I don't know about the noble families, but the imperial family will not let things rest this way. Even if Alan came to an agreement with Saintess Safelia, I'm sure the emperor will find ways to mess with the Red Skull Gang. After all, he doesn't want to see the church's influence grow."

I nodded. That is right.

In an empire like this, political power and religious power are destined to eventually become enemies.

Even although the church and the empire are allies in the paper, the truth is that the imperial family has long been unhappy with the church. After all, the church's power is comparable to the empire, and the higher-ups of the church are people that can blatantly go against the emperor's orders if they want.

In truth, it's obvious the church doesn't have any interest in political authority. At the very least, they have never shown any intention to interfere with the succession to the throne (They do now, though. But only because I half threatened the goddess to ally with us).

But even so, to the empire, the power of the church is like a ticking time bomb.

Thus, the emperor will not stay quiet now that the entire underground of the capital is in the hands of a 'subsidiary' of the church.

The problem is, the emperor will not have time to worry about such trifling trouble soon.

"Have you not seen the fate's direction already?" I asked Alice with a small smile.

Alice fell silent and did not answer.

Instead, she seemed to think about something.

"Lately my abilities over fate have become unstable, prince. I'm not sure if the things I saw before are going to turn true."

"Mm?"

"Recently, fate has been behaving strangely."

"Strangely? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure… Recently I have felt this world's fate has become chaotic. I see destruction coming from each direction… Humans, elves, daemons, and beastkin. Each one of them is moving."

Oh? That is interesting.

Well, I'm certain the movements of the beastkin are related to my dad-con fox daughter, but if Alice's words are true, the daemons and elves are moving too.

Mm, until now, I have not paid too much attention to the reason the daemons are attacking. Could this coming war not be so simple as I thought?

… And if this war is also related to that person?

The immortal I met in another world.

"What did you see, Miss Alice?" I asked.

"… I'm not sure. But recently, I have been seeing a scene in my dreams repeatedly."

Alice then told me about her dream.

Rivers of blood and mountains of corpses filling the world.

The empire in chaos, at the edge of collapse, the daemons advancing with incredible tenacity, seeking to destroy humanity according to the will of the Daemon god.

The elves staring at their forest, pursuing the ethereal dream of their race even if that meant bringing destruction to the world.

A monster appearing in the Beastkin Alliance, opening its jaws to drown the whole world in despair.

The gods fighting between themselves, searching for a chance to become perfect.

The world crying in fear, dreading the existence coveting it from the depths of the void.

And the hero rising from a sea of blood, bringing with her the will to protect what she loved the most.

And I... I was in the middle of it all, searching for an answer.

"To be honest, when I saw that scene the first time. I felt very excited, as though I had found my calling. The reason I was born for." Alice smiled bitterly. "But now, each time I see that scene, I feel afraid."

I nodded.

No matter how I see it, this is a very ominous premonition.

But I guess I already have an idea of most of its meaning.

I glanced at Ysnay to ask for her opinion, but to my surprise, she was staring at Alice curiously.

"How surprising… Your abilities over fate should not be enough to allow you to see so much… You have even got a glimpse of the fate of Immortals."

But then, it seemed like Ysnay understood something.

"I see, so the world is helping you, huh. It looks it's already panicking. Well, it can see its end approaching slowly. Moreover, its situation has turned even more hopeless recently, with four different Immortals taking this world as their playground."

This world's end.

The reason the world gave birth to a hero and a seer in the same generation.

At that moment, butler Aaron was startled.

He took a communication stone out of his coat and put mana in it. Then, his expression changed.

"Young miss, something happened in the empire's border."

"… What is it?" Alice asked in a solemn tone. But she already had an idea of the answer.

"… The daemon army has been spotted. More than one hundred thousand daemons are coming for war."

Well, it looks like fate has started to move.

I stared at Alice and sighed. I have a feeling things are going to turn tiresome soon.

At the very least, with an army in the empire's borders, the emperor will not have time to worry about a small problem like the Red Skull Gang.