Lessons.

—

"But, before that…"

Looking at Moiraine researching her spells at the public bench and table under the tree not far from the Yen courtyard, Yoriichi manipulated the strange atoms he found in the air using his energy-mass equivalence to affect general relativity and bend spacetime to pull these atoms in Moiraine's direction. In an instant, Yoriichi did this and then whistled in the air without looking in her direction. After hearing the loud cursing followed by a "doodle-le-cuckoo," Yoriichi smiled wickedly and walked closer to record the scene.

"Damnation! What's happening with—cooed cuckoo!" Moiraine quickly closed her mouth.

"Moiraine? Are you okay, friend?" Yoriichi asked with gentle concern.

"Reprobate! Is it you, isn't it?! I swear by the light if—doodle-le-cuckoo!" Moiraine quickly closed her mouth again.

"Are you hit by one of the strange rules? Oh, how sad…" Seeing his assistant didn't want to talk anymore, Yoriichi continued, "Here, let me help you. I came up with a method to remove it quickly."

"W-what are you doing? Stop it! Hahahahah—I said stop—doodle-le-cuckoo! Hahahaha—stop cuckooing!"

"Come now, it will get better soon."

"Hahahahah—doodle-le—Swine louts! Get your hand—cuckoo-le—out of—hahahaha!"

"How long?"

"Sleeveen! Hahaha—cuckoo—I will not tell—cuckoo!"

"Oh… You will tell me alright… If not, we'll do this for the rest of the day!"

"Arsehole! Doodle-le-cuckoo-le-doodle-le-cuckoo!"

—

[Thirty minutes later.]

Seeing Yoriichi finish recording Moiraine's embarrassing moment by tickling her to the ground, Ciri unknowingly felt jealous. Sighing to herself, she dismissed the feeling, recognizing it as mere attraction caused by the White Frost's influence, which drew her toward high temperatures. She shook her head, not wanting to be swayed by this transient passion. Whenever he was around, her mind would go blank, and she found herself doing whatever he said without hesitation. She hated that feeling.

Moreover, she had a duty to address the aftermath of the Conjunction and no time to dwell on relationships like Yoriichi's intentions. It made her feel like a fool, ready to wait for seven hours just to travel with Yoriichi, thereby delaying her goal of fixing the chaotic society. Fortunately, his goal aligned with hers, as he too wanted to restore the world to a normal civilization. Still, the need to seek his confirmation bothered her greatly.

Sighing, Ciri mumbled to herself, "Let's just hope we will be like mother and Geralt."

"What?"

"Nothing." Taking Yoriichi's hands and noting that he had returned to his unwavering calm state, Ciri then took Moiraine's hands as well before saying, "Let's go."

Allowing herself to be drawn into the Physical Realms, she looked around and saw that they had arrived at the top of Tor Gvalch'ca, precisely at the base platform of Huginn and Muninn. Wanting to take the stairs down together while discussing how they would travel to Toussaint—where they did not have coordinates—Ciri suddenly heard a loud boom from her side. Seeing Yoriichi had abruptly left her behind, presumably to confront demons entering the bubble, she let out a breath of heartache.

Asking herself what she was lacking that led Yoriichi to go first without giving a simple heads-up, Ciri shook her head, letting go of the hurt feelings. Turning to Moiraine, who frowned in dissatisfaction—likely feeling the same way but with different emotions—Ciri said, "Let's go. Tell me how to deal with the aftermath of Yoriichi's impulsiveness."

Walking down the stairs, Moiraine clicked her tongue and said, "That guy is annoying when he lets his instincts dictate his actions." After letting out a breath of annoyance, which calmed down after a couple of seconds, she began to lecture, "First and foremost, what you need to do when Yoriichi hunts the demon is to observe the surrounding area."

Looking around and spotting four suspicious people along with ten others she had already noted as potential future moles, Moiraine waved her hand in the air to give Ciri the illusion of these people's colors, saying, "There. Do you see those people?"

After diverting her gaze from Yoriichi, who had already decapitated two resurrected sorcerers from a tour party led by Margarita and Philippa, Ciri focused her attention on the illuminated figures. Seeing ten people highlighted in yellow and noting that they were all from the first three races that Yoriichi had saved, Ciri's expression grew strange.

Breathing in oxygen and performing the same procedure as Yoriichi to create helium through nuclear fusion, Ciri used the heat of plasma pressure from her mouth to cool her lungs, creating a mist similar to the whistle of a train engine and leaving only one plasma strand inside her body.

Shaping this plasma strand into a straight form, she began using laser cooling techniques from Yoriichi's science database to stop the kinetic energy of the helium particles. Satisfied that she didn't need the White Frost to cool the atoms to absolute zero, she directed these weak nuclear fundamental forces from the superfluid helium through her body.

With Second Form: Superfluidity executed, she then stopped every photon that passed through her superfluid body and absorbed them into phototransduction within her retina. This allowed her to see past the obstacles obscuring the ten figures' features without relying on the small space of her eyeballs to absorb the photons.

Noticing their faces filled with dread and fear after witnessing Yoriichi's sudden manslaughter, which came like thunder without warning, Ciri read the note given by Moiraine, which had been marked with the illusion that they were future moles. Employing the prototype Third Form: Superconductivity to ensure every electrical signal in her brain neurons worked in perfect sync, Ciri sighed, finally understanding why they had become moles.

"Yes, they become moles because they are stupid. When fear and horror become their motivation, they will do anything to comfort those feelings. One such outcome is that they will seek out parties different from those who make them uncomfortable, allying themselves with these opposite parties to soothe their fears."

"For example, they might become Aen Elle spies simply because they are afraid for themselves, their family, or even their children being decapitated, just because Yoriichi sees them as demons, without even a proper judiciary system."

Turning to Ciri beside her, Moiraine continued, "So don't ever control the public masses using fear. It only delays the inevitability of someone rebelling."

Confused, Moiraine then irritably retorted to herself, "I don't know what's going on in that guy's unconscious mind, but he seems to believe that fear is the solution to everything. It's as if he's so fixated on fantasy ideology that he thinks the masses won't rebel just because they fear a stronger power."

Shaking her head and looking toward Yoriichi, she added the final pieces, "But remember this, Ciri: fear only drives someone to the edge. Whether it leads them to become more cunning enemies or breaks them down to the point of self-destructive actions like suicide that destroys our psyche, neither outcome is conducive to the peace we strive for."

—