May: The Experiment

Annette wrung her hands. "Um . . . Dorothea made this Outrealm portal, right? So I don't think we need to examine this one. Are there any others here? The Twilighters must have gotten here somehow."

Darios promised, "I'll send the guards to scope out the country. Please go to Aytolis to Rowan and Lianna and ask if anything changed on their end."

Byleth concurred. "That's the best course of action."

Soon they set off for Aytolis. The mood was bubbly as Shigure's idea kept their hopes afloat. Keeping her expectations low, Dorothea kept her eye on Ferdinand, watching for any signs of betrayal. He seemed the same as before, all except for the strange behavior when the rogue Gristonne priest mentioned a mole.

Rowan was out practicing fencing when they got there. He threw down his sword when they approached him. "Hey everyone! What brings you here?"

Camilla caught him up to speed. Rowan scratched his head. "I'll be honest with 'ya: things have been quiet ever since we cast out the invaders. So you're looking to see how to undo the weird Outrealm stuff by examining the old Outrealm portals again?"

Linhardt elaborated, "Azura recalled that when Outrealm sentries disappeared, the Outrealms closed. Similarly, we think that if we destroy all the Twilighter bases, the Outrealms will be back to normal."

Rowan gave them a blank look. "I'm not really sure how that'll work, but good luck to you."

Inigo checked, "So no new Outrealm portals?"

Rowan shook his head. "Nope. None at all. Sorry."

Owain spoke, "If the shadows of darkness ever unfurl upon Aytolis, you needn't but ask."

Soleil added, "Yeah! Because you can just send a message to Darios and he'll put it in the Outrealm portal for us! Or something."

Rowan nodded. "I can manage that. Thanks."

The group headed back to Gristonne. Ophelia inquired, "Have the lights of evil threaten this fair kingdom of late? Shall we smite them?"

Darios answered, "If you're referring to a Twilighter attack, there wasn't any. If you're asking about new portals, there hasn't been any either."

Linhardt said, "Let's go back to Ylisse. I want to look at that Outrealm portal and talk to witnesses."

They passed through the portals to get to Ylisse. Owain went and explained what happened to everyone in the castle, and made it clear he wanted to know if there was any sign of Twilighter activity, which there wasn't. When Owain came back, he saw Linhardt performing tests on the Outrealm portal. "Whoa there. How do you know that's safe?"

Linhardt waved the concern off. "It's fine. I know what I'm doing. For the most part. If something goes wrong, I'm sure Dorothea will be able to heal us."

An Anna sister approached them. "It's been a long time. How's the whole quest thing?"

Linhardt stared up at her. "Forget about that for a moment. How is everyone here? Did their symptoms subside at all? Did the fatigue lessen?"

The merchant stopped to think about that. "Huh. Now that you mention it, the weird instances are milder. Did you figure something out?"

Linhardt persisted, "Perhaps . . ." He finished testing and tuned out the world while he analyzed the results. "It's definitely calmed down. The magical currents aren't as volatile as the early eyewitness accounts recall. So we actually are making a difference."

Sophie gasped. "So if we take out all the Twilighter bases, the Outrealm portals really will be healed? Really?! I had to admit, it seemed too good to be true."

Linhardt shrugged. "I can't say that with one-hundred percent certainty, but right now it makes the most sense."

Khalid brainstormed aloud. "It seems as though the next task is tracking down all the Twilighter bases and eliminating them."

Caeldori scowled. "And how exactly do we do that?"

Silas confessed, "They're making it harder on us; they're hiding the camps. In my world, it wasn't like that. You knew where the enemy was."

Subaki cleared his throat. "The only way to destroy the camps is to meet with rulers and see if there's any suspicious reports."

Severa complained, "That's so annoying! Is there some magic trick we can use to locate them all at once?"

Annette brightened. "Oh! After we killed Edelgard, Hubert told us the location of Shambhala. He was able to detect their magic using an apparatus in the Adrestian palace. If I had access to it, I might be able to see something!"

Caspar cried, "Let's go!" He excitedly ran into the Outrealm portal. Unfortunately, since it was still down, he smashed headfirst into it. "OWW!"

Dorothea bent over him. "Do you need me to use my healing staff?"

Caspar clamped a hand over his forehead. "Ergh . . . I think I'm good. Wow, that was painful."

Shiro comforted, "Don't worry about it, bro. Any one of us could've made that mistake."

Sophie sincerely doubted that, but she wasn't going to make fun of them. "So our next stop is Adrestia."

Ferdinand beamed. "Perfect! I have to catch up on some work anyway, and this is the perfect opportunity to complete while we're on the mission."

Dorothea narrowed her eyes. "Are you talking about official government business or evil mole business?"

The heroes made their way through the portals to Garreg Mach. Ingrid explained what happened to Rhea, Cichol, and Catherine while preparations were being made to ride to Adrestia.

Amidst all the hubbub, sensing her window of opportunity, Dorothea pulled Bernadetta aside. "Hey Bern. Have you been watching Ferdie?"

Bernadetta nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! Except I haven't really noticed anything that condemns him or exonerates him."

Dorothea bit her lip. "It's just . . . Why did that Gristonne priest say there was a mole? Why did Ferdie attack him after that? What's going on?"

Bernadetta shrugged. "Ferdinand wouldn't betray us. If he wouldn't, and that man is a mole," she made a subdued strangled scream, "then that man isn't the real Ferdie!"