Oracle of the Three Towers

by Pentalithia

Growing up in Skuwat village, Eumelia had always had a vague feeling of something not quite right… but it wasn't until disaster struck that she realized she may be destined for greater things.

2. Fateful Encounters

Far below the great floating continent known as the Wings of Horus, even lower than the Falcon's Claw, there floated a jumble of buildings jammed into a frame built of steel beams. The haphazard construction hovered less than a hundred stons above the noxious sea of death that covered the planet's surface, the thrumming of the symphonic power generator keeping it afloat at its core reverberating throughout the floating city. Every so often, the entire complex would shake violently, keeping the residents on their toes. This marvel of human engineering was Tenba Corporation's Academic City for the Investigation of the Sea of Death, more commonly known as Firefly Alley.

On one particular morning, there was a man sneaking around near the generator in question, away from the hustle and bustle of the town, on the catwalks leading to Tenba Labs and the generator itself. He waited a moment for some guards to pass by, then hurried down the catwalk before they turned back, clutching a small bundle to his chest.

Soon, the man arrived at the steps leading back into town. Looking around surreptitiously, he emerged onto Caracola Avenue without being seen and let out a sigh of relief. Surely he should be clear of any pursuit by now. It was unfortunate that one employee had caught a glimpse of him earlier, but it seemed he'd managed to shake that man off.

But he wasn't quite in the clear yet. He needed to find a place to hide until things calmed down. So, with that in mind, he headed down Caracola Avenue and turned onto Firefly Main Street, usually one of the busiest streets in town. However, at this early hour, there were only a few people around.

One person in particular caught his attention, a silver-haired woman standing lost in thought at the side of the road. She had a basket hooked over one arm, seemingly filled with merchandise that she had been selling. He might've been biased by her looks, but it seemed to him that she was the least likely of the people here to report him if questioned, so he approached and hailed her.

"Hey, young lady!" he said. "Could we talk for a second?"

The woman didn't seem to hear him however.

"Hey, miss! Are you listening?"

She still didn't respond, though a slight frown formed on her pretty face.

"Hey, missy, please don't ignore me!" the man said. "Please, I beg you!"

With a sigh of exasperation, the woman finally turned to look at him.

"What is it with you now?" she asked. "I'm trying to think about important things, and you just come by to start rambling at me and bug me!?"

"But you weren't even listening to me!" the man protested.

"Oh, are you a customer then?" she asked. "Would you like a kitty candy? Only twelve leaf apiece."

"Nah, I'm not here for that," the man began.

But at that moment, he caught sight of a man emerging from around a corner, accompanied by a reyvateil, both wearing the uniform of Tenba. To make matters worse, it was the very same man who had spotted him earlier.

"Found him!" the Tenba employee said. "I knew he wouldn't get very far!"

"Crap!" the man groaned. "Hey, miss, do you know a good place to hide? Anything at all, please?"

The woman tilted her head, then pointed at a small shop across the street.

"Well… if you go around the back of that shop on the right, you'll find a door leading into a back alley," she said. "I think you should be able to get pretty far away if you use that… should lead you straight into Kitty Town."

"Thank you!" the man said.

He took out a handful of grathnode crystals from the small bundle he'd been clutching and dropped them into the woman's basket.

"Please keep quiet about this!" he said.

The woman protested as he started to cross the street.

"Sir, wait a second!" she said.

But before she could say anything else, the Tenba employee spoke up again.

"Hey, Jemi, he's about to get away!" he said. "Do something already!"

"U-understood!" the reyvateil replied.

She opened her mouth, and a song came out.

"Wee ki ga hymme we morto en zash. Wee wol ga fusya windiling en zethpa denera art dilete fhyu."

The currents of air made barely visible by the song reached out, attempting to surround the man, but he put on a burst of speed and just barely managed to avoid it, disappearing around the side of the shop that Spica had indicated.

"You missed!?" the Tenba employee exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing!?"

Jemi stopped singing with a squeal as he slapped her on the butt.

"I-I'm sorry!" she said.

"Now isn't the time for talking!" the man said angrily. "He got away because of you, failure! So go after him!"

"Y-yes!" Jemi said.

She hurried towards the shop, heading around the side where the man had disappeared. The Tenba employee followed her.

"Wait! Slow down a bit!" he protested.

And then they were gone, leaving the silver-haired woman standing there alone and bewildered.

---

It was a few days after the man had escaped from the Tenba complex with his stolen goods. Krusche wove through the narrow streets of Firefly Alley, humming to herself as she went, heading for the place she'd been crashing at ever since her father died on Skuwat Island – one of many abandoned houses in the old residential district, or Kitty Town as the locals now called it. It may have been a residential district once, but after several more layers were built on top, blocking most of the light from reaching the area, almost anyone with the means to move to better accommodation had done so. Now, only the myriad cats and the poorest citizens still lived down here, hence the new name – Kitty Town.

Just as Krusche arrived at the place she currently called home, however, she spotted the boy who lived down the street from her with his father, bursting out of his place with a shout. He was the same age as her, so they'd gotten somewhat close since she arrived.

"Okay, I'm ready!" he exclaimed. "Let's go!"

"Huh?" Krusche said. "Ilya? What's up? Why are ya carrying all that stuff around? Ya going somewhere?"

"Oh, Krusche!" Ilya said. "I was planning to go to Nemo, but…"

"All alone?" Krusche said.

"Y-yeah… wait no, Miss Spica said she'd go with me, too."

"Oh, Miss Spica, huh?" Krusche said. "That's… the kitty candy lady, right? Hmm… she doesn't feel like the kind of person who'd take advantage of a kid, but I'm still worried… ah, right! I'll let you have that! Wait here a minute!"

With that admonishment, she slammed open the door of the place she currently called home and stepped inside.

"Oy, can you be a mite quieter!?" a voice called from the next room. "Some of us are trying to sleep in here!"

It was the teru she'd saved before on Skuwat Island – he was still recovering from his wounds, and while he seemed grateful for the help, he was nevertheless very grumpy about it.

"Whatever!" Krusche said. "More importantly, where did I leave it…?"

She rummaged around through the piles of random junk strewn all over the place, eventually uncovering the item she was seeking. It looked like a tiny pipe organ with a hole in the top.

"There it is!" she exclaimed.

She seized the object and hurried back outside, where Ilya was still waiting for her, fists clenched.

"Sorry for the wait!" she said. "Huh, did something happen, Ilya? You've got your fists all clenched up there!"

"Eh?" Ilya said. "Ah, whoops, I got a bit carried away…"

He unclenched his fists.

"Anyway, here you go!" Krusche said.

She held out the object she'd retrieved.

"Huh, what's this?" Ilya asked.

"I call this the Carillon Organito!" Krusche said. "It's the latest item I made myself!"

"Whoa!" Ilya gasped. "You're as skilled as usual, Krusche! But… how do you use it?"

Krusche indicated the hole in the top of the device.

"Well, do ya see the socket at the top here?" she said. "There's a switch that gets turned on when ya insert a grathnode crystal into it. Once ya do that, it'll play a magical song depending on the grathnode's disposition. For example, if ya put a red grathnode in, the item will emit an attack melody, and if ya stick a blue grathnode in, it'll play a healing song that'll refresh you, that sorta thing."

"Whoa!?" Ilya gasped. "This item's so amazing!?"

"It's called the Ca-ril-lon Or-ga-ni-to," Krusche retorted, sounding out the name slowly and clearly. "It was a pain in the neck to make it! At least remember the name! And of course, it costs one million leaf!"

"Eh!?" Ilya gasped.

Krusche chuckled. "Just kidding, just kidding!" she said. "It's something I made as a test of sorts, so have it as a present for your trip. Ah, and also…"

She reached into her pocket and drew out three low-grade blue grathnode crystals.

"Take these too," she said. "Some healing grathnodes I managed to find. Make sure ta get back in one piece, ya hear me? I'll seeya later!"

"Yeah!" Ilya said. "We'll go play once I get back!"

"It's a promise!" Krusche said.

She watched as Ilya turned and ran off, then re-entered her place.

"How long are you gonna keep me here, anyway?" that voice asked from the next room.

She followed the voice, entering the man's bedroom. He was just lying there on the bed, his still-injured leg propped up, the splint she'd made still tied firmly to it.

"I thought ya were trying to sleep," she retorted.

"I was trying, but all of a sudden it just got too noisy around here," he retorted.

"Well, s'not like there's anything keeping ya here," Krusche said. "Other than that injury, but seems it's almost healed up, ain't it? Ah, and yer new arm's just about done too."

"I keep telling you, I don't need a new arm," the man retorted.

"Sure, sure," Krusche said. "But it's almost done, so look forward to it!"

"Dammit," the man muttered. "Why'd I have to be saved by such an airhead…? And a little kid at that…"

---

On that tiny little island floating in the shadow of the Falcon's Claw, two months had passed by like a blur. Vivian had taken charge of training Eumelia in martial arts as she'd requested, starting out with bare-handed combat, while Elen had focused on training her in magic.

Though she'd sort of known already, the way she'd crafted that stealth song on the spur of the moment was not normal. Reyvateils who could find a trustworthy dive partner were the lucky ones, but even without a partner, it was apparently possible to slowly craft songs through focused meditation. That was what Elen had been focusing her training on. Eumelia had found it hard to focus, but she was doing her best to persevere. If she could get the hang of it, Elen had assured her, she should be capable of crafting a summoning song.

"Alright, I got our next target!"

Eumelia abandoned her workout in mid-pushup, sitting up to look at Nicky who had just arrived together with Elen.

"Already?" she asked.

"What do you mean, already?" Vivian said. "It's already been a bit more than two months. We're going to need the life-extending agent soon, you know?"

"Huh? You didn't have some in reserve?" Eumelia said.

"We don't always have some in reserve," Vivian said. "We used the last of it just before the previous heist… just before we met you."

"So… what's the target?" Eumelia asked.

"We're going to target a diquility shipment passing through Karulu village," Muriel said. "So, you've finally found the shipment schedule, right Nicky?"

"That's right!" Nicky said.

The name Karulu was familiar to her from the visions of that mysterious prophecy, so that drew her attention.

"Karulu, huh…?" Eumelia asked. "Am I allowed to come along?"

"Why, do you know someone in Karulu?" Vivian asked.

"Ah? No… I don't," Eumelia said. "But I thought it might be a nice place to visit…"

The truth was, she was hoping she might be able to meet Claire if she went there. While practicing her martial arts and meditation over the past two months, she'd dredged up a few more visions from that mysterious prophecy, which indicated Claire would be on a mission sometime during the current year that took her to a village much like Karulu. She didn't know the exact timing however, and she wasn't even sure if the village in question was Karulu in the first place, so it would be a stroke of luck if she actually ran into Claire. But there was also nothing to lose by going there.

"Well… I don't think we'll need your help on this one," Vivian said. "But I don't mind you coming along for sightseeing."

"Really!?" Eumelia said. "Thank you very much! So… when are we going?"

"The next shipment will stop there in three days," Nicky said. "So I think we should leave tomorrow. Is that alright with everyone?"

"Fine with me," Muriel said.

"No objection here," Elen said.

"Then it's settled," Vivian said. "The five of us will head to Karulu tomorrow. After the heist, we'll flee to the Singing Hill ruin to avoid pursuit – the terrain there is harder to traverse, so those guys will probably prioritize the transport over pursuit. If we get separated, Eumelia, meet up with us there about five days from now."

"Understood!" Eumelia said.

---

They arrived at Karulu village before midday the following day. The place consisted of a handful of buildings arranged around a central tower that rose about six stons into the air, looming over the entire village. The inn, a place appropriately called Tower Inn, lay right at the base of the tower.

The squad dispersed into the village to prepare, while Eumelia decided to head to Tower Inn to see if there was any sign that might indicate Claire's impending arrival. There was nothing, however, so she decided to explore the village. The view from the top of the tower was quite expansive, looking over the forest surrounding the village, with a view of the mountains to the northwest and several other similar towers that must have been ruins left from the old civilization. Besides that though, she didn't find much of interest, though she spent an hour or two browsing the book selection at the general store. Despite it being a frontier village, she managed to find a couple of technical books that sparked her interest, so she used the allowance Vivian had given her to purchase them. Satisfied, she headed back to the inn.

This time, there were quite a few people there, as it was around dinnertime. She took a seat at the bar and ordered a meal. While she was eating, there was a minor commotion, and she turned to see what it was about. A group of four masked men had just entered, two of them carrying musical instruments. With them were a young boy and a silver-haired young woman. The woman in particular caught Eumelia's eye – she was really pretty, but it wasn't so much her appearance that drew Eumelia's attention as the way she looked at the things around her, an oddly enticing combination of curiosity and arrogant boredom. Eumelia tried to focus on what they were saying as they came over to the bar.

"So this is Karulu, finally!" the boy said.

She noticed that he had some sort of device attached to his arm, which looked a bit like a music box.

"So Dian, how do we get to Singing Hill from here?" the young woman asked.

The woman had a whip clipped to her hip, much like the ones that Vivian and the others used, and from the way she looked, Eumelia figured she surely knew how to use it as well.

"Follow the old road out the other side of the village from which we entered," one of the men, presumably Dian, said. "It leads straight to the ruins. However, please be sure to take every precaution. The ruin is old and falling apart."

"Thanks for worrying about us," the young woman said as she took the seat next to Eumelia. "But we'll be okay."

"And, um… where will Euphrosyne be going next?" the boy asked.

"In all our fierce battles, we'll continue going from here to there, and then to the towns we've previously visited!" the taller man declared.

"Well, we aren't in a hurry," Dian said. "So there's enough time to choose our next destination. We'll spend the night here and decide in the morning."

"Um… excuse me…?" Eumelia spoke up. "He said Euphrosyne… are you really the rumoured travelling troupe…?"

"Ha, it seems this young lady has heard of us!" the man with the lute exclaimed.

"Yes, we are the musical troupe, Euphrosyne," Dian said. "I am Dian, the singing knight. These are Raphael, the strings knight; Lorzer, the percussion knight; and Aigil, our storyteller."

He indicated first the man with the lute, then the other man who hadn't spoken yet, and finally the taller man.

"We will be giving a performance after the meal, if you're interested," Dian continued.

"Ah… yes, of course!" Eumelia said. "Oh, um… my name is Eumelia… it's nice to meet you."

"You too!" the boy exclaimed. "I'm Ilya! This lady here is Miss Spica."

He indicated the silver-haired woman.

"Are you alone, Eumelia…?" Spica asked. "What happened to your parents?"

"Ah… they're… gone from this world," Eumelia said. "I did come here with someone, but they're busy right now so I guess I'm alone until they're done."

"Then would you like a kitty candy?" Spica asked.

"Ah… yes please!" Eumelia said.

Spica extracted one of the candies from her bag and handed it over. Eumelia popped it into her mouth – it turned out to be mint-flavoured.

"As Ilya said, my name is Spica," she said. "I usually sell my kitty candies in Firefly Alley, so if you're ever around there, please stop by."

"Thank you, Miss Spica!" Eumelia said. "I definitely will! By the way… Ilya, what's that thing like a music box attached to your arm? It looks interesting…"

"Oh… that's called the Carillon Organito," Ilya said. "The girl across the street made it for me in case I get into trouble… but I think it might be broken…"

"That's too bad," Eumelia said. "Well… it was nice to meet you guys, but it's getting late, isn't it? I should get to bed."

"Oh, good night, Miss Eumelia!" Ilya said.

"Good night!" Eumelia said.

---

Eumelia entered the common room early the next morning, where she found Spica and Ilya preparing to leave. Muriel was also there, eating breakfast.

"Ah, Ilya, Miss Spica, you're leaving this early?" Eumelia said.

"Yeah, we're in a bit of a hurry," Spica said.

"My dad's sick, so I need to get back as soon as possible to give him the medicine!" Ilya said.

"Oh, I see," Eumelia said. "I was hoping I could have a bit of fun with you two… especially Miss Spica…"

"Huh? You're more interested in an old lady like me than a lad your age?" Spica said.

"Well, that's…"

She couldn't quite explain why she was more drawn to Spica. It might've been her looks, partly, or the attitude she displayed towards the world. But putting it into words was hard, so she chose to brush it off by changing the topic.

"Come to think of it, how old are you, Ilya?" Eumelia asked.

"I'm nine years old!" Ilya said.

"Oh! We're the same age!" Eumelia said. "That's unexpected…"

"If you want to come play later, come to Firefly Alley," Ilya said. "I'll be available anytime! You can usually find me near Rocket Plaza!"

"Ah, I'll remember that," Eumelia said. "I might not have a chance to go there for awhile… but I'll definitely find time to visit once I get there."

"Come on, we should get going," Spica said. "Let's hurry to Singing Hill and find a good grathnode crystal so we can make the medicine, okay?"

"Yes!" Ilya said. "See you later, Eumelia!"

"You too, I hope!" Eumelia said.

With that, the two of them left the room, and Eumelia headed over to take a seat next to Muriel.

"Good morning," she said.

"Ah… good morning," Muriel said. "I didn't expect you to make a friend all of a sudden…"

"Is that bad…?" Eumelia asked.

"Eh? Why would it be…?" Muriel said. "Well, I think it's good to have friends your own age… even if it might be hard to get to Firefly Alley…"

"Um, so… how's your… work going?" Eumelia asked.

"It seems it's been delayed by a day or two," Muriel said. "So please be patient, alright?"

"Hmm… then do you mind if I go on a little trip?" Eumelia asked.

"Want to spend a bit more time with him, huh?" Muriel said.

That wasn't it, but… in order to deny it she would've had to talk about the prophecy, which she didn't want to go into. So she just shrugged, and Muriel chuckled.

"As long as it doesn't take more than five or six days," Muriel said. "If you don't make it back in time, we'll probably have to leave without you…"

"Hmm," Eumelia said. "I'll do my best… and thank you."

"Anyway, I've got things to do," Muriel said. "Be careful, alright?"

"Of course!" Eumelia said.

Muriel got up and left the inn, and Eumelia placed an order for breakfast. After eating it, she settled down in a corner to read one of the books she'd purchased the day before. She spotted Euphrosyne leaving the inn out of the corner of her eye, but they barely gave her a second look.

---

Spica and Ilya headed out from Karulu village, following the overgrown road towards the Singing Hills ruin. However, they hadn't been travelling for more than an hour when they ran into monsters, a pair of huge blue wolves.

"So you came out!" Spica exclaimed. "This time I won't make the same mistake!"

She unhooked the whip from her waist and cracked it at the wolves. However, the sound had no effect whatsoever, and the two of them just kept advancing. She cracked the whip again, this time striking one of the wolves directly, but the lash seemed to just bounce right off its thick, lush fur.

"O-oh no!" Spica gasped. "Their fur is too thick! Ah, I know, maybe I can sing them to sleep like Dian and the others did!"

She opened her mouth to sing one of the songs the four men had sung, but it had no effect whatsoever.

"Ahhh! I knew it, that won't work!" Spica groaned.

At that moment, a new voice spoke up.

"You two! Please stand back or you'll get hurt!"

"Miss Spica, come on!" Ilya said

He seized her hand, and the two of them hurriedly retreated. Then the new voice broke into song.

"Wee paks ra ferda lir en vonn diasee. Wee ki ga gyusya getrra grandee. Was ki ra got rre denera haf jouee."

"Ah!" Ilya gasped. "I knew it! Look, the Carillon Organito is shining again!"

"Wee yea ra vit rre diasee nha sol ciel an porter lir en hyma wi wart 'Rrha apea ra ftt yor na hartes jouee!' Was yea ra firle ar ciel, forgandal rre lir fusya sol ciel."

The newcomer, a teenage girl with blonde hair, unleashed a blast of light at the wolves, causing the two of them to turn and flee.

"Ah, now it stopped shining," Ilya said. "What could have made it do that…?"

The blonde girl stepped forward to greet them with a sigh.

"That was a close one, wasn't it?" she said. "No matter how I look, you two don't seem like adventurers… are you okay?"

"Huh, who are you?" Spica asked.

"My name is Claire," the girl said. "I'm from Tenba."

"Tenba again!?" Spica exclaimed. "You came all this way just to get in my way!?"

"Huh?" Claire said. "What are you talking about?"

"Huh? You didn't come here chasing after me?" Spica asked.

"I don't know what you might have done, but it isn't related at all to my current assignment," Claire said. "Please calm down a bit."

"Wait, don't make me look like I was the one in the wrong!" Spica protested. "To begin with, Tenba misunderstood something and was chasing me with all their energy…!"

Claire sighed. "I don't know what happened, but it has nothing to do with me," she said. "It looked like you were having trouble fighting those war phantoms, and since you had a child with you, I just jumped in to help without even thinking. But it was a good thing I did, right?"

"Of course!" Spica said. "I'd have been beaten if the fight dragged on… I didn't expect them to be immune to physical attacks…"

"Ah, Miss Claire, thanks for helping us," Ilya said.

"Don't mention it," Claire said, smiling.

Ilya giggled. "My name's Ilya," he said.

"Ah, right," Claire said. "There's something I'd like to ask you both. Currently, I'm searching for a masked music troupe called Euphrosyne that travels throughout Sol Ciel. Have either of you heard of them?"

"Ah, it's them!" Ilya gasped.

"Huh, do you know something about them?" Claire asked.

"Yes, we were travelling with them for a short time," Spica said.

"Really?" Claire said. "Do you know where they went?"

"Well, if you want any further information…"

Spica held out a hand, rubbing her fingers together, but Claire just looked confused.

"What does that hand gesture mean?" Claire asked.

"Oh, you don't know?" Spica said. "If you want the information, you have to give something of equal value in exchange for it."

"What!?" Claire gasped. "Are you actually an information broker or something? I never expected that… and after I did you the favour of saving your life…"

"Well, I'll take anything you have to offer," Spica said. "So what'll you do?"

"Very well then," Claire said with a sigh.

She set her bag down on the ground and extracted a clipboard and a pen, scribbling a note on a sheet of paper. She then tore off the paper and offered it to Spica.

"If you take this note to Tenba HQ and ask for Crew Atha, I've asked him to give you the indicated sum of money," Claire said. "You should go claim it as soon as possible."

"Okay," Spica said. "I've received your payment, now for the information. We parted from Euphrosyne at Karulu village. I'm not sure if they'll still be there, but they mentioned planning to travel north next. You might want to hurry if you want to catch up with them though, as they seem to be travelling all over the place."

"Really?" Claire said. "Karulu village is pretty close to here, right? Thank you, that's a great help! What's your name, by the way?"

"Ah, I'm Spica!"

"Okay, I'll remember that, Spica," Claire said. "You're quite the interesting woman… well, perhaps we'll meet again."

"Thank you for your patronage!" Spica said. "I'll expect to see you again!"

---

As the day wore on, the bar at Tower Inn slowly became more active, until a lock of golden hair caught Eumelia's attention.

Looking up from her book, she blinked in surprise as a girl entered wearing the uniform of a Tenba reyvateil beneath a hooded cloak, her blonde hair standing out as she pushed back the hood and made straight for the bar. Though her beauty was striking, it was the familiarity of her face that had startled Eumelia. She was Eumelia and Aurica's childhood friend, the daughter of the late chief of Skuwat village – Claire Branch.

"Welcome!" the bartender said. "What can I do for you?"

"I would like something to eat and drink," Claire said.

"Right you are!" the bartender said. "One daily special, coming right up!"

As Eumelia got to her feet and dusted herself off, intending to go over and say hi, one of the men who had been drinking at the bar slid over to take the seat next to Claire.

"Yooooooo!" he said. "You sooo beautiful, li'l girl!"

He chuckled unpleasantly, and Claire turned her face away from him with a sigh.

"Yer feet… they's beautiful arright!" he continued. "Wontcha show me yer faaace too? Come, come, let's drink aaall night!"

"I'm tired," Claire muttered. "Leave me alone."

"Ah!" the man exclaimed. "Girl, girl…! Ya listening ta me, girl…!?"

Eumelia had had enough. As the man was about to lay a hand on Claire's shoulder, she stomped forward to insert herself between the two of them, swatting his hand away and shooting him a glare.

"You're too persistent!" she said. "What's wrong with you, getting drunk in the middle of the day? Go sleep it off, you big oaf!"

"Ehhhh…?" the man said. "Ya wanna piece of me, ya li'l ugly chibi!?"

"Who are you calling an ugly chibi!?" Eumelia retorted.

The man formed a fist and looked like he was about to strike her. However, at that moment, the four members of Euphrosyne returned, breaking out spontaneously into song. The music seemed to hold power, similar to song magic, and everyone who listened was noticeably calmed down, especially the drunkard, who actually fell asleep right there on the counter, snoring loudly.

"Ah!" the bartender said as she served Claire her meal. "I'm really sorry about him… he gets like that sometimes…"

The bouncer hurried over to drag the drunkard away, and Eumelia turned to see Claire staring at her in shock. Before either of them had a chance to say anything, however, Dian took the seat on the other side of Claire and leaned towards her.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "It seemed as though that man was about to do something bad to you two."

Claire turned to him, blinking.

"Ah… thank you," she said.

While waiting for their conversation to finish, Eumelia took the seat that the drunkard had just vacated and placed an order for lunch with the bartender.

"However, no matter how evil your opponent might be, you must never use your songs to harm them," Dian continued.

"Huh!?" Claire gasped. "Are you…?"

"I'm the leader of the music troupe, Euphrosyne," Dian said. "You can call me Dian, the singing knight."

"Ah!" Claire said.

"And you can see the other musical knights, my companions, sitting down over there," Dian continued. "They are Raphael the strings knight, Lorzer the percussion knight, and our storyteller, Aigil."

"Ehh…" Claire said.

Dian chuckled.

"Are you surprised?" he asked. "Since we can use the power of songs just as you can, you wouldn't happen to think we're going to harm you, right?"

"Ah, n-no," Claire said.

"Just as we can, you say," Eumelia said. "But I think you're even more amazing than us, Sir Dian. You can use the power of songs all by yourself, without connecting to the tower's SH server, right? It might not be as powerful as the song magic of a reyvateil, but you can take that power with you anywhere you go, whereas we can only use it as long as we stay within the tower's broadcasting range… in Sol Cluster, for instance."

Dian chuckled. "I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about, but… you're correct that our power does not rely on the tower…"

"Then could it be that you're one of the fabled moon chanters?" Eumelia asked.

"That's a secret!" Dian said.

"Awwww…"

Claire turned to her again.

"Thank you very much for earlier," she said.

Eumelia giggled. "Claire… you need to be a bit more aware of yourself, you know?" she said. "You've always attracted that kind of people…"

"So my eyes weren't deceiving me," Claire said. "It's really you, Eumelia?"

"Yeah… it's really me," Eumelia said.

"What are you doing all the way out here?" Claire asked. "Are your parents here too? And Aurica?"

Eumelia shook her head. "It's sort of a long story… but I'll tell you if you let me travel with you for a few days."

Claire blinked. "Are you trying to bargain with me…?"

Eumelia giggled. "You realized?"

Claire sighed. "Fine… if it's only for a few days," she said. "In any case, it's good to see you again… I was disappointed you couldn't make it last time."

"So was I," Eumelia said. "But you had fun with Aurica, right?"

"Of course, we had lots of fun," Claire said.

"Then that's good enough!" Eumelia said.

Having nothing more to say, Eumelia settled down to eat, and the Euphrosyne members also decided to order food, taking a seat at one of the tables instead of the bar so they could eat together. Once Claire was finished eating, she got up and approached their table.

"Um, so… are you all the members of the Euphrosyne music troupe?" she asked.

"Indeed," Dian said.

"My name is Claire. I was dispatched by Tenba to find you. I think the voices of our hearts were telling us to meet in this place."

"Tenba?" Dian said. "Were they looking for us?"

"That's right," Claire said calmly. "Tenba has received news of the songs that all of you sing for the people. So we need your music to heal everyone's hearts. Music Troupe Euphrosyne, you are all cordially invited to our headquarters as our honourable guests. Would you please accept our humble invitation?"

Dian beamed at her in response.

"If they really need our musicians, then we will be pleased to comply with your requests," he said with a chuckle. "We will go wherever you say!"

Eumelia jumped up and ran over to cling to Claire's arm.

"You sounded really cool just now, Claire!" she said.

Claire chuckled a bit. "Ah, is that so?" she said.

"Ah, will you be joining us on the journey too, young lady?" Dian asked.

"Yes, I'll be in your care!" Eumelia said. "Claire and I grew up together, you see, but we haven't seen each other since she left to join Tenba, so it really was a stroke of luck meeting her today!"

She really meant that too – when she'd seen Euphrosyne leave in the morning, she'd thought that they would meet up with Claire in a different village, depriving her of a chance to tag along. But then Claire had shown up, and Euphrosyne had returned, so it had all worked out.

"Is that so!" Dian said. "Well, if it's alright with you, can we set out as soon as we've finished eating?"

"Ah, that's fine," Claire said.

It turned out that the troupe had a carriage, so she and Claire climbed on board and snuggled up together. Dian and Raphael sat across from them, while Aigil and Lorzer were at the front directing the carriage. They had only been travelling about half an hour before Claire spoke up again.

"So… you said you'd explain?" she said. "How is Aurica doing lately? Why isn't she with you?"

"Ah, that's right," Eumelia said. "Actually, to tell the truth, I haven't seen her since she left the village to meet with you."

Claire sat up straight and turned to look at her in surprise.

"Huh!? Are you saying she never made it back home!?"

"No, that's not it," Eumelia said. "She probably made it back but… I wasn't there when she got back, because there's nothing left of value there. Oh, except for Don Leon…"

"What do you mean by that…?" Claire asked.

"Um… maybe you've heard already?" Eumelia said. "Skuwat was attacked by the teru tribe… I was lucky to get away. I don't think anyone else did…"

"Then… my father…?" Claire said.

"Yeah… your father, and my parents… the girls who bullied Aurica and me… that persistent guy who kept badgering you… all of them are gone forever," Eumelia said. "After that, I happened to run into some nice people, so I've been living with them ever since."

"Is it… someone I know?" Claire asked.

"Oh… it might be, actually," Eumelia said. "There was a family called Cailbret in the village, right?"

"Ah, I'm surprised you know – I think they moved away when you were three," Claire said. "If I recall correctly, their daughter in Tenba was transferring to a different branch, so they wanted to stay close to her… I think her name was… Vivian? I haven't run into her at the Tenba headquarters yet, though… she must be working at a branch location."

Eumelia decided to gloss over the fact that Vivian had quit Tenba and had taken up the life of a vigilante.

"Yeah, so that's who I'm staying with now," Eumelia said. "She and her friends have been teaching me a bit about song magic, too."

"Huh… I don't really remember Vivian that well," Claire said. "If you were three, then I would have been eight… only a year younger than you are now. Still… if I don't remember her very well, we probably weren't on bad terms, and if you say she's nice… I guess I'll trust your judgement."

"Thank you very much, Claire," Eumelia said. "I love you!"

Claire giggled. "If you say that with a straight face, you might just make me blush!"

"But it's true though!" Eumelia said.

---

Ilya and Spica had ventured quite deep into the Singing Hill ruins while avoiding all the guardians that roamed through the place. They'd even found a few grathnode crystals already, but nothing of particular high quality.

"This place really is falling apart," Spica said. "Are you okay, Ilya?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Ilya said. "Oh look, is that something shiny over there…?'

"Hmm…?" Spica said.

"This is so exciting!" Ilya said.

He hurried forward towards the thing he'd spotted – it looked like a piece of metallic plate, perhaps broken off one of the robotic guardians of the ruins. However, as he knelt down to pick it up, there was a bright flash of light and a girl with silver hair wearing rich purple robes appeared out of nowhere. Her skin was darker than that of the average human, with strangely-shaped ears emerging from under her hair, which together with the tail poking out from beneath her skirt clearly identified her as a teru. Though presumably she had the horns of a teru as well, they were covered up by the purple turban she wore wrapped around her head. A small mirror in a thick golden frame hung over her chest, suspended from a chain around her neck.

"Wait a sec!" the girl exclaimed. "You weren't about to take that item, were you!?"

"W-whoa!" Ilya gasped. "You scared me… where the heck did you come from!?"

"W-what's this!?" Spica gasped. "Why shouldn't we take it? We found it first. And who are you, anyway?"

"Argh, how infuriating!" the girl said. "When asking someone their name, you should introduce yourself first!"

"I'm Spica," Spica said.

"I'm Ilya."

"I'm Lyra," the girl said. "Pleased to meetcha!"

"Okay then, we'll be taking this," Spica said.

She bent over to pick up the scrap metal.

"Feel free… no, no, you can't!" Lyra exclaimed.

Spica sighed. "How'd you come out of nowhere like that, anyway? I'm certain you weren't there a moment ago."

"My work is picking up items!" Lyra said. "If I don't bring them back to the customer, I can't get paid!"

"But even so, we found it first," Spica said.

"Is this really that valuable?" Ilya wondered. "It's just a piece of metal, isn't it?"

"I'm sure it's valuable to the right people," Spica said. "I don't think it's just ordinary metal… it probably came from one of those guardians."

"Ahh, this is a problem for me!" Lyra groaned. "If I don't get paid, I wonder what Harm'll say when he comes back…"

"Who's that?" Ilya asked.

"Whaaat!?" Lyra gasped. "You don't know Harm!?"

"Well, no," Spica said. "It's normal for us not to know him…"

"Harm is the coolest man in the world!" Lyra proclaimed.

"Uhh… I never even asked," Spica said.

"Ahh, not knowing about his cuteness is so…"

"I'm telling you I never asked about it," Spica repeated. "Well, whatever… here."

She reached into her bag and pulled out one of her kitty candies, offering it to Lyra.

"I'll give you this instead, so be a good girl, okay?"

"Don't treat me like a kid!" Lyra protested. "Ah, this is so, so… what is it…?"

"It's a kitty candy," Spica said. "And it's very tasty, so how about you open your mouth wide?"

Lyra did as instructed, and Spica popped the candy straight into the girl's mouth.

"Whoooa!" Lyra gasped. "It's so tasty!?"

"You see?" Spica said with a giggle. "I'm so glad you like it."

"Looks like you're having a lot of fun back here."

The three of them spun to face the unexpected voice. It was the same Tenba employee who had been chasing the man Spica helped before, and the reyvateil Jemi was also present, cowering behind him.

"Y-you!" Spica gasped. "You chased us all the way here!?"

"What a persistent guy you are!" Ilya said. "But Miss Spica already told you she didn't know anything!"

"Hmm, what's this?" Lyra asked. "Did a bad guy show up?"

"Argh, such noisy brats!" the man said. "You know, I had to stealthily leave my post just to come and settle this! So what'll it be? It's obvious you're covering up for that man, so you can either admit it right now and tell me what you know, or I'll haul your ass to Tenba myself for questioning!"

"Don't get all carried away saying whatever you want!" Spica retorted.

She cracked her whip at him, forcing him to take two steps back with a squeal.

"W-what's a kitty candy seller doing with a whip!?" he gasped. "How impertinent…!"

"So you thought I was no more than a regular kitty candy seller!?" Spica said.

She cracked her whip again, forcing the man back a few more steps. Jemi squeaked in fear as she clung to him.

"Miss Spica's incredible!" Lyra exclaimed. "She's amazing at doing that bish-bosh thing to that guy!"

"Do you really think I could lose to the likes of you!?" Spica asked.

Though she was already short of breath, the man wasn't much better off.

"H-how could you match me in hand-to-hand?" the man wondered. "Damn, how troublesome! Hey you!"

Jemi, who'd been cowering behind him the whole time, straightened up with a start

"A-ah, yes!" Jemi said.

"Sing!" the man ordered her. "Give that woman a dose of your song magic!"

"N-no, but… she's no normal person!" Jemi complained. "And there are even children with her…!"

"Just do it to the point where you don't kill them!" the man retorted. "Or do you intend to disobey me!?"

"U-understood," Jemi said.

With that, she opened her mouth and started to sing.

"Ma num ra exec rre saash ini en nha mea. Was paks ra got saash en gyusya forgandal echrra ar ciel an saash shen…"

"O-oh no!" Spica gasped. "I'm not sure if I can do anything against song magic…!"

"Ah, what's this…?" Ilya said. "The device is shining again… but more importantly, Miss Spica! We should run away !"

So, reluctant though Spica was to back off, the three of them turned the corner just beyond where they'd found the scrap metal. Unfortunately, the corridor in question came to a dead end before long. They turned to face Jemi and her boss as they approached slowly, Jemi building up her song magic.

"Alright, Lyra will show you what she can do!" Lyra proclaimed.

Just as the magic was unleashed, Lyra leapt in front of them and shouted out a single word.

"Ketora!"

A barrier popped up right in front of her, diverting most of the power of the song to both sides. However, that meant the walls took the brunt of the attack, and the song magic tore through them like paper, causing a section of the ceiling to cave in. A cloud of dust filled the air, obscuring everyone's vision.

"Miss Spica, where are you!?" Ilya gasped, coughing a bit.

"Ah, I can't even see her hat!" Lyra said.

"I'm right here," Spica said. "My hat fell off, that's why you can't see it."

"Miss Spica, I'm glad you're okay!" Ilya said.

Spica got to her feet as the dust began to settle, dusting herself off and turning to face Jemi and her boss.

"What, she avoided it!?" the man groaned. "You idiot, aim better next time!"

"S-sorry!" Jemi said.

"I'm a bit surprised that you're the kind of person who'd go to these extremes, just to do me in," Spica said coldly.

"Huh, I see something glowing over there…?" Lyra said.

She pointed at the device that had fallen to the floor next to Spica. It had tipped over on its side, the hole in the top facing down the corridor towards Jemi and her boss.

"Ah, right!" Ilya said. "It's my Carillon Organito… how'd it end up over there? And the light seems to be growing stronger and stronger…?"

"Huh… what's that glow?" Jemi's boss wondered.

"Shut your mouth!" Spica snapped.

"What didja say!?" the man responded indignantly.

"How long are you going to be so annoying and persistent?" Spica asked. "Even to the point that you'd abandon your job for this? I don't know if Tenba will end up firing you over this, but as for me, you've appeared and gotten in my way over and over and over again, everywhere I went, and now you've even gone to the extreme of trying to hurt me! And to make matters worse, you tried to take me away without any proof, when I clearly told you I didn't know anything! Haven't you had enough already!?"

The light from the Carillon Organito grew even brighter still, and Lyra raised a hand to shield her eyes from that brightness.

"W-what's this?" she asked. "What's happening?"

"I won't forgive you!" Spica shouted. "I won't forgive anyone who gets in my way! I'm not going to let anyone stop me short of my ultimate goal!"

At that moment, music burst forth from the Carillon Organito.

"W-what!?" Ilya gasped. "It started playing all of a sudden…?"

"Ah, I can feel magical power coming from that box!" Lyra gasped. "Miss Spica's feelings must be crafting that song!"

"W-what!?" Jemi's boss gasped. "W-what's happening here!?"

"Yes, I'll never forgive those who stand in my way!" Spica shouted.

With that, she opened her mouth and began to sing along with the song from the Carillon Organito. The words she sang, if they could be called words, seemed to echo the actual sounds the device was producing, as if the device was writing the song and Spica was merely singing along.

"ssa wee res sog yyu nnh , rrrryy… Xa Ziqt wac sss. ccccc Waacc waccrt qrt gatsyy ttr ttr hhh. Jaats meet ccitta. ZzzZz Zat tez Vzazz ss, ttr ttr hhh. Vvvv QazZatty vaeZ gdssst ggthaZz. RrduuZ Zyaahhh ggthaZz. aaaa Zaaaa Zatty Zetty Zaawwt qrrt ggthaZz."

As she sang, the light from the Carillon Organito continued to grow brighter and brighter, until the point where Spica stopped singing. At that moment, all the built-up energy emitted from the device spread outward. This meant a beam of symphonic power tore down the corridor towards Jemi and her boss. Their screams could be heard as Spica collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath, and moments later the ground began to shake.

"That was incredible, Miss Spica!" Ilya exclaimed. "You're not even a reyvateil, but you sang such a powerful song!"

"Oh no!" Lyra gasped. "It's about to crumble away!"

"Huh? What?" Ilya said.

"This is bad!" Lyra said. "The terrain in the Singing Hill is very fragile in the first place… two explosions in a row must've caused something to collapse somewhere!"

"You two, get over here!" Spica shouted.

She reached out to grab Lyra's and Ilya's hands, just as the floor beneath them gave way, with a screech of metal being contorted into forms it was never meant to take and snapping. They fell quite a good distance before coming to a stop, and Ilya didn't stop screaming the entire time.

"Owie owie owie," Ilya groaned. "It hurts so muuuch… at least I'm alive, but it huuurts…"

"Ilya, are you okay?" Spica asked. "How bad does it hurt?"

"Ah," Ilya said.

He spent a moment or two checking himself out.

"It hurts all over, but I think it's nothing serious," he said.

"And how about Lyra?" Spica asked.

"She's right next to me," Ilya said. "She passed out but she doesn't seem to be hurt."

"That's a relief," Spica said. "But that said, how are we going to get out of here…? We seem to be trapped in here. I think we'd need to shift this beam to get out, but…"

She indicated a beam that was laying across them, propped at an angle and holding a door closed on the near wall. She squeezed herself under it and tried to move it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Ugh, no way," she said. "No matter how much I push, it won't move."

"What should we do?" Ilya wondered. "This isn't the sort of place that people come all the time. Are we… gonna die here…?"

"We're not!" Spica said fiercely. "I'm sure someone will notice and come save us!"

"But I'm hungry…" Ilya said.

Spica reached for her bag, but it wasn't there. For that matter, the Carillon Organito was nowhere to be seen either.

"Huh? My bag's gone," she said.

But then she remembered her pockets. Reaching in, she pulled out a roll of kitty candies and extracted one.

"Ilya, open your mouth," she said.

Ilya did as she said, and she popped the candy in.

"Huh? Ohhh, it's sweet," he said. "That's one of your kitty candies, right?"

Spica giggled. "Does it taste good?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Ilya said. "It's so good I'd like to eat a bucket's worth of them!"

"Oh, but do you know how much that would cost?" Spica asked.

"Ah, who cares about the price!" Ilya said.

The two of them burst out laughing together. It was around then that Lyra stirred, sitting up with a groan.

"What happened…?" she asked.

"Ah, Lyra, you've come to!" Spica said. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm a pretty tough girl," Lyra said. "Huh? We're trapped here?"

"Yeah," Spica said.

Lyra looked down and noticed that the mirror that had been hanging over her chest was gone.

"Ah, and where's my mirror…?" Lyra asked.

"By mirror, do you mean the thing that was hanging over your chest?" Spica asked. "It looks like it slid over here."

The mirror had somehow ended up by her foot, so she picked it up and passed it over to Lyra.

"Oh, perfect!" Lyra said, letting out a sigh of relief. "Looks like it's okay! Without it, I wouldn't be able to see my destination!"

"Huh? What do you mean by destination?" Spica asked.

"You see, I can teleport from place to place," Lyra explained. "And if I use this mirror, I can see the place I'm going before I teleport! So let me just go and get some help! This'll be over in a flash!"

And with a flash just like she said, she vanished from sight entirely.

"She's gone…?" Ilya said. "She has an eccentric personality and can use a mysterious kind of magic like it's nothing… huh? Could she be a teru…?"

"She had a tail too… did you notice?" Spica said.

"Ah… now that you mention it…"

They fell silent for several minutes, waiting, but eventually they heard Lyra's voice again, coming from somewhere above.

"Over here!" she said.

A man's voice followed up.

"Hey, are you okay down there?" he asked. "We'll get ya outta there in a second! Just hang on tight a little longer!"

"Miss Spica, we're saved!" Ilya said.

"Yes, we sure are!" Spica said.

The man and several others with them lowered some ropes, which Spica and Ilya tied about their waists. The men then pulled them up to firmer ground, then guided them out of the ruins. There were a few more men waiting outside, along with a pair of reyvateils who proceeded to use healing magic on the two of them.

"For awhile there I wasn't sure what would become of us," Spica said. "But we were saved thanks to your help, Lyra."

Lyra giggled. "Oh, that's nothing!" she said.

"So, about this piece of scrap metal," Ilya said, holding it up.

"Ah, I'm surprised you still have it after all that," Spica said.

"I'm surprised too, actually," Ilya said.

"Oh right, that should belong to me," Lyra said.

"So we're back to square one," Spica groaned.

"But I was already searching here," Lyra said. "Well, tell you what, how about I give you a grathnode crystal instead?"

"Huh?" Ilya said. "That's what we were looking for to begin with…"

"So we'll exchange the scrap metal for a grathnode?" Spica said.

"That's right!" Lyra said. "I always have a lot of high-quality crystals on me, you know. Here… how's this one?"

She extracted a blue grathnode crystal from somewhere and offered it to them. Spica accepted it, and Ilya passed over the scrap metal.

"Oh, this is a very high-grade grathnode!" Spica exclaimed. "Ilya, we did it!"

"Yay!" Ilya exclaimed.

"But wait, you always have high-quality crystals like this?" Spica asked.

"Yes!" Lyra said. "Do you like grathnode crystals, Miss Spica?"

"Yes, I do," Spica said. "Well, I don't think there are many people who don't…"

"And you make those kitten candies?" Lyra asked.

"They're kitty candies, and yes, I make them," Spica said. "Did you like them?"

"Oh awesome!" Lyra said. "I just love kittens! Can I trade my grathnodes for your kitty candies?"

"Huh?" Spica said. "Are you really okay with just the kitty candies?"

"Yep, yep, they're more than enough!" Lyra said.

Spica giggled. "Well then, if you bring me lots of high-quality grathnode crystals, I'll exchange them for as many kitty candies as you like! You can find me in Firefly Alley most of the time!"

"Really?" Lyra said. "Yay!"

"Miss Spica!" Ilya called. "The people from the church are waiting! Hurry up!"

Apparently, the two of them had fallen behind while discussing the grathnodes and candies.

"Then I'll see you later!" Lyra said.

And with that, she disappeared in a flash of light. Spica hurried forward to join Ilya and the men from the church, but then she noticed an extra person there as well. Jemi stepped forward a little nervously.

"Y-you again!?" Spica gasped. "Will you never give up!?"

"N-no, um… I… I just wanted to… to apologize!" Jemi protested. "It's not like I… wanted to do any of that, but…"

"What happened to the other guy with you?" Spica asked.

"Ah, Michal, he… well… i-it seems he… didn't make it out," Jemi muttered.

"Well, I guess it's about what he deserved," Spica muttered darkly. "Alright, I'll accept your apology."

"T-thank you very much…!" Jemi gasped. "B-by the way… this… is yours, right?"

She held up the Carillon Organito.

"Oh, you found it!?" Ilya gasped.

"Y-yeah, well… it's more like it found me…"

"Well, I don't think I'll need it anymore," Ilya said. "Why don't you keep it?"

"A-are you sure…?" Jemi gasped. "I'm not even sure what I'd do with it…"

"Well, the same goes for me," Ilya said. "I'll be going back home now, and it was only a prototype anyway… so I don't really need it anymore…"

"T-thank you," Jemi said. "I'll… take good care of it…"

With that, she bowed and hurried off into the woods, ignoring the men of the church who attempted to stop her.

---

After about two days of travelling, Claire, Eumelia, and the Euphrosyne troupe arrived at the town of Lemoto, where the Tenba main offices were situated. Claire led the way through town to the Tenba installation on the north side, and then turned to face the others.

"Eumelia, it might be best if you wait here for me," she said. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Sure," Eumelia said.

Claire turned to show the guard her identification, then entered along with the music troupe. Eumelia ducked out of sight for a moment, then began to sing. With the stealth magic in effect, she hurried to follow them, making it inside just behind Aigil. Taking advantage of any hiding place she could find in order pause her song and save energy, she followed the group through the halls until they reached a certain office. Claire knocked on the door, and after a moment a diminutive dwarf of a man opened it. Though Claire was only fifteen and still had some growing to do, this man was even shorter than her, by almost half a head. Dian and the others thus towered over him. He had short cropped brown hair and wore glasses with rectangular lenses.

"Oh, Claire, you're back?" he said. "I heard you promised someone payment for information…"

"Yes, thanks to her, I have brought the Euphrosyne music troupe, Commander Crew," Claire said.

"Well, well," Crew said. "It's a pleasure to welcome you here."

He reached inside the room to press a button on the wall.

"We received your invitation and we are glad to accept it," Dian said.

"I shall treat you as our most esteemed guests," Crew said.

At that moment, two more men ran up, and Crew turned to acknowledge their arrival.

"Please take these men somewhere where they can relax for awhile," Crew instructed them.

"Yessir!" one of the men said.

Turning back to Claire and the others, he continued addressing Dian.

"I am sorry to leave you alone after such a long journey, but could you all wait for a little while?" Crew asked.

"Of course," Dian said.

As the music troupe followed the two men, Claire addressed Crew.

"Um, Commander, I wish to talk to you for a little while," Claire said.

"Ah, that's convenient," Crew said. "There is something I wish to discuss with you as well. Could you please come with me?"

"Oh… alright," Claire said.

As the two of them turned a corner, Eumelia took the chance to recover her breath for a few seconds before she started singing again. She then followed the two of them further in, pausing for breath at nearly every corner. They left the clean and spacious halls of the main floor, descending two levels into some cramped and narrow corridors. This was a boon for Eumelia, because unlike the upper hallways, there was absolutely no-one else around down here, making it even easier to stay hidden.

Finally they reached a hall that seemed to be shrouded in an eerie darkness despite the light fixture glowing on the ceiling. There was a heavy steel door at the far end of the corridor. Claire looked around nervously.

"W-what are we…?" she asked.

Crew stepped up to the door and scanned a key card. With a puff of hydraulic machinery and the scraping of metal on metal, the door split horizontally in half and folded inwards.

"Come on in," Crew said.

It was a huge room filled with artifacts of all kinds that Eumelia couldn't even begin to identify, probably all relics of the First Age, from before the Grathnode Inferia disaster that had destroyed the planet's surface and sealed off the sky. Besides that, there were also a large number of capsules. They looked like the sort of thing that would be used for cryogenic sleep, or possibly they could be growth capsules such as the ones that beta-type reyvateils were grown in. Most of the capsules appeared to have people trapped inside them. Claire audibly gasped at the horrible sight.

"W-what… is this supposed to be…?" she asked.

Crew chuckled. "Welcome to my secret laboratory," he said. "Ahhh, doesn't this scenery look wonderful?"

"What… what is all this?" Claire asked.

Hearing the shaking in her voice, and emboldened by the dim lighting in this place, Eumelia decided to step up to Claire and squeeze her hand, stopping her song as she did so. Claire looked down, startled, and Eumelia pressed a finger against her own lips to request silence.

Crew wasn't even looking towards them, instead approaching one capsule that was quite a bit larger than the others. The person inside, a young girl, seemed to be enshrouded in darkness, and it wouldn't be a stretch to suppose that she was the source of the strange darkness pervading the whole place.

"How do you like her?" Crew asked. "Among all the things I have collected, this beautiful girl is the one that seems the most like a daughter to me. Ahhh, isn't she cute?"

"D-daughter…?" Claire said, her voice shaking a little. "Do you mean she's alive?"

Crew chuckled. "Oh, isn't it good, Claire? Aren't you jealous? But yes, she is! This is a pure-blooded beta-type reyvateil, which will be brought back to life by Tenba's hands! You see, under the orders of Commander Bourd, I was entrusted the task of finding a method to release an ancient pure-blooded beta that was sealed away by someone called Shurelia or something. And while I was searching for that method in the tower, I found some important documents about lost technology! Can you imagine my astonishment when I opened these books? They described things I had never even imagined! Did you know? The ancients even went as far as trying to create a new generation of pure-blooded betas, but even after many experiments, they didn't have any success!"

The man's words seemed to dredge up another bit of trivia from Eumelia's mysterious memories – a set of names she hadn't previously known. Unlike previous times when new names occurred to her, however, this time they weren't accompanied by images. But there were enough bits of information accompanying those names for her to realize that the experiments had been a little more successful than Crew thought.

"Mir, Mayfeel, Ar Meduel, and Midir," Eumelia muttered. "Which means… this must be one of Mir's sisters…"

"Huh…?" Claire said. "What are you talking about…?"

Suddenly Crew spun to face them, and Eumelia ducked behind Claire. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice her, probably due to the unnatural darkness.

"There were four names written in that book!" Crew proclaimed. "The four that came closest to success! Mayfeel… Mir… Midir… and Ar Meduel!"

Claire gasped, glancing over her shoulder at Eumelia.

"At the moment, I don't have a concrete way to identify which of the four she is," Crew continued. "Even so, I had a feeling I'd be able to learn more if I could find more of those documents lying around the tower!"

Crew chuckled.

"Do you know what this means, Claire!?" he asked. "After much investigation, I finally managed to find one of the neo pure-blooded reyvateils created by the ancients!"

He spun to face the capsule again, stroking it lovingly.

"To you, my pure-blooded beta daughter, who I found inside an excavation site near the Floating Wharf, I shall give the name Midir! Ah, who is my cute little Midir?"

"U-unbelievable," Claire said. "But more importantly… what is going on with all of these people?"

She swept her arm expansively to indicate all the other capsules.

"All of the people in here… aren't they the ones you ordered me to capture?" Claire asked. "What… what does this mean?"

Crew glanced towards the other capsules.

"Oh, you mean all the trash I've used up?" he said.

"W-what!?" Claire gasped.

Crew chuckled.

"Have you ever heard of the moon chanters?" he asked.

"Yes," Claire said. "The moon chanters were a group of people that supposedly existed long, long ago. Nowadays they're little more than a legend."

"It was said that they could produce all sorts of miracles by singing with their own power," Crew said. "They sang from the depths of their hearts to resonate with the land. They were humans, but they were somewhat similar to the reyvateils. However, they existed long before reyvateils appeared on this planet. There is no doubt that they existed, since their ability to resonate with the earth was the basis for the ability of directly connecting with the tower that you reyvateils have."

"And… what does all of that mean, exactly?" Claire asked.

"Well, let me finish first," Crew said. "If I can finish the work of the ancients by creating a new pure-blooded beta, and I then combine it with the basis of our civilization, the moon chanters' power to resonate with the earth… then I'll be able to create the ultimate reyvateil! And so, I thought that if I gathered together all the moon chanters who still exist and make them all sing together, then I'd be able to release enough power from them to establish a connection to Midir, and transfer all of it to her! By using the technology of the ancients and the flowing voice of the moon chanters, I'll be able to turn Midir into a perfect being!"

Crew grinned at Claire, a truly demented look on his face.

"Once she's complete, I'll have a reyvateil who will work without diquility for around a hundred and fifty years!" he exclaimed. "In this way, you reyvateils will be able to relax without any problem!"

"It's normal for beta-types to not need diquility though…" Eumelia muttered.

"So just for that, you had to gather and imprison innocent people here!?" Claire exclaimed.

"Claire, Claire, what are you saying?" Crew asked. "Because of them, we'll be able to make a better future for everyone! More importantly, we still haven't gathered all the moon chanters we need. The abilities of these ones are pretty weak, and I don't have any use for them anymore. But still, Claire, you are a heroic reyvateil! You brought me so many all by yourself! It's all thanks to you that my research has progressed to this point! Isn't it wonderful? Don't you see, Claire? Your destiny is to walk alongside me! Your miracles will be praised! You'll have anything you wish for!"

Crew cackled maniacally, and Eumelia squeezed Claire's hand a little tighter.

"Once this research is done, we will all be heroes!" Crew proclaimed once he was finished laughing. "What, don't you want the glory? Come now, I don't care if you're tired. I want you to go and bring more of them! Do you understand? Just a little more! Just a little more and we will be finished!"

"What!?" Claire exclaimed. "How can you be so disgusting!? You're absolutely insane!"

"Ah, that's right," Crew said. "Among the moon chanters you brought this time, there was one that had pretty exceptional abilities, wasn't there? What was his name, again… singing knight Dian, I think it was?"

"W-what did you say!?" Claire gasped.

"He is a pretty good specimen," Crew said. "Ah, I have to thank you, Claire. I see now. What would you say if I give you a special reward once you have finished this job?"

He burst out laughing again, while Claire gritted her teeth.

"You… you're going to… with everyone from Euphrosyne!?" she exclaimed. "Even Dian… are you planning to add them all to your sick collection too!? You'll pay for this! For making me sing for something as low as this… I'll never forgive you! You'll pay for what you're doing to Dian, and to all these innocent moon chanters!"

While Claire was ranting, Eumelia picked up the sound of male voices from the corridor. Glancing back, she confirmed it to be the four members of Euphrosyne. But then, as her rant came to an end, Claire opened her mouth to sing.

"Quesa, morto mea en manafaln… was yea ra chs gatyunla saash."

"Claire, no!" Dian exclaimed.

"Claire, stop it!" Eumelia shouted. "It's too dangerous to use red magic here!"

She released Claire's hand and stepped around to hug her from the front.

"Please calm down, Claire!" she said.

"Y-you bastards!" Crew gasped. "How did you get in here…? There were guards everywhere… what were those incompetents doing!?"

"Don't worry about them!" Lorzer said. "All of your men were put to sleep by our songs."

Eumelia squeezed Claire even tighter as she continued singing, apparently oblivious to all the ruckus.

"Rrha guwo gagis chsee guatrz fayra pauwel. Ma guwo ra zethpa denera waats we zash!"

"Dian, hurry!" Aigil shouted. "You can still save her! We'll take care of everything else!"

"Aigil… thank you very much!" Dian said. "Everyone, I'll leave the rest to you!"

He hurried over to lay a hand on Claire's shoulder.

"Claire, don't do it!" he said. "Remember our conversation earlier! You must not use your songs to hurt anyone else! Claire! Can't you hear my voice!? Claire! Claire!"

"Claire, please listen!" Eumelia shouted. "Please stop singing!"

"Rrha guwo gagis chsee guatrz fayra pauwel. Ma guwo ra zethpa denera waats we zash!"

"Our words… aren't getting through to her," Dian said.

"What other options are there…?" Eumelia wondered. "Other than knocking her out, I can't think of anything… is there really nothing that can be done…? If that attack hits Midir…"

"I suppose we could remove the target from sight," Dian said.

Eumelia blinked, glancing over at Crew who was still shouting at the other members of Euphrosyne.

"Ah. Sir Dian, can you put that man to sleep?" she asked. "If he's unconscious, then I can easily remove him from sight."

"I suppose it's worth a try," Dian said.

He turned to face Crew and opened his mouth to sing. It wasn't Hymmnos, but a different strange language that Eumelia didn't understand.

"teemmfil snnucwee! Let the dulcet tones of my voice lull you to sleep! teemmfil snnucwee! Your eyelids droop, your limbs fall limp, and into the world of dreams you shall enter! teemmfil snnucwee!"

Though it was just the two strange words a few times over, intermingled with the common tongue of Sol Ciel, Dian's song was quite effective. Crew collapsed right there on the spot, and Eumelia darted towards him, opening her mouth to sing. She grabbed him and dragged him off to the side, tucking him behind one of the smaller capsules. Rummaging through his pockets for a moment, she extracted the key card he'd used to open the door to this lab. Then she turned to check on Claire. The song had faltered, and the flames looked like they were on the verge of going out of control, so Eumelia stopped her song and leaped out in front of Claire once more.

"Claire, watch out!" she shouted. "If you don't stop now, it'll go out of control!"

Startled, Claire closed her mouth, and the built-up energy dissipated, the flames fizzling out.

"Eumelia…?" she said. "What… what are you doing…? Where's Crew!? Why would you defend a man like that!?"

"Crew's not the one I'm defending," Eumelia replied. "If you'd kept going, you would've risked hitting her!"

She turned to point at Midir's capsule.

"Ah…!" Claire gasped. "I… I was so furious, I wasn't thinking straight…!"

"Crew's out cold over there, anyway," Eumelia said. "Sir Dian put him to sleep. You can go give him a good kick if you really want to. Goddess knows he deserves it."

"O-oh no, I couldn't…" Claire muttered.

Eumelia looked around to see what the other members of Euphrosyne were up to. Apparently, they were freeing the other moon chanters from the capsules. It looked like at least some of them were still alive.

"Hey… do you think Midir can be saved?" Eumelia wondered. "The beta-type reyvateil in that tank there… if Crew was correct, she might not even be… how to say it… complete?"

"I'm afraid I know little about reyvateils," Dian said.

"I suppose you don't know much either, right Claire?" Eumelia said.

"I'm not even sure what a beta-type reyvateil is…?" Claire said.

"That's about what I expected," Eumelia said.

Eumelia turned to survey the capsule thoughtfully. One of the books she'd purchased in Karulu had covered some basic technical topics related to symphonic power, but it didn't seem like that would help her here. At least that unnatural darkness seemed to be less intense than before, though. Perhaps it was subsiding due to the release of the moon chanters.

"I think… we should probably wait a bit before trying anything," Eumelia said. "Until it gets a little brighter in here…"

"I should… try to heal those people," Claire said. "They might not like to see me, but… it's the least I can do…"

She and Dian headed over to the rescued moon chanters, singing a healing song magic, and Eumelia cautiously approached the capsule to examine it more closely. There was a console on the side, with a number of buttons and displays. One of the displays depicted a graph declining over time, shifting to the left once every few seconds and adding a new, shorter slice on the right. She scanned the displays, looking for anything that might give an indication of the girl's current state, and finally her eyes settled on one display in the corner that resembled an electrocardiogram.

If it wasn't for those memories of another life, she probably never would've understood the significance of that display. It was a wave form with spikes at roughly equal intervals, with smaller lumps spaced out between the spikes. It meant that Midir had a heartbeat, which surely meant that she was alive.

Aigil stepped up behind her, his voice startling her.

"Do you know what any of this means?" he asked.

"Ah… most of it, no," Eumelia said. "This is just a guess, but I think this graph here might mean that she's losing the power she absorbed from the moon chanters, though… and I'm pretty sure this graph over here is showing her heartbeat."

"So she's alive?" Aigil said.

"I… I think so," Eumelia said. "I guess it means the artificial body is stable…?"

"Can you figure out how to wake her up?" Aigil asked.

"Maybe, but… I'm scared," Eumelia said. "What if she's angry and tries to destroy everything…? Crew might have treated her really badly…"

"Hmm… I'll come up with something," Aigil said. "Don't worry."

She heard him move away, and scanned the control panel, searching for a button to open the pod. Finally she found one that looked promising and reached out to press it. Before her finger touched the button, however, she stopped, hesitating. Was this really the right thing to do, she wondered? Was it really okay to wake this girl up?

Then song broke out behind her, and she glanced back to see Euphrosyne, Claire, and several of the rescued moon chanters all singing together. Encouraged by the calming song, Eumelia turned back to the console and pressed the button.

The fluid inside the capsule slowly drained out, and then there was a hiss of a pneumatic lock being released. Finally the capsule swung open, and the child within fell forward into Eumelia's arms. She looked to be no more than six years old, with short black hair. Her install port was visible on her back, just below her right shoulder. After a moment, the girl opened her eyes, a startling shade of red, and glared up at her.

"Who… are you?" the girl asked.

For someone who'd essentially just been born, her speech was surprisingly good, but to Eumelia, the tone of her voice sounded almost like an accusation.

"I'm the one who let you out of there," Eumelia said. "Are you okay? Does it hurt anywhere?"

"Pain… there's none," the girl said. "It's all gone."

"You mean, the pain is all gone?" Eumelia said. "Thank goodness… I'm glad you're okay. Um… do you know your name?"

The girl tilted her head for a moment.

"My name…?"

"Yes… your name," Eumelia said. "My name is Eumelia. What's yours?"

The girl shook her head. "I don't know," she said.

"Then, is it okay it I give you a name?" Eumelia asked.

The girl tilted her head the other way, then nodded.

"Sure," she said. "Go ahead."

"Hmm," Eumelia said.

Since Crew had admitted that he was unsure whether this girl was Mayfeel, Midir, or Ar Meduel, Eumelia thought it was better not to use any of those names. Whichever one was her real name would be encoded into her hymn code, after all, so wasn't it better to pick a different name for everyday use? Given that she was something like Mir's sister, and Mir would later take on the name Jacqli… with that in mind, Eumelia was able to come up with something that she thought was nice.

"Jessamine," she said. "How do you like that name?"

The girl considered a moment, then shrugged.

"It's fine?" she said. "Jessamine… Jessamine… Jessamine… it has… a nice ring to it…"

"I think it's a nice name too," Claire said, coming up behind them and startling Eumelia. "I'm Claire. Nice to meet you, Jessamine… but we should get you some clothes, shouldn't we?"

Glancing back, Eumelia saw that Euphrosyne had also come up. The rest of the moon chanters had gathered by the entrance.

"Hmm… for now, let's go with this," Dian said.

He stripped off his shirt and handed it over, and Eumelia helped Jessamine get into it. It was large enough to cover her down to the knees, and her hands were lost in the long sleeves. The girl seemed bemused by it, examining herself in the shirt.

"We should go," Aigil said. "It won't be much longer before the guards we put to sleep will wake up, and that's assuming they're not found."

"Yeah," Eumelia said. "Come on, Jessamine, let's go."

"Okay!" Jessamine said.

Lorzer picked up the sleeping Crew and Dian lifted Jessamine onto his back, and with that, everyone piled out of the lab. Eumelia held back, waiting for everyone else to leave, then used the key card she'd stolen from Crew on the wall console to close the doors behind them. Leaving Crew on the ground there, they made their way unchallenged all the way up the surface, then ventured a little way into the nearby forest. Finally, Claire collapsed on the ground with a sigh of relief, and Eumelia knelt down next to her.

"That was… horrible," Claire said. "I'm really glad it's finally over…"

"It could've been worse though," Eumelia said. "I'm satisfied with this result…"

"Oh, that's right," Claire said. "Eumelia… what on earth were you doing there? You said you'd wait outside. For that matter, how did you even get in?"

"Ah… I hid myself with my song magic and followed you all the way there," Eumelia said.

"Oh, that's a rather unique song magic," Claire said. "Still… that was a very risky thing to do!"

"I know," Eumelia said. "But thanks to that I was able to save Sir Dian's life and rescue Jessamine, so…"

"Huh, do you think my life was really in danger?" Dian asked.

"Well, it didn't get to that point," Eumelia said. "But it could have been, if Claire's magic had been released…"

Jessamine hopped off of Dian's back and hugged Claire and Eumelia.

"Don't be sad!" she said. "Jessamine is here too!"

"Ah, that's true," Claire said. "I'm glad I could get you out of there, Jessamine… I'm so sorry…"

"So, um… someone has to take care of Jessamine, right?" Eumelia said. "Obviously it can't be me…"

"It might be difficult, but I could probably manage," Claire said. "What about Euphrosyne…?"

"Hmm… I think we could take in a kid," Dian said. "Though once she needs the life-extending agent it could become a problem…"

"Oh, she won't need it," Eumelia said. "She'll be able to live for more than a century without ever using diquility. Only half-blooded reyvateils like Claire and me need to go through that pain."

"Huh? Have you done it before…?" Claire asked.

"No, not yet, but I've heard it hurts a lot," Eumelia said. "I'm not looking forward to it…"

"It definitely does," Claire said. "So Jessamine doesn't need it? That's good, Jessamine. You won't have to go through all that pain every three months…"

"Jessamine doesn't really know what you're talking about," Jessamine said.

"Well, if you don't mind doing a lot of travelling, you can come with us," Dian said. "Or if you'd prefer to settle down in a town, then you could go with Claire."

"Yes, I think I'll find a place to settle down," Claire said. "Possibly in Nemo… maybe I can find employment as an independent reyvateil there…"

"Jessamine thinks it might be fun to see lots of things!" Jessamine said.

"Then I guess it's settled!" Aigil said. "Welcome to Euphrosyne, Jessamine."

"What is Euphrosyne?" Jessamine asked.

"That's the name of our travelling troupe," Aigil said. "We travel around the Wings of Horus, spreading our songs at every stop."

"Ah, Jessamine can sing too!" Jessamine exclaimed. "Though Jessamine hasn't tried it yet, she's probably pretty good…?"

"You're welcome to join in our songs," Raphael said. "But do please be careful not to hurt anyone with your songs."

"Jessamine will be very, very careful!" Jessamine said.

"Claire, before we part, allow me to present you with a gift," Dian said. "If you plan to settle down, it should help you out a lot."

"Huh? Oh, no, I couldn't!" Claire protested.

"It's fine," Dian said. "It was something I needed to get rid of anyway, but I just couldn't bear to part with it… but I think you'll take good care of it."

He unslung the lute from his shoulder and held it out.

"Your lute…?" Claire said. "But…"

"This is my old lute," Dian said. "The one I usually play is still in the carriage. I'd like you to have this one."

"Well… if you insist," Claire said reluctantly. "Alright… it seems like we've settled things. I'll go submit my formal resignation, and then escort Eumelia back."

Dian nodded. "May we meet again in better circumstances," he said.

So Claire and Eumelia returned to the Tenba Headquarters, and she waited a minute or two for Claire to submit the resignation form. Then the two of them headed into town.

"Okay, so… the only problem now is, I need to somehow make it to Singing Hill within one day," Eumelia said.

"Huh? Weren't you going to Karulu?" Claire asked.

"Well… I was told to meet at Singing Hill, but there's a chance they're still in Karulu, so I should probably stop by there first," Eumelia said.

"But isn't that a bit too dangerous for a meeting place?" Claire asked. "There are a lot of monsters out there…"

"That's true," Eumelia said. "My stealth song magic isn't quite as effective against monsters, either… some of them can still hear me if they get close enough. Still, I do know the basic red magic too… and I'm pretty good at running as well."

"Okay," Claire said. "If we hurry, perhaps we can catch an airship going to Karulu. Then if we wake up early and move quickly, I think we should be able to make it to Singing Hill within one day."

"Then let's hurry!" Eumelia said.

They hurried into town, making for the airport, where they found a frontier-bound ship just about to take off and barely made it on board.

"By the way, are you planning to learn to play the lute?" Eumelia asked, gesturing at the instrument now slung on her back.

"Ah, well… I might," Claire said. "It's a gift from Dian, so I probably shouldn't just let it gather dust…"

"I wonder why he kept it in the first place," Eumelia said.

"I wonder," Claire said. "He is quite the mysterious person, isn't he?"

"Yeah…"

They arrived in Karulu even earlier than Eumelia had anticipated – the sun was still fairly high in the sky. As a result, after briefly looking around the village for Vivian and the others, Claire and Eumelia set out towards Singing Hill, making camp a few hours out from the village.

After a quick meal, they continued travelling the next morning. Though Eumelia did her best to keep up, she couldn't completely overcome the gap of her young age, so Claire ended up piggybacking her part of the way. Whenever they encountered monsters, Claire used her song magic to blind them or put them to sleep, and they continued on their way. Due to this, they made incredibly good time and finally arrived at the ruin's entrance in the early evening. The Sailor Squad was already there, sitting around a campfire and preparing their food. Fortunately they weren't in uniform anymore.

"I'm here!" Eumelia called.

Vivian looked up, blinking at the sight of Claire holding her hand.

"I thought you'd be coming alone…?" Vivian said.

"I'm sorry," Eumelia said. "Claire insisted on escorting me…"

"Sorry for intruding," Claire said. "Thank you for looking after Eumelia… I heard a little about what happened to Skuwat…"

"Well, it can't be helped," Vivian said with a sigh. "What's done is done… you must be the chief's daughter then, right?"

"Y-yeah… then you must be Vivian," Claire said.

Vivian nodded. "Last I remember you were just a bratty little tyke, but you've grown up to be such a beautiful woman, huh?"

"W-well, it's not like I'm completely finished growing," Claire protested. "I'm only fifteen years old, you know…"

"And a Tenba employee, judging by those clothes," Vivian said.

"Oh, these?" Claire said. "Actually, I don't work for them anymore… I just haven't had time to get fresh clothes…"

"Well, as thanks for taking care of Eumelia," Vivian said.

She reached into a bag beside her and withdrew a single diquility crystal. Though it wasn't obvious, Eumelia assumed the bag was actually full of them.

"Please accept this," Vivian said. "If you're fifteen, you're around the age where you'll be needing these, right?"

Claire blinked. "Ah… I received my first treatment recently, yes," she said. "But are you sure? That's very valuable… don't you need it for yourself?"

"We just happened to have an extra," Vivian said. "So please, don't worry about it."

"Well… if you're sure, then I'll gratefully accept it," Claire said. "Thank you very much."

She took the crystal and stowed it away somewhere.

"So… are you going to introduce your friends?" Claire asked.

"Ah, my apologies," Vivian said. "They're Nicky, Elen, and Muriel. We're adventurers of sorts, so that's why we picked such a strange meeting place."

"I see," Claire said. "Certainly it wouldn't be strange for adventurers to come to a place like this. Um, do you mind if I join you for the night? It would be asking a bit too much to make it back to Karulu before nightfall."

"That's fine," Vivian said. "Feel free to join us for dinner if you'd like."

"Thank you, I will," Claire said.

---

The next morning, Eumelia saw Claire off, and once she was out of sight, Vivian turned to her.

"Why did you bring her with you?" she asked.

"Well… honestly, I knew it was a bad idea," Eumelia said. "But what could I have even said to convince her not to come? It's not like I could tell her that we're meeting way out here so you can avoid the prying eyes of Tenba."

"Well… it worked out okay, and she didn't seem to have any suspicions, so I'll let it pass this time," Vivian said. "It also helps that we knew each other slightly. But please be more careful in the future."

"I will," Eumelia said.

"Alright then, let's go home," Elen said. "We've already taken our own diquility, but we need to let the pursuit cool off a bit before distributing the rest, so…"

With that, she opened her mouth to sing, summoning a pair of rocs. Everyone climbed on, and they took off, soaring across the continent before swooping down below it towards the Falcon's Claw.

That had been quite the adventure. She'd managed to meet Spica and Ilya, and even saved the lives of Dian and Midir, who should have died if her prophecy was to be believed. Would that change how things went in the future? She wasn't sure, but… it certainly gave her a sense of accomplishment.

---

Hymmnos Corner

In this section I'll provide translations of any Hymmnos passages that occur in the main text.

"Wee ki ga hymme we morto en zash. Wee wol ga fusya windiling en zethpa denera art dilete fhyu."

Hymn Name: EXEC_HYMME_WINDILING/.
Singer: Jemi (surname unknown)
Language: Central Standard Hymmnos
Notes: Used by Jemi in an attempt to capture Ilya's father. The first two lines of the hymn.
Meaning: "May there be a Song greater than death and the terror of suffering! Oh spirits of the wind, bring me power and bring down steel swords upon the evil ones!"
Credit: Translation taken from the EXA_PICO wiki

"Wee paks ra ferda lir en vonn diasee. Wee ki ga gyusya getrra grandee. Was ki ra got rre denera haf jouee."
"Wee yea ra vit rre diasee nha sol ciel an porter lir en hyma wi wart 'Rrha apea ra ftt yor na hartes jouee!' Was yea ra firle ar ciel, forgandal rre lir fusya sol ciel."

Hymn Name: EXEC_HYMME_SOLFIRLE/.
Singer: Claire Branch
Language: Central Standard Hymmnos
Notes: A blinding light magic used to drive away monsters.
Meaning: "Oh priestess of light and darkness, become my servant! I wish to control the tainted guardian. I want to get my hands on the evil god's servant. I saw such a being descend, clad in a shining light, and I heard what it said. Its words were: 'Vanish, beings that are unsuitable for God!' The light covered that land, and I felt that everything in it disappeared."
Credit: Translation taken from the EXA_PICO wiki

"Ma num ra exec rre saash ini en nha mea. Was paks ra got saash en gyusya forgandal echrra ar ciel an saash shen…"

Hymn Name: EXEC_HYMME_MEGAREALICS/.
Singer: Jemi (surname unknown)
Language: Central Standard Hymmnos
Notes: A powerful attack song magic used against Claire, Lyra, and Ilya. This is just the first line.
Meaning: "The Gods of Light will descend upon this world. Having received the power of God, the light of this world will be as I wish."
Credit: Translation taken from the EXA_PICO wiki

"Ketora!"

Speaker: Lyra Ross Reitel
Language: Teru Language
Notes: A Teru magic word that summons a round barrier.
Meaning: "round shield"
Credit: Translation taken from the Twilight Dreams scanlation of Arpeggio

"ssa wee res sog yyu nnh , rrrryy… Xa Ziqt wac sss. ccccc Waacc waccrt qrt gatsyy ttr ttr hhh. Jaats meet ccitta. ZzzZz Zat tez Vzazz ss, ttr ttr hhh. Vvvv QazZatty vaeZ gdssst ggthaZz. RrduuZ Zyaahhh ggthaZz. aaaa Zaaaa Zatty Zetty Zaawwt qrrt ggthaZz."

Title: Xa Ziqt Wac s (not actually a hymn)
Singer: Spica Neal
Language: Carmena Foreluna
Notes: The song spun by the Carillon Organito, which Spica sang to counterattack against Jemi and Michal. This is just the first few lines.
Meaning: "Bestow upon me the power to imprison evil ones! Bring me light! Bestow upon my ignorant self the Gods' divine protection and growth! Allow these abilities to bloom. Open the door within myself. Connect with God. Praise God. Sacrifice me to God. Burn the sacrifice now, and bestow power upon me."
Credit: Translation taken from the EXA_PICO wiki

"Quesa, morto mea en manafaln… was yea ra chs gatyunla saash."
"Rrha guwo gagis chsee guatrz fayra pauwel. Ma guwo ra zethpa denera waats we zash!"
"Rrha guwo gagis chsee guatrz fayra pauwel. Ma guwo ra zethpa denera waats we zash!"

Hymn Name: EXEC_HYMME_PLUTONIUS/.
Singer: Claire Branch
Language: Central Standard Hymmnos
Notes: A fire song magic crafted and sung by Claire in her rage at Crew Atha. Nearly went out of control.
Meaning: "Oh lightning, bring me death and rebirth! I'll become a reaper! Turn the flames of hatred into power! Reducing myself to nothing, cleave the evil ones! That matters more to me than the suffering! Turn the flames of hatred into power! Reducing myself to nothing, cleave the evil ones! That matters more to me than the suffering!"
Credit: Translation taken from the EXA_PICO wiki

"teemmfil snnucwee!"

Singer: Dian (surname unknown)
Language: Carmena Foreluna
Notes: The magic words of the song Dian sang to put Crew to sleep.
Meaning: "My love and compassion shall be conveyed via the holy will unto you. Thus I ask of you to empty out your hatred and transform your heart into love."
Credit: Original