Subaru Natsuki, who returned from the new Three Kingdoms

"But this doesn't look like a tower at all."

He pointed to the desert in front of him, which was obscured by a sandstorm and seemed to have almost no end.

"Could the Tower of the Sages be located in this desert?"

Natsuki Subaru finished speaking.

Elsa, Melly, and Clarissa all shook their heads at the same time.

They knew the legend of the Sage's Tower being shrouded in sand for time, but they had never actually been there, so they couldn't guarantee it.

Natsuki Subaru originally intended to go straight into the sandstorm, but instead, he caught a whiff of sake.

He turned his head following the smell.

They then discovered that a small tavern stood all alone not far from the edge of the desert.

The tavern's sign swayed gently in the wind.

Subaru Natsuki's eyes lit up.

Great! I'm so thirsty!

"Walk."

He led the three men into the tavern.

There were no other customers in the tavern at all.

Only a middle-aged man with a scarred face stood behind the counter, his left leg fitted with a crude prosthesis.

The boss showed no joy at the arrival of the guests; instead, his face was filled with impatience and regret.

Over the years, more and more people have died in the sandstorms outside the Sage's Tower.

The boss who was responsible for providing these people with a place to stay had absolutely no enthusiasm for this business that made money off the dead.

Is this dilapidated tower going to kill someone again?

Natsuki Subaru didn't care about anything else and had already sat down at the counter.

"Boss, three glasses of wine and one glass of milk, please."

The shopkeeper took out four small cups and placed them in front of them.

"Who do you think you are? Get me a bigger cup!"

The boss was too lazy to say anything more, so he did as instructed.

Natsuki Subaru picked up his large glass of sake with satisfaction and drank it all in one gulp.

The alcohol cleared his stomach and intestines, and although he wasn't quite sober enough, he was finally relieved of the harassment he had been experiencing with Rem.

Fine wine is good, but it shouldn't interfere with important matters.

Natsuki Subaru looked up at the sky outside the window, which was gradually brightening, and did not ask the owner to refill his drink.

"It's almost dawn, we can't delay, let's continue."

Upon hearing this, the three women silently put down their drinks.

Seeing Subaru Natsuki's determined look, the boss finally couldn't help but sigh and ask:

"Are you here to challenge the Tower of Sages as well?"

"Correct."

Natsuki Subaru put down his wine cup.

"Boss, do you know where the Tower of Sages is? We're lost here."

"You don't even know where the Sage's Tower is. How dare you come here?"

Upon hearing this, the boss's deadpan face finally showed a hint of life.

If the look he gave Natsuki Subaru just now was that of someone looking at a dying corpse, then what he saw now was a madman actively seeking death...

"Hahaha, this is all fate! It's fate, and it's hard to avoid it!"

Subaru Natsuki burst into laughter.

The boss sighed and pointed to the sea of ​​sand ahead.

"The Tower of the Sage is located deep in that desert."

Then, unable to resist, he earnestly advised:

“But you can’t just go in there. The sand can trap you inside, and once the sandstorm picks up, you can’t even see where you’re going. Most people who go in never come out again, and in the end, they just become skeletons in the sand.”

"Also, legend has it that birds circle above the desert, and they will point out..."

Natsuki Subaru didn't listen to what the boss said at all and stood up immediately. The other three followed behind him.

"Now that we're sure we haven't gone the wrong way, there's no problem!"

He pushed open the tavern door.

Let's go.

Launched under the starry night~

The boss was taken aback and quickly chased after him to the door.

"Wait! I haven't finished speaking yet!"

But Subaru and his three companions had vanished without a trace...

The boss leaned against the door frame, gazing in the direction they had disappeared, and sighed heavily.

"Ugh."

"It seems that a few more souls will be lost in this desert."

Unbeknownst to the boss, at the very moment he uttered those words, several figures had already appeared beneath a tall tower at the center of the flower field, which was shrouded in sand and dust.

Natsuki Subaru stood at the front and pushed open the huge stone door covered with traces of wind and sand.

With a creak.

The gates of the Sage's Tower slowly opened.

At the top of the Sage's Tower, a cloaked girl sat on the observation platform, resting her chin on her hands, gazing listlessly at the unchanging scene before her.

Her long, dark brown hair danced in the wind, giving her an ethereal, scorpion-like quality.

Four hundred years of long vigil seemed to have made her even accustomed to boredom.

But just as the tower door was pushed open, the girl's nose suddenly twitched slightly.

Her previously languid movements suddenly stopped.

She suddenly raised her head, the weariness and loneliness on her face dispelled by a sudden burst of excitement. As if she had finally waited for something, she excitedly leaned out from the edge of the watchtower toward the tower gate.

"This is!"

...

As he pushed open the door, Natsuki Subaru also released Hoshino.

During the Three Kingdoms period, this was the most basic etiquette.

Just use Starry Night when you're fighting or traveling.

Don't drive it randomly if you're not doing anything else.

Otherwise, if you all turn on Starry Night and I all turn on Starry Night, this night will probably never end.

What came into the view of Subaru and his friends was a huge platform.

The platform behind the door stretched out in all directions, swallowed up by the dimly lit high walls and spiraling staircases in the distance. Those staircases spiraled upwards, one circle after another.

"What a vast place. I wonder where the Great Sage is."

Natsuki Subaru was mentally prepared for the possibility that he would not be able to meet the Great Sage on his first visit.

After all, a great sage with such a resounding reputation would naturally only emerge after being visited three times, much like Zhuge Liang.

Even if it requires three visits to Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage, at least one should have found Zhuge Liang's page, Ah San, to deliver the message.

Otherwise, if no one tells the sage that we've been here, and we can't accumulate progress, then we've come for nothing.

So Subaru Natsuki turned around and said to the three people behind him:

"This place looks quite big. Let's split up and look for the Great Sage Shaula."

"Clarissa, you, Melly, and the heroine Elsa go up and take a look. We'll go down with Capela, and if we find anything, let the others know."

Subaru Natsuki made the personnel assignments.

"Okay, Dad."

Looking at the seemingly endless staircase and the empty view inside the tower, Melly moved closer to Elsa with some fear.

Elsa noticed her movement, reached out to shield her at her side, her gaze still fixed on the bulge in Subaru's cloak at his waist.

Her mind is still a complete mess.

What exactly is the relationship between Subaru and his mother?

No!

I don't want the person I have a crush on to become my 'father'!

It's a misunderstanding! It must be a misunderstanding!

Subaru is usually crazy and eccentric!

Even after drinking, he still acts so innocent!

They didn't even refuse when I pretended to be drunk and took the initiative to get close to them!

It must be because the other children saw Subaru wearing his mother on his person that they thought Subaru had conquered his mother!

Yes! That's right, that's exactly it!

Elsa finally came up with a possibility that she could accept.

I frantically gave myself these self-suggestions.

"Don't fall behind."

Clarissa's voice came from above the steps.

Elsa, holding Merry's hand, glanced back at Subaru's retreating figure, and followed him with a complicated expression...

Natsuki Subaru walked down the stone steps for a long time.

The underground area doesn't seem to be very well decorated.

The deeper he went, the more he could hear the sound of the sand flowing.

In addition, strange rumbling sounds kept coming from the empty underground space.

I doubt a great sage would live in a place like this.

Even so, Natsuki Subaru still decided to take a look around.

Since he was just strolling around anyway, he decided to continue comforting Capela in the process.

"Capella-chan~"

Natsuki Subaru took the head out of the cloak and cradled it in his arms.

"You've been gone for so long, shouldn't you calm down by now?"

Capela kept his eyes closed, not even bothering to give him a glance, and his mouth remained tightly shut.

Subaru gently touched her cheek with his finger; it was bouncy.

"Still making a scene?"

Capela glared at him, then closed her eyes even tighter.

Natsuki Subaru sighed.

The mare was stubborn.

Subaru had no choice but to carry Capela down the road, gently stroking her hair as he went, trying to calm her down.