Chapter 8 — Back to the Light of Day

"After that, the Cecil family never recovered," Heidi said, lowering her head. "The family's fate might have been far worse, but your prestige and the efforts of that old grand duke of the day just barely preserved the family's bloodline and its last foothold. Only from then on, the name 'Cecil' could never again stand at the center of the kingdom. As you can see…"

Following Heidi's gaze, Gao Yang looked at Miss Rebecca Cecil, the one whose head had been caught in something.

Rebecca noticed Gao Yang's gaze and turned her head. "Ancestor?"

"A misfortune upon the house, a misfortune upon the house…" Gao Yang pressed a hand to his forehead. Though he was not truly the Cecil ancestor, the splendor of Marquess Grumman's achievements and the sheer strangeness of his deeds had reached the point where hearers were startled and beholders wept; even hearing it secondhand left him sighing without end. "And that wastrel went and lost my shield too…"

Heidi and Rebecca: "…"

The Xuanmai Sect cursed the great-grandfather again; as juniors, it was best after all to keep their mouths shut.

Fortunately, Gao Yang was not truly a party to those events, and he quickly steadied himself—which in Heidi's eyes became a sign of breadth of mind and astonishing magnanimity. Then he shook his head slightly. "Enough. Dwelling on the past does nothing for the situation before us. Be that as it may, those monsters that have appeared again are a grave threat to the human world. The king at Frostrest Citadel may disregard the declined Cecil family, but he cannot disregard those monsters—and so he must not disregard us, who have escaped this calamity with our lives."

Heidi nodded firmly. "You speak truly."

After that, Gao Yang lost the mood for talk. The dim, cramped underground passage wore away at everyone's desire for conversation; all that remained was to press on faster.

Fortunately, the straight passage cut through the whole of the Cecil domain at the greatest speed, and the nearest exit was not far from the castle. After some time on the road, Gao Yang judged from memory that they had reached a suitable exit.

Under the blessing of the earth element, the ancient tunnel stairs had not collapsed in the slightest, and it was even luckier that the area around the exit was not entirely buried in earth and stone. After clearing away some roots, vines, and loose soil blocking the way, fresh air at long last blew across every face.

Back to the light of day.

Sir Byron led the soldiers up out of the opening first; only after they signaled that all was safe did the others file out. The moment Rebecca climbed onto the surface she drew a deep breath and then cried out softly and joyfully: "We're out!"

Gao Yang came up behind Rebecca. His excitement was no less than hers—perhaps even greater.

A vast world.

His first instinct was to raise his head and look at the sky.

As it happened, the world outside was in the depths of night.

But he had reason to be grateful for that darkness too, for it let him see the stars of this other world for the first time.

A faint white glow was already showing at the horizon; with dawn approaching, the starlight overhead seemed thin and dim, each scattered star as though veiled in mist—hazy and remote.

They were utterly unfamiliar constellations.

The white light at the horizon grew brighter and brighter. Night had passed; dawn was coming. Everyone who had escaped from the underground tunnel was now steeped in the joy of survival, and Gao Yang, filled with a strange gladness and excitement, turned toward the direction of the rising sun. He spread his arms as if to embrace the sun of this new world.

Then he saw a vast, luminous arc rising slowly above the horizon, breathing a faint mist of light and pouring its radiance over the whole world—greater than anything he had ever seen.

That was not the sun.