If Deca ever did something right, it was bringing Aurea, Peru's horse, along. To be exact, Aurea had followed Deca on her own after being left behind by Peru. Mounted on his beloved horse and boarding the golden ark, Peru managed to start the engine before collapsing. Aurea stood loyally by her master, crying softly as if concerned for him.

Watching Peru groaning in bed, Hilde made a remark.

"Looks like he'll die before we reach Claudia. Shouldn't we get a written will from him in advance~?"

What a harsh thing to say while pretending to be innocent. Even the Regressor reacted irritably.

"Don't say ominous things! He won't die that easily."
"Nope~. 'I,' who happen to be quite knowledgeable in healing arts, can tell that Peru's body is in a very dangerous state. Not even divine power can heal this~."

At the mention of divine power, Tirkanjaka flinched slightly. However, Hilde wasn't foolish enough to outright declare her ability to use divine power in front of a vampire. She subtly wove her words as if talking about someone else's story.

"Peru may look fine now, but his energy is all tangled up, right? That’s because his body has been supplemented with homunculus components. Substituting the body with another force is a second-class taboo. Once it's done, divine power can't restore the body anymore."

Divine power heals through restoration. But in cases like Peru's, where parts of the body have been replaced with another force, restoration becomes impossible. As a former holy knight, Hilde identified this fact and essentially pronounced a death sentence.

However, the Regressor responded nonchalantly.
"It's fine. There's someone who can heal Verdant Overseer."
"Heal him? What, do you have a saintess? Even a saintess can't undo taboo violations, you know?"
"Not a saintess. A Physician Immortal."
"A… Physician Immortal?"

Hilde tilted her head in confusion. And it was no wonder. While the titles of Earthly Immortal and Mystical Immortal were well-known, even someone like me, skilled in reading minds, could only think of two such figures. Hilde, who once led an entire nation's intelligence agency, was no different.

A Physician Immortal? A healer of humans in a world where saintesses and divine power exist? That sounds… odd.

"Strange~. Among the immortals I know, there's no such thing as a Physician Immortal. There aren’t even enough of them to get confused."
"Of course not."

‘That’s because her title as a Physician Immortal belongs to a future that hasn’t yet arrived. If the Heretic War that granted her fame never happens, she’ll never be called that. But I know what kind of person she is. If someone’s injured, she’ll heal them, no matter what.’

Come to think of it, there were mentions of a Physician Immortal when I was brewing something in the Abyss. A yet-to-exist immortal? Only the Regressor knows about her? Regression really is amazing—having access to knowledge unknown to others.

Unlike me, who reads minds, Hilde was skeptical of the Regressor’s knowledge. She grumbled, but beneath her words, she analyzed the Regressor sharply.

"How do you know information that even 'I,' who was once the head of an intelligence agency, don’t? Very suspicious. Who are you, really?"
"Think whatever you want."
"Sure~. I’ll think whatever 'I' want~."

Ignoring Hilde, who pouted like a child, the Regressor glanced at Tirkanjaka.

‘…The only problem might be Tirkanjaka. But it shouldn't matter. The Physician Immortal is a vampire, but unlike Tirkanjaka, she moves alone.’

Wait. The Physician Immortal is a vampire? A vampire, a bloodsucker, going around healing people? Does that even make sense?
…Well, why not? After all, humans who eat animals still have veterinarians. It’s not exactly the same, but it’s not entirely illogical either.

Yawning lazily, Aji thumped its tail on the floor and whimpered.
"Woof. Bored. Woof."
"Go bully the horse like you usually do."
"Woof. I’m considerate. Won’t bully."
"Then why are you complaining about being bored?"

Where did its sense of tact go? Animals really are something else. Still, this journey of constant death and destruction might be a bit harsh for Aji. A change of pace wouldn’t hurt; there won’t be many more moments like this.
After all, when the next full moon comes… Aji will have no choice but to fight the Wolf King. Not that it’ll be a problem with our current strength. And if it comes down to it, we can rely on help from other nations—or even a vampire.

"Let’s go out to the deck for a bit. I need some fresh air."
"Woof!"

Excited, Aji sprang up and darted ahead. I opened the door leading outside and stepped onto the deck.

The wind roared fiercely. The golden ark moved silently, disassembling everything beneath it as it floated forward. Not crushing, but disassembling. Thanks to that, its movement was eerily quiet.
Could this ship sail across the sea? …No, that’s impossible.
The sea? No way. This ship is designed for lakes and rivers.

"Woof…"

Aji had already propped its front paws on the edge of the deck, staring blankly at the scenery outside. If it was going to stare off into space, why drag me along?
Actually, this creature always seems to do this—propping its paws on the window of any vehicle it’s in. Is this some kind of habit?

While grumbling internally, Aji suddenly spoke in its usual dull tone.
"Humans, fighting each other."
"They don’t have any other enemies to fight."
"Woof, true. Few beasts left. That’s why humans fight each other."

The military state had organized its forces and launched a campaign to eradicate harmful wildlife. Many lives were lost in the process, but the effort was a success. Now, there were barely any dangerous beasts left in the inhabited regions.
The confederation, plagued by the Golden Mirror and its strange magic, had also driven most beasts away. Only a few useful animals, like horses and sheep, remained.

Aji spoke weakly.
"…That’s why, woof. I can’t help. Because I’m a beast."

But that’s not entirely true. Vast areas, like the southern regions of the military state or the Foggy Mountains, still have plenty of beasts. And besides…

"Not necessarily. There are still wolves."
"Woof…"

That seemed to cheer Aji up. It turned its head back to the distant horizon, staring again. What’s it looking at so intently? Curious, I followed its gaze.
Resting my hand on the railing and squinting, I finally saw what Aji had been staring at.

"Claudia, huh? We’re almost there."

Indeed, that sight was hard to ignore.

From the sky, clouds cascaded down like a waterfall. From high above, the clouds tumbled down toward the ground, breaking apart and scattering into wispy fragments. Like a rural maiden’s skirt billowing outward, they spread wide.
Although clouds are made of water, they block the sunlight. Thanks to that hazy blessing, the ridges touched by the cloud waterfall are covered in short, lush grass, which becomes a feast for sheep and goats. The white flocks roaming the green tablecloth are hard to distinguish from the scattered pieces of cloud.

It’s a divine scene, awe-inspiring enough to suggest the existence of gods.
The ancients, seeing this sight, named it the Heavenly Path or Stairway to Heaven. But the cloud waterfall is purely a result of geological conditions.

Beyond the Foggy Mountains lies the Sea of Predators. A primordial sea where humans dare not tread.
Humans, who are called rulers of the land, cannot venture into the unfathomable depths of this ancient sea. Only the surface layer is visible to humans; beneath lies an abyss teeming with monsters.
The Sea of Predators—an ocean so vast and mysterious that it defies human influence. The giant creatures dwelling within it live aloof in its depths.

In the relatively shallow areas of the Sea of Predators, these creatures occasionally appear. Tsunamis caused by their movements reach the shores, and their shadows ripple across the water. It’s no surprise that fog constantly rises from the ocean’s surface.

The mist has two futures. It can either sink back into the sea or ascend to become clouds. While most of it takes the former path, the remaining portion is enough to form clouds.

These low-hanging clouds don’t quite reach the heavens but still darken the skies. They drift toward the continent, eventually colliding with the land. Stalled temporarily by the barrier of the Foggy Mountains, they spill through a gap in the range.

That place is the Village of Clouds—Claudia.

A village hidden within cascading clouds… or so it should be.

"But, Aji, what’s that?"
"Woof?"
"There’s something attached to the waterfall. What is that?"

Something was there in the cloud waterfall. Frowning, I examined the massive moving structure again.

"…A waterwheel?"

It looked like an enormous waterwheel. Someone had decided to attempt the ridiculous idea of installing a waterwheel in a waterfall. If it were real water, the wheel would have been crushed under the weight. Fortunately, this waterfall was made of clouds, so the wheel remained intact.

That said, clouds lack the force needed to turn such a large waterwheel. They have some weight but can’t compare to water. No way a wheel that big could spin.

Yet it spun.
Lightning sparked from the clouds. Tiny bursts of electricity crackled at the contact point between the wheel and the waterfall. Though the clouds weren’t layered, ominous energy surged and then dissipated.
It looked like static electricity, but on that scale, it might as well be thunder. With each flash of light, something other than the clouds coursed through the wheel. The force spinning the wheel wasn’t the clouds but the lightning hidden within them.

I’d never seen such a thing before, but having read Maximilian’s and Peru’s memories, I could guess what it was.

"That must be a Thunderwheel."

The original thunder-powered mechanism that Maximilian had introduced to the confederation—and the massive force driving Claudia.

The once-humble village hidden in the clouds, where people quietly raised sheep, seemed to have gained tremendous power through some bold endeavor.

While admiring the scene, I noticed a group approaching us. They were closer to us than to Claudia and looked like they’d reach us within minutes.

"No time to keep gawking. Looks like a welcoming party is on its way."
"Woof! Here, here!"
"They might be enemies. Why are you so excited?"

Well, Aji thinks every human is a friend, so it probably doesn’t matter to him.