"I don't believe there's any other way to access this water," Fanilly said as she approached the moon pool, warily taking in their surroundings, "At least, not anywhere nearby."

To be truthful, while she had been to the shrine once before, and learned much more about it since, the young Knight-Captain knew little of the origin of the waters beneath the shrine. Perhaps that was one of the reasons they were considered divine, that they possibly sprung from Mayon's will.

Regardless of their origin, it was impossible to tell if there was anything in the water from this distance.

"The only way to know if anything was down there would be for someone to go down..." Fanilly commented, uncertain if that was at all a wise idea without knowing where the waters flowed. Certainly, they were divine, and the current did not appear strong, but...

Aside from Dame Tyaethe, the young captain was reluctant to send anyone down there without knowing how deep it was. Then again, perhaps the water's divine nature made it impossible to drown?

Still, she was quite certain that attempting to search the pool at night was impossible. Unless you were Dame Tyaethe.

However, this pondering was cut short, as the sound of rustling foliage immediately caused Fanilly's hand to fly to the hilt of her blade.

What emerged was not an attacker, however.

The armored form of a very tall knight, clad entirely in black plate, emerged from the foliage. Beside them was a young girl, her grey hair in pigtails.

Some of the knights would recognize her from the recent ball.

"... Lady Cal?" Fanilly questioned, perplexed at the sight of the only living member of the Cal family.

"The Iron Rose Knights, then," she commented, head cocked to her side, "I can't say I expected to see you."

Immediately, a flurry of questions filled Fanilly's head. What was Veileena Cal doing here? Had she hired the mercenaries? Did that mean she wanted the shard? But why?

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