The next day--

　The students of the first two groups of the Demon King's Academy were in the Ledenor Plains, located east of Mid-Haze.

　Until dawn today, they had been training with the Statue of Ridiculousness (Ednica) in battle, so although there are individual differences, they have made a striking improvement overall.

　The students are mentally exhausted, if not physically exhausted, and their expressions are a little haggard because they were forced to continue to overcome death, but it's acceptable. In fact, the training is still fresh in their minds, so now is the perfect time to do it.

　You never know what's waiting for you in the underground world.

Well, well. We're heading down to the depths.

Uh, Mr. Anos.

　Naya, in detention, raises her hand.

'What's up?'

'I don't see Mr. Anosu here...?　What's going on?

　She says curiously.

'Oh, that's true.'

Speaking of which, did you see her at her Edonica training?

'No I might not have seen it, I mean, it wasn't even close...'

　The students begin to buzz around.

　It's fine to take a break, but if people think that Anosu is going to take a break only during the Great Demon King's training session, some people might get confused.

　It's also troublesome to create and move Anosh's body with magic.
　I'm not going to be able to get it right.

　If that's the case--

'Hahaha. What are you talking about? Anosh would be there all the time.

　I looked at the empty space.

'What...?'

Is that where you are, Anosh?

Yeah.

　I walked up to it and said a few words.

''Illusion mimicry (Reiner) and secret magic power (Nazira), huh? You seem to be a bit of a prankster trying to hide from me, but you haven't reached the depths yet. You are going to have to let them do that for the duration of the Great Demon Lord's Training Course. You're going to be able to give me a passing grade if you once deceive my evil eye.

　The students stare intently in the direction of my gaze.

"I can't see anything at all..... There isn't even a speck of magic power in there...

I knew Anosu was a boy genius...

''But, for some reason, you're treated like a child in front of the Demon King. They seem to have hidden themselves so perfectly, but they can easily see through you.

　Well, I guess that doesn't bother Anos.

Then we'll head down to the depths.

　Arcana, who was standing behind me, quietly steps forward.

'I'm sorry for the delay in introducing her, but she is Arcana. She's from the underground world. However, she is not a dragonborn. To put it simply, she is a god. You will guide me to Geordal.

　Arcana disappeared in a huff and appeared a few hundred meters away from the students.

''........What was that?　＜Gatom?

No, I didn't see a magic circle at all...?

I mean, is he really a god?

''I can't believe it, but it's not Eldmead-sensei, it's Anos-sama, so he must really be a god. You see, just because that little Arcana girl is holding up her hand, the day is turning into night.......

I mean, what the f*ck is that? It's a f*cking magical force.

"Letting a god guide you is just like the demon king of tyranny....... This is on a completely different scale than what we've been taught so far... are we going to get out of here alive?

　As he said this, the crescent moon, Artie Lutnoa, was rising in the sky.

'The earth is freezing and the ice is melting.

　＜From the , a white and silver light fell down around Arcana.
　Its brilliance froze the earth in an instant.

　In the next moment, the ice cracked open like a thin layer of ice, creating a vast circular hole in the ground.
　It was a tunnel leading to the underground world.

'The snow fell and became wings.

　Countless snow and moonflowers pour down.
　Just as it seemed to be illuminated by Artillery Tonoa, it turned into several snow dragons.

　Scattering glittering and silvery white light, the snow dragons moved to the students.

''It's quite a distance to the underground world. ＜''Those who are not good at flying (fresse), ride.''

　As I uttered that, most of the students rode the snow dragon.

'Let's go,'

　Arcana led the way, descending into the hole leading to the depths of the earth.

　I flew right next to him in a
'Wow, this is fun!　We flew, we flew, Zecia!

"...comfortable....

　Eleonor and Zesia are both riding the snow dragon.
　Misha and Sasha lined up beside them in
''I mean, Eleonor and Zecia would be able to keep up.

　When Sasha complained, Misha nodded her head.

'Cheating?'

No, no, no, no. You see, I wanted to ride a snow dragon.

　And so on, Eleonor utters excuses that are not excuses.
　Still, Misha stares at her expressionlessly.

''Besides, you see, I could make a new magic with this snow dragon as a reference...''

　Eleonor huffed to himself, and then a thought occurred to him.

'Yes. We could be making new magic!

...a great discovery....

　With a snap, Zesia gives a small clap, and with a snap, Misha blinks.

'....isn't that unfair?

'No, it's not fair, no matter what you think. It was just an excuse until I said it completely out loud.

　Sasha sharply prodded.
　Eleanor held up her index finger, and Zesia held up her index finger as if to imitate her.

''Sasha-chan, there's a saying in the world that all's well that ends well.



　Sasha looks at them in dismay.
　She looks like she was going to argue back, but she can't seem to think of any words to counter it.

Misha, do you have anything to say to refute that?

　Misha nods her head.

'Did you think it would have worked if the end had been good?

That's it.

　Talking to each other, we flew through a hole in the ground leading to the depths of the earth.
　After a while, the land beneath the ground comes into view in the distance.　

　Once we passed through the tunnel, our vision widened.
　Above us was the canopy, and below us the vast subterranean world.

"We're almost to Geordal's airspace. We're heading for the capital city of Geordal,''

　I follow in the direction that Arcana is flying.
　From behind me, Shin, Misha and the others, and the snow dragon carrying the students, are following us.

''Hey, I was thinking, Geordal, aren't they the ones who attacked Azation and Dillhade with a bunch of dragons?　Is it okay to stand out like this?

　Sasha said as she caught up with him.

'According to Arcana, it was Ahide's own decision.

''Yes. The royal dragons are also inherently against the doctrine of Geordar. That's the doctrine of Agaha, the land of the King Dragon.

　Arcana adds.

'Geordal has no animosity towards Dirheid?

　Misha asks.

''I don't know.... The ruler of Geordal is Pope Golloana Delo Geordal. He is one of the Eight God Selectors. He is a dragonborn who was given the title of Savior. Even though he has no animosity towards Dirhade, he is an enemy of Anos.

Or maybe he just wanted to make it Ahide's own decision.

　Staring at Arcana with a blank expression, Misha asked again.

'What about Lieberschneid, the trace god?'

'It is said that the Pope of Giordal has a scripture that has been passed down from generation to generation only by oral tradition. Where (if anywhere) the trace gods may have been handed down.

　Sasha put a hand to her head.

'Either way, it means we have to see that selector, the Pope, to talk to him. My head hurts.'

What, if we're going to screw up the selectmen, we'll be able to see each other. You could at least say hello.

''I suppose it's really just a greeting.........''

That depends on what they think. Perhaps the Pope, who was just about to break the selective judges, will be willing to help us.

　Sasha gives me a dumbfounded look.

'Hey, Arcana. Can I ask Anos for an oracle for a moment?

He was right.

God can't tell me he's lying!

　Arcana turns around and says, flying backwards.

'Man's mind wanders and wanders out of order. It must be a chaos that God does not know where it will end up.'

'I certainly don't know how it will turn out, but there are possibilities, aren't there? What do you think, one way or the other?

"In the mind of man, I would say it's impossible.

You should have said so in the first place.

　Just slightly, Arcana smiles.

'A child of the demon race who is not afraid of the gods.

He's not intimidated by me. He's funny.

　Sasha blurts out in disapproval as she says this.

'I feel like I'm being teased.

　As if to regain her composure, she turned to Arcana and asked again.

'So?　I wonder if it's going to be okay after all?

This time of year, many pilgrims from all over Ziolhayze come to Zioldar. We will be among them.

'You mean that if the Pope notices us, he can't touch us in a conspicuous place because we look like pilgrims to the rest of the world?

Yeah. It's safer to go there with impunity.

　Going undercover will give you the opportunity to do it in secret.
　I'm not sure what the Pope still has in mind, though.

...Huh...?

What's going on, Ellen?

Do you hear something?

Oh...speaking of which...?

　The eight Fun Union girls riding the snow dragon in close proximity are listening.

''........Isn't this music......?''

'Yeah, right. A tone I've never heard before...

What instrument is that?

'But where are they playing, to be able to hear so high up...?'

Hey, isn't that a song?　I can't really say it, but I feel like I'm singing it.

　Ellen says, and Jessica listens to the tone again.

''If you put it that way, it feels that way...''

　Curiously, the girls listen to the music they hear.

'That's right, child of the choir. We have entered Geordal's airspace. This is the singing of the divine dragon.'

　The girls shouted in surprise at those words.

'I knew it was a song.

That's great, Ellen! You got it all figured out.

Lady Arcana. Does that mean the dragon is singing?

　Arcana nodded.

'The three great nations of the subterranean world, Geordal, Gadeisiola and Agaha, each worship a dragon as a divine messenger. Geordal worships a divine dragon. The divine dragon is a dragon of sound, and its song has echoed throughout the land since the founding of Geordal.

Is there a dragon in there somewhere?

　Misha nods her head.

'So they say. The figure of the divine dragon cannot be seen except by the gods who have made pacts with past popes. Neither do I know.'

　As he said this, Arcana began a slow descent.
　A large capital was visible below.

'This is the capital city, Geolhaize. I will descend to the dragon landing site.

　Arcana set foot on a wide plain set up within the city.

　The surrounding area was surrounded by a protective wall, and there were several dragons in the area.

　As if they were accustomed to people, there was no particular sign of them attacking us.
　They are probably the dragons driven by pilgrims who have visited Geolhaize.

　The snow dragons landed one by one on the plains and brought the students down.

　Just then, the snow dragons landed on the plains and dropped their students down.
　A thunderous sound like the cracking of the earth rang out from overhead.

What is that sound...?

Look.

　Misha pointed to the canopy in the distance.
　There was another loud earth shaking from above my head.

''Even if you ask me to look, my demon eyes aren't as good as Misha's, but...''

The canopy is coming down.

Huh...!

　Ga, ga-ga-ga, ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga-ga.
　It was as if the sky was falling.