The sole landmass of the trade city Heisen.
A massive array of tents stretches across the Heisen Plain, wedged between the city and the Heisen Great Forest.
Every one of them is a stall at the Full Moon Bazaar. On the official registry, the total comes to nearly three thousand.
Including unregistered ones, it exceeds eight thousand.
The tents come in all shapes and sizes. Some are barely more than pit-huts.
Some are converted giant wagons serving as shops. Others are nothing more than a spread carpet.
One day until the Full Moon Bazaar.
Which means today is the day before.
Mineha and I, both idle and with nothing in particular to do following the witch's bombshell announcement this morning, came here.
Bidd went out again today with Daga and Gimnema.
I'm not sure what came up, but Bidd seemed to be in high spirits.
Shaldina and Anna Kreutzen were busy with maid work.
They said they'd be joining on the actual day of the Full Moon Bazaar.
"Oh, some of them are already selling."
"Seems like it."
I spotted a few transactions in progress.
The Full Moon Bazaar doesn't really have an opening ceremony or anything like that.
Apparently there's no rule forbidding sales before the day of, either.
But the real event is tomorrow — the night of the full moon.
We walked through the outer rim.
Even further below the lower layers. That was the outer rim.
There were only unregistered stalls here. Nothing illegal, exactly, but definitely gray-area.
Even though it was daytime, the tents were packed so tight it was strangely dark, and the people passing by all looked shifty and hostile.
It wasn't uncommon to see folks hiding their faces under hoods, like Mineha.
The whole place reeked of an underground atmosphere.
Even from here, I could see the rumored mobile palace.
The Full Moon Bazaar's VIP area. Our destination.
"Still, I can't believe the witch is setting up a stall."
"I have to admit, I was surprised she'd been preparing since four days ago."
"And in the VIP area of all places."
That morning. I'd been training with the Relic [Ring of Fortune] at the Junkyard.
The witch suddenly said she wanted to sell several items that emitted blue and yellow light.
Apparently she'd gotten permission from the Zenzela family to set up in the VIP area and had been making preparations behind the scenes.
She wanted them to be the flagship products there. Well, I had no reason to refuse, so I agreed.
She said the reason she hadn't told me was because she wanted it to be a surprise.
Well, she certainly succeeded. I was plenty surprised.
She offered to give me a cut of the sales, but I asked her to put it all toward my debt.
When the witch reacted with a confused "Debt?", all I could do was smile bitterly.
"...That's the mobile palace..."
A colossal structure that reigned over the sea of tents on the plains ahead.
A white-ivory palace crowned with multiple spires.
The mobile palace... true to its name, it moved.
Normally it resided in the outskirts of Heizen, and it took nearly two weeks to transport it to its current location, where the foundation awaited.
"So it really floats, huh?"
"Hard to believe, right?"
The mobile palace — a massive six-story structure complete with a central courtyard. It was, in fact, floating.
It stayed perpetually airborne, towed by giant horses, then lowered onto the foundation.
Despite investigating the cause, no one had figured out why it floated.
From the gloomy, black-market-esque outer rim, we descended into the lower level.
The tents and the atmosphere changed completely. It was a release from the cramped feeling up top.
"I wonder why they leave the unregistered ones alone?"
"Hmm... I'd guess it's to vent pressure."
"What do you mean? Pressure?"
"The Full Moon Bazaar operates on a registration system. The registration fee was, what, 200,000 oro?"
"That's steep."
"And that's just for the minimum lower-level registration. The mid-level costs around 600,000, apparently."
Even that varied wildly — top-tier mid-level spots could exceed 1,000,000 oro for registration alone.
"What about the upper level?"
"Ah... the upper level isn't registration-based; it's invitation-only, so it's free."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Mineha lets out a thoroughly bored voice.
"Honestly, the registration fee. It's not an amount you can reasonably afford."
"True."
"But what if they cracked down hard and said unregistered vendors absolutely aren't allowed?"
"The pushback would be pretty fierce."
"There's that, but the bazaar itself would just die off. Unregistered vendors outnumber registered ones two to one."
"I see... so they have no choice but to leave it alone."
"That's what I think, yeah."
"Huh. Kind of makes sense. It's just a pressure valve."
But maybe registration itself doesn't really matter all that much.
For the ruling class of this city, the Mobile Palace and VIP area are what count — everything else, they couldn't care less.
That was the impression I got from what the Witch and Coran had said.
So, the middle floors. The quality of tents and people changed completely.
The middle floors were affluent, with an air of luxury about them. Apparently, stalls from major merchant guilds you'd recognize could be found here too.
"Um..."
I scanned the main street of the middle floors. If there's a sign, I should be able to spot it.
Mineha was searching too. She let out a sigh.
"...Even so, what a terrible name for a shop. 'Pompoko-tei,' of all things."
"Ahaha..."
A tanuki, maybe?
"And it's one of the Zen Zera family's directly managed shops, of all things. What were they thinking?"
"I'm pretty sure they said our guide would be waiting for us. Oh, is that the tent over there?"
A tent as grand as a cottage. 'Pompoko-tei' was proudly displayed on the sign.
"Whoa..."
"It says they're still preparing. Oh."
"Hello."
Mineha strode right in, and I followed tentatively behind her.
There were tables set up.
With "tei" in the name, maybe it was a restaurant?
"Hmm? It's out front, but we're still preparing."
A woman in butler attire came out.
For some reason, she was a butler rather than a maid.
She had lustrous silver hair and narrow, silver eyes.
A delicate, well-composed face and a slender figure.
Huh? This woman was unbelievably beautiful, though.
"We're the ones the witch is with."
"Ah, you three. I've heard about you."
"...Um, sorry about that."
No mistake about it. The knives clattered from my bag.
I pressed my hand against the rattling handle of a different sea knife.
"What is it?"
"By any chance, are you the daughter of the Sword Goddess?"
"Huh…?"
Mineha immediately tensed up.
But the woman in the butler uniform before us remained perfectly composed.
"That's right. Daughter of the Sword Goddess. My name is Guiza, of 'Loyalty.'"
"…………"
"Let me be clear. I am not your enemy. Your enemies are the other daughters who haven't achieved humanization."
"You're not an Owner or a Vessel?"
"Correct. I've achieved humanization."
A flat denial.
I could indeed sense an atmosphere similar to the Knife Goddess about her.
There was none of that unpleasant feeling, like the one Viza had given off.
"You say you're not the enemy… but I can't exactly trust that."
Mineha glared at her. Her attitude was cutting, given what she'd been through.
Guiza spoke in a detached tone.
"There's no particular need for you to trust me. But let me warn you: if you fight or destroy me here, you will make the Zenzera family your enemies. I am the head butler who has pledged loyalty to the young mistress Seiran, heir to the Zenzera family, as well as her prized main weapon. The Zenzera family will spare no expense — face, resources, anything — to fight you with everything they have. Especially young mistress Seiran; she is a force who can hold her own against that witch. No matter what you spend to apologize, she will never forgive you. I am proud that I command that much loyalty from her. Furthermore, as companions of the witch, you will cause her a great deal of trouble. Because the witch is far from unconnected to the Zenzera family. You are not so foolish as to fail to understand what that means."
In other words, fighting her meant fighting the Zenzera family.
I didn't particularly want to fight the Three Great Families.
And that she had a deep connection with the witch.
I am the witch's apprentice. At this point, my hostility toward her had vanished.
But she was the daughter of the Sword Goddess.
However, according to the Knife Goddess, three of them should not have achieved human form.
And I could tell she was neither a wielder nor a vessel.
Because she had the same presence as the Knife Goddess. That was probably the human form.
So she wasn't included among the three. But still.
"…………The witch didn't tell you anything. Only that there was a guide."
"She left the judgment to you, then. A woman I can't get a handle on."
"I'm not convinced. What Wof destroyed was your sisters."
Mineha glared at Gieza.
Gieza's expression didn't change one bit as she spoke.
"Those who cannot even achieve human form and remain as High Zen, bringing nothing but harm to the Zenzera family — I will never acknowledge them as sisters. The enemies of the Zenzera are my enemies."
She spat the words out with contempt.
The feeling packed into those words made it clear — she loved the Zenzera family.
Be that as it may, Seiran was the head of the family.
The Seiran that Uncle talked about, right?
"…………"
"Also, did the witch not tell you? I commissioned the other three — no, now it's two — daughters of the Sword Goddess to be dealt with."
"She didn't tell me anything……"
"Honestly, though."
"I see."
"Hm? Two of them?"
"Just recently, one of the responses vanished. The witch must have done it."
"...The witch."
She hasn't told me a single thing. What is going on with that witch?
Ah, but I bet she'd say she just forgot to mention it for no particular reason.
She completely forgot about my debt too, after all. That was quietly devastating.
"Well, whatever. Ask the witch about the rest. I'll show you the way. Follow me."
Giiza spun on her heel and headed deeper inside.
Mineha and I exchanged glances and concluded she wasn't an enemy, at least for now.
Mineha didn't look convinced.
But that didn't mean there was any point taking it out on her.
We were led into a small room. At our feet was a faintly glowing white-and-green teleportation circle.
Another teleportation circle. Same old.
"What's this?"
"The Moving Palace has no entrance. It's surrounded by walls on all four sides."
"Huh. So you can only get in through teleportation."
"Exactly."
We stepped into the teleportation circle.