The Crown Prince In Hiding

Senior Thomasin's group's ocean liner was raising anchor, preparing to set sail from Diablo after completing their visit to the new paleontology site.

Everyone was to reconvene aboard the ship at midnight in order to depart and arrive at Artheris precisely at six in the morning.

However,

atop that hundred-million-year-old limestone cliff,

Prince Fury sat listening to something crucial to his project.

"The most fundamental principle of stratigraphy is called the Law of Superposition. It's simple and straightforward... whatever lies at the bottom is the oldest, and whatever lies on top came into being most recently."

Our world builds land through accumulation. Sand sediment, the remains of living things, and minerals sinking to the ocean floor become compressed under millions of years of pressure until they form "strata." Each layer is like a page in the history of the world. The deeper we dig, the further back in time we travel.

"This world has passed through four eras."

The present era.

The middle era.

The ancient era.

The primordial era.

"The limestone layer here belongs to the ancient era."

Thomasin ran her hand along the coral fossils on the cliff face. "The era when the ocean ruled the world. Hard-shelled creatures emerged, trilobites, coral, and ancient fish... The fact that this cliff face is limestone packed with the remains of marine life means that 300 million years ago, this very land of Diablo was once a warm ocean floor, teeming with life."

When the ocean floor was pushed upward into land, the strata layered above our heads would begin to reveal evidence of giant creatures.

"Dragons?"

"And similar creatures."

Your Grace, a single centimeter of limestone thickness might require thousands of years of accumulated shell deposits.

This hundred-meter cliff before us, then, was not a matter of hundreds or thousands of years... but three hundred million years of time, compressed into the rock standing before us. The entire history of human kingdoms, every war, every king, every city built over thousands of years, when measured against the scale of this cliff, humanity is merely a speck of dust that only just stepped in during the final second of the world's existence.

"If we want to find Luca, we need to go to the primordial era, a time when we believe no living thing even possessed a 'bone' in its body yet."

"If there are no bones... then nothing would remain for us to study..."

"Which makes this an incredibly difficult task."

The final common ancestor of every living thing on Earth. This wasn't merely ordinary fossil hunting, but a journey back through time spanning 3.8 to 4.2 billion years.

Past the age of giant creatures. Past Thomasin's 300-million-year-old limestone cliff of ancient fish. Back to an era when the world still had no oxygen, no trees, and was covered in volcanoes.

"A world from a time before we even existed... is that it?"

Dan sat hugging his knees tightly, leaning in, listening intently, eyes narrowed.

According to biology and paleogeology, if Fury wanted to find the origin point of life's code, the place most worth searching would be

Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents.

"We believe LUCA didn't emerge on land, but in the dark depths of the ocean floor, at hydrothermal vents. We all come from water. He must have come from water too."

"That makes sense..."

And what one would find there should be

Zircon Crystals and Chemical Biosignatures.

LUCA was nothing more than a microscopic single cell with no hard shell or bone. So Fury would never find an actual "fossilized body" of LUCA.

But what Fury needed to search for was "chemical fossils."

If Fury examined an ancient mineral like zircon, aged 4.1 billion years, and found a mana current with an unusually high proportion of C-12, that would be definitive proof that an energy synthesis process belonging to LUCA had once occurred at that very spot.

"If Luca truly existed, this would be the only evidence indicating his presence. We can measure the age of the mana current, but that mineral... might not be easy to find."

If Fury ever reached the origin point of LUCA, what he would find would not be some enormous ancient beast, but a tiny, living, spherical droplet of chemicals.

If we find it, every living thing on this world, whether the Diablo demon race, humans, wild animals, plants, or even microscopic cells, all of them share the exact same genetic code, inherited from this one single cell called LUCA.

Diablo could not use mana. They had no mana current like humans did. That remained another great mystery: why couldn't the Diablo use magic?

But if it could be proven, by any means, that Diablo and humans shared something in common with Luca as well,

then demons and humans were never natural enemies at all, but siblings from the very same ancestral line, separated across four billion years of time.

If proven true, it would overturn every perspective humanity held toward demons, instantly.

A new morning arrived.

The Snowhaven delegation set off, heading back to their own homeland.

The farewell between Demon King Byleth and the Empress proceeded smoothly.

Princess Nora Ophilis stood on the deck of the ocean liner, watching the island of Diablo slowly recede into the distance.

But what occupied her mind was a memory of what Demon King Byleth had told her, nearly the last words the two of them exchanged before they would have no further interaction.

Princess Nora, do you know what you and I have in common?

What is that?

We were born to rule. Never forget the importance of this. From now on, begin thinking like a ruler. Warriors are merely your arms and legs... remember my words well.

"Princess Nora."

She turned and found the young man dressed in black, adorned with raven feathers.

"Mr. Raven."

"What did you learn from this journey?"

"A great many things."

That vague-sounding answer seemed like a deflection, but coming from Nora's mouth, it carried an entirely different weight.

The one asking could sense that the "many things" were genuinely many things indeed.

"Be careful with Demon King Byleth. You must never forget that no matter what, his standing is always with Diablo... not with us."

He said,

"Don't simply agree with everything he says. We Snowhaven have our own path as well."

This isn't like an academy exam. To reach the goal we want, each of us has our own way of getting there.

"Actually, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"We never once encountered her."

"You mean Princess Fiorentina?"

"I wanted to ask Mr. Fury, but we haven't seen each other since the banquet... and I'd feel awkward asking Mr. Byleth directly."

"Princess Fiorentina does not appear easily. But what you say has merit. For an event this significant, we should have seen her. My guess is... the Princess isn't on the island at all."

"...Meaning she might be walking around somewhere among humans right now? Like Mr. Everton does?"

"That's certainly possible. But one thing I'm certain of is this: whatever happens on Diablo island, the Princess knows all of it."

A distant shot of the Snowhaven fleet as it departed. This would certainly not be the last visiting dignitary this place would see.

Demon King Byleth stood watching the departing ship, alongside his senior attendants and a short young man barely reaching his navel. Dan Burn remained there as well.

"Mathema is next, then."

"That's right."

When the Demon King turned and gave a light wave, everyone understood immediately: this was the order to prepare a site for welcoming the next arriving leader.

"I suppose you'll be following them back?"

"Yes. Human academies only grant leave for a limited time."

An attendant brought Dan's school jacket. He put it on, straightening his collar neatly.

He was ready to depart.

"Seems you've grown quite fond of your human form."

"It has its own advantages."

"If I finish my business, I might stop by and visit you at Artheris."

"I imagine that would only complicate things further."

"If I can't make it, I'll simply send word through Fiorentina."

"Where is she?"

"Near Artheris."

"Alone?"

"Support will follow shortly."

"Who?"

"I hear she's bringing along the new generation of Sarq."

"Does she think they're ready?"

"I believe they are, myself."

"Then who will be stationed at Artheris?"

"Take a guess."

"I have no idea."

"Then let me give you a hint."

King Byleth said,

"The other day, Dominic reported he witnessed something quite interesting between one of our Sarq and your student, Rafinya."

"...Oh, no."

Before he could even finish speaking, footsteps approached from behind. Dan turned.

A tall young man wearing glasses and a white suit, with sleek, snow-white hair.

"Dominic."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Tell me we're not about to do anything stupid."

"We're not."

"...Can I actually believe that?"

"Your Majesty."

Dominic redirected his attention to Byleth.

"All four of the Sarq are ready to depart."

Dominic reached into his coat pocket and pulled something out.

"And one of them may need this."

"...Dominic, come on."

All Dan could do was speak and watch the unfolding scene with a helpless, drooping expression, because what Dominic was holding out for display was an Artheris student ID card belonging to a new transfer student.

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