The alley was frozen cold as if an ice age had arrived. Thick frost and hoarfrost everywhere, icicles sprouting here and there, and walls and floors completely frozen solid. It looked as if the harsh, distant northern landscape, where human civilization had not yet properly reached, had been transplanted here intact.
Balud let out a sigh at the center of the bitter cold. The light carved into his tattoos dimmed. The cold air flowing from his body disappeared like a mirage.
"Phew."
White vapor flowed out with his breath.
"I thought it was a good opportunity to loosen up my body, but he craftily ran away."
Balud clicked his tongue in disappointment and threw the giant arm he was holding in his left hand onto the ground. The arm torn directly from the fleeing clown was frozen white due to the cold air.
Crack! The fallen arm crumbled into powder and scattered. Around that arm, there was also a leg that had been cut off below the thigh by an axe.
Balud retrieved his axe and hung it at his waist. He hadn't been able to kill the clown. He hadn't intended to go easy on him but even Balud couldn't stop the clown who was desperately focused on escaping.
"Still, I was confident inside."
"To think he would run away leaving behind one arm and one leg."
What Balud had never expected was the clown's obsession with survival. That thing was an avatar of an outer god from beyond. Though different from the main body, it couldn't be denied that their roots of thought were connected.
Outer gods regard humans as inferior beings. No human treats ants on the roadside as individuals.
Yet the clown abandoned his pride and chose to flee even while being severely beaten by humans. This was something Balud had never anticipated.
One way or another, what was missed was missed. Balud decided to accept his mistake.
"If I get another chance, I will definitely kill him."
Balud disappeared into the frost-covered alley. After he vanished, the frozen alley slowly began to thaw.
"It seems to be over."
Those were the words of Osian, who had landed on the ceiling of the concert hall.
Rose's spectacular comeback show inside the dome concert hall had ended successfully. Thunderous applause poured out, and brilliant fireworks colored Tirna's night sky.
Even outside, people gathered together, laughing and chatting among themselves, having heated discussions about tonight's concert. Among them were people who had just met but became friends because their opinions matched, now putting their arms around each other's shoulders.
Since it was late at night, there were people eating food here and there, and naturally a single gathering was formed. Strangers quickly became close because they had a common topic.
Even the tense guards relaxed their shoulders for this moment and chatted quietly among themselves. At least for this moment, there was no wariness toward the other side.
It was different from before when they fought each other as if to kill. A vibrant energy circulated throughout District 31. And this energy would spread throughout all of Tirna.
'Is this the scene that Rose created?'
The tremendous achievement accomplished by one individual. If what a knight accomplishes with a sword is called a great deed. Then what one singer accomplished with a song could also be called a great deed.
Beside him, Lorraine muttered complainingly.
"Damn it. How hard did I work to get that ticket? Coming all the way here, what's the point of doing this?"
It was natural for Lorraine to express dissatisfaction. She was a fanatical fan of Rose who had finally managed to get a comeback concert ticket. At a time when she should have been fully enjoying the performance, she came outside following Osian and got caught up in a fight.
She only saw the first few songs of the concert and couldn't even see the most important part. At least she managed to engrave the singing voice that echoed all the way outside into her ears, but that alone couldn't be enough.
'It's definitely different from watching it live.'
Even Osian, who didn't understand this kind of sentiment well, could guess how heartbroken Lorraine was. She helped on her own without even being asked, so there was no surface responsibility on his part. But Osian wasn't shameless enough to just let that slide.
"Forget it. This is just my fate."
Lorraine let out a deep sigh and trudged toward the rooftop door to leave.
"Where are you trying to go?"
"The concert's over, isn't it? I have to go back. If I don't get out now, I'll have to move with that crowd. That would drain me more than fighting earlier, right?"
"It's not over yet."
"...What do you mean it's not over yet?"
She asked back questioningly, but there was unconcealed anticipation in her eyes. She was really quick to catch on to this sort of thing.
Osian chuckled and said.
"Follow me."
"Everyone, thank you for your hard work!"
After everything was over, Rose came down from the stage and congratulated the staff.
She was clearly the star of the stage, but there were far more people who worked silently around her to make one person shine.
Rose never took their hard work for granted. She had experienced enough of a life where efforts went unrecognized and unrewarded.
She also exchanged greetings with the concert hall manager and had light conversations with the district governor who came to see her. Even so, quite a few people crowded around, so eventually her manager Iva had to step in to manage the traffic.
Rose, who finally got a moment to breathe, quickly returned to the lounge that only she could rest in.
"Ah!"
Rose discovered Osian waiting at the entrance to the lounge and ran out as if delighted.
"You came."
Seeing Osian, Rose felt her heart swell. She stopped a few steps away from him, moving her lips without knowing what to say.
After countless considerations, what came out was words of gratitude. Rose bowed her head deeply.
"Thank you! Thanks to you, I was able to finish the concert safely."
"You don't need to thank me. I received a request, so I carried it out. It's natural for a fixer."
Of course, if someone does better work than expected, you can at least say thanks.
"And there were many others who worked hard besides me."
Especially Joy and the other direct bodyguards who had been in charge of Rose's protection for a long time had worked even harder this time. Rose smiled brightly.
"I know that too. That's why I'm always grateful. But even excluding that, I owe too much to you, Mr. Osian."
Osian spoke modestly, but Rose knew that if Osian hadn't been here today, this stage would never have succeeded. Rather, it would have met the worst outcome, crushing people's swollen expectations into the abyss.
"Mr. Osian didn't just save me. You saved the hearts of people who looked forward to today, and all the opportunities for harmony that will come."
Getting paid to work and hearing such embarrassing words. Osian thought that internally, while also thinking it wasn't too bad to hear.
"Rather, the people next to you... I've seen them before, haven't I?"
Rose asked, looking at Lorraine and Diolan who were hiding behind Osian. Lorraine flinched when Rose recognized her. Osian turned his head and gestured with his chin, but Lorraine just shook her head.
"No, I can't. Suddenly standing in front of Rose without any mental preparation!"
"You saw her at Violet Fox too."
"That was when I didn't know and suddenly popped out! Standing behind the stage like this, facing Rose directly is a different matter! This is a taboo that a fan shouldn't even dare to imagine!"
What a taboo indeed. Osian told her not to make a big deal of it, but Lorraine was stubborn. Eventually, it was Diolan who moved, unable to bear it any longer.
Nudge.
Diolan pushed Lorraine's back as if he had been waiting for this moment, presenting her before Rose. While Lorraine panicked with "Huh, huh?", she froze standing in front of Rose. Rose smiled brightly and greeted her.
"Nice to see you. We meet again."
"Uh, um. Ah..."
Lorraine was completely frozen and flustered. She glared resentfully at Osian and Diolan, then took a deep breath to calm her mind.
"Ni-nice to meet you. I'm Lorraine Ponk."
"Yes, Lorraine. Thank you so much for coming to see my concert today."
"Ah."
Lorraine's expression darkened for a moment. Just as Rose was about to wonder about that expression, Osian interjected.
"About that story..."
"Ah, such a thing happened."
Rose, who had heard everything about Lorraine, covered her mouth with her hand.
"I'm sorry. You came to see my concert, but while trying to help me..."
"No, no!"
Lorraine waved her hands frantically, startled.
"I decided to do that myself, and I have no regrets about helping. And I got to meet Rose directly like this!"
This was Lorraine's sincere feeling. While it was regrettable that she couldn't properly enjoy the concert, thanks to that, didn't she get to face Rose again like this?
"Still, you helped me, so I'd feel sorrier if I let you go like this."
Rose asked her to wait a moment, then went into the waiting room. When she came out, she had a golden metal plate in her hands. The surface was so smooth that a person's face could be clearly reflected in it.
"Gasp! That, that's!"
Lorraine swallowed her breath while Osian and Diolan just looked at it with expressions wondering what that was.
Rose smiled and brought her finger to the metal plate.
Though it clearly looked like hard metal, when Rose's finger touched it, grooves were carved incredibly easily. Following Rose's touch, her autograph was carved onto the metal plate. Finally, Rose, who had even dotted the i, blew on it with a "puff."
"There. It's complete."
"Thank you so much!"
Lorraine, who received Rose's handwritten autograph, was so happy she could jump.
Osian and Diolan didn't know, but that was a VVIP-exclusive autograph made of special alloy. Naturally, it was something that was never made casually. It was something that people couldn't buy even if they came with a fortune.
"Hehehe. I should keep this as a family heirloom."
Whatever the case, since Lorraine was happy, Osian thought it was fortunate. Rose looked intently at such an Osian and smiled brightly.
"You seem to care a lot about your colleague."
"What do you mean?"
"It showed in your expression."
Me? Osian rubbed his face with his hand. It should always be an expressionless, stern face, so how did it show? As if that sight was amusing, Rose held her belly and laughed.
"Ahaha. Are you checking? Actually, it didn't show in your expression. It's just, how should I put it? I felt that kind of warm feeling."
"I don't really know."
"You can think of it as my own intuition."
Is it similar to a knight's instinct? Osian thought so internally.
"Rather, about what happened today..."
Rose trailed off. Osian thought what was meant to come had finally come.
"That strange person, it was the clown, right? What exactly was that?"
Though he thought she hadn't seen it, it seemed Rose had also witnessed the clown. He knew such a moment would come someday. Osian pondered how to tell Rose so she would be less shocked in accepting it.
"..."
Osian looked into Rose's eyes. At that moment, he realized his worries were meaningless. She was already prepared. Lorraine and Diolan also focused on their conversation.
"There exists an 'outside' to this world."
Osian continued to explain calmly to Rose about the outer gods existing outside. That they were targeting this world and the current world was in a very precarious state.
Rose, who had heard the entire story, opened her mouth wide, seemingly quite shocked despite being prepared.
"Su-such things existed?"
A reaction of disbelief was understandable too. It would be such a distant story. Even if you've actually seen it, understanding it mentally is a separate matter.
"That clown is one of the outer gods. Of course, it's not the main body, just a clone possessing part of the power."
"Even being a clone, to that extent..."
Rose recalled the black shadows and countless balloons. In the middle, it even hacked the concert hall system to make music box sounds through the speakers.
It was a scene transcending common sense but this was reality.
"I'm fighting against such beings."
"Like the District 17 incident."
"And there's a reason I approached you like this."
Rose flinched momentarily, then nodded.
"Because of the power I possess, right?"
"You knew."
"How could I not know? No matter how well I sing, healing people with my voice is something that makes no sense."
Moreover, Rose had used that power according to her own will. This meant she had known this from the beginning.
"Since when?"
"It wasn't long ago that I became certain. However, there was something like a trigger."
Rose ran her fingers through her hair. Her expression looked somewhat bitter.
"The day I first got this hair color."
The day of the accident when she was doused with chemical substances to protect a colleague.
"I had lost my voice."