"???"
A giant string of question marks practically appeared over Shane's head.
He had never expected that to be her answer.
So that clingy way she used to stick to Erza as a kid hadn't faded with age at all. If anything, it had gotten worse.
After all this, he'd been treated like a romantic rival?
As if sensing the weird silence from him, Kagura suddenly spun around on the sofa, red-faced, and snapped back loudly,
"Because Master's eyes were always on you before! I was the one watching Master the whole time, so I know better than anyone!"
"…"
The corners of Shane's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
Looking at Kagura's dead-serious little face, he genuinely wanted to ask how she managed to say something that embarrassing in such a tragic, heavy tone.
As for him, as the person involved, he was honestly struggling to hold himself together.
"Please let this just be some kind of childish imprinting phase. Don't let it develop into some weird yuri obsession later…"
Praying inwardly, Shane nodded hard and forcibly convinced himself.
"Yeah. It's definitely just because she's still young. Kids are possessive, that's all."
Now that he understood the reason, the way he looked at Kagura changed.
He had plenty of experience dealing with kids who were overly attached to one person.
He cleared his throat and switched to a patient, guiding tone.
"Kagura. Since you think Erza cares that much about me, have you ever considered…"
Shane deliberately dragged out the words, watching the girl's ears perk up before casually continuing,
"…that I could actually help improve the relationship between the two of you?"
"For example, I could put in a few good words for you in front of her. Praise you a little, that sort of thing."
"…" Kagura's long lashes fluttered rapidly.
Her brain started racing along Shane's line of logic.
It seemed… like what he was saying actually made sense?
If this "annoying" guy was willing to say good things about her, then Master would definitely be happier and gentler toward her, right?
The hostility in the girl's eyes visibly brightened.
Clearly, this possibility had never crossed her mind before.
"Really?"
Ignoring the lingering sting across her body, Kagura shot upright on the sofa, staring at Shane with sparkling eyes.
"Heh heh~"
Seeing the bait take, Shane let out a smug little laugh.
He stood up with his hands behind his back, putting on an inscrutable, wise-master pose.
"Now that you understand that… shouldn't your attitude toward me be just a little more… respectful from now on?"
After throwing that out, he turned and walked toward the yard without the slightest hesitation.
Behind him, the girl on the sofa was left locked in fierce internal conflict, her little face going red and pale by turns.
…
Back in the yard, the soil in the corner still smelled fresh.
Shane crouched down again, putting aside the jokes from a moment ago and carefully tending to the seeds he had just planted.
Bougainvillea and carnations both liked warm, humid conditions.
Even though the flower shop owner had used magic to guarantee the seeds' survival, they still needed careful tending if they were going to bloom beautifully…
"Hm?"
The little iron hoe had only just loosened the top layer of soil when Shane let out a soft sound of surprise.
The instant his fingers touched the damp earth, he sensed an almost imperceptible anomaly.
It was as if some invisible thread was slowly drawing something out of him and silently feeding it through his fingertips into the seeds below.
Then, something unbelievable happened.
Fine cracks suddenly spread across the smooth dark-brown surface of the earth.
A tiny bit of green—faint, but full of stubborn life—forced its way through the dirt and poked its head out.
Shane's eyes widened.
How long had it even been since he planted them? From burying the seeds to covering them with soil, it hadn't even been ten minutes.
Even fast-growing carnations normally needed a full three months before they would bloom.
And the bougainvillea beside them rooted even more slowly.
"What the hell…"
His shock immediately turned into caution.
He pulled in his focus, closed his eyes, and looked inward, worried his body had developed yet another strange problem.
Fortunately, the source of whatever was flowing was very clear.
Following its path, Shane quickly found the answer—it was a deep, heavy kind of pulse.
"The breath of the underworld? Why is there still some of that left inside me?"
He frowned and instinctively sent out a thread of awareness to touch that hidden depth.
But the instant he made contact, a bone-chilling cold climbed along that awareness, carrying pure malice.
"Ankhseram's malice? Why is that still here?"
Shane's heart jolted.
No wonder the [Trial: Innocence] still hadn't settled. There really had been residue left behind.
He didn't know why a few ordinary flower seeds would attract those "things," but once he discovered it, he didn't hesitate.
Instead of suppressing it, he immediately dropped all restraint and even pushed harder on purpose.
The lingering breath of the underworld inside him, along with the god's remaining malice, surged down through his fingertips and poured into the flowerbed.
What happened next was astonishing.
The seeds not only failed to wither under the death-and-curse-tainted malice—they responded as if they'd just been fed the richest nourishment imaginable, unfurling and growing visibly in the cold air.
"At this rate, they'll bloom before long, won't they?"
Shane rubbed his chin, curiosity flickering in his eyes.
He stretched out one finger and lightly brushed the newly opened tender green leaves with his fingertip.
Bzz.
The instant his finger touched them, a faint but unmistakable numbness like an electric current ran through his whole body.
The scene before his eyes blurred for a moment.
The smell of damp soil ebbed away like a receding tide, replaced by a distant, expansive trace of light tinged with loneliness.
It was unmistakably Ereshkigal's mark.
Then her quiet voice, as though crossing countless veils of the underworld, rippled directly through the depths of his soul:
"This is proof that I once lingered here. When these flowers bloom in abundance… let them serve as the bond by which you may call my true name once more."
The wind stopped.
Shane's hand froze in midair, his fingertips still holding the faint warmth of that lingering trace.
He never would have expected the mistress of the underworld to leave him a gift like this.
The scattered clues in his mind instantly linked together.
Ereshkigal had quietly separated off a sliver of her own "concept" and sealed it inside the last of the underworld's lingering breath.
Because of that, part of Ankhseram's curse had not been fully erased on the spot—but in return, she had successfully left Shane an "anchor."
As long as these flowers kept blooming, that fragment of her would be amplified little by little.
And when that time came, Shane would be able to use this flowerbed as a landmark and accurately pinpoint her in the pool of the Book of Heroic Spirits, summoning her to his side once again.
Not only that, the remaining malice and curse would also be gradually devoured as fertilizer through the ongoing spread and flowering of the garden.
When that happened, the trial on him would naturally resolve in perfect fashion.
"She only knew me for one day, and she still went this far… what an absurdly considerate goddess…"
Looking at the green shoots swaying gently in the wind, Shane let out a quiet sigh in his heart.
It seemed Ereshkigal had already assumed he would buy seeds to remember her by.
And maybe… she had been even lonelier than he realized.