Don't confiscate my identity as a human race

The war ruins have been turned into the Peace Memorial Park, where people of the Empire come to remember history and hope for peace.

[The wounds of war have been healed, as people rebuild their homeland with hard work and hope.]

[This land, once scorched by the flames of war, is now bursting with vitality, with signs of prosperity everywhere.]

[This is the Huo Ning Empire, the hometown you have longed for, and it has become a place you no longer recognize.]

[Time remaining: 4 days 09 hours 24 minutes]

[A poor state of life has made you somewhat weaker.]

The simulated outcomes of the Mirror of Tiberius occasionally emerge from Lanci's perspective.

"Why hasn't Lankros returned to his hometown even long after the war ended?"

Talia couldn't help but ask.

She speculated from the evidence that perhaps Lankros hadn't returned to Honing even once in the three years since the war's victory.

"He's probably very afraid."

For Lankros, this homeland has become an obsession, decades have passed, making it so unfamiliar that he does not dare to approach yet so familiar that he cannot bear to approach.

"Oh..."

Talia responded with a voice that seemed to understand but didn't quite get it.

To her surprise, she could relate a little to this feeling.

Although her situation was completely different from Lankros's, there was still a subconscious resistance in her heart from returning to the old lands of the Demon World, which would remind her of many things from the past.

[Looking at the little time you have left, you realize this is your last chance.]

[The homeland you've been avoiding all this time now stands before you; if you don't fulfill your last wish now, you will never get another glance at the look of Brunswick Town, your hometown.]

[The point of origin in life, how could one bear to part with it.]

[It is both your original intention and your dream.]

[You decide to visit the Huo Ning Empire alone. Given the unsuitability of your identity as Saint Polante Pope Lankelos Saint Anastasius, you disguised yourself as a young merchant named "Randall" and stealthily infiltrated what is now part of the southern continent under the jurisdiction of the Huo Ning Empire.]

[There is still a long way to go.]

[Before heading to your hometown, you pass through a place.]

Once again, the colors of the sky shift.

Lanci seems to have been quietly advancing within the territory of the Huo Ning Empire for a long time, with morning just a moment ago and now dusk approaching.

Then, as his vision freezes.

He finds himself casually dressed in a vest, standing on the grand plaza of the Business Association.

In the evening sky dotted with sparse clouds, flocks of birds fly by in the distance.

Elegantly clothed merchants and vigorous residents shuttle back and forth incessantly; the area is surrounded by imposing buildings, among which stand ancient statues, adorned with the deities of legend.

Away from the dense crowd, the winter breeze gently caresses his cheeks, the noisy play of children, the performances of musicians, someone's laughter, songs, all of these reach him.

"Is this what the Huo Ning Empire looks like now?"

Lanci lightly raises his hand, cradling the setting sun and the petals dancing in the wind.

Give the flowers a little time, and they will dress up the coming spring in a flurry of myriad colors and butterflies.

Give the trees and grasses a moment, and they will turn the wasteland into green plains.

Lanci savors the peaceful and serene street view of the Huo Ning Empire in winter, enveloping him as if he had forgotten the sorrows of the past.

"So even if Lankros still resents it, after more than three years, he fully understands, the war is over, it's time to let go."

Talia lets out a sigh.

If the future within the Mirror of Tiberius is this scene, then she can be somewhat reassured.

She can feel Lankros's mood gradually calming.

Lanci won't come to understand certain very dangerous things.

Recognizing the impermanence of life, there will eventually be a feeling of helplessness.

The pain of Lankros comes from love, but love is such a miraculous thing.

The more one tries to grasp it, the more it causes one to fall into its depths, and the more one learns to let it go, the more it begins to overflow.

Learning to let go, to shed the heavy burdens, Lankros's heart will also become fulfilled.

[Seeing this scene, you stand still on the plaza for a long time.]

[As the sun sets.]

[You can slowly disappear into the crowd, you can get past crying memories, you can believe that everything you've done is right, you can embrace the next chapter of life, which are also your final days.]

The scene in Lanci's eyes changes once more.

It's like a dream.

Every so often, it shifts into yet another new landscape.

He continues southward and soon arrives amidst a range of towering mountains.

In the night after the complete sunset, he arrives at Hansabec Province in the central-northern part of the Huo Ning Empire.

In every direction, towering peaks soar into the clouds, and precipitous cliffs reach skyward.

The valleys are shrouded in mist, and mountain winds howl as a dark grey castle stands majestically atop the highest summit.

"Originally, this was the Kingdom of Hansabec, bordering the Huo Ning Empire. Over twenty years ago, the Huo Ning Empire fully annexed the northern region, and Hansabec became part of the Empire's territories, forming the Hansabec Province."

Lanci explains the geography of this era, which dates back tens of thousands of years, to Talia.

She recalls the geography lesson given by the Young Master of the Business Association, who posed as a geographer during the second Shadow World Sanctuary Evil Banquet, related to Lichtenstein Castle and its surroundings.

At that time, the Huo Ning Empire had not fully expanded to occupy the entire southern continent.

The current timeline is already twenty-eight years later, and everything has changed.

"So, the castle we see now, perched upon the cliffs above, is that the Lichtenstein Castle that was originally on the Northern Border of the Huo Ning Empire before its expansion?"