Platinum light illuminated the faces of three people. Shouta narrowed his eyes against the glow leaking through the door's gap, continuing to push the stone slab. Gon on the right, Luna on the left. Their combined strength moved the heavy stone door slowly forward. A low grinding echoed through the three-layered corridor, and warm, dry wind flowed in from beyond. It felt nostalgic. Even though he shouldn't have smelled it before——grass and soil, and something different from spiritual essence——Shouta couldn't stop his chest from loosening deep within. The door opened completely. ◆ The great hall was larger than he'd imagined. The ceiling was high. He couldn't even gauge how high. Gray patterns from before the war were carved into the stone walls, illuminated softly by platinum light. The light source was invisible. The space itself seemed to emit luminescence, creating an impossible brightness without shadows. And in the center. A sphere floated in the air. It was about three times larger than the fluffy creature in Shouta's arms. The fur covering its entire body wasn't white but platinum——metallic fibers with genuine luster swayed slowly. No eyes. No mouth. No sound. Simply existing. In Shouta's arms, the fluffy creature trembled. A single strong shudder. Then violent. Then——gradually, peacefully. Like a tremor of settling into the embrace of family after a long separation. "……The Primordial Fluffy," Luna spoke in a hoarse voice. She'd opened her notebook, but her pen wasn't moving. Her aquamarine eyes fixed on the platinum sphere and wouldn't let go. For seven years, it had existed only in fragments of records. Now it was here——something peeled away from Luna's usually composed expression for just a moment. Shouta couldn't say anything. Something came before words. It was like a wave. Not sound. Not light. Just something that reached directly to the core of his being. Shouta felt his chest suddenly grow warm, and at the same time, he remembered——the grassland from the first day. Standing alone in an unfamiliar world, not knowing what to do, only afraid in that night. Back then, the white fur ball on his lap had trembled. That vibration had slowly dissolved his loneliness and fear. That sensation and this one were exactly the same. Not possession. That which had no language conveyed itself without language. Fluffies could only maintain their existence through emotional exchange. That "principle of symbiosis"——not a system, not a rule, not a definition, but a fundamental truth——was sent directly into the core of all three bodies. Luna's pen finally began to move. Trembling, stopping, but still moving. Gon didn't move a step. He made no sound. He simply stood at the entrance of the great hall, arms crossed, quietly watching the two of them and the platinum sphere. The platinum light gradually settled. When he could breathe again, Shouta finally opened his mouth. "……I feel like I came about seven hundred years' worth," "……How much is that?" "Like……really long, somehow," "Specifically," "Huh? Um, like……everyone should be together," Two seconds of silence. "……Is that the summary of seven hundred years of spiritual essence records?" "I extracted just the important parts," "As a researcher, that's a statement that depletes considerable willpower," Gon burst out laughing. He tried to hold it back, couldn't manage it, and shook with laughter. Only that laughter echoed through the platinum hall. Shouta laughed too. Luna, pen still in hand, moved her eyebrows slightly and raised the corner of her mouth a little. The heavy air loosened with their laughter. Deep in the ruins, the three of them laughed like that for a while. ◆ It took a full day to exit 〈Vana's Veil〉. The return journey felt somewhat shorter than the way there. The mist was still thick, and the spiritual essence meter's needle remained high until they left the veil, but the three's footsteps were lighter than on the way in. They stayed one night in the fortress town of Cazal, then set out on the road to Tolma the next morning. Midday sunlight poured down on the plains, and small insects flew above the grass. A tributary of the Norg River flowed beside the road, its water sounds echoing peacefully. Shouta checked the fluffy creature in his arms. The white fur ball swayed gently. Its usual, gentle vibration. "I think 'mediation of symbiosis between humans and fluffies' is the closest way to put it," Walking, Shouta spoke the words he'd been turning over in his mind. He finally felt he could shape them precisely. "Spiritual essence resonance mediation, then," Luna walked beside him, receiving his words and rearranging them. Though her notebook was in her bag, she seemed to be organizing things in her mind. "We're not selling products. We're creating a space where emotional exchange can occur——that's new as a legal category. They call it 'unlicensed commerce' because we're trying to fill the legal gap in spiritual essence-responsive creature trading with the 'commodity sales' framework. But if it's 'spiritual essence resonance mediation,' we can stand outside existing commercial law," "……Isn't that the same thing I said from the beginning?" "The structure is the same. The depth of justification is different," "Does that matter?" Luna paused for a moment. Her aquamarine eyes stayed forward, thinking something through. "……You may have had the foundation from the beginning. You just hadn't put it into words," Shouta searched for a response for a moment, then said nothing. Instead, he gently stroked the fluffy creature in his arms. The meaning of Luna's words spread slowly through his chest. "Hey," Gon interjected from behind. Walking with his hand swinging, in his usual way. "I don't need the complicated talk, but do I owe the Iron Merchant Consortium anything or do they owe me?" "We're not paying back. We're creating something new," Shouta answered immediately. Gon went quiet. The light, easy smile mask slipped slightly from his face. Something in the back of his eyes turned forward. "……I see," Just one short word. That was all. But Shouta understood the weight behind it. They made camp beside a small stream. Gon started a fire, and Luna rehydrated dried rations with hot water. The three sat around a pot and ate without much conversation. When the fire had settled, Shouta sat down beside Luna. There was no particular reason. It just felt like the natural place. When he offered the fluffy creature from his arm, Luna looked slightly surprised before accepting it onto her lap. The white fur ball swayed peacefully between them. Shouta started to say something. But the words wouldn't come out right. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to say. Luna quietly closed her record book and gazed at the fire. The vibration gently wrapped around the air between them. That silence wasn't uncomfortable. Across the stream, Gon was singing something in a low voice. His pitch was quite off, but strangely it didn't bother anyone. ◆ They arrived in Tolma the next day in early afternoon. Wind from the Coral Sea crossed the stone-paved streets of the port town, and the clamor of the central market "Sedra's Ring" drifted from a distance. The smell of salted fish mixed with baked goods——the usual smell of Tolma. Shouta smelled it and felt slightly reassured. "Let's go," "'Let's go' nothing. It's the Iron Crown Hall," "I know," The Iron Crown Hall——the five-story stone structure standing in a corner of the port city Tolma as the headquarters of the Iron Merchant Consortium——had a quieter front entrance than Shouta had imagined. Staff came and went, but there was no sign of chaos. Only the weight the building carried. The weight of accumulation from a century of controlling continental trade. Shouta and the three of them passed through the entrance. After giving their names to the receptionist, they were shown to a conference room on the fourth floor after a brief wait. ◆ Beyond the door were five people. The silver-haired, large man in the seat of honor——Guild Master Victor Halgen——looked older than Shouta had imagined. He knew from records that he was fifty-eight, but fatigue showed in his eyes. Yet there was no letting down his guard——his gaze was sharp. Two people on each side of him. One side had two young merchant house representatives in their thirties to forties; the other had two elders who seemed to be in their sixties. Just as Luna had told him beforehand——representatives of the reform faction and the conservative faction. Shouta, Luna, and Gon sat down in a row. "You must be Shouta Sato," Halgen opened his mouth quietly. His voice was low and composed. It didn't feel like he was sizing them up. Just the quiet of someone accustomed to this place. "Yes," "I hear you want to establish a new trade in spiritual essence-responsive creatures. Exploiting a legal gap, I'm told," "More like filling it than exploiting it," Shouta chose his words carefully. The logic he and Luna had organized on the return journey was assembled in his mind. "Spiritual essence-responsive creatures——including fluffies——are not clearly defined as objects of sale under current commercial law. That's because a hundred years ago, only nobility kept them privately, and there was no need for trade. But now the situation has changed," One of the conservative elders frowned slightly. Shouta continued. "What I'm proposing isn't commodity sales. It's spiritual essence resonance mediation. Fluffies resonate with human emotion——I want to create a place where that phenomenon can be safely, legally, and for anyone to experience. That's a new business model that stands outside the existing 'goods sales' category of commercial law," The conference room fell silent. Shouta tried to continue——and his words caught. He had logic. He had justification. But the weight of this place reached his legs for the first time. Five gazes converged at a single point. At that moment, the fluffy creature in his arm intensified its vibration. The usual, gentle resonance vibration. Just that. But something settled quietly in Shouta's chest. "……Your fluffy's the most composed one here," Gon leaned close to his ear and whispered. Shouta couldn't help but laugh. He tried to hold it back, but laughter leaked from the corner of his mouth. He kept his voice down, but his shoulders shook. The air in the conference room changed for just a moment. One of the reform faction's young merchant house representatives——a man in his mid-thirties with tension still lingering on his face——relaxed his wariness slightly. Seeing Shouta's laughter, he seemed to be reassessing something. "My apologies," Shouta took a moment to collect himself. Then he signaled to Luna with his eyes. Luna opened her notebook. With her usual composed movements, but with the certain will of a researcher burning in her eyes. "Data on the primordial fluffy's spiritual essence resonance from the deepest layer of 〈The Cradle of Gray〉——the ruins within Vana's Veil," Luna spread out papers. Handwritten records filled them densely. "This data matches spiritual essence resonance records from approximately seven hundred years ago. In other words, the symbiotic relationship between fluffies and humans existed on the continent before the Gray War. Not as possession or domination, but as emotional exchange," The reform faction's young merchant house representative leaned forward. The other one also fixed his gaze on the record papers. One of the conservative elders opened his mouth. "But if there are no records of contact with the primordial fluffy, then this——" "There are," Luna quietly cut him off. Her voice was gentle, but had backbone. "I collected them directly. Three days ago," The elder fell silent. The other elder looked toward Halgen. Halgen showed no sign of being shaken, accepting the record papers and read