Third person POV
Days passed by, and news of Elai and Nathan's marriage, as well as the change of heart of Elai and her party, had spread across the Southern Territory. James had taken the opportunity of broadcasting this using his newspaper firm. Different opinions were raised. Some, like Gregory and Janet, were stunned with surprise, while others raised eyebrows of it. But Janet congratulated Nathan's marriage to her. At the same time, Elai had been reinstated as Fire Saintess and hero, but her rank, as Russell instructed, had been dropped to AA, in which Elai accepted.
At the same time, one Iranau morning, Loukas, who had been spying on the recent activities of the Square Order of the Squirrels, made his report to Russell about them. That included their stealing of the Fourth Fragment from the Archives Library of Carelis' Home of the Fourth Hero. Russell was surprised and remembered the third Fragment being stolen in Garion City months before. So, he looked at Loukas, "Ah, I see. Thanks for the information. We'll watch out for any more of their dark activities."
Nodding with mild loyalty to him, Loukas replied back, "Yes, thank you, May-san."
Masha and Rai came to the living room holding trays of drinks and some morning snacks.
When they saw it, Russell and Loukas got some to have something to eat and drink.
Later, while in the forest outskirts of Snowyfield Village, Russell talked with Ester, who commended his recent act of heroism. Russell was a bit overwhelmed by his compliments and said, "Yes, thanks, Ester."
"Yes," responded Ester positively while chuckling a bit, "it seemed that you had a heart of a true hero, literally."
"Yeah…"
Meanwhile, Azalea was in the village tending to her grandparents' needs in her family home.
Her mother was out shopping for food.
But, her father was in a room looking at a hood of his.
That hood was from the Square Order of the Squirrels, and that person used to belong to it but left 20 years ago to live a normal life in the village.