Right after Alon left for Basiliora’s test run—
inside the inner castle, where the owner of the eighth floor had been decided by rock-paper-scissors, things were being wrapped up even faster than expected.
In truth, it was only natural.
To begin with, most of the people staying here did not particularly care which floor they lived on.
And even those who had been aiming for the eighth floor no longer had any reason to care about floor number the moment that goal disappeared.
Because of that, the follow-up arrangements proceeded rapidly, and just as everyone was, as if by unspoken agreement, thinking they ought to leave the next day—
“No matter how I think about it, this feels unfair.”
“What a coincidence, Seollang. I was thinking the same thing.”
Seollang and Rine voiced their dissatisfaction.
At that—
“My, I don’t believe I was the one who started this in the first place?”
Yutia smiled faintly as she looked at Seollang and Rine, both gathered on the eighth floor.
“......”
Displeasure was visible on both their faces.
But Yutia’s expression was full of ease.
More precisely, she was looking at them as if to say, ‘So what are you going to do about it?’
Meeting that gaze, Seollang answered with a sullen face.
“So it really was just pretending to be mature—”
“My, whatever do you mean by that, Seollang?”
“I think you’re actually childish on the inside.”
“And would that be a problem?”
Yutia asked back leisurely.
At that, Seollang glared at her resentfully for a moment, then—
“Is that why your appearance is childish too?”
—still pouting, she tossed it out bluntly.
“......What did you say, Seollang?”
“They say the outside follows the inside, right? So based on that line of thinking—”
─────────────KWA-AAAAAAAH-!!!
Seollang vanished.
No—more precisely, rather than vanishing, it would be more accurate to say she was sent flying.
Straight through the castle’s outer wall, at that.
“......You’re not even holding back anymore.”
Watching Seollang flying off into the distance like something out of a game, Rine murmured.
“There’s no need to hold back now, is there?”
Yutia replied, still smiling.
Flutter— rustle—
Seollang, who had just been struck by Yutia and launched through the air, came back in through the shattered window and grumbled,
“I’m telling Master.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll fix it before Teacher gets back. And let me say this in advance: the reason I’m small is simply because I’m still growing. So don’t run your mouth about something you already know so well, all right?”
Yutia did not lose her smile.
Certainly, Rine and Seollang, who had regained their memories for one reason or another, knew that fact.
“Hm.”
Rine looked at Yutia with a rather subtle expression.
“So by restricting your growth, only ‘possibility’ remains—”
“What was that, Rine?”
“It’s nothing. And please put your hand down. I’m not as sturdy as Seollang.”
She looked at Yutia with an expression that plainly said, If you hit me, I’ll break.
In the end, Yutia let out a sigh and sat down, and only then finally brought up the real subject.
“So then, what is it? It seems both of you came because you had something to say.”
Seollang brushed the pile of gravel off her head and sat down as well.
Even though nothing exactly like this had happened before, she looked strangely used to it, as if she had already been through this kind of scene several times.
After Seollang sat down—
“You know, don’t you, Yutia?”
“Know what?”
“That things have changed a lot.”
Rine finally spoke in earnest.
“......”
A brief silence settled over them at the question.
But only for a moment.
“Of course I know.”
At Yutia’s reply, Rine tried to continue, but—
“......Isn’t it dangerous?”
“In what sense?”
“I haven’t recovered that much, but even taking that into account... the farther it drifts from what we know, the less we can respond—”
“Rine.”
—at Yutia’s calm voice, she had no choice but to fall silent again.
“That’s not true.”
“......Not true?”
“Yes. In fact—”
It’s important that it drift farther and farther away from what we know.
—murmured Yutia, giving a small smile.
“So don’t worry too much, and just do what you believe you have to do. That’s what matters.”
“......”
“Ah, though of course, the same goes for me.”
Rine quietly looked at her for a moment after hearing that.
Then—
Springing to her feet, Seollang stood up.
“Seollang......?”
Rine called to her in confusion, but Seollang paid no attention and spoke to Yutia instead.
“Got it. So I just have to do what feels like something I should do, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Because I’ve already got all sorts of things I need to do popping into my head.”
Seollang nodded firmly, and there was no more lingering hesitation left on her face.
She simply—
“Yutia.”
“Yes, Seollang?”
“Don’t use too much of it.”
“......”
She stared straight into Yutia’s face.
What filled her eyes was concern.
After silently looking at Yutia for a while like that, Seollang finally turned around and walked out.
Rine, who had been watching her back, turned her gaze to Yutia once more and added a brief comment of her own.
“I agree with that too. Honestly, even now—”
The sentence trailed off before she could finish it.
Yutia smiled.
“It’s fine. For now, at least.”
“......Is it?”
“Don’t worry. I’m really fine. It’s not as if everyone is ready yet, is it?”
Still the same as always.
“For now.”
That was how the conversation ended.
At some point, Rine also left the room.
“Hoo—”
Letting out a sigh, Yutia rose from her seat and looked out the window.
There stood a castle she had seen over and over again.
More precisely, the castle where Alon would now be staying.
“......”
Silently, she looked at the castle.
Just for a while.
And kept looking.
####
Now that the Divine blood had descended, there were two reasons peace was still being maintained in the Allied Kingdoms.
The first was Star Root.
The biggest factor was that the Divine blood belonging to Star Root had successfully “reformed” most of the Divine blood flocking into the Allied Kingdoms and absorbed them into the organization, making it appear as though they were defending the Allied Kingdoms.
The second was Divine Land.
Yes, Divine Land.
It had been created according to one small wish of Alon’s.
And yet, through practical necessity, Divine Land had grown so enormous that every time even Alon visited it, he came away with one more question than before. And now it, too, was contributing to the peace of the Allied Kingdoms.
The area where Divine Land exerted influence was defense against abnormal entities.
As things stood, Star Root was blocking most of the Divine blood, so beings beyond human ability to handle were not entering.
But unfortunately, that only applied to Divine blood themselves.
The abnormal entities they created crossed into the territory of the Allied Kingdoms with comparative ease and caused trouble.
Not just “trouble,” either. In truth, they were practically carrying out massacres and increasing the number of abnormal entities.
Each major military power in the various kingdoms was individually strong enough to fight abnormal entities.
But their numbers were not enough to stop the abnormal entities invading practically every day.
The people of Divine Land, however, were different.
The knights belonging to Divine Land could fight abnormal entities, and the captains and commander-class figures could even handle several of them alone.
And that wasn’t all.
The Four Knights, who were currently said throughout the world to have received the power of the Magic King, displayed astonishing feats, facing enemies in the hundreds by themselves.
In other words, Divine Land’s standing within the Allied Kingdoms was immense.
The kingdoms of the Allied Kingdoms were now trying less to preserve their own dynastic prestige and more to directly praise Divine Land in hopes of building a better relationship with it.
And on top of that, one more rumor had recently spread through Divine Land.
It was the Saintess’s statement that “those who prove themselves may be chosen.”
Because of that, the current atmosphere in Divine Land was burning hot.
Naturally so.
The people of Divine Land had witnessed it.
The power displayed by the knights who had been chosen.
Power that no mere human could possibly wield—power so overwhelming that not even Master Knights could defeat it.
Knights worthy of being called—
“heroes.”
That was why, recently, the knights and soldiers had been training with even greater energy while gathering faith.
And that—
“Please— pleasepleaseplease—! I really want to get in!!”
—became a powerful stimulus even for the young dreamers now growing up in the Allied Kingdoms.
An enormous crowd was lined up in a long queue to become knights of Divine Land.
“Why are you acting like such a kid?”
Kokun, a mercenary from Lartania, clicked his tongue at the woman beside him—Senya—who was muttering desperately under her breath.
Instead, Senya shot back as if asking the obvious.
“What do you mean, acting like a kid? Aren’t you nervous?”
“Honestly, I have a harder time understanding why so many people are standing in line just to take some test.”
“You’re lying. You’re excited too.”
“I’m really not.”
Kokun lightly denied what Senya said.
And indeed, he wasn’t particularly excited.
The only reason he had come here was because Senya, who had been with him since they were both orphans, had urged him to. To be honest, he didn’t have much interest in things like this.
“Wouldn’t it have been better to just keep making money in the labyrinth? These days, everyone’s flocking to this, so even the price of bone materials has gone up.”
At Kokun’s regretful words, Senya raised her voice like he simply didn’t get it.
“You really should have seen it. I’m telling you, before I came here—”
“Oh, enough already— quit it. That story again, right? About the knight who came «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» when an abnormal entity showed up in Lartania? You can stop telling it now. I’ve heard it enough times for my ears to get calluses.”
“......”
As Kokun waved his hand dismissively, both of Senya’s cheeks puffed full of air.
But only for a moment—then her face bloomed bright again.
“Haa, you really should have seen it. If you’d seen that, your heart would have no choice but to race.”
“......Is it really that amazing? I still think it’d be better to just earn money and live comfortably—”
Kokun, about to argue back again, quickly shut his mouth.
Because he knew it was pointless anyway.
So—
“Well, sure. If you like it that much—”
—for the sake of his childhood friend, he just shrugged.
Just then—
“Uh— uhh?”
“Wh- what is that?”
The area around them suddenly stirred.
The gazes of those standing in line all focused in one direction.
“......?”
Kokun and Senya turned their heads along with them.
And what entered their vision in that moment was—
“......What the—?”
—a black serpent.
A black serpent clad head to tail in black armor was swimming through the sky.
And that wasn’t all.
The black mist pouring from the black serpent devoured the clouds.
And from those devoured clouds—
Crackle— crackle-crackle—!!!
Red lightning began to crash down.
It was the very embodiment of the incomprehensible—something no ordinary human’s common sense could ever understand.
Faced with that overwhelming sight, everyone there was seized by fear.
“Th- this is insane—!”
“We- we have to run—!!”
A few people, seeing it slowly drawing closer toward Divine Land, were just about to flee when—
“W-wait—!”
“There’s someone on top!”
“Some- someone?!”
At someone’s shout, every head snapped upward again.
And soon they saw him.
A man standing atop that thing as it drifted through the sky in dark armor.
His face looked so expressionless it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
He had his arms folded as if riding a black serpent through the sky was something utterly familiar to him.
And his black coat billowed with the serpent’s movements.
And then—
“The Magic King......?”
The moment someone uttered that name—
“That person... is the master of Divine Land......?”
A strange gleam entered the eyes of all those who had been thrown into confusion only moments earlier.
The armored serpent, looking down on them as if showing itself off—
■■■■■■■■■■■───!!!!
—let out a roar like it was flaunting its own existence, then flew toward Divine Land.
And—
“......Senya.”
“Uh...... huh?”
Kokun, blankly watching its departing figure with his eyes, muttered—
“I... think I might suddenly want to become a knight......”
At the sight he had just witnessed, his heart had started pounding before he even realized it.
And so, without even knowing it, as Alon stirred the hearts of countless people—
[Kuhahahahaha—! Did you see them? The way those fools stood in awe of this body.]
“......Get down already—!”
hunching his crossed arms even tighter around his shoulders because he genuinely felt like he was freezing to death—
“At this rate, I’m going to freeze to death......!”
he stared down at the ground with a desperate expression.
