Arm-Spitting One was, of course, believing the words of Risen One.
There were two reasons.
First, it was because Risen One had absolutely no reason to lie to him.
To begin with, Arm-Spitting One belonged to the faction of Abyss Watcher. Even without deception, he would have guarded the Star Eater regardless.
And the other reason was.
Because he had heard that what Risen One said had come from the Abyss Watcher.
Of course, even Arm-Spitting One had a very slight doubt—if it could even be called doubt.
That was only natural.
No matter how he thought about it, the Star Eater’s ability was simply absurd.
Even so, even if the Star Eater’s ability turned out to be different from what he knew, his intention to protect him would not have changed.
Nevertheless, it was true that he was curious.
And even if the Star Eater’s ability had not been real.
By drawing all of their gazes to a single point, it would not have been difficult to deal with at least one of them through a surprise attack, which was why Arm-Spitting One had opened the void, and what he saw there was.
The power of the Star Eater.
[That’s impossible~]
The muttering of Burned Vegetation reached Arm-Spitting One.
Amusingly enough, Arm-Spitting One, who had opened the void in the first place, shared the same impression.
He had certainly known in advance.
However, merely knowing something and witnessing it directly were far too different.
Arm-Spitting One let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
Soon after, once the void he had opened closed.
The divine-bloods stared at one another with blank expressions, without saying a word.
[We didn’t see it wrong, did we?]
[Of course not. That was clearly the power of the Poison Swallower.]
[...............Are you saying it’s even possible to give the power of divine-bloods to a mere living being of this world?]
[Then what Risen One said............... must be the truth.]
After exchanging words for a brief moment with expressions that could not tell whether this was a dream or reality.
[H-however, is there really any reason for him to share that power with us...............?]
Burned Vegetation voiced his opinion once more, but.
[.....Coldly speaking, I don’t think that’s the case.]
Piercing Eye flatly rejected Burned Vegetation’s opinion.
[Why is that?]
[With his ability, he would eventually obtain the karma of other divine-bloods anyway. And if that happens, the higher he climbs, the more the things gained from lower places will lose their luster.]
At some point, Piercing Eye had changed the form of address from ‘Star Eater’ to ‘him.’
At his words, Burned Vegetation shut his mouth without realizing it.
Because, in truth, he had been thinking the same thing himself.
And so.
[It seems we’ll have to make our choice again.]
Burned Vegetation made his decision.
[....Could you perhaps arrange an opportunity for us to greet him?]
[Regrettably, I have no authority to do that. To begin with, I myself have never met him in person.]
[Why is that?]
[From what I heard from Risen One, he does not want his identity to be exposed—]
[Then what should we do—]
[Well, isn’t that something we don’t need to worry too much about?]
[....Why is that?]
Showing that you intend to follow him isn’t all that difficult to begin with, Arm-Spitting One added, and then.
As if there was no need to hear anything further, he disappeared into the sea.
[....Hmm, now that I think about it, there were quite a few others heading toward the kingdom besides us.]
Piercing Eye muttered without realizing it.
And then.
Burned Vegetation.
[Indeed…...!]
Nodded his head, as if he had realized something.
***
Three weeks had already passed since Alon arrived at the Central Mage Tower.
In truth, when he had first come to the Central Mage Tower, he had never intended to stay for such a long time.
However, after hearing a clue about ideation from Heinkel, he remained at the tower in hopes of learning even a little magic, and.
Together with Heinkel and Penia, he began researching True Mage’s magic in earnest.
And that time had already amounted to three weeks.
“Hoo—”
Alon let out a sigh.
Fatigue washed over him.
Sitting in one place and conducting research itself was not particularly difficult.
But the problem was magic.
Heinkel, with her incredible intellect, could grasp the essence of incantations without much trouble, but even so, she could not fully comprehend the entire structure of magic.
The same was true for Penia.
In the end, Alon was the only one who could actually deploy magic, so he had to use magic throughout the research, and because of that, he was extremely exhausted.
“Are you very tired?”
“A little.”
“Since your Mana Hole is small, you have to keep using Reverse Heaven.”
Penia nodded as if it were only natural.
“Was it Sparrow? It would have been nice if he could have helped.”
“So it would.”
At first, Alon had never imagined that he would struggle this much.
That was, of course, because of Sparrow.
Though trapped inside a gemstone, he was undeniably a mage.
Alon had thought he would be able to hear explanations about the principles of incantations, but regrettably, he could not receive his help.
No, perhaps he had been even less helpful than Heinkel.
The reason was.
[Why can’t you do that?]
Because Sparrow was, by common classification, a being closer to a ‘genius.’
He naturally skipped over the few things most needed in the early stages, and on top of that, he was atrocious at explaining things… so Alon had long since given up on receiving Sparrow’s help.
“Well, still, it’s fine. We’re getting results worthy of the effort.”
“That’s true.”
Perhaps because of all that hardship, the past three weeks had yielded quite a lot of results.
“We’re laying down all the fundamentals now.”
“Indeed.”
For three weeks, Alon had been rebuilding the basics of magic—no, incantations—from the very beginning.
Strictly speaking, calling it the ‘first time’ suited it better.
Up until now, he had used incantations, but that was closer to using a kind of blessing than actual magic.
“Hmm, at this rate, in about three or four more days, you should be able to properly use at least one incantation.”
“We’ll have to endure a bit more hardship.”
“If only I could use incantations too—”
“Thank you for thinking of that.”
“It’s nothing. We’re close, after all.”
As Penia spoke with a smile, Alon returned one—if only briefly.
“Sir Alon.”
“Evan.”
Evan opened the door to the library and walked in.
“Is the research going well?”
“So-so.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Right. Where are Blackie and Basiliora?”
Earlier that morning.
Evan had taken Basiliora, who had hidden inside the ring to avoid Heinkel, and Blackie, who had been bored, outside.
At Alon’s question, Evan shrugged.
“They’re playing in the carriage outside right now. That aside, are you currently taking a break?”
Alon nodded.
Evan approached, looking pleased.
“As it happens, there’s something I’d like to tell you.”
“Is it about divine-bloods?”
“Mm— that as well, but there’s other news too.”
“Something else?”
“Yes. It’s about the marquisate—no, about Palantio.”
Alon tilted his head slightly.
There was no reason for anything to have happened in Palantio just yet.
However, Alon soon recalled something and let out an “Ah.”
“Don’t tell me it’s about the castle.”
“Oh, how did you know?”
“There’s nothing else that would come out of Palantio right now. So, has the castle already been built?”
Alon’s question sounded nonsensical at first glance.
After all, it had not even been two full months since he had ordered the castle’s construction.
Half of that question had been a joke, and the other half stemmed from having heard that two Mage Tower Lords had joined to help with the construction.
‘Honestly, I still don’t know why they bothered to join.’
In any case, at Alon’s question, Evan shook his head.
“No, that’s not it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Instead, how should I put this................”
Evan scratched his head for a while, unable to continue, then.
“To get straight to the point, they’ve just started laying the foundational base.”
“That’s faster than I expected.”
“And the Palantio territory has become the Southern Palantio District.”
“What….. what?”
The words slipped out.
“....Southern Palantio District? What does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
“No, there’s only that territory—how could it possibly............?”
Alon’s brain stopped working properly.
Seeing that, Evan scratched his head once more and then—
“They say the castle being built is that large.”
“???”
That was his answer.
And Alon fell even deeper into confusion.
“And there’s one more thing I need to tell you, regarding divine-bloods.”
“No, wait—”
Before he could even organize his thoughts, Evan brought up a new topic.
In the end, Alon pushed the questions filling his head to the side for now.
“.....All right, go ahead and tell me that too.”
“I’ve heard that battles between divine-bloods have been occurring frequently lately.”
“....Between divine-bloods?”
“Yes.”
Alon felt momentary doubt, but soon understood the situation.
Through his conversation with Risen One, he already knew that some divine-bloods were taking his side.
“I see.”
As Alon was about to nod naturally.
“About eight entities.”
“?”
At the follow-up, he was confused once again.
“......Eight?”
“Yes.”
“....Not two or three?”
“.....Yes, well....... among the confirmed entities, it’s eight.”
At the unexpected number.
‘What?’
Another shadow of doubt crossed Alon’s face.
And around that time.
In the capital Tllian of the small city-state, Chronosax.
To the divine-blood who had crossed the sea, ‘Fury of the Whirlpool,’ it looked like quite a delectable place.
People were densely packed together in one area.
And given the nature of the ability possessed by ‘Fury of the Whirlpool,’ such clustered people were easy to turn into tools with a single act of brainwashing.
Thus, before completing the Rot Eternal’s commission.
‘Fury of the Whirlpool,’ who intended to establish a small support base in advance.
[Stop.]
[?]
He turned his gaze at the solemn voice that reached him before he could even approach the capital.
[............Burned Vegetation?]
There, he encountered Burned Vegetation.
Fury of the Whirlpool froze for a moment. Then, as if understanding something.
[I see. You arrived first?]
He formed a twisted smile with a mouth that looked like a seashell.
His fishy expression was filled with confidence.
To begin with, he had fallen into the southern side of the Empire together with Burned Vegetation. And he knew why Burned Vegetation was heading toward the Allied Kingdom Alliance.
And so.
[Since meeting here is a coincidence anyway, let’s form an alliance. As you know, no matter how many gather, all we have to do is deal with the ‘Star Eater,’ right?]
Fury of the Whirlpool naturally proposed this to Burned Vegetation, and.
[What kind of bullshit is that?]
[?]
Vacantly and easily, he was rejected.
[....What did you say?]
Fury of the Whirlpool asked back in confusion.
But Burned Vegetation.
[How dare you speak his name so carelessly. You’ve lost your mind.]
As if truly enraged, he growled while making the flames covering his entire body burn hotter.
Fury of the Whirlpool, instinctively flustered and about to retort, opened his mouth—
[No, suddenly!? When we fell, you were talking about roasting the Star Eater—]
[Shut up!]
He could not continue.
[I am in a state of unity with him, no different from being one body. In other words, an attack on him is the same as an attack on me! As the leader of the ‘Star Root,’ I will not forgive this!!]
At the sight of Burned Vegetation, drenched in frenzied rage while shouting a group name that seemed fit only for a children’s cartoon.
‘W-what is this…...?!’
He began to feel a strange sense of fear.
