Before he knew it, a full month had passed since Alon began staying at the Central Mage Tower.
“Then, I’ll be heading off now.”
[Hmm— honestly, if it were up to me, I’d like to shore up your fundamentals a bit more, but— that would take far too long, so I can’t really insist on it.]
“I’ll stop by again soon.”
[Alright. Third-tier analysis takes a long time anyway. Still, by the time you come back, I should be able to analyze one or two of them.]
After exchanging farewells with Heinkel, Alon left the Central Mage Tower and set off for the marquisate—no, Palantio.
Two weeks passed like that, and the carriage was passing through a village as it always did.
“Hmm~”
Alon gazed out the window with a peculiar expression.
“What is it?”
Evan spoke up at the sight.
Alon rubbed his chin as if deep in thought, then.
“Evan.”
“Yes.”
“Is changing hairstyles into various styles the trend these days?”
He suddenly asked an unexpected question.
“Hairstyles?”
Evan asked back in confusion, then followed his gaze outside.
“......Huh?”
A moment later, he exclaimed as if realizing something.
“People’s styles have gotten a bit more diverse, haven’t they?”
“Huh......? Oh, you’re right?”
Penia also leaned toward the window, her eyes darting back and forth.
From children to adults, people with all kinds of different styles.
Alon felt a strange sensation at the sight.
‘........Aren’t they usually all pretty similar?’
If this had been a city or a domain rather than a small village, it would not have felt out of place.
Since there tended to be many wealthy residents, even non-nobles often pursued diverse styles.
But small villages like this were usually not like that.
Most people worked in farming or logging, and those with professions like herbalists or hunters did not pay that much attention to their hairstyles.
Completing the day’s work mattered more than appearances.
Even when there were occasionally unusual styles, there were only one or two at most, so the scene before his eyes felt extremely unfamiliar.
“Evan, judging by the fact that you don’t know either, I guess it’s not a trend.”
“......Right? Why would everyone in a small village bother worrying about style?”
“Mm~ And it’s not like doing those hairstyles usually takes that long either.”
Evan and Penia both looked equally baffled.
“Anyway, it’s interesting.”
Evan, who had been staring blankly outside, suddenly tilted his head.
“.....Huh? But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t like this when we arrived yesterday—”
“What did you say?”
“Ah, n-no, it’s nothing. It just felt like a strange sense of unease. It’s nothing important.”
Scratching his head, Evan changed the subject.
“So then, what do we do next?”
“What do you mean?”
“Where we’re stopping next, of course. If we go for about three more days, there’s the Tubasta domain. Should we head there?”
“Is there a village nearby?”
“There is.”
“Then let’s go there.”
At Alon’s immediate answer, Evan let out an exclamation.
“See? I told you it’s strange.”
“......Suddenly?”
“No, isn’t the reason you’re not stopping by the domain again because it’s a burden?”
Alon did not answer.
Just as Evan said, that really was the reason he avoided stopping by domains.
...............No matter how he thought about it, that was a bit...............
In fact, at first, Alon did stop by domains as he usually did.
After all, there was inevitably a difference between inns in ordinary villages and inns in domains.
However, after founding Palantio, whenever he stopped by a domain, the lords would make a huge fuss welcoming him.
They would even offer up their own sleeping quarters without hesitation.
“Usually, people are desperate to be treated well................”
Evan’s words were not wrong.
Alon himself did like being treated well to some extent.
But behavior that felt like they would give up their liver and gall for him instead was burdensome, so after stopping by two domains, Alon began traveling only through small villages.
“Hm hm, by the way, is there any new news?”
To change the subject, Alon asked, and Evan readily brought up other information.
“There is something I need to report.”
“Divine-bloods?”
Recently, there had been a lot of news regarding divine-bloods.
Alon’s guess was correct.
“Yes. But as I always tell you, it’s not a serious rumor.”
“Then this time as well......?”
Alon asked just in case, and Evan nodded.
“Yes. Just like before, they were praising Lord Alon’s greatness to no end and claimed they beat down the invading divine-blood.”
He relayed the news.
“......Another divine-blood this time as well?”
“Yes. In just a few weeks, it seems more than ten additional divine-bloods are now following you, Lord Alon. Congratulations.”
However, Alon could not accept those congratulations purely.
Of course, divine-bloods dealing with other divine-bloods was a very good thing. Thanks to that, the Allied Kingdom Alliance had not fallen and continued to maintain its power.
But on a personal level, Alon could not understand this situation at all.
‘...What on earth is going on?’
From what he had heard, the divine-bloods helping him, like the Risen One, numbered three including himself. Yet strangely, the number of divine-bloods seemingly following Alon kept increasing, and now it had surpassed ten.
‘What is happening....?’
As matters continued to grow beyond his knowledge and he fell into distress(?).
“Ah, come to think of it, this divine-blood seems to worship you almost fanatically, Lord Alon.”
“......What?”
“When fighting another divine-blood, they apparently said things like, ‘He and I are united as one body, and an attack on him will be considered an attack on me!’”
Evan piled on, and.
“....What is this, really?”
Alon’s face filled with even deeper confusion and bewilderment.
***
After Alon’s carriage passed through the village.
And once the carriage had completely disappeared from sight.
“All stop.”
The woman who had been laughing and chatting with the village women just moments ago—
No. Excluding five months, one of the two executives who effectively managed the Blue Moon, Yuna, raised her hand.
At that, the people with all sorts of different styles who filled the surroundings vanished all at once, as if they had been waiting.
What remained were the original villagers, wearing bewildered expressions.
However, without paying attention to her surroundings, Yuna leapt straight through an open second-floor window.
Inside was Hidan, silently lost in thought.
Dark circles hung all the way down to beneath his chin.
“Did you find it this time?”
“.........Not for certain yet.”
Fatigue was thickly woven into Hidan’s voice.
Yuna could not understand the current situation at all.
“I mean, I’m doing it because you told me to, but why on earth do we need to know what hairstyle the Great Moon likes?”
Yuna’s question struck straight at the core.
However, Hidan did not answer.
No—he could not.
How could he explain it?
That this entire situation—
‘S-so, I! I’ll find out what hairstyle the Great Moon likes!’
‘Hmm~ You don’t really have to go that far, though?’
‘I absolutely want to find out.’
‘If you insist that much, then alright.’
Had originated from his desperate struggle to survive after encountering Red Moon, who had her hair tied in twin-tails on one side of her head....
And so.
“This is far more important than you think.”
“......Really?”
“Yes.”
Hidan had no choice but to firmly(?) gloss it over.
And Yuna.
“If you’re serious enough to say that, then it must really be important, so I won’t argue......”
She relayed the situation as if it could not be helped.
“For now, the Great Moon seemed to be looking at both twin-tails and ponytails this time.”
“....Same as last time.”
“It did seem like he looked a bit longer at the twin-tails.”
“Twin-tails............. Does the Great Moon truly like twin-tails?”
“Mm, probably? Usually, people look more at what they like............. Of course, the Great Moon is not a mere human.”
In reality, it was simply that Alon found it curious that an adult had such a hairstyle and glanced a bit longer.
But unfortunately, they did not know that fact.
“....Then we just need to conduct one final experiment.”
Hidan’s struggle promised yet another continuation.
***
Several weeks passed after that.
Each time he passed through a village, marveling at the people with different hairstyles, Alon finally arrived near Palantio.
“Ah, it looks like the domain expansion has begun.”
“I see.”
The countless shantytowns had been pushed aside, and in their place, the foundations of walls, various buildings, and new roads were being created.
Unlike the areas undergoing domain expansion, far beyond an empty open field where nothing stood, pillars driven into the ground in various ways came into view.
“....That must be the new castle being built.”
“Oh, it seems so? I can see mages working there.”
“Wow, it’s big.”
Alon, Evan, and Penia each commented in turn.
Indeed, the area covered by the pillars embedded in the field was far from ordinary.
Even from a distance, it was difficult to gauge its size.
‘......Isn’t it too big?’
Even so, now that the foundation work was already complete, he could hardly tell them to reduce the size of the castle.
Moreover, he had heard reports that it was essentially free, so he considered it not too bad, and.
“It’s bigger than expected, but it’s nice. Since it’s a kingdom, if the castle is small, it would lack dignity.”
“Ah, I agree with that too.”
[Hoooh, a throne hall is supposed to be huge to begin with.]
Evan, Penia, and even Basiliora—who normally would not care about castles—nodded in agreement.
Soon, after entering Palantio, Alon.
“I-I’m very sorry, Your Majesty.”
Came face to face with Alexion, who bowed his head as if ashamed.
“It’s fine. I was the one who entrusted the castle construction entirely to you.”
“Thank you very much for your understanding.”
Alexion bowed even deeper.
“Well, still, looking at it being built over there, it doesn’t seem so bad. A castle is supposed to be big to have dignity, after all.”
At that moment, Evan chimed in with a smile, and.
“Oh, so you saw the construction of Castle No. 4.”
Alexion replied brightly.
And then.
“Huh?”
In an instant, silence fell over the office.
“Uh............... Castle No. 4?”
Evan, regaining his senses first, asked back.
“Yes. That is Castle No. 4, the outermost castle.”
“......Uh....... If that’s Castle No. 4, then...…. that means there’s also Castle No. 3...............?”
“That’s right. There are Castles No. 3 through No. 1.”
“So then…. that thing being built over there right now, which looks about as big as combining our five auction houses, is Castle No. 4......?”
“Please don’t worry. Thanks to the mages, construction on the remaining castles will begin soon as well.”
Alexion reassured them with a refreshing smile.
Amidst the situation where only Alexion was smiling, Alon turned his gaze out the window.
There.
A ‘No. 4’ castle so massive it could not even be compared to the castle Alon was currently residing in was being built.
‘...............What am I even looking at?’
His head truly began to spin......
