A month and two weeks had passed since the artificial Outer Gods incident caused by Duke Komalon.

Stalian V sighed deeply in Tern, a sigh laden with multiple meanings.

Now that it was confirmed Duke Komalon had instigated the incident, the Kingdom of Ashtalon had no choice but to compensate the other kingdoms in some way.

However, Stalian V wasn’t overly stressed by this; he had anticipated such an outcome from the moment he began investigating the incident and had prepared accordingly.

He had even managed to settle reasonable compensation terms after extensive discussions during the bi-monthly emergency meetings.

Yet his expression remained grim.

“I shouldn’t have interfered with Marquis Palatio back then... sigh,” Stalian V muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Nothing else had happened directly between him and Marquis Palatio; he hadn’t even seen the Marquis’s face since that day.

The real reason for his unease was Yuman.

Stalian V repeatedly thought back to the remarks Yuman had made during the meeting.

—Hmm, is that so? I think it’s «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» inadequate.

—Hmm, you should clearly apologize for this part. Passing it off so lightly doesn’t look good. Oh, wasn’t it the same last time?

—It almost sounds like you’re saying other countries are also to blame, which doesn’t sound good.

Yuman had relentlessly found fault and attacked every time Stalian V spoke.

Unable to understand Yuman’s persistent attitude, Stalian V was puzzled.

Although the Kingdom of Ashtalon and Rosario weren’t very close, their relationship was not bad, and the same was true of the saint.

Yet this relationship seemed shattered by a single incident involving Marquis Palatio.

‘My head hurts,’ he thought, filled with doubts. ‘What exactly is the relationship between Marquis Palatio and him?’

It was odd that Saint Yuman would defend Marquis Palatio, who was closely connected to Archbishop Yutia, and although it wasn’t apparent, there was a mutual check between Archbishop Yutia and Saint Yuman of Rosario.

Therefore, Yuman’s seemingly supportive stance toward the Marquis was peculiar.

“That’s it. There must be something about Marquis Palatio... I should look into it,” Stalian V resolved firmly, unable to just let it go.

“Your Majesty, it’s time to join the meeting,” said a voice, prompting Stalian V to stand.

His expression was more relaxed than before, as Saint Yuman would no longer participate in the meetings starting today.

With a somewhat lighter heart, he proceeded to the conference hall—only to be met by the glaring golden eyes of a beastman from The Colony, staring at him as if to devour him.

“??”

Although he did not understand why such a look was directed at him, he soon recalled that she had a very close relationship with Marquis Palatio and let out a low sigh.

That day, Stalian V grimly vowed, “I really shouldn’t mess with Marquis Palatio.”

Despite that vow, unfortunately, Stalian V encountered many unhappy incidents in Tern over the next week, during the peak of winter.

*****

Meanwhile, Alon had been back at his duchy for about two months, spending most of his time resting due to mana addiction.

Although his recovery was surprisingly quick, allowing him to move around without much difficulty after some time, he was still unable to use magic.

Thus, he could not engage in practical magic research and spent his days resting.

Nonetheless, he wasn’t entirely idle, as he had duties as the lord of his lands.

He had to deal with the piled-up and exceedingly tedious paperwork.

However, the process wasn’t too dull because of a sudden, unexpected “victory.”

“Ha ha ha ha, it’s a victory for me indeed.”

“Wait, what? How did this happen?”

“Foolish, to think you could defeat a god—it’s pure arrogance.”

It was because of Basiliora.

Alon looked at the two beings facing each other across a board game similar to chess.

Evan, with a shocked expression, and Basiliora, a small spiritual entity whose upper body was manifested and triumphantly puffed up.

The contrast between their fortunes was starkly apparent.

“Hey, let’s do it again.”

“Why should I redo it? Do you think I, of such noble stature, should stoop to rematching a lowly creature like you?”

“Enough of your nonsense. How can you boast about one win in thirty matches?!”

Evan’s voice was filled with injustice, and for once, Alon empathized with him.

Basiliora had lost to Evan more than thirty times and was being boastful over a single lucky win, like a novice who had beaten an expert once in a fighting game and then called them inadequate.

“Ah, it’s so annoying dealing with this blockhead.”

“So, what can you do about it? You’re just shaking in your boots!”

Basiliora, mouth agape, curled up and lifted his tiny body, which was adorable at just 30 cm tall due to being a spirit.

“Lord! Can’t you summon this creature?!”

“If I summon him at his actual size, this whole domain would be destroyed.”

“How about a smaller size, about my height?”

“No, I can’t.”

Alon genuinely wanted to materialize Basiliora to tease Evan, but unfortunately, it was impossible.

The limit on using the artifact Wanderer’s Salvation was five years... or was it ten?

Alon glanced at his bracelet.

It had glowed bright red when summoning Basiliora, but now it was ominously dark, indicating a wait time of five to ten years before the artifact could be used again.

However, Alon wasn’t too concerned, because there was another way to use the bracelet—he had bypassed cooldowns in games through resets.

‘Maybe about half a year after the original story began?’

Alon shrugged as he thought about the character who could reset the cooldown of Salvation.

“Indeed, foolish humans can’t defeat me—”

“Lord, this guy flinches every time the central tower is mentioned. There might be something there; let’s send him there.”

“!? Wait, that’s underhanded—”

Recently, Alon had been keeping himself entertained by watching Evan and Basiliora play while working on paperwork.

As time passed, about four months later, Alon’s mana addiction gradually faded, allowing him to perform magic a couple of times, and he welcomed the warmth of spring instead of winter’s chill.

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“When did we get an auction house in our domain?”

“I believe it was about four months ago. Didn’t you receive a report about it?”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“Why do you ask?”

Alon checked the figures in the documents again.

“It’s just that for something that started only a few months ago, it’s paying a lot of taxes.”

The reason Alon asked about the auction house despite knowing it existed was precisely because of the taxes.

“It’s only been three months, and the taxes are this high...?”

The amounts weren’t shockingly large, but the figures were significant considering they came from only a few months of operating an auction house.

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“Can you bring the owner of the auction house here?”

“The owner?”

“Yes.”

Alon wanted to meet the auction house owner, thinking about developing the domain further.

Although he was somewhat naive about managing the domain, maintaining it wasn’t too difficult, given his experience with paperwork.

However, growing it was another matter.

The ducal finances were essentially breaking even, aside from the money Alon brought in.

Costs mostly consumed any additional revenue, achieving a net zero gain.

Therefore, he thought, ‘If the auction house is doing well, perhaps investing in it and expanding it into something like a tourism industry might be a good idea.’

Alon began forming a plan in his mind.

He needed to discuss business with the owner of the auction house.

Even if a plan seemed plausible, business was fraught with variables, and experience was known to make a difference.

Shortly after, through Evan, Alon had the owner summoned—and he was at a loss for words when he saw who it was.

“......Alexion?”

“Good to see you, my lord.”

It was all too familiar.

Alexion’s life had taken a turn for the worse from the moment he met Radan, the Pirate King.

Enduring numerous hardships and ultimately succumbing to Radan’s coercion(?), Alexion had found himself at the ducal house, wondering what sins he had committed in a past life—though his current life was not without its faults either.

Nevertheless, there were days filled with gloom, but Alexion had eventually managed to turn his fortunes around.

His innate business acumen quickly caught on to the fact that many trade guilds frequented the Palatio ducal house, and in just a few months, he had established a thriving auction house from nothing.

“......Why are you here?”

“Ha ha, it just turned out this way.”

Alexion wanted to shout, ‘Your brother, the pirate, dragged me here by force!!!’ but he restrained himself.

After all, such a statement would not benefit him.

He had also been warned by Radan to behave if he wanted to live.

Given that he did not wish to die, being cautious with his words was only natural.

Despite the circumstances potentially making it awkward, Alexion was quite pleased.

He roughly guessed why the Marquis had summoned him—

“......I’m not good with words, so I’ll speak bluntly. I want to invest to grow our domain. May I hear your thoughts?”

This was precisely the discussion Alexion had anticipated from the Marquis.

Normally, it would be premature to rejoice, but knowing the Marquis’s intentions through Radan, the Marquis’s words sounded to Alexion like, ‘I want to give you money.’

Regardless of what the Marquis was thinking, Alexion was confident in his ability to secure investment through his own skill.

So he thought, ‘How should I approach this? Maybe start by linking it to a tourism venture and then suggest expanding the auction house?’

While considering how to charm the Marquis, who was not antagonistic toward him, Alexion smiled inwardly.

Although he wasn’t insane enough to scam someone connected to the Pirate King, he could probably get a bit more than he initially expected. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

“Ahem...”

Just as Alexion cleared his throat, his eyes caught something outside the window.

A woman with blond hair and dark clothes was perched on a tree outside, staring intently at Alexion.

Upon making eye contact, she promptly pulled a magical device from her bosom.

And then, as she smiled slightly, the device emitted light, projecting an image in front of Alexion.

His expression instantly hardened.

The image showed Radan looking back at him with a stern and solemn expression.

“......”

Clouds of gloom once again shrouded Alexion’s face.