Northern Ashtalon Kingdom.

Perhaps because it was affected, even if only slightly, by the northern climate, that place maintained low temperatures at all times—despite having clearly defined seasons.

There—

Kurak was looking at the strange text—

No, to be precise, he was looking at an item taken from inside the strange text.

“.......”

It was a rusted spear.

A spear so corroded that anyone could tell at a glance it could never be used as a weapon.

But what Kurak focused on wasn’t how usable it was.

It was the spear’s shape itself.

‘Another kind I’ve never seen before.’

Kurak turned the spear over and over.

Its form was too worn with age to make out clearly.

Even so, there was one thing he could tell for sure.

This spear was the kind that didn’t exist in this world.

“Hm—”

Of course, he didn’t actually need to figure that out.

The orders he’d received from Hazad weren’t to investigate what the strange text truly was, but only to extract the source of the power that poured out from it, and to collect the “raw stones.”

And yet, the reason he’d started taking an interest in things like this—

Was because of the scenery he saw every time he entered the strange text, always different.

‘Scenery like a different world painted into existence. So, things from another world—no, maybe not. They could be relics from a much older time.’

Kurak drifted in thought.

But then—

“Do you want to know?”

At the voice that suddenly reached him, Kurak’s eyes widened and he snapped his gaze around—

And he saw a man standing behind him.

A man wearing black sacred robes, his entire body adorned with all kinds of chains.

“......!”

Cold sweat began to run down Kurak’s back.

It wasn’t because of the man’s appearance.

‘Nothing— I didn’t feel any presence at all......!’

He had never experienced something like this, not before receiving power from Hazad, and not after.

His senses had already reached their limit, transcending again and again—there was no one who could slip past them.

Even Hazad, the one who had granted him power in the first place, couldn’t escape his perception.

And yet—

The man in front of him had escaped Kurak’s senses.

Perfectly.

Until this very moment, when he was already standing right in front of him.

Even now, as Kurak stared straight at him, Kurak still couldn’t feel the man’s aura.

So, by instinct, he drew a weapon.

Koo-woong—

With a casual sweep of his hand, a massive hammer appeared.

A hammer so huge it dwarfed Kurak himself—who stood well over two meters—so large you couldn’t even imagine how to swing it properly.

But Kurak lifted it one-handed as if it were nothing, staring at the man in sacred robes with a face tight with tension.

“Mm— I don’t think my greeting was particularly aggressive. But that’s quite the return greeting.”

The man in black sacred robes spoke like that, wearing a loose smile—

And then, tsk—

In the blink of an eye, he was right in front of Kurak, and with a finger he lightly flicked Kurak’s hand as it reflexively moved.

A very light touch.

And yet, from that alone—

“Wh—what...!”

Kurak’s body, which had been about to swing that enormous hammer, froze in place.

As if it had never been possible for him to move in the first place.

“Ugh—!”

His eyes bloodshot, Kurak’s body began to pour out explosive magic power.

Murderous muscles swelled in an instant, flaunting themselves as if they could tear the man in front of him apart at any moment.

But—

“There’s no need to strain yourself. You won’t be able to move anyway.”

“This... what is this—”

Even in front of Kurak, the man in black sacred robes spoke with perfect calm. He slowly pulled something from within his robes—

And set it on Kurak’s arm.

Then—

“!!”

Kurak’s body began to turn black.

Watching that, the man took the spear Kurak had been holding.

“Since you gave me a body you like as a gift, I suppose I can give you a gift in return.”

He casually swung the spear—

And toward Kurak, who was slowly blackening but still thrashing desperately, trying to break free—

He said:

“The strange text is a fragment.”

But Kurak didn’t hear him.

He couldn’t.

“Ugh—!”

He was too busy struggling to escape.

Blood vessels burst in Kurak’s eyes.

Muscles ruptured here and there, unable to withstand the force.

Even so—

“A fragment of another world.”

The man kept speaking as if nothing was happening right in front of him.

And then—

The moment the blackness that had seeped in through Kurak’s arm swallowed even his mind—

What reached him was—

“Fragments... of the ‘Eyes’—”

a dry voice, and—

“—a fragment.”

A yellow gaze—so vivid it made his skin crawl—its concentric circles layered dozens of times over one another.

About a week after that.

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

“Yes, brother.”

Alon returned to land once more, exchanged farewells with Radan, and parted ways.

“Did you feel it? He looked a little gloomy.”

Evan’s voice came as Alon watched the ship disappearing into the distance.

Alon nodded.

“I know.”

“Shouldn’t you have said something to him?”

Evan had a point.

Alon had seen the worry on Radan’s face the entire time, and still, he hadn’t asked what was wrong.

But Alon shook his head.

“If he doesn’t want to talk about it, there’s no need to force it.”

Alon recalled Radan’s expression.

That awkward smile that was practically screaming it.

Anyone could tell he didn’t want to reveal what he was worried about.

If Alon asked, Radan would answer anyway—and in the end, it would just mean forcing it out of him.

So he hadn’t asked.

If Radan wasn’t telling him, there was clearly a reason.

So after silently watching Radan’s ship for a while, Alon said—

“Let’s go for now.”

And turned, heading toward the carriage they’d left there.

Just as he was about to climb in—

“Hm?”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know how to put it... the carriage is clean.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Well—haven’t we left it sitting here for about a month?”

“We have.”

“And usually, after that long, there’s at least some dust.”

At Evan’s remark, Alon nodded without realizing it.

He hadn’t been paying attention to cleanliness, but it was true.

Wooo-woong—!

Just in case, Alon moved a small amount of mana and inspected the carriage.

But aside from being genuinely clean, there was nothing wrong.

“Let’s just go for now.”

“Yes, well.......”

The two got into the carriage and started moving.

Then, as if they’d learned it somewhere, Blackie and Basiliora set up something like a chess board in front of themselves and began playing.

[Kwaaahaha—!!]

[Kyuu.]

Watching Basiliora’s pathetic brain and Blackie’s cute front paw steadily push the pieces, Alon calmly thought about what he had to do next.

‘First thing is... finding the three items.’

The Mask of the One Who Walks Ahead.

The Crying Blessing.

The Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One.

Thankfully, Alon already knew where two of the three items were—

And even the process of obtaining ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ them wasn’t all that difficult.

But the Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One hadn’t appeared even in Psychedelia, so he had no idea where to find it.

‘I’ll need Nangwon’s help for this.’

If it was Nangwon, who ran the Information Guild, he should be able to help.

[I won. You stupid beast! That means your intelligence is lower than mi—Kraaaagh!]

[Kyuu—]

While Alon kept thinking—

Blackie was pressing Basiliora’s head down with its front paw on the board that had already turned into a total mess.

Even when Basiliora tried to move its tail, Blackie didn’t budge at all, just pinning down the tiny snake’s head.

Seeing that, Alon found himself thinking again.

‘......When is Blackie going to grow up?’

Of course, it was physically impossible for Blackie to reach maturity in just one or two years.

But Alon knew Blackie could grow faster by absorbing various things, so the thought only lingered briefly.

“Marquis. I meant to tell you last time, but something came to mind.”

“Is it important?”

“No, not really. It’s just... because of you, Marquis, bandits are basically getting wiped out.”

“?”

“?”

“What are you talking about?”

Alon tilted his head, looking like he didn’t understand the situation at all.

“To be honest, I’m not exactly telling you this because I fully understand it myself, but—”

Evan also wore a vague expression as he began explaining in earnest.

A little time passed.

“......So, to sum it up. If you deal with bandits and show proof, you can enter Marquis Palatio’s Divine Land?”

“Yes.”

“?????”

A whole cluster of hooks snagged in Alon’s head.

“......Who’s spreading something like that?”

“Not sure......?”

“Just in case—did we put out a notice like that?”

“Of course not. Like you said last time, Marquis, it was a pretty vague notice.”

“Then how did ‘deal with bandits’... turn into that meaning? No—”

A little dizzy, Alon pressed a hand to the side of his head and continued.

“—More than that, why do they even want to enter the Divine Land in the first place?”

“It seems like a rumor got out.”

“A rumor?”

“Yes. I don’t know where it started, but... something like, if you go train in the Divine Land, you can use Kalannon’s power.”

“......Just in case, I’m asking again. We didn’t put that rumor out either, right?”

“Of course not.”

“.......”

At Evan’s firm answer, Alon shut his mouth.

But no matter how much he thought about it—

He couldn’t understand how a notice that was basically ‘we’ll only accept the righteous’ had turned into ‘kill bandits, bring proof, and you can train in the Divine Land where you can use Kalannon’s power!’

‘......What is going on?’

All he could feel was a creeping sense of something strange.

Several months had passed since Sin destroyed Fildagreen.

Thanks to the help of human mages, it had now been rebuilt cleanly enough that most of it had regained its former appearance.

In one of the rooms of the royal castle—

Rine was there.

She was drinking black tea with a very tranquil expression when—

Creeeak—

At the sound of the door opening naturally, she looked up, and her expression turned slightly surprised.

Because in the place her eyes landed—

Was someone who shouldn’t have been here right now.

“Oh my.”

That person was—

“Yutia. What brings you here?”

Yutia Bloodia.

With a blue moonlit night behind her, the familiar crimson of her eyes glowing, Yutia appeared before Rine.

“Don’t make that surprised face, Rine. You must’ve heard from Hidan too, right?”

“Even so... I didn’t think it would be now.”

“If it were you, you’d already noticed I was coming, hadn’t you?”

Yutia spoke with a smile.

“Ah, you caught me?”

“Yes.”

And after that greeting, disguised as lightness, came to an end—

“......”

“......”

A cold silence wrapped around the two of them.

......A silence so heavy it felt chilling.