Alon was only flustered for a moment ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ at the sight of Kalannon appearing far more mature than before, and then he felt something off.

"?"

Kalannon’s body, which had clearly grown up, began to shrink little by little.

"Ah...."

Because it returned to the body of a little girl again.

"...What was that just now?"

"My original form...."

Kalannon, who went right back to using polite speech like before the moment she returned to a little girl’s body, went,

"Ughh— yeah, keeping my true form is still the limit at about this level."

Then she looked at Alon and stretched.

"Anyway, have you been doing well all this time?"

"...I’ve been doing well."

"Did you worry about me, by any chance?"

"Well.... I did... worry...."

Of course, if he was being precise, it was closer to curiosity than worry.

It had already been over a year since Kalannon first revealed herself in front of Alon.

Once he answered positively, Kalannon went, mm-hmm, and nodded along the same way.

"You don’t have to worry too much. I was preparing really hard in my own way!"

"Preparing what?"

"Obviously, preparation for survival!"

"Survival?"

"Yes, I told you last time, didn’t I? That I had something I was doing to survive in my own way."

"That’s true...."

He had heard that she was preparing various things because divine power was concentrating on Alon.

It seemed like she’d made quite a bit of progress on that.

When Alon nodded along,

"I finally finished it!"

"...What is it?"

"It’s this!"

Kalannon smiled confidently, and then—

"?"

[Oongnya-!]

—she turned into a blue cat.

No, strictly speaking, it was less a blue cat and more...

'...Blackie?'

It looked a little similar to Blackie.

The differences were that, unlike Blackie, her body was clearly visible,

and there was a crown above her head—the crown from when Alon had manifested Kalannon.

Also, her fur was fluffy, and her tail was a bit longer.

[Nya!]

While Alon stared at Kalannon’s suddenly changed appearance, lost in thought, he heard a th- no, a crying sound.

"...I don’t know cat language, but."

[Nyaa!]

"......"

When Alon just stared blankly, Kalannon quickly returned to the form of a little girl.

"I’m sorry. When I turn into that, I can’t talk."

"...That’s your method of survival?"

"Yes, and?"

"I mean, I don’t know what that has to do with anything."

"Ah, is that so?"

"...What does surviving as a god have to do with becoming a cat?"

"You really don’t know."

At Alon’s point, Kalannon shook her head with an expression like, my, my—still a long way to go.

"Like this, I can survive as a mascot!"

She shouted proudly.

"A mascot—"

"When I transformed last time, horns grew in, right?"

"Yeah."

"You can think of this as the same kind of thing."

"So what you’re saying is, you’ll stick close to my side as a mascot, something like that."

"That’s right! Then naturally, my personal recognition will go up too!"

Kalannon laughed, heh heh heh, and muttered, as if to herself, 'How is it? My perfect plan.'

She looked extremely confident in her idea.

In Alon’s mind, even now...

...A brief thought did pass by—Is turning into an animal really a good method?

But anyway, Alon also felt he bore responsibility for Kalannon ending up like this, so—

"Then are you going to go around outside in that form now?"

He asked without picking a fight.

Kalannon nodded.

"That’s right! The reason I couldn’t go out until now in the first place was because I was gathering enough divine power to exist outside. Of course, even if I manifest, I’ll still be here."

"Here?"

"Inside the Divine Land you made."

That way, I can safely gather divine power! Kalannon added, and then,

"Thank you for making it for me! Thanks to you, I lived!" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

"...Yeah, sure."

"Then I’ll see you in a bit!"

With those words, she collapsed the blue Milky Way world as it was.

And then, when Alon opened his eyes—

There was a blue sphere formed in front of him.

"Huh?"

"Yeah?"

"...Oh."

[Huh?]

The party each let out exclamations the moment they saw the blue sphere.

But only for a moment—soon, the sphere began to warp, and it shrank in an instant.

[Nya-!]

It became the blue cat they had seen earlier in the Milky Way.

"...What is this, all of a sudden?"

"Seriously...?"

Evan and Penia asked in confusion, startled by the suddenly created cat.

In response, Alon told them that it was Kalannon.

"Ho— when you look at it, it’s a cat, but it does have horns."

"Yeah."

[Hngh-]

Around the time Evan, Penia, and Basiliora were finding it fascinating while looking her over—

[Kkyu?]

Blackie, who had been sleeping in the pouch attached to Alon’s chest until just a moment ago, suddenly opened its eyes wide, jumped down onto the desk, and stared hard at Kalannon.

Blackie tilted its head this way and that.

It was so surprised that it almost looked like its head was turning a full 360 degrees.

Then, with a somehow proud expression, it looked Kalannon up and down one more time.

[Kkyu-]

And then it went back into the pouch it had been in.

"...What was that just now?"

"Seriously."

[Pfft, looks like it’s feeling a half-baked jealousy.]

That conversation didn’t last long.

Alon, who had been watching Kalannon wander around here and there like it was fascinating,

"So, Marquis, have you checked?"

"Ah."

At Evan’s question, Alon closed his eyes again and contemplated his inner self.

"...It didn’t increase as much as I expected."

After checking the divine power that had gathered, he answered like that.

"Oh, is that so? That’s strange. I thought a massive amount would have gathered."

Evan tilted his head, looking puzzled.

After thinking for a moment, Alon spoke.

"It’s not something I can’t understand."

"Is it?"

"The ones gathered here in the first place all came because of a 'rumor,' after all."

"Ah—"

At those words, Evan nodded.

"You said divine power doesn’t build up unless they have firm faith, right?"

"Yeah."

"Mmm— then I guess this place will normalize soon too."

"Honestly, I was a little relieved after checking divine power just now as well."

Alon, along with Evan, looked at the bustling barracks, feeling a quiet relief behind his blank expression.

After finishing a discussion with the Blue-Eared One in its own way.

The party, who had stayed in the Divine Land for about a month, returned to the Palatio estate when Alon concluded it was about time he went to meet the White Ghost Gang.

And a few days later.

The situation in the Divine Land became chaotic.

No, more precisely,

The atmosphere among the originally selected soldiers and knights wasn’t all that different, but unrest was drifting among the knights and mercenaries who had entered as citizens.

It was because of Kalannon’s power.

"No, they said if you train in the Divine Land you can use power. It’s not like that at all."

"Yeah, same. It’s been almost a month for me too."

"Sigh, was it a false rumor after all?"

"When you think about it, that just by training in the Divine Land you could use power... it doesn’t even make sense."

"Right. It’s a power only Kalannon’s believers could use from the start."

Alon had never said anything like that, but the mercenaries and knights who had flooded in after hearing the strangely distorted rumor confirmed the obvious truth and were disappointed.

"Mm— well, then what do we do?"

"What do we do? We just leave. If we can’t use power, there’s no reason to stay here."

"That’s true. Rather than training here, it’d be better to go back to Lartania."

Around the time talk like that started spreading among the mercenaries and knights—

"It’s been a while, Sili."

"It’s been a while, Brother."

Sili Makalian arrived at the Divine Land and met Deus.

"Is training going well?"

"It is. But—"

"Ah, I know. You mean the mercenaries and knights who are coming after hearing the rumor, right?"

"...You knew?"

"Yes. Before I stopped by you, I looked around the area and heard the story, more or less."

"I see...."

Deus nodded briefly.

"But there’s no need to worry too much. The mercenaries and knights who don’t trust the Marquis never intended to remain here in the first place. In any case, there’s a high chance they’ll be an obstacle in many ways to the Marquis’s great plan."

He spoke as if to tell her not to worry, but

Sili made a slightly doubtful expression.

"Huh? What do you mean, Brother?"

She asked instead.

"Hm? No, it’s just—since the knights and mercenaries will leave, I said that in case you worried for no reason. Even if they do, we already have enough manpower."

Deus spoke again, still puzzled.

But Sili tilted her head once more.

"That’s what’s strange."

"What I said?"

"Yes. No one has left yet, right? And going forward, no one who comes in will leave either."

She smiled as she explained.

...At that sight, Deus felt a chill creep over him somewhere along his limbs, and he barely managed to speak.

"...I-Is that so?"

"Right?"

"...Even though they realized the rumor was distorted?"

At that question, Sili went, mmm, for a moment, then quickly shook her head.

"Brother."

"What is it?"

"Honestly, the rumor that spread in a distorted way is a little far-fetched, isn’t it?"

"...If I’m being cold about it, it is."

"Then why did people come here after hearing that?"

"That’s—"

Deus thought for a moment, then gave his opinion.

"They got swept up in it. Or maybe they believed it might be true?"

"Correct. But what’s important is the latter."

"The latter—"

"The part where they thought, 'It might be true.'"

Sili turned her gaze from Deus and pointed to the endlessly stretched line still outside, and the knights and soldiers already inside the Divine Land, visible beyond the barracks.

"Brother. Do you see those people complaining inside the Divine Land?"

"I do."

"Those people already know the rumor was distorted. Then why don’t they leave?"

Deus thought for a moment, and Sili gave the answer.

"Hope."

"...Hope?"

"Yes. Everyone here is the same. Holding a very small hope, thinking, 'What if?' Even while knowing the rumor was distorted. So it’s enough."

"Enough for what?"

At that question, Sili didn’t answer.

She simply looked somewhere with her violet eyes.

"That person should be fine."

Smiling, she pulled two books from her bosom.

Books covered in blue leather.

"Take them, Brother."

"Mm...?"

"Try reading them once."

Without a word, Deus opened a book.

And then—

"...This is."

Without difficulty, he realized the blue book was scripture.

And not just any scripture, but scripture of Marquis Palatio that Sili herself had published.

The moment he realized that and turned his gaze forward, Deus noticed too late.

Sili, who had been standing in front of him until just a moment ago, was heading toward a somewhat frail-looking knight far in the distance.

And after Sili reached the frail knight,

"Hello, Sir Knight."

"You are—?"

"I’m Saintess Sili Makalian of Kalannon."

"...You are?"

"Yes. It’s just that—"

She smiled.

"—If you just do a little more, it seems like you’ll be able to use Kalannon’s power."

"I-Is that really true?"

"Yes. So then—"

She carefully held out the blue-covered book to him.

"Shall I help you... a little?"

Her deep purple eyes shining so intensely you couldn’t look away.