Everyone who had helped in this battle, including Alon, gathered in the meeting room.

Stalian V, who hadn’t shown himself until now.

“Thank you all for helping me like this.”

At last, they were able to see his face.

Stalian V looked far more gaunt than the last time Alon had seen him.

While Alon was briefly startled, Stalian V ended his short address without making it anything grand, then lightly gestured toward the air—

and knights who hadn’t even twitched until just a moment ago handed each person in the meeting room a small jeweled box.

“This is what I promised you.”

After adding a few more empty compliments, Stalian V turned around with that gaunt face and left.

At the audience that ended in an instant, Evan, who had been standing behind Alon, slowly opened his mouth.

“It ended faster than I expected.”

“It did.”

“Somehow the king doesn’t look very happy?”

At that, Penia, who was next to him, scolded him as if he were a little pathetic.

“Would you be happy? More than half the territory got wiped out.”

“Still, he almost died, but he lived.”

“So what? From now on it’s going to be hard enough to feel like he’s dying.”

“Hm—”

Seeing Evan make a face that said, ‘Is it that bad?’ Penia shook their head.

“Think about it. If territory gets wiped out, what’s the problem?”

“......Money?”

“Money already disappeared.”

“Hmm—power?”

“......That disappears too.”

At the string of wrong answers, Penia let out a sigh and explained.

“Listen carefully. This isn’t something that ends with ‘the territory got wiped out.’ Maybe if it was one or two fiefs, but half got smashed, right? And that problem happened because of the king.”

“Isn’t that not confirmed?”

As this incident started getting known outside for real,

a rumor spread that Ashtalon had been secretly pushing something to obtain a strange-text stone, and that it had caused this disaster.

But even so, the truth still hadn’t been confirmed yet.

However, Penia narrowed their brows as if frustrated and said,

“It only looks like that on the surface. In practice, it’s no different from confirmed.”

As if to say, ‘If it wasn’t something he did in the first place, why would he cause this disaster to try to cover it up,’ Penia continued.

“Anyway, from now on, the king of Ashtalon is going to have it rough. Inside, the nobles full of resentment will be watching for a chance to bite his throat, and outside, they’ll demand he take responsibility for this.”

Well, if he kept pretending he didn’t know until the end, it wasn’t like he’d have to take responsibility for anything, but.

Either way, it was obvious the kingdom’s influence would weaken greatly.

“In conclusion, only a path of deterioration is left.”

“......Is it okay to talk about that here?”

“It’s not. Normally.”

Shrugging, Penia looked at Marquis Palatio with eyes full of faith and trust.

‘......Why are they looking at me?’

I didn’t say anything at all...... Alon thought, but only for a moment.

First, he lightly greeted the people whose faces he knew, then shoved all the mages clinging to him over to Sharan’s side, and went back to his room.

“Marquis, why don’t you open it once?”

Together with Penia, he looked down at the jeweled box they’d received earlier.

In truth, he was interested in the strange-text stone Stalian V had put up as a reward.

‘It increases power with no side effects at all, unlike an Abyssal Core—’

Alon recalled the rumor he’d heard about [N O V E L I G H T] the strange-text stone that had been floating around last time, and opened the box.

“Oh—”

“It’s fascinating.”

Hearing Evan and Penia’s admiration, he checked what was inside.

“.......”

Inside the box was a purple gemstone.

But the thing that was different from an ordinary gemstone—

“Definitely. It’s fascinating.”

was that it looked like something was trapped inside the gem.

Alon stared at the white light trapped inside the gemstone.

The gem changed its brightness vividly, as if it were alive, and it held Alon’s gaze for a while.

Then.

[Kyuu-?]

Blackie, who had been sleeping in Alon’s pocket, suddenly stuck out its face.

Like it had become extremely interested, it stared fixedly at the gemstone.

Its two eyes were completely round.

And Basiliora, who had been inside the ring, also popped out at some point and examined the gem.

[This is—]

Basiliora tilted their head as if they couldn’t understand.

“Do you know something?”

When Alon asked, Basiliora stared at the gemstone in silence for a while, then opened their mouth with a somewhat uncertain expression.

[If what I’m thinking is right, what’s inside this gemstone seems to be divine power.]

“......Divine power?”

[Yeah. But it doesn’t feel like the divine power we use.]

“What does that mean?”

When Alon asked again in confusion, Basiliora tilted their head a few more times.

[The divine power we use is faith, isn’t it?]

“Right.”

[But this— it definitely feels like divine power, but—]

Hmmm— dragging it out, Basiliora finally answered.

[Honestly, I don’t know.]

“......If you don’t know, just say you don’t know.”

[I just said it!]

Basiliora complained to Penia’s eyes, which had been full of expectation but had already cooled off, as if wronged.

Rolling the gemstone around this way and that, Alon realized Blackie was still pressing its face close to the gem, so he lifted it up.

Blackie naturally turned its gaze to look at Alon.

That look was like it was saying with its eyes, ‘Give—’

Alon hesitated only for a moment.

Then he brought the gemstone he was holding to Blackie.

And with that—

Fwaaaak—!

“!?”

Something got sucked into Blackie’s body.

In a flash that didn’t even last one second,

Alon immediately tore the gemstone away from Blackie’s forehead, but—

the strange-text stone had already lost its light.

“Ah—”

“Ah.......”

“.......”

Alon, Penia, and Evan went pale.

[Kyuu-]

But unlike them, Blackie licked its front paw in deep satisfaction, then crawled right back into Alon’s arms.

“......Is it okay?”

Oddity seeped into Evan’s voice.

Of course, Alon didn’t really care whether he had the gemstone he’d received as a reward or not.

He’d only been curious because it was a gemstone that hadn’t appeared in Psychedelia, and he hadn’t particularly planned to use it.

But regardless of whether he used it or not—

they still hadn’t clearly confirmed how dangerous the strange-text stone itself was.

So Alon looked at Blackie inside his pocket, but—

[.......]

Blackie was curled up with an expression that looked extremely secure, and was already falling asleep.

“......I’ll have to ask.”

Alon just pressed his forehead.

The next day.

Alon moved to meet Elivan.

He thought that if it was someone who dealt with strange text often, Elivan might also know about strange-text stones.

However—

“.......”

Alon couldn’t help being surprised.

Because he saw the countless nobles surrounding Elivan.

“Definitely popular.”

“......Honestly, I didn’t know it’d be to this extent.”

Alon knew Elivan’s fame was high.

There was no way he wouldn’t know.

Alon had been steadily gathering information, and every time he did, Elivan’s hero stories always came up.

“Hey, isn’t this actually kind of few?”

“Is it?”

“Yes. No matter what country Elivan goes to, nobles cling to him. And of course, in villages it’s even more—he gets treated like a hero.”

“Well—yeah, that’s only natural. There’s the title of being chosen by the Sironia goddess, and in practice he always moves solely to protect people.”

As Alon nodded at Penia’s last words—

“Ah, Marquis! What brings you here!?”

“......Elivan.”

Elivan, who had been talking with nobles in the distance, spotted Alon and came running over, rejecting all those nobles.

From far away, Alon could feel slightly ominous gazes, but at the same time, gazes that carried surprise and awe.

Gazes that felt like they were plainly saying, ‘How long have I been waiting—!’ and, ‘Wow, Elivan listens to him that well??’

Alon cleared his throat for no reason and answered.

“......Did I interrupt?”

“No, we were just talking. What is it?”

“I have something to ask.”

“Ask anything.”

“Do you know much about strange-text stones?”

After Alon briefly explained what had happened yesterday—

“Ah—that’s not something you have to worry about too much.”

Elivan answered lightly.

“......Is that so?”

“Of course, I don’t know that much either, but my companions absorbed it too, and for now they’re all fine.”

“Your companions too......?”

“Yes. Seeing my companions get strong quickly, I thought I’d try absorbing it too, but I couldn’t, so I gave up.”

As Elivan shared his experience, Alon nodded like he’d gotten an answer.

“Ah, come to think of it, are you going to head back soon?”

“Mm. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Then I’ll see you next time! We’ll see each other in about three months anyway.”

“......Three months?”

When Alon asked back, Evan, who’d been listening beside him, added an explanation.

“Ah, I think he means the ball being held in Asteria this time.”

“Yep, yep. That one.”

Saying that, Elivan put on a refreshing smile.

“Then I’ll see you then!”

With a light greeting, he turned around,

and Alon, watching him go back to talking with nobles, said,

“He’s right. It is time to go back.”

“Then should we prepare to return?”

“Let’s stay one more day. I still haven’t greeted Seollang and Radan, and I have to meet the Saintess too.”

“Understood.”

Penia, who was beside him, hurriedly raised a hand.

“Ah, Marquis. Then I’ll go see my teacher for a bit and come back. I should say goodbye too.”

“All right.”

After separating from Penia, how long had they been walking back to their room?

“Ah, right. Marquis.”

“What is it?”

Evan spoke as if he’d remembered late.

“When you return to the estate this time, there’s something you need to do.”

“Something I need to do? Was there something I couldn’t handle during work?”

“No, it’s not that. You need to choose a partner.”

“......A partner?”

“Yes. For the ball being held in Asteria this time, you absolutely need an opposite-sex partner.”

“...Is that so—”

Alon’s eyes sank.

‘Can’t I just not attend?’

A fleeting thought.

But Alon soon shook his head.

‘......I’ve skipped too many, so I should go at least once.’

Alon hadn’t attended a ball even once since several years ago.

Of course, each time he’d had a plausible reason for it, but still.

Not going this much also drew attention in many ways.

‘And last time, I didn’t even go to the ball Sian told me to attend.’

When that thought reached him, Alon opened his mouth.

“I’ll attend since I’ve only been dodging so far, but do I really have to have a partner?”

“Uh, I think so? They say this ball requires a partner no matter what.”

“......Then I’ll have to find a partner.”

“Right. I think you should think about it in advance.”

“Mmm—”

He chewed on his lips in thought only for a moment.

“......After I go back, I’ll talk to someone close, roughly.”

“That’s fine. It doesn’t have to be a noble.”

Evan added, as if thinking the Marquis wasn’t the type to care about that anyway—

“Or should I ask around for you?”

he suddenly proposed.

“Well, that’s fine too.”

Alon answered like it was nothing.

......Without noticing that the red brooch was shining especially brightly.