After that, since the office was too cramped, everyone first moved to a tea room where they could all sit. After Alon had tea served in simple fashion, he awkwardly scratched his head at the atmosphere that was still quiet.

Right then—

“Marquis.”

“What is it, Evan?”

“It’s about the agenda related to the auction house that you stamped last time......”

“Did something happen?”

“I think so. The agenda document came back up, and it looked like you should check it right now.”

“If that’s the case—”

Evan brought him the report. Alon stood up right away and said,

“I’m sorry, but I’ll go take care of some work for a moment. We’ve already introduced ourselves, so talk among yourselves.”

At that, everyone nodded all at once. Alon turned and went outside, and silence fell over the tea room again.

No one had any hostile intent, but somehow the situation was full of tension. Even Seollang, who normally would’ve gone “Ehehe—” and joked around with Rine after seeing her again for the first time in a while—

Clink-

Seollang sat there with the teacup held in both hands, face stiff as a board.

And the first one to speak was—

“Deus Makalian, was it?”

—Nangwon.

“Yeah.”

Deus nodded calmly.

A short while later.

“Heh heh heh— to notice that, you’ve got an eye for it.”

“Is that so? But it was made so well I couldn’t help admiring it without meaning to.”

Unlike the atmosphere that had been packed with tension just a moment ago, Deus and Nangwon were talking with smiles lingering at the corners of their mouths.

The reason was—

“I never would’ve thought you could carve an intaglio like that into a statue.”

“If you want, next time I’ll show you carving it into a statue.”

“Oh, I’m looking forward to that.”

...It was because of Alon’s statue.

Because Deus and Nangwon hit it off in an instant, the mood loosened in an instant as well. By the time their voices started to fill the room—

“Ahem— I’ll greet everyone again. I’m Yutia Bloodia.”

“I’ll greet everyone again as well. I’m Magrina, the queen of Fildagreen.”

“Ryang-a.”

“I’m Seollang!”

“I’m Rine Groph.”

“Historia.”

The ones who hadn’t opened their mouths until now also introduced themselves one by one, and naturally, a space for conversation opened up.

The air had softened to a degree that couldn’t even be compared to the beginning.

Even so.

Between everyone other than Nangwon and Deus, a certain line still remained.

For example—

“If you’re the queen of the elves, it sounds like you must have an incredible amount to do. Since we’re already supporting Teacher well, you don’t have to worry too much.”

“That can’t be the case. Even that Seollang over there, and Rine here as well— everyone is in a foreign country, so I have no choice but to lend more strength.”

“It’s fine, you know? We already cleared away everything that would become trouble for Teacher.”

“Even so, big brother often has times when information is needed. Our side thinks we should match what big brother needs as much as possible.”

They were clearly smiling and trading words, but they were speaking while dividing each other into groups.

It couldn’t be helped.

Seollang and ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Rine, and Deus as well, including Yutia—those were people Alon had saved roughly ten years ago.

Meanwhile, Nangwon and Historia, and Ryang-a too, including Magrina—those were people he had saved after crossing into the past.

“Teacher is someone we can support sufficiently.”

“We’re the same.”

Yutia and Magrina smiled as they traded words that could be interpreted as: ‘We can support him ourselves, so don’t cross the line.’ ‘Yeah, no.’

As a result, just as the cheerfulness they’d barely managed to build vanished and the tension started rising again—

“What a coincidence. To think everyone with ties to the marquis would end up gathered in one place like this, all because of something important.”

The tea gathering—

“‘That matter’ should already be over, though.”

Thud.

—froze in an instant, because of Yutia’s single line.

“Oh my, what do you mean by that?”

Magrina, lifting the teacup with a smile, flinched and set it down again, then asked slowly.

But Yutia didn’t erase the smile either as the words continued.

“Exactly what you heard? I’m saying the important matter has already been decided, so I thought you all might feel a bit regretful.”

“......It sounds like you know what that matter is?”

At Magrina’s words, Yutia didn’t answer at all. Yutia just smiled with foxlike white eyes and took a sip of tea.

“Well, w-what is it— it’s already over? Ah, isn’t it not even started yet???”

Ryang-a, who had only been awkwardly scratching her head until now, jolted in surprise and panicked for a moment, and then—

“.......”

Magrina, staring straight at Yutia, spoke.

“As far as I know, it isn’t over yet.”

“Oh my, is that so?”

“Yes. We decided we would talk about it today.”

“That conversation won’t have much meaning.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s already decided?”

“I heard this person is only selecting candidates, and the one who actually decides is big brother.”

Magrina’s crisp retort.

Yutia simply tilted the teacup with the same unchanging expression.

Slurp-

An attitude far too relaxed.

Then, setting the teacup down elegantly, Yutia—

“Yes. That’s why I’m saying it.”

—smiled brightly.

Eyes snapped toward Yutia.

In that overwhelming confidence, just as everyone stared with mouths half-open—

“Isn’t that just what Yutia thinks?”

Rine suddenly spoke back.

“R-right! Yutia! That’s just what Yutia thinks! You don’t know what Benefactor will think!”

Seollang chimed in.

The invisible alliance that had been built as a group collapsed in an instant.

A situation where allies from a few seconds ago became enemies again a few seconds later.

“So that’s what you’re saying.”

“Ahem, yeah, since Boss decides, it’s not over yet.”

Magrina added with a smile.

And Ryang-a, where no one else could see, quietly made a little fighting pose and steeled her resolve.

But even at their reactions, Yutia stayed exactly the same.

“Is that really so?”

Like it had been a game Yutia was already winning from the start, Yutia wore a winner’s smile.

““......””

At that, everyone shut their mouths as one.

Even Magrina, who hadn’t lost the smile until now, stiffened just a little.

Because if Yutia was that certain, then surely something was there.

Under that overwhelming pressure, Seollang ground her teeth—“Grrrk—”—and hesitated for a moment. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Should I use it? But I’m scared of the repercussions if I do—

She wavered, but soon made a decision and—

“But— Yutia, you’re not suitable as a partner.”

—said it.

In the brief silence, Yutia looked at Seollang with relaxed eyes.

Feeling inexplicably scratched the wrong way, Seollang glanced around for no reason, then—

“Yutia, um— you’re... older than Benefactor by at least... a few hundred times......?”

—fired it off.

While subtly avoiding eye contact.

Yutia’s body froze in place for a moment.

The strategic weapon that burst from Seollang’s mouth dropped, brazenly, right onto Yutia’s head.

And—

“Oh my— is that so.”

In a span of only a few seconds—

Magrina formed a new alliance with Seollang.

“Hoo.”

“That’s definitely true.”

As if they’d been waiting, Ryang-a and Rine landed follow-up hits, and Historia’s impassive eyes turned toward Yutia.

A perfect counter.

However.

Yutia, who had been frozen for a moment—

“Heh heh—”

—laughed low, then swept a glance around.

For a moment, a small sound—like crunch—reached their ears, and then—

“I’m sorry, but Seollang, that isn’t the case?”

“Huh? What do you—”

“I’m twenty-two this year.”

“?”

“?”

“?”

“Eh—? No way. Obviously—”

“Twenty-two.”

“......That’s just you insisting, isn’t it?”

“What can I do if it’s true that I’m twenty-two, Rine? You shouldn’t slander me like that, you know?”

Yutia tilted their head, as if they didn’t remember their own past.

As everyone started making fed-up expressions at the sight, Yutia continued.

“More importantly, if we’re talking about age, I think none of you have an easy age either. Isn’t that right?”

“!”

“!”

At Yutia’s attack, everyone shut their mouths again.

...In truth, that was the case.

Not just Magrina and Ryang-a—Historia, too, had lived a full six hundred years.

And Rine, too, had in fact been sealed for six hundred years, so Rine couldn’t dodge this attack either.

“Ahem— did you know? High elves live a very long time, you see? So if you count this by elf age, this is around twenty, you know?”

Magrina regained composure first and used a miraculous calculation method(?).

“M-me too! It’s the same for us! We live a long time!? If we really want, even a few thousand years... uh, then, wait. How old is my human age...?”

Ryang-a tried to follow Magrina’s logic, then short-circuited with spinning eyes.

“Same for me.”

Historia agreed plainly.

But Rine refuted it.

“I’m still twenty, Yutia.”

“Why?”

“Because I was sealed. I didn’t age.”

“But you were awake for six hundred years.”

“Even so, I didn’t physically age. If you mean I aged together with time, then your logic is weird too, Yutia.”

At those words, Yutia fell silent yet again, and Rine looked at Yutia expressionlessly—yet somehow with a strangely proud face.

“Ahem— then the one who suits Benefactor is me!”

Seollang, late to the fight, barged in with a confident tone.

At that moment—

“Well—”

Even while talking intensely about the statue, Nangwon had heard all of the conversation, and absentmindedly opened their mouth.

“Six hundred years or even longer... if you look at it coldly, isn’t it all the same in the end? You all aged anyway.”

“I think so too.”

“Right? In the end, if you judge by human standards, you’re all aun—”

Nangwon couldn’t finish the last word.

The moment Nangwon tried to throw that word out, kicks flew at Nangwon and Deus—

one from Magrina, and one from Yutia.

And then—

Kwoooaaang-!!!!

[Kyugyugyut-?!!]

“R-reverse Heavens—!?”

Alon, who had been checking the agenda that had come back up, suddenly felt a violent, ominous mana erupt, heard an explosion thunder out, and then saw Deus and Nangwon smashed to pieces—no, battered into a wreck—before slamming into a bookshelf after the manor wall was completely blown apart.

“......!”

Alon went pale and tried to use Reverse Heavens, but—

“I’m sorry, Teacher.”

“We caused a disturbance.”

“Yutia...... Magrina?”

Alon froze at the sight of Yutia and Magrina bursting out through the smoke-filled wall.

Ryang-a and Historia, and Rine as well, followed behind.

Without a word, the three of them grabbed Deus and Nangwon by the ankles, dragged them along the floor, and went back into where they’d come from.

Alon just—

stared blankly at the scene.

“Don’t worry about it, Teacher. As we talked for a moment, we made a mistake like this.”

“We’ll go back in.”

“Boss, work hard!”

“God, fighting.”

“Godfather, see you in a bit.”

The girls exited with bright smiles, dragging two full-grown men by their legs.

Alon stared with an empty mind for a moment, then collapsed into a seat with a thud.

[Kyuuuu-]

And while petting Blackie, which clung to him like it was startled—

“Deus and Nangwon... are they okay...?”

Alon stared vacantly at the wall that now had a hole punched clean through it.

That night—the day a huge uproar broke out at the Palatio marquis’s manor—Alexion began the interviews.

“Hello.”

“......Hello.”

“I’m Rine Groph.”

“Ah, yes, but... by any chance...... where did you get the letter?”

“It came to me.”

“Ah, a letter came to you......?”

“Yes.”

“......I-I’m sorry, but we didn’t deliver a letter to Rine Groph.”

“What?”

“Um, I didn’t write a letter to Rine Groph—”

“What?”

“I, to Rine Groph—”

“What?”

“......Come to think of it, I feel like I did give you a letter.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

...The thieves’ interviews.

“Ah, right, I heard the interview is a points system.”

“That’s correct.”

“......I hope I get a good score.”

“Th-the score is, in many ways, an evaluation standard that—”

“Is that so?”

“Y-yes, yes, that’s right.”

Rine agreed easily.

At that, inside Alexion’s mind, Rine’s evaluation was about to be revised to: ‘Someone with no conscience, but at least with minimal decency,’ when—

Crack-!

Alexion saw it.

The golden crown that came out from behind Rine.

In an instant, it neatly drilled a clean cylinder straight through the desk that had been between the two of them.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I think I made a mistake because I’m not used to this body. It’s a body where I can’t even use strength properly, but I’m sorry.”

Rine muttered in a lifeless voice.

At that sight—

“W-we will begin.......”

Alexion squeezed both eyes shut tight......