Before Alon knew it, two weeks had passed since Alon returned to the Palatio marquis’s estate.

During that time, Alon took a truly comfortable rest.

Of course, it wasn’t like Alon did nothing but play around.

Alon spent most of the time on the duel with Kylrus and magic research, but Alon didn’t think it was hard.

To Alon now, magic research had become a routine almost like breathing.

Was it because such effort had piled up?

“Definitely improved.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah. It’s still true you’re lacking, but the fact you can even match me evenly at all, that is.”

Recently, Alon was receiving a certain amount of recognition from Kylrus as well.

“......Good that you’re improving.”

“Don’t get soft from one compliment. You’re still lacking. More than anything, in physical movement, even more so.”

As Kylrus added, Make sure you keep practicing what I taught you, Alon asked as if it worked out well.

“I’ve been curious since before, but is physical movement important for a mage?”

At that, Kylrus stared at Alon, then shook the head as if it was pathetic.

“Don’t ask something obvious. Up until now, it’s just that the ones around you have kept being helpful, so you haven’t had any restrictions in using magic. If you end up fighting an enemy alone, what are you going to do?”

“That’s—”

When Alon hesitated for ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) a moment, Kylrus clicked the tongue lightly.

“Remember this. Whether it’s a wizard or a mage, physical movement to evade the opponent’s attacks is essential. With how you are now, just blocking or deflecting incoming attacks like that, you won’t last long.”

With words like that, Kylrus attacked Alon, and—

“......Ah.”

Alon soon realized Alon had returned to reality.

Just when Alon pushed the foot running through the past off to one side of the desk—

“Marquis.”

“Evan......?”

Alon flinched at the sight of Evan coming in.

Because Evan’s hair was a mess.

As if Evan had rolled around somewhere and come back.

“......Did you at least go for a walk?”

“A walk wouldn’t be enough for it to get like this, Marquis.”

“Then?”

At Alon’s question, Evan let out a sigh and pointed outside the window.

When Alon naturally turned the gaze—

“Let go.”

“You let go.”

“I told you to let go?”

“In three seconds, let’s both let go.”

“3”

“2”

“1”

““......””

“Let go already.”

“You didn’t let go.”

“You really— if you weren’t the boss, you would’ve already—”

Over there—

Seollang and Ryang-a were grabbing each other by the hair.

With truly blazing eyes.

“......Why are they doing that?”

“I don’t know either. Just...... I tried to stop it, and I got caught up for a moment......”

“Rolled around in the woods, something like that?”

“You know it well. I just got bounced away.”

So now I’m not touching it.

Muttering to himself, Evan let out a deep sigh—“Haa—”.

“Well, still, it seems like the other side is doing fine.”

“The other side?”

“Yes. Deus and Nangwon, for having met only a week ago, they get along well.”

“That’s not bad news.”

Alon nodded as if it was a relief.

Of course, it wasn’t a situation Alon had intended in the first place, and it wasn’t a big worry either, but—

Alon had been a little concerned, inside, about whether they could get along.

Because the ones Alon had saved had a lot of somewhat peculiar friends, whether in a good way or a bad way.

“Well, thanks to that, it feels like the marquis’s statue might evolve.”

“......What?”

“I heard Deus is slightly upgrading the statue together with Nangwon.”

“......”

Alon briefly turned the gaze and checked the gigantic statue standing in the center of the estate.

A statue standing in a pose that reminded Alon of some northern chieftain.

‘......MK2...... of that......?’

No matter how Alon thought about it, it only felt unsettling, so Alon looked at the statue with an uneasy expression for a moment, and then—

“And over there too, on the outside, they look like they’ve gotten close.”

“Over there?”

Following Evan’s fingertip, Alon turned the gaze and saw Yutia, Magrina, and Rine and Historia, enjoying tea time.

“......”

Smiles on their lips, but with eyes quietly sunk, the three were having some kind of conversation.

In the middle of that, only Historia, with a blank expression, kept looking at the three and repeating small sips of tea.

“......It looks like a scene of political infighting between high-ranking politicians.”

“That’s why I told you. On the outside, they look close.”

“......No, even that doesn’t look very close.”

Evan shrugged, then as if realizing something, stroked the chin.

“Come to think of it, it is kind of strange.”

“Hm?”

“Usually if there are six people, it’s hard to see all six at once through one window, isn’t it?”

“Hm— definitely.”

Just being able to confirm all six from where they were sitting.

It really was strange.

So while nodding, Alon suddenly felt the movements of those visible outside the window pause just a little, but—

“Anyway, that’s not it. Marquis, I have something to tell you. I have two pieces of news—what would you like to hear first?”

Alon moved the gaze to Evan for a moment.

Then when Alon looked out the window again, everyone was moving naturally, as if it had been a misunderstanding.

Narrowing the brows and tilting the head, Alon soon turned fully toward Evan.

“What is it?”

“Rumors about Elivan, and news about the Mage Tower.”

“Start with Elivan.”

“It seems Elivan succeeded in closing all of Ashtalon’s strange text.”

“......All the strange text?”

“Yes. Thanks to that, recently Elivan’s standing is no joke.”

Alon ended up being a little surprised.

Basically, even in Psychedelia, the story was that the player grew by closing strange text, and based on that growth, fought sins, but—

While playing the game, Alon had never once closed all the strange text in a region.

No, strictly speaking, it couldn’t be done.

No matter how much the player focused on closing strange text, the speed at which strange text opened was faster than wiping out all the strange text in a region.

And yet Elivan did it.

So it was physically possible, huh.

Realizing it anew, Alon nodded.

“Yeah, Elivan did seem extremely famous.”

“It can’t be helped. For the past few years, Elivan closed an enormous amount of strange text without any compensation, and even dealt with outer beings, right?”

“......Huh? Wait, dealt with outer beings too?”

When Alon asked back, Evan nodded.

“Yes. Right before the commotion happened, Elivan went and dealt with outer beings, so the rumor didn’t get very big, but the number is already around four.”

Or was it five?

Evan added that, and only then did Alon feel like a piece fell into place.

‘......So that’s why outer beings haven’t appeared until now.’

Alon had been thinking about outer beings this whole time, too.

After sins appeared, outer beings appearing was an all-too-natural pattern.

Still, even while recognizing that, there were two reasons Alon hadn’t seriously worried about outer beings in the meantime.

One was that if outer beings appeared, information would come in one way or another anyway.

The other was the sense of dissonance.

This world was already different from the world of Psychedelia that Alon knew.

......Anyway, with thoughts like that, Alon hadn’t made it a big issue, but it would be a lie to say it hadn’t snagged in Alon’s mind sometimes when Alon thought about it.

At the small question finally being resolved, Alon nodded.

“Anyway— because of that, Elivan’s fame is probably even greater than the marquis’s. It’s basically to the level Elivan is being called ‘Savior Elivan.’”

“Looks like I’ve been ignorant of rumors.”

“That’s— you know, Marquis, aside from the information you want, you don’t really need anything else.”

Evan let out a low sigh—“Ah.”—then added.

“Ah, and. Recently Elivan has been going around saying something a bit strange.”

“What kind?”

“It seems everyone doesn’t really know what it means because Elivan suddenly says it without context, but anyway, from what I hear...... ‘The only thing that can take my life is god.’”

After thinking for a moment, Alon replied.

“......Isn’t it just expressing strength metaphorically? Like, ‘If it isn’t god, no one can kill me.’”

“Of course, most people do understand it like that, but because it’s so out of nowhere, it seems it’s becoming a bigger issue.”

While Alon stroked the chin thoughtfully, Evan continued.

“And the Mage Tower news.”

“Ah, you said there was news about the Mage Tower too. Did something happen?”

“Something did happen.”

“Something bad?”

“......Hm, there’s one good thing and one ambiguous thing.”

“Start with the good thing.”

“They succeeded in interpreting one of the second-tier spells.”

“That’s definitely good, then what’s the ambiguous one?”

“They said it seems like the marquis should come to the Mage Tower once. They said to come and check what it is.”

“Come and check?”

“Yes. Heinkel said that.”

While feeling doubtful, Alon soon nodded.

Anyway, if the interpretation of the second-tier spell was finished, Alon had to go once.

So Alon nodded, and then—

“Is that everything you needed to tell me?”

“That’s right....... Ah, there’s one more.”

Evan cleared the throat and spoke.

“What is it?”

“In about a week, all the partner candidates will probably be selected.”

“Really? That’s faster than I thought.”

“Ahem. I heard from Alexion that the young ladies’ reactions were faster than expected?”

“......Is that so? Even so, I don’t think I’ve heard any news about who came.”

Alon tilted the head.

“Well, they could’ve just come quickly, done the interview, and gone back?”

“Is that so.”

“Anyway, it seems you can decide then.”

At Evan’s words, as if it was no big deal—

“Got it.”

Alon nodded obediently.

####

“Whew—”

Miren, a Caliban noble and the young lady of the Padrima ducal house, let out a light breath while looking at the Palatio marquis’s estate beyond.

As the daughter of the Padrima ducal house, Miren had met all kinds of nobles, but Miren had never been tense like this.

Because Miren had come to interview to become the Palatio marquis’s partner.

Of course, someone might say, Why make such a fuss over an interview to become a marquis’s partner?

But that was only when the other party was an ordinary marquis.

If the other party was the Palatio marquis.

The story changed very much.

The Palatio marquis.

The head of Kalpa, the largest faction organization in Asteria, and a man with countless epithets—

A man who possessed truly tremendous power.

Of course, as a man, Alon was a little late in marrying age, but to Miren, that wasn’t very important.

To begin with, what Miren wanted was the power and money the Palatio marquis had.

‘It was worth it, writing and sending letters so many times with no reply.’

Smiling at the corner of the mouth, Miren praised the past self who had written and sent letters countless times without a single reply.

If Miren hadn’t kept throwing courtship at him, this kind of opportunity would never have come.

“Whew—”

Just as Miren took a deep breath as if settling the mind and recalled the secret plan for a moment—

“Lady Miren, we’ve arrived.”

Miren stopped thinking, put the smile back on again, then got down from the carriage elegantly and headed for the interview room.

“Greetings, Young Lady of House Padrima.”

“Are you well. Alexion. As I already said once in a letter, thank you very much for giving me this opportunity.”

With a warm smile to Alexion, Miren began the interview.

For about thirty minutes, time passed in a very friendly way.

Because of the unique positional nature of the Padrima ducal house, Miren had been going in and out of political arenas full of infighting and schemes from a very young age.

In other words, for Miren, acting as the proper young lady Alexion wanted wasn’t particularly difficult.

“This should be enough.”

“Oh my, is that so?”

“Yes, thank you very much for applying. If it’s all right, would you like to stay for a few days before you go?”

“If you’ll show consideration, I won’t refuse.”

At Alexion’s kindness, Miren decided to stay at the marquis’s estate for about a day.

In truth, because Miren had come running a bit urgently, fatigue had piled up.

Soon, guided by a servant, Miren entered a huge villa next to the marquis’s estate.

“Then, please call if you need anything—”

“Understood.”

After confirming the guide bowed politely and left, a little later—

“Lady Miren.”

“What about the servants?”

“All dismissed. Just in case, I also used an artifact that activates a shielding spell so no one can listen. There probably won’t be any sound leaking outside.”

“Thanks for being considerate.”

“It’s nothing.”

The maid bowed and, with the words, “Please call anytime you need something,” left outside the door.

Miren looked at that back with approving eyes.

After confirming the sky had properly dyed into sunset, Miren poured magical power into the crystal orb the maid had prepared earlier.

And.

[Miren.]

At the sight of the Duke of Padrima beyond the crystal orb, Miren quietly lowered the head.

“Have you been well, Father?”

[Yes. How was today?]

“It went well, with nothing for you to worry about.”

[That’s a relief.]

“As I told you again and again, you don’t need to worry.”

At Miren’s smiling words, the duke let out a breath—“Hoo.”—and spoke.

[I’m not worried about you. What I’m worried about is—]

“You mean the candidates, right?”

[Yes. I don’t know some of them at all, but through a personal informant I looked into it, and a few others are very formidable.]

A shadow fell over the duke’s face.

However, even at the duke’s worry, rather—

“I know. Because Father told me. But— you really don’t need to worry.”

Miren showed a clear smile—no—

a sneer.

“I know the candidates are formidable. But in the end, this isn’t a fight about who holds stronger political power. To the Palatio marquis, power probably isn’t that attractive of an element. If so, what’s left is—”

With a mocking smile, Miren spoke.

“Isn’t it a fight about how well you wrap a man in your skirt?”

[......Yes. Since you’re you as well, called the flower of Caliban. I don’t think you’ll be lacking.]

At the duke’s agreement, Miren covered the corner of the mouth with a hand, eyes smiling.

“So Father, don’t worry too much. Wrapping a marquis who’s already late in marrying age in a skirt isn’t that difficult of a thing for me. Even if it takes time, if I only get into that heart—”

Murmuring low, ‘Everything will become ours,’

Miren fiddled with the ‘something’ inside the bosom—

the thing that had made Miren be called the flower of Caliban over the past few years.

With a smile that had become eerie before Miren knew it.

However, if there was one thing Miren didn’t know.

That line blocked by the shielding spell—

“Interesting?”

“......It is.”

“Hooong— A bug got stuck to Benefactor.”

“Mm.”

“How dare you, blasphemy......!”

“......”

—someone was listening.