Five days had passed since Alon attended the meeting and laid out a plan to deal with the Sin of Wrath.

“Brother.”

“Saintess.”

“Just as you said, the priests will be arriving soon.”

“The number—”

“Most of the priests Rosario can mobilize at the moment.”

“Thank you. May I ask around when the priests will arrive?”

“There’s some distance, so I think it’ll take about two weeks.”

At Yuman’s words, Alon thought for a moment.

Two weeks.

If the Sin of Wrath was going to move to destroy a nation, it was an absurdly generous amount of time.

It was long enough to wipe out one or two more countries and still have time left.

...No, maybe.

It might even be enough time to swallow the entire Allied Kingdoms whole.

But even so.

Alon didn’t press Yuman.

No matter how urgently you thought, it didn’t shorten the distance the priests had to walk.

And it wasn’t only the priests who needed time for forces to gather.

The warriors and knights of each kingdom.

And Raksas’s naval forces would take time as well.

‘So the time it takes for all forces to assemble—one month?’

One month.

Long if it was long, short if it was short.

But there was no way to know whether that time was truly long or short.

In the end, the standard of evaluation would be this:

when the sin moved.

“Thank you, Saintess.”

When Alon bowed his head in gratitude, Yuman shook her head and smiled.

“No, Brother. You don’t need to do that. Because I know you’re trying to save the world.”

“Saintess....”

Alon was a little moved inside.

Of course, everyone close to him, including Evan, had all—

without even asking questions—believed him.

But for an outsider to show this kind of wholehearted faith wasn’t easy.

Ah, of course, they did believe him.

It’s just that the suspicious looks directed at Alon didn’t go away.

Of course, Alon understood their feelings—especially the kings.

No matter how many unbelievable achievements he’d accomplished, the very fact that he knew a way to deal with such a ridiculous monster could only look suspicious.

So while Alon’s heart was quietly stirred with emotion, the Saintess still wearing a smile at the corners of her lips, slowly said,

“More than that, I didn’t think you’d see this far ahead.”

“...Huh?”

Alon was confused about what she meant.

But Yuman continued.

“To be honest, at first I couldn’t understand the Marquis suddenly creating the Divine Land.”

“......”

Alon let out a low sigh.

Because he immediately realized what misunderstanding the Saintess was having.

“That’s—”

So he tried to open his mouth to clear it up, but—

“Even when we secretly gathered troops in the Luxible Duchy, I feel pathetic, realizing how my faith in you wavered, even just a little.”

At Yuman’s words that continued without giving him a chance, Alon closed the mouth that had been about to speak.

Was it really right to clear up the misunderstanding?

—That thought brushed past his mind, and then

he suddenly recalled every conversation he’d had with Yuman until now.

Conversations where, whether Alon told the truth again and again or not, Yuman always believed what Yuman wanted to believe.

So Alon—

didn’t bother stopping Yuman as she left the room with a gentle smile, saying,

“Anyway, I believe you, Brother.”

Right after that—

“Master!”

“Brother.”

“Seollang... and Radan?”

“I ran into them in front of the mage tower.”

Seollang and Radan, who had come to the mage tower, stepped into the room.

“I’m ear-kook!”

Seollang still clung to Alon as energetically as ever, while Radan stood at Alon’s side with a smile.

Radan’s complexion looked better than the last time they’d parted.

“Looks like you’ve untangled some of what you were worried about.”

“Worried... about what?”

“Yes.”

“...Was it obvious?”

Alon didn’t answer on purpose.

Only the very faint smile on Radan’s lips answered instead.

“...Man, it’s hard to hide things from you, Brother.”

“Is it?”

“Yes. Still, don’t worry. Like you expected, a lot of it got resolved.”

Alon nodded and said,

“For now, rest. Once the others arrive, we’ll start talking.”

“Okay!”

“Understood.”

Seollang answered while naturally plopping down on Alon’s thigh.

And Radan peacefully nodded.

Then, a little while later—

“Ah!”

Seollang, who had been getting ear-kooked by Alon for a long time and softly humming under their breath, suddenly blurted out an exclamation like something important had come to mind and lifted their chin.

“Master! Give me your hand!”

“My hand?”

“Yeah!”

Alon was puzzled, but he held his hand out anyway.

Then Seollang smiled and dropped something into his palm.

“This is...?”

“’Cause you said you were looking for it!”

It was the “Crying Blessing” in the Colony that Alon had been searching for earlier.

“...Did you go get this?” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

“Yeah!”

Seollang nodded with a face that clearly said, I’m impressive, right? Hurry and praise me!

So Alon naturally let a smile form at the corners of his mouth and patted Seollang’s head.

“Thank you.”

“Hehehe—!”

Thanks to Seollang, he now had two in hand.

So Alon only had one artifact left.

The Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One.

‘Where in the world could that be.’

While Alon was stroking Seollang’s head as Seollang enjoyed the touch—

“Marquis!”

Evan rushed in more hurriedly than usual.

“What is it?”

At Alon’s question that followed,

“The hero’s party—no, Elivan’s party has come!”

####

Evan delivered the news even more urgently.

Basement level five of the magic society.

Only those who’d smeared mud on the mage tower’s name and smeared mud on mages’ names were dragged down here, inside the magic prison where they waited for “execution” among mages.

“...It’s been a while, Yan.”

Alon was meeting the hero’s party.

“You remember my name.”

Yan answered with a gaunt face, as if a little surprised.

Alon turned his gaze, looking at the others as dried-out as Yan, and—

“Of course I do. I remember Bina and Ralph too.”

He recited their names and gave a small shrug.

‘Whether I like it or not, once you become a player, they’re characters you keep seeing.’

After first asking some simple after-you’ve-been-well greetings, Alon continued.

“You’ll probably have to stay here for a while.”

“I see.”

Yan’s mood sank a little.

To be honest, Alon also felt pretty bad about this situation.

In the first place, the one who’d done wrong wasn’t the hero’s party, but Elivan.

But since they had already acted as Elivan’s party, they couldn’t help being suspected now, and the moment they arrived at the mage tower, they were imprisoned in the underground jail.

It was a horribly unreasonable measure.

“But don’t worry. Nothing will happen to you.”

Still, he wasn’t going to let the people in front of him keep suffering through things like this.

Because from the start, Alon knew they hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Thank you.”

Maybe his sincerity got through, because Yan offered a small thanks.

After watching Yan, Alon stayed silent for a while, then carefully brought up the main point.

“I heard Elivan knocked you all out, and after you woke up you immediately grasped the situation and came here. Is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Can you tell me in a bit more detail what ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) happened then?”

Honestly, Alon didn’t need to hear any more of Elivan’s story.

Elivan had already become the Sin of Wrath and was trying to wipe out humanity, and hearing what happened to Elivan wouldn’t change the future that was waiting ahead.

Even so, Alon insisted on doing this because—

he couldn’t understand.

How Elivan, who had tried to save the world, had ended up becoming a sin.

“I want to tell you, but I don’t think that’ll be possible.”

“Why not?”

“...The last thing my companions and I saw was Elivan’s smile and the words ‘Thank you.’ After that...”

“Elivan got you right away?”

“Yes. By the time we woke up...”

“I see.”

Alon nodded at Yan’s small voice, but only for a moment.

“But, if it’s before that, I do have something to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Yes. Actually, we came to this mage tower because we wanted to tell you this, Marquis.”

At Yan’s words, Alon focused again.

Yan stayed silent for a while, then—

“...Elivan was strange.”

Suddenly, Yan said it.

“Strange...?”

“From the beginning, Elivan had things he hid from us. Like always having strength far greater than ours.”

“......”

“But we didn’t really grow suspicious of that. Because Elivan always acted like a hero out of a story.”

“...Meaning?”

“I mean literally. Without even resting, Elivan went around wiping out things that were evil to humanity, and even with the smallest matters, Elivan never let anything slide—Elivan was kind to everyone, fairly.”

Alon quietly nodded.

A player could play in any way they wanted, but

in the end, unless you maliciously shaved it down, the baseline nature of Elivan, a playable character, was “absolute good.”

In other words, that side of Elivan—

in a way, it was only natural.

“...In fact, even until the end, that side never disappeared. Elivan still had something hidden, but still moved for everyone.”

“Up to there, it doesn’t really sound like there was a big problem.”

“Right. On the surface.”

Yan let out a small sigh and continued.

“...At some point, Elivan became obsessed with fame.”

“...Fame?”

“Yes. Elivan definitely wasn’t like that before, but from some point on, Elivan didn’t hesitate to spread Elivan’s own reputation. There wasn’t exaggeration, but... still, yes, it was strange.”

Because Elivan never used to care about that.

—Yan added, and kept speaking.

“And if the schedule for dealing with strange text or foreign gods was delayed even a little, Elivan would get extremely anxious. Like Elivan had done something wrong.”

“Wasn’t that because of the damage it would cause?”

“No. It was different from that. In the first place, Elivan dealt with most strange text before it was even in a dangerous state. And after rushing to deal with strange text like that—”

“Did Elivan spread Elivan’s achievements?”

“Yes. From some point on.”

Alon fell silent for a moment, then opened his mouth.

“...Wasn’t that just a disposition that formed from some point? Elivan’s achievements deserved to be revered.”

“I agree with that. Elivan would handle strange text alone even when we were resting. But Elivan’s disposition didn’t change. Except for trying to spread Elivan’s achievements, everything else was the same as before.”

“...Was there anything else?”

At Alon’s question, Yan answered.

“Elivan often looked at the sky.”

“...The sky?”

“Yes. At first, I thought it was a light habit. Elivan kept looking at the sky whenever night came. But after living together for years, I realized it. Elivan didn’t really like the night sky.”

“Did Elivan say that?”

“No, Elivan just laughed at that.”

“Then it could be a misunderstanding—”

“No.”

Yan answered firmly.

“Even if it’s me... I can read the feelings of someone precious to me. That was—”

Yan started to say something, then fell silent and looked at Alon.

“Actually, I thought you knew something, Marquis.”

“Why?”

“...Elivan, when it came to talking about you, Marquis, looked endlessly sincere.”

“......”

At Yan’s words, Alon didn’t respond at all.

No, he couldn’t.

From the start, Alon didn’t know anything about Elivan’s strange reactions.

He couldn’t even get a feel for why Elivan tried to spread Elivan’s achievements widely, or why Elivan felt anxious about dealing with strange text, or why Elivan blankly stared at a night sky Elivan didn’t even like—Alon couldn’t guess any of it.

So—

‘What in the world is this?’

Alon had no choice but to agonize.