At Evan’s words, Alon went blank for a long moment.

He thought of Asteria’s king, Kritenia Siyan.

A king far too young for the ruler of a nation—and the inheritor of the Golden Lion Eyes, an ability passed down only through Asteria’s royal bloodline.

Thinking that far, Alon tilted his head.

‘Were the Golden Lion Eyes really that strong?’

Even in Alon’s understanding, the Golden Lion Eyes were an absurdly unfair ability.

It let its holder inherit, as-is, every ability built up by predecessors across generations.

That was why, even without learning magic or swordsmanship, Kritenia Siyan was outstanding.

And even without learning the art of rulership, Kritenia Siyan could handle everything smoothly as a “king.”

But ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) even so, Alon couldn’t immediately accept the idea that Siyan had dealt with Divine blood.

‘Isn’t that impossible......?’

Siyan, who showed up now and then in Psychedelia, was definitely very strong.

But Siyan was only at the top tier among humans—not to the point of matching Divine blood.

‘That’s one more reason I need to go to Teria.’

As Alon reached that thought, Evan—who had been staying silent so Alon could process—spoke again.

“There’s also something else I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“This isn’t exactly something that hits us personally, but they say the Empire’s side has turned into chaos too.”

“Didn’t you say that last time?”

“I did, but...... they say it’s on a level that can’t even be compared to before.”

“......How bad?”

Evan thought for a moment, then answered.

“Marquis. Just in case—do you know that the Empire was split into four roughly a few years ago?”

“I know.”

Alon already knew the Empire had been smashed, so when he nodded, Evan continued.

“They say the Western Empire has fallen.”

“......Completely?”

“Yes. They say Divine blood tore it to pieces—completely shredded, completely destroyed.”

“That’s...... a little unexpected.”

“Is it?”

Unlike Evan’s reaction, Alon did find it surprising.

‘......I thought it would hold out, at least to some degree.’

He hadn’t played Calypsophobia, where the Empire was the main stage, but he still knew plenty of information.

‘The Empire is stronger than the Allied Kingdoms.’

And that wasn’t all.

Even if you added up all the land the Allied Kingdoms held, it couldn’t compare to how vast the Empire was—and for a territory that huge, it also had countless strong individuals.

If the sins destroyed more than two Allied Kingdoms, there was a reason an Empire-related bad ending would pop up.

‘On the community boards, people talked all the time about how the power balance gap between Psychedelia and Calypsophobia was so huge that it didn’t make sense even as lore. And the protagonist should be there too.’

Alon pictured Calypsophobia’s protagonist.

That existence the community had called the Empire’s ultra-alpha killing weapon.

“Hmm.”

Anyway, when he ran through the overall settings in his head—

even if Divine blood were strong, he still thought the Empire would hold out to some extent, so this was unexpected.

“I thought it would be able to endure a bit longer.”

“Mm—what you said isn’t wrong.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Even if the Western Empire ended up like that, I heard the others are holding up pretty well.”

Evan nodded.

“Out of them, the Eastern Empire and the Northern Empire are blocking Divine blood especially well.”

“......Without any damage?”

“Yes. The east has a lot of powerful people, and in the northern Empire, they say there’s a ‘dragon’?”

“A dragon?”

“Yes. What was it......? The laughing dragon? ......Ah, no—‘the crying dragon.’ They say there’s something called the Crying Dragon.”

“......And what is that supposed to be?”

When Alon asked, Evan shrugged.

“Of course, I don’t know the details either. I just heard it gets called ‘the Crying Dragon’ as a nickname.”

“The Crying Dragon......”

“Anyway, they said the Empire’s in complete chaos, so I wanted to let you know.”

“I see.”

Alon nodded, recalling a memory he’d shoved into a corner.

‘Come to the far eastern edge, my friend. Then I’ll hand over what you hold dear.’

That small voice he’d heard when Divine blood fell.

‘Something I hold dear....... Something I hold dear.......’

Alon stared out the window, lost in thought for a long while.

####

A month passed after Alon’s group set out from Colony for Caliban.

In that time, he’d heard all kinds of news through Evan, but nothing about Divine blood.

In other words, there had been no Divine blood attacks for three weeks.

Of course, he couldn’t afford to let his guard down—but it was still fortunate.

“So there wasn’t an attack yesterday either.”

“Yes.”

Alon thought.

‘......So it’s true that most of the Divine blood fell toward the Empire.’

According to the information Evan had brought last week, the Empire’s side had been extremely noisy.

Then—

“Marquis, could you take a look at this for a moment?”

“Sure.”

Penia handed Alon a sheet of paper.

The paper was filled with complicated formulas—dense enough to look difficult at a glance.

“This is.......”

“I tried making a spell formula the way you described, Marquis. What do you think?”

Penia and Alon kept debating.

It had become their routine lately, as they traveled toward Caliban.

During the day, while the carriage moved, Alon would do separate research with Penia.

Sometimes Alon would watch Basiliora and Blackie—and even Evan—mess around together.

And at night, it was this: magical discussions with Penia.

“Oh, right, Marquis. What about that?”

In the middle of the conversation, Penia asked.

It was a vague question, but Alon immediately understood what she meant.

“You mean my divinity? There hasn’t been a major change yet.”

“So that’s how it is.”

Nodding, Alon naturally closed his eyes and contemplated his inner self.

It didn’t take long.

As soon as Alon entered, he found—

“.......”

In the inner world that had been nothing but dull darkness, a small bead was floating.

A tiny bead.

He’d noticed it right after leaving Colony: the five divinities that had once sat inside him were gone as if they’d never existed, and in their place, this bead had appeared.

‘It probably formed after I killed Divine blood.......’

Alon remembered what the blue eyes had said.

That he would naturally rise to the next stage.

‘......Is that what it meant?’

He’d never once considered that killing Divine blood could let him climb to the next stage, so at first he’d been a little thrown off.

But in a way, it made his goal clearer.

Still, there was something that bothered him.

‘How am I supposed to use it?’

He couldn’t grasp how to use divine power at all.

Alon had confirmed the existence of this divine power a month ago.

But even now, he still couldn’t use it properly.

The most Alon could do was—

just draw it out and show it outside his body.

‘Of course, it’s so little that it’s almost unusable.’

Still, it was better to know it existed than not know at all.

Alon tried again and again to force it into different uses, but in the end he had no choice but to open his eyes.

“Did it fail again......?”

“It’s not easy.”

Alon shook his head and bit into a sweet potato.

Penia spoke, disappointed.

“If you could use divine power, I think we could widen our options a lot more.”

“Well, I’ll have to find a way.”

He quietly pushed more sweet potato into his mouth.

Penia kept staring at him.

“......What?”

“I’m just curious....... Marquis, do you still think sweet potatoes taste good?”

“If they didn’t taste good, why would I eat them?”

“No, I mean, sure, but....... It’s been three weeks.”

“C’mon, why are you asking something like that~ What’s so interesting about the Marquis eating sweet potatoes? Last time, you ate nothing but sweet potatoes for three months, didn’t you?”

“......That’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Startled by Evan’s comment, Penia tilted her head again and again, then asked.

“Then...... could you give me one bite?”

Without a word, Alon handed the sweet potato over.

Penia took it carefully.

“Ahem—”

“......Why are you clearing your throat all of a sudden?”

“Mm—nothing.”

With half-lidded eyes, she kept sneaking glances this way, and when Alon asked, she brushed it off—then took a bite of the sweet potato Alon had been eating.

“......Hmm—”

Penia chewed for a while, then—

“It’s just...... a sweet potato......?”

“Did you think it would be different?”

“No....... Since you’ve been eating nothing but that for almost a month, I thought maybe it was a little different from the sweet potatoes I know.”

She awkwardly cleared her throat again.

Then, wiping her mouth lightly, Penia said—

“My throat’s kind of dry. I’m going to get some water.”

“Go ahead.”

With that, she headed to the carriage.

After that, Alon tossed the sweet potato Penia had left behind into his mouth in one bite—and then—

“?”

He realized it had gone quiet.

When he looked back, Evan, Blackie, and Basiliora—who had been chattering nonstop—had all stopped and were staring at Alon at the same time.

“What is it?”

Alon asked.

But—

“No...... it’s nothing. It’s just......”

“?”

[Kyuu—]

[Tsk tsk—]

Everyone’s reactions were strangely unconvincing, so Alon had no choice but to tilt his head.

####

The next day.

Caliban came into view in the distance outside the window, and Alon started looking for the rumored giant.

But only for a moment.

“?”

He found something strange.

......No, he needed to correct that.

It wasn’t just strange.

It was really strange.

“Evan.”

“Yes.......”

“Is that...... the rumored giant Divine blood?”

“Marquis. Are you asking because you don’t want to believe it, or because you truly can’t see it?”

“......So what I’m seeing is right.”

“Yes...... regrettably.”

At Evan’s finishing blow, Alon covered his face without meaning to.

Because in Caliban’s capital—what Alon was looking at was—

something that glittered even above the city walls—

“......But why is that there?”

“I really want to know that too......”

—Alon’s statue.

And not just any statue—like it was somehow getting even more light than it should.

A statue that was supposed to be in Alon’s territory, posed like the northern governor of the previous world.

“Why...... is that even there......?”

Alon muttered hollowly.

Evan, who had been staring at the statue in a daze with him, went—

“Ah.”

Like something had just clicked, Evan let out a small exclamation.

“Marquis.”

“......What is it?”

“That...... is probably Sili’s gift.”

“A gift?”

“Yes. You know...... before the kingdom proclamation, you told us to send a gift.”

“Don’t tell me you sent that as the gift.”

“......Probably......?”

Alon squeezed his eyes shut.

“......I’ll have to apologize.”

Normally, the gift you sent when proclaiming a kingdom—

to put it simply, it was like giving out rice cakes after you moved into a new neighborhood.

It meant: ‘We’re establishing a kingdom now, so let’s not fight going forward—let’s get along.’

But the gift was a statue?

And not even the King of Caliban’s statue—Alon’s statue?

......This was the sort of thing that could reasonably be seen as a provocation.

Alon closed his eyes again.

A moment later—

“Marquis.”

“Deus. You’ve been well?”

“Yes. Marquis, are you all right?”

“......Yes. But before that, we should request an audience with the king.”

After exchanging a brief greeting with Deus, who had been waiting at the gate, Alon headed straight for Caliban’s royal palace.

......Passing by the massive statue posed like a northern governor.

And the moment he entered the audience chamber where Caliban’s king, Palmarian, was—

Grab—!

“Thank you. Truly, thank you, Marquis......!”

“......Yes?”

Palmarian threw dignity aside, sprang up from the throne, and grabbed Alon’s hand.

“Which...... part are you referring to?”

Alon asked, still rattled, trying to find the reason.

Palmarian’s face lit up.

“Obviously, the gift you sent.”

“The gift...... you mean the statue......?”

“Yes, that one! Thank you! Truly—thank you for sending me such a statue......!”

“......No...... um.......”

Yeah......??

At that answer—one that only deepened the questions—Alon started to feel a headache coming on.