Silence fell over the office at the end of Siyan’s words.

Alon stared at her blankly.

‘...Did I hear that wrong?’

That was the first thought that came to mind.

It wasn’t that he had failed to hear her properly.

But it had been such a completely unexpected thing to say that by the time Alon was trying to settle his momentary confusion—

“Did it sound too absurd to you?”

Siyan’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“...Pardon?”

“What I said just now. That this world is the second.”

“To be honest, yes.”

At that, Siyan went “Mm—” and thought for a moment before adding,

“Well, strictly speaking, it’s more in the realm of speculation than certainty.”

“...Speculation?”

“Yes. Speculation.”

Alon went blank again.

Siyan quietly studied his face.

Then, sounding a little curious, she asked,

“And yet, even after hearing that this is your second life, you’re not as surprised as I expected. Though I did add the premise that it’s only speculation.”

“...Me?”

“Yes.”

“Even so, I’m actually quite—”

Alon had been about to answer, surprised, but he unconsciously closed his mouth.

‘...Huh?’

It was because of the change in his own emotions.

He had definitely been startled when Siyan first told him this life might be his second.

But right now.

Strangely enough, his emotions had turned calm.

As if the fact that he had been surprised earlier had been a lie.

So he only had time to feel puzzled for a moment before—

“And there’s no need to keep using such honorifics. You and I now stand in the same place, looking at one another.”

“...I see.”

“Yes. Is there anything you want to ask?”

As Siyan calmly carried on the conversation, Alon pushed the thought aside for the moment and rubbed his face.

At some point, a smile had formed at the corners of Siyan’s mouth, and her eyes were full of interest.

Unlike her, Alon’s mind was tangled.

Anything he wanted to ask?

There was a great deal.

The only problem was—

there was too much, and he didn’t know what to ask first.

So after staying silent for a while, Alon forcibly cut off the endless stream of thoughts and said,

“...Then from now on, I’ll speak a little more casually.”

“You’re still being formal.”

“I’ll fix that little by little. For now, this is what I’m used to.”

Siyan looked somewhat dissatisfied, but soon nodded.

“So, what is it you want to ask?”

After thinking for a moment, Alon opened his mouth.

“This speculation... that this is the second time... how did you come to it?”

Siyan stared at Alon for a moment, then tapped her chin and answered,

“It hasn’t been long. To be more exact—”

Then, after taking a breath once, Siyan finished what she had been about to say.

“—it was after Divine blood fell and the Golden Snake Eyes awakened.”

“Awakened...?”

“Ah, of course, I don’t know for certain whether awakening is the right word. I’m only saying that for convenience, so you can understand more quickly.”

She continued.

“As you know, the Golden Snake Eyes I possess inherit power through the generations, and memories as well, though only in part.”

“I know.”

“And as I told you before, I’ve seen your face in those memories several times.”

“...”

“To be honest, until then, I thought someone from House Palatio in a previous life simply ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) had a face similar to yours. The you in reality and the you in those memories had different atmospheres.”

“Different atmospheres...?”

“The you in those memories was full of emotion. There was always that sly smile on your lips, and you were always teasing me, even though I was the king. Especially after you became a saint king.”

“Anyway,” Siyan murmured, before continuing to the main point.

“So I judged it to be nothing more than something from the past. Of course, I found it strange when Cardinal Yutia appeared in those memories together with you, but even then, I did not reach the conclusion that life had repeated.”

“...Why not?”

“Because you told me you had gone to the past.”

“Ah.”

A quiet sound escaped Alon.

“If you could go to the past, I thought it might be possible for you to go once more someday. You said going to the past was an ‘accident,’ but you described returning as ‘magic.’”

Siyan added, “So I thought it would certainly be possible for you to return to the past again,” then let out a quiet sigh.

“However, as I said, after Divine blood fell, I had reason to view the situation a little differently.”

She moved into the heart of it.

“The Golden Snake Eyes inherit the memories of the previous bearer, but not with perfect clarity. However, after Divine blood fell, the newly inherited power and memories gave me room to think in several ways.”

“If by inherited power, you mean—”

“Yes. Most likely the very power you were curious about, the one I used to deal with Divine blood.”

When Alon asked back as if he still couldn’t understand, Siyan smiled lightly and opened her hand.

And then—

Woooooong—!!!

Soon, a brilliant golden light burst from Siyan’s hand.

And a bizarre tattoo began to be carved across her palm.

Alon stared blankly at her hand for a moment.

Then he realized that the sunlight pouring into the office had disappeared.

“...?”

The instant he turned toward the window with a bewildered look—

“...!”

Alon saw it.

Outside the window.

A gigantic golden spear blotting out the sun.

“The Spear of Longinus.”

And then—

“This was one of the clues that made me think this life might be the ‘second.’”

Siyan began to speak.

She had only just shown Alon the weapon she used to deal with Divine blood when—

“To maintain it to this point, it seems I still need more practice.”

—it turned into brilliant light and vanished.

Alon watched the sight in silence.

Then—

“...Ah.”

A low exclamation escaped him.

“Well? Do you need an explanation?”

Alon reflexively shook his head.

The moment he saw the Spear of Longinus, he understood perfectly why she had called that the “first clue.”

‘...The Spear of Longinus.’

Siyan’s Golden Snake Eyes were a power that inherited the past.

In other words, if she had inherited it from the past, then whatever it was, it had to be something from the past.

And yet the Spear of Longinus she had summoned—

...more precisely, the magic circles engraved into that gigantic weapon were absolutely not from the past.

Nor were they ancient out-of-place artifacts dug out of some forgotten age.

What was inscribed on that weapon were magic circles created by mages of the current era.

Magic circles they had developed without ceasing, and would continue to develop.

So to anyone else, it would likely have looked like nothing more than a massive, magnificent weapon.

But Alon could tell.

Because in the end, he was a mage.

“No, I don’t think that will be necessary.”

And Siyan, too, had inherited predecessors who were mages, which was why she had been able to realize that fact.

“Hehe—”

Apparently pleased by Alon’s answer, Siyan let out a soft laugh.

Alon felt no small amount of astonishment toward her.

Of course, he knew she was brilliant, and he knew she had inherited a mage’s power.

But to infer the hypothesis of a “second run” from only this much—

it was astonishing.

Right now, she had absolutely none of the common knowledge Alon possessed about regression or possession.

So Alon asked again.

“...A moment ago, you clearly said the Spear of Longinus was only one of the clues, didn’t you?”

And Siyan—

“That’s right. The Golden Snake Eyes inherit not only power, but ‘memories’ as well.”

—answered that way, smiling.

####

Meanwhile, at that same time.

‘Hmm— no matter how I look at it, the budget is hopeless.’

Thanks to Kun securing the materials even faster than expected, Alexion had begun work on the territorial expansion project.

However, another problem was giving him a headache.

Because so many people wanted to establish close ties with Palantia this time, the treasury was not lacking in funds.

But that was only if you calculated nothing beyond the cost of the materials going into the castle itself.

‘...The labor cost for mages is worse than I imagined.’

They had already used mages during the construction of the auction house, so Alexion knew perfectly well how expensive their labor was.

‘But I never imagined the labor costs would rise too.’

More than that, he had never expected them to shoot up to something this absurdly high.

‘...At this rate, we may have no choice but to drag out the construction over a long period of time and hire only the bare minimum number of mages.’

So even while feeling inwardly regretful, Alexion began working out the estimate.

Of course, Alexion would not be the one using the finished structure.

Even so, he wanted to build the best castle possible for the best value.

Because it would be the castle Alon used.

Alexion and Alon had not started out on especially good terms.

More accurately, it would be truer to say that was only true on Alexion’s side, but in any case, it was true that his feelings had not been very good at first.

But as time piled up, his heart had changed.

While serving under Alon, Alexion had received a great many things.

Alon was unlike the other nobles.

Even though he could have exploited Alexion to the fullest, not only did he never do that, he always considered Alexion and gave him sufficient compensation.

And was that all?

Even when Alon proclaimed the Kingdom of Palantia, he still entrusted Alexion with a major position.

Him, someone who had once rolled around in the slums, no matter how well he worked.

...Of course, the decisive reason Alexion ended up in such an important post had been Evan saying, “Wouldn’t it be better to hand the headaches over to Alexion?”

But with no way of knowing that, Alexion had now resolved to become Alon’s true loyal retainer in the fullest sense.

And that was why he was working his brain so hard.

Just then—

“Ah, Lord Alexion?”

“What is it?”

His secretary came in.

With a somewhat grave expression.

Alexion instinctively grew serious as well, thinking something must have happened.

Then—

“The Purple Mage Tower master and the Brown Mage Tower master have apparently come to help with the construction of Palantia’s castle?”

“...What?”

He had no choice but to stare in a daze.

Then, once he came back to himself, he hurried off at once to where the two tower masters had arrived.

And there, his expression turned even more absurd.

What he saw was—

“Move!”

“You impudent brat with no respect for your elders!! You move!”

“Respect, my ass, I won the bet in the first place! Get the hell out of my way!”

“Shut it! I’m the one building Palantia’s castle!”

“What kind of bullshit is that!? I already called my people over here!”

“Hmph! I called mine before I even left!”

“You fucking— this shameless old man...! I’m the one building the castle!”

“No, I am!”

“I said I am!!”

—the two tower masters fighting over who would be the one to “build” Palantia’s castle.

“????”

Unable to process the situation, Alexion’s brain temporarily stopped.