For a moment, Alon doubted his own ears.

The princess’s husband.

He could not even begin to guess how on earth those words had come out.

Alon was at a loss for words, and the silence dragged on.

“Ahem—Her Highness informed us in advance. She said you would be coming anyway, so we were ordered not to delay and to leave the way open.”

Only then was Alon able to roughly piece the situation together.

...Though he still did not understand it exactly.

In any case, he realized one thing.

This was a good opportunity.

Possibly a very good opportunity to cross what would have been the most troublesome border with ease.

That was why, when Alon cast a sidelong glance at Yutia, she stood there lost in thought with the same smile at the corners of her mouth as always.

There was only one subtle difference: for some reason, her smile looked far colder and sharper than usual.

“...Mm—right.”

Belatedly, she nodded, something in her seeming to creak.

“Yes, well—sure, mm—”

As though rationalizing something to herself.

“Yes, yes, well—I expected all of this, you rat bastard—”

“That’s already twice now—”

“Next time I really will turn the entire Empire—”

She muttered in a voice too low even for Alon to catch, then soon looked at him and smiled sweetly.

“Teacher?”

“Uh, right...”

For some reason, there was something oppressive about her, and Alon responded a beat later than he meant to.

Silence lingered for a moment.

“Then, in the name of Falkindas, I will permit your passage across the border.”

The group ended up crossing the border far more easily and simply than expected.

“...Uh, that was way too easy?”

“It was.”

Evan looked dazed, and Alon agreed.

At the reactions from the two of them, Yutia spoke with a smile.

“Still, isn’t it a good thing that we got through without any trouble?”

“That’s true.”

“What a relief. Her Highness opened the way for us.”

“...I suppose so.”

“Well, though it’s only a misunderstanding.”

“Mm?”

“Oh, because they must think Teacher came to the Eastern Empire to become her husband.”

“...”

“Isn’t that right, Teacher?”

Yutia’s final words.

She was still smiling, but Alon instinctively knew it.

His answer to this was going to be very important.

“That’s right.”

When Alon nodded as though it were nothing, only then did Yutia smile as if satisfied.

And that night—

“Mm—statistically speaking, short people definitely do tend to be a little arrogant.”

“Oh my, is that what you think? Then our opinions are somewhat alike on that point. Though rather than similar opinions, I suppose it’s closer to statistics, just as you said.”

“Yes, exactly! It’s a well-known statistical fact that short people are arrogant and insolent because they’re short.”

“Mm-hm—exactly. I really do get along well with you, Miss Penia. Is it because you’re such a knowledgeable mage?”

“Ahem—you really don’t need to flatter me that much.”

“If you had been a mage in the Empire, you would have risen even higher.”

“Oh, no—I wouldn’t want to be born in the Empire. Those Empire types are all just arrogant cowards, aren’t they? And short, too.”

“That’s right. Short and arrogant, especially the higher their rank is.”

Yutia and Penia.

The two of them were usually rather distant with each other—really, it was mostly Penia awkwardly stumbling around and watching Yutia’s mood—but now the bizarre sight unfolded of them joining forces and enthusiastically trashing the people of the Empire.

“...Hm, Lord Alon. Was there a statistic like that?”

“...I’m not sure.”

“How can a short bastard even be arrogant...? He’d just get the shit beaten out of him...”

Listening to Evan’s muttered confusion, Alon took a bite of sweet potato.

...Sweet potato was still delicious.

####

The Father of Maggots had not been in a good mood lately.

There were exactly two reasons.

One was that his group had recently been losing ground in a territorial dispute.

The other was that news of the Star Eater being dealt with had not come in nearly as easily as he had expected.

Of course, there was also the fact that the Void, one of the four factions in the east, seemed to be up to something suspicious, and that irritated him as well, but it was nothing compared to the first two.

“Hoo—”

At first, the Father of Maggots had not paid the Star Eater much mind.

It was a matter personally ordered by Him, but killing a mere human was far too easy for him.

No, it did not even qualify as something worth calling easy.

To begin with, killing the Star Eater was not something he needed to handle personally.

An order issued under His great authority was more than enough to move the other Divine blood.

And yet, strangely, news that the Star Eater had died did not come easily.

Rather, as time passed, the news that did come in—

from his perspective, every last bit of it was bad.

The only things he had heard so far were:

that the Divine blood sent to deal with the Star Eater had instead formed a group to protect him, and that even the Darkness-Eating Sword, who had gone with other Divine blood to eliminate the Star Eater, had vanished without a trace.

There was no way his mood could be good.

In the end, now that things had turned out this way, the Father of Maggots had no choice but to cross into the Allied Kingdoms himself and deal with the Star Eater personally.

If he did nothing but suck his fingers and watch as the other Divine blood failed to handle it and floundered about, then later he would have no face to show Him.

But the problem was this:

if he did that, another Divine blood group might use that very moment to strike them.

It was no different from being trapped in a kind of impossible bind, and just as he was doing nothing but sighing—

[...The Darkness-Eating Sword?]

The Father of Maggots spotted a figure.

The Darkness-Eating Sword, walking toward him.

For a moment he only felt puzzled.

[...Hmph.]

Then the Father of Maggots brightened.

Because the Darkness-Eating Sword’s return meant the mission had been completed.

A low, pleased laugh began spilling from his whole body.

However—

[...?]

The closer the Darkness-Eating Sword came, the more doubt spread across his face.

Because behind him, though he had clearly said he would leave alone, five Divine blood could now be seen.

And so—

[...What is this?]

—he asked, looking at the Darkness-Eating Sword as he drew near.

The Darkness-Eating Sword, who said nothing and only stared at the Father of Maggots with those eyes filled with his characteristic skull-colored light, suddenly spoke.

[What a shame.]

At that unsettling reply, the Father of Maggots was just beginning to feel puzzled when—

he noticed it.

The sword held in the Darkness-Eating Sword’s hand.

[Ha—]

Only then, as if he had finally grasped all the facts, he let out a hollow laugh.

[...Are you serious, you bastard?] 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

[I am.]

[If you lay a hand on me now, He will not let this pass.]

An overt threat.

It was the kind of threat that worked on most Divine blood outside hostile factions.

To begin with, no matter the faction, falling out of their favor was an extremely exhausting affair for Divine blood.

[Don’t worry. I have already made every preparation.]

Yet even so, the Darkness-Eating Sword raised his sword.

At that unchanged hostility, the Father of Maggots finally bared his own blatant killing intent.

[Don’t think I’ll die easily—!]

He began to drift up into the sky.

Dark clouds gathered in the heavens, which had been clear only moments ago, and the dozens of mouths attached to his long body all let out bizarre shrieks as they began to spill something out.

And then—

[Just because you’re strong, do you think you’ll be able to defeat me so easily?]

The Father of Maggots showed a confidence of his own.

The Darkness-Eating Sword, who had been watching him in silence, replied,

[Certainly, if I were alone, it would be difficult to deal with you.]

[Hrk—!]

[But I have no intention of facing you alone.]

He said it simply.

[Huh?]

Only then did the Father of Maggots see them.

He had noticed them earlier, but because of the Darkness-Eating Sword, he had forgotten them for a moment.

The five Divine blood now preparing to attack him.

[Ah.]

From his many mouths came a low sigh.

####

By the time the journey west had reached one month and two weeks,

Alon found himself with a small question.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“Haven’t we already entered the western territory?”

“...Mm—haven’t we? We’re right in the middle of it, aren’t we?”

At Evan’s answer, Alon tilted his head.

“...But if that’s the case, we haven’t run into any Divine blood at all.”

According to the information Evan had brought back before they set out west, most of the west of the Empire had been devoured by Divine blood, so they could run into them at any moment.

But even though quite a bit of time had already passed since they entered the western part of the Empire, they still had not encountered a single Divine blood.

It was strange.

Then Evan asked,

“Mm—wouldn’t it be a good thing if we haven’t met them?”

“Well, yes, but...”

At Alon’s lukewarm reaction, Evan added,

“More importantly, it should /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ be soon now.”

“...Soon?”

“According to the information, around this point we should come to the place where the dragon called the Father of Maggots is.”

Alon nodded a little more seriously, and Penia—who had been watching the mood more often lately, perhaps because Yutia had joined them—asked carefully,

“...L-Lord Alon? Are you still planning to go through with it?”

“I am.”

Of course, Alon had not come all the way here intending to fight the Father of Maggots without a plan.

He had already fought Divine blood in Colony, so he knew how strong they were.

Even with Yutia with them, that changed nothing about the need for caution.

'First, we confirm it from a distance. And after that—'

Alon went over the plan he had already run through in his head several times.

What cut through those thoughts was—

Boom—boom—!

A massive reverberation, faint in the distance.

A sound no human could possibly make.

Alon instinctively cut off his train of thought.

He swiftly formed hand seals.

And just as a small amount of holy power flowed from Yutia’s hand, and mana—now reproduced quite skillfully—flowed from Penia’s lips—

“...L-Lord Alon?”

Evan called to him.

“Did a Divine blood appear?”

“No, uh—that’s not it. We’ve arrived.”

“...We have?”

“Yes. Judging from the map, I think that should be the place. But...”

“But...?”

“Uh, would you mind stepping out and taking a look?”

At Evan’s request, Alon’s group stepped out of the carriage with puzzled expressions.

And there they saw it.

■■■■■■-!!!

A hideously enormous body covered all over with dozens—no, more than hundreds—of sharp mouths.

Presumably the ‘Father of Maggots’ the Seeker had spoken of.

And—

[Kraaaargh—!!]

...that Divine blood, being surrounded and brutally beaten by other Divine blood.

“...What is that supposed to be...?”

Unconcealed bewilderment spilled from Alon’s mouth.