Contanias could not understand it.

Why Arculainysis, the guardian dragon of the Empire, was releasing such murderous magic.

Why she was so enraged.

But what he understood least of all

was the word she had uttered.

A single word.

‘...Father...?’

That she had called Palatio Alon her father.

That was what made the least sense.

“Hm? Go on. Speak.”

A skin-crawling pressure.

And yet even in the middle of it, Contanias’s mind remained caught on her words.

‘Father... what in the world does that...?’

Arculainysis was the guardian dragon of the Empire.

She had existed longer than the Empire itself.

In other words, it would not even be enough to say that the dragon had shared the Empire’s history. Rather, it was the Empire that had shared the dragon’s history.

And that being had clearly said it.

That Palatio Alon was her father.

“...”

Contanias raised his head and looked at Arculainysis.

Those dark eyes, made even darker by the heavy circles that were practically her trademark, were filled with a fury he had never seen before.

He could not afford to hesitate any longer.

“I apologize!”

Only then did he hurriedly bow his head again.

He might have been arrogant, but he was not stupid.

Of course, his mind was still full of one question alone.

Why the guardian dragon of the Empire was calling the king of some mere kingdom her father.

But he did not dare say it out loud.

She had shut herself off in this residence, cutting off all contact with the outside world until the Divine blood began to fall, but that did not mean it made any sense for the guardian dragon to mistake someone’s identity.

As far as Contanias knew, she was closer to omnipotence than any other being.

And so—

“I-I was ignorant, and because of that—”

dealing with this situation came first.

However—

“That is enough.”

Unfortunately, the guardian dragon cut him off coldly, as if she had no intention of giving him that chance.

“It seems you must have spat those characteristically arrogant words at Father.”

As if she had seen it happen herself, the guardian dragon guessed Contanias’s actions exactly.

With his head pressed to the floor, the prince gasped for breath, unable to breathe properly.

She looked down at him for a moment.

“...Go to Father this instant and beg his forgiveness. And make sure you are able to bring him here.”

She gave the order.

“Th-thank you for giving me this chance!”

The prince shouted at the top of his lungs.

“A chance... a chance, you say...”

But Arculainysis only murmured indifferently.

“Yes. You could call it a chance. If you fail to obtain Father’s forgiveness—”

Then, looking down at Contanias with eyes steeped in exhaustion,

“—one strand of the history I created will disappear.”

She pronounced the sentence with perfect clarity.

####

“...A law?”

“Yes.”

“Mmm.”

Several days later.

As usual, they were traveling west through desolation.

Yet without encountering even a single Divine blood, the conversation between Alon and Penia continued.

It was about the law Alon had kept pondering.

Until now he had tried to think it through by himself as much as possible, but with the temple drawing closer and closer, he had decided to hear other opinions.

Because once the time actually came to create a law, he would clearly have no time left to deliberate.

So when Alon finally brought it up for the first time, each member of the group fell into thought.

“Mm... That’s a difficult question.”

“As I thought?”

“Yes.”

Penia was the first to speak.

“If I were just answering casually, I’d say it would be best to steer it in the direction of advancing your magic even further, Lord Alon... but if what you said is true, then that would clearly be a waste.”

Alon nodded.

That was precisely why he had been unable to decide on a law so easily.

If laws were not infinite, then he would only have to choose from among them.

But if laws were infinite, then deciding became difficult.

A paradoxical situation where freedom itself was binding his thoughts.

“Mm... I’ll think it over carefully. This doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that can be answered with some offhand remark.”

“I’ll be counting on you.”

“Yes.”

As soon as Penia finished speaking, Evan stepped forward as if he had been waiting for his chance.

“But Lord Alon, if you’re setting a law in the first place, shouldn’t you just pick one that’s obviously overpowered?”

“For example?”

“Well, there are plenty, aren’t there? If it’s something like an absolute rule... say, for example, anyone who gets hit by an attack dies no matter what.”

Or one that nullifies any and all attacks, he muttered.

At that, Penia, standing beside him, let out a dry laugh.

“Does that even make sense?”

“No—but didn’t you say it can be set freely as absolutely anything? Then shouldn’t something like that be possible too?”

“If you think about it simply, sure.”

“Then why not do it?”

At Evan’s question, Penia let out a long sigh and explained.

“Because even if you made a law like that, there’s still a good chance it wouldn’t actually amount to invincibility or nullification.”

“...Why?”

“Isn’t the fact that there are already this many Divine blood enough to explain that?”

“...?”

Evan thought for a moment, then let out a low sound of realization.

“So you mean, if there really were laws that absurd, there wouldn’t be this many Divine blood in the first place?”

“Exactly. Well, more precisely, that’s assuming it would actually work.”

When Penia added that there was no way no one had ever thought of such a simple law before,

“...Mm, that’s true enough.”

Evan admitted it.

“And more than anything, the stronger the power, the more likely it is to come with a penalty, so this is something you really have to think through.”

“A penalty? Was there something like that too?”

“Lord Alon just explained that part a little while ago. Right?”

Alon nodded and recalled what the blue eyes had once said in passing.

‘Of course, unless you fully reach Heavenly Law Creation, the further a law departs from reason, the stronger the penalty it carries.’

Alon turned his gaze to Yutia.

She was silent, lost in thought. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

How much time passed like that?

“Mm... I think a law that works as a hidden trump card would be good, Teacher.”

Yutia offered her opinion.

“...A hidden trump card?”

“Yes.”

Nodding at Alon’s question, she went on.

“In the end, if a law is formed, that means the method gets defined in one way or another. And once the method is naturally defined, affinities and counters will appear too, so I think it might be better to create a law that can overturn that instead.”

“Because you have magic, Teacher,” Yutia said with a smile.

Alon stroked his chin.

Of course, it was not a perfect answer.

In a way, there was something important missing from what Yutia said.

But still—

“...A law that can serve as a hidden trump card.”

—it was quite interesting.

Certainly, as she said, there was a high chance Alon would end up fighting many Divine blood from now on.

Which meant that while it might not be immediate at the first stage, from the second stage onward he would have to fight amid countless other laws.

And the moment he defined his own law, from Alon’s position as someone facing Divine blood, he might be forced into disadvantageous battles.

‘Against Divine blood like that... an ability that can become a hidden trump card.’

Alon continued thinking.

And as time passed, when more than two weeks had gone by since Alon entered the Western Empire—

“...It does seem to be that.”

“It does.”

Alon arrived.

At the “temple” the Seeker had spoken of.

####

Rewinding time a little, to when Alon was crossing the border of the Eastern Empire—

“Really? The king of Palantia crossed into the Eastern Empire?”

“Yes.”

Serdea Polanticia, the imperial princess who ruled the Eastern Empire, let out a soft little laugh at her minister’s report.

‘Just as I thought. There’s no man alive who would reject me.’

She recalled the Alon she had seen several months earlier.

That expressionless face that gave away nothing of what he was thinking, and the fact that he had shown not the slightest agitation even with her standing right in front of him, had left quite an impression on Serdea.

Of course, now that she was able to see what was inside, all she could do was laugh.

“However... will that truly be alright?”

“What do you mean?”

“You said you saw him in person, but you did [N O V E L I G H T] not verify the rumors, did you?”

It was her aged minister, who always remained by her side and always offered the best advice he could.

At his question, she nodded.

“I did not verify them.”

“Then—”

“Well, it does not matter.”

“...Does it not?”

“No. That man did not seem ordinary. Even his very sense for things was different from those other kings of the provinces.”

“Well, it seems my other blood relatives fail to understand that,” Serdea added.

“And even if I happened to be wrong about that instinct, it would not matter. Because—”

A smile curled across her lips.

“if I keep him in my arms, won’t I gain far more than I could ever lose?”

The corners of her mouth lifted.

“...Simply by taking in the king of a border kingdom?”

“Yes. He is a king supported within the Allied Kingdoms. Even if, contrary to rumor, he does not possess the ability to control Divine blood, that alone would still make him worth offering the seat beside me. There is much to gain.”

For a moment, the minister could not ask anything in return.

Because it was not hard to understand what she meant by “much to gain.”

Smaller in stature than her other siblings.

And yet, the one who could step forward without hesitation more readily than any of them.

As the minister looked at her—

“And besides... his face was quite to my taste.”

—Serdea murmured with clear satisfaction.

“...Then the moment word comes in, I will have him sought out at once.”

The minister bowed deeply.

A week passed after that.

“Your Highness. Lord Alon has passed through the Duchy of Tria.”

“...The Duchy of Tria? That is not on the road to the capital.”

“Yes, that is, well...”

When the minister voiced his confusion, Serdea thought for a moment.

“Ahh—I see. Well, well. He is quite the attentive man.”

Soon she nodded as if she had realized something.

“Yes...?”

“Think back. The specialty of the Duchy of Tria—”

“The specialty...? Do you mean the flowers that never wither?”

“Yes. He has quite an admirable side to him.”

“...I see.”

The minister immediately caught her meaning and gave a small nod.

Time passed in waiting.

And by the time Alon had reached the temple—

“...Your Highness?”

“Mm—ah—my, my. So he has finally arrived?”

Serdea, to the minister she held dearest,

“Your Highness, we were only able to confirm it belatedly, but... it seems Lord Alon has headed into the Western Empire.”

delivered that report.

“...Huh?”

And a vacant, defenseless sound slipped out of her mouth.