Two weeks had passed since they set out for the Central Mage Tower.

Without incident, Alon’s party had made it all the way to the vicinity of the Central Mage Tower.

"We’re already here."

When Alon said that around a mouthful of roasted sweet potato, Evan nodded.

"Doesn’t it definitely feel more comfortable moving around on the Allied Kingdoms side?"

"Does it?"

"Well, compared to the Empire, the geography’s more familiar, and it puts your mind at ease too."

Evan was right.

Of course, that did not mean the Empire always left them exposed to danger, but compared to when they had been in the Eastern Empire, there was certainly less tension.

Alon looked out the window.

At some point, the Mage Tower had drawn close.

Just then, Basiliora, who had been asleep in one corner of the carriage with Blackie, staggered to its feet and vanished.

"Ah, what a shame."

[Shut up.]

At the sight, Evan smacked his lips again, and, perhaps having heard him, Basiliora popped slightly out of the ring and barked at him.

Evan ignored it completely.

"Ah, speaking of which, it seems like diverse hairstyles are still trendy these days."

"I felt the same."

"Right? I had no idea every town would have such different styles. And on top of that, weren’t most of them beauties? Just when did that many beautiful women start appearing...?"

They were exchanging pointless chatter as the carriage continued forward when—

Boom!

A huge explosion rang out from the distance.

It was unmistakably from the direction the carriage was heading—from the Central Mage Tower.

"...Hm?"

After checking the front, Evan suddenly let out a strange, baffled sound.

"What is it?"

At Alon’s question, Evan stared ahead blankly, then opened his mouth.

"Uh... how should I put it. It’s so incredibly bizarre that it’s a little hard to explain."

"Just say it first."

"Yes. So... if I just tell you what I saw, all of a sudden a whole bunch of mages came pouring out of the Central Mage Tower and lined up in a long row—"

"And then...?"

"...and then they suddenly started fighting each other with magic...?"

"?"

Alon paused for a moment.

"...What are you talking about?"

"I did say it was a little monstrous."

Alon slid the window open slightly and looked ahead, and sure enough, in the distance he could see a dense crowd of mages.

Mages facing each other as if they were about to raise their magic power and start fighting at any moment.

"......"

It was a strange situation.

Of course, many mages were eccentric, but cases where they caused outright violent clashes among themselves like this were rare.

Even when such things did happen, mage fights usually took the form of duels, like the one Alon had fought before.

They did not behave like they were about to break into a street brawl.

Before he could even grasp the situation—

"Lord Alon, don’t you think we need to stop that?"

At Evan’s follow-up question, Alon nodded with mixed feelings.

Mages were arrogant, but they valued honor, so it did not seem likely they would really start a mass brawl. Even so, he could not just sit still.

Even from far away, the atmosphere felt fairly serious.

Maybe he really did have to stop even the slightest chance that they would start hurling magic at each other and descend into an ugly dogfight.

So as they slowly drew closer, just as Alon was about to forcefully open the carriage door and step out—

"Move aside! Weren’t all arrangements already settled from the start for us to welcome the King of Palantia?!"

"What nonsense are you spouting! That whole matter became void yesterday to begin with!"

—those shouts struck his ears.

"What do you mean void?! We already finished the vow, and yet you’re babbling nonsense!! Get out of the way! We are the ones who will welcome the King of Palantia!"

"Don’t make me laugh! We are—!"

"No, we are—"

"We are!!!"

"I said we are!!!"

"Gah—how dare this old fossil grab my beard—!"

"Stop clutching what little hair you have left and let go!!"

And as he watched the two groups—shouting so thunderously it was hard to believe they were old men, starting a fight far too ugly for people called mages—

"......"

Click.

Without a word, Alon closed the carriage door again.

"...You’re quite the celebrity, Lord Alon."

At Evan’s praise Alon covered his face with both hands.

...Just what in the world did you do, Penia... was the only thought passing through his mind.

####

After one round of uproar.

No—

"Welcome to the Central Mage Tower, King of Palantia—no, Your Majesty the Magic King."

"The Magic King...?"

After passing through the Mage Tower’s mages, who were making an absurdly blatant effort to leave a strong impression on him—

"Oh, you’ve come!"

"...It’s been a while, Tower Master."

"Oh dear, you’re speaking formally to me."

"...You may treat me as you did before."

"Ahem—would that really be alright?"

"Th-then may I also treat you as before?"

"I as well..."

After passing the Blue Tower Master, the Green Tower Master, and the Red Tower Master, all of whom attached themselves to him one after another—

"Then let us leave the detailed discussion for next time."

"Ah... yes."

"Then!"

Alon finally managed to board an artifact similar to an elevator located inside the Central Mage Tower.

He already felt tired.

With his eyes closed, he muttered,

"...And what exactly is this Magic King thing?"

"Isn’t it fine?"

Evan suddenly said.

"What?"

"In my opinion, Magic King sounds pretty good."

"...Are you serious?"

"Yes. It’s not bad."

As Alon watched Evan shrug, he once again felt the same sense of disconnect he had felt back during the moving statue incident, and by then they had arrived where Penia was.

"You’re here!"

"Penia..."

Alon looked once at the ringleader greeting him in a lively voice, then looked around.

The seventy-seventh floor of the central tower—it was a space decorated almost like an office.

"Ah, I rented it for a bit. Since I had to stay here for a long time anyway, there wasn’t much choice."

Perhaps noticing Alon’s puzzled look, Penia answered at once.

But there was something more important.

"...I think this needs some explaining."

Alon asked that as he naturally sat down on the sofa Penia guided him to.

"Yep, I was going to explain it anyway! I told you before, didn’t I? If we’re going to hand out blessings anyway, I thought it would be better to move a little more efficiently."

Then Penia began speaking as though she had been waiting for this.

Twenty minutes later—

"So that’s how we arrived at the current situation—"

Looking at Penia smiling proudly, Alon took a moment to organize in his head what he had just heard.

To summarize what she had said simply, it was this:

"After revealing the truth to the Mage Tower—that if they receive my blessing, they can use magic—you deliberately leaked that only a few mages would be chosen, in order to stir competition... Is that about right?"

Penia nodded.

"That’s right."

"Then do you know why this alias, Magic King, started spreading?"

At that question, Penia thumped her chest as if of course she knew.

"Yes! I made that alias myself."

"...You did?"

"Yes."

"...Why?"

Penia answered without hesitation.

"Hm, honestly there are several reasons... but the main one is to gain the faith of mages."

"Faith?"

"Yes. As you know, mages are full of people who’d sell even their souls for magic. But oddly enough, they tend to get a bit stiff when it comes to anything related to faith."

So—she had created the alias Magic King to make him feel more familiar to mages.

Alon still could not shake a fundamental doubt.

"...Will that help?"

"Hm—probably quite a lot? As you know, people are heavily influenced even by names."

At that rather reasonable answer, Alon accepted it for the moment and asked the next question.

"Then what should I do now? Do I need to give blessings to the mages?"

"No? You don’t need to do that right away. If you’re going to give them anyway, it’s better to select only a few people."

"Why?"

"Because if what they want is fulfilled all at once, faith won’t gather."

Ahem—clearing her throat, Penia smiled like some shadowy mastermind.

"As you know, the moment humans become satisfied, their desperation disappears. But if they stay in a state where something remains unfulfilled, they keep growing more desperate. And even more so if they see a few people being lightly rewarded for that desperation."

"......"

"So there’s no need to rush. We just have to slooowly stimulate that desperation whenever we want and bestow blessings when it suits us. Ah, of course, the timing is yours to decide, Lord Alon."

Watching that, Alon was reminded once more of something he had forgotten.

What sort of treatment Penia had received in Psychedelia.

"Hmm—guess someone who’s been on the receiving end really does understand this stuff on another level."

Evan, who had been listening from the side, cut in with a laugh.

At that, Penia first made a puzzled face, but after seeing Evan’s sly grin, she seemed to realize what he meant and frowned.

"Do you have a death wish, seriously??"

Evan only shrugged and looked away.

At the content of the conversation, which he could not understand, Alon tilted his head.

"...What are you talking about?"

"Ahem—nothing at all."

Then Penia awkwardly cleared her throat and turned her gaze to the side. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The tips of her ears had gone a # Nоvеlight # little red.

"?"

Only Alon remained utterly bewildered.

####

After meeting Penia, Alon headed straight for the library where Heinkel was.

He had wanted to finish the rest of his conversation with Penia, but he had been told that Heinkel was waiting.

The moment he arrived at the library, Heinkel greeted him with a wave.

[Oh, you came.]

"...It’s been a while, Lady Heinkel."

As soon as they exchanged the briefest of greetings, Heinkel got straight to the point.

[Actually, there’s something I want to confirm first. Mind if I ask that before anything else?]

"That’s fine."

[I heard from Penia that if someone receives your blessing, they can use the magic of the True Mages. Is that true?]

"Well, for now, yes..."

When Alon confirmed it, Heinkel’s eyes brightened as if she had made up her mind.

[Then could you perhaps bestow your blessing on me?]

She asked immediately.

"...A blessing?"

[Yes.]

"It’s not difficult, exactly..."

Of course, bestowing a blessing itself was not that hard.

But if there was a problem—

"...Lady Heinkel, aren’t you unable to use magic in your current state?"

It was the fact that Heinkel was a ghost.

Strictly speaking, calling her a ghost was a little imprecise, but in any case, she was presently closer to a wraith than a human.

When Alon brought that up—

[Ah, yes, in this body it would be impossible to use magic. At most, I could move magic power around a little.]

Heinkel nodded as if that was true, but—

[Still, you don’t have to worry about that.]

"...What do you mean?"

[I can come back to life.]

She made an utterly unexpected statement.

"...What?"

Startled, Alon asked back.

At that, Heinkel started to say something, then stopped.

[Wellell—rather than explaining, it’d be better to show you. Just wait a little. The preparations should be done in about thirty minutes.]

She smiled with complete confidence.

When Alon nodded dazedly, Heinkel let out a soft, "Huhu—"

[Ah.]

Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something—

[By the way, when’s the wedding?]

"...Pardon?"

[What, are you pretending not to know? I heard the rumor’s already spread all through the Mage Tower.]

"?"

That was what she asked.

—Flash.

For some reason, the red brooch had begun to shine.

As though it had taken on the color of blood.