After Mu gave a more detailed report about the rumor,

"Th-then, just in case, I’ll go look into it a little more thoroughly and come back—!"

Apparently afraid Magrina might ask more questions, Mu vanished at the speed of light.

Silence fell.

Even Magrina’s smiling expression gradually began to stiffen.

Then—

"Don’t get yourself so worked up."

"...Sister?"

Rine’s gentle voice rippled through the air.

Magrina came back to herself, but she was also a little surprised.

Because Rine looked incredibly calm.

Even though she had clearly heard the rumor about Brother together—

Magrina unconsciously tilted her head.

At the very least, the Rine she knew would never fail to react to something like this.

"...Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"The... rumor."

At Magrina’s cautious question, Rine set down her teacup with an easy smile.

"Magrina, you know, don’t you? There’s no way Godfather would ever have someone like that in the first place."

"That’s... not something we can know for sure, is it?"

"No. He absolutely won’t."

"...Absolutely?"

"Absolutely."

Rine promised it without a trace of hesitation.

"In the first place, Godfather isn’t the kind of person who suddenly forms ties like this out of nowhere."

"Hm—"

After thinking for a moment, Rine added,

"Most likely, the rumor got more and more tangled up and ended up being passed along like this."

"...Do you really think so?"

"Of course."

At the sight of Rine drinking her black tea again without looking the least bit concerned, Magrina found herself nodding.

Certainly, just as Rine said, there was no way Brother would suddenly form some special bond like this without the slightest warning sign.

"Ahem—I must have gotten a little worked up."

Recalling Alon’s face, Magrina recovered her smile.

Rine’s faith was more reasonable than her own baseless suspicion.

Magrina moved her hand softly.

At once, the shattered teacup was cleared away by magic, and a new cup was set before her.

As Magrina poured black tea into the teacup again, Rine added with an easy smile,

"That’s right. Rumors usually get distorted, so it’s best to think calmly."

"Normally I would, but whenever I hear a rumor about Brother, I end up like this for no reason. Just like you said, Sister, it must have been distorted too, right?"

Rine nodded and lifted the teacup to her ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) lips.

But at that moment—

Knock knock—

There came another knock.

This time too, Magrina opened the door using magic.

And—

"Um...."

The one who came in again was Mu.

For some reason, Mu looked even more cowed than before, nervously darting their eyes around as they stepped inside.

As if it had taken everything just to make their feet move, Mu finally reached Magrina and Rine—

"...This is something I just confirmed additionally."

—and timidly opened their mouth.

"Go ahead and tell us."

At Magrina’s now-composed tone, Mu still looked a little uneasy, but soon steeled themself and gave the report.

"...The person who said they had a special relationship with the Primal Elf is apparently the Blue Tower’s vice tower master."

The moment those words fell—

"...The Blue Tower’s,"

"Vice tower master...?"

Magrina and Rine both tilted their heads.

The Blue Tower’s vice tower master.

The two of them repeated the term, one that felt slightly unfamiliar yet closer to familiar than not.

Then, as if they had planned it—

"...Sister Penia?"

"...Penia...?"

They spoke a single name.

"Yeees—that was the name."

The moment Mu confirmed it, they saw it.

The teacups in Magrina’s and Rine’s hands began cracking at the exact same time.

"...!"

A killing intent so chilling it almost did not feel real—

No, magic drifted through the air.

And then—

"...She’s crossing the line...."

Rine’s low murmur rang out.

####

Exactly one day later.

"Uuuugh!?"

"...What now? Why are you doing that all of a sudden?"

"No, I just suddenly got a bit of a chill."

"Hmm—well... that would make sense."

"Want me to gouge your eyes out?"

"I’ll pass."

When Penia suddenly grabbed both arms and shuddered, Evan joked around, and their usual back-and-forth continued.

Watching them, Alon heard Heinkel call out to him.

"Alright then, do it now!"

The little squirt’s voice was full of confidence.

Unlike yesterday, when the lingering aftereffects of the artifact had made it impossible for her to use magic, today she was still recovering but at least able to use magic again.

Alon passed a fragment of faith to Heinkel.

"It’s done."

"Yeah?"

Once the not-particularly-long process ended, Heinkel immediately began manipulating magic power.

After a short while—

"Hm—good!"

Heinkel nodded as if she had realized something.

"...Did you find something out?"

When Alon asked right away, Heinkel nodded again.

"Yeah. Right now my magic power is too tiny, so it’ll be difficult, but once I recover a little more, I’ll be able to use it immediately."

"You can tell that?"

"I can feel the change."

Heinkel shrugged.

At that, Alon was startled behind his blank expression.

After Penia had received faith from Alon, it had taken several weeks before she could use spell phrases.

But Heinkel had shortened that whole process at a stroke.

Suppressing his surprise, Alon said to her,

"I’m only mentioning this just in case, but spell phrases can only be used if you have faith."

"Of course I know that. Don’t worry about that part either."

As if telling him to put that concern aside, Heinkel lightly patted Alon on the shoulder with her usual small palm.

Given her attitude, which made it hard to find even a trace of piety, Alon found himself doubtful whether Heinkel could really use spell phrases.

But—

"Are you planning to leave right away now?"

At the question that followed, he quickly cut off the thought and answered.

"Not immediately, but I intend to pass blessings on to the mages before moving."

"And magic? There are two more that have been deciphered now."

At that, Alon thought for a moment before answering.

"...It would be better to put that off until later."

If he started learning magic now, he would have to stay at the Mage Tower for at least several weeks.

Heinkel nodded as if she understood the situation.

"If you’re busy, it can’t be helped. Magic is something you need to learn with plenty of time to spare. Then does that mean only the blessings are left now?"

"That’s right."

There was now only one thing left for Alon to do.

"Have you decided which ones you’re going to pass the blessings on to?"

"Not yet."

"Hm—"

Heinkel thought hard for a moment, then said,

"You don’t have to bestow the blessings right this instant anyway, right?"

"That’s right."

"Then could you give me a little time?"

"...Time?"

"Yeah. Since you gave me a blessing, I thought I might help you a little too."

Before he knew it, a meaningful smile had appeared on her lips.

"What do you think?"

At the offer that came once more—

"In that case—"

Though tilting his head in puzzlement, Alon accepted.

After spending one more day like that, Alon left the Central Mage Tower and boarded a carriage headed for Colony.

"Farewell!"

"We’ll be waiting!"

"Travel safely!"

Boom— boom boom—!

As if they had been waiting for it, mages crowded at the entrance and competed to call out their farewells.

Alon finally escaped through the gap between them and let out a sigh.

"...It’s exhausting, getting this much attention."

"Hm—I think that’s understandable."

While he had been at the Mage Tower, if Alon so much as stepped outside his room for even a moment, mages would unfailingly approach carrying all kinds of gifts.

As Alon gently closed his eyes, recalling that time, Penia chimed in as if she sympathized.

Not missing that opening, Evan immediately cut in.

"Didn’t you enjoy it every time you got attention? You’d beam every single time somebody handed you something—"

"Shut up."

By now, Penia easily brushed off Evan’s attacks.

[I thought I was going to die....]

At last, Basiliora emerged from Alon’s ring looking exhausted.

"What’s wrong with you?"

[You might not know it, but being inside that ring is more stifling than you’d think!]

At Alon’s question, Basiliora shouted as if wronged.

Penia, who had been staring at it, tilted her head.

"...Then couldn’t you have just come out? Lady Heinkel couldn’t even use magic right after she came out anyway."

[And what if she did use it? That would’ve been a disaster.]

As if it had developed PTSD, Basiliora shuddered, then suddenly froze.

[No—wait, was that not it? Could that have been the one and only chance I had to get revenge? If I had overcome my anxiety and gone outside then??]

[Qyu-!]

[Graaagh-!]

In the end, while Basiliora made a scene all by itself, Blackie suddenly popped out of the pocket as if annoyed by the noise and smacked it across the head.

Thanks to that, the carriage moved peacefully toward Colony.

####

Meanwhile, in Palantia’s second office.

It had originally been the laboratory Penia used, but now it had become Reinysius’s office.

"...!"

He had gone rigid with surprise.

Because he had managed to analyze in detail the artifact effect of the Foot That Runs Through the Past.

Repairing an artifact that had already been made was one thing, but figuring out its precise operating principle was, ordinarily, close to impossible.

Because unlike simple "repair," identifying its "operating principle" was an entirely different dimension of difficulty.

However, Reinysius’s innate nature made that possible.

After staring at the Foot That Runs Through the Past for a while, he thought to himself,

'...Should I call it a transmitter and receiver device?'

No, it was an artifact that worked with a somewhat more complicated structure than that.

Even so, for a rough summary, there was no better explanation.

More precisely, it would be more accurate to call it a "one-way" transmitter device.

In other words, the artifact effect of the Foot That Runs Through the Past was not actually all that extraordinary in itself.

And yet the reason Reinysius was shocked was because of one inference based on that simple fact.

'Even if it’s only a one-way transmission artifact, a transmitter-receiver artifact loses its meaning as a device if there is no one on the receiving end.'

But as far as Reinysius knew, Alon had already met Kylrus several times through this device.

That Kylrus—the one who had become an "Outer God" in order to take revenge on the Five Great Sins.

Which meant that the guess Reinysius had made before Alon left had been correct to some extent.

"...The Outer Gods have not been destroyed. They only appear to have been destroyed, while in truth they are trapped somewhere."

The speculation he had first voiced when speaking about the Outer Gods.

And that inference provided Reinysius with one additional piece of information.

'And if that really is true—'

Reinysius looked at the Foot That Runs Through the Past.

A one-way transmitter, naturally, leaves traces.

And his innate nature, even if it took time, allowed him to clearly track those transmission traces.

Which meant—

"...The Outer Gods can be summoned at will...."

Reinysius’s low voice echoed through the room.