At Alon’s request, Karsemm showed him the ability he had obtained without any hesitation.

He showed it to him, but—

"...This is it?"

"Uh... it does look a little shabby, doesn’t it?"

Karsemm laughed awkwardly.

"..."

It really was exactly as he said.

Karsemm’s ability did not look all that impressive.

Because what had newly entered Alon’s field of vision was simply an arm that had grown out of Karsemm’s back.

Yes, there was really no better way to describe Karsemm’s ability than that.

Karsemm used his ability.

And behind his back, a slightly translucent arm of ordinary size grew out.

That was the end of it.

After staring blankly at the arm for a moment, Alon carefully asked,

"...Does it have any additional abilities, by any chance?"

"I am looking into it, but as for what kind of abilities it actually has so far—"

As Karsemm dragged out the end of his sentence, Alon had no trouble understanding what he meant.

Just as he was about to thank him anyway for showing the ability as best he could—

"Your Majesty, if you don’t mind— could I take a slightly closer look for a moment?"

Penia, who had been standing beside Alon, suddenly stepped forward.

"Hm? Of course."

Though showing some confusion, Karsemm held the arm out for her to inspect.

For a while, Penia examined it, even sending a small amount of magic into it under Karsemm’s considerate allowance.

Then—

"Thank you."

As if she had seen enough, she bowed her head in thanks.

Only then did Karsemm stop using the ability.

"Likewise, thank you for agreeing to a request that may have been uncomfortable."

"No! If you ask, Brother, I can show it to you as many times as you like... though, well, as you can see, it’s not exactly an ability with much to it."

Karsemm smiled as if embarrassed, and they spoke a little longer after that.

"Oh— I should be going now."

"I’ve taken up too much of your time."

"Not at all, Brother. If there’s any help you need that I can provide, I’d be grateful if you’d tell me anytime!"

After that, leaving behind the words, "I want to repay your kindness, even if only at times like this!" he left the room.

The noisy atmosphere settled down.

Recalling Penia’s behavior, Alon turned his gaze.

"Penia."

"Yes?"

"Did you find something?"

At that, Penia thought for a moment as if choosing her words, then answered.

"Not exactly that. It’s more that the magic coming off that arm felt a little suspicious..."

"What do you mean?"

"Hm— maybe suspicious isn’t the right word. Strange, maybe? Anyway, well— how should I put it. You saw the flow of magic too, didn’t you, Alon?"

Alon nodded.

"Didn’t it feel a little odd to you?"

"...Did it?"

Alon recalled the magic that had flowed from Karsemm’s arm.

"It certainly was a little different from ordinary magic."

By nature, the moment magic flowed out into the outside world, unless it was refined into some form, it normally dispersed quickly and naturally into the air.

But the magic flowing from Karsemm’s arm—

"Hm. Now that I think about it, it didn’t feel like it was naturally dispersing."

"Yes, exactly."

—instead of dispersing in the air, it lingered there for quite a long time before finally fading.

A completely different pattern from ordinary magic.

"But can you tell anything from that?"

At Alon’s question, Penia thought for a moment, then—

"This is just my personal guess, but—"

Soon, she laid out her thoughts.

And around the time Alon was listening to her speculation with interest—

"Hm? What are you two doing?"

Evan opened the door and walked in.

"Where have you been?"

"I went to meet with the information guild. When we were on our way here, we asked them for the fragment’s exact location, didn’t we?"

"Ah."

"So I thought it’d be better to learn what I could in advance if we’re going to move early tomorrow, so I made contact beforehand, but..."

"Couldn’t get any information?"

At Alon’s words, Evan nodded.

"They confirmed that the fragment fell somewhere near Colony, but they couldn’t get anything more specific than that."

"...So we’ll have to search for it ourselves."

"That’s probably the case."

Evan grimaced, making it # Nоvеlight # clear what a headache this had become, and after a brief moment of thought, Alon said,

"Is there any method for finding a fragment?"

"A method for finding one? Hm—"

Searching for a fragment of unknown size in a desert this huge and wide really was, quite literally, like looking for a needle in the desert.

Even so, just in case, Alon asked.

"Well... there does seem to be one..."

"There is?"

"I’m just not sure it’s a method we can actually use."

"Why not?"

"Well, apparently it’s something they heard from Divine blood."

"...Divine blood?"

"Yes. It seems there’s Divine blood over there passing information back and forth."

"...Is that alright?"

"Well— I imagine it is."

Watching Evan shrug, Alon nodded.

To begin with, the one leading the information guild was Nangwon, so it did not seem likely that Nangwon would do anything strange.

"What is it?"

That was enough for Alon to settle on a judgment.

Evan told him the method he had heard.

"Apparently Divine blood can naturally sense the location of fragments."

"...Divine blood can?"

"Yes."

"I don’t know exactly how they come to know it. But according to what the information guild heard, that’s how it is."

"..."

Evan’s words left Alon somewhat confused.

Of course, Alon did not think of himself that way—

but by all accounts, if it came down to it, he too was Divine blood.

And yet, unfortunately, he could not sense the location of any fragment at all.

"...Hmm—"

While he was lost in thought—

"Ah."

Penia, beside him, let out a sound as if she had just thought of something.

"Did you get an idea?"

"I don’t know if it’s a good idea, but... in the end, the important thing is that Divine blood can figure out where fragments are, right?"

"That’s right."

"Then..."

Penia glanced quietly at Blackie.

Evan looked puzzled, then made an oh? face as he turned to look at Blackie too.

Realization dawned on Alon, and he let out an, "Ah," as he looked at Blackie.

"[...Qyu?]"

Blackie, which had been lying there lazily, tilted its head.

####

The next day.

"Master!"

"Did you sleep well?"

"Yep!"

Together with Seollang, Alon’s group headed for the bandits’ base.

"Ugh—"

"The second we leave Colony, it’s hot as hell."

The moment they started leading the carriage out, Evan twisted his face as if he were dying, and Penia let out a groan.

"[Qyuu—]"

Blackie drooped all over again too.

After checking on the three of them, Alon looked at Seollang, who was smiling just as she always did.

"What is it, Master?"

Seollang smiled, her tail swaying softly.

Feeling the vivid goodwill in her gaze, Alon spoke.

"How have things been since then?"

"Hm?"

"Since Colony started being rebuilt. I never asked how you’ve been."

At that, Seollang tilted her head and let out an mmm sound as if thinking.

Her tail still swayed back and forth.

But only for a moment.

"Hm— I’ve just been doing normal stuff!"

"Normal stuff?"

"Yep! Rebuilding buildings, taking care of the annoying ones around Colony, and... hm— I don’t think there was really anything else?"

Her voice was as lively as ever.

At that, Alon stared at her for a moment and said,

"I see."

"How have you been, Master?"

This time, Seollang asked after him instead.

How long had it been since they had started talking so naturally like that—

"I really can’t take this anymore!"

Once again, Penia pulled out a magic crystal and used ice magic, and as Alon felt the inside of the carriage begin to cool, he asked Seollang,

"So, how much longer do you think it’ll take to reach the base?"

"Hm— not that much longer. Going by the place I roughly figured out last time... we’re almost there now!"

More time passed after that.

The sun that had risen early that morning crossed high overhead and gradually began to fall.

And by the time Penia, carefully conserving the magic crystals she said she only had two left of, had nearly used them all—

"This is the place."

They arrived at the entrance to a massive cave inside a rocky mountain rising out of the sand.

"Here?"

"Yep— the energy the bandits were giving off felt similar to what was coming from this cave!"

Seollang nodded vigorously, and soon said, "I’ll lead the way!" before walking inside the cave.

Alon’s group began following behind her.

"..."

The inside of the cave was dark.

A place untouched by human traces in the truest sense.

Even so, Alon felt an odd sensation on instinct, so he kept his guard up as he moved forward.

"...It’s longer than I expected."

After several dozen minutes had passed and Evan muttered that—

"I think we’re almost at the end now."

They moved toward the light visible at the far end of the cave.

And the moment they reached the exit—

"!"

Alon felt a bizarre sensation.

Something deeply unpleasant and troublesome.

And when he stepped out of the exit—

Shiver—!

Alon felt it.

That chilling magic he had already felt several times before.

And the moment he lifted his gaze within that presence, what entered his eyes was the scene before him.

"...!"

The first thing he saw was a massive crater carved into the middle of the rocky mountain.

And inside that crater, the corpses of what looked to be well over several thousand people were strewn everywhere.

At the center of it, black fragments giving off a bizarre aura were lodged into the ground.

And above those black fragments—

"...Divine blood."

—there were two Divine blood.

"[...As expected, this is a fragment from a Divine blood that ascended to the Heavenly Seat. To think it can even bewitch humans with nothing more than a fragment. Impressive.]"

"[I think the same.]"

"[It seems like power worthy of contributing to that one’s birth.]"

The two Divine blood, apparently not having noticed Alon’s group entering, calmly continued their conversation while casually twisting apart the humans who had been charging at them to the very end with nothing more than light movements of their hands.

Their appearance was extremely strange.

And for good reason.

"'...Black armor?'"

Because the Divine blood were wearing identical black armor.

And the moment he confirmed that—

"[Hm—]"

"[What’s this, humans?]"

The Divine blood noticed Alon’s group.

The two Divine blood turned their bodies encased in black armor and looked toward them.

Watching that, Alon frowned behind his expressionless face.

"'...This is dangerous.'"

Alon had already fought Divine blood several times, and he had even dealt with second-stage Divine blood.

But of course, facing one Divine blood and facing two of them were entirely different matters.

More than anything, however, the reason Alon felt such a sense of crisis was Penia and Evan.

Right now, the two of them had nowhere to run in this place.

Even if they fled back into the cave this instant, once the fight began, the cave itself might collapse with ridiculous ease.

In the end, that left Alon with only one choice.

Fight while protecting the two of them.

Of course, with Seollang here, he did not think they would be overwhelmingly disadvantaged in battle.

Even so, having people he needed to protect was a far greater constraint than one might think.

"'...It’s still experimental, but I may have to use a law.'"

Just as Alon was about to prepare himself—

"I’ll be right back, Master."

Seollang, who had stayed silent until now, stepped forward.

"Wait, Seollang. If we don’t understand the enemies’ abilities first, you could be hit by a counterattack—"

Instinctively, Alon tried to stop her.

Of course, Alon knew.

He knew that she had gained enough power to fight Divine blood.

But the thing one had to be careful of when fighting Divine blood was the abilities they possessed.

Because among the abilities of Divine blood, there were some that were utterly bizarre.

"That’s fine, Master."

But despite Alon’s worried attempt to stop her, Seollang only flashed a confident smile.

"If they die—"

before they can use their abilities.

She vanished.

As if she had never been there to begin with.

And in that instant—

Crack—!

A small bolt of lightning flashed across Alon’s field of vision.

Before his eyes, amid the scattering light of the setting sun, golden lightning flared.

And then—

the next thing that entered his sight was—

a golden flash,

and a huge hole torn through a Divine blood’s torso.

And then—

KWA-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-!!!!!

It was an explosion so enormous it sent chills down the spine.