Golden lightning dyed the sunset-lit world in an instant.

And even though it was something that happened in no more than the briefest moment—

KWA-A-A-A-ANG—!

—the result was unbelievably immense.

[!]

The Divine blood wearing the dark helmet lowered its gaze as if it could not believe what had happened.

There was a hole there.

A massive hole, one that could only be fatal no matter how Divine blood it was.

And the moment it confirmed that—

Thud-!

The body of the Divine blood, which had been radiating overwhelming presence, toppled backward just like that.

Seeing its fallen companion, the other Divine blood immediately pulled its huge body back and stretched out a hand like a tentacle.

But—

[!]

The moment it extended the tentacle, the Divine blood realized something.

The golden being that had definitely been drifting through the air after killing its companion just a moment ago was no longer anywhere in its sight.

The instant it registered that, the Divine blood saw it.

Sparks of lightning flying.

And then—

that was the end of it.

Crack-!

With the Divine blood’s head bursting apart and its huge body falling backward—

"Whew—"

After casually dealing with the two Divine blood, Seollang let out a light breath and landed in the middle of the crater.

"...Alon."

"What is it?"

"...I feel like the standard I use for judging things has somehow collapsed. What do you think?"

At Evan’s question, spoken while he stared blankly at Seollang’s divine might—

"...I think so too."

Alon answered, thinking with a face mixed with surprise and puzzlement.

'...Does that even make sense?'

Of course, Alon knew perfectly well that Seollang had grown stronger.

To begin with, when they first encountered Divine blood, it would have been practically impossible to defeat it without her power.

And on top of that, the Seollang Alon had seen back then had only just obtained that power.

Which meant that now, after quite a bit of time had passed, he had assumed she would be even stronger than before.

But even taking that into account, power on that level...

He was stunned for a moment by strength that went beyond common sense, but only for a moment.

"Hm... let’s go down first."

"Uh— yes. Understood."

Alon moved toward where Seollang was.

The moment he arrived at the crater, he heard her voice.

"Master, I don’t think these are— Divine blood."

Alon’s steps stopped.

"You °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° don’t think they’re Divine blood?"

"Yeah, Master."

"Why?"

When Alon asked back, Seollang thought for a moment, then said,

"These things are weak, physically, across the board."

"...Weak?"

"Yeah. There’s a clear difference compared to the Divine blood we fought before. And also—"

Seollang shifted her gaze slightly and looked at the fallen Divine blood.

"..."

Alon turned his gaze toward them as well.

And then—

"!"

He realized it.

Why Seollang had looked at the Divine blood.

"...There’s no blood."

"Yeah."

Divine blood bleeds.

That was true no matter what kind of Divine blood it was.

So just as he was watching them with a puzzled expression—

Crunch-!

"!"

The bodies of the Divine blood began slowly collapsing.

As if crushing a can, their bodies started shrinking with cracking noises in an instant.

Before Alon and Seollang could do anything, they shriveled up completely.

Crk-crk-crk-!

Then, with a sound like that, they turned into black spheres and vanished as if compressed out of existence.

"...?"

"What...?"

It had all happened so quickly that Alon’s group could only stare blankly.

####

But only for a moment.

Though they had all been stunned by how suddenly it happened, Alon quickly assessed the situation with a cool head.

"Judging from the conversation those things that looked like Divine blood were having earlier, it seems the reason suspicious bandits appeared near Colony in the first place was because of this fragment."

"I think that’s right."

Penia voiced her agreement.

"Hm— then does that mean my problem got solved and Master’s problem got solved too?"

When Seollang said that, Alon nodded.

"It seems so."

The reason he had come to Colony was to find the fragment.

Alon looked at the place where the Divine blood had disappeared.

'...What in the world were they?'

When Alon first saw those things wearing black armor, he had clearly felt the same sensation as when facing Divine blood.

But they were not Divine blood.

Divine blood bled red blood, but those things had not bled at all, and even their corpses had turned into some black substance and vanished.

That thought occupied him only briefly.

"Evan."

"Yes."

"Come to think of it, didn’t you tell me before about Divine blood wearing black armor?"

"Ah— yes, I did. I was actually thinking those things we just ran into might be them."

Stroking his chin, Alon said,

"...Didn’t you say those things were dangerous?"

"Yes, I did."

"...And yet, for things like that..."

Alon recalled the black Divine blood from earlier.

Of course, Seollang really had grown stronger.

Even so, those Divine blood had vanished far too easily.

'...Then why are they supposed to be dangerous?'

He thought that only briefly before pushing the topic to the back of his mind for now.

"Evan. As soon as we return to Colony, look into those Divine blood."

"Understood."

This time, Alon turned his gaze toward the fragment.

It was called a "fragment," but in truth, its size was nowhere near what one would normally call a fragment.

"..."

If he had to describe it, it would be more accurate to call it something like a massive iron frame.

While he was thinking that—

"[.......]"

Plop-!

Blackie, which until just a moment ago had not moved at all inside the pocket, suddenly popped out.

"...Blackie?"

Penia looked startled at the little thing jumping out so suddenly.

And that was understandable.

Usually, when Seollang was nearby, Blackie would not show even the tip of its fur.

But Blackie paid no attention to Penia at all. It glanced once at Seollang with anxious eyes, then—

"[Qyu-!]"

As if making up its mind, it let out a tiny cry and immediately dove toward the fragment.

"Wait—!"

Before Alon could stop it, Blackie began absorbing the enormous fragment in an instant.

Swaaaaaa—!

The fragment was absorbed into Blackie’s body with a sound like that.

"No, uh, Alon? Shouldn’t we be stopping that?"

Evan, who normally spent his time snickering whenever he looked at Blackie—

there was real urgency in his voice now.

"I think so too, but— if anything, it feels like forcibly pulling it away right now might be even more dangerous—"

Penia argued from beside him.

It was a reasonable point.

Normally, when something was in the middle of absorbing something else, forcibly stopping it caused side effects.

So just as Alon’s group was wondering what exactly they were supposed to do—

"[Qyu-!]"

Blackie absorbed the entire fragment of that tremendous size in less than a minute.

Then, smacking its lips with an expression that plainly said, 'Ah— too sweet—,' it turned to look at Seollang again with a tense expression.

And then—

"Waaah— Blackie!"

As if she had been ready for this all along, Seollang scooped Blackie up and stuffed it into her arms.

"[Qyuu-!!]"

"...Whew."

"At least it doesn’t look like there’s any real problem."

As Evan and Penia let out sighs while watching Blackie suffer like usual from simply being held by Seollang—

"Hm?"

Penia’s gaze stopped on Alon.

"Alon?"

"...Hm? What is it?"

"Well... you seemed a little out of it..."

"...Was it obvious?"

"Not from your face, but your posture kind of gave it away..."

At those words, Alon recalled something.

The moment from earlier, when Seollang had looked at Blackie.

"..."

It had only been for the briefest instant.

So brief that no one except Alon, who had been focusing his attention on Seollang, could possibly have noticed it.

Only Alon had seen it.

The way her gaze on Blackie had first been devoid of feeling, only for her expression to brighten as if she had realized something.

"..."

Alon quietly looked at Seollang.

####

Once everything was settled, Alon decided to return to Colony, even if it was somewhat late.

The sun had almost completely set, but since they had recorded the entire route, he judged that if they moved diligently, they would still arrive before it grew too late into the night.

Alon moved immediately.

And after night had fallen, they arrived in Colony.

The moment they entered inside—

"...Hm?"

Evan’s confused voice rang out.

"What is it?"

When Alon asked, Evan came to himself and answered,

"Nothing— it just looks like someone from the information guild is urgently calling for me."

"...A guild member?"

When Alon turned his gaze toward where Evan was looking, there stood a man with reverse eyes and a veil over his face.

"I’ll go and come back."

"...I’ll wait."

Alon decided to wait for Evan.

How much time had passed?

Evan, who had followed the man with reverse eyes into a distant hidden alleyway, came back out.

"...Well, Alon."

"What is it?"

"I got an offer I wasn’t expecting."

At Alon’s puzzled expression, Evan added,

"Didn’t I tell you before? That there was Divine blood selling information to the information guild."

"You did."

"That Divine blood said it wants to meet you, Alon, to talk about the Divine blood in the black armor... or rather, 'Astarotte.'"

"Divine blood wants to meet me?"

"Yes."

"...For what reason?"

"It didn’t give a reason. It only said it wanted to have a conversation about Astarotte... I didn’t answer right away, just in case. What should we do?"

Alon thought for a moment, but—

"...Let’s meet once."

He decided to accept the offer.

Right now, Alon needed information at once, and it did not seem likely that Divine blood cooperating with the information guild would be hostile toward him.

And even if it was hostile, he was confident he could handle it to a certain extent.

"I’m coming too, Master!"

"Thank you."

With Seollang’s shout following right after, the group headed toward Seollang’s guild house.

And then—

"Ugh— I’m dying."

The moment they stepped inside, Evan groaned dramatically.

"Master! I have somewhere I need to go for a bit, so go on in first!"

"Alright. Understood."

Soon, Seollang left her 자리, and Alon went up into the house with Penia.

Then—

"Hm?"

Penia made a puzzled sound.

"What is it?"

"No... well, don’t you hear something strange?"

"A sound?"

"Yes. Like... a muffled sound?"

At Penia’s words, Alon enhanced his hearing with magic.

And then—

Mmph— mmph— mmph-!

Sure enough, he heard something that sounded like someone trying desperately to speak with their mouth blocked.

"...You’re right."

"...The building itself is made with magic crystals mixed into it, so sound expansion doesn’t work very well, but you can still hear it faintly, right?"

"It’s coming from underground."

Alon and Penia’s gazes instantly turned toward the hidden stairs leading below.

"...Let’s go check."

"Alright."

The two of them carefully headed downstairs.

In a peaceful time like this, there was no way anyone would abduct one of the Golden Mane Tribe who followed Seollang.

Still, just in case.

"It’s getting closer!"

The farther down they went, the closer the voice became.

And the closer Alon got to the door visible in the distance—

"...?"

—he realized this was not an ordinary sound.

If he had to put it a certain way, this was—

Mmph-♥

—the kind of sound that came from a situation one was not supposed to see.

"Penia, wai—"

So Alon tried to stop Penia, who had already approached the door.

But—

"I’m opening it!"

Without listening to a word he said, she threw the door open.

"..."

"..."

And then they saw.

"Br-Brother?"

Karsemm, half undressed, staring at Alon with trembling pupils.

And—

"Uh...?"

beneath him, Seollang’s secretary Lime, lying there in a state not much different from Karsemm’s.

And the moment he saw that,

Alon remembered one thing Karsemm had said yesterday—something he had not understood at all at the time.

'Yes. And actually, even when you aren’t here, Brother, I often come and go to this place at night.'

Now—

it was something he could understand.

"......"

Silence fell heavily over the four of them.