The gauntlet dyed black.

The black dragon that burst out from it.

While Alon and Penia—and even Evan, who had been driving the carriage—stood there blankly at the sudden appearance of the Sin of Pride—

"It worked—!"

Seollang called out cheerfully with a relaxed smile, not even bothering to respond to what the Sin said.

Alon called her name, still wearing a dazed expression.

"...Seollang?"

"Hm? What is it, Master?"

"How did this happen?"

"Hm—"

It was such an unexpected situation.

Everyone had the look of someone waiting for an explanation.

Seollang thought quietly for a moment, then—

"As for how it happened—"

—soon began to explain, and as he listened to everything, Alon slowly looked ahead.

More precisely, at the black dragon flowing out like a wraith from the black gauntlet Seollang was holding—

no, at the Sin of Pride.

"......"

How long had he been staring at the dragon like that?

"So then... I didn’t mishear that, right? The Sin of Pride was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} already attached to you a long time ago...?"

"Yeah. But what about it?"

Like Alon, Penia asked in surprise, and Seollang answered with a look that said, Is that a problem?

The explanation was far too lacking in cause and effect to really be called one, but for the moment, Alon looked at the Sin.

"Would you, by any chance, be willing to talk?"

It was a cautious question, but the black dragon simply stared straight at Alon without much reaction.

[I don’t mind.]

"...It’s unexpectedly friendly."

As Penia muttered that, the Sin of Pride tilted its head.

[We were always friendly toward humans.]

"...Are you seriously saying that?"

[It’s better for humanity to continue living than to be destroyed, isn’t it?]

At that answer from Pride, Penia looked utterly dumbfounded.

After waiting a moment, Alon brought up the main point.

"I’d like an explanation."

[There’s nothing much to explain. I moved in order to carry out my objective, and in the middle of that, you returned, so I failed. As a result, Divine blood fell from above. And—]

Pride’s gaze twisted at the brow and turned toward Seollang.

[-do you have any idea how much power I’ve lent you up to now? How can you treat me like that!? Apologize!]

Its voice was thick with grievance, as though its feelings had been hurt.

"Did you, by any chance, do something to it?"

At that, Penia showed some curiosity, and Seollang calmly shrugged.

"Hm— before I got the power, it couldn’t really be separated out, so I left it alone. But after I got the power, it became possible for it to exist separately, so I split it off."

[You didn’t split me off, you shoved me into a dark little closet!]

"Hmm— did I?"

[Kraaaaaagh—!!!]

For some reason, the Sin of Pride screamed with a feeling oddly similar to Basiliora.

The sight of it made things feel strange, but—

"...Uh, anyway, since we did place the Sin into the vessel, I think we’ve gotten halfway there."

Leaving behind Seollang, who unintentionally provoked it with a casual "You’re noisy~," and Pride, which was having a fit, Penia at least summed up the situation first.

Alon nodded as well.

"That’s... true. It seems the next part will have to proceed later, though."

"...I think so too. To begin with, you said that— rapport matters at least a little."

"That’s right."

"...Well, in a way, the two of them do look close."

"Do they?"

"Yes, and besides—"

Penia trailed off, swallowed the rest of her words, and quietly shifted her gaze to Seollang.

Alon too looked at Seollang’s face.

Simply, silently.

####

Before long, Alon and his group arrived at Shu, a small village bordering the labyrinth city of Lartania beyond the ruined Ashtalon.

"They’re having a festival?"

"They are."

A festival was in full swing in the village.

Despite being a small village, quite a lot of people were coming and going, and the scale of the festival was considerable.

The group was briefly surprised, but Evan, who had quickly gone around to look at the surroundings, soon commented,

"Well— this is definitely the season for a festival like this."

"You knew about it?"

"No matter what, this place is pretty famous among mercenaries."

"Among mercenaries?"

At Alon’s question, Evan nodded.

"...It doesn’t look especially remarkable."

Alon turned his head.

Right now, the place was packed with people because of the festival, but viewed as a village by itself, it was small in scale, so it felt odd.

At that, Evan shrugged and added,

"It looks that way on the outside, but first of all, this village is famous for its beer."

He pointed his thumb at the vast farmland stretching out beyond them.

"And second, this is the village where the Mercenary King was born."

"...The Mercenary King?"

"Yes. Well, it’s already been over twenty years since that old man died, but while the Mercenary King was alive, the village always held a festival. It got passed down like a tradition."

"So it’s not a village festival. It’s a festival for mercenaries."

"Pretty much. It’s like a holiday every mercenary makes sure to observe."

"That really is interesting."

At Evan’s explanation, not just Alon but Penia too nodded as though she found it interesting.

"We’re staying here tonight, right?"

"The sun will be setting soon, so that would be best."

Before they knew it, the sun was already nearing sunset.

It seemed better to stay the night and leave in the morning.

"That’s nice. We can enjoy the festival too."

"Hm— this is my first time seeing a festival for mercenaries too, so I’m interested."

Alon’s group decided to stay one night in Shu and enjoy the festival.

"Alright then, let’s get a room first and head out."

Evan immediately moved the carriage.

Perhaps he was excited at the thought of enjoying the festival, because he even started softly whistling.

Contrary to their worry that it might be hard to find a room during festival season, Evan skillfully secured rooms at an inn.

"Alright, then I’m going out to have some fun!"

And with that, Evan headed outside without even looking back. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Through the gap in his pocket, Blackie and Basiliora could be seen hiding themselves in secret, having finally managed to slip out now that Seollang was here and they were no longer stuck.

Penia, who glanced at that, rolled her eyes for a moment, then—

"Alon, I’m going too."

—soon followed after Evan, who had already gone ahead into the distance.

And then—

"Master! Let’s go look around together, just the two of us!"

Once the rest of the group had left, Alon, who had been watching the two of them for a moment, turned to Seollang.

A familiar smile was hanging at the corner of her lips.

"Let’s do that."

Alon went outside with Seollang to enjoy the festival together.

"Wow!"

The moment they stepped out onto the street, Seollang let out an exclamation, as if she had been waiting for it.

Everything seemed fascinating to her, and she was busy turning her head this way and that among the crowds of people.

Alon looked after her as they walked through the village in the middle of the festival.

"Beer! Have a beer before you go!"

"This side’s cheaper than over there!"

"Skewers—! Have some skewers!"

Just as Evan had said, perhaps because it was a place famous among mercenaries, most of the people visible on the street were mercenaries.

People moving around with smiles on their faces, all of them seeming to enjoy this peace after so long.

As Alon looked over them, he turned his head and set his gaze on Seollang walking beside him.

There was a smile on her lips.

Her eyes were busily darting here and there.

Swish, swish.

Her tail kept swaying without rest, showing exactly how she felt.

...Still, exactly the same as ever.

"Ah, Master! Should we eat that too?"

"Yes."

Alon turned his gaze and looked where Seollang was pointing.

There was a small stall there selling skewers.

"...Let’s do that."

"Wow—!"

Excited by Alon’s answer, Seollang ran over to the stall.

Alon moved after her.

After that, too, he continued enjoying the festival with Seollang.

"Master! Look at that!"

They watched a wandering mage’s performance in the middle of the street.

"Hm— this is good, Master!"

"I see."

They went around eating appetizing food from the stalls.

"Fireworks!"

"They’re small, but yes."

And in the square of the small village, although the scale was clearly tiny compared to the fireworks Alon knew, they watched fireworks all the same.

And then, by the time the sky had become completely dark and the Blue Moon had risen—

"That was fun!"

Alon and Seollang returned to the inn.

A quiet room, unlike the noisy bustle outside.

"You had fun too, right, Master?"

In that silence, Seollang’s voice was heard.

She was smiling.

With the same smile as always.

With the same eyes as always.

As always, lightly swishing her tail as she asked what he thought.

And as Alon quietly watched her—

"Seollang."

—he slowly opened his mouth.

"Hm? What is it, Master?"

Seollang tilted her head.

Looking at her, Alon continued,

"...Would you tell me what happened?"

At that, puzzlement filled Seollang’s face.

Because what Alon had just said was such a sudden question that it had no real connection if he were asking about what had happened today.

"Hm? What do you mean, Master? What do you mean, what happened? Did something happen to us?"

Muttering to herself, Did something happen? while tilting her head, she looked exactly like herself.

Even the way her eyes shifted slightly to the side.

The way her lips lightly drew together in the center.

Even the way she exaggerated the tilt of her body.

Everything about it was like her.

Too much like her.

So much so that it was enough to make Alon wonder whether he himself had mistaken something.

...And yet, even so, his gaze did not waver.

If it had been the first time, he might have wavered a little.

He might have wondered if he had seen wrong, if he had thought wrong.

In fact, he really had.

But he had already reached a conclusion.

What had first been suspicion.

But now, a conclusion he was fairly certain of.

That was why—

"...Then why—"

Alon calmly spoke the truth aloud.

"—are you acting?"

A truth that, perhaps, could be uncomfortable.

"......"

"......"

Seollang looked at Alon without changing the puzzled expression on her face.

...Alon, too, looked back at her in silence.

The silence, which at other times might have felt peaceful, now felt unbearably stifling, but Alon neither spoke any further nor turned his eyes away.

They simply exchanged gazes without a word.

Without saying anything.

Quietly.

Alon did not know what the emotion was that flickered through Seollang’s eyes in that instant.

For one moment, it seemed as though a single emotion showed itself, but he could not read it.

Because the emotion that passed through Seollang’s eyes was too faint and too fast for Alon to make out.

After that suffocating silence had passed—

"......"

Seollang’s atmosphere slowly began to change.

The eyes that had clearly held joy and puzzlement just moments ago turned emotionless, as if it had all been a lie.

The lips that had curved upward enough to show her fangs quietly closed.

The tail that had not stopped moving even once from the moment she met Alon slowly fell still.

And then—

"...How did you know?"

A calm voice from Seollang, one he had never heard even once before, reached Alon’s ears.