The day after the mercenaries' festival was held in Shu,

Alon started moving toward the Empire once again.

"Ah— here we go again—"

Evan spoke lazily as he looked out into the forest.

"Looks like it."

Penia did not ask what had happened with Seollang yesterday.

"Wow! Master! Look at that! That tree looks weird!"

Seollang, too, was acting just as she had before, as if everything from last night had been forgotten.

"I see."

"Right—?"

At the sight of Seollang looking at him with a smile as crisp as the autumn sky, Alon felt a strange sensation, but he followed her gaze and looked up at the sky.

...The autumn sky was piercingly blue.

"It'll still take about two more months, right?"

While Alon was blankly looking up at the sky, Evan asked.

Alon nodded.

"Probably."

"Haa— that'll be tiring."

"Haven't you gotten used to it by now?"

At Alon's question, Evan let out a drawn-out sound.

"I mean, sure, but still... you know how it is, right?"

"How what is?"

"Well, there are way more days in a year when I'm riding in a carriage than days when I'm not, so at this point, it just feels like I'm sick of it." 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Without meaning to, Alon agreed.

It really was just as Evan said.

Lately, the number of days they spent riding in a carriage had far exceeded the days they did not.

Especially since they had started traveling back and forth to the Empire.

So—

"...Maybe we should think about a new means of transportation."

Alon stroked his chin.

At this point, whether he rode in a carriage or slept outdoors, he was used to it enough that it did not especially bother him, but when he thought about it, they were spending an awfully long time on travel.

"A new means of transportation?"

"Yes. We've had a lot more cases lately where travel alone ends up eating up our time."

"Hm— it was already like that before... but it's definitely gotten worse since we started going back and forth to the Empire."

Penia, who had chimed in, continued,

"In a situation like this, realistically, the only method faster than what we have now would be an airship."

"...An airship? You mean like the one Radan uses?"

"Radan?"

Penia looked puzzled for a moment at Alon's words, then let out an "Ah."

"No, not anything that impressive. Of course, if you wanted one, Alon, we could make it, but to begin with, something like that can only be used if you have mana to spare in excess."

"Because the mana consumption is absurdly high?"

"Yes. It's already been more than thirty years since airships were developed, but even so, there still isn't anywhere that operates them in practice, right?"

That was true.

Even when he had played Psychedelia, he had never seen an airship.

"If a storage unit capable of holding near-limitless amounts of mana ever appeared, that would change the story."

"Then yes, that would definitely work. No matter how much mana it consumed, if you just used Reverse Heavens, Marquis, you'd at least be able to keep it filled enough for travel."

Though of course, she added, they'd need to improve the efficiency a little.

Looking at Penia—

"...?"

—a thought suddenly passed through Alon's mind.

Something he had seen in Calypsophobia.

'Or would it already have been used by now...?'

Quite a long time ago—without ever doing it himself, having only pieced together scraps of information from the community—Alon started connecting those bits of knowledge one by one in his mind.

But only for a moment.

"Alon, what are you thinking about?"

"It's nothing."

'Well, I know where the place itself is, so I can just go see it for myself.'

At Penia's follow-up question, Alon lightly waved it off.

Then suddenly, he remembered one thing he had forgotten.

'...Wait. Come to think of it, where is Calypsophobia's protagonist?'

He had forgotten because of the falling Divine blood and the Empire getting smashed apart in an instant, but there should definitely have been Calypsophobia's protagonist somewhere in the Empire.

And by the setting, that protagonist was even more of a monster than Elivan.

But up to now, through everything he had heard while moving around, there had not been a single word about the protagonist, which only made the question grow.

"Evan."

"Yes?"

"Once we get to the next town, look into rumors about a certain person."

"...Rumors about a person?"

"Yes."

"...? Alright, for now."

Alon decided to try finding a lead through Evan first.

####

Another month passed after that.

Alon's group crossed through deserted border regions and approached the imperial border governed by Serdea.

If they wanted to travel at ease, it would have been simpler to head for the Northern Empire's border, but unfortunately, he had calculated that if they did, they would not have much time to spare.

By the time they reached the border—

"What should we do?"

"Hmm..."

—Alon had fallen into thought.

'...Will this go smoothly?'

Alon recalled the last time Serdea Polanticia had come looking for him.

'I feel like we should be able to just go through.'

Because although they had not been able to talk properly due to Airinna Polanticia, Serdea had clearly seemed to come for the sake of peace in one form or another.

"For now, let's go."

"Yes."

After thinking it over, Alon made that decision for the moment.

The instant he moved—

Boom—! Rrrrrumble—!!

Along with the gates opening—

"Welcome!"

—the man he had seen when crossing the border before, Commander Falkindas, greeted Alon.

With an extremely bright expression, at that.

And then—

"Then in the name of Falkindas, I hereby permit your passage across the border!"

Without so much as holding any real conversation with Alon, he shouted that at once.

For a moment, Alon's group wore blank expressions.

"...Uh."

Naturally, Alon was the most bewildered of all.

After all, he had not expected a situation like this.

'I did think I probably wouldn't be treated like complete leftovers...'

But this treatment was far beyond that expectation—even better than last time.

While everyone stood there in confusion,

Falkindas soon showed Alon formal courtesy without offering any further explanation.

"Ahem—ahem— please remember the name Falkindas!"

The man laughed heartily, as though trying in advance to tie himself to the right line.

Looking at him, Alon wanted to ask a question, but soon decided to hold back that impulse.

He did not know what exactly was going on, but one thing was certain: Falkindas was favorably inclined toward Alon and had gladly opened the border gate for him.

And because of that, they had crossed the border comfortably.

Of course, even if everything was going smoothly on the surface, that did not make the questions disappear.

Suppressing that itchy curiosity, he passed Falkindas and reached the other side of the border.

"Evan."

"Yes."

"...Just in case—what are the odds that man still hasn't heard the rumor...?"

"Hm— probably none, right? We already got turned away once."

"...Then the misunderstanding he had last time should've already been cleared up too, right?"

"From a common-sense standpoint, yes."

Just as Alon was asking Evan that—

"What about the odds that a new rumor started circulating?"

Penia offered another possibility.

After thinking for a moment, Evan looked back at the border where Falkindas stood and said,

"If he's showing that obvious a desire to line himself up with you, then unless the rumor spreading this time was something like, 'Alon is confirmed to marry that little imperial princess!'—"

"...That is true. But realistically, I don't think such a ridiculous trash rumor would have spread."

It felt like there had been a slightly harsh word mixed in there somewhere, but Penia kept her composure nonetheless.

Seollang looked curious about what they were talking about, but at the same time, she also stared at Penia strangely after the sudden shift in mood.

Still, Penia was right.

With everything already more or less settled, it made no sense for a rumor like that to spread.

So—

"Evan, can you look into it?"

"Yes, once we reach the next town, I'll check right away. The information guild has started settling in on the imperial side too, so we should be able to get the answer pretty quickly."

With that order to Evan, Alon brought the matter to a close.

Three days passed after they started moving again toward the Eastern Empire.

"Alon."

"What is it?"

"Do you remember? The thing you told me to look into before—the rumor."

"You found something?"

"Yes, but something a little surprising happened."

"What is it?"

"What we expected was correct."

"...Correct?"

Alon heard the truth behind the rumor.

"Yes. Apparently, a rumor has been spreading among the nobles that you and Princess Serdea are to be married."

"???"

Question marks rose over Alon's blank expression,

and—

"Hah...??"

—Penia frowned as though the whole thing was absurd.

But only for a moment.

"Anyway, it seems the rumor that had spread around the border was caused by the one circulating among the nobility... and there's one more thing I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I heard that Yutia is in the Empire."

"...Yutia...?"

"Yes. Apparently she's gone to meet Serdea in connection with Goddess Sironia."

At Evan's next words, the face Penia had been wearing until just a moment ago—rigid with seriousness—bloomed as though it had all been a lie.

"Really?"

"Hm? Which part?"

"That Lady Yutia went to meet her."

"According to the information guild, yes."

Evan shrugged at Penia's question.

With that perfect finishing blow of confirmation, Penia let a smile rise to her lips and even hummed briefly through her nose.

"I see."

Then she leaned back against the seat with a bright face that plainly spelled relief.

"Master— that one, kind of...?"

Looking at Seollang gesturing toward Penia, whose face had gone stiff and then smiling again in an instant, Alon fell into an awkward silence.

####

As Alon crossed the imperial border and moved to join the subjugation, which was now not far off,

in the palace where Serdea Polanticia was—

"Hmm— so you're the one who requested permission to build a temple here as well."

"That would be me."

"Do you really think I would allow such a thing?"

Serdea Polanticia and the girl called Yutia Bloodia, who according to what Serdea had heard was a cardinal of Goddess Sironia, were having a conversation.

"Oh my, would that be impossible?"

At Yutia's brazen question, Serdea made a dumbfounded face.

She had not realized it at first when they met, but the girl before her was someone she had already crossed paths with.

And not in a good way.

In a bad one.

So Serdea was about to answer the question, but—

"Well— actually, that's fine."

Yutia continued speaking without even waiting for an answer, and confusion appeared on Serdea's face.

"I didn't come here just to increase the number of temples anyway."

The moment Yutia finished speaking,

she saw it.

"Excuse me, Princess."

In the sunlit sky, a red moon rose in an instant.

And before there was even time to comment on it—

"...Do you want to die?"

Yutia's chilling voice stabbed into Serdea's ears.