"I lost my home, so I ended up becoming an orphan!"

For a moment, his brain froze at the orphan declaration she had cheerfully blurted out right after appearing out of nowhere.

Only after hearing Seollang explain it again did Alon understand what she had meant.

"...The guild house was destroyed?"

"Yeah!"

"..."

How in the world did that turn into becoming an orphan...?

For now, Alon decided to stop thinking about it.

There was something more important.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Nope!"

"That's a relief."

Seollang smiled bashfully, apparently in a good mood, then slipped both hands behind her back and twisted her body a little.

"So anyway, Teach— I mean, I don't have anywhere to stay."

"You don't have anywhere to stay?"

"Yeah."

"..."

He wanted to ask whether that even made sense in the first place, but—

"Seollang, don't you have another place to live besides the guild house?"

Yutia, who had been watching the whole thing, stepped in first.

With the same smile she always wore.

But Seollang immediately shook her head.

"Nope. I don't."

"You do, though?"

"That blew up too."

Seollang answered as if it were nothing.

"Oh my, then would you like me to lend you a place to stay?"

This time, Rine cut in.

"No, it's okay!"

"Please don't hesitate. I bought a large mansion in Colony, so you can stay there."

"Seollang? There's a church too."

"It's okay~ I don't want to impose on either of you."

Watching Seollang smiling as she defended herself, Alon felt a strange sense of dissonance.

If before, Yutia and Rine had felt like older sisters, and Seollang had felt like a younger sister—

now, rather than older and younger sisters, it felt more like he was looking at siblings of the same age.

"You don't have to think of it as imposing, though?"

"No. It would be rude, wouldn't it?"

"Really? I don't think so."

"I do."

"Oh my, Seollang, we're not the kind of people who need to worry about something like that between us, are we?"

"No— even if you're close, rude is still rude. So it's okay."

At Seollang's logical response, the other two fell silent.

Yutia was smiling.

Rine was smiling too.

Seollang was the same.

And around the time Alon was starting to notice that something about the precarious situation felt increasingly strange—

Knock, knock, knock—

There came another knock, and Alexion poked his head in.

"...Alexion."

"Your Majesty."

"What is it? Did the tower masters—"

"No, that's not it... you have visitors."

"Visitors?"

At the sudden report, Alon looked puzzled.

Alexion carefully nodded, then opened the door.

"Lord Alon."

"Brother!"

"Radan... and Deus?"

Radan and Deus came in.

No, that wasn't the end of it.

"My, my. Big sister was quick."

"...Magrina?"

"Boss, I'm here!"

"God, me too."

"...I've come as well."

"?????"

...As he watched Magrina, Ryang-a, Historia, and Nangwon come in one after another with smiles on their faces, Alon's head filled with question marks.

"...What is all this all of a sudden?"

Alon asked, barely concealing his confusion.

Yutia, Rine, and Seollang alone had already been enough to shock him, and now people had gathered in an instant like this, so the reaction came out before he could stop it.

"...Well, my house—"

"This time, our information guild residence—"

"God, I don't have a home."

"I-I don't either—"

"The mansion accidentally—"

Watching them all gathered there, every one of them giving the impression of runaway teenagers whose homes had been destroyed or who had ended up unable to live there because something had happened—

"Ah."

Only then could Alon finally guess why everyone here had gathered.

No matter how tragically lacking in perception Alon might be—to the point that Evan sighed and Penia looked at him with cold disbelief—

this was not something anyone but a fool could fail to notice.

"...Did you come because of the castle?"

It was a direct question.

At that, the visitors subtly averted their eyes.

After confirming that, Alon did not ask any further questions...

####

After realizing why they had come and briefly going blank, Alon looked at the group sitting quietly and wore a puzzled expression.

And reasonably so—he had only casually mentioned not long ago that maybe he could hand the castle over, and he'd only said that while talking with Alexion.

Did Alexion somehow spread the rumor? He considered it for a moment, but Alexion, as if understanding the look in Alon's eyes, shook his head, so Alon stopped dwelling on it.

'...I don't know why they suddenly want the castle, but—'

Whatever the reason, Alon had no trouble offering an alternative.

"Then all of you can live there together."

"...Together?"

"Yes."

If what he had been giving away were a single small house, of course he wouldn't have been able to say something like that.

But this wasn't just some mansion.

It was a castle.

And not just any castle—a massive one that had effectively become a main castle after the tower masters kept adding one thing after another to it.

A castle so enormous that not only could everyone here move in and live there, but even their individual attendants could come live there too.

"Then no one has any complaints, right?"

That was what Alon said.

"Well, if it's like that—"

"In that case—"

Alon watched them nod as if they accepted it, though with strange expressions on their faces, and then he heard Alexion, who had been standing behind him as if waiting, speak.

"Lord Alon— and there's something else you didn't get to see earlier."

"...Something I didn't get to see?"

"Yes. You should go and check it now..."

At Alexion's words, Alon nodded as if he understood.

"You've all come a long way, so rest here for a few days before you go."

And with that, helped along by the others' consideration, he was finally able to leave the reception room.

"Hoo— that was a little sudden. It surprised me."

When Alon muttered that after getting out of there, Alexion quietly opened his mouth.

"I, um, felt the same way."

"Right?"

"Yes. No matter what, with so many people suddenly... showing up."

"Well, still, I'm glad it got resolved... Though I still don't understand why people who can build castles wherever they are and even receive territory if they want it would ask me for one."

At Alon's words, Alexion looked at him with a somewhat strange expression, then recalled the scene he'd just witnessed in the reception room.

'...It didn't look remotely resolved.'

That was what he thought, but he did not bother saying it out loud.

And at that moment—

"......"

Silence ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) was flowing among the people who had gathered in one place for the first time in a very long while.

A silence that felt a little strange.

And the first one to break it was—

"Hm— if it comes to this, the escort force will be reduced, but since Lord Alon said it himself, I suppose it can't be helped."

It was Deus.

With a somewhat serious expression, as if he truly regretted it, he muttered things like, "Then I guess I'll have to narrow it down to an elite force for the escort—"

And as soon as they heard what Deus said—

"I suppose I can't do anything about it either. I was planning to assign separate informants for Brother, but... I think it should still work if I reduce the scale a little."

Nangwon nodded as if the same applied there too.

"Hm— well, as long as I can save Brother the moment something happens... one floor ought to be enough, and installing it won't be a problem."

Starting with Radan, who shrugged—

"Just what are you planning to install?"

"Hm? Something like this—"

"Then it seems there might be some space left. Would it be possible to borrow some? I feel like I may need a little as well."

"Well— as long as mine gets installed, I don't care. Do whatever you want."

"If you need more space, I'll lend you some too."

"Thank you."

The male members began chatting rather amicably.

"...Guess we'll have to be satisfied. No helping it."

"Same here."

Ryang-a and Historia also shrugged as they spoke.

But—

"......"

The rest were not like that.

They stared at one another in silence for a moment.

Then—

"Since Teacher has spoken, let's decide the floors now."

Yutia was the one who opened her mouth with a smile.

"I'll use the eighth floor—"

"Wait, shouldn't the floors be assigned in order too?"

Before Yutia could even finish, Rine cut in immediately.

At that, Yutia made a soft sound and looked at Rine.

"May I ask which floor you'd like to live on?"

"Oh my, by coincidence, it's the eighth floor for me too."

"Why don't you stop being modest and use the highest floor?"

That was what Yutia said.

And it was a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

In fact, maybe it would be different in some other castle, but since this place already had elevators—something that normally existed only in mage towers—the higher floors were much better.

However—

"No, I'll use the eighth floor, so why don't you take one of the higher floors, Yutia? Since you're the oldest."

Rine spoke with a smile.

At that, a crack instantly formed in Yutia's smile.

"As I told you last time, I am twenty-one."

Yutia spoke with eyes that were no longer smiling.

But only for a moment.

"I like the eighth floor too."

"Me too!"

Seollang and Magrina also joined in naturally.

And just as another silence began—

"...But why is everyone trying to get the eighth floor?"

Deus, who had been talking with Nangwon, whispered like he didn't understand at all.

"I don't really know either."

Radan shrugged as well.

"...Maybe it's a lucky number, or a number women like, or something like that?"

"I don't think that's it."

"Then what is it?"

"Hm— the eighth floor... the eighth floor..."

Deus and Radan quietly turned their eyes and looked at the inner castle built far away.

At a glance alone, it was enormous.

And yet—

"...There's nothing there?"

"That's right, nothing."

There was nothing there.

The seventh floor plainly had a massive garden visible.

The fifth floor had a path leading to another inner castle.

And the top floor looked like it would obviously have a great view.

But the eighth floor, by contrast, really seemed to have absolutely nothing at all, so they stared at the castle in confusion for a while.

"Ah."

Nangwon, who until just now had been staring at the castle without saying a word, let out a small sigh as if something had just clicked.

"Did you figure something out?"

Seeing the women all looking at each other in silence, Deus whispered quietly.

Nangwon gave a small nod.

"I did."

"What's on the eighth floor?"

Radan asked.

But Nangwon quietly shook her head.

"No, there's nothing on the eighth floor. In fact, compared to the other floors, it has the least space and no facilities at all."

"...Then isn't it more inconvenient than the others?"

"It is."

"Then why on earth...?"

Deus muttered as if he couldn't understand.

But Nangwon, with a slightly serious expression, said—

"Instead, it has one advantage."

"...An advantage?"

"What is it?"

The two of them became interested.

In response, Nangwon quietly spoke.

"Please look over there."

"That is..."

"The main castle?"

"Yes. It's where Brother will be staying now."

"...So what about it?"

At Radan's question, Nangwon silently tilted her head once.

After staring blankly at it for a while, the two of them—

"...A window?"

—soon realized that there was a large window in the main castle.

And the moment Deus and Radan realized that—

"That window is the window to Brother's office."

"...His office window?"

"Yes. For reference, Brother's bedroom is on the opposite side from the castle where we'll be staying, so it doesn't face this way. But that office window lines up exactly with the bedroom windows on the eighth floor of the inner castle. In other words—"

"...If you're on the eighth floor, you can watch Brother working from your bedroom?"

"Correct."

For a moment, at Nangwon's explanation, Deus and Radan unconsciously let out admiring sounds of "Wow—"

But only for a moment.

"...Though honestly speaking."

"Go on."

"It's... kind of terrifying."

"...I was thinking the same thing."

"I feel the same..."

Soon, the three of them turned to look at the women with expressions that were a little fed up.

And on the women's side—

"...Since everyone wants the eighth floor, should we decide on a method?"

Rarely, Seollang smiled slightly as if she had thought of something.

And then—

"How about we decide in order from the oooooldest?"

"!!!"

At Seollang's words, the atmosphere in the reception room froze.

And across the faces of the three—who were respectively twenty-two (self-proclaimed), twenty (elf age), and twenty-two (physical age)—

deep anguish began to spread.