“Hm—”

A sound slipped out of Alon without him realizing it, and he released his contemplation and opened his eyes.

“Hoo—”

A long sigh.

Then he closed his eyes once more and began contemplating again.

And what he saw was—

“......”

still the enormous eye he had just seen.

Strictly speaking, should he call it manifested Alon?

‘What on earth is this?’

Alon blankly stared at his manifested body floating in the sky within the dark abyss.

A manifested body that had grown far larger than before.

And it was not just the size that had changed.

The moment he saw it, Alon noticed the difference.

Last time, there had only been the giant eye, strings of text that shattered and regenerated, and clusters of stars—

but now there were tentacles.

And not ordinary ones, either, but gigantic tentacles that looked as though they had been molded out of the abyss itself, the kind that felt as if even brushing against them would erase you on the spot.

“......”

No, well, in a certain sense, maybe he could think of this positively.

Honestly, having an eye and legs was a little closer to being human than having just an eye.

...Of course, they were not legs but tentacles, but still, some kind of leg-like things had appeared.

‘...No, but why?’

After escaping reality for a while, Alon finally came to his senses.

He started thinking about how in the world things had ended up like this.

He had definitely given his statue to the Divine blood.

And of course, the shape of the statue had been that of a “human,” not “an eye with tentacles attached.”

So then why had tentacles appeared on Alon’s manifested body?

“......”

Could it be that the Divine blood saw human legs as tentacles?

Alon seriously considered it, but for now he stepped out of contemplation.

“How is it, Lord Alon?”

The moment he opened his eyes, Evan asked.

His face was full of curiosity.

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“Do I happen to look like an octopus?”

“......Has your mental state suddenly taken a turn for the worse?”

At Alon’s out-of-nowhere question, a mournful look rose on Evan’s face.

Letting out a sigh, Alon pressed hard at his tired eyes and explained what he had seen.

“So instead of changing into a human, it feels like something extra got added?”

“That’s right.”

“Shouldn’t you have gone and explained things after all?”

“Should I have...?”

Alon let out a brief sigh.

But only for a moment, before something suddenly seemed to occur to him, and he looked toward the empty space and asked,

“By the way, where did Penia go?”

“Ah, Penia? The moment we came in, she suddenly started rambling that she had something to do and disappeared.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Ah, and I heard from Alexion that apparently you can start using your true nature now.”

“......Wasn’t it still unfinished?”

“It seems it’s reached the point where you can at least use it.”

Alon made a thoughtful “Hm—” expression. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“Well, if they’re saying that much, then I suppose it’s about time I started moving locations.”

“Mm—when you have time next, I’ll tell them to move at least the rough amount of luggage over. You’re heading to Rosario in a few days anyway, aren’t you?”

Alon nodded.

“I am. And after that, I’ll stop by the Empire with Rine.”

“Not bad. Ah, come to think of it, I heard Yutia is over by the inner castle.”

“...Hm? Yutia?”

“Yes. Apparently Seollang, Rine, and Magrina are there too.”

“...Wait, didn’t they leave last time?”

“I heard they came back because they had something they wanted to say.”

At that, Alon looked puzzled, but still—

“Well—if Yutia is going with me to Rosario, that works out fine.”

“Mm, I suppose it does.”

Thinking it was not a bad arrangement, he nodded.

And at that same moment,

in the inner castle where those four had been gathered until just a little earlier—

“S-so... why exactly am I here?”

Penia, wearing an anxious expression, was surrounded by them.

####

The next day.

Alon decided to head straight to Rosario.

Ordinarily, once he returned from a trip somewhere, he needed about a week of rest, but ever since he had begun traveling on Basiliora and Blackie, travel times had shortened enough that there was no longer any need to recover from the fatigue.

So as soon as day broke, after making his preparations, Alon—

“Then have a safe trip, Godfather.”

“Brother.”

“Have a safe trip, Master!”

—looked at Rine, Magrina, and Seollang, who had come out to see him off, with a peculiar expression.

And for good reason.

They had said they came back because they had things to tell him, but there had not actually been anything especially substantial—just truly trivial little conversations.

But since he had already given them space in the inner castle to stay freely whenever they liked, it would also have been strange to ask why they were not leaving.

And more than anything, in Rine’s case, she was supposed to go to the Empire with him after he returned from Rosario.

“Right. I’ll be back.”

That was all Alon said in reply to their farewells, and—

[All right, we’re off—!!]

—he climbed onto Basiliora, who shouted with tremendous excitement as if flying still felt brand-new despite having done it many times already, and soared up into the sky.

And not long after they began gliding through the heavens, Alon turned his gaze behind him and spoke.

“Yutia, are you all right?”

Since this was probably her first time flying, Alon asked just in case.

At that, Yutia, who had been staring blankly at the sky with a somewhat dazed expression, belatedly responded to Alon’s words and opened her mouth.

“Yes, it feels nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic? Have you flown like this before?”

At Alon’s question,

an “Ah,” like a sudden realization, flickered across Yutia’s face.

In that instant—

for just a moment, enough that Alon might have thought he had seen it wrong.

But only for a moment.

“Mm—I rode an airship once before. They made one in Rosario.”

“...An airship?”

At Yutia’s continued words, Alon showed his confusion, but kept speaking.

“Yes. They don’t use it now because of budget issues.”

“Does this feel similar to riding an airship?”

“Mm—it feels a little freer, so personally I think I like this better.”

At her reply, Alon nodded, then shifted his gaze farther back than that and looked at Penia.

At Penia, who for some reason had been wearing a subtly uncomfortable expression ever since yesterday.

“Penia.”

“Yes?”

“Is something wrong?”

Alon asked, tilting his head.

But Penia smiled and shook her head.

“No! Of course not!”

...With a very awkward smile.

Alon realized that Penia was hiding something, but he did not press her about it.

If she was trying that hard to hide it, then she must have her reasons.

And more than anything, he had a certain faith that if it were truly serious, she would tell him herself.

“If anything does happen, make sure to tell me.”

With that, Alon ended the conversation atop Basiliora.

####

It took exactly about six days for Alon to arrive in Rosario.

If he had pushed the pace a bit harder, he could have shortened the time further, but he had chosen not to.

And there was also the fact that, worried there might be some commotion inside Rosario, he had stopped riding Basiliora while still quite far away and come in on foot instead, which added a little more time.

[...It was such a good chance to imprint my magnificent figure on them—]

Anyway, after listening to Basiliora mutter complaints like that no fewer than eight times by now, Alon arrived in Rosario.

“Brother, have you been well?”

“Saint.”

Soon enough, he was able to meet Yuman.

Yuman nodded firmly, wearing the same smile as always.

Though it had truly been a long time since he had last seen him, Yuman’s face was unchanged from before, and after exchanging greetings with him, Alon promptly moved to meet the Goddess Sironia—

or rather, more precisely, the Wanderer.

“Then please go ahead.”

“All right.”

Leaving Evan and Penia behind, along with Yutia, who gave a small wave, Alon entered the room where Sironia’s statue stood.

[It has been a while.]

The moment he entered, he could hear the Wanderer’s voice, as if it had been waiting for him.

“It has been a while, but it seems you still have not changed.”

[Hm? What do you mean by that?]

“When we met last time, didn’t you say that after some time passed, you would return to being the Goddess Sironia?”

At Alon’s words, the Wanderer let out a little exclamation.

[First of all, let me say this: the Goddess Sironia is properly there, you know?]

“...She is?”

[Yes. It is only that since you came, I temporarily revealed myself. Were you perhaps not here to see me?]

At the Wanderer’s question, Alon opened his mouth.

“No, I did come to see you.”

[Then that is a relief. There is no need for this to be awkward, then—more importantly—]

The Wanderer fell silent for a moment, as if choosing not to say something, and then spoke.

[You are more than I expected.]

“What part are you referring to?”

[To be honest, I had my doubts, but I did not think you would become this strong in such a short time.]

At the Wanderer’s voice, sounding genuinely surprised, Alon said,

“Is that so?”

[Yes. To tell you the truth— no, let us stop there.]

The Wanderer started to say something, then closed its mouth.

That made Alon curious, but he did not bother asking.

After all, he already knew that most Divine blood capable of conversing with him would speak normally enough, but if there was something they wanted hidden, they would shut their mouths completely.

So rather than dwell on the Wanderer’s silence, Alon took an object out from inside his coat to accomplish the original purpose of his visit.

It was a flask.

A black flask.

[That is... ?]

The Wanderer voiced its curiosity as it looked at the flask Alon had brought out.

“Do you happen to know anything about the power contained in this flask?”

That was the question Alon asked.

And the Wanderer, who had been quietly looking at the flask—

[...Uh....]

—drew out its words oddly.

Rather than simply recognizing the power inside the flask,

it seemed more as though it could not understand why that power was appearing in this situation at all.

At the point when Alon was about to speak again—

[...I do know it. In the first place, it is a power I could not help but know well.]

The Wanderer said.

“...A power you could not help but know well?”

[Yes. In the first place, that power is the power of Monster blood. More precisely—]

And then it opened its mouth and said it.

[—it would be more accurate to call it the power of Monster blood’s second.]

And around the time Alon was hearing that truth in his own way,

outside the room where he was—

“......”

Penia was waiting for Alon inside and had fallen into deep distress.

Of course, it was not as though she had actually done anything wrong.

And yet the reason she was in such distress was because, a few days earlier—

more precisely, when they had returned after meeting the Divine blood—

she had been given a kind of order as punishment for a sin she had committed before.

Of course, it was not some tremendously grand matter.

If one had to put it into words, it was simply that she had to confirm something with Alon.

Whether, truly, even putting Seollang aside, biting Alon’s nose counted as light skinship.

Of course, Penia herself understood that this was something very close to the realm of the absurd.

Most likely, the others understood that too.

...They did understand it, right?

Most likely, they did.

...And perhaps that was exactly why they were making Penia go and get a definite answer about it.

...Anyway, that question itself had not really been the problem.

It was not such a difficult question.

The real problem was the secret proposals that came to Penia afterward.

As if they had all made a promise, each of them came to her separately and, after telling her to confirm the answer to the order she had been given, proposed that she tell lies to the others and the truth only to them personally.

Seollang had even attached the condition, “You absolutely have to say no. If you do, I’ll give you one really good piece of information.”

And the others were much the same.

If that was the case, then was the problem with the conditions themselves?

No, not that either.

It was just that the moment she accepted one of those conditions, there was no telling what kind of treatment she might suffer at the hands of the others.

“Ah....”

Penia, unable to ask even a single question, continued agonizing in painful distress....