Alon blankly stared at Yutia, standing with the sunset at her back.

Yutia, who was looking at him with soft-looking red eyes and a faint smile.

The very first thought that entered his mind was that.

Did I hear wrong?

But of course, that could not have been the case.

This was not a chaotic place like the shopping district, but the top of the clock tower.

And shielding magic had been cast between Yutia and Alon.

In other words, there was no possibility that Alon had misunderstood or misheard her words.

That was why—

“......Really?”

Without realizing it, Alon let those words slip out.

A question with no particular intention behind it.

One that seemed to contain only pure doubt.

At that, Yutia smiled more playfully than usual, as if she was finding this situation somewhat enjoyable.

“You probably already know the answer, teacher.”

That was how she answered, before—

“Mm—shall we head back?”

Before Alon could say anything else, she turned toward the clock tower stairs.

At that, Alon almost called out to her, but closed his mouth again.

There was still much he had not asked.

Many questions still left unresolved.

But was it really all right to ask Yutia those things?

......Memories that seemed painful enough that Yutia, who until now had never shown her emotions, briefly let them surface simply from recalling the past.

Was it really right to dig those up merely because of his own curiosity?

“.......”

Alon curled his trembling fingertips into his palm and naturally headed toward the clock tower stairs.

And as he moved to walk together with Yutia—

“Really—”

“?”

The moment he stood in front of the stairs, Yutia let out a small sigh and turned back toward him.

“You’re too kind, teacher.”

“.......”

At Yutia’s words, Alon did not answer.

No, strictly speaking, it was more accurate to say he could not.

Because his gaze was fixed on her face.

Yutia held many emotions in her expression.

The first thing visible was a look that seemed to say it was obvious.

As though she had known Alon would act this way, and perhaps even felt relieved because of it.

The next thing visible was sorrow, appearing for a fleeting instant.

Then affection flowed past.

“Really.”

And finally, it arrived at happiness.

Yet strangely, that emotion of happiness she had finally reached did not feel particularly happy to Alon.

Why was that?

Why was it that even though she wore happy eyes and a smiling face—

she did not look happy?

“The truth is, I don’t remember everything either.”

......Alon did not learn the truth behind that feeling until their conversation ended.

####

That night.

Thud.

Returning to his dormitory room and collapsing onto the bed, Alon raised an arm and covered his eyes as if exhausted.

At the same time, the events of today surfaced in his mind.

And the very first thing he thought of was—

‘I don’t remember everything either’......

The words he had heard from Yutia.

......Today, Alon had heard about the first cycle from Yutia.

More precisely, it was more accurate to say he had heard the continuation of how Yutia knew about the Empire’s sacred fortification formation.

‘......She said she remembers the major events of the first cycle in fragments.’

That was what Yutia had told him.

That she remembered the major events only in scattered fragments, and that the sacred fortification formation was something she had recalled because it was tied to one of those major events.

‘......And at the current point in time, events are unfolding completely differently from the major events of the first cycle......is that it?’

In truth, Alon had vaguely realized as much himself.

To begin with, there were even beings among the Divine blood who remembered him from the first cycle, so it made no sense in many ways for events to proceed exactly as they had during the first cycle.

In other words, at this point, the information that Yutia and Rine could provide from the first cycle they remembered was limited.

‘Come to think of it, I never asked either of them when they regained their memories.’

At the very least, judging from the overall change in attitude, it seemed that Rine had regained her memories sometime after the Divine blood incident.

But when had Yutia begun carrying her old memories?

Like Rine, had it been since the Divine blood incident?

Or even earlier than that?

......Perhaps before she had even met Alon?

‘Now that I think about it, Seollang too.......’

Naturally, Alon thought of Seollang.

‘It’s a secret.’

‘A secret......?’

‘Yeah. What matters is not me telling you. What matters is my benefactor remembering it.’

Those were the words spoken by Seollang, who had somehow begun smiling the same as before, yet more mature.

A smile that strangely seemed changed, and yet not changed at all.

Since then, Alon had thought it over several times, but he had never made such a promise with Seollang.

Which meant that if Seollang had regained her memories—

“......Hoo—”

Having reached that point in his thoughts, Alon rubbed his head.

Because the endless chain of thoughts had started to give him a headache.

That was why, thinking he should change the subject in his head for a moment—

‘Weren’t we lovers?’

Suddenly, he remembered Yutia’s words.

The words she had spoken with a smile.

“......Hm.”

He remembered what happened after that.

Alon had answered Yutia’s question with another question.

And at that time, Yutia had answered this way.

‘That I already know the answer.......’

Of course, there was no way Alon could know the answer.

How could he know the answer when he did not even remember it?

But he could make a guess.

Yutia had never lied to Alon.

And if he inferred from that simple logic, then her words became truth.

That Yutia and Alon of the first cycle had been lovers.

“.......”

Of course, there was nothing strange about that fact in itself.

He was curious about what kind of process had led them to become lovers, but it did not feel impossible.

However, separate from that, the reason Alon found himself troubled was because of Rine.

‘......Ronya, Ronya.......’

Rine had definitely said that Alon called her Ronya.

And Ronya was an affectionate name used between lovers.

Which meant that the Alon of the first cycle had both Rine and Yutia as lovers at the same time.

‘......Does that make sense?’

Having reached that point in his thoughts, Alon unconsciously muttered to himself.

Of course, it was not entirely impossible.

Unlike the world Alon had lived in before, which was monogamous, fantasy worlds could easily contain polygamy, and Psychedelia followed the same fantasy lineage.

Here, it was not particularly strange for one man to take two women as wives.

However, even taking that into account, the reason it still felt strange was because of Alon himself.

......How had he ended up becoming lovers with two people in the first cycle?

No, more precisely, how had he even come to think about developing romantic relationships with both of them?

“.......”

Alon rubbed his face.

The sensation of nothing but a blank expression, with no emotions at all.

After absentmindedly repeating that for a while—

‘......Once this is over, I’ll have to ask in more detail. Either Yutia or Rine.’

With that thought, Alon let out a sigh.

####

One week passed faster than expected, and before long, it was the day of the festival.

Alon gathered in the academy’s central plaza.

“......There are a lot of people.”

“Well, obviously. There are tons of students and nobles gathered here. Though apparently this isn’t even half of them?”

“Not even half?”

“Yeah.”

At Alon’s words, Evan spoke up from beside him as if he had been waiting.

“Then it’s going to get even more crowded?”

“Right? From what I heard, since this is the first public gathering after the imperial family officially formed their alliance, everyone gathered like this.”

“I see—”

At Evan’s continued explanation, Alon nodded.

Certainly, when viewed from that perspective, there was no reason for nobles not to attend this festival.

In other words, it was natural for there to be this many people.

‘......Even so, I didn’t expect the plaza to be packed this tightly.’

Students occupied the center of the plaza, while nobles surrounded the academy in massive numbers around the outside.

Around the time Alon found himself newly impressed by the sheer number of imperial nobles, he spotted Contanias stepping out onto the balcony of the central building in the distance.

Unlike the way he usually appeared before Alon, he now looked solemn.

For a moment, Alon thought the appearance suited him rather well, before shifting his gaze toward the imperial princesses beside him.

‘......We shared information with them in between, so they should have a rough grasp of the situation. And I already informed the princesses as well, so they probably won’t cause a commotion if they notice something suspicious. They’ll move properly even in a crisis.’

And shortly afterward.

As Alon watched Contanias begin speaking as though announcing the start of the festival, he suddenly asked—

“......What happens after this?”

“I heard there’s going to be some light sparring after the speech ends?”

“......Sparring?”

“Yeah. Apparently they selected mages and knights from each year, first through fourth year, and they’ll be holding friendly matches.”

“Have they already selected everyone?”

“One person from each year was chosen already, and then the selected student nominates another student from the same year.”

At Evan’s words, Alon shrugged and nodded.

The only thought in his head was that it looked like they would be standing around for quite a while, which sounded a little tiring.

“I see.”

Not long after Alon’s response, Contanias’s speech ended, and just as Evan had said, the center of the plaza began to clear out.

Woooooong—!

The academy headmaster appeared in the empty space and instantly began constructing an arena.

Pure white walls that had not existed just moments ago flew into place and started filling the open ground.

“Wooooow—”

“No way—”

“That’s insane—”

“So this is the eighth tier—”

The students each let out exclamations of admiration.

But separate from that, Alon wore a strange expression.

‘......He’s half-assing it.’

Alon looked at the headmaster.

To outsiders, it looked as though the headmaster was using magic in full force to create the arena, but even with his power restricted, Alon could see exactly what he was doing.

‘He pre-calculated all the magic in advance. It’s literally in a state where he only has to execute it. Well, it’s not really a problem since it’s just for show anyway.’

That’s kind of lame, Alon thought at the same moment the arena was completed.

Soon afterward, amid the students’ cheers, the headmaster descended to the ground and returned to his seat.

And then, the duel between the first-year mages began.

Naturally, Alon had little interest in the duel, so he lowered his head, thinking he might as well think about something else instead.

Unfortunately, Alon was unable to do that.

Because—

“Telia Alon, step forward.”

“......?”

He had been nominated.

By the extremely smug-looking Kadenmeyer Delgart standing atop the platform.

And—

“Ah.”

The moment Alon let out a quiet sigh—

Far away, those who had been watching him.

More precisely, immediately after they heard the low exhalation that had sounded small to Alon himself, yet somehow sounded like restrained displeasure to others—

“Headmaster.......”

“Yes, Your Highness—”

“Drag that son of a bitch down right now......!”

A strange sense of crisis rose in Prince Contanias’s eyes.

“......So that’s the bastard.”

Standing among the students of the swordsmanship department, Deus flicked a finger while looking at Delgart.

And—

“Hm—”

“......So that’s him?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

Rine, Yutia, and Penia quietly nodded.

......While looking at Delgart.