After pondering for an entire day, Alon decided to return to the Marquisate first.

This was because he could visit Lartania on the way to the Colony after stopping by the Marquisate.

“Are you leaving, my lord?”

“Yes.”

As soon as Alon began preparing to leave, Yutia appeared as if she’d been waiting and asked.

“You’re not leaving the Holy Kingdom yet?”

“No, even though we’ve dealt with that monstrosity, additional measures are needed for the collapsed walls.”

Alon nodded while looking at the temporarily repaired walls visible behind her.

“Oh, my lord.”

“What is it?”

“Could you give me the item you brought out last time?”

“The item I brought out last time…”

“The one you retrieved from inside Rikrakamur. Would that be possible?”

Alon hesitated momentarily at Yutia’s request.

“…I could give it to you, but what do you plan to do with it?”

“I’m going to purify it.”

“Purify?”

“Yes, since it came from inside a monstrosity. Even if it looks harmless, it seems best to perform a purification ritual at the cathedral.”

Yutia paused, pondering for a moment, then added,

“If you don’t feel like doing it now, it’s okay, but please ensure to visit the Holy Kingdom later and have the purification ritual performed. Items like that often appear harmless but can be dangerous.”

“Such things can affect the mental state of their holders,” she said, raising her index finger as if she were a teacher herself.

Seeing her gesture, Alon understood why she wanted the artifact and felt a small sense of relief.

If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t know.

But Alon knew better.

After all, she was destined to become one of the Five Great Sins in the future.

“Not that there’s anything to worry about right now.”

The artifacts of the Five Great Sins only function to their full potential if they remain inside the monstrosities guarding them.

In other words, the moment Alon removed the artifact from Rikrakamur, it lost its value as an artifact.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“Bring it out.”

Evan immediately went to the carriage and began rummaging through its contents.

“Uh, Marquis? This is it, but… its color seems to have changed since last time.”

“Hadn’t it been changing little by little?”

“But it didn’t turn this dark before, did it?”

Evan handed over an object, which was no longer red but had turned pitch black.

Alon recalled a scene from the game.

When the player timely retrieved an artifact from a monstrosity before a Sin could, the Sin of Pride had flown into a rage.

‘It does seem completely powerless now.’

Alon stared at the discolored artifact for a moment before handing it to Yutia.

“Here it is.”

“Thank you, my lord. I’ll take it to the Holy Kingdom, have the purification ritual performed, and return it to you immediately.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Yutia smiled brightly.

And then.

“Marquis.”

“Yes, Saint?”

“I will protect you no matter what.”

“…Pardon?”

Before he realized it, Evan had approached him, nodding firmly with a face full of divine resolve.

Alon subtly took a step back, keeping his mouth shut.

‘It’s nice of him to think that, but…’

Feeling somewhat burdened, he hurriedly left.

***

About a week had passed since they departed from the border.

“It’s my victory, snake-head!”

[You brat! How dare you use tricks!]

“Tricks? Nah, it’s just your brain falling short!”

On a slightly chilly evening, Alon’s party gathered around the campfire they had lit for the night.

Alon, cooling a hot sweet potato before popping it into his mouth, watched Evan and the little snake engage in their nightly ritual of coming up with new games to compete in.

Then, his gaze naturally drifted upward.

He stared blankly at the stars.

—Does it look beautiful to you?

The voice of the Observer echoed faintly in his mind.

For some reason, her words often surfaced in his thoughts whenever he gazed at the stars recently.

Munch, munch—

But he quickly stuffed the rest of the sweet potato into his mouth, brushing aside the memory, and began to focus on the tasks ahead.

‘Eliban will handle it, so I don’t need to worry about that. What I need to do next is deal with the other monstrosities holding artifacts and strengthen the necessary magic for it.’

He recalled the words of the golden dragon, Lainisius.

More specifically, what Lainisius had mentioned about magic before Alon left the dragon’s lair.

‘I regret to say I don’t know much about the magic of mages. The little I do know is that your magic… what’s it called again? The language of the physical realm?’

‘Aside from that, if there’s anything that might help with your magic, it’s one thing.’

‘Seals. While I don’t fully understand how they work, I once heard from an ally that stacking seals could enhance magic. I didn’t pay much attention at the time, so my recollection is vague, but apparently, if you know the seals well, it’s possible to layer their effects and abilities.’

That’s as far as I know, the golden dragon had concluded.

‘….’

During the battle with Rikrakamur, Alon realized he needed to delve deeper into the mechanics of magic.

While he had managed to defeat Rikrakamur using game knowledge and strategies, many of the remaining monstrosities didn’t have exploitable gimmicks.

This meant that future battles would likely not afford him the same overwhelming advantage.

Thus, Alon determined that he needed to go beyond merely relying on materialization magic and start exploring magic itself to prepare for a wider range of scenarios.

The first step was studying seals, which he had never properly examined before.

While pondering over this,

“Marquis.”

“Hm?”

Evan handed him another sweet potato.

It seemed the argument disguised as a game with Basiliora had ended, judging by Evan’s satisfied expression.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.”

[Give me one too!]

“No food for losers!”

[Argh, don’t be ridiculous, human!! I could never lose to a mere human!!]

Basiliora wailed, performing a breakdance of despair on the ground.

“So,”

“Yes?”

“What was tonight’s game?”

Seeing Basiliora’s over-the-top reaction, Alon casually asked Evan, who was calmly biting into a corn cob.

“Marble flicking.”

“…Marble flicking?”

“Yes.”

“…The game where you hit marbles to win them?”

“Exactly.”

Alon glanced down at Basiliora.

[I, this great being, lost to a human!! A mere human!!!!!!]

…Over losing a simple marble game…?

His reaction was… beyond dramatic.

Alon began to understand why Evan and Basiliora found such games so entertaining.

As he absentmindedly moved to pop the sweet potato into his mouth again,

[Meow?]

the little black creature perched on his shoulder reached out.

He offered it a bite of his sweet potato.

Nom, nom—

The creature eagerly chomped away as if it had been waiting all along.

Watching Blackie adorably squint its eyes in delight at the taste, Alon found himself musing:

‘…At least it doesn’t sprout a mouth from its stomach like last time.’

He recalled how startled he’d been when the creature had suddenly grown a mouth on its belly.

[Arghhh! Wait, wait, stop it! Stop, I said!!]

Apparently unimpressed by Basiliora’s constant wailing, Blackie had already nudged him a few times with its little paw.

[S-so unfair…]

Eventually, Basiliora shrank down, sulking as the night fully settled in.

…It was a pleasantly cool evening.

***

A few weeks later,

Alon finally arrived at the Marquisate of Palatio after nearly two months.

The estate seemed to have changed significantly during his absence, and with that came a mountain of tasks that awaited him.

He also learned that Radan had visited while he was away.

But he didn’t have the chance to hear all the details.

Rather, he couldn’t.

Because as soon as he arrived—

“I’m so sorryyyy!!!”

Bang!

Penia threw herself to her knees and banged her forehead against the ground in front of him.

***

Inside an office overflowing with paperwork,

Alon found himself in a peculiar mood.

In front of him sat Penia Crysinne, fidgeting nervously as if she’d committed an unforgivable sin.

She couldn’t keep her gaze still, her body shifting restlessly in her chair.

“…Did you come alone?”

“Ah, no… I… I came with… my brother…”

Her voice trailed off as her head lowered further, looking like a broken toy robot.

Alon decided to cut to the chase.

“So, care to explain what exactly you did wrong?”

“Ah, um, well…”

Penia cautiously glanced up at Alon but quickly looked away again, her head bowing further.

Alon couldn’t help but feel like a school bully from his younger days—though, in this case, Penia seemed very much like the victim.

Just as he was starting to feel unfairly accused,

“Well, the thing is…”

Penia stammered and began her explanation.

After listening to her for a while, Alon finally understood the situation.

“So that’s how it happened.”

“Yes…”

“So, to summarize: Heinkel thought you and I were in some kind of relationship, and in exchange for teaching you magic, you decided to play along with that pretense at the Tower of Magic?”

“Yes… Since she was always wandering around in spirit form…”

“And now that you’ve learned some magic, you’ve come clean because you figured it was only a matter of time before you got caught?”

“Yes…”

Penia nodded nervously, stealing glances at Alon.

‘So that’s why the rumors wouldn’t die down.’

Now Alon understood why the gossip had persisted. Watching Penia squirm, he pondered his next move.

‘What should I do about this?’

He didn’t feel particularly inclined to reprimand her.

Though annoying, it hadn’t caused him any real harm.

After some thought, an idea struck him. A small smirk crossed his lips as he spoke.

“Alright, here’s what we’ll do.”

“Huh?”

“Your goal was to learn magic from Heinkel, right?”

“Well… I’d be fine without it, but learning more magic would make me really happy…”

Penia’s voice trailed off uncertainly.

Leaning back in his chair, Alon made his proposal.

“How about this: instead of maintaining this uncomfortable rumor, I’ll meet Heinkel directly. Wouldn’t that be easier for both of us?”

“What? Really…!?”

Penia’s eyes widened in genuine surprise, sparkling like those of an innocent child.

She quickly nodded, looking thrilled.

“Yes, yes, that would be wonderful! The rumors have been uncomfortable, after all…”

Seeing her so overjoyed left Alon feeling oddly conflicted.

The rumors had been a nuisance, but watching her react so enthusiastically made him feel as if he were the one at fault.

“However, I have a favor to ask in return.”

Suppressing his mixed feelings, Alon got to the point.

“A favor…? What kind of favor?”

In response to her question, Alon smiled and stated his objective.

“I’d like your help with my magic research.”

“Magic research?”

“Yes, it might be a bit unfamiliar, but can you do it?”

The timing was perfect.

‘She’ll be a great help for the research.’

Penia Crysinne was undeniably eccentric, but her magical prowess was genuine. Even now, she was steadily transitioning from the 7th Circle to the 8th.

“If it’s something like that… I’ll do it…!”

Penia enthusiastically agreed, and both seemed satisfied with the outcome.

However, Penia was blissfully unaware.

She had no idea that the so-called “research” would entail grueling, relentless labor under the guise of exploration…

It wasn’t until a week later that she realized the truth.

***

At the same time, Hidan was at Deus’s mansion in Caliban to discuss matters related to the latest decree.

However, the topic he broached first had nothing to do with that.

It couldn’t.

The reason was—

“…Lord First Moon.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“That…”

Hidan pointed toward the massive statue standing in the center of Deus’s garden, visible through the window.

It was strikingly similar—no, identical—to the one from the Merkiliane estate.

As Hidan turned his gaze to Deus, the latter, wearing an intensely serious expression, said:

“…Well, you see.”

“Yes?”

“I went to the Merkiliane estate and met Fillian.”

“I see.”

“He’s a wonderful fellow. We had such engaging conversations about him—nearly three days straight.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yes.”

“…But what does that have to do with the statue out there?”

At Hidan’s pointed question, Deus averted his eyes slightly.

“Well… Fillian offered to gift me the statue.”

“Are you sure you didn’t purchase it?”

“…It felt a bit improper to just accept it outright.”

“From what I’ve heard, you spent quite a substantial sum, though.”

“I—”

Deus hesitated, fumbling for words, before finally admitting,

“It was to ensure narrative consistency.”

“Narrative consistency?”

“Yes… Yutia mentioned the need for consistency, so I thought forming some sort of territorial alliance with the Merkiliane estate would—”

“You don’t have a territory.”

With that single statement, Hidan utterly demolished Deus’s reasoning—or lack thereof.

“Anyway, that’s the gist of it.”

“I see… that’s the gist of it.”

“Yes.”

Hidan thought to himself.

Ah, this is nonsense.

“…I’ll report this to Lord Red Moon.”

To which Deus responded,

“Could you… not report it?”

“It’s going to get out eventually…”

“If you report it, I’ll have three months. If you don’t, I’ll have six months.”

Watching Deus’s childlike expression as he clung to the idea of keeping his “precious toy” for just three more months,

Hidan quietly held his tongue.