Alon wore a blank expression.

Wondering if he was mistaken, he blinked twice, but the man before him still gazed at him with a cheerful smile and an adoring look.

“……You are Prince Karsem, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, that’s me, haha. I’ve changed a bit.”

Seeing Karsem awkwardly scratch his head, Alon barely managed to close his gaping mouth.

Seolrang seemed uninterested, but Evan, who had been unsure, couldn’t hide his astonishment and opened his mouth wide.

Even if people change, this was too much of a transformation.

Alon recalled the Karsem he had known half a year ago.

Back then, Karsem was, frankly, nothing more or less than a walking pig.

The clothes he wore looked like they were about to burst, and his face was constantly filled with irritation and inferiority.

And that wasn’t all.

His personality was so arrogant that the word ‘rascal’ suited him better than just ‘troublemaker.’

But how was Karsem now?

The triple chin that used to stand out?

Gone.

No, it had just vanished entirely.

The eyes that had been full of annoyance and inferiority?

They looked completely clean. So clean, in fact, that they even appeared kind.

Moreover, for some reason, he seemed to have grown significantly taller.

“……You’ve changed a lot.”

“That’s right. And it’s all thanks to you, my lord—no, Marquis!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes……!”

Alon still struggled to process it all.

No matter how he looked at it, he couldn’t grasp this man’s transformation.

‘……This feels like something out of a web novel.’

Unintentionally, he recalled the web novels he used to enjoy reading.

Typically, the protagonist, an ordinary person, would possess a spoiled royal or noble who was fat and lazy. After working hard to lose weight, they would become handsome and earn the admiration of servants.

Honestly, he hadn’t fully understood it back then.

Even if someone lost weight, their face and body shape would still remain, wouldn’t they?

But now, Alon could truly relate to the servants in those novels, who clapped enthusiastically.

‘……It makes sense now.’

While he was lost in thought,

“Please have a seat. My father will be here soon.”

“Alright, I will.”

Following Karsem’s invitation, Alon’s group naturally took their seats, and a little later, King Carmaxes III arrived.

Alon, who had finally regained his composure, began to enjoy the banquet.

However, he felt somewhat burdened by the atmosphere.

“It’s impressive that you’ve already reached the first rank.”

“No, it’s all thanks to the marquis’ teachings.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes!”

……The reason was that Karsem praised Alon throughout the banquet.

“……He constantly talks about the marquis.”

“I see.”

“If it weren’t for the marquis, I would probably still be living a miserable life…… That’s why I’m always grateful!”

Quite a lot, too.

“No, I didn’t do much. You achieved this on your own. There’s no need to credit me for it.”

“No! As I said, if it weren’t for you, I would have remained the way I was!”

Too much.

Alon felt his hand, hidden under the table, naturally curl up at Karsem’s passionate gaze fixed on him.

……Karsem seemed truly, genuinely sincere.

***

The next day, after what was quite literally a banquet that only left Alon embarrassed.

“Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“I looked into it, and it seems that the evaluation of Karsem has changed significantly.”

“To that extent?”

“Yes, surprisingly, he’s being evaluated more favorably than the First Prince.”

Hearing Evan’s report, Alon asked, feeling curiosity beneath his indifferent expression.

“Really, to that extent?”

“Yes. Apparently, because of that, the internal atmosphere of the royal palace is becoming a bit strange.”

“Carmaxes doesn’t seem to be managing it separately?”

“I heard that even the king is remaining silent.”

Even the king is silent?

At that moment, Alon let out a low exclamation.

‘So that’s why Karan looked at me with those eyes.’

He recalled the gaze Karan had given him before.

A gaze that hadn’t been particularly friendly, even upon their first meeting, which had left him puzzled.

If the internal atmosphere of the kingdom had indeed turned peculiar, it made sense.

The fact that King Carmaxes III wasn’t controlling the current situation in the palace essentially meant he was tacitly allowing a power struggle for the throne.

‘……From the king’s perspective, it wasn’t an entirely incomprehensible decision.’

While the First Prince, Karan, was better than the Second Prince, he wasn’t exactly a promising candidate for a good king.

He was merely relatively better.

In such a situation, it was natural for the king’s heart to waver when the Second Prince showed better promise over time.

After all, Carmaxes III, though a father, was a king first and foremost, and he thought more as a king than as a parent.

‘……The intriguing part was how a power struggle between the First Prince, who had long been recognized as the heir, and the Second Prince, who was only recently acknowledged, could be possible now…… but there’s no need for me to worry about that.’

At any rate, when Alon put together all the circumstances, he was able to understand the recent events overall.

‘So Karan thinks that Karsem changed because of me.’

Of course, from Alon’s perspective, it was a bit perplexing.

He hadn’t done anything particularly special for Karsem.

“Marquis, what do you plan to do now?”

Evan asked just in time.

Alon answered without hesitation.

“Since I’ve finished my business in Colony, I plan to wrap up the remaining tasks and return.”

“Tasks? Oh, are you referring to the monster you mentioned last time?”

“Yes.”

“Am I going to wait here again?”

“That’s right…… though you seem pleased about it?”

“No way.”

Evan’s face clearly showed an expression of relief—‘Oh, yes, lucky me! No hard work!’

Alon felt oddly annoyed.

For a moment, he considered taking Evan along, but only briefly.

He let out a light sigh and dismissed the thought.

In truth, this trip wasn’t meant to deal with the desert monster directly but was only a preliminary expedition.

Alon recalled the desert monster, ‘Scorpion.’

‘I wish I could deal with it while I’m here.’

Unfortunately, that wish was unlikely to come true.

For now, he didn’t even know Scorpion’s exact location.

Unlike the other monster, Rikrakamur, whose location was clearly identified, all they knew about Scorpion was that it was somewhere in the vast desert, with no distinct landmarks.

Even in the game, tracking down Scorpion required time.

You had to clear the temple that provided a guide, which took about three months of preparation before you could even attempt to confront Scorpion.

Of course, you could wander the vast desert without the guide and search for Scorpion’s location manually.

But why didn’t people do that?

Because finding Scorpion’s cave in the desert was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Additionally, there were ‘Scorpion Soldiers.’

These were the soldiers guarding the monster’s cave.

This was Alon’s second reason for focusing on preliminary work now.

Though called scorpion soldiers, if you played as a mage, they were even more troublesome than Scorpion itself.

The scorpion soldiers, made of sand, numbered in the hundreds.

They endlessly regenerated upon death, and in terms of in-game level, each one was at the expert rank, making them a nuisance.

Moreover, their weapons were all coated with poison, so if you allowed even a single hit, it would be fatal.

However, there was a strategy that allowed you to bypass these troublesome scorpion soldiers—if you obtained the guide through the temple’s preliminary quest, they would all turn into sand and disappear.

“I plan to move tomorrow.”

Alon made his decision.

“I’ll be waiting here.”

As he looked at Evan, who somehow appeared irritating again, Alon thought.

‘……Should I just take him along?’

***

At that moment.

Somewhere in the vast desert, in Scorpion’s cave.

Or rather, in a space so vast that calling it a cave seemed inadequate, scorpion soldiers—who should have only awakened in the presence of intruders—had risen.

However, they did not move.

No, to be precise, it would be more accurate to say they couldn’t move.

The hundreds of soldiers that had awakened to repel the intruder.

Crackle! Crackle-crack!

All of them were skewered by black lightning, trembling as they hovered between life and death.

Amid the immobilized scorpion soldiers, a Beastman with silver-gray hair leisurely glided forward.

His gait was extremely calm, utterly relaxed.

With that same leisurely pace, he strolled through the ranks of hundreds of scorpion soldiers, eventually arriving at the center of the cave.

Ssshhh-!

Once again, soldiers began awakening from beneath the ground.

But that wasn’t all.

Shriiiiik-!!!

Far more soldiers than before emerged from the sand in an instant, surrounding the man.

Soon, the monstrous roar of Scorpion, who had been dormant in the cave, echoed loudly.

Yet, there was no sign of tension on the intruder’s face.

“Ho—”

Instead, as if he found it amusing, the man let out an exclamation.

Crackle-!

He cloaked himself in black lightning.

In the next moment.

Zzt-!

His figure vanished.

When he reappeared, there were no longer any scorpion soldiers near him.

Instead, what appeared before the man was—

A monster.

The scorpion, Scorpion, who had lived for nearly a thousand years while harboring one of the five great relics of sin.

Yet, despite the sight of the scorpion drooling as it gazed at him, the man wore a cheerful smile.

“Well, fine. When I returned to the surface, I was disappointed that the seeds hadn’t sprouted as well as I’d hoped—”

He lightly tapped the creature’s head with a finger.

“You can help with that.”

The moment black lightning flowed from his hand.

!!!!

Scorpion thrashed violently.

Soon, the brown hue of the monster began to change.

It darkened into a shade as deep as the abyss.

Watching the transformation, the man—

“Now, shall we go greet him?”

No, the apostle of ‘Pride’ turned his gaze toward Colony.

“And while we’re at it, let’s pay a visit to my younger sibling.”

***

The next day.

Alon prepared to set off for the preliminary work as planned, though he was feeling somewhat more at ease.

There would be battles, but thanks to Seolrang and Rine agreeing to assist him, he felt reassured.

‘……Rine said she would briefly visit the royal palace, so we’ll leave once she returns.’

Therefore,

Alon was chatting leisurely with Seolrang, who was hugging the drooping Blackie.

Until suddenly,

BOOOOOM-!!!!

A massive noise erupted.

It was distant, yet distinct to everyone’s ears—a tremendous explosion.

Alon instinctively got up and looked out the window.

He couldn’t hide his shock at the sight before him.

“Scorpion?”

The massive monster was tearing down Colony’s walls and forcing its way in.

And then,

“B-brother?”

Alon heard Seolrang’s incredulous murmur beside him.