Chapter 168 – Ball (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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One thing was certain.

Alon did not know much in detail about Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.

At most, he knew that Kalanon the Lightning Receiver was another god worshiped by the Thunder Serpent tribe and that it had become the state religion of Luxible.

“We greet Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.”

“We greet Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.”

Because of that, Alon could not understand what Sirkal and Jenira were saying.

More than that, to be honest, he was so bewildered that the words, Kalanon the Lightning Receiver?
Me? almost slipped out on their own.

“…That is…”

Alon opened his mouth to deny it, then stopped.

Because he realized that this situation was not entirely bad.

More precisely, he realized that he might be receiving some benefit thanks to their misunderstanding.

Looking at the two girls with their heads bowed, Alon recalled an earlier memory.

Marquis, your magic really is a little strange.

What part of it?

The power.
The establishment method and molecular arrangement are clearly the same, but strangely, the output keeps increasing.

Can you tell that clearly?

If you compare day by day, it is minor, but if you compare now with two months ago, there is definitely a clear difference.

I see.

It was the conversation he had shared with Penia.

She had said that although Alon’s magic was clearly the same, its power kept increasing, and he had guessed that the reason might be accumulating divinity.

In other words, it could be summed up like this.

These two girls, members of the Thunder Serpent tribe, might have mistaken him for Kalanon the Lightning Receiver, and because of that, his magic’s power might have increased.

Of course, from Alon’s perspective, he had no way at all to guess when, how, or by what chain of misunderstanding he had become Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.

But if his hypothesis was even partly correct, and the misunderstanding of the Thunder Serpent tribe really had strengthened his magic, then there was no need to correct them.

…Of course, it is only a guess.

Naturally, when it came to divinity, there was nothing to do but rely on guesses.

Even though Alon had played Psychedelia, there had never been much information about divinity in the first place.

After thinking for a moment, Alon came to a conclusion.

“…Do not use that name in a place like this.”

He would simply refrain from denying their misunderstanding.

To be honest, if he could, he wanted to ask in a roundabout way why exactly they were revering him as Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.

But there was no need to invite trouble for no reason.

“Our apologies.”

“We were simply overcome by the thought of seeing such a great one once again.”

At their reply, Alon said flatly,

“Then why did you come to find me?”

“There is no special reason.
It would simply have been discourteous not to greet so great a being when he was nearby.”

Unlike before, when she had looked slightly fierce, Sirkal’s attitude was now extremely polite.

So in short, they had come only to pay their respects.

All kinds of thoughts and questions rose in Alon’s mind.

What he was most curious about was how exactly the Thunder Serpent tribe currently perceived him.

Do they see me as the reincarnation of their god?
Or as an incarnate god itself?

But if he wanted to resolve those doubts without breaking the misunderstanding, he would need careful phrasing.

“…I will come visit sometime.”

This time, he suppressed the question, deciding that he would think through what to ask later and visit Luxible himself then.

“We will await that with joy.”

“…Very well.”

For a moment, Alon thought back to the statue of Kalanon the Lightning Receiver that Siyan had shown him that morning.

The one she said resembled him very closely.

Was that really me?

Wearing a dumbfounded expression behind his blank face, Alon returned to his quarters.

And after even Sirkal and Jenira had gone.

One person stepped out into the corridor, now completely empty.

Karmakses III, who until just moments earlier had been hiding behind a pillar and secretly listening to the conversation between Marquis Palladio and the envoys of Luxible.

Marquis Palladio is…
Kalanon the Lightning Receiver?

With an expression that said he could not understand it at all, he recalled the scene from moments ago.

The envoys of Luxible greeting Kalanon the Lightning Receiver.

And Marquis Palladio accepting those greetings as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

From that alone, it seemed certain that Marquis Palladio was Kalanon the Lightning Receiver, the state religion of Luxible.

But he could not accept that fact so easily.

It was a matter of common sense.

The man was plainly visible and walking around alive.

And while he was certainly extraordinary, he was not even a king but a human noble.

That such a man could be a god belonged to a realm beyond understanding.

Even so, there were two points that prevented Karmakses III from dismissing the matter as merely strange.

One was something he had once read in an old text, that among the mixed races there existed incarnate gods.

The other was Seol Lang.

…If Marquis Palladio really is a god, then Seol Lang following him so devotedly would make sense.

Until now, Karmakses III had never been able to understand why Seol Lang followed Marquis Palladio so well.

Her uniquely loose and lazy manner made it difficult to see clearly, but Karmakses III knew that her common sense was thoroughly shaped by the law of the strong over the weak.

By that standard, Marquis Palladio should have stood completely below Seol Lang.

He was certainly strong, but not to the point of comparing with Seol Lang.

But in reality, that was not how it was.

In Seol Lang’s eyes, he always stood high above her, outside the bounds of her common sense.

Of course, Karmakses had heard that the Marquis once showed her great kindness, but Seol Lang’s behavior toward Marquis Palladio could not be explained by that alone.

But if Marquis Palladio really were a god?

Then it became understandable to a certain extent.

Why a woman whose worldview was so thoroughly grounded in the law of the strong and the weak would follow him, adore him, and revere him to such a degree.

Standing in the silent corridor, now emptied of all people, Karmakses III stared for a while at the place where Marquis Palladio had been.

Then he turned away, adding a new plan to his mind.

I need to properly investigate incarnate gods.

####

After enjoying the ball, which continued for about a week after that, Alon slowly began preparing to move.

The ball would continue for roughly two more days from now, but he had no desire to attend it to the very end.

To be honest, from Alon’s perspective, balls were nothing but exhausting.

“Are we going to Lartania?”

“Yes.”

“Then I will prepare immediately.”

After Evan, who had been sitting comfortably in their lodging eating dessert, went out.

Alon quietly organized the few pieces of information he had obtained at this ball.

Of course, most of them were useless.

The only one that could even vaguely be treated as information was that recent countries had become quite complicated because of the gate situation.

That, at least, was one thing worth calling information.

Aside from that, he had also heard from one of the nobles of Caliburn that Deus Macalian had been having very busy days lately.

It sounded as though he had been making something.

He had not heard in detail what that something was, so he was briefly curious, but soon his attention shifted to the unusual thing that had happened yesterday.

We greet the king of Colony.

It has been a while, Marquis Palladio.

…Ah, yes.
But why are you suddenly speaking so politely?

Ah, ahem.
No.
Never mind.

…???

Namely, Karmakses III’s sudden use of honorific speech.

Why did he suddenly start speaking politely?

Just as a slight crease formed at the edge of Alon’s eyes.

“Marquis.
The preparations are finished.”

“Already?”

“I had a feeling you might want to move soon, so I prepared in advance.”

Following the diligent Evan, he climbed into the carriage to head toward Lartania.

####

Lately, Shili Macalian, the younger sister of Deus Macalian, had often been making a strange expression.

The reason was the statue standing in the middle of the private training ground Deus had personally provided for her magic training.

A statue made only up to the lower half.

Shili did not have any major complaints about such a thing being in her personal training ground.

Of course, even though it was still only half complete, the size of that unfinished statue already far surpassed that of the complete statue in the garden, but the private training ground assigned to Shili was itself vast.

The real problem was.

[Hm. Hm.]

Her brother Deus Macalian, who came at every possible moment to look at the statue that still consisted of nothing but its lower half.

No, to be precise, there was nothing wrong with the fact that her brother Deus came to look at it in itself.

Embarrassing as it was to say, Shili liked her brother quite a lot.

But.

[Shili, how is the Marquis’s statue?]

[Hm, the statue is shining today as well.
You think so too, do you not, Shili?]

[It truly is being made perfectly.
Do you not think so as well, Shili?]

Each time he visited, he stared at the statue, which still had only its lower half, and forced her to give impressions on it.

Of course, each time she answered with an awkward smile and played along with his words.

But to be honest, Shili’s real impression was only one thing.

There is nothing there but pants.

A dead-cold thought.

But since she could not say that openly, Shili always covered it over with a smile, and today as well, when she came out to the training ground to practice magic as usual.

“?”

She noticed that the statue, which had until now existed only from the waist down, had grown a little larger.

No, it had not merely grown.

At first, just the lower half had been about the height between the first and second floors of an ordinary building.

But now, the lower half alone had easily risen past the second floor.

“…???”

As her brow furrowed.

“You are here, Shili.”

“Brother…?”

“Yes.”

Looking back and forth between the solemn-faced Deus and the statue, she managed to keep smiling and asked,

“Brother, the statue seems to have gotten a little bigger?”

“Yes, that is correct.
I increased it a little.”

“…”

This is not what anyone would call a little.

She almost said it aloud, but barely swallowed it back down and asked instead,

“At this rate, once the statue is finished, it will easily surpass the height of the manor, will it not?”

“Yes.
But it could not be helped.”

“…Could it really not be helped?”

“That is right.
Radan said he would give the Marquis a Sea King God as a gift.”

“A Sea King… god?”

“Yes.
I hear it is extremely large.”

Although she loved her brother dearly, she still felt a strong urge to point out what exactly that had to do with the size of the statue.

“Brother?”

“What is it?”

“…Is the heart not more important than the size when it comes to gifts?”

Shili took the direct route and asked plainly.

“No, Shili.”

“…No?”

“That is right.
A gift must be able to move the heart.
And the larger it is, the more the impact is multiplied.
Can you not feel that too?”

Deus radiated satisfaction from his whole body.

Silently, Shili turned her gaze back to the statue.

The thing that still consisted of nothing but the lower half.

“Excellent.”

As though to say this is exactly it, Deus let out a quiet note of admiration.

What in the world is this…?

“Ah, and I am planning to go to Lartania for a short while.”

“…To Lartania?”

“Yes.
I intend to personally procure the jewel that will decorate the Marquis’s eyes.
Once I make the eyes with it…”

Deus’s eyes shone as if they were combing through the vast universe itself.

“It will suit the Marquis.”

Whenever the Marquis was involved, her brother always seemed to become slightly younger.

And for some reason, Shili ended up disliking Marquis Palladio a little.

####

After the ball had completely ended.

“Whew.”

Shutalian V climbed into the carriage to return to his kingdom and rubbed his eyes with a tired expression.

‘This sort of thing really isn’t worth doing.’

To be honest, he had not wanted to attend this ball much in the first place.

But he had no real choice.

There were political reasons, certainly.

More than that, there was the aftermath of Duke Komalon’s case, which still had lingering consequences.

To put it a little more bluntly.

He had attended the ball in order to raise the standing of Asteria’s king and save the king’s face, all in the hope of reducing even a little the scale of compensation demanded over the artificial god incident.

In simple terms, he was paying with his body instead of money.

So just as Shutalian V let out another heavy sigh.

“King of humans.”

At the voice, he turned his gaze.

There stood a man covered head to toe in armor.

One brought into the world through a secret agreement with a hidden nonhuman race for the sake of what still lay ahead.

That man suddenly asked a question.

His tone was arrogant enough that it did not sound at all like he was addressing a king.

Yet Shutalian V felt no displeasure.

Because he knew.

The being inside that armor and helmet was strong enough that he had no need to bother with honorific speech toward a king.

“…When we are alone, it is one thing, but when others are present I would appreciate it if you watched your speech.”

“Do not worry.
I will play along with your little game when needed.”

“So what is it you wish to ask?”

At Shutalian V’s question, Kurak, the Engraved One, remained silent for a moment and then opened his mouth.

“The man in the black coat at the ball.
Do you remember him?”

“…The man in the black coat?
There were many nobles in black coats.”

“The one whose face showed no emotion.”

Shutalian V immediately understood whom he meant.

“…Do you mean Marquis Palladio?”

“Is that his name?”

“Yes.
He is quite a famous figure in the United Kingdom.”

“He must have accumulated much renown.
Can you tell me about him?”

“I do not especially want to, but that much is easy enough.”

So Shutalian V began recounting, one by one, the stories surrounding Marquis Palladio.

Some time later.

“That should roughly cover it.”

“I see.”

“Still, to be honest, some of it may have been exaggerated.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Because even if the Marquis is extraordinary beyond doubt, rumors become embellished as they spread.
For example, the rumor that he dealt with the Outer God in the north entirely on his own.”

At first, Shutalian V explained, the story had only been that the marquis had given tremendous help.

Later, flesh had been added to it until the rumor became that the marquis had slain the Outer God himself.

Kurak listened quietly all the way through.

Then he answered.

“In my opinion, if anything he was more impressive than the rumors.
They do not seem exaggerated.”

“Hm?
What do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what I said.
The rumors about Marquis Palladio do not look distorted to me.”

“…You sound rather certain.
Why?”

At Shutalian V’s question, Kurak grinned.

“Because he is the kind of being for whom that would be natural.”

“Natural…?”

His answer was short.

Shutalian V echoed it back in confusion.

But Kurak did not explain further.

Instead, he recalled the moment from a few days earlier when Marquis Palladio had met his eyes with that numb gaze.

And the grotesque thing hanging behind him, the kind that made blood stream from one’s eyes merely by perceiving it.

Kurak was not, by nature, someone who took interest in others this deeply.

Even the dangerous existence behind the marquis would not normally have been enough to make him this concerned.

He had more urgent work.

That was the entire reason he had come into the world through cooperation with humans.

The real reason Kurak had become interested in Marquis Palladio was different.

‘…How in the world is that man wearing the gauntlet of the Primordial One… no, the Saintly Exalted?’

Because the man wore the gauntlet of the Exalted One.

The Exalted One.

The savior who once rescued the nonhuman races abandoned by the gods, the one the elves arrogantly called the Primordial Elf.

At first, Kurak had thought he was mistaken.

But what the marquis wore was absolutely the same gauntlet.

The memory engraved into marks passed down over hundreds of generations told him that much beyond doubt.

And that still was not the end of it.

If it had only been the gauntlet, Kurak would not have reached a conclusion about the marquis.

…Were it not for the Dark Leaf around him.

‘There were at least six of them.’

Kurak recalled the six elves moving in the shadows around Marquis Palladio.

Dark Leaf, a force formed solely to guard the high elves, each member possessing combat power on the level of a Swordmaster.

Those figures had been secretly moving around Marquis Palladio.

If the Black Leaves, which only the queen could command, were guarding him, then there was only one possible explanation.

“…Ha.”

Kurak let out a hollow laugh.

Even to him, it sounded absurd.

The dead had returned?

That could not be possible.

It should not have been possible.

And yet the being standing before him was enough to force even that impossible assumption into his head.

After sinking into thought for a while, Kurak finally broke the silence.

“When we return, prepare a letter.”

“…As far as I know, this is not one of the scheduled reporting periods.”

“It isn’t.
But something has happened that needs to be sent.
If what I think is true…”

He grinned once more.

“…then everyone will have to prepare.”

Because the world itself might be shaken.

####

About four days after Alon’s group departed from Theria for Lartania.

Alon, who had been moving along at a leisurely pace, unexpectedly met Deus in a village not very far from Lartania.

“…Marquis?”

“Deus?”

“It has been a while.”

“Yes.
Have you been well in the meantime?”

The moment he saw Alon, Deus quickly approached and bowed deeply.

“But what are you doing here?”

As Alon asked with puzzled eyes behind his blank expression, Deus answered.

“I was on my way to Lartania.”

“…To Lartania?”

“Yes.”

“…Then there would be no need for you to stop by here, would there?”

As Alon pointed out, strictly speaking Deus should not have been here.

Viewed from the perspective of Lartania, Asteria lay to the east and Caliburn to the west.

So if Deus was heading from Caliburn to Lartania, there was no reason for him to come through here, and just as Alon was expressing that doubt.

“Ah, in truth, there was something around here that I also needed to obtain, so I came this far.”

“Something to obtain?”

“Yes.”

“…Ah.
Come to think of it, I heard you were making something.
Is that what this is about?”

“Yes.
I was making a gift for you, Marquis.”

“A gift for me?”

That was new information.

“Yes.”

“…So that was what you were making?”

“That is correct.”

Deus nodded forcefully with a confident expression.

That innocent look of anticipation made Alon feel awkward for no reason.

He did think, suddenly?

But hearing that Deus was making him a gift made him feel good in spite of himself.

And seeing that he was personally running around and working this hard made Alon feel a little sorry as well.

Still, the pleasant feeling was stronger.

“And where are you going, Marquis?”

This time Deus asked the question.

“I am going to Lartania as well.”

“Then let us go together.”

“…Very well.”

So Deus joined Alon’s party.

The following day.

Alon met Deus’s younger sister for the first time in a very long while.

“Greet him, Shili.”

“…Hello.”

“…? Yes.”

Alon was inwardly pleased to see her, but Shili.

“…”

Wore a very complicated expression, one that even contained the slightest trace of resentment.

####

Underground on the outskirts of Lartania.

Ron, the manager in charge of the Lartania branch of the information guild, was staring silently at the hooded woman before him.

Srrk. Srrk.

Each time the woman tilted her head and moved her hand, another sheet turned to the next page.

The next page.

And then the next page.

After reading all the way to the very last page, the woman set the paper down on the desk of black wood and spoke lazily.

“Hm.
This is not enough.
Do you not have more?”

“More?”

“Yes.”

“If you want deeper information, the amount of money you brought is not enough.”

“Really?
I thought it was rather a lot.”

“…Ten gold is already a generous rate for this much.
Information on Upper Councilor Rine is expensive.”

At Ron’s flat reply, the woman hummed and appeared to calculate something for a moment.

Then she lifted the corners of her mouth and shrugged.

“Fine.
More information would have been nice, but this much is enough too.”

“Then leave.”

“Is that not a little cold toward a woman like me?”

“Your face is hidden by a hood, so I cannot even see it properly.
And this is a place of work.”

The woman smiled at Ron’s cold attitude.

“Then what if I talk business?”

“…As I said, to talk business, you need money.”

“I heard you also buy useful information.”

“Hmph.
Do you think you possess any such useful information?”

“Of course.
It is information that no one but me knows at this point in time.”

Ron looked down at the woman with a distrustful expression.

Even so.

“I will hear the information first and decide the price afterward.
If it is something we already handle, I cannot pay anything for it.”

Because he could not afford to miss even the slightest possibility.

“Fine.
Though I do not know whether you will be able to pay the price.”

“…?”

He gave the woman the chance.

Then, as the woman slowly approached him and brought her face close to his ear.

“The demon beneath the roots.”

She whispered quietly.

“…?”

At the same instant he questioned it.

Ron realized something.

A black fog had spread across the space where he had clearly been seeing the woman’s face.

And a strange object had begun taking shape.

The moment the eyes of that bizarre object slowly opened.

Burst.

Ron’s head exploded.

Blood sprayed out, instantly dyeing the black darkroom red.

And then.

“See?
I told you that you would not be able to pay the price.”

The woman, no, the apostle of Greed looked down at Ron’s corpse with its head blown apart.

Then, with a twisted smile on her lips, she pushed the blood-stained sheets from atop the desk into empty air.

“Now that all the preparations are done…”

As ripples spread and the sheets were sucked in, an abyssal body emitting a sinister aura briefly revealed itself between them.

“Then now… shall we move?”

When the apostle of Greed quietly left the darkroom, no one remained there any longer.