Chapter 263

The underground waterway of Rosario.

It was once the place where Rosario’s chief cardinal, Anderder, gathered abyssal beings in an attempt to create a god for humans.

Now, it was thoroughly purged and had become a quiet place where nothing remained.

There, a man—

No, the Apostle of Purity walked out.

“Hmm~ I can’t say I’m in a good mood.”

The apostle muttered with a sour expression as he fiddled with his own body.

“Good thing I used a decoy, just in case.”

As if speaking to someone, he muttered quietly.

Then, as he stretched his shoulders, he stopped mid-motion and sank into thought.

‘……There really shouldn’t have been any point of contact, so what is this?’

Before approaching the King of Curses, he had done his own investigation.

There had been no known link between the King of Curses and Marquis Palatio.

‘Big brother…… huh.’

A hollow laugh escaped him.

At this point, even he couldn’t help but grow curious about the true identity of Marquis Palatio, whom he had only thought of as someone to eliminate.

‘……Could it be that Palatio is also connected to the “Hundred Ghosts” or the “Blind Dragon,” who were only planned for later? No way—’

The apostle laughed briefly at the ridiculous thought.

Even with all things considered, it was too far-fetched.

‘Well, it’s not like I was planning to visit them anytime soon.’

Truthfully, part of him wanted to go see those on his schedule.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the time.

Or rather, to be precise, he knew very well that “That One” wouldn’t be able to wait any longer.

That’s why he had come here.

‘I never expected to use my final fallback option, though.’

This place had been hidden away as a contingency plan.

“It should be ripe by now. Maybe I should take a look?”

The apostle walked slowly through the dark waterway.

Soon, the waterway was once again filled with a chilling silence.

***

Exactly a week had passed since Nangwon left.

During that time, Alon took care of the tasks that had piled up.

The first thing he dealt with was the paperwork.

Having been absent for over half a year, there was a mountain of documents stacked in his office despite Alexion’s diligent work.

It took him about three days to sort through most of it.

Afterward, Alon rewarded Alexion, who had managed the territory in his absence, with a bonus.

He then immediately resumed ritual research with Penia.

The technique Alon had acquired, Reverse Heaven, came with many side effects.

Moreover, Alon began learning not just his usual magic, but also other spells.

And then today—

“…So, you didn’t know about the principles either.”

“It’s only natural I wouldn’t. All I knew was that the technique called Reverse Heaven was used by the Primordial Mage.”

Alon had been discussing related matters with Kylrus while using the Footsteps of the Past.

“If what you said is true, and the Reverse Heaven technique alters concepts themselves, then the Primordial Mage might be the Closed-Eyed One himself. Or perhaps his disciple.”

Kylrus stroked his chin, pondering deeply.

Alon asked again with renewed curiosity.

“Just to be sure—would it be a big problem if the Primordial Mage really was the Closed-Eyed One?”

Kylrus shook his head.

“It wouldn’t be a huge issue. That’s all in the past now. But there is something it suggests.”

“What would that be?”

“If our guess is correct and he really is the Closed-Eyed One, it means the Primordial Mage was incredibly powerful. Absurdly so.”

“I see.”

“In any case, I understand now why it took you so long to return. A vague past, huh.”

Their exchange didn’t last much longer.

“Well then, let’s begin right away.”

Kylrus summoned a spirit dragon and prepared to spar with Alon.

Exactly one minute later—

“Oh. You held out a little longer this time, Marquis.”

“…We were talking for a while. It was still only about a minute.”

Back in the present, Alon replied nonchalantly to Penia.

Then he rose from his seat and let out a quiet sigh.

“Just to check—did you not use any rituals? If you had, I think you could’ve lasted a bit longer.”

To her question, Alon shook his head.

“I didn’t. The point of fighting Kylrus wasn’t to win through rituals.”

“Is that so? Well then.”

She nodded, but then as if remembering something, she spoke again.

“Oh, that reminds me. While you were inside earlier, I had a thought.”

“What is it?”

“Up until now, you haven’t been able to control all that mana, right? So, whenever you activate a ritual, your body quickly gets drained.”

Alon nodded in agreement.

Though it hadn’t been long since they began researching, there still wasn’t a clear direction for improvement.

This was troubling for Alon’s current research into rituals.

“Did you come up with a solution?”

“Well, calling it a solution might be a stretch, but what do you think about this? Instead of just using ‘sorcery,’ what if you used ‘magic’ too? More precisely, combining the two.”

Alon listened to Penia’s explanation carefully.

“…That could actually work.”

He nodded, finding the idea promising.

Then, one full month passed.

“Marquis, don’t you think it’s risky to keep delaying? It’s been over a month since the kingdom sent a letter.”

“Ah.”

Immersed in his ritual research, Alon finally began to prepare for departure to Terea after hearing Evan’s reminder.

This time, only Alon and Evan would be heading to Terea.

Although he really wanted to bring Penia with him so he could consistently use the Footsteps of the Past, she was unfortunately too busy.

‘Was it… an additional thesis?’

It seemed being recognized by the academic world was something extremely important to Penia.

So Alon didn’t insist on bringing her along.

After all, what’s important differs for everyone.

Anyway.

[……Strange. Something feels strange.]

[Me-Meoww]

“? What’s wrong?”

[No… This isn’t supposed to be a desert, right?]

“It’s not.”

[Then why am I sensing a familiar magic?]

“Familiar magic?”

[Yes, it feels like that beastkin’s magic.]

[Me-Meow-]

“Maybe you’re mistaken? There’s no way Seolrang would be here in the first place.”

[Right…?]

[Meow-]

“I really hope she is. I hope she’s here and gets dragged into a dress-up game.”

[Shut up!]

Back in his usual routine, Alon chatted casually with Basiliora, Blackie, and Evan as they headed toward Terea.

After a journey of several weeks, they finally arrived at a place where Terea could be seen in the distance.

“Marquis, do you remember that abyssal being from before?”

“…Are you talking about the slightly modified abyssal entities spreading around?”

“Yes, that one.”

“I do remember it.”

“It seems there’s quite a serious problem related to that incident.”

“…How serious?”

“Pretty serious. There’s chaos all over because of it.”

Just as they crossed the gates into Terea, Evan updated Alon on the situation with the abyssal beings.

“……Are artificial outer gods appearing now?”

“There haven’t been any cases of artificial outer gods yet, but even minor thugs who’ve absorbed abyssal beings are becoming absurdly powerful.”

“Even minor thugs, that much?”

“Yes.”

As far as Alon knew, the abyssal beings were originally added in Psychedelia’s latter half to balance the power levels of the protagonist’s party.

But even then, they weren’t meant to give that much power to mere street thugs.

And more than that, the quantities released weren’t that large either, which made it more puzzling.

Soon, Alon arrived in the inner castle.

“His Majesty is waiting.”

Following the servant’s guidance, Alon headed toward the palace where Siyan was.

He walked down familiar palace corridors and, like before, arrived not at the audience chamber but at the office.

The moment he entered, he saw Siyan.

There wasn’t much change in her expression, but her cheeks were slightly puffed out in a pout.

“…A humble servant of Asteria greets the Great One.”

Alon subtly observed her reaction as he bowed his head.

But Siyan only glanced at him and said,

“No need for words you don’t mean. It’s clear you don’t see me as someone great.”

She turned her head away with a curt reply.

Alon broke into a cold sweat.

In truth, this was entirely his fault.

No, it was something he couldn’t even make excuses for.

No matter how powerful Alon was, defying the Queen’s orders without explanation was unacceptable.

As Alon awkwardly cleared his throat and tried to read the room,

“Hoo—”

Siyan sighed deeply, as if she had no choice.

“Enough, sit down.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

As soon as Alon sat down, a sweet potato was placed before him without fail.

“Eat.”

“…Thank you.”

Even in this situation, Alon wondered whether he was really expected to eat the sweet potato.

Still, he carefully began peeling and eating it.

Around the time he was halfway through it—

“... …”

He noticed Siyan smiling gently as she watched him.

And he couldn’t help but wonder:

Does watching me eat sweet potatoes make me look charming?

A rather ridiculous thought, but—

……No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make any sense.

“I’ve finished eating.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Alon respectfully lowered his head after diligently finishing the sweet potato.

Wiping his mouth, Alon finally brought up the main topic.

“So, may I ask what came to mind this time?”

“Getting straight to the point with no small talk… You must not have missed me much.”

Siyan’s voice was tinged with disappointment.

“N-no, that’s not it—”

As Alon fumbled for a response, Siyan smiled as though she had been waiting for that.

“Just kidding. I was being petty and teasing you.”

“…I see.”

Siyan chuckled softly at his reaction, then extended her index finger to gently push up the corners of Alon’s mouth.

“As I wrote down, this time a memory involving you and the cardinal came back. It was a bit unusual, so I wanted to tell you sooner.”

“…An unusual memory?”

“Yes.”

As if tracing the memory, she stroked her chin and slowly began her story.

“It was in the audience chamber.”

“I see.”

“You were there with a rare troubled expression on your face.”

“I see. Was Cardinal Yutia with me?”

“Yes. Unlike now, she had her hair swept to the side back then.”

Alon nodded and asked,

“What were we talking about?”

“To be honest, I don’t remember the conversation itself. But Cardinal Yutia seemed to be pouting, and you were going along with it.”

“…Yutia was pouting?”

“Yes. I couldn’t hear the voices, but it was obvious to anyone watching. How should I put it~”

“......”

“She kept turning her head and going ‘hmph! hmph!’—something like that,” Siyan added with a soft laugh.

“After you left the room first, she approached the me in the memory and said—”

“…What did she say?”

At Alon’s question, Siyan paused for a moment.

Then, with a lowered voice, she spoke.

“‘Don’t… touch him. He's mine.’”