Chapter 451: Return (7)

The next day.

A little past midmorning, Alon looked down over the landscape of Divine Land.

"...Divine Land really does seem to change a lot every time I see it."

"I think so too."

This time as well, the scenery of Divine Land had changed.

The central tent where Alon stayed was still there as it had always been, but all around it, buildings were going up.

"Hm—even so, half a year has passed, so I suppose that much changing would make sense."

"Has it?"

Alon nodded belatedly.

He hadn’t really felt it, but by the time he had met the Seeker, obtained the law, and returned, a full half year had passed.

"......"

Tracing back the time that had slipped by in an instant, Alon lowered his gaze again.

Other than the palisade and the central tent, Divine Land had become a full-fledged large village—something that could practically be called a territory in its own right.

"...Half a year is a long time."

"It really is."

As they came down the cliff and drew close to the gate of Divine Land, the knights, as if they had been waiting, came running out and began lining up.

Much the same as always.

And yet—

"...?"

Today, for some reason, Alon felt a strange sense of doubt.

By this point, the knights should have finished lining up, but they kept pouring out through the gate without end.

And on top of that—

"...Are they crying?"

"Not crying, exactly..."

"But they do look like they’re tearing up."

—the knights were looking at Alon with tears glistening in their eyes for some reason.

As Alon approached, his steps faltered.

No, why in the world are they making faces like that?

Just as he was starting to feel flustered beneath his expressionless face—

"...Lord Alon?"

Evan called to him cautiously.

"What is it?"

"...Have you, by any chance, come to Divine Land ahead of us without telling me before?"

"Why would I bother...?"

When Alon answered, Evan too glanced over at the knights as though he couldn’t make sense of it either, then said,

"...But if that’s not it, then why are they all looking at you like you’re some hero who sacrificed himself for the nation?"

And then—

"...Ah."

Only then did Alon realize.

That those tearful expressions on the knights’ faces were emotions born from loyalty itself.

'...I feel like I’ve seen this scene somewhere before.'

Tilting his head, Alon soon let out a low sound of realization.

He hadn’t thought about it long, but he remembered where he had seen it.

Knights tearing up every time the carriage passed by.

And Alon moving along expressionlessly.

It was just like—

'...the Dear Leader...?'

It looked remarkably similar to the reaction of people in that northern country from his original world, weeping with emotion when their leader appeared on screen while he had absentmindedly watched it over a plate of pork cutlet.

"......"

Alon quietly squeezed his eyes shut.

####

Receiving a sendoff as lavish as though he were some supreme leader, Alon stepped into the tent.

"You’re here?"

"Sili."

As if she had been waiting, Sili greeted him with a bright smile.

After they exchanged a few brief thoughts, he heard from her why the knights had turned out that way.

"...So, you’re saying Seamus gained power?"

"Yes. And I got some too, as a bonus!"

Sili nodded vigorously.

Without meaning to, Alon let out an impressed, "Oh."

'I knew things were going fairly well, but...'

Alon too had sensed that Sili and Seamus were making considerable progress.

Even when he was elsewhere, Seamus and Sili were still connected to him.

Still, he hadn’t expected them to gain power this quickly, so he was surprised for a moment, but he soon regained his composure and grasped the situation.

"...In other words, a rumor spread that Seamus and you received power from me."

"Yes, that’s right! I attached a few extra things here and there, though."

"...What do you mean, attached a few extra things?"

"Oh, you really don’t need to worry too much about it. Since it was going to spread anyway, I just thought, why not make it a little more helpful to you, Lord Alon, and added a bit of seasoning!"

"Seasoning...?"

"Yes, and of course there isn’t a single lie in it!"

Sili smiled suspiciously as she told him not to worry.

Behind her, Alon remembered the faces of the knights he had just seen, their eyes shining with tears.

"......"

Alon quietly turned his gaze and looked to one side of the tent.

Kalannon was there beside a structure that looked similar to a cat tower.

Sliiide—

The moment he looked at Kalannon, she subtly turned her head away.

"......"

"......"

Nod.

Just by briefly meeting Evan’s eyes, Alon conveyed his meaning.

"More importantly, what kind of things were you off doing?"

At Sili’s next question, he roughly told her what had happened up to now.

"I see—"

Watching Sili nod after hearing it all, Alon turned a thought that had occurred to him into a question.

"Are the knights the only ones who know that Seamus and you gained abilities?"

"That’s right. Of course, when Seamus first gained his ability, something unexpected happened, so a few more people know, but it still hasn’t spread yet."

'Just in case,' Sili added, and Alon nodded.

In truth, if something like that had happened in Divine Land, related information should have reached him immediately, yet nothing at all had been passed on.

He took a brief moment to sort through his thoughts.

"But what do you mean, just in case?"

When he asked further, Sili let out an ah and explained.

"I mean exactly that. We still hadn’t heard your intentions yet, Lord Alon."

"My intentions?"

"Yes. You’ve granted power up to now as well, Lord Alon, but this kind of power is completely different in nature. Depending on how exactly the rumor spreads—"

"The reaction would change too?"

Sili smiled silently and confirmed it, and Alon thought for a moment.

'My intentions, huh...'

The reason Alon had been trying to awaken divine power in humans was because of the Divine blood.

At a point where it did nothing whatsoever for his own self-preservation, it meant this was research he had carried out in order to place a weapon in humanity’s hands so they could oppose the Divine blood.

So—

"...Well, I didn’t have any particular intention."

"Is that so?"

"My main goal was simply to give them power that could stand against the Divine blood."

When Alon answered that way, Sili let out a small sound of admiration and nodded several times.

Then she asked with bright eyes,

"Then do you intend to increase it even more from now on?"

If he were being honest, his goal was to move beyond granting blessings one by one and fully automate the whole thing, but since that was practically impossible for now—

"It’ll probably turn out that way."

Alon nodded for the moment.

At that, Sili seemed to think something over carefully, then asked cautiously,

"Then, if it’s all right with you, Lord Alon, would it be okay if I selected the next person to receive a blessing?"

"...You?"

"Yes, of course, only if you’re all right with it, Lord Alon."

Sili emphasized it once more.

After thinking for a moment, Alon allowed it.

"I don’t mind. Though I’ll make the final confirmation myself, of course."

"Understood! Then I’ll start °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° moving in earnest from now on."

"...In earnest?"

"Yes."

Alon hesitated at the phrase that had come out of her mouth.

But Sili cried out, "Because this is a great chance to gather faith!" then bowed quickly and hurried outside—

...before Alon could even ask what she meant.

"...What?"

What was she trying to do?

A vague sense of unease began to rise inside Alon.

And the next day.

"...Um, Lord Alon."

"What is it?"

"I looked into the rumors, and it seems that..."

Evan scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, then relayed it.

"It seems the story going around is that, in order to grant power to humans suffering under the Divine blood, you 'personally sacrificed your lifespan and tore off pieces of your power to give to them.'"

"...What?"

...A story mixed with a little—or rather, a lot—of fabrication.

####

Around the time Alon was squeezing his eyes shut at the fabricated rumor spreading around—

a single crow was gliding through the sky above Palantia Territory.

That individual felt nothing like an ordinary crow.

A faint afterimage of magic lingered along its flight path, and its size itself was several times larger than that of a normal crow.

After stirring up the sky above Palantia for a while, the crow’s true identity was—

[Princess, we have arrived.]

"My, I see."

—the knight Malileus, a close retainer of Airinna Polanticia, Princess of the Southern Empire.

And on top of him rode Airinna.

"As expected, with your ability, I knew you would arrive quickly."

[Forgive me.]

The crow—or rather, Malileus—replied while transformed through the power he had obtained from a "derivative."

Airinna Polanticia lowered her gaze.

"This is definitely Palantia?"

[Yes, it is.]

"...That castle is remarkably enormous."

[That was my impression as well.]

"...Why in the world would they build such a massive castle?"

A look of doubt came over Airinna’s face.

Palantia’s castle was so enormous that it far surpassed the bounds of her common sense.

But she soon collected herself and recalled the reason she had come here.

The reason was simple.

To confirm the rumor that the king of Palantia was the father of the guardian dragon.

And to use the power she had gained this time to verify that rumor.

Once she had finished that thought, Airinna closed both eyes, murmured something, then snapped them open.

Fwoosh—!

The eyes that had definitely been golden began to shimmer with a blue light.

And at the same time, the world she was looking at was overturned.

The earthly scenery that had looked merely bright and clear just moments ago was dyed gray.

And what filled that gray world were blue flames.

"Hoo—"

Up in the sky, Airinna let out a small sigh.

This was the power she had gained this time. From the moment she used these eyes, she could see information about the living beings existing in this world.

And that was not all.

By the color visible to her eyes, she could also roughly estimate the other party’s strength.

Starting from blue, the color closest to ordinary humans, the flames gradually darkened depending on the subject’s innate power.

In the case of dragons, they scattered brilliant golden flames.

At once, she recalled how she had drifted through the skies above the Northern Empire to check how the guardian dragon would appear.

If Alon really was a dragon hiding his identity, then he would surely be scattering golden magic power.

Thinking that, Airinna looked around here and there.

"!"

Not long after, she found a golden flame and her eyes widened.

"...?"

But then she tilted her head.

Something was strange. The one giving off golden flames was not Alon, but—

"Hm? What was it you said?"

"I mean, I’m curious about your relationship with Lord Alon."

—a different man, one with an appearance like something from the heavens.

Airinna involuntarily held her breath at a beauty too extraordinary to be called that of a mere human.

Because that dazzling man was the owner of those entrancing golden flames.

'...Why is a dragon here...?'

The moment Airinna’s eyes filled with doubt, something even more shocking happened.

"What kind of relationship? Well, there’s nothing difficult about it."

In Airinna’s ears, sharpened by magic—

"We’re simply in a master-and-slave relationship."

"...Let me ask just in case: you’re the slave?"

"Isn’t that obvious?"

"......"

—came the shocking words of the shining man.

"I’m the slave, and Alon is the master."

Something a little—no, completely impossible to believe—

"...He keeps a dragon as a slave?"

At the dragon’s voluntary declaration of slavery, Airinna’s pupils trembled.