Chapter 489: Castle Struggle (5)

"How about we decide in order from the oooooldest?"

"!!!"

At Seollang’s words, the atmosphere in the reception room froze.

The men, who had just been enthusiastically talking about the eighth floor—

and even Ryang-a and Historia, who had been making impressed “wow...” expressions while listening to Nangwon’s explanation—

all fell silent at once.

But only for a moment.

"Ahem— ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) I suddenly have something to take care of."

"I’m fine with any floor, so I’ll just take whatever’s left."

Deus and Radan stood up first.

"I’ll go take a look around the castle—"

Nangwon, also reading the room, quietly approached the door and slipped out in an instant.

And so, six people remained in the reception room.

But—

"Ryang-a—"

"Hm?"

Historia called out to Ryang-a carefully.

At her gesture, Ryang-a leaned in.

Then—

"Oh—"

The moment Ryang-a let out a small exclamation—

"We’ll head out too."

"..."

—she hurried out together with Historia.

And so, only four people remained.

But they weren’t paying any attention to the ones who had just fled(?) one after another.

"......"

"......"

"......"

"......"

The four sitting there looked at each other.

Seollang wore a meaningful smile.

The other three remained silent, watching each other carefully.

"So? Well?"

At that moment, Seollang’s voice rang out.

The women’s faces began to fill with conflict.

...In truth, right now, the advantage lay not with Seollang, but with the others.

Naturally.

Without question, Seollang was the youngest among them.

However, for the other women to have an advantage over Seollang, one condition was necessary.

A very important condition.

That was—

they had to acknowledge their own ‘age.’

"......"

Seollang looked at the three.

None of them willing to acknowledge their age in their own way.

Looking at them, Seollang inwardly smiled in victory.

Beating Seollang was easy.

They just had to admit it.

But she knew that was exactly what made it incredibly difficult.

So, with a smile—

"Since no one’s saying anything, should I take it that there are no objections?"

She tried to seal it with that.

And at that moment—

"No, wait."

"Hm? Why?"

"We haven’t agreed to that yet."

Magrina objected.

At that, Rine, who had been lost in serious thought just moments ago, snapped back to attention.

"That’s right, Seollang. We haven’t agreed to that method."

And when even Yutia stepped in to stop it, a trace of regret flickered in Seollang’s eyes.

As if she had thought she could push it through—

Rine silently stared at her for a moment before asking bluntly.

"...I had a feeling, but you found it, didn’t you?"

"Yeah. I found it in a lot of ways."

Seollang nodded, smiling meaningfully at Yutia and Rine.

She had barely muttered, "Then I guess we’ll have to postpone this match—"

"...Let’s decide it fairly."

"Fairly?"

"What about rock-paper-scissors?"

At Magrina’s suggestion, Yutia smiled in agreement.

"Oh my, that sounds nice."

"Rejected."

"No."

But Rine and Seollang immediately shot it down.

Magrina looked confused.

"Why?"

"It’s too advantageous for one person."

"That’s right."

"For who?"

At Magrina’s question, Seollang and Rine both glanced toward Yutia.

"Oh my? Do you both think I’d do something strange in a game like that?"

"Yes."

"Yeah."

"..."

Grit—

"Then what about drawing lots?"

"That’s fine."

"Rejected."

"No."

"Why...?"

"It favors one person."

At the immediate responses from Rine and Seollang, a faint crack appeared in Yutia’s smile—

but only for a moment.

Soon, they fell into a fierce debate over how to decide who would get the eighth floor.

Meanwhile, the men who had stepped outside and were quietly eavesdropping from beyond the door—

"Why exactly is drawing lots unfair?"

"Hm— maybe it’s something like being able to check the contents through some special method?"

"Honestly, it sounds absurd, but somehow it feels possible here..."

They looked at each other and nodded.

This time, Nangwon raised a question.

"Then why is rock-paper-scissors unfair?"

"Hm— maybe because you could change your hand at the last second with quick reflexes?"

"That does sound reasonable. Still, it doesn’t seem like everyone would be that disadvantaged."

"Or maybe it’s because of experience."

"...Experience?"

"Well, they all have quite a bit of that—"

Just as Radan unconsciously added that while rubbing his chin—

Creak—

The door opened.

And there—

"Radan, would you like to know?"

Yutia stood there, smiling.

"Ah? No, I mean— this was just, another topic—"

Cold sweat ran down Radan’s back.

But—

"Oh my, there’s no need to think so hard about it. Why don’t you try making a fist?"

Yutia gently suggested(?).

"No, I mean, this is—"

"Hurry."

At her continued urging, Radan found himself overwhelmed by the atmosphere and slowly raised his fist.

Yutia glanced at it once—

"...Scissors?"

—and made scissors.

A small pair of scissors made with her delicate fingers, especially compared to Radan’s size.

At that, Radan momentarily looked confused.

Tap—

Yutia’s index and middle fingers wrapped around his hand.

"Radan. Did you know?"

"...Know what?"

Squeeze—!

She applied force.

"Aaagh—!?"

A sudden burst of pain shot through him, and Radan’s fist instantly came undone.

"W-w-wait—!"

His legs gave out and he dropped to his knees, shouting desperately—

but Yutia, still smiling, unmoved—

"My scissors beat rock."

She tilted her head slightly.

Only after confirming that Radan had completely collapsed with a final cry did she release him.

Then she looked once at Nangwon, and once at Deus—

"Anyone else want to try?"

She asked kindly.

A perfectly ordinary question.

"......"

"......"

Of course, no one answered.

####

That night.

"...So you’re saying they decided to vote on who gets which floor?"

"Yes, that’s what I heard."

"Hm."

The castle itself was already so large—did they really need to go as far as carefully choosing specific floors?

Alon briefly wondered that, but nodded anyway.

His memory was vague now, but in the world he once lived in, people generally preferred higher floors over lower ones.

As he recalled residential preferences and came to his own understanding, Evan continued.

"By the way, Lord Alon."

"What is it?"

"What are you planning to do about the airship?"

At Evan’s question, Alon spoke as if he had just remembered.

"I did mention it to Reinysius, but I’m not sure exactly how it’ll turn out."

"Didn’t you say there was something from the Empire you needed to retrieve related to the airship?"

"I did."

The reason Alon hadn’t done so yet was simple.

He didn’t have enough information.

'It’s not like I could spend months digging through everything just to find one thing.'

Thinking that, Alon continued.

"Well, since I’ve already told Reinysius, I’ll wait on that for now. As for the airship... I’ll probably need to stop by the Mage Tower."

"You’re not going to Divine Land?"

"I should go there too. Come to think of it, I need to visit Teria, and Ar as well... and meet the Divine blood too."

After listing everything he needed to do, Alon scratched his head with a small frown.

Even though he had handled most of the immediate matters, there was still a lot left to do.

So, after wearing a slightly troubled expression, he decided to take it easy.

There was no point rushing anyway.

So—

'First, after I stop by Divine Land, I should meet Star Root.'

Just as he was thinking that—

"...Hm?"

Something suddenly occurred to him.

"Evan."

"Yes?"

"Come to think of it, where is Penia?"

Alon glanced toward the spot where Penia had been earlier.

She hadn’t been seen at all for a while now.

"Not sure..."

"You haven’t seen her?"

"No. Though now that you mention it, it is a bit strange. She’s usually always here."

At Evan’s words, Alon looked puzzled as he stared at her empty spot—

"Well, it looked like she had something urgent earlier, so maybe she’s just taking care of it or relaxing somewhere? She’ll probably be back tomorrow."

At Evan’s easygoing response, Alon soon nodded and put the matter aside.

####

At first, when Penia heard that Yutia had come, she felt despair.

The reason was the letter she had received.

Not just any letter—a letter from Rosario, and one bearing the name of Cardinal Yutia.

Penia knew exactly what that meant.

And so she desperately ignored it.

Because she had a very good idea why it had been sent, and if she went to Rosario just because she had received it, she might very well disappear without a trace.

So when she had just managed to tear her eyes away from the reformation letter—

Yutia showed up.

Naturally, Penia thought Yutia had come to deal with her, and she despaired.

But soon, she saw a ray of hope.

Yutia hadn’t come because of her.

She had come because of the castle.

And when she heard that not only Yutia, but others had come as well to claim the castle—

she was filled with joy.

The more people there were competing for the castle, the more Yutia’s attention would be drawn away from her.

So this time, thinking she might have survived, Penia decided to take refuge at the Blue Tower for a while—

and had quietly returned to Palantia.

Still, just in case, she thought she might stay out for a day or two, so she decided to lodge at an inn in Palantia and paid for a room.

Creak— thud!

"Phew—!"

The moment she shut the door, she let out a long sigh of relief.

"Oh my, you must be very tired."

"Yes, I am—...??"

Penia answered naturally at the voice—

then stopped.

Because she felt like she had just heard a voice that absolutely should not be heard here.

Slowly, she turned her gaze forward.

"Hello, Penia?"

"Y-Yutia... Sis— no... Lady?"

There, sitting on the bed—

was Yutia.

"H-ha ha— I think I got the wrong room. I’m sorry."

Keeping her awkward smile, Penia turned around and opened the door—

But the moment she opened it—

"Hello?"

Rine was standing there.

Click—

Penia quietly shut the door again.

"Haha... it seems the door got blocked in the meantime."

She laughed awkwardly.

But despite that, Yutia continued smiling.

"Haha, but I should leave, right? Yes, I’ll go. I entered the wrong room, after all."

Looking at Yutia’s smile, Penia immediately walked to the window and opened it.

"Long time no see."

"Been a while."

"...Ah."

Outside the window—

Magrina and Seollang stood there, smiling and waving.

Click—

Penia closed the window as well.

"I don’t think you came to the wrong room."

Yutia said with a smile.

Finally, Penia turned around.

"...Please save me."

She had no choice but to say it.