Chapter 449 : Return (5)
The southeastern part of the Empire.
It had once been a brilliantly prosperous trade city, but now it had become completely ruined due to the divine-bloods.
Moreover, in that place where most of the Empire’s citizens had been reduced to mere tools of the divine-bloods, rarely, dozens of divine-bloods had gathered.
However, they had something far too unusual to be called typical divine-bloods.
Except when they gradually transformed into humans through stages, divine-bloods generally all had different appearances and sizes. Naturally, the divine-bloods gathered here were no exception.
All kinds of forms.
But there was one commonality.
Armor.
They wore bizarrely long helmets like those of plague doctors, along with dark armor tailored to each of their bodies.
They stood in formation like knights, and in front of them—
[Hoo-]
one being stood.
His body was not larger than the divine-bloods.
Rather, it was extremely small.
Almost like a human.
However, even if his size was human-like, his appearance was far from human.
Unlike the gathered divine-bloods, he did not wear dark armor.
Instead, what could be seen was gray skin, emaciated as if suffering from malnutrition.
And where his heart should have been, there was an empty hole, as if it had never existed in the first place.
And finally, two spears were embedded into his shoulders.
A black spear and a white spear.
With the spearheads piercing through both lungs and protruding through his ribs, at first glance, the man looked less like a leader and more like a mere criminal.
Even so, all the divine-bloods wearing dark armor were bowing their heads toward him.
After some time passed.
That being, who had been sitting on a broken stone throne in front of the group, exhaling languid breaths,
[Warriors of the great Astarote.]
[The time has come.]
suddenly opened his mouth.
[Now is the time to carry out our mission.]
[The blood of heretics has overflowed from death, granting us the opportunity to gain power—this must be a sacred revelation that will bring the great one down upon this land—]
His calm and solemn voice
[Gather the blood of heretics— and carry out Astarote’s command. We shall bring him into this world.]
echoed in all directions.
[Ah— Astarote]
[We are his spear, his sword, and his shield]
[We are his unwavering body~]
Inside the plague doctor-like helmets, crimson lights began to flicker eerily within the gray world. Quietly.
And with a chilling glow.
***
Alon did not particularly enjoy luxury.
Of course, that didn’t mean he disliked money.
Rather, he was quite fond of it.
Not for extravagance, but for the satisfaction of living a comfortable life.
Anyway, from Alon’s perspective, having the mages of the two Mage Towers build him a castle wasn’t a bad deal at all.
Of course, seeing the sheer size of the castle being constructed made him think, ‘Isn’t this a bit excessive...’ but.............
In the end, the cost-effectiveness was quite high, so he didn’t refuse.
He didn’t refuse, but.
“......Evan.”
“Yes.”
"Was there something like that in the blueprint we saw before?”
Alon blankly looked up.
The floating structure was still in the sky.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t exactly a castle, but rather something like a small garden and house placed atop it.
Anyway, it was still essentially a floating castle, so he asked.
"Didn’t something like that not exist in the first place?”
“As expected, right?”
“Yes. Have you seen anything like that, Penia?”
“I don’t remember seeing anything like that either......”
Following Evan, Penia also shook her head.
It was confirmed that the floating structure was not in the blueprint.
Honestly, if it had simply been added on top, Alon might have just let it slide.
It would have been a bit shocking, but he might have thought that such an addition could happen. After all, plans and execution often differ.
Of course, that’s putting aside whether a floating structure is something that can just be casually added.
However, the reason Alon couldn’t overlook the current situation was—
“......Um, Lord Alon?”
“What is it.............?”
“Doesn’t the castle seem a bit bigger than what we originally discussed?”
As Penia said, the castle itself had grown larger.
“......It has, hasn’t it?”
“Yes, according to the blueprint, it shouldn’t look like that.”
“Did they just use leftover materials to build more or something?”
Evan proposed a hypothesis, but—
“Just building that one extra castle on the right, which wasn’t in the blueprint, would cost more than selling one or two territories.”
At Penia’s words, he fell silent.
At that moment.
“Ho— human magic, is it. To think it has developed this much over a few hundred years. And in a different way from True Mages. Is most of it structured through formulas?”
The golden dragon Lainisius immediately recognized the magic circles embedded in the castle and looked at them with interest.
Watching everyone react differently, Alon organized the situation for now.
“......Let’s go inside first.”
It was finally his return to the territory.
***
Right after returning to Palantio, Alexion, whose appearance looked haggard but whose smile was brighter than ever, welcomed Alon.
After exchanging brief greetings, Alon was soon able to meet the two Mage Tower Masters.
“Oh my, you’ve arrived!”
“Welcome!”
The two tower masters showed extreme courtesy toward Alon.
"...??"
Alon looked at them in confusion.
Of course, he had been away from the territory for a long time, but he still remembered his previous conversations with them.
‘I’m pretty sure we agreed to speak casually with each other.’
Why had they suddenly switched back to formal speech?
After briefly wondering, Alon brushed it off.
The Purple Mage Tower Master Norton and the Brown Mage Tower Master Manram.
He greeted them lightly.
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes!”
“We’ve been doing our utmost to construct the castle!”
“All the mages of the Purple Mage Tower have been mobilized for the construction!”
“The Brown Mage Tower is the same! Nearly all personnel have been deployed!”
However, what came back was an intense(?) report.
And they spoke competitively, glaring at each other.
The two tower masters exchanged glances before continuing.
“Ahem— our Purple Mage Tower has upgraded the magic circles using alchemical materials intended for sale.”
“Our Brown Mage Tower has raised the quality of the construction materials to an even higher grade than before!”
They spoke enthusiastically, as if appealing to Alon.
The two kept pouring out their achievements nonstop.
From Alon’s perspective, it felt as though unpaid workers were shouting, ‘I worked more!’—which made things rather strange.
“First, I’d like you both to calm down.”
After calming the overly excited mages, he asked.
“About the castle currently being built, it seems there are parts different from the previous blueprint~”
“Ah! You don’t need to worry about that at all! We’re just building those separately!”
"...."
The words ‘Then why?’ nearly escaped his throat, but he couldn’t say that outright to people working so hard.
Alon organized his thoughts for a moment.
“It seems I’m already receiving more than enough generosity as it is.”
Alon wasn’t oblivious.
He had a rough idea of how excessive this generosity was, and where it came from.
However, he hadn’t imagined it would lead to something this absurd, so he cautiously brought it up.
“Ahem— as you know, it’s because I wish to build a very good relationship with Your Majesty.”
“The same goes for me.”
The two tower masters only smiled meaningfully.
Alon asked again.
“......Is that really all?”
“Of course!”
“That is truly all we want!”
They became even more animated.
Then—
“Well then, we’ll come again tomorrow! We still have work to do!”
“I’ll report the details tomorrow as well!”
Shouting as if declaring, ‘We are voluntarily going to work now!’ they quickly left.
“What on earth is going on?”
It was another day where Alon’s questions only increased.
The next day.
Before heading to the Divine Land, Alon was resting from the fatigue of his long journey while conducting his usual magic research.
Breaking the silence, Penia approached.
“Lord Alon.”
“Penia?”
“I figured out why those two are acting like that.”
“You mean the tower masters?”
“Yes. I think they saw it.”
“Saw what?”
“That I used the phrase.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Alon let out a quiet exclamation.
***
At that moment.
In the southern capital of the Empire.
In the place where the most splendid and grand royal castle in the Empire stood—
“So, you’re saying Contanias saw that borderland king and called him the father of the guardian dragon?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
Irenne Polantisia was receiving a report from a knight.
It was quite a shocking report, yet her expression showed no particular change.
After thinking for a moment, Irenne—
“From the looks of it, that idiot probably just misunderstood.”
dismissed the report too simply and sighed.
“Sigh, to think he’d bow his head to some borderland king over such nonsense, believing it to be true—just being of the same bloodline is embarrassing enough to kill me.”
She covered her face with her hand as if ashamed and shook her head.
At that, the knight spoke with his head bowed.
“I thought the same as well, but.”
“Why? Is there something else?”
“According to intelligence reports, the Eastern Empire’s princess also reacted strongly to those words.”
“......To that idiotic statement?”
“Yes. It seems she plans to visit the borderland kingdom after finishing her affairs.”
At the knight’s addition, Irenne fell silent.
Contanias’s fuss hadn’t drawn much reaction from her.
To begin with, she regarded him as nothing more than a fool blessed with a good bloodline.
However, if Serdea had reacted, then it was different.
She wasn’t foolish like Contanias, and above all, her intuition was sharp.
Sharp enough that it couldn’t simply be dismissed as mere instinct.
‘Come to think of it, she also proposed marriage to him.’
At that time, Irenne had also taken some interest in him.
If Serdea’s intuition had chosen that borderland king, then he must have something.
But even so, for that something to be ‘the father of the guardian dragon’—
it made no sense at all, so Irenne tilted her head for a while.
“......Darc.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to use your ability.”
“For Your Highness, gladly.”
“....I think I should verify that borderland king myself. And—”
she quietly gave the order.
“I should also test the ability I obtained this time.”
Opening and closing her eyes, which had turned an unnatural jade color unlike her usual golden hue.