Chapter 450 : Return (6)
“It seems like they’ve seen it.”
At Penia’s words, Alon asked back.
“You’re saying they know you used incantations?”
“Yes.”
When she affirmed, Alon hesitated for a moment before confirming again.
“Well, you practiced just yesterday, so it wouldn’t be strange if they simply knew that fact… but you’re saying it seemed like they’d already known for a long time, right?”
“That’s right.”
Penia nodded again.
“I realized it after talking with them today.”
“Did you meet the two Mage Tower Masters?”
“More precisely, I happened to run into Lord Norton, the Purple Mage Tower Master.”
“Hmm. If that assumption is true, then I can understand why the two Mage Tower Masters are going this far.”
In truth, even until today, their actions had been difficult to understand.
Of course, from an external perspective, there were many advantages to becoming close with Alon, but even taking that into account, their goodwill had been excessive.
But if it was because they had seen Penia use incantations?
That gave a reasonable explanation.
From what he had heard from Penia before, the use of incantations was something extremely significant to mages.
“Just in case, how much did they seem to know?”
“I didn’t ask directly since I was just vaguely dodging their probing questions, but it seems like they even know that one must receive a blessing to use magic.”
Penia added that the Mage Tower Masters had probed her exactly up to that point.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“Hmm. Well.”
Alon stroked his chin.
‘I’ve roughly thought about it….’
The reason Alon had experimented with incantations on Penia was to strengthen humanity’s forces.
If mages could use incantations, then perhaps they could stand against the divine-blood, or at least the bizarre monsters created by the divine-blood.
Of course, there was also concern about what might happen if incantations were handed out recklessly and ended up being used for the wrong purposes, but he decided not to dwell too deeply on that.
Incantations were fundamentally based on Alon granting blessings.
In other words, if he did not grant the blessing, or if he later took it back, then everything would return to nothing.
“Well, I was already planning to distribute them to mages who could use incantations, so I suppose I’ll spread them.”
“As expected, right?”
“You were anticipating that?”
“How long have we been together already?”
Penia let out a small chuckle before adding,
“But still, doesn’t it feel a bit wasteful?”
“What does?”
“In truth, if mages could use incantations, they’d be willing to pay a fortune for it. If you just hand it over without any compensation, it feels like a loss.”
“Hmm, that’s not wrong, but…”
Unfortunately, Alon hadn’t thought that far.
To be precise, he had briefly considered it, then quickly dismissed the thought.
What mattered right now wasn’t material compensation, but whether they could become even a small force against the divine-blood.
As if she had expected that, Penia let out a sigh.
“Lord Alon, then would you perhaps entrust it to me once?”
“…Entrust what?”
“Delivering the blessings to the mages. Even if we don’t take payment, shouldn’t we at least secure faith?”
At the reasonable suggestion, Alon nodded.
“That’s true, but I thought just spreading blessings would naturally gather it.”
“Of course it will gather, but if possible, isn’t it better to gather more, and faster?”
However, seeing Penia’s suspicious smile as if she had something in mind,
“If you have something planned, go ahead and try it.”
“Yes, then I’ll make some preparations and carry it out.”
For now, Alon decided to trust(?) and leave it to her.
***
A few days later, Alon headed to the Divine Land without Penia and Lainisius.
Though he would have liked to rest a bit longer, he couldn’t just keep resting forever.
‘Still, in terms of divine power, it does seem to be functioning properly.’
Alon observed his inner self.
What he saw was a massive, planet-like divine power that hadn’t been visible before, and a small shining star beside it.
Though clearly smaller than the planet, the star was shining more distinctly than before, proving that the expectations of Alon and Kalannon had worked well.
After staring at the small star for a moment, Alon thought,
‘Wait, now that I look at it, the divine power itself seems to have grown a bit as well.’
Realizing that the divine power itself had become somewhat larger, he released his state of observation.
“Lord Alon?”
At that moment, Evan’s voice called out to him.
There was a hint of confusion in his tone.
“What is it?”
“No, I called you several times, but you didn’t respond.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. Anyway, I have something to report.”
Without delay, Evan got straight to the point.
“I’ve investigated the additional things you asked me to look into last time.”
“…The things I asked you to look into?”
“You know—about the Star Cluster, the Empire’s movements, and the Divine Land.”
“Wasn’t that something I ordered before we arrived at the territory?”
“That’s true, but as I mentioned before, all the information guilds that should have been there were gone.”
“Yes.”
“Anyway, because of that, we only just received the information yesterday. As for the Divine Land, you’ll be seeing it soon anyway, so I don’t think there’s anything urgent to report there~”
As Alon nodded in recollection, Evan continued his report.
“We received quite a lot of information regarding the Empire and the Star Cluster.”
“Hmm.”
“I’ll start with the Empire. Right after we returned from the Empire, several factions of divine-blood began forming in the eastern region.”
“…In the east?”
“Yes. Apparently, there used to be only about four major divine-blood factions, but now there are quite a few more. Among them, the strongest faction seems to be called ‘Astarote’—”
Evan paused briefly.
“And this one is quite peculiar.”
“Aren’t divine-blood always peculiar…? That’s nothing new, is it?”
As Alon asked, recalling the various appearances of the divine-blood, Evan shook his head.
“I understand that much since I’ve been following you, but this one is peculiar in a different sense.”
“What do you mean?”
“All the divine-blood in this faction are said to wear black armor.”
“…Like a knight order?”
“Yes. Though no one knows why.”
Evan gazed into the air as if recalling something.
“Besides that, there are rumors that a ‘Devourer’ has appeared in the east, and that fragments of power have been scattered, causing the divine-blood to spread beyond the Eastern Empire and stir up the entire continent. But for now, these seem to be the most important points.”
As Alon nodded, Evan moved on.
“And regarding the Star Cluster.”
“…Hah.”
The Star Cluster.
A group of divine-blood that had suddenly been expanding its influence within the Allied Kingdom Alliance.
Thinking of them, Alon let out a sigh.
So far, the Star Cluster hadn’t done anything particularly notable.
However, the mere existence of such a divine-blood group within the Allied Kingdom Alliance was not a good sign.
Unlike the Empire, which was somehow managing to fend off the invasion of the divine-blood, the Allied Kingdom Alliance was helpless against their attacks.
Of course, they had the power distributed by the Seeker, but relying on that alone was still unstable.
If, while they remained complacent because the Star Cluster seemed quiet, the group suddenly launched an attack—there was a high chance the Allied Kingdom Alliance would collapse.
“Has the Star Cluster grown again?”
At Alon’s concerned question, Evan nodded.
“Yes. From what I’ve heard, it has grown even more than before, with about ten additional entities joining.”
“…This won’t be easy.”
As Alon muttered, Evan scratched his head and added,
“However, there’s one rather strange rumor.”
“What is it?”
“Of course, this is only based on observation and isn’t confirmed, but there are rumors that the Star Cluster is protecting humans.”
“…The divine-blood—no, the Star Cluster is protecting humans?”
“Yes.”
“…?”
Alon couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion.
***
While Alon was questioning the idea of ‘Protecting Humanity! A gathering of divine-blood, the Star Cluster,’ in Palantio, the two Mage Tower Masters and the golden dragon Lainisius were deep in conversation.
“Oh~ how fascinating. Did you make this yourself?”
“Yes. What do you think?”
“It’s quite well made.”
Naturally, the two Mage Tower Masters and Lainisius had not known each other before.
After all, the golden dragon had been embedded in an underground cavity of the wasteland until Alon saved him.
However, they quickly grew close.
The two Mage Tower Masters were deeply interested in dragons, a magical species, while Lainisius found their magic circles fascinating.
The golden dragon’s eyes sparkled as he examined the blueprint handed over by the two Tower Masters.
The two were equally captivated by how he instantly understood a magic circle that contained the entirety of their knowledge.
But only for a moment.
“Isn’t this part already constructed?”
“Mm—yes.”
“But many parts of the magic circle are missing. Is it incomplete?”
At Lainisius’ remark, Norton, the Purple Mage Tower Master, glanced at the blueprint before letting out a sigh.
“No, it’s not incomplete. It’s complete.”
“Then why is this missing?”
“Obviously because of the cost.”
“…Cost?”
Norton nodded.
“Yes, cost. If we built it according to the blueprint, it would require so many mana stones that operating the castle would be nearly impossible.”
She let out another sigh.
“It’s unfortunate. If only we could solve the cost issue, we could create something far beyond this.”
The Brown Mage Tower Master beside her also agreed.
“That’s true. Even the floating island we have now could be several times larger, or we could just apply floating magic to space itself—”
“And beyond that, we could implement large-scale golem production processes for defense against invasions and infiltrations.”
“Honestly, if we could control the castle gates with magic, it would feel just right.”
The two smacked their lips regretfully as they looked over the blueprint.
Lainisius quietly listened to their conversation before speaking.
“At this level, if I replenish mana once a month, it should be able to operate for half a year without issue.”
“…What?”
“Really…?”
The two Mage Tower Masters asked in shock, but Lainisius simply nodded calmly.
“Yes. Since I am bound to him and will remain here anyway, there’s no need to worry about mana. My mana is essentially infinite, after all.”
As soon as the golden dragon added that,
“…Infinite mana?”
“You mean we can make what we wanted?”
The eyes of the Purple Mage Tower Master and the Brown Mage Tower Master slowly unfocused as if entranced.
“Th-then would there be enough mana to include illusion magic using this structure?”
“No problem. The amount of mana is infinite.”
“Then what about this composite magic?”
“The same.”
At the answer that everything would be possible, the eyes of the two Mage Tower Masters began to fill with determination.
Something was about to happen.