Chapter 242: Formula (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 242: Formula (5)
The blue-eyed goddess, Dowon.
She gazed at Alon in silence.
Alon’s expression didn’t change much, but he was clearly flustered.
[Hmm—]
Dowon studied him with a subtle, contemplative look for a long while.
[I felt a sense of mystery when I first sensed your presence, but seeing you now, you are even more fascinating.]
She observed Alon meticulously, as if examining a curiosity.
“…May I ask what it is that you find so fascinating?”
Alon, who had been silently enduring her gaze, finally spoke up.
She answered plainly.
[Everything about you is fascinating.]
“…Everything, you say?”
[Yes. It is fascinating that a ‘Magus’—someone who shouldn’t be able to exist right now—is standing before me. I am also curious how you have formed a ‘Covenant’ of our Cargunias, one involving a ‘God’ I have never seen before. And I wonder why that person is lingering by your side.]
Alon grew even more confused by the goddess’s words.
The only thing he could immediately understand was the Ring’s Pact. Everything else was beyond his intuitive grasp.
“Why do you say a Magus cannot exist?”
When he asked the question that piqued his curiosity most, Dowon smiled.
[Is it not obvious? It is because of the laws engraved by the Black Things.]
“…Laws, you say?”
[…]
The goddess stared at him intently as he asked for clarification. Her expression was as if she were searching for something within him.
Just as Alon began to wonder if he had asked the wrong question—
[I see—]
As if she had realized something, the goddess let out a soft exclamation. A gentle smile returned to her lips.
[So that is how it is.]
“…?”
Alon watched her nod several times as if she had reached an epiphany, but his confusion only deepened.
[You look like you have many questions. No—it is only natural that you would. Is that not so?]
Alon nodded at Dowon’s words.
“…To be honest, yes.”
[I thought as much. To you, everything must be a mystery. Unfortunately, it is impossible for you to learn the truth here.]
“Is that so?”
[Relaying something through words is not that difficult. In fact, I could tell you right now.]
“…Then why?”
[Because I was asked a favor.]
“A favor?”
[Yes, a favor. And from someone whose request I could never refuse.]
Alon felt a momentary surge of disorientation. Her words made it sound as if his arrival here had been anticipated.
“…Then, the reason you wished to see me was—”
[That, too, was because of a favor.]
Alon instinctively frowned. He had never met the god before him. Not only that, he hadn’t even known a god named Dowon existed.
Above all, this was the past.
A past where the Asteria Kingdom did not exist.
Where the House of Marquis Palatio did not exist.
Where Alon Palatio himself did not exist.
And yet.
“Are you saying… you knew I would come?” Alon managed to ask.
Dowon replied lightly.
[I had an inkling.]
“How?”
[I will say it again: I cannot tell you that. I was asked a favor.]
The more the conversation continued, the more Alon’s head throbbed. He couldn’t understand the situation unfolding before him.
Alon took a calm breath and organized his thoughts.
“Is there no question I can ask that will yield an answer?”
[Most of what you are curious about will likely go unanswered. Unless, of course, it is something already known to the world.]
Alon reached a conclusion. He didn’t know what the goddess was hiding, but—
Asking questions won’t get me anywhere.
It was a futile effort.
“I understand.”
[Do not be too disappointed. While there are things I cannot say, there are also things I must say.]
“…Is that also part of the favor?”
[Yes.]
As the cryptic conversation continued, Alon’s fundamental curiosity grew. Who was the being that had made this request of Dowon?
Alon waited for her to speak.
After a brief silence, she began.
[To give you a hint regarding your formula—that is what I was asked to do.]
“A hint…?”
[Yes. So, listen closely.]
Dowon began to pour out her words.
[First, do not obsess over the formula known as Defying Heaven; instead, contemplate what you truly need.]
[Second, do not try to find the laws.]
[Third, engrave it at the moment of birth.]
[Fourth, the Divinity of Green Life is regeneration.]
[That is all.]
Her voice resonated clearly in Alon’s ears, but the content was difficult to digest.
“…Could I perhaps ask for a more detailed explanation of—”
Alon started to ask for clarification, but Kailas’s words suddenly flashed through his mind.
“Never mind.”
He corrected himself. Dowon nodded, looking satisfied.
[At least you understand that much.]
“I ask just in case, but the person who made the request—”
[I cannot speak of them.]
“…I apologize for the uncomfortable question.”
Seeing Alon concede immediately, Dowon gave a somewhat enigmatic smile.
[Still, if I were to give you just one small hint—]
“Yes.”
She offered a tiny fragment of information.
“Red eyes?”
[Yes. They were a person with truly beautiful red eyes.]
Alon had managed to learn at least one small detail about the one who had made the request.
* * *
“Is it over?”
“Yes.”
After his meeting with Dowon, Alon stepped outside and boarded the carriage with Ashir.
Alon stared out the window for a moment before asking, “May I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“The Goddess Dowon I just met… will she not be participating in this war?”
Ashir’s expression turned subtle at the question.
“I heard you were ignorant, but you really don’t know anything. Are you truly a God of the Frontier?”
“…God of the Frontier?”
“Yes. After ‘Cargunias,’ where the gods gathered, collapsed because of the Black Things, gods with minor divinities started popping up everywhere. Quite a lot of them, actually. Just like you.”
[…]
“Of course, hearing the Eastern Prince’s story, it seems you aren’t just some common riffraff god, but—”
Ashir muttered to himself about how the great gods of Cargunias were different from the gods of the frontier. Alon said nothing in response. He saw no need to argue.
When an awkward silence fell, Ashir cleared his throat and continued.
“If you’re a god yourself, you should be able to see Dowon-nim’s condition. Having exhausted most of her power in the fight against the Black Things, she has no strength left. She will likely return to the heavens soon….”
Ashir’s voice grew heavy with sorrow.
Only then did Alon recall how the goddess had been flickering like a haze. He let out a low sigh and mentally reviewed the words Dowon had spoken.
First, do not obsess over the formula known as Defying Heaven; instead, contemplate what you truly need.
Second, do not try to find the laws.
Third, engrave it at the moment of birth.
Fourth, the Divinity of Green Life is regeneration.
To be honest, from the moment Alon realized he was in the past, he had hoped he might find a hint regarding his formula. In fact, he had intended to search for one as much as possible before returning.
However, he never imagined he would receive hints in such a sudden manner. It was as if someone had predicted his arrival in the past and prepared them for him.
Because of that…
A person with beautiful red eyes.
As Alon sat there, absentmindedly chewing over the information, his gaze fell upon the brooch pinned to his chest.
“…?”
He touched it with a strange look on his face. He hadn’t paid much attention to it until now, but he realized the red gem in the center of the brooch had lost its luster.
…What happened?
Alon examined the brooch again, but it remained dull, as if a light within it had been extinguished.
Just as he tilted his head in confusion, a commotion erupted outside.
Alon turned his gaze toward the window.
The scenery outside the carriage, which he hadn't been focusing on, seemed no different from the day before. Numerous houses, a large plaza, and the palace he was heading toward were all visible.
…Yes, if one only looked that far.
The capital looked no different from the capitals of the territories he had seen before.
However, what Alon saw now was slightly different.
[…]
The scene beyond the carriage window was one of starving children fighting over a piece of hard bread.
One child used a skeletal hand to shove a crust into their mouth while another reached out to snatch it away. Other children scrambled to pick up crumbs that had fallen in the chaos.
Beyond that.
A homeless person sat huddled on the roadside, looking utterly destitute.
A beastkin woman walked by, scanning her surroundings with wary eyes.
And several men watched her with predatory glares.
This was the raw, naked reality of the Allied capital, hidden beneath the surface.
As Alon watched this, unable to suppress the heavy feeling in his heart despite his expressionless face—
“…?”
He witnessed a truly bizarre sight.
At the end of a village alleyway, just at the edge of his vision, two people were standing.
One was an Elf girl.
The other was a human girl.
And Alon knew exactly who that human girl was.
…Magrina?
The girl with the nondescript brown hair was none other than Magrina Phildegrin, who had revealed her identity to him the day before.
For a moment, he wondered why she, who should be in the royal palace, was here disguised as a human. Then—
“!”
He saw it.
Magrina, who had been talking to the Elf girl just a moment ago, was suddenly seized by Elves who appeared from the surroundings and dragged away.
‘You are right. That is the undeniable truth. But—unfortunately, the world does not always look at the truth.’
‘Indeed. Even when they know it is irrational and impossible, they look for a scapegoat. They need a place to vent their anxiety and resentment.’
Kalandra’s voice flashed through Alon’s mind.
He didn’t even have time to think.
“…Wait, stop the carriage.”
Alon stood up without a moment’s hesitation.