Chapter 251: …What’s Going On? (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 251: …What’s Going On? (3)
The first thing Alon saw as soon as he arrived at the Colony was—
Crrraaaaack!
"Masteeeeer!"
"……Seolrang?"
It was Seolrang, diving headlong into his arms.
Since his body hadn't fully recovered yet, he had intended to discuss the details later while he rested. To be precise, this happened before they even properly reached the Colony.
Seolrang had literally smashed through the carriage and lunged at Alon.
How long had he been soothing her as she burst into sudden, uncontrollable tears?
"……Have you calmed down a bit?"
"Mm-hmm……."
Looking at Seolrang, who nodded with a silly grin despite her swollen eyes, Alon felt his heart warm, yet grow a bit heavy. He realized he must have worried her far too much.
So, he did what he usually did whenever they met: he gently pressed down on her two ears.
Seolrang leaned further into his hand, looking blissful. Then, Alon naturally shifted his gaze outside the carriage.
Thanks to Seolrang’s violent welcome(?), the roof had been blown off, leaving the outside world in plain view. As he felt the incoming breeze—
"Mentor."
"What is it?"
"Why are you hurt?"
Seolrang, who had been grinning, suddenly asked as she noticed the bandages wrapped around various parts of Alon’s body.
"……A lot of things happened."
He had no choice but to be vague. Most of the wounds weren't from being attacked by others, but from the backlash of using the Art of Defying Heaven.
The Art of Defying Heaven essentially flips the law of Mana Burn, constantly churning out mana. However, what Alon hadn't accounted for was the speed of that mana generation. The rate at which the Art of Defying Heaven spewed out mana was overwhelming, easily surpassing the speed at which Alon could manage it himself.
The only reason Alon had been able to maintain his mana for more than a few minutes during the battle with Baarma was because he had used the 'Divinity of the Primordial Elf'—which he had managed to manifest again at the time—to regenerate his body to its absolute limit.
In other words, if Alon hadn't possessed that divinity, his body might have exploded the moment he activated the Art of Defying Heaven.
‘……Even with that divinity, it was a struggle to keep venting the mana out of my system.’
Thus, the wounds remaining on his body were mostly caused by the rapid expulsion of mana that he hadn't been able to release in time. Of course, they were infinitely smaller now than when they first occurred.
Regardless, Alon needed to conduct more research to properly utilize his 'Art of Defying Heaven.'
‘Even though I regenerated with the elf's divinity, that regeneration wasn't perfect.’
Alon recalled the battle with Baarma. At first, his body had regenerated well enough. But as time passed, the regeneration through the divinity had gradually slowed down.
‘……The amount of divinity flowing in was definitely similar—’
Thoughts he had pushed aside due to having too much to do now came rushing back. For a moment, Alon found himself lost in thought, until—
"Who did it?"
The voice broke his chain of reflection. Alon looked down and saw Seolrang looking up at him with an expressionless face, a stark contrast to her demeanor just moments ago.
"Who did this to you, Mentor?"
Her voice sounded the same as usual. Her twitching ears were the same, too. The only thing that had changed was the look in her eyes.
The golden eyes that had shone brilliantly even through her swollen lids were now dull and sunken.
"Tell me. Who did it?" she asked again.
"……."
Alon felt an indescribable sense of intimidation.
‘……Was Seolrang always like this?’
He didn't think he had ever felt such a dangerous aura from her before. Breaking into a cold sweat for no reason, Alon hurried to stroke her head.
"Don't worry. It wasn't really anyone's doing."
"……Really?"
"Yes. It just—things happened on the way back that led to this. Don't worry too much."
"Then that's a relief."
Alon breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he saw her golden eyes regain their familiar light. Seolrang stared at him intently for a moment.
"Still, Mentor."
"Yes?"
"If anyone ever touches you, tell me, okay?"
She spoke while tightly clutching the hem of Alon’s clothes. Noticing the worry filling her golden eyes, Alon simply nodded without any further questions.
"I will."
* * *
Exactly six hours later, as late evening approached, Alon’s party finally arrived at the Colony.
"Then I shall see you tomorrow, Brother. You seem to have gone through much hardship, so please rest well today. I will take care of any pressing matters beforehand."
"Thank you for your consideration."
"It is nothing, Brother."
Yuman left first after giving his regards.
"Marquis!"
"Penia."
"I'm going to be away for about a day too! I have something I need to do!"
"Something to do?"
"Yes! I want to talk about a few things with the Tower Master!"
Penia reported, bustling about with excitement. She was likely planning to talk to Selaim about the past. Alon nodded immediately.
"Understood."
"Yes! Then I'll see you tomorrow!"
As soon as permission was granted, Penia vanished quickly.
‘……But she didn't really need my permission, did she?’
Though briefly puzzled, Alon headed toward the Golden Mane Tribe's guild house, where he had decided to stay for the day. The moment he stepped inside—
"Welcome back, sir!"
"Hello, Marquis!"
A deluge of hospitality from the Golden Mane Tribe poured over him.
"We are so glad you're back!"
"Yes! It's so good to see you!"
"Really! Really, really, really, really! We're so glad you're here!"
"……?"
……It was an incredibly intense welcome. Furthermore—
"Marquis!"
"……Lime, was it?"
"Yes, yes! That's right! It's Lime! I'm so glad you're back! Are you hurt anywhere?"
"Well, nothing serious."
"That's such a relief!"
Alon couldn't help but be bewildered as he watched Lime, who was so moved that tears were welling in her eyes as if his mere arrival was a blessing. He had met the Golden Mane Tribe many times before, but they had never made such a fuss. If anything, they had always been strictly formal.
‘……Did I cause some kind of change in the past by doing something?’
A slight suspicion arose, but Alon soon realized why their reaction was so explosive.
"……Seolrang did?"
"Yes. When the rumors spread that the Marquis was dead, oh man—it really wasn't easy. She was scattering malice in every direction."
Evan crossed his arms and shuddered as if the memory alone made him tremble.
"Anyway, that's why your return has turned into a festival."
Only then did Alon get a vague sense of how things had played out. He recalled the faces of the Golden Mane Tribe members earlier—the way they all let out a collective sigh of relief as if they had finally been spared from death.
‘……Was it that bad?’
Alon wore a strange expression. Since he had mostly seen her cheerful side, he couldn't quite imagine Seolrang filled with malice. However, Evan had no reason to lie to him.
‘Yes, yes! That's right! It's Lime! I'm so glad you're back! Are you hurt anywhere?’
And hadn't the usually level-headed Lime been on the verge of tears while checking his entire body? Alon recalled Seolrang’s appearance from earlier. Her voice and expression had been the same, but there was that moment when her brilliant golden eyes had turned dull.
"Marquis. I haven't heard the details yet, but what really happened?"
Evan’s voice pulled him out of his memories.
"You mean from the moment I disappeared with the Hungry Ghost?"
"Yes. There was absolutely no contact for three whole months, was there?"
Come to think of it, he hadn't given Evan a proper explanation after his return. After a moment of thought, Alon decided to tell Evan the truth.
And as time passed—
"……Is all of that true?"
"I have no reason to lie."
"I know there's no reason for you to do so, but……. Yes, well……. I'll take your word for it."
Though it's still hard to believe—
Evan, who had been furrowing his brow repeatedly, finally nodded as if accepting it.
"Then please, get some sleep early today."
With those parting words, he left Alon’s room.
"……Ah."
Alon belatedly remembered that he hadn't properly asked Evan about the situation he'd mentioned earlier—that they were on the brink of war—but he soon shrugged it off. He would find out everything tomorrow anyway.
‘……First, I should get some rest today.’
Alon soon laid his body down on the bed.
* * *
The next day.
Alon, who had fallen into a deep sleep the moment he hit the bed due to accumulated fatigue, dragged his heavy body awake and headed to the Colony’s royal castle.
"……Marquis! I'm so glad you're alive!"
"It's been a while."
After a brief greeting with Karsem, who welcomed him with a bright expression, Alon had an audience with Karmakeses III.
And—
"You've come! You've truly come back……!"
He received an overwhelming welcome from Karmakeses III. While he was briefly bewildered by this sense of déjà vu, Alon tried to get the details of the current situation from the King—
"Ahem—well, you see. That is—"
But he couldn't.
"……."
The King glanced away. There, Seolrang was looking elsewhere, feigning ignorance.
"Whew— whew—"
She pursed her lips to whistle, but only the sound of empty air leaked out.
"Seolrang."
"Yes! What is it, Mentor?"
"I'd like to speak with His Majesty in private for a moment. Is that possible?"
"Without me!?"
"Eh—"
Seolrang’s face screamed 'I don't want to.' However, when Alon stared at her without budging, Seolrang gave in as if she had no choice.
"Fine—"
She trudged out of the audience chamber.
"Phew— thank you. Now I can finally speak comfortably."
"It was nothing. So— could you explain the situation in more detail?"
Karmakeses III let out a sigh of relief the moment Seolrang left. He pondered Alon’s request for a moment before slowly speaking.
"……Do you want the detailed explanation? Or the simple one?"
"I'll save the details for later. For now, I just want to grasp the general situation."
Karmakeses III nodded.
"The 1st Prince of the Ashtalon Kingdom—are you aware of him?"
"I am."
"He expressed his condolences regarding your death."
"Yes."
"His condolences were as follows:
「The death of Marquis Palatio is truly regrettable, and I express my deepest condolences. However, even so, one cannot remain stagnant. The Asteria Kingdom must overcome its pain and move forward.」
……That was the content."
Alon nodded as he mulled over the words. It contained some unnecessary flourishes, but overall, it sounded like a message of encouragement. He waited for the King to continue.
"……It's because of that."
"Pardon?"
"……I'm saying we're on the brink of war because of that message."
"????"
Alon’s mind filled with question marks at the next words.
"Um, did I hear that wrong?"
"……No, you didn't."
"How could that possibly be the prelude to war?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying……."
Karmakeses III sighed, then looked toward one side of the room.
"I'm very curious about that myself……. How on earth did this become the signal for war?"
He muttered gloomily. When Alon followed Karmakeses’s gaze toward the window on one side—
"……."
There.
Twitch.
Two golden ears, which hadn't been hidden properly, were twitching slightly.
It was because of you…….