Chapter 384: Magic (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 384: Magic (4)
“I think that covers the general organization.”
“I see.”
Penia stared at the documents with hollow, sunken eyes.
Alon stretched his stiff neck. For nearly a week, Alon, Penia, and Evan had spent virtually every waking moment establishing a system for Divine Land.
“Phew—that was exhausting,” Evan said, letting out a light sigh.
Penia shot him an incredulous look. “Is there any reason for you to be exhausted?”
“? What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve been working my brain hard right beside you for a week, haven't I?”
“What’s the point of working your brain if nothing useful came out of it?”
“Don’t you know that just offering opinions is helpful in these situations?”
“And how exactly is that helpful?”
“Because someone would have had to say those things eventually anyway.”
“I don’t think anyone else would have said them, though?”
“Tsk, tsk. This is why people who’ve never had a real job are so—”
Faced with Penia’s provocation, Evan clicked his tongue and shook his head dismissively, refusing to back down. Alon leaned back in his chair, watching the two of them with a relaxed gaze.
“Ha? No matter how I look at it, I’m pretty sure I know more about professional life than you do.”
“You? More than me?”
“You seem to keep forgetting because I’m just hanging around here, but I am the Vice Tower Master of the Blue Magic Tower!”
“Being a Vice Tower Master doesn't mean you're good at social life. In the first place, someone who just barks orders from the top isn't exactly 'socially adept.' You don't even have any friends, do you?”
“I do too!”
“Who?”
Penia, who had snapped back even more hysterically than before, wore a smile that looked like she was suppressing a twitch.
“Don’t be shocked when you hear it! My friends are of a much higher caliber than anyone you hang out with!”
“So, who?”
“The Princess of Laxas!”
“A princess?”
“Yes! She was my classmate in magic school.”
Evan nodded with an impressed "Ho-oh." Penia gave a haughty sniff.
For a moment, Alon wondered why that was something to be so proud of, but then—
“And?”
“...Pardon?”
“And who else?”
At Evan’s follow-up question—or rather, his attack—the confident smile on Penia’s face slowly faded into a blank stare.
“Uh—well, that is—”
She muttered, her eyes darting around. Evan’s expression went blank in turn. However, Penia remained speechless, her gaze shifting everywhere but at him.
Finally, the moment Alon realized why Penia had taken such immense pride in that one princess friend she mentioned earlier, a solemn silence fell over the room.
“A-anyway... it’s that. You know.”
“Don’t change the subject!”
The moment Evan pointed a finger and spoke, Penia screamed, “Waaah!”
Watching the bickering resume naturally, Basiliora, who had been tucked away inside a wine glass, suddenly spoke up.
[Hmph. I utterly fail to understand why you are spending so much time on managing mere believers.]
“Then how do you suggest I manage them?”
[Is it not simple? Fear.]
Basiliora spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Alon shook his head, reminded once again that Basiliora was an entity that had received faith in place of Kalanon, the Lightning Receiver.
Of course, as he said, one could gather faith through fear. Alon knew of entities who had gathered faith in exactly that manner in the past. However, Alon had no desire to do so. That method wasn't what he wanted in the first place.
Above all, unless he intended to conquer the entire continent, he was well aware that gathering faith through fear was a novice's tactic.
“It’s not a very good idea,” Alon replied.
[Hmph. That is only because your heart is needlessly soft.]
Basiliora grumbled for the sake of grumbling. Yet, his voice was steeped in trust toward Alon.
Alon stood up as he watched the two continue their now-practiced—and perhaps even friendly(?)—bickering. Since the work in Divine Land was finished, it was time to head to Rosario.
“Kuaaaah! I’m going to pull out every single strand of your hair!”
“You and that nasty temper of yours—!”
...But first, he had to stop Penia and Evan.
Alon let out a faint sigh, feeling the peacefulness of a daily life that, for now, remained unchanged.
...It was winter.
* * *
It was exactly the next day when Alon made his move.
“Hmm—there really is still a lot to do.”
The winter landscape was barren, the leaves all fallen, leaving only skeletal branches. Alon, who had been watching the view outside the window, responded to Penia’s comment.
“A lot to do?”
“Yes. You said we had to go to Rosario, so I only finished the urgent matters, but there’s still so much left.”
“I see.”
Alon nodded. It was true that they had handled the affairs of Divine Land to some extent, but there were many other things that required attention.
If they were to proclaim it a kingdom, they had to consider the proclamation itself. Was that all? Even if there were many knights in Divine Land, a kingdom isn't built on military force alone. What a kingdom needs are people—citizens. Without citizens, a kingdom cannot be established in the first place.
‘Of course, I did ask Silli to handle that part...’
Silli had managed to create numerous believers on her own until now, but even so, gathering a population the size of a kingdom's citizenry should be impossible.
...It would be impossible, right?
...Yes, it had to be impossible.
Alon stopped himself from overthinking and spoke.
“There is indeed much to handle besides Divine Land.”
“Yes, there’s the magic—and you have to stop by the Magic Tower, don't you? Then there’s Teria. And shouldn't you visit Phildegrin at least once?”
That was true. There were not only problems to solve but also many places to visit.
‘I’ll have to move and handle them all at once soon.’
As he reached that conclusion in his mind—
“Ah, and you remember, right?”
“Remember what?”
“The Feet Running Through the Past—Kailas, was it? You have to meet him too.”
“Right.”
Alon let out a low exclamation. Come to think of it, he had intended to visit him immediately after regaining his memories, but he hadn't been able to because of the backlog of work in Divine Land.
There was no time like the present. Taking advantage of the reminder, he entered his inner world to meet Kailas using the Feet Running Through the Past.
“It’s been a while.”
He encountered Kailas, who greeted him. However, Alon couldn't return the greeting as usual.
“...What is this place?”
Because the inner world he had entered after so long was completely different from the landscape he knew. No, there wasn't even a landscape to speak of.
The place where he stood was simply pitch black, with nothing else. Yet, it wasn't an abyss-like darkness where no light could reach. Though the surroundings were dark, Kailas’s form was clearly visible.
When Alon asked about this contradictory situation, Kailas replied in a tone that suggested the answer was obvious.
“You’re stating the obvious.”
“...This is my inner world?”
“Yes.”
“Does an inner world... change?”
Kailas shook his head.
“Normally, it doesn't change without a truly massive emotional shift or trauma.”
“...Then the reason my inner world changed is—”
“It means you’ve experienced an emotional shift or trauma.”
Though I have no idea what kind of trauma it could be, Kailas added. He looked around at the abyss-like surroundings and asked, “So, what happened?”
In response, Alon calmly recounted everything that had transpired. Elivan becoming the Sin of Wrath. The Burdened One. The words he had spoken. And the encounter with the blue-eyed entity that followed.
After Alon spent a considerable amount of time calmly explaining the story, Kailas, who had been listening intently, let out a dry, hollow laugh.
“...Ha.”
“What is it?”
“Hearing your story makes my own situation seem quite pathetic.”
Alon fell silent at Kailas’s reaction. Thinking about it, it wasn't strange for him to feel that way. He was the Magus who had tried to become a god even as a goblin just to stop the Sins. The story Alon told was bound to disturb his mind in one way or another.
As Alon watched him quietly, Kailas took a breath to steady himself.
“Don’t look at me like that. I have no intention of being swayed by things that are already over. Though—it is a great shame I couldn't take revenge personally.”
“...Is that so?”
“Yes. Anyway, back to the original topic. Hearing your story, I can see how there could be various emotional shifts. However, I still don't understand why your Heart Image has taken this form.”
Kailas scanned the pitch-black darkness once more and looked at Alon with a somewhat strange expression.
“...Based on the path you described and what I see now, it doesn't seem like your thoughts have veered toward any extreme.”
“In the end, you don't know why the inner world changed like this.”
“Correct. If I had to guess, I could speculate it’s because you became that Divine Blood thing or whatever. But that’s a deduction you’ve likely already made yourself.”
Kailas shifted his gaze slightly.
“Regardless, training will be impossible until something is done about this Mental World.”
“Why is that?”
“Isn't it obvious? You can't use your power in this altered inner world.”
“...I can't use it?”
Alon momentarily doubted him and tried to manifest his power.
“Oh?”
Just as Kailas said, magic would not unfold.
“Hmm—I thought you might be able to do it, but I guess not.”
Kailas shrugged as he watched Alon, who looked surprised despite his expressionless face.
“Anyway, we’ll halt the training until this inner world is returned to something similar to what it was before.”
With that, he ended the conversation.
* * *
While Alon was meeting with Kailas and heading toward Rosario, back in Divine Land...
“Hmm—isn't this going to be a bit difficult?”
Three individuals were in the middle of a serious discussion inside the office.
“It looks that way to me as well,” Ryanga said, being the first to speak.
It was Deus who answered her.
“I agree.”
The one who followed with her agreement was Historia, who was sitting in her seat with a blank expression.
The reason they had gathered was because of the directive sent down by Marquis Palatio. More accurately, it was a suggestion along the lines of, 'If you can do this, would you like to try?'
“But we can't just sit here and do nothing, can we?”
“That’s true—”
“I agree. These are the Marquis's words.”
The expressions of the three were resolute. To them, the Marquis's words were a directive that had to be followed at all costs. Thus, they were full of motivation.
...Of course, regardless of their motivation, they had hit a major obstacle.
“...How do we gather citizens?”
For these three, coming up with a way to gather citizens was an incredibly difficult task. In fact, anyone else brought here would have fallen silent at such a topic. It was only natural. They had to suddenly gather a crowd that could be called 'citizens' out of thin air.
“I have an idea.”
“!? You really do?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Disarm the soldiers and turn them into citizens.”
“...We already tried that and failed.”
“Ah.”
Just as they were sharing what could barely be called 'opinions'—
“Everyone is here, I see.”
Silli, who had left Divine Land a few days ago to handle some business, walked in.
“Silli, you’re back. Were there any problems?”
“No, Brother. I just had some personal things to do while preparing a 'gift.'”
“Is the preparation finished?”
“No. It will take some time since I have to make it, but I think I can comfortably meet the deadline before the proclamation day. More importantly—why is everyone gathered here?”
Deus naturally relayed the contents of Alon’s directive to her. After listening for a while, Silli spoke with an incredibly light tone.
“Hmm—that’s simple, isn't it?”
“Simple, you say?”
“Yes. I don't think it will be difficult.”
“...Gathering that many citizens?”
“Yes.”
Silli smiled brightly at Deus and Ryanga’s questioning. At that sight—
“...”
“...”
Ryanga and Deus looked at each other with slightly uneasy eyes. They already knew. They knew that Silli could commit outrageous acts that would shock anyone while wearing that casual smile.
“Silli.”
“Yes, Brother?”
“You aren't... going to use any coercive methods, are you?”
Deus asked, just in case. Silli’s smile deepened.
“Oh my, of course not. He wouldn't like it at all if I used coercive methods, so why would I do such a thing?”
“Ahem—I thought so.”
“Yes, it won't be coercive.”
“I see.”
“Not coercive at all.”
““...””
Deus and Ryanga looked at each other, feeling a strange sense of dread.
“?”
Only Historia watched their exchange of glances with a puzzled expression.