Chapter 147 - Toward Coloni (4)

Caslot, a domain of the Principality of Luxible.

“Heh. Same as ever.”

Reinhardt, one of Callivan’s Five Swords, murmured as he surveyed the still-bustling streets of Caslot.

“Commander, we need to get moving.”

“Yeah, yeah. All right.”

Elise spoke coolly. A woman nearly two heads shorter than Reinhardt, she was also the deputy commander of his knightly order, Siollan.

“And do not run away again.”

“I believe I told you I wouldn’t.”

“You said that last time, too, and then ran away.”

“There were circumstances...”

“Regardless. Absolutely not this time.”

Despite her small frame, she radiated an imposing presence as she fired off her words.

Reinhardt scratched his head and replied, “Don’t worry. However hopeless I may be, I wouldn’t pull something like that while serving in Callivan’s delegation.”

“I’m relieved you still possess a bare minimum of common sense.”

“... What do you take me for?”

“If you run away again, I’ll ask the commander of Eclipse to help.”

Eclipse.

At the name of that knightly order, Reinhardt’s face involuntarily twisted into a sharp scowl.

“Isn’t that going a little too far?”

“Judging by your expression, I believe it’s exactly the right approach.”

“Hah...”

A deep sigh escaped him. Just thinking about that man made Reinhardt’s head spin.

“You know what he’s like. Spending time with him drives a man insane!”

“... Hmm.”

“Mention a mage, and it’s Marquis Pallatio. Mention magic, and it’s Marquis Pallatio. Even magical devices lead to Marquis Pallatio! Ma, ma, ma! Anything with ‘ma’ in it, and he brings up that marquis and worships him for a solid hour!”

“Then shut his mouth.”

“The fact that I can’t is what pisses me off even more! That bastard’s gotten so ridiculously strong that I can barely even spar with him anymore!”

Reinhardt thumped his chest as though he were about to burst with frustration.

After watching him for a moment, Elise nodded.

“True. We were merely discussing statues when he suddenly began singing Marquis Pallatio’s praises. It startled me.”

“Exactly. I nearly lost my mind, too.”

“But that gives me all the more reason to send you to him. Now that I’ve warned you, you won’t run away.”

“... You really are merciless.”

“Anyway, let’s hurry.”

Elise turned her small frame and strode briskly ahead. Watching her go, Reinhardt shook his head in resignation and followed toward the royal castle.

“Still, it’s surprising. I never thought the king would get rid of those rotten bastards and restore royal authority.”

“Neither did I. I thought he was an empty shell full of nothing but ideals. But I hear he struck a bargain.”

“A bargain?”

“Yes. Because of it, Luxible’s state religion now worships a different god instead of following the Holy Kingdom of Rosario.”

A different god?

Reinhardt was puzzled.

“... Well, I don’t pray to the gods myself, but is that allowed?”

“Rosario has little interest in Luxible anyway, so it should be fine. Though they’ll certainly be offended.”

“So which god are they worshipping?”

Elise paused before answering his question.

“I believe it was, um, Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning.”

“Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning?”

“Yes. Oh, there it is. That statue.”

They happened to be passing through a square. Elise pointed toward its center, and Reinhardt followed her gesture to a towering statue.

“Huh?”

A statue that looked rather familiar to Reinhardt.

“Apparently, that’s the god they worship.”

“... That’s Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning?”

“Yes, so I’m told.”

“...”

He stopped walking and stared blankly at the statue.

It depicted a man in an ink-black coat, seemingly grasping lightning. His face had not been rendered.

Yet despite the lack of a proper face, Reinhardt couldn’t help being reminded of someone.

No, there was no need to be reminded of anyone. Apart from the missing face, it was simply Marquis Pallatio himself.

And the person who would do something like this—

“... Elise.”

“What is it?”

“Was the person who struck a bargain with the Kingdom of Luxible Deus Makalian, by any chance?”

It could only be that man...

“No. How could it possibly be him?”

Huh? It wasn’t him?

“But why do you suddenly ask?”

Leaving Elise’s puzzled question unanswered, Reinhardt could only stare at the statue for a while with a strange expression.

‘... What the hell is this...?’

####

Meanwhile.

“The Principality of Luxible changed its state religion?”

“Yes. Apparently, they switched to Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning.”

“... Can they just change their state religion however they please?”

“I’m not sure about that either, but that’s what I heard.”

They had reached the desert, and it was the first night of their crossing with a merchant caravan, as usual. Alon heard the news from Evan.

“... But I’ve never heard of a god called Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning. What sort of god is he?”

“It’s my first time hearing the name, too.”

[“Hmm. I believe I have heard it before.”]

“You have?”

At Alon’s question, the little snake nodded.

[“Of course, I believe it was a ve-e-ery long time ago, so I cannot recall it clearly. Still, the name is not entirely unfamiliar.”]

“So you don’t know after all. Just what you’d expect from a snakebrain.”

Evan seized the opportunity to needle Basiliora, who promptly retorted.

[“You are remarkably fearless for a mere human!”]

“And you’re a snake.”

[“I am a god!”]

“Then why can’t you beat me?”

[“Th-that was merely because I had exceptionally poor luck yesterday!”]

The conversation shifted to the strange board game they had played the day before, and their voices naturally grew louder.

‘... There never seems to be a quiet day lately.’

There had never been noisy days before.

The idle thought occurred to Alon, but he soon shrugged. He preferred a little noise and human warmth to silence so complete it felt lonely.

Then came another voice.

“Godfather.”

“Hmm?”

“Kalanon, the Receiver of Lightning, seems to be a native god of the Thunder Serpent tribe.”

“Of the Thunder Serpent tribe?”

“Yes.”

Rine, who was riding in the carriage with him, offered this new information.

“... Then the Principality of Luxible has started worshipping the Thunder Serpent tribe’s native god?”

“Well, judging by what we’ve heard, that would be the case.”

“... How peculiar.”

Alon’s expression turned odd.

“If you’re curious, shall I look into it for you, Godfather?”

After considering it briefly, Alon shook his head.

“No, there’s no need to go that far.”

He didn’t know exactly what circumstances had led Luxible to worship Kalanon, but it wasn’t particularly important to him.

“Understood, Godfather.”

Rine accepted his answer at once, then rummaged about and handed him something.

“Please, have this.”

“A sweet potato?”

“Yes. I prepared it beforehand, Godfather.”

It was a thoroughly cooked sweet potato, with just the top peeled to make it easy to eat.

“... Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Rine gave him a graceful, pleased smile, and Alon accepted the sweet potato.

Despite his expressionless face, however, he felt slightly uncomfortable. During their journey of a little over a week, Rine had been taking exceptionally good care of him.

... A little too good, in fact.

‘She starts by bringing me water to wash my face as soon as I wake up, then prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner herself... And whenever I don’t know something, she appears immediately with an answer.’

Her attentiveness extended to producing a cooling magical device whenever he said he was hot, or bringing him a sweet potato without a single scorched spot despite roasting it over a campfire.

“... It’s delicious.”

“Thank you, Godfather. It makes me happy to hear your praise.”

Rine smiled again.

Yet despite her calling him “Godfather,” Alon had the strange sensation of being looked after by a mature older sister.

“Please ask me whenever you need anything, Godfather. I’ll do everything I can to help.”

“... Thank you.”

“Not at all. You’re my one and only Godfather.”

Alon chewed his sweet potato as he listened to Rine’s voice flow like music.

The sweet potato was still sweet.

####

Several days later.

While crossing the desert, Alon heard a loud alarm, stopped the carriage, and stepped outside.

“There are a lot of them.”

“There certainly are.”

He had spotted a band of desert bandits.

A considerable number of them.

“... I suppose another bandit gang has sprung up?”

“Well, bandit gangs naturally spring up as time passes.”

“... Even so, there seem to be more of them than Bloodsand had.”

Alon glanced toward the horizon. The cloud of sand rising there was ominous.

“... There must be hundreds, at least.”

“Looks that way.”

‘... Even with Bloodsand wiped out, it would be absurd to expect bandits to disappear altogether from a place like this.’

He had barely finished that thought when Evan spoke.

“Show us what you can do, my lord.”

“Normally, shouldn’t you be the one to go out there as my guard?”

“Oh, come on. How am I supposed to kill all of them?”

“... What’s the point of denying your own capabilities?”

“Well, you know. It’s that thing.”

What thing...? Despite that thought, Alon resigned himself to stepping forward.

However—

“Godfather. I’ll take care of them.”

“... You will?”

“Yes. Please wait just a moment.”

Rine stepped in front of him, then walked ahead with her usual smile. Once the approaching bandits were close enough to make out, she spoke.

“───”

WHIIINE!

As Rine’s quiet voice rang out, a golden eye appeared above her head like a hologram.

An enormous eye with a halo.

Then—

ZIP!

With a brief, sharp sound, a golden cylindrical tube shot forth in an instant. It split into dozens of branches and pierced the charging enemies all at once.

It took less than a minute.

Afterward, the advancing dust cloud that had drawn ever closer from the horizon was completely gone. Every charging bandit had been impaled by golden tubes, forming an enormous jungle gym.

The merchants and mercenaries, who had shown tension and anticipation only moments before, stared in silent horror.

Eventually, Rine casually retrieved the golden tubes from amid the carnage.

“They’re taken care of, Godfather.”

She wore her usual smile, her eyes crinkling as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“... Right. But—well...”

“Yes?”

“... How did you do that?”

Having witnessed the entire process alongside Evan, Alon found himself asking the question involuntarily.

Of course, he had fought Kailas with Rine, so he knew she possessed some ability in combat.

But to this extent...

“It’s all thanks to the item you gave me, Godfather.”

“... The one I gave you?”

“Yes.”

“... The Eye of the Stalker?”

“I’m ashamed to say I still can’t use it very well, but I’ve grown a little more accustomed to it now, Godfather.”

Alon slowly raised his head to look at the enormous eye floating behind Rine.

‘That’s the Eye of the Stalker?’

It looked nothing like the eye he had imagined...

‘What is that...?’

A strange fear washed through Alon’s entire body.

A week later, Alon’s party finally arrived in Coloni.

And immediately upon their arrival, Seollang leaped straight at him.

“Mentor!”

“It’s been so long!”

“... It has.”

Alon barely managed to return her greeting. Seollang had already wrapped both legs around his waist like a snake and was clinging to him.

“You’ll give me your answer now, right!?”

“... My answer?”

With a beaming smile covering her face, she asked innocently, “It’s been two years! Are we getting married now!?”

“Ah.”

Alon could only let out a groan as his head began to ache.