Chapter 148 - Secrets (1)

Alon's thoughts briefly ground to a halt at the sight of Seollang's sparkling eyes. He let out a quiet sigh.

'Ah, right. I had been thinking about that.'

He did remember the promise he had made to Seollang. After all, around the same time, he had also arranged to meet the dragonkin again in two years.

Still, he was a little taken aback because she was more serious than he had expected.

'... No, I knew she was serious back then, too.'

There had been two main reasons he had told her they should think about it in two years.

First, he needed to look after her mental well-being in one way or another. Setting too distant a date would clearly disappoint her, so he had settled on roughly two years.

Second, he had thought Seollang's affection(?) would have diminished by then.

Alon already understood that her affection for him was less romantic love than attachment to family. If he had to draw a comparison, it was like a little daughter telling her father, "I'm going to marry Daddy when I grow up!"

He had therefore expected it to fade somewhat after about two years, allowing the promise to quietly fall by the wayside. Even daughters who adored their fathers and clung to them gradually became independent as they grew up.

Besides, although Seollang had already been an adult by this fantasy world's standards two years ago, she had still been young by his.

'... Though she doesn't look all that different even now.'

Alon looked at Seollang, beaming with her legs wrapped around his waist. Her clear, unblemished smile, seemingly free of any worldly worry, was like a child's. It put anyone who saw it at ease.

Untainted innocence, perhaps, was the best way to describe it.

... In other words, she hadn't matured much mentally over the past two years.

As those thoughts overlapped and Alon pondered what to say, a voice spoke.

"Seollang."

"Hm? Oh! Rine! What brings you here?"

Briefly startled by the voice, Seollang broke into another broad smile. Rine greeted her with a smile of her own.

"I have something to take care of here, so I came along with Godfather."

"Oh, I see."

"By the way, Seollang, it looks as though the two years Godfather mentioned aren't quite up yet. Shouldn't you wait a little longer?"

"Oh—is that right?"

Seollang tilted her head in puzzlement.

Alon seized the opportunity and immediately chimed in.

"Well, there are still a few months left."

"Aww..."

Seollang's expression fell, but only for a moment.

"Well, that's fine! That means I can hear your answer in just a few months!"

Her tail swayed, and her sunny cheer returned.

Seeing her utterly undaunted left Alon briefly speechless.

"... Yes. Let's discuss it again in a few months."

"Okay, Mentor!"

For now, he decided to be satisfied with a reprieve.

####

Shortly afterward, Alon's party moved to Seollang's guild.

"Wow! What's this?! It's so cute!"

The moment they entered the slightly cool guild office, Blackie emerged from the pocket at Alon's chest. Seollang's eyes sparkled at the sight of the black cat.

TAP!

Before Alon could stop her, Seollang scooped Blackie up. Alon started to speak, while Evan couldn't suppress a mischievous smile at what was about to happen.

Just as both men expected, red eyes immediately bulged into view all over Blackie's dark body.

But...

"Wow! It has so many eyes now!"

"?"

"?"

Though dozens of hideous eyes had appeared in an instant, Seollang seemed fascinated rather than repulsed, lifting Blackie even higher. Evan stared in a daze.

SKREEEEE!!!

As if refusing to admit defeat, Blackie opened the mouth on its body and let out a grotesque shriek.

"Wow! It grew a mouth, too! Amazing!!!"

Her eyes shone even brighter as she began swooshing Blackie through the air, as though playing airplanes with it.

"... This isn't how it's supposed to go."

Evan was dumbfounded.

[...??]

Blackie, equally bewildered, reverted to its normal appearance. Its gaze wavered slightly, and it even tilted its head, as though this situation had been utterly beyond imagining.

SKREEEE!

It let out another shriek.

But Seollang only said, "Oh! Wait a moment!"

She disappeared somewhere with Blackie and returned almost instantly with one arm full of things.

Before long...

"Wow! You look so cool!"

"..."

"..."

Blackie abruptly found itself dressed in a cute doll's knight outfit, held aloft like a doll in Seollang's hands.

[... Squeak?]

Blackie's eyes widened, as if to ask what on earth was happening. Perhaps the sheer absurdity had robbed it of even the will to threaten her.

"Do it again! The thing with all those eyes from before."

[Squeak?]

"I think that would look even cooler!"

Seollang's tail whirled with excitement.

Watching the scene, Evan said, "... Um, I think Seollang's standards of beauty might be a little different from ours. What do you think, my lord?"

"... Yes."

"Right?"

Unlike the two stunned men, Rine watched with a fond look in her eyes.

But that did not last long.

Just as Blackie began breaking into a sweat, Basiliora emerged, grumbling in annoyance.

["What's all this noise?! ... Hm? Pahahahaha! What is that?!"]

The spirit spotted Blackie in its dainty knight outfit and jeered.

"A talking snake?!"

Seollang immediately put Blackie down and picked up Basiliora in its spirit form.

["Ack! Wh-what?!"]

Basiliora gasped in alarm. Seollang, however, studied it with the expression of someone who had found another fascinating toy.

"Should I dress you up, too? I've got some outfits left."

["What bullshit! As if this great god would wear clothes meant for playing with dolls—w-wait!"]

Humming to herself, she began its makeover(?).

At this second bizarre spectacle, Alon and Evan—and this time even Rine—were briefly lost for words.

####

The day after they arrived in Coloni, Rine said, "Godfather, I'll be heading out for a little while, then."

"All right. How long will you be?"

"Hmm, probably a day or two, I think. Why?"

"If you don't return within that time, I'll assume something has happened and come rescue you."

Rine went still for a moment. Then, with a gentle smile, she thanked him and set off.

Immediately afterward, Alon also headed for the ruins early that morning, organizing his thoughts.

'... What I need to ask about is what Rainicius told me, and spell formulas. Is that everything?'

"Seollang."

"What?"

Evan gestured toward the little snake with his chin, looking curious.

"... How are you able to touch Basiliora?"

"How am I able to touch it?"

"Yes. Basiliora is in spirit form."

As if it were nothing special, Seollang made her hand crackle and replied.

"Hmm, because I passed the Essence's trials?"

"The Essence's trials?"

"Yes, this thing Mentor gave me."

Showing him the gauntlet on her hand, she added, "Every time you pass one of the Essence's trials, it gives you an ability. Though no one outside our race can use it."

"... That's an incredible item."

Evan sounded impressed. Alon, who had found himself listening to their conversation, inwardly marveled as well. He had known Seollang's Essence held a secret, but he hadn't known it was anything like that.

"Then you gain another ability every time you pass a trial?"

"Hmm, that's right?"

"How many abilities have you gained, then?"

"... Five?"

"How many trials are there in total?"

At Evan's question, Seollang counted on her fingers for a moment before exclaiming, "Oh, eight!"

"Eight?"

"Yes! But I haven't passed the sixth one yet."

"Why not?"

"The condition is that I have to feel anger? But I haven't really had any reason to? The Essence says this is the turning point."

"The turning point?"

"Yes, to see whether I qualify to be a king... Something like that?"

Evan hummed in acknowledgment, then shrugged.

"Well, you're taking it easy now, though, right? You're plenty strong already."

"No?"

"Why?"

"What do you mean, why? Of course I need to get stronger if I want revenge. The same goes for protecting Mentor."

"... His Lordship?"

"Yes!"

Evan glanced back at Alon, tilting his head.

"Isn't His Lordship strong enough now that he doesn't need anyone to protect him?"

"I still want to protect him!"

Seollang thrust Blackie up into the air as she proudly declared it.

Alon smiled faintly despite himself. Having someone care about him felt rather nice.

How long had they been crossing the desert, exchanging such small talk?

"We're here!"

With Seollang's cheerful announcement, they finally entered the ruins.

####

Immediately upon arriving at the ruins, Alon headed straight into the tower at their center, as usual.

["It's been a long time."]

The moment he spotted the dragonkin looking his way as though awaiting him, he murmured without thinking.

"... Blue?"

["Oh, it seems you're starting to see a little more now."]

Unlike before, when he had seen only black shadows and white, he could now even see that the dragonkin's eyes were blue.

He gazed at those eyes in fascination for a moment, then collected himself and got down to business.

"... I have a great deal to tell you after two years. Do you have enough time?"

["Well, don't worry. Refining the thing you left with me took some effort, but there's still plenty of time to talk."]

At that, Alon organized his thoughts once more and began with events from two years ago—his encounter with the Observer.

Then...

["Wait. Then you're saying—you never saw the past after all?"]

"That's right. I saw an eye instead."

["... That shouldn't be possible."]

The dragonkin tilted his head, unable to understand Alon's account.

["Tell me exactly what happened, in detail."]

Alon described the situation in greater detail, covering everything from looking into the mirror to what the eye had said in that place resembling the cosmos.

The dragonkin listened quietly, tapping his chin for a while before summing up Alon's account.

["So, what you're saying is that an enormous eye stopped you just before you could see the past. An eye of an utterly impossible size, at that."]

"Yes."

The dragonkin let out a thoughtful hum and sank into contemplation again—for quite a long time.

Just as Alon was beginning to wonder, he spoke.

["Do you remember before?"]

"... Before?"

["Yes. When you asked me about the 'black thing.'"]

Alon nodded.

"Didn't you say something about my having won the favor of a high god?"

This time, the dragonkin nodded.

["Yes, that is indeed what I told you then. I had a rough idea of what the black thing and the blue thing were."]

"... But why are you asking about that?"

The dragonkin adopted a distinctly serious expression.

["I'll keep this brief. It seems my guess was wrong."]

"... You misjudged the information?"

["Yes. As the Observer may have told you, the power of the Bronze Mirror That Records History is absolute. Interfering with it would be impossible even for the 'black thing' or 'blue thing' I originally had in mind."]

"... Is interfering with the mirror really that difficult?"

["The black thing and blue thing I had in mind were beings who, although they ultimately lost their names, succeeded in sealing more than half the black things' power in the battle against them."]

To put it plainly, the dragonkin added, they had ranked among the top five even among their gods.

He paused to steady his breathing, then continued.

["Even so, they could not interfere with the mirror's power."]

"Why not?"

["Because that mirror was created before even our time—in an earlier generation that cannot be observed. In other words, to be able to interfere effortlessly with an object made in that earlier generation..."]

The dragonkin let out an involuntary, incredulous laugh.

["...means it is a being far higher than even the five gods of the past."]