Chapter 154 - The Road Home (1)

The day after Seolgak attacked Coloni, the city was in turmoil, looking little different from the aftermath of a bombing. Seollang had killed Seolgak and Rine had stopped Scorpirion, but the damage was still considerable.

For starters, the city wall had been blown away. Every building along Scorpirion's path after it breached the wall had collapsed into ruins, while Seolgak had laid waste to the area surrounding Seollang's guild. Moreover, Scorpirion had destroyed over fifty percent of the royal castle within Coloni's inner walls. Naturally, the mood at court was grim.

Under these circumstances, Alon was granted an audience with Karmakses III.

"... First, allow me to express my gratitude, Marquis Pallatio. You have helped us yet again."

"Not at all. And the credit belongs largely to Seollang, not me."

"Likewise, I extend my gratitude to you, Rine Grof. Thank you, truly."

"It's nothing. I only acted because Godfather was here."

"...? Godfather? Do you mean Marquis Pallatio?"

"Yes."

Karmakses's gaze returned to Alon.

"... Wasn't Marquis Pallatio with Seollang?"

"If that monster started rampaging, it would inconvenience the marquis."

"..."

Rine smiled.

Struck by a sense of déjà vu, Karmakses offered no reply. He merely heaved a deep sigh, his expression suggesting he had realized, Ah, she's one of those, too.

It was already his fourth sigh since meeting Alon. After taking a moment to compose himself, he spoke.

"My apologies. As you know, this situation is a considerable headache."

"... I understand."

Alon understood how Karmakses III felt. To Coloni's king, this incident was nothing short of a catastrophe. Worse, it was like a natural disaster: there was no one to hold accountable.

The financial losses suffered by the crown would be astronomical, even excluding the cost of rebuilding the royal castle. Of course, the king could choose to spend nothing beyond repairing the castle, but he would already know that was hardly a good option.

In short, he must have a terrible headache right now. ... He would have to scramble to rein in spending from now until the end of the year, even if it meant revising the plans for governing the country laid out at the year's beginning.

Alon silently offered a brief condolence to the man shouldering that immense responsibility.

Soon afterward, he left the makeshift audience chamber and headed toward the center of the ruined royal castle.

"My lord."

"What is it?"

"Are we really allowed to collect the corpse like this?"

Evan asked as he followed behind.

Despite having been within range of Seollang and Seolgak's battle yesterday, Evan had escaped without so much as a scratch, let alone an injury. When Alon stared at his pristine appearance, Evan looked puzzled.

"...? Why are you staring at me like that?"

"It's nothing. I'm still amazed you don't have even a minor scratch."

"... Was I supposed to get hurt...?"

"That's not what I meant."

Of course, Alon knew why Evan was so unscathed.

'Didn't he say he smashed through the window and escaped the moment he heard a loud noise outside?'

Once again impressed by Evan's unhesitating judgment, Alon belatedly answered his question.

"I can't speak for other kingdoms, but in cases like this, Coloni customarily awards all the credit to whoever dealt with the monster. That should be why it's allowed."

"Is that so?"

"Probably."

He didn't actually know the precise custom, but it had been mentioned several times in the game's Coloni, so he was probably not wrong.

In any event, having secured ownership of Scorpirion through Rine, Alon soon arrived where its corpse lay.

"... Wow. I saw it before, but it's really ridiculously big."

"Indeed."

They stood before Scorpirion's enormous corpse, which filled most of the garden.

... It lay dead with half its head crushed.

"... Rine."

"Yes, Godfather?"

"Did you say you finished it off in one blow?"

"Hmm, not in one blow, to be precise, Godfather. Its outer shell was tougher than I expected."

"I think it held out for about three hits," she added.

Alon looked at Scorpirion again.

'... Should I say this thing put up a good fight, or that Rine did a good job killing it?'

In truth, Alon had been astonished yesterday when he heard that Rine had killed Scorpirion. Taking down this abomination was by no means easy.

Though smaller overall than Rikrakhamur, Scorpirion sprayed venom from its pincers so acidic that it could dissolve any weapon. In particular, the dozens of venomous stingers fired from its tail meant instant death if even one struck.

The sheer number of stingers it launched made the attack devastatingly lethal, and even surviving the barrage was no guarantee of safety: the slightest brush with its deadly venom was dangerous.

In some respects, Scorpirion was an even harder boss to defeat than Rikrakhamur.

The reason Alon now wondered whether Scorpirion had actually done well to withstand her attacks was what had happened the previous night. When he had asked in bewilderment how on earth she had dealt with Scorpirion, Rine had summoned Pluto without warning.

'... If it survived three blows from that, this abomination is the impressive one.'

For a moment, he pictured Pluto's enormous fist plunging toward the ground.

"Impressive. It's no easy creature to kill."

Alon praised Rine once more.

"Not at all. It's the power you gave me, Godfather. I'm ashamed to say I haven't learned to use it properly yet. Besides, I can only summon it about three times."

"... That was without knowing how to use it properly?"

"Yes. Right now, I only know the activation words for summoning it and the basics of using it."

"... Then, if you eventually learn to use it 'properly,' could you summon the entire weapon...?"

"Perhaps?"

As she continued explaining, Alon felt a peculiar envy.

... It was rather cool.

"Ahem."

He composed himself, came back to his senses, and asked,

"... Are you sure I can take this corpse?"

"Do whatever you like, Godfather. I have no use for it."

After briefly thanking Rine for her ready consent, he approached the abomination.

["Kyu?"]

Once he was close enough to touch the corpse, Blackie, now free of Seollang's clutches, poked its head out. Unlike when it played with Seollang, its bright eyes were full of anticipation as it studied the abomination's corpse, then glanced at Alon.

This was different from the last time, when it had absorbed an abomination without permission. Watching it tilt its head at him as though awaiting his approval, Alon wondered if Blackie was gradually growing smarter.

'... If Blackie absorbs the corpse, will it absorb the discarded remnant of the Sins, too?'

In truth, there was little need for Alon to obtain the discarded remnants himself, so long as they stayed out of the Five Great Sins' hands.

In any case, he looked at Blackie and gave a small nod.

FSSSSSSSH!

Blackie immediately leaped in front of the abomination and began absorbing it. The corpse crumbled to dust and was sucked in within moments.

"Huh?"

Evan, witnessing this for the first time, was startled, while Rine watched with interest. Before long, Blackie had devoured the entire abomination, even faster than it had absorbed Rikrakhamur. Mewing contentedly, it climbed back onto Alon's shoulder and rubbed its head against him.

'So the remnant doesn't get absorbed.'

A gray nail guard remained where Scorpirion's corpse had lain.

He had successfully obtained Pride's discarded remnant.

####

A few days after retrieving the remnant, Alon confirmed that Seollang had recovered to some extent and began preparing to leave Coloni. He had already finished everything he needed to do, and he planned to visit Coloni again in two months anyway.

"I should've pretended to be sick a little longer."

As Alon's party prepared to depart, Seollang grumbled with her tail drooping. Alon gently reassured her.

"I intend to visit again in two months."

"Really?"

"Yes."

At his nod, her smile immediately returned, and she stepped right in front of him.

"Mentor! Do that for me!"

Her eyes shone with anticipation. Looking down at her childlike expression, Alon gently pressed both her ears, a gesture that now came quite naturally to him.

"♩-♬"

Seollang hummed, apparently pleased. Ever since the incident with Seolgak, she had asked for this instead of having her head stroked, and Alon had obliged without complaint.

Their conversation from a few days earlier crossed his mind.

["Seollang."]

["Hmm? What is it, Mentor?"]

["... Why do you keep asking me to cover your ears?"]

["Hmm, you know? I can feel how you feel."]

["... How I feel?"]

["That just like I cherish you, you cherish me, too."]

["Is that so?"]

["Yes."]

Cherish. To cherish someone...

"...?"

As Alon quietly recalled their conversation, a sensation against his own ears suddenly brought him back to the present.

... Seollang was struggling to lift her hands high enough to cup both his ears.

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm, I wanted you to feel it, too, Mentor?"

"... That you cherish me?"

"Yes. Can you feel it?"

At Seollang's playful smile, Alon let out a soft chuckle.

"... What are those two doing?"

"..."

They continued until Evan appeared, looking at Alon as though he could hardly believe his eyes, accompanied by a somewhat sulky Rine.

Then came their farewell.

"Mentor! See you in two months!"

"Yes."

With Seollang's cheerful goodbye, Alon left Coloni.

####

The second study at Marquis Pallatio's estate—which, in practice, served as Penia's laboratory—was ordinarily an extremely noisy place. Every day, all manner of bizarre screams rang out with frightening frequency.

A woman's savage shrieks and a man's sorrowful screams—no, sobs.

Thus, the servants had given the second study the unamusing nickname "the Room of Death."

...

Today, however, it was exceptionally quiet.

There wasn't even a clatter from inside, or the sound of something being tightened. It was quiet enough to genuinely astonish everyone.

Of course, Penia did have a visitor. But would that make Penia Kraisinne this quiet? Hadn't she always behaved exactly the same way regardless of who visited—or whether anyone visited at all?

Intrigued, the estate's servants cast furtive glances at the Room of Death from afar.

Inside the room were not the usual man and woman—the Kraisinne siblings—but two women.

"..."

"..."

"..."

One was Penia. Ordinarily, whenever her work went poorly, she would beat up Pelin and spew filthy curses, carefully leaving Marquis Pallatio's name out of them.

"..."

Now, however, she merely rolled her eyes about, looking anywhere but straight ahead.

Before her stood Yutia Bloodia, a cardinal of the Holy Kingdom, now rumored to be one of its three most powerful people. A red light shone in her eyes as she regarded Penia Kraisinne.

"Hello, Miss Penia Kraisinne."

"... I sent you a letter, but you never came to visit."

"So I came to see you."