Up until now, the King of Caliban Alon had seen was, in a good way or a bad way, pretty close to the classic image of a monarch.
His pride as a king ran high, so no matter who he was dealing with, he didn't easily throw away his dignity. And yet, for all that, he was a king who was quietly sincere about caring for his people. In the game, and even during the time Alon had actually known him, he'd been the same.
......So maybe that was why.
Truly, I'm grateful.
With Palmarian nodding earnestly and refusing to let go of the hand he'd grabbed, Alon's worries only deepened.
'Did Palmarian... actually like stuff like that?'
A hypothesis surfaced in Alon's mind, but within seconds, he firmly scrapped it.
No matter how far back he combed through his memories, he'd never even heard a faint rumor, let alone any information, that Palmarian had that kind of... preference.
And even if Palmarian did like statues, if the form was "a statue like that striking the northern governor pose"...... wouldn't anyone turn it down?
So Alon immediately considered another possibility.
Maybe he was being threatened—
Alon looked into Palmarian's two eyes, brimming with goodwill.
Since he couldn't exactly say, If you're being threatened by Deus, secretly wave a carrot for me, Alon casually turned his gaze to check on Deus.
When he saw Deus nodding over and over with a face that said, Yeah, yeah, this is right, Alon realized his second assumption was wrong, too.
......Or had he seriously been hypnotized or something? With goodwill packed into his very eyes, it honestly felt like a reasonable suspicion.
And hadn't Evan said it was a gift Sili sent? Alon started worrying that there really might be some kind of device built into the statue, but in the end, he denied that as well.
When they'd passed the statue earlier, he hadn't felt any special power, like magic.
......Then what the hell was it?
The rest of the group, excluding Deus, also had faces full of confusion. And just as Alon threw the question at himself again—
No, we shouldn't be standing around here. You came to meet that person, didn't you?
The king carried on the conversation.
That's true, but...... I didn't see them when we entered Caliban.
It wasn't hard for Alon to guess who the king meant by "that person."
Could you wait here for a moment?
Palmarian nodded as if to say not to worry.
......? Yes, understood.
The moment he heard Alon's answer, he left with Deus. That left Alon and the others stranded in the audience chamber.
After a brief silence fell—
Hm.............
After confirming there were no knights or guards posted separately in the audience chamber, Evan looked at Alon.
Marquis.
What is it?
......Even if you don't want to apologize, isn't it a bit much to hypnotize him?
......Are you seriously saying that?
Well, I mean, it does feel kind of weird imagining you bowing your head, Marquis, but—
I think it's fascinating too. There's no such magic......? Ah, wait—could it be the divine power you awakened this time?
Penia joined in with Evan. With a complicated feeling tucked behind a blank expression, Alon said,
Then it's not divine power?
So you developed that kind of magic without telling us.
......How about we start by stepping away from the premise that I did something to the king.
You didn't?
I didn't.
You really didn't?
I said I didn't.......
Alon let out a sigh under Penia and Evan's indiscriminate questioning. Penia and Evan, as if they couldn't get over it, added,
......I was sure it was hypnosis.
Same. I mean, if he liked some other kind of statue, fine, but that one is.......
Ah, I feel the same way. Wow. For the first time in ten million years, we're on the same page.
Ten million years...?
That's about how far apart we are emotionally.
......You really know how to stab someone without blinking.
Alon blankly listened to Penia and Evan's back-and-forth for a moment.
Then—
Sorry to keep you waiting. Shall we go, then?
Following Palmarian—who had returned to the audience chamber—Alon moved. The place they arrived at was beneath the royal family's grounds.
This is?
A subterranean vault our royal family made a very long time ago. I don't know what it was built for, though.
Without meaning to, Alon let out a small sound of amazement. Caliban's underground, reached through the passage, was so wide it was ridiculous.
It was so huge you could practically call it a massive underground city. Thinking, How can they even build Caliban on top of something this big? Alon kept heading deeper inside after Palmarian.
Soon, when they reached a certain point underground—
From here, could you go alone?
Is there a reason?
That person says they want to speak with you one-on-one.
Palmarian said it, and Alon nodded, still puzzled.
So Alon walked alone through the underground—somewhat dark, yet strangely bright enough that he could see as much as he needed.
At a sudden, profound presence, he stopped without meaning to.
His calm heart started pounding, and a strange sensation of tension crawled over his whole body.
Alon knew that feeling well.
So he stayed where he was, slowly lifting his gaze.
And then he could see the giant.
A giant whose entire body was coated in blue light. A giant so overwhelmingly massive he had to crane his head far back to even look at it.
Meeting its gaze, Alon reflexively made a tense expression.
Grrrk—
As he watched the giant rise, he quietly started moving his magic.
He knew the other party was Divine blood that had helped Caliban, and that it had said favorable things about him. Still—just in case.
Thud!
But at what the giant did next, Alon had no choice but to scatter his magic without thinking.
Because the giant knelt respectfully on one knee in front of Alon and said,
[Greetings, Star Eater, friend of the great Divine blood, the One Who Stares into the Abyss.]
The giant's voice rumbled.
For a moment, Alon couldn't open his mouth.
It wasn't just that he was surprised—he couldn't even get a sense of how he was supposed to respond.
If it were up to him, since he'd finally run into a favorable Divine blood, he wanted to ask all sorts of things. The problem was that Alon didn't properly understand this "relationship."
If he asked something while knowing nothing, and it didn't line up with what Divine blood assumed, and that caused trouble...
If a fight broke out here?
......Thinking about the fact that Caliban's capital was right above them, that absolutely couldn't happen.
So while Alon was thinking, Should I act? the giant—silent until now—
[As expected...!]
—suddenly spoke on its own.
Alon was even more bewildered. But since his face didn't show emotion by default, the giant failed to notice what Alon was feeling and shouted in excitement,
[Incredible...!]
......What?
[Didn't you kill two Divine blood while wearing the body of a lowly creature for the sake of karma? Truly incredible!]
The giant suddenly started clapping passionately.
Alon was flustered by the sight, but—
[However, since you cast aside all your former power and came down for the sake of achievement, you must still be in great danger. Until you regain your strength, I will faithfully attend you.]
As the giant nodded with a solemn face, Alon understood, to some degree, how the giant saw him.
After a brief moment of thought, Alon said,
Then I'll be counting on you.
[Yes!]
For now, he decided he'd play along and squeeze information out of the giant.
'The Divine blood in front of me thinks I'm the "One Who Stares into the Abyss"'s friend, and that I came down to the human world wearing a human shell and abandoning my original power for the sake of achievements... and it's misunderstanding all of that.'
Once he organized it that far, a question came to Alon.
Why the One Who Stares into the Abyss called him a friend. And what exactly the Star Eater's "achievements" were.
Of course, he could roughly resolve the first question.
Back then, there were those who spat out curse-filled words at him, but there were also those who answered him in a friendly way.
......Of course, he still didn't know why they spoke to Alon with those feelings.
Alon continued thinking.
How to ask what he wanted without getting caught "acting."
After a short bout of deliberation, he decided to start with the question least likely to raise suspicion.
......There's something I want to ask.
[Speak, Star Eater.]
For some reason, the giant looked at Alon with sparkling eyes full of respect.
......Receiving that burdensome look that felt like he'd seen it somewhere before, Alon forced himself to ask casually,
There should be other countries. Why did you save Caliban?
There were many different countries in the Allied Kingdoms. Ashtalon had fallen, but even excluding that kingdom, there were still more than ten nations, large and small.
So Alon was curious how Caliban had been chosen.
To that question, the giant said,
[Because, of course, this is territory the Star Eater protects.]
......Territory I protect?
[Yes. The moment I saw the statue here, I understood at once.]
And then—
......Ah.
Only then did it feel like every puzzle piece clicked into place for Alon.
Why Palmarian—who didn't even like statues, and who, for good or ill, was a man close to the word "king"—had treated him with such overwhelming goodwill.
[The others likely moved the same way as well.]
I... see.
At the giant's words, Alon barely managed to nod.
The world was in utter turmoil because of Divine blood.
And yet, Saintess Sili Makalian had been living faithfully as always, even recently.
For example, gathering believers for that great person. Or, by that great person's command, sending "gifts" to each nation.
In the middle of that—
Saintess!
Come in.
When Sili saw Seamus rush into her office, she asked,
What is it?
That... I have something to tell you about the gifts....
Seamus opened his mouth carefully. Sili nodded with an Mmm— as if she'd expected it.
Recently, following that great person's will, Sili had been sending gifts starting with the largest nation, in order.
And of course, Sili had a sense of how the kingdoms receiving those gifts might react.
There was a chance they'd see her gifts as a provocation.
But even so, the reason she sent those gifts anyway was because it was something that great person needed.
That person had to receive faith. The more faith that person received, the stronger that person became.
And Sili, as that person's Saintess, held the purpose of converting as many ignorant souls as possible.
So she sent the gifts even knowing there would be backlash.
Honestly, Sili didn't care what choice each kingdom made.
If they tried anything strange with that person's statue, she could make an example of them.
If they watched the situation and left the statue alone, then that was faith gained in its own way.
......Of course, she would earn the kingdoms' hostility, but that wasn't a big problem.
All of the hostility they sent would be dealt with at Sili's level before it ever reached that person.
So—
What is it?
Calmly reviewing her plans in her head, Sili asked.
And Seamus—
Every nation in the Allied Kingdoms is clamoring for gifts.
—reported the latest news.
Mmm—Is that so? All the nations in the Allied Kingdoms are dissatisfied with the gifts... no, wait. What?
Sili, who'd been answering naturally, stopped mid-sentence and asked again.
......Wait, what did you say?
Literally that. Every country is demanding statues.
......Every country?
Yes. We told them production takes time, so we'll be sending them in order, but... they said they'd pay more, if it meant receiving the statue first....
......What?
Even the border state of Kalannon sent an envoy to kneel ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don't copy, read here) and beg.
While Sili still couldn't process what Seamus was saying, a commotion suddenly began outside.
Kraaaagh! Let go of me! I said let go!
You can't go in there!
Saintess! Please! Give us that person's statue first! Please—!!
Get out, hurry!!
Please!!! Grant us the statue first!! Pleeeaaase!!!
But before long, the desperate voices vanished along with strange death screams.
And then—
......No, wait, what....
......What is this?
Sili was utterly dumbfounded.

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