First, Alexion calmly went over the many blueprints the two tower masters had brought.
And it did not take him long to reach a conclusion.
'Are these bastards out of their minds?'
That was the impression he came away with after reading through about half of the several dozen pages of blueprints.
But whether they knew what he was thinking or not, the two tower masters were chatting with each other with confident smiles on their faces.
"Yes, let's proceed with District 5 that way."
"Then we can raise District 6 along with it while we're at it."
"Ah—but if we do it like this, we'll need a little more material, so maybe instead—"
When they had first shown up, the two of them had been gritting their teeth and fighting as if there were no possible way they could ever work together on construction.
Now they were so amicable that it was hard to believe they were the same people.
Even so, Alexion's thoughts did not change.
'This is... what, mages...?'
As far as Alexion knew, mages were all at least a little unhinged by default.
Of course, there were quite a few perfectly normal people among lower-rank mages, but the higher their rank rose, the more screws came loose.
Naturally so.
To begin with, the realm of high-ranking mages was one only geniuses beyond the reach of ordinary people could enter.
And geniuses obsessed with magic to that degree were bound to be missing a screw or two.
In other words, the hypothesis Alexion had formed—that a mage's rank and the number of screws loose in their head were directly proportional—had a fair amount of credibility.
Recently, seeing only Alon had made him forget that fact for a while.
But today, that thought lying beneath the surface had risen back up again.
Alexion fell silent for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.
"Um—"
"Oh."
"Done reading?"
The instant Alexion tried to speak, the two tower masters immediately turned their heads.
Looking at the self-assured expressions on the two mages' faces, Alexion said,
"I didn't have enough time to read all of it, so I only got through about half."
"Yes, so what are you curious about?"
"It's not a matter of curiosity, it's just... ahem."
"? Is there some kind of problem?"
The words You bastards, did you seriously think there was nothing wrong with these blueprints? nearly leapt right out of his throat.
But Alexion forcibly held them back and cleared his throat.
Then he looked at the Brown Mage Tower master, Manram.
"...The blueprints you made seem excellent, but realistically, I think they may be a little difficult to build."
"What part makes you think that?"
"To begin with, building a castle this massive would require an absurd amount of materials and manpower..."
The larger a castle got, the more astronomically the costs rose.
First, the cost of materials went up.
Then the number of laborers needed to construct that larger castle increased.
And the construction period grew longer.
And if the construction period grew longer?
Then the money needed to hire manpower rose all over again.
In other words, this blueprint could never be realized at the present time.
In response to Alexion's perfectly reasonable point—
"Certainly, it will need a fair amount of manpower."
"Right?"
"But you don't need to worry about that part. The two mage towers will provide support."
"From the two mage towers...?"
"Yes. A few hundred, including us."
"...A few hundred?"
"Yes."
Manram answered simply.
"...A few hundred..."
As far as Alexion knew, the last time several hundred mages had been mobilized was when they were restoring Rosario after it had been half destroyed, so his mouth naturally fell open for a moment.
Then he pulled himself together and asked again,
"But even if the manpower is covered, where are we supposed to get the materials from...?"
"Ah, don't worry about that."
At that concern, this time the Purple Mage Tower master waved a hand as though it were nothing.
"We won't be able to procure all of it, but we can support around seventy percent."
"...Seventy percent of the materials needed to build a castle this huge...?"
"Yep."
At the Purple Mage Tower master's words, Alexion felt his jaw keep going slack.
Is that even possible? he wondered, but soon had no choice but to accept it.
After all, the Purple Mage Tower was the wealthiest of the five towers.
They were the people who made obscene amounts of money through alchemy.
Wait. If that was the case, wasn't this a good thing?
Wouldn't that mean they could build this absurd castle practically for free?
For a moment, that thought crossed his mind, but Alexion quickly pulled himself back together.
"But even if all of that is possible, the size of the territory..."
The truth was, even if they had all the materials and manpower, building the castle exactly as it appeared in the blueprints would still be impossible.
Because no matter what, the size of the territory was limited.
But at Alexion's perfectly sensible objection—
"Why? We can just expand the territory."
"...Pardon?"
"We can roughly designate this area as the northern district and build the castle outside it."
The Brown Mage Tower master casually shattered his common sense with those words.
Then drove the point home.
"Shouldn't a king's castle possess dignity?"
"That... is true, but."
"To be honest, I think if we built a castle that only matched the current size of this territory, it would just look strange."
No, was it really that bad? It was still fairly large, wasn't it?—just as a natural rebuttal rose in his mind, unfortunately for Alexion, it was cut off by the words of the Purple Mage Tower master, Norton.
"Besides, it's not like it'll cost your side anything. If we're going to build it, wouldn't something grand be better?"
Alexion fell silent.
Because she was not wrong.
And so, for reasons he did not fully understand, Alexion found himself being persuaded into letting them build the castle.
For quite a while, he continued raising practical concerns that would never get through to them.
Then, after some time had passed—
"...All right, for now, I understand."
Alexion came to a conclusion.
"Then we'll begin preparing right away—"
"However, even so, this is still too large, so I think it would be best if we adjusted some parts here and there."
He judged that implementing every part of these blueprints was impossible.
No, more than that, he thought that even if they were building a castle, there was no point in constructing parts that served no real purpose, so he voiced that opinion.
"Good. What exactly are you dissatisfied with?"
"Well, to start with, these five layers of walls—"
Alexion opened his mouth to persuade the tower masters who had made the blueprints—
"Now, think about it. Five layers of walls may actually be quite important. When it comes to protecting the king, the more walls there are, the better. It means we can make a total of five gates."
"...That's not wrong."
—to persuade the tower masters—
"This underground facility is absolutely necessary. What if we ever end up in a siege? Then facilities on this scale would be indispensable."
"...Certainly."
—the tower masters—
"Likewise, the reason there are two large castles built around the central castle is because of the magic circles. Just putting up two castles there would multiply this castle's durability several times over."
"Oh......"
Alexion was persuaded by the tower masters.
And then—
"Then let's begin."
...the construction of Palantia's castle began.
The construction of a very alarming castle...
"Lord Alon, we're almost at the Central Mage Tower."
A few weeks after Alon left Theria,
Alon turned his gaze at Evan's words and, as always, saw the mage tower rising so high it seemed to know no limit in the sky.
"How long are you staying this time?"
When Penia asked, Alon thought for a moment before answering,
"Even at the longest, probably around three days."
"You're not staying long?"
"There's nothing much I need to do."
Of course, it was not as though he had no business at the tower at all.
He needed to receive the interpreted magic from Heinkel, and there were various things he wanted to ask her as well.
Even so, none of it seemed likely to take very long, so he had set it at about three days.
"But why? Is something the matter?"
"Mm— no. It's just that if you were moving even faster, I was thinking I might stay behind a bit and handle something separately before going back. But if it's around three days, that sounds comfortably manageable."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. I think I can go back with you."
Penia nodded after seeming to think something over.
Alon nodded as well, as if to say he understood, but only for a moment.
It struck him, belatedly enough, as odd.
'Isn't Penia supposed to be at the tower in the first place...?'
It was something he should have thought about much earlier, but until now he had simply let it pass naturally.
And now, hearing Penia's words, Alon had suddenly realized it again.
"What's wrong?"
"...Nothing."
"No, it's nothing."
He briefly wondered whether he should point it out, then glossed it over.
Though Penia looked puzzled, she soon seemed to accept it on her own and turned her gaze away from Alon.
Soon after, Alon arrived at the Central Mage Tower and, as usual, headed for the library to meet Heinkel.
And then—
[You came right on time, actually.]
"...? Is something going on?"
[Mm— I happened to have a lot I wanted to tell you.]
"What is it?"
[I think I may have found a proper method. For changing the means of the language tools aside from magic, I mean.]
He was able to hear something important from Heinkel.
Around the time Alon met with Heinkel, in the wasteland between the Allied Kingdoms and the Empire—
[The Arm-Spitting One.......]
[The Burned Vegetation.]
As many as four Divine blood were facing each other.
If an ordinary human had seen them, each one emanated such bizarre energy that the sight alone would have driven them insane. With four Divine blood gathered in one place, the scene looked like a disaster in itself.
The heavy silence lasted only briefly.
[Stand aside quietly. I do not particularly wish to fight for no gain.]
Looking at the Arm-Spitting One that had appeared from the coast on the side of the Allied Kingdoms, the giant forest being of ceaseless flames, the Burned Vegetation, spoke.
[Unfortunately, I cannot do that.]
[Do you truly intend to fight? I know you are strong among those currently able to move, but there are three of us and only one of you. You will only be harmed for no gain.]
The Vegetation's words.
[Even you cannot defeat the three of us at once.]
[Of course you know that.]
As if agreeing, the other two Divine blood behind it each stirred their grotesque forms and spoke in turn, but the Arm-Spitting One remained unmoved as it replied.
[Conversely, there is no reason for you to cross over into the Allied Kingdoms either, is there?]
[On the contrary. We are moving because we have business there.]
[To deal with the Star Eater?]
[Yes.]
[......So you mean to carry out the request of the Rotten Mouth, is that it?]
[That's right. So stand aside. There is no reason for you to fight us. It would only be a meaningless battle. Or— would you like to join us as well?]
[Join you?]
At the Arm-Spitting One's question, the Burned Vegetation nodded.
[Yes. There is no such thing as an eternal faction anyway. In the end, both you and I are in positions where we must choose well, are we not? Take this chance to join us, deal with the Star Eater, and enter under the Rotten Mouth. They say that if we merely complete the mission, a high position will be granted.]
The Burned Vegetation's attempt at persuasion.
At that, the Arm-Spitting One replied as if the idea were laughable.
[Unfortunately, I have no intention of doing that.]
[Why not?]
[Because even if I were to follow the Rotten Mouth, all that would happen is that I would belong to a faction. Beyond that, there would be nothing.]
[......Then don't tell me there is actually something to gain from protecting the Star Eater?]
[Of course there is.]
[What is it?]
[The abilities of other Divine blood.]
To the Divine blood that had come to kill the Star Eater—
[......What do you mean by that?]
[Exactly what I said.]
—it delivered new information.
[The Star Eater can absorb the abilities of the Divine blood it has dealt with, and distribute them as it pleases to other Divine blood.]
[What...!?]
...Some very strange information.

Comments

Loading...