Before he knew it, a full month had passed since Alon began staying at the Central Mage Tower.
"Then I'll be on my way."
[Well— honestly, if it were up to me, I'd want to shore up your fundamentals a little more— but that would take far too long, so I guess we can't.]
"I'll stop by again soon."
[All right. The third-tier analysis is going to take a long time anyway. Still, by the time you come back, I should be able to decipher one or two of them.]
After saying goodbye to Heinkel, Alon left the Central Mage Tower and set out for the marquisate— no, for Palantia.
And so, two weeks passed.
The carriage was passing through a village, as usual.
"Hmm—"
Alon looked out the window with an odd expression.
"What is it?"
At the sight of that, Evan spoke up.
Alon rubbed his chin as if troubled.
"Evan."
"Yes."
"Lately... is it fashionable to wear your hair in a lot of different styles?"
It was a completely unexpected question.
"Hair?"
Evan asked back in confusion, then looked outside as well.
"...Huh?"
A moment later, he let out a sound as if he had just realized something.
"People's styles really have gotten more varied, haven't they?"
"Hm...? Oh, yeah, they have?"
Penia also pressed up against the window, darting her eyes around.
From little children to adults, people with all kinds of different styles.
For some reason, the sight gave Alon a strange feeling.
'...Don't people usually all wear it more or less the same way?'
If the place they were passing through now had been a city or a territory rather than a small village, it would not have felt out of place.
Since more wealthy people lived in such places, even those who were not nobles sometimes pursued a variety of styles.
But a small village like this usually was not like that.
Most people worked in farming or logging, and those with jobs like herb gatherers or hunters did not care that much about their hairstyles.
Getting through the day's work mattered more than appearance.
Even when there was an unusual style here or there, it was usually limited to one or two people, so the sight before his eyes now felt extremely unfamiliar.
"Evan, judging by the fact that even you don't know, I guess it isn't some trend."
"...Right? Why would everyone in a tiny village like this go out of their way to care about style?"
"Mmm— and it's not like doing hair like that usually takes all that long."
Evan and Penia both wore expressions that said they had no idea what was going on either.
"Still, it is interesting."
Staring blankly outside, Evan suddenly tilted his head.
"...Hm? But I'm pretty sure it wasn't like this when we arrived yesterday—"
"What did you say?"
"Ah, no, it's nothing. It just feels like there's some kind of odd sense of incongruity. It's probably nothing."
Scratching his head, Evan changed the subject.
"So, what do we do after this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean where we'll stop, of course. If we go about three more days, we'll reach the Tuvasta territory. Shall we head there?"
"Is there a village nearby?"
"There is."
"Then let's go there."
At Alon's unhesitating answer, Evan let out a little exclamation.
"That's what I mean, it's amazing."
"...All of a sudden?"
"No, I mean, isn't the reason you're not going into the territory this time because it's too burdensome?"
Alon did not answer.
Just as Evan said, that really was the reason he was not deliberately stopping in the territories.
'...No matter how I think about it, that's a bit...'
In truth, Alon had visited the territories at first, just as he always had.
There was, after all, a difference between an inn in an ordinary village and an inn in a territory.
But after founding Palantia, every time he so much as stopped by a territory, the lords would make a huge fuss and welcome Alon extravagantly.
They would even hand over their own bedchambers without hesitation.
"Usually people are desperate because they don't get treated well..."
Evan was not wrong.
Alon, too, liked being treated well to some extent.
But when they acted like they were ready to hand over absolutely everything they had, it only became burdensome instead.
So after stopping by two territories, Alon had stopped doing that and was now only traveling through small villages.
"Ahem— anyway, is there any new news?"
Trying to change the subject, Alon asked the question, and Evan obediently brought up different information.
"As a matter of fact, there is something I need to tell you."
"About Divine blood?"
Lately, there had been a lot of news about Divine blood.
Alon's guess was correct.
"Yes. Though as I always tell you, it isn't a serious rumor."
"Then this time too...?"
Alon asked just in case.
Evan nodded.
"Yes. Just like last time, they say it praised Lord Alon's greatness to an absurd degree and beat down the Divine blood that invaded."
That was the report he gave.
"...Another different Divine blood again?"
"Yes. In just a few weeks, it seems the number of Divine blood following Lord Alon has already gone past ten. Congratulations."
But Alon could not accept those congratulations with a pure heart.
Of course, the Divine blood taking care of other Divine blood was truly a good thing.
Thanks to that, the Allied Kingdoms had not fallen and were still maintaining their power.
However, as far as Alon personally was concerned, he could not understand this situation at all.
'...What in the world is going on?'
From what he had heard, the Divine blood helping him, like the One Who Soars High, numbered three including that one itself.
And yet, for some reason, the number of Divine blood that seemed to be following Alon kept increasing, and now it had exceeded ten.
'What is happening...?'
Right as he was sinking into distress because matters kept growing bigger without him even knowing—
"Ah, come to think of it, this Divine blood seems to worship Lord Alon almost fanatically."
"...What?"
"They say that while fighting another Divine blood, it shouted things like, 'He and I are a single body, one unified whole! An attack against Him will be regarded as an attack against me!'"
Evan piled on even more.
"...What the hell is going on?"
Alon's face filled with even more confusion and bewilderment.
After Alon's carriage passed through the village.
By the time the carriage had completely disappeared from sight—
"Everyone, stop."
The woman who had just been laughing and chatting with the village wives—
No. Yuna, one of the two executives who, aside from the missing five months, effectively managed Blue Moon, raised her hand.
At that, the people around them, all wearing different styles, vanished all at once as if they had been waiting for it.
What remained in their place were the original villagers, now wearing bewildered expressions.
But Yuna paid no attention to the people around her and leaped straight through the open second-floor window.
There sat Hidan, silently lost in thought.
The dark circles under his eyes hung all the way down to his jaw.
"Did you find it this time?"
"...Not yet. I'm not certain."
Hidan's voice was steeped in exhaustion.
Yuna truly could not understand the situation as it was now.
"I mean, I'm doing it because you told me to, but... why exactly do we need to know what hairstyle the Great Moon likes?"
Yuna's question struck directly at the heart of it.
But Hidan did not answer.
No— he could not.
How could he possibly reveal that all of this—
'Th-that is! I will find out what hairstyle the Great Moon likes!'
'Well— you really don't have to go that far?'
'I absolutely want to find out.'
'If you insist that strongly, then all right.'
—had started as desperate flailing to survive Red Moon, who had one side of her hair tied in twin tails...?
And so—
"This is a far more important matter than you think."
"...I-is it?"
"It is."
Hidan had no choice but to mumble evasively with firm conviction.
And Yuna—
"If you're serious enough to say it like that, then I guess it really must be important, so I won't argue..."
—as if she had no choice, reported the situation.
"For now, this time the Great Moon seemed to look at twin tails and ponytails together?"
"...Same as last time."
"It did seem like the gaze stayed a little longer on the twin tails."
"Twin tails... Could it really be that the Great Moon likes twin tails?"
"Mmm, probably? Usually, if someone likes something, their eyes go to that side... though of course, the Great Moon is no mere human."
In reality, it was only that—
Alon had looked a little longer because it was strange seeing an adult wearing that hairstyle,
but unfortunately, they had no way of knowing that.
"...Then one last experiment should do it."
Hidan's flailing once again promised more to come.
A few weeks passed after that.
Finding it curious each time he passed through a village and saw people with different hairstyles, Alon arrived within sight of Palantia.
"Ah, it looks like the territorial expansion has started."
"So it has."
Before he knew it, the countless shacks had been cleared away, and in their place, the foundations of walls, all kinds of buildings, and new roads were being laid.
Far beyond the area where the territorial expansion was taking place, in an empty stretch of land where nothing else stood, he could see pillars planted in various ways.
"...I suppose that must be the new castle they're building."
"Uh, I think so? The mages are working there too."
"Wow, it's huge."
Alon, Evan, and Penia each offered a comment.
The area marked out by the pillars planted in the empty field was certainly no ordinary size.
Even from a distance, it was hard to estimate how large it really was.
'...Isn't it too big?'
But even so, he could hardly tell them to reduce the size of the castle when they had already finished the foundation work.
Besides, he had heard it was effectively free, so he figured it was not all that bad.
"It is bigger than I expected, but I guess that's fine. It's a kingdom— if the castle is too small, that would lack dignity in its own way."
"Ah, I agree with that too."
[Hmph— a royal court is supposed to be grand.]
Evan, Penia, and even Basiliora, who normally would not have cared about a castle, nodded in agreement.
Soon, after entering Palantia, Alon found himself facing Alexion, who lowered his head as if ashamed.
"M-my apologies, Your Majesty."
"It's all right. I'm the one who left the castle construction in your hands."
"Thank you very much for your understanding."
Alexion bowed even deeper.
"Well, still, looking at it from over there, it didn't seem all that bad. A castle is supposed to be large if it's going to have any dignity."
At that moment, Evan added with a smile.
"Oh, so you saw Castle Number Four being built."
Alexion replied brightly.
And then—
"...Hm?"
For a moment, silence fell over the office.
"Uh... Castle Number Four?"
Recovering first, Evan asked back.
"Yes. That is the outermost Castle Number Four."
"...Uh... if that's Castle Number Four... then that means there's also a Castle Number Three...?"
"Of course. There are Castles Three through One."
"So... right now... the one being built out there, the one that looks like it's about the size of five of our auction houses put together, that's Castle Number Four...?"
"Please don't worry. Thanks to the mages, construction on the other castles will begin soon as well."
Alexion confirmed it with a crisp smile.
In a situation where only Alexion was smiling, Alon turned his gaze out the window.
There—
a "Number Four" castle so large it could not even be compared to the one Alon was staying in was being built.
'...What exactly am I looking at?'
His head really started to spin....

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