Chapter 320

C320. Ryanga (2)

“I believed in you! You are the people’s hero!”

Receiving uncomfortable praises like that, Alon headed toward the south gate where the Ronobelli jungle was located.

As soon as he arrived, he was also praised by the scouts who were there.

Even a tout offered to guide him to the scout camp for free.

And then, he could vaguely understand the reason why all this was happening.

“It is truly incredible, My Lord Marquis. How were you able to gather mercenaries and knights in such a way to dispel the dark cloud covering the United Kingdom? I can only feel admiration.”

“……Is that so?”

“Yes! Thanks to you, life has truly become easier lately!”

“I’m glad…”

Alon replied awkwardly to the scout who was smiling and speaking to him with sincere admiration.

Beside him, Evan murmured in a low voice:

“……Is that true?”

“Do you really need to ask that?”

“Well, I just said it just in case.”

“You wrote the notice…”

“Ah.”

Evan let out a small exclamation.

Behind them, Penia frowned and relaxed her brow repeatedly, as if she couldn’t comprehend it, until finally she opened her mouth:

“……So this means that… You only put up a notice because you wanted to accept subjects… without any plan behind it, but people misunderstood it in their own way and that’s why all this happened?”

“Correct.”

“……That is correct?”

“Without a single mistake.”

“……And yet the situation ended up like this?”

Why on earth had such a rumor spread?

While Alon muttered in frustration, Penia stole a glance at the scout.

Although he was working for free, the fact that he could help Marquis Palatio seemed to make him so happy that he wore a huge smile.

Is it possible to be this happy working for free? she thought for a moment.

“……Well, isn’t it a good thing in the end? Even if it’s a distorted rumor, if it’s positive, it shouldn’t matter.”

At her words, Alon nodded.

Indeed, she was right.

A good rumor didn’t harm his image.

However…

“I really feel that thanks to someone like you, the United Kingdom is still functioning. Hahaha!”

That hurt him.

Mainly his conscience.

How on earth did such an absurd rumor spread?

Even while he continued tormenting himself with that question…

He had no intention of confessing the truth to the scout who was speaking so animatedly.

After all, he had received so much jubilation and applause in Kaslot that, if he told them everything was a misunderstanding, he was sure to receive cold stares.

For that reason, Alon chose to remain silent instead of correcting the rumor.

Thanks to that, he was able to arrive peacefully at the scout camp late at night.

And then—

“Marquis Palatio has arrived!”

“Why is the Marquis here?”

“Incredible—”

Even upon arriving at the camp, Alon once again received a “You are the people’s hero!”, and he couldn’t lift his head.

…If I had really intended that, perhaps I wouldn’t feel so embarrassed.

The next day, a strange thought crossed his mind.

…I definitely don’t like this place.

He inhaled the humid air deeply.

[Kyuu—]

[Mm— feels good.]

While Blackie shook his body repeatedly as if he hated the humidity, Basiliora seemed to enjoy it with a fresh expression, perhaps because he was back in his “home.”

While Alon watched that scene calmly—

“My Lord Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“Now that we’ve arrived here… I thought of something. Didn’t we forget something?”

“Something forgotten?”

“Yes.”

What could it be…?

“Cheonggwi. Weren’t we supposed to bring him?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Alon remember the being he had completely forgotten and let out a soft exclamation.

“……I completely forgot about him.”

“Well, he seemed happy there, so maybe it’s not so bad.”

“That is also true.”

While Alon recalled the incredibly happy expression Cheonggwi had the last time he saw him…

Penia asked:

“Without that Cheonggwi, how are we going to get to the place where Ryanga is?”

“Ah, that is indeed a problem, isn’t it?”

Evan agreed immediately.

But Alon said:

“Don’t worry about that.”

He said it calmly.

Perhaps his memories were a bit blurry, but he still remembered where the King of the Hundred Ghosts was located.

…Well, actually it’s enough to just go to the deepest part of the forest.

With that thought—

“We’d better move. It will probably take time, so it will be good to advance quickly.”

They began to prepare.

And they entered the forest toward where Ryanga was located.

While rushing through the forest, Alon overlooked two important facts.

The first: that the place where Ryanga, King of the Hundred Ghosts, was located was further than he remembered.

Although this was not a serious problem.

He already knew the location, so as long as they didn’t get lost, it wouldn’t take too long.

The real problem was the other fact.

That on the path to Ryanga—

There was a truly countless number of mutants.

Of course, at this stage, mutants were not a serious threat to Alon.

He could even handle hordes of them if he didn’t wake up those around them.

But there was a problem: continuity.

Alon could finish them off.

Even if they came in a pack, he could sweep them away if they didn’t trigger more.

But he could only do it a limited number of times.

And in that forest, there were too many mutants.

It was like a game where you found one every five tiles.

That’s why, the first time they entered and ran into a mutant…

Alon felt a slight regret for not having made the “Tribute” of the game system.

Until an unknown being suddenly appeared and burst the head of the mutant that had jumped on Alon.

A girl with long white hair down to her waist and an ogre mask destroyed the mutant and disappeared.

And after a few more minutes of walking—

Another mutant appeared, and the girl emerged again, broke its head, and disappeared.

That happened about five more times.

Naturally, Alon knew perfectly well who that being was who appeared suddenly to save them and then fled.

“……My Lord Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“That is Ryanga, isn’t it?”

“……It seems so.”

“The— the same one who saved you last time, right?”

“Yes.”

Of course, Penia had also noticed that it was Ryanga.

In fact, it would have been strange not to realize.

It wasn’t a comic book world.

Not recognizing someone just because they wear a common mask made no sense.

That’s why—

When she defeated another mutant—

“Ryanga.”

Alon called her just before she disappeared again.

“Hogaeaak—!”

Ryanga made a strange sound.

Her arms and legs went completely stiff, as if she had never imagined she would be discovered, provoking a curious sensation in Alon.

“……I— I am not Ryanga.”

It’s Ryanga.

It’s Ryanga, without a doubt.

It’s her.

Everyone thought the same at her denial without even changing her voice.

But Ryanga, determined to hide her identity, said:

“Ahem, ahem, if you cross this forest and go toward that hill, perhaps you might find a beautiful person with white hair??”

She said it in a blatantly obvious tone… and then she disappeared.

“……What was that?”

“It would be better to follow her directions.”

At Penia’s words, Alon nodded and began to walk.

Marti.

He was currently a soldier of the Divine Land, founded by Marquis Palatio.

But his true identity was that of an undercover agent of the Caliban ducal corps, infiltrated to obtain information when he heard that the Marquis planned to create a Divine Land.

Even so, he was not doing anything particularly special.

Just obtaining information, without additional missions.

Since infiltrating the Divine Land under Marquis Palatio implied an enormous risk on its own.

But even so, his superior insisted on including him as an agent.

Because he believed that Marquis Palatio could be plotting something big.

After all, he had the power to do it.

At first, Marti thought he and his superior were mistaken.

Of course, Deus trained the soldiers hard, but other than that, there was no suspicious behavior.

…Although as time passed, the knights, who were previously free and relaxed, ended up with profound expressions after speaking alone with Deus.

But only that.

Even when the Marquis gathered soldiers and knights under the pretext of “accepting subjects,” Marti didn’t think too much about it.

The mercenaries and knights had come because of the distorted rumors.

And it was easy to realize that the Marquis had never said any of that.

But when the Saint of Kalanon—no, the saint who served Marquis Palatio—joined the Divine Land…

Marti realized that the situation was taking a dangerous turn.

The knights and mercenaries who, if it had just been for distorted rumors, should have left…

Began one by one to sincerely join the Divine Land thanks to the saint.

And the Divine Land began to truly grow.

Not only that.

Positive rumors about the Marquis began to spread everywhere after his soldiers and knights purged the bandits.

Marti began to think that perhaps all this had been intentional.

Normally, rumors do not evolve in such a good direction.

Even if the Marquis had done something right, they always end up distorted in a bad way.

But this…

It was as if someone were controlling the rumors that ran through the United Kingdom.

And if the rumors were really being manipulated according to someone’s will—

That someone could only be Marquis Palatio.

Of course, this generated doubts.

Marquis Palatio had it all.

He didn’t need public opinion, nor did it make sense to spend so much money to manipulate it.

After all, he was still a Marquis of the Asteria Kingdom.

That is to say, public opinion had no use to him.

While he thought about what the purpose could be…

Marti arrived at a single hypothesis.

……An extremely terrifying hypothesis.

But, if he analyzed it, everything made sense.

Why he was gathering a huge Divine Land and an army.

Why he spread distorted rumors to gather mercenaries and knights.

Why he used the saint to settle them and thus recruit troops.

Why he manipulated public opinion by spending fortunes.

Marquis Palatio plans to directly become the Heaven… A Perfect God!

Concluding that “truth” in his mind, Marti felt chills running through his entire body.

It had always seemed suspicious to him, but he never imagined something like this.

I must report this immediately!

He squeezed his magic sphere tightly, waiting for the night to report this “truth.”

And at that very moment—

“……Why do my ears itch so much lately?”

“Could it be that someone is speaking ill of you?”

“I don’t believe I’ve lived so badly that someone would insult me like that.”

Alon rubbed his ear while crossing the forest.