Chapter 357

C357. Masquerade Ball (6)

After hearing words overflowing with indescribable unease from Siyan.

Alon did not answer and let the matter slide.

And he immediately changed the topic regarding the eyes with Siyan.

“I have no intention of telling you this time.”

“…Pardon?”

—She couldn’t do it.

Alon looked at her with a bewildered expression, but she continued smiling just as always.

“No matter how much you look at me like that, I can’t do anything. It is something I have already decided.”

“If it isn’t a bother, may I ask the reason?”

“The reason, huh.”

Siyan looked at Alon and, after thinking seriously for a moment, gave her answer.

“They asked me to.”

“…A request, you say?”

“Yes.”

“From whom…?”

“Even if I told you, you wouldn’t be able to find him.”

It is not someone from this place.

—At Siyan’s playful words, Alon went blank for a moment.

But it didn’t take long to understand the meaning.

“Is it a promise you remember?”

“As expected, usually you are very clueless, but in these things, you are quite sharp.”

“…Can I take that as a compliment?”

“I think it’s best if you take it as half compliment, half teasing.”

Alon thought about asking a bit more, but soon let it be.

Once she had decided not to answer…

Asking no longer made any sense.

“You don’t have to be so disappointed.”

Siyan continued smiling cheerfully.

Alon clicked his tongue and asked the question.

“…Did it show on my face?”

“No. You remain as expressionless as always.”

“Then, how did you know I was disappointed?”

In the middle of his grumbling without reason, Alon realized immediately that he had said something foolish.

“Because under normal conditions, you would have been disappointed.”

Was Siyan’s answer.

In the end, the only thing Alon could obtain from that conversation was…

Confusion… and her last words.

“With time, I will tell you naturally…”

Remembering the playful smile with which Siyan seemed to know something until the end, Alon tilted his head with curiosity.

“…‘Under normal conditions’, she said.”

Even while walking from Siyan’s office to his room, Alon could not understand why she had said something like that.

“Hmm.”

Why had she suddenly denied him information she previously gave him?

Why had she used the word “normally”…?

While Alon frowned slightly, lost in his thoughts—

“Master.”

“Yutia.”

He met Yutia, who was waiting for him to head to the ball.

“Were you waiting for me?”

“Hmm~ What answer do you want to hear?”

“…What do you mean what answer?”

“Between ‘I wasn’t waiting for you at all’ and ‘yes, I was waiting for you’.”

Yutia was smiling with her lips delicately curved, and Alon replied:

“Well… I would prefer you tell me truthfully.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, that puts me in a dilemma.”

“In what sense?”

“The truth is, yes, I was waiting for you… but it wasn’t hard to wait for you. However—”

Yutia leaned forward and whispered to him:

“—if I say it like that, then I won’t have an excuse to go look for you later. And that is a problem.”

Whether to tell a lie or not.

With Yutia’s calm smile before him, Alon replied:

“You can say that whenever you want. I will go anyway.”

“Really?”

“As I said before, I don’t think we have a relationship where we need to complicate ourselves with such things.”

“Hmm~ even so, having an excuse is comfortable, don’t you think?”

“…Do you want me to give you something like… a wish ticket?”

At those words, Yutia took her position beside Alon and they advanced toward the ball.

“Then that would be two, right?”

“Two? Ah.”

He nodded.

In the north, he had already given her something similar to a wish ticket once.

“Did you remember?”

“Yes, then it would be two.”

“That’s good.”

Yutia smiled with a mischief different from usual. Without realizing it, Alon also smiled upon seeing her.

Upon entering the ballroom—

“…It is full today as well.”

Alon was overwhelmed by the crowd, even larger than the day before.

“Actually, the ball truly begins today.”

“Certainly—”

Being a ball that lasted five days, one could say the real start was from the second day.

While observing the hall, Alon’s eyes stopped at a point.

A place full of nobles, just like yesterday.

There was Eliban.

“There are many people around Eliban today as well.”

“I see. Ah— perhaps it is because of his birthday.”

“Birthday?”

“Yes, it will be soon. I was told he is inviting nobles to a party for his birthday.”

Yutia put a finger to her lips while explaining it.

Alon nodded.

“…A birthday party.”

It was an event that did not exist in Psychedelia.

“Professor.”

“What is it?”

“Can I go for a moment?”

Yutia pointed to the side, and Alon followed the direction with his gaze.

The cardinals of Rosario were there.

…Clearly they could see her from there.

And yet, she looked uncomfortable, almost avoiding eye contact.

It was strange, but Alon nodded.

“It’s fine.”

“I will return in a moment. I must greet them.”

While watching Yutia’s back walking away, Alon felt curious.

‘To enter this ball one needs a partner… how did the cardinals enter?

No… before that. Is it normal for cardinals to attend these types of parties…?’

Just when those doubts were invading him—

“Ah, Marquis!”

A voice called out to him.

“Eliban?”

“Yes! I knew you would come!”

Eliban was already emerging from the group of nobles, with his clear smile as always.

“It seems you are quite busy.”

Alon looked behind him.

There were still nobles waiting to speak with Eliban.

Then, with a somewhat awkward smile, Eliban seemed to remember something.

“Ah. Do you have time now, Marquis?”

“Time?”

“Yes, if you are free, I thought we could talk for a moment.”

“…? Well, I have no problem.”

At the sudden request, Alon nodded, somewhat bewildered.

The two went out to the exterior balcony.

Under the setting sun, Alon observed Eliban.

He had a calm expression, looking only at the sunset.

Did he just want to rest a little? Alon thought.

Since yesterday, Eliban had been surrounded by nobles without rest.

Just when Alon was going to comment on something—

“It’s curious seeing you like this, Marquis.”

“…Hmm?”

“Since you approached me out of the blue and handed me those things.”

Alon remembered.

“True, it has been quite some time.”

“Right? When we met in that forest with no one around, and you handed me so many things… I didn’t know what to think.”

Eliban let out a light laugh, and Alon was forced to cough to avoid answering.

At that time he was so focused on “giving him items” that he didn’t think about how strange it might seem.

While his mind wandered, a sense of strangeness hit him. Slight, almost imperceptible, but unsettling.

While looking at the sunset, Alon finally understood what it was.

Eliban had said they met in an empty forest.

But Alon had met him for the first time in a town full of people—

“Marquis.”

Eliban interrupted his thoughts.

“What is it?”

“Do you know what is the most important virtue when becoming a God?”

“…Suddenly?”

“That is correct. Suddenly.”

A totally random question.

Alon could not comprehend Eliban’s intention.

“Why do you ask something like that?”

“Hmm~ it would be like a personality test.”

Although sudden, Alon replied.

“…Omnipotence?”

“Hmm, that is a virtue a god has. I mean the virtue to ‘become’ one.”

“To become…”

While Alon thought—

“Shall I tell you the answer?”

Eliban spoke in a low voice.

“Which one?”

“The imprint.”

“…Imprint?”

“How you are recognized as an existence. That.”

Eliban’s calm voice.

Alon stared at him fixedly.

“Eliban.”

“Yes?”

“…Didn’t you say this was a personality test? These words make no sense in that context.”

“It doesn’t matter. I already heard your answer.”

Eliban let out a small chuckle.

Although Alon didn’t understand anything, he followed the conversation.

“By the way, I heard you will celebrate a birthday party.”

“Ah, you heard?”

“Yes.”

“Yes. I plan to invite some nobles. In Tern.”

“If it is Tern, then—”

“It is the center. Fortunately, they allowed me to use the place.”

“If I have time, I will go.”

Alon nodded.

But—

“No, you don’t need to come.”

“…Eh? No?”

“Yes. You are very busy.”

With a smile, Eliban stood up.

“Well~ then I’ll be going first.”

And he disappeared from the balcony just like that.

Leaving Alon alone.

“…What was this? Was I rejected?”

He stood staring into space.

Of course… attending a birthday party would be quite bothersome.

So, if he didn’t have to go, all the better.

He had only said it out of courtesy.

But even so, he couldn’t help but feel that somehow he had been rejected.

And that left him with a strange feeling of betrayal.

Not long after—

Alon left the balcony.

He realized that the nobles were all looking towards the same point.

He thought perhaps it was Eliban again.

But even Eliban was looking towards the same spot, so Alon also directed his gaze.

And he saw a woman approaching him.

An appearance that at a glance exhibited a very high status.

Alon was confused for an instant.

And then he recognized her face.

“It’s been a while.”

Hearing a familiar voice, Alon finally realized who the woman was.

“…Sircal?”

“That is correct.”

Sircal replied with a smile.

With the gazes of all the nobles centered on them, Alon said a bit awkwardly:

“I heard the news. You became queen.”

“Yes, that is correct. A sudden inconvenience occurred to the previous queen.”

“An inconvenience?”

“Yes, an inconvenience.”

“Did she get hurt or something?”

“Not exactly, but let’s say it was close to something like that happening. But she didn’t die.”

“…She didn’t pass away?”

“No, she didn’t pass away.”

—Changing a king without them having died…?

While he thought that, Alon saw Sircal’s smile.

And he closed his mouth naturally.