Chapter 490

Episode 490. The Dispute Over the Castle (6)

The following day.

Taking the previous day as a starting point, Alon had finished most of his paperwork. With a calm heart, he stroked Blackie’s head while watching the two Sea Gods swim relaxedly between the castle towers.

Purrr—

Alon observed Blackie for a moment, who for some time now had been making sounds like a real cat, something he didn’t do before.

‘I still think that, at this point, this really looks like a Demon King’s castle.’

While having that thought again, he diverted his gaze to where Basiliora was. Since Alon started working in earnest a few days ago, he hadn’t stopped staring fixedly at the sky.

—Basiliora.

Alon called out to him, seeing him acting like a cat looking at a goldfish in an aquarium.

[Eh? Ahem, what’s the matter?] —he replied, regaining his composure late.

—You’ve been looking over there for days… do you want to try it too?

[What? Me? Hahaha! How could you think that!]

—Ah, no?

[Ahem, but well… if you insist so much on asking me to do it, I suppose I wouldn’t refuse!]

Basiliora deployed a strange logic. However, the interpretation was simple: he had been staring at the castle for days because he wanted to fly through the sky like the Sea God.

[Kkyu-!]

Blackie, snoring on Alon‘s lap, let out a meow as if mocking him, saying “are you an elementary schooler?”.

[Hey! I said it’s not that I want to, but that I would fly once if you begged me!]

Basiliora heatedly refuted Blackie‘s reaction.

[Kkyu-?]

Blackie looked at Basiliora with mockery and, as if a good idea had occurred to him, opened his eyes wide and pulled on Alon Palatio‘s coat.

—What is it?

At the question, Blackie pulled the coat again and pointed to himself with his small round hand. Alon Palatio, after meditating for a moment, made a guess:

—… Do you want magic power?

[Kkyu-!]

He nodded his head as if saying it was the correct answer. Although it seemed strange, Alon used his Reverse Heaven to infuse magic power into Blackie. At that very instant…

Wuuu—!

—… Eh?

Blackie flew. No wings sprouted; his external appearance floating in the air didn’t change. However, he was suspended in the void, leaving Alon bewildered for a moment.

—… Is it the power of a Divine Blood?

[Kkyu~!]

Nodding to the question, Blackie began to scurry through the air.

[What… this is absurd…!]

While Basiliora shouted with a face full of shock, the office door opened.

—… Alon-nim?

—Evan.

Evan entered as if he had something to tell, but seeing Blackie flying through the air, he made a strange expression.

—… May I ask what is happening?

—It seems that among the Divine Bloods that Blackie absorbed, there was someone with the ability to fly.

—The ability to fly?

—Yes.

—Eh…

—What’s wrong?

—No, it’s just… for being the power of a Divine Blood, it seems a bit… cheap to me.

—It’s true…

Alon agreed with Evan while watching Blackie float by moving his four little paws. However, after thinking of something, Evan suddenly said:

—Then the problem of the airship is solved, right?

—… Out of nowhere?

—Eh? Well… Blackie can fly, right?

—But we can’t fly riding on Blackie —Alon refuted.

Evan scratched his cheek and continued:

—Well… it would be difficult to fly only on Blackie… but since those two fuse, couldn’t they move like that? … Though I guess things in this world don’t work so conveniently, right?

At Evan‘s words:

—I don’t think it’s that easy…

Alon, who was going to wave his hand to dismiss the idea, stopped and stroked his chin. A moment later:

—… Eh?

A peculiar exclamation came from his mouth, as if he had realized something.

—… Why are you making that face? —Evan asked curiously.

—No, it’s just… —Alon replied as if bewitched—. Does it really seem possible?

---

—In conclusion, it is possible.

Second office. Immediately after talking with Evan, Alon brought Blackie and Basiliora before Lainicius, who gave him that answer.

—… Seriously?

—Yes. First, even if that shadow dragon uses the magic power he receives from you, it is not a power that uses magic power as its primary base.

—… What does that mean?

At Alon‘s question, Lainicius meditated for a moment and, to demonstrate, extended his hand and created a simple magic sphere.

—Do you see this?

—… Do you mean the magic sphere?

—Yes. How do humans create a magic sphere?

—… Well, they use magic power to create it.

—Exactly. That is the basic way we use magic power: we consume energy to create a spell. However, the way the shadow dragon uses magic power is different. He burns it like fuel.

—… Fuel?

—For you to understand, it’s easier to think that inside Blackie‘s body there is an artifact that runs on magic power as fuel.

—Ah.

Alon let out an exclamation of understanding.

—So he doesn’t use the magic power directly.

—That’s right.

—… But why do you mention this suddenly?

To the question, Lainicius replied bluntly:

—Because I wanted to talk about efficiency.

—Efficiency?

—Yes. I had already suspected it last time, but now that I’ve verified it, that shadow dragon is something… irrational.

—… In what sense?

Lainicius observed Blackie, who was flying in a somewhat ridiculous way by kicking the air.

—The abilities of the Divine Bloods I’ve analyzed require an absurd amount of magic power to manifest.

—That is something I’m aware of… are you saying Blackie is using the ability so efficiently?

—Yes, and it even seems that he becomes more efficient with every passing moment.

Lainicius observed Blackie in silence and added:

—With the magic power needed to create one sphere, he is creating the equivalent of a hundred.

—… That much?

—Yes, and it seems the efficiency increases more and more over time.

He muttered that he would like to investigate it thoroughly, but then continued:

—Anyway, what I want to say is this: even if the total volume of what he must carry increases, given the nature of how that shadow dragon uses his abilities, it doesn’t seem that the magic power will be insufficient. However…

Lainicius looked at Basiliora.

—The problem is that thing.

[It’s not “that thing”, it’s Basiliora!] —Basiliora protested, offended.

However, the Golden Dragon continued without showing the slightest interest in his reaction.

—Did you say he needs a lot of magic power?

[I said I am Basiliora!]

—Yes, I summon him with this.

—Mmm…

[Kuaaaaaaaaagh!]

Unfazed by Basiliora‘s tantrum, Lainicius stared fixedly at the “Ring of Kalgunias’ Pact” that Alon handed to him.

—I see… it’s a fascinating structure.

—You think so?

—Yes. I don’t know who manufactured it, but it’s a very high-level artifact.

He checked it with amazement and asked:

—Could you leave this ring with me? A few days will be enough.

—For what?

—I think I can adjust the magic power efficiency.

—… The efficiency?

—Yes. To approximately one-tenth of what it consumes now.

—… That much?

While Alon looked at Lainicius thinking “is this what a dragon is like?”, the latter kept his eyes fixed on the ring in an imperturbable manner.

—… The functions of the ring?

—It’s not that I can do it purely through my ability, but rather it’s more about limiting the functions of this ring.

—Yes, it seems you don’t know, but this ring has several effects besides summoning that. At least five more functions.

[I’m not “that”, I’ve said I’m Basiliora, damn you!]

—It had those effects…? —Alon tilted his head.

He didn’t remember the “Ring of Kalgunias’ Pact” having such descriptions in the original game, so he couldn’t help but doubt.

—Anyway, I plan to deactivate all those effects to increase efficiency, what do you think? By the way, there will be no problem using it as you have until now.

—The adjustment will be finished in a day or two. Ah, and could you also leave the shadow dragon with me for a moment?

—If that’s the case… Blackie too?

—Yes. It’s just that I have something to investigate while I have the chance.

Alon looked at Blackie and asked:

—Are you okay with that?

[Kkyu.]

Blackie shook his head slightly, indicating he understood.

—It seems it’s fine.

—I thank you.

Alon nodded at Lainicius’s words and, suddenly, felt curious:

—By the way, where is Kylus?

—Ah, him… —Lainicius pointed with his head toward the window.

Alon diverted his gaze with strangeness. There was Kylus. To be exact, he was surrounded by a group of maids.

—… What is that? —Evan asked, stunned.

Lainicius explained:

—I heard that one of the humans offered to share her food with him, he accepted, and ended up like that.

—Ah…

Just as Lainicius said, Kylus‘s face showed a frown of discomfort. However, he didn’t use his strength against the maids crowding around him and ended up accepting the food they forced into his mouth without choice.

—Ha, I can’t believe it… When he was a goblin, he swept away adventurers…

—And now he acts like a man in distress who doesn’t know how to deal with women.

—Alon-nim, that guy is simply enjoying it, I assure you.

Evan‘s voice sounded somewhat indignant.

[Talk without crying.] —Basiliora mocked.

—I’m not crying, you piece of snakehead! —Evan shouted at the mockery.

After that, the group left the office. While they were returning, Alon asked:

—… By the way, Evan.

—Yes? —Evan replied, somewhat dejected.

—Have you seen Penia?

—… Eh? I haven’t seen her. Now that you mention it, it’s true.

‘Where could she have gone…?’

Alon‘s doubt was soon resolved, for upon arriving at his desk, he found a letter.

—… It says she is going to the Magic Tower for a few days?

It was a letter from Penia saying she had to go urgently to the Blue Magic Tower.

—Mmm.

He stroked his chin at the suddenness of the message.

‘Thinking about it, she also disappeared frantically last time. Did something happen to her?’

He remembered how Penia had been absent in a hurry before and decided to ask her when she returned.

—Evan.

—Yes.

—You said they were voting for the inner castles, right?

—That’s right.

—When the voting is over, we will move to the Divine Land. At least I should say goodbye to those who are leaving.

—Will you come back later?

—I think I will return after passing through the Divine Land and visiting the Star Group.

Thus, Alon finished his day. The next day:

—Evan, is the voting finished?

—No. They are on the third round.

—… The third?

—Yes.

—Does it take three rounds to choose a floor?

Two days later:

—Is the voting finished?

—They are on the tenth round…

—… The tenth?

And three days after that:

—… Evan.

—… Yes.

—Still…?

—They say they are on the twenty-eighth round.

—But it’s only 9 people voting, right?

—Correct.

—How is it possible for there to be so many ties?

Alon Palatio had a mental question mark. Meanwhile, having reached the thirtieth round with continuous ties:

—… This is never going to end.

—I think so too.

—Me too.

—Then what do we do?

—There’s no choice. Let’s ask one person to choose for us.

—… Who?

—You know who.

—Ah.

Due to Magrina‘s words, the person recruited was…

—Fine, since we are in this situation, you must choose which of us will live on the eighth floor.

—Eh…?

… it was Penia, who had been captured and was suffering a cruel torture (kneeling with her arms raised from 9 to 6).

—… Can’t I just continue with my punishment? —she pleaded with a pitiful voice.

Penia found herself, once again, on the edge of the abyss!