“.......”

Deus seriously considered what the ideal way to handle this situation would be.

Should he just pretend he had seen nothing and go back to sleep?

Mm, yes. That would probably be the least troublesome option.

......Probably.

“.......”

“.......”

Of course, looking at the two women staring directly at him right now, he was certain they would never allow that.

Because both pairs of eyes held the determination of people prepared to do anything necessary to keep his mouth shut.

“......Haa—”

For some reason, Deus felt a headache coming on.

A sigh escaped him naturally.

He looked toward Alon, who until just moments ago had been in Rine’s arms.

[Qyu?]

Then Alon tilted his head and made a sound.

“......Qyu?”

Qyu.

It was definitely qyu.

At the word that came out of Alon’s mouth, Deus tilted his head just like Alon had.

Then soon let out a quiet little gasp of realization and turned his gaze.

“.......”

There, Alon was still sleeping peacefully with his eyes closed.

“!”

The moment he saw that, Deus’s mind began spinning rapidly.

Lord Alon was clearly asleep over there.

Yet Lord Alon was also here.

But the Lord Alon here had made a “qyu” sound, and Blackie, who always slept curled up on Alon’s chest, was nowhere to be seen.

Which meant there was only one possible conclusion.

“......Don’t tell me you two are using Blackie to create a clone of Lord Alon so you can do things like this?”

Forgetting that he had been overwhelmed just moments ago, Deus stared in shock.

“Hmm—”

“Ahem—”

At Deus’s utterly dead stare, the eyes of Rine and Penia—which until just now had been shining brightly—briefly darted away.

Then Rine quickly recovered her usual expressionless face and shamelessly answered.

“Th-this is only temporary assistance for taking clothing measurements, Deus.”

“......I do not think someone needs to inhale that deeply to take clothing measurements.”

“.......”

A direct hit from Deus.

Rine’s face turned red.

“Th-that’s...... I......”

As Rine was sunk in one blow, Penia stepped in this time.

Deus’s gaze shifted toward her, and Penia dragged out her words for a moment before—

“......If I say we were taking clothing measurements...... you will not believe us, right?”

“Would I?”

“Yeah...... figured.......”

She immediately looked dejected.

“No matter how much you like Lord Alon, this is a bit much.”

“.......”

“.......”

Looking at the two women who had completely lost their spirit, Deus was dumbfounded.

“If Lord Alon found out, he would be horrified.”

“Ahem—”

“Mm......”

At Deus’s continued criticism, the two women shut their mouths as though they had no response.

Letting out a sigh, Deus soon looked toward Lord Alon—no, toward Blackie.

Blackie still tilted its head at him.

‘......What exactly is it?’

Deus thought while staring at it.

Of course, he already knew Blackie was a spirit dragon.

But no matter how mysterious a being it was, to copy a person this perfectly......

Even Deus himself had momentarily mistaken the thing in front of him for the real Alon until he heard Blackie’s voice.

But while he was absorbed in that amazement—

“How about trying it yourself while you’re here, Deus?”

At Rine’s voice, Deus turned his gaze.

“You said you were making statues, right? Wouldn’t seeing him directly help in many ways when making them?”

Soon after hearing her words, he replied with his usual cold expression—

“So you are just taking a very long time to suggest making me an accomp—”

—and then suddenly fell silent.

......Thinking about it, what she said was not wrong.

Recently, Saintess Sili had been making Alon’s statues more often, but the one who basically provided the ideas for them was Deus.

And lately, he had slowly been running out of inspiration for the statues.

Naturally so.

To gain inspiration, he needed to spend time with Alon, but due to the nature of his work, there were not many opportunities for that.

And more than anything, because of the personal work Deus himself had been handling lately, he had even less spare time than before.

‘Am I not different from them? I only want to study the poses.’

After finally rationalizing it inside his head—

“......How far is it possible?”

In the end, he lost.

And the next day.

Now that they were not far from the capital—

“Lord Alon.”

“What is it, Deus?”

“Have you perhaps ever considered learning the sword?”

“......All of a sudden?”

For some reason, Alon instinctively took a step back after seeing the strangely intense expression on Deus’s face.

####

The next day.

After confirming that the capital of the Eastern Empire was visible in the distance, Alon spoke to the group.

“From here on, I think we will all need to move separately.”

“Understood.”

“All right.”

“Yes, Godfather.”

“Hm—will you really be all right without me?”

Evan puffed himself up proudly.

To be honest, things would be a little inconvenient without him, but unfortunately, Evan would also be entering the academy as a student rather than as a guard knight.

“It cannot be helped. It is only for a day anyway.”

Alon continued.

“I’ve already said this several times, but once we enter the academy, avoid using your real names whenever possible. And act as similarly as possible to the background identities you were given.”

“Yes.”

“......It will be difficult, but at most we will only be at the academy for two months, so endure it as best you can. And above all—”

Alon reached into his coat and showed the group a ring.

“You may shape it however you want, but restrict your power. Realistically, I do not think there is anyone over there capable of sensing it, but we should still be careful. Of course, if you end up in danger, remove the restriction without hesitation.”

“Yes.”

“......And just in case, when I say danger, I do not mean only when your life is at risk. I mean when things begin to become dangerous. Your lives come first no matter what.”

“Understood.”

“And if the Church of War is discovered, I will pass the information through a code phrase.”

“Yes.”

“Then I’ll see you at the academy.”

With those words, Alon put on the ring.

The moment he wore it, he felt an unfamiliar weakness spread through him.

Not only that, but Alon’s appearance changed slightly as well.

“Oh.”

“You look a little younger now.”

Listening to Penia’s quiet exclamation and Evan’s comment that followed, Alon thought:

‘My magic power is...... around the third tier now. My appearance seems to have changed somewhat too.’

In truth, if he were ambushed in this state, it could become a problem.

But he was not especially worried.

Because Blackie and Basiliora, both fully charged with magic power and waiting to protect him at any time, were with him.

“As expected...... if this really is an artifact dragons used when enjoying their amusements, the performance is incredible.”

Rine lifted a ring identical to the one Alon had shown earlier with an interested expression.

Alon nodded while looking at the ring as well.

Just as she said, Alon had received these ring artifacts from Ar.

‘The children found them last time in the dragons’ nest!’

Ar, who had worn a smug expression going hmph-hmph-hmph because she was happy Alon needed her help.

Recalling her, Alon briefly felt grateful toward her before turning toward Deus.

“Deus.”

“Yes?”

“Take this.”

He handed him a spool of thread.

“This is......”

Apparently recognizing what the spool was immediately, Deus’s eyes widened.

“Keep it with you, just in case.”

And without waiting for Deus’s question, Alon began walking alone toward the capital.

‘......What exactly am I even doing?’

A sigh escaped through his teeth.

Suddenly, he remembered something Evan had said before they arrived at the capital.

‘Lord Alon, but do we really need to go this far just because the Empire might collapse?’

Evan’s question had been reasonable.

In truth, Alon, who belonged to the Allied Kingdoms, had no obligation to do this much for the Empire.

And if the Empire were only going to end up half destroyed, Alon himself might have reconsidered.

Because Alon was not a hero.

If he had to weigh the lives of his companions against the lives of Imperial citizens, then naturally the lives of his companions mattered far more.

Yet despite that, the reason Alon had come this far was because of what the Wanderer had told him.

‘......If a Karma Throne starts gathering believers independently, there is no answer......’

If multiple Thrones descended at once and devoured one another through conflict, then perhaps it would not matter.

But unfortunately, that was not the current situation.

The Seat of War would appear early because of believers planted who knew where.

......And the Empire, protected by the consecration barrier, would undoubtedly buy it enough time to completely overwhelm the other Thrones.

And if that happened, there was no need to even see where things would end.

‘......I hope I find it.’

Alon truly hoped to discover traces of the Church of War inside the academy.

Because if there were no traces of the Church of War inside the academy, then from that point onward he would have to begin searching for where exactly they intended to perform the ritual.

‘......Fortunately, the method for finding them is not difficult.’

[Qyu-?]

As he was thinking that, Blackie quietly crawled out from his chest and looked up at him.

While stroking Blackie’s head, Alon continued thinking.

‘Two months.’

Two months.

That was the amount of time Alon believed he needed to stop the Church of War’s ritual.

To begin with, he could not allow it to go beyond that period.

The Church of War would most likely perform the ritual before then.

‘I’ll stop it before that.’

Making that vow, Alon entered the capital of the Eastern Empire.

####

One day after arriving in the Eastern Empire.

Perhaps because he had truly arrived at the perfect time, Alon was able to participate in the academy entrance ceremony the very next day, and inwardly, he was surprised.

‘......Was Calypsophobia an academy story......?’

Because the Imperial Royal Academy was structured far more similarly to the academy stories Alon knew than he had expected.

But only for a moment.

Alon soon shook his head.

‘There’s no way.’

As far as Alon knew, no academy appeared in Calypsophobia.

No—rather, he remembered that at some point, the academy itself was destroyed.

‘......Has the academy survived because the narrative changed?’

Thinking that, Alon looked around.

‘Still, it’s fortunate that it’s organized in a format I more or less understand.’

If there was one unusual point, it was only that there were four grades.

Other than that, everything was exactly like the academies Alon knew.

The overall division into classes.

And among them, the separation into swordsmanship classes, magic classes, and administration classes based on aptitude.

All of it was the same.

But the thing that was most alike was—

“Oh my, Lord Delgart, you’ve arrived?”

“Yes, yes—it’s been a while.”

“Hahaha—”

—that even here, there was a villain straight out of an academy story in the same class.

“.......”

Alon glanced toward the man lounging with his legs up on a desk while receiving flattery from several classmates—a man who looked obviously rotten to the core at first glance—then looked away.

What mattered to him right now was not that guy—

“Hoo—”

—but traces of the Church of War.

“Hoo—”

For a moment, Alon closed his eyes and focused.

At the same time, he felt a faint trace of Divine power.

Because of the ring, the amount Alon could use was smaller than a fingernail clipping.

But rather, that was a good thing.

Since it was such a tiny amount, there was absolutely no danger of being discovered even if he used it.

‘Divine power...... through the eyes?’

‘Yes. Please infuse Divine power using the method I taught you and search for traces. It probably will not be difficult. Even just that much should allow you to immediately grasp the inside of the academy.’

Following the Wanderer’s instructions, Alon shaped the Divine power and pushed it into his eyesight.

And at that moment, together with the feeling that his vision had briefly turned blue—

“!”

—he saw it.

Because the Divine power was only as large as a fingernail clipping, it lasted for only an instant.

But far away, reflected in his eyes, he saw a red stain.

‘As expected......!’

And the moment Alon unconsciously reacted in realization—

Tap.

A hand landed on his shoulder.

Alon turned his gaze.

And there—

“Alon, what are you doing here?”

A girl whose hair was dyed blue unlike usual—

No.

‘......Rine?’

Rine, appearing somewhat younger than Alon was used to seeing her, with one side of her hair braided, was smiling at him.

“......Hm?”

For a moment, Alon was caught off guard.

Glancing downward, he realized that the gazes of the students who had been talking amongst themselves moments earlier had gathered here.

More precisely, they were focused on Rine’s face......

Anyway, though startled by Rine suddenly speaking to him—

“I was just thinking for a moment—”

Alon ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) instinctively answered that way.

At that, Rine quietly giggled. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“That’s disappointing. You should take care of your fiancée first.”

“?”

Then she said that.

And instantly, Alon’s head filled with question marks.

‘Fiancée......?’

Alon wore an expression that said, Was there a setting like that......? Then suddenly let out a low sound of realization.

Come to think of it, the profile documents did say there was a fiancée.

But since nothing beyond that had been written in the special notes section—

‘......??’

Alon made a puzzled expression.

Unfortunately, however, his confusion could go no further than that.

Because—

“Excuse me. Isn’t that statement a little incorrect?”

Not long after Rine arrived, another girl with red hair appeared—no, a younger-looking Penia, as though she too had adjusted her age like Rine.

“......I’m Alon’s fiancée. You’re the former fiancée, aren’t you?”

And with those words—

the atmosphere in the classroom froze.