Chapter 586: The Thing Called the Karma Seat (7)

A little while later.

Even though he had not said a single word, the women were all standing in a perfectly straight line with their heads lowered as though they had made a promise beforehand.

Alon slowly swept his eyes across them before looking down at the strand of hair in his hand.

“......So you were trying to check my favorability with this?”

At Alon’s question, the women lowered their heads even further.

Among them, Seollang—who had very clearly been celebrating her victory with a fighting pose just a few minutes earlier—rolled her eyes around before opening her mouth.

“Sorry, Master...... I was just too curious......”

Alon looked at Seollang, whose ears and tail had drooped completely as though she truly felt guilty, and recalled the explanation she had given him about the current situation.

The situation as he understood it was simple.

If they had Alon’s hair, they could check his favorability, and because of that, they had been fighting over the last remaining strand of hair until now.

Making a rather strange expression, Alon looked at the hair once more before asking,

“......Just in case, did you happen to discover some kind of special artifact?”

“Well, at first we used a different method......”

“A different method?”

At Alon’s repeated question—

As though they had been waiting for it, Seollang and the women simultaneously turned their gazes toward one side.

Toward the area beside Alon.

And just as Alon was about to turn his head—

Step, step—

As though she had predicted this exact moment, Penia immediately walked over beside Seollang wearing a strangely betrayed and sorrowful expression.

And then—

Lowering her head deeply as well.

“......”

......Just from that alone, Alon was able to roughly understand the outline of the situation.

“......Among mage spells, was there originally magic capable of checking favorability?”

“Th-that isss—”

Penia rolled her eyes slightly before mumbling, “I’m sorrrry......”

“......Did Kylrus teach you?”

At Alon’s question, Penia nodded.

With that, the situation became even clearer in Alon’s mind.

‘So instead of magic, each of them found completely different methods.’

After roughly piecing the situation together, another question arose in Alon’s mind, and he raised the strand of hair slightly.

“......But why are you fighting over this specifically?”

Honestly, he did not understand.

There was only a single strand of hair in Alon’s hand.

Meaning that even one strand alone was enough to produce the desired effect.

And though it felt strange saying this himself, there should be an enormous amount of Alon’s hair scattered throughout this mansion.

No matter how frequently the servants cleaned, that would still remain true.

Especially in places like the office, where servants could only enter on certain designated days in case document-related issues arose.

In other words, Alon’s hair should not have become something treated this excessively like a rare treasure.

Thus, when Alon looked at them with genuine confusion—

Their gazes slowly gathered toward a single place.

Staaaaare—

“......”

Toward Magrina.

Watching the women desperately glare at her while Magrina avoided their gazes by frantically rolling her eyes around, Alon found it very easy to identify the culprit and let out a small sigh.

“......Does everyone want to check my favorability?”

““......!””

At Alon’s question, the women looked at him with literal exclamation marks floating over their heads.

Of course, some only seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation belatedly and hurriedly rolled their eyes around, but Alon calmly continued.

“It is not something I cannot show.”

“Really!?”

Seollang shouted immediately as though she had been waiting for those exact words.

However, Alon calmly continued speaking.

“However, that comes after we deal with the urgent matter first.”

“......Urgent matter?”

Seeing Seollang’s tail curve into the shape of a question mark, Alon answered.

“Yes. An urgent matter.”

####

Shortly afterward.

Gathering everyone together—still looking somewhat confused by his words—Alon began explaining one by one everything he had heard from the Wanderer.

And by the time the explanation finally ended—

“......So in three weeks. No, now probably around two weeks from now, Karma Seats will descend beyond the Empire, while Divine blood will fall upon the Allied Kingdoms.”

Rine briefly summarized Alon’s explanation.

“Yes. If I were to summarize it simply, that would be correct.”

“......Is there no way to know the exact number of Divine blood?”

“Unfortunately, it does not seem so.”

“......This is more difficult than expected.”

As Rine murmured quietly, Radan—who had likewise been thinking beside her—opened his mouth.

“And on the Empire side, we also don’t know how many Karma Seats will remain alive, correct?”

“Correct. Though apparently around four Karma Seats are expected to remain.”

“Hm...... Four......”

Radan fell into serious thought.

Frowning slightly as though something bothered him, Radan soon spoke.

“Hyung-nim, what you want is to protect the Allied Kingdoms while also taking care of the Karma Seats?”

“Yes. More precisely, it would be closer to saying that I intend to target the moment after their battle ends.”

“......If they’re going to fight, then that probably would be the best timing.”

“No.”

“......Pardon?”

“It has to be then.”

Alon spoke firmly.

He had no choice but to be firm.

Because Alon had personally fought against a Karma Seat before, he understood exactly how overwhelmingly absolute the power possessed by such beings truly was.

Which meant the only way to maximize their chances was to target the moment when the Karma Seats were exhausted.

Thus, as Alon explained—

“We’ll have to divide our forces then, since we need to deal with both the Divine blood in the Allied Kingdoms and the Karma Seats simultaneously.”

Magrina reached the conclusion first.

“Correct.”

Nodding once, Alon continued.

“For now, that is our external objective.”

As he said those words, he looked toward the group.

“External......”

“Objective?”

Seeing Rine and Radan ask back in confusion, Alon nodded once more.

“Yes.”

And with that short answer, he began continuing the explanation.

Something even more important.

......And after more time passed.

Once the discussion had ended, Alon immediately began putting the plan into motion, and within only a few hours of returning, he divided everyone into two separate teams.

One team would remain within the Allied Kingdoms and guard against the Divine blood.

The other would cross into the Empire together with Alon and target the exhausted Karma Seats after their battle concluded.

“We’ll proceed according to this plan.”

At Alon’s words, Rine hesitated briefly before speaking.

“I do not particularly object...... but will you truly be alright, Godfather?”

“What exactly do you mean?”

“......Wouldn’t it still be better if either Seollang or I accompanied you?”

Rine spoke quietly.

However—

“No. We will proceed like this.”

As Alon shook his head, she appeared as though she wanted to say something more.

Yet—

“Yes, understood.”

She soon nodded as though she understood.

Alon slowly looked across everyone gathered before him and continued.

“Then let us summarize one final time. Penia, Deus, and I will head toward the Empire. The others will divide themselves throughout the Allied Kingdoms according to the instructions I already explained. And—”

As Alon looked toward Rine, she immediately spoke as though she had already known exactly what he intended to say.

“As you instructed, I will deliver your will to the Divine blood gathered around Ashtalon.”

And then—

“......I suppose this became troublesome for Deus and Radan as well. You only just arrived, and now you’ve been dragged into something like this.”

“Ah— no need to say things like that, Hyung-nim.”

“I feel the same.”

After offering a brief apology to Radan and Deus, Alon concluded.

“Then we move immediately.”

And just like that, they began [N O V E L I G H T] acting according to schedule.

####

The place Alon headed immediately after explaining the plan was where the golden dragon Reinysius resided.

The reason was—

“......You’re asking whether such an artifact exists?”

“Correct. More precisely, I’m asking whether it can be created.”

He had come to ask about a particular artifact.

“Hm......”

Reinysius stroked his chin thoughtfully before speaking.

“The artifact you described would not be particularly difficult to create.”

“......How long would it take?”

“At most, perhaps a single day.”

“......Then could you begin producing it immediately?”

“I shall begin at once.”

“You have my thanks.”

“It is nothing. Once it is complete, I will send it over immediately.”

“Good. I will wait.”

With Reinysius’s answer concluded, Alon turned his gaze toward the door to leave the room.

However—

“Wait a moment.”

“......?”

At Reinysius’s call, Alon paused before turning back.

The golden dragon lightly tapped the desk as he spoke.

“There is something I must tell you.”

“......Something?”

“Yes. You appear busy, but this is something you need to hear.”

Though Alon looked somewhat puzzled, he soon nodded in understanding and sat back down.

Reinysius likewise took his seat before speaking.

“To state the conclusion first—I failed to track Evan.”

“......What?”

Reinysius calmly delivered that truth to Alon.

“......You failed to track Evan?”

“Yes. More precisely, it would be more accurate to say that someone is interfering with the tracking.”

“Interfering...... with the tracking?”

At Alon’s repeated words, Reinysius nodded.

“As I explained before, when searching for those within the other side world, I use the Foot That Runs Through the Past as a kind of transmitter-receiver. In practice, this method has proven highly effective.”

After all, it was this very method that allowed him to locate Kylrus in the first place.

After adding that explanation, Reinysius continued speaking with a somewhat complicated expression.

“However, this tracking method does not work when it comes to Evan.”

“......Because someone is interfering?”

Reinysius nodded again.

“To be honest, while you were away, I had already tracked Evan’s location down to a specific point.”

“!”

“However, just before I reached him—within only a few attempts—someone moved his location.”

“......Moved it?”

“Yes. The coordinates themselves were completely transferred elsewhere...... just like this time as well.”

“When you say ‘this time’......”

“This is already the second occurrence.”

At Reinysius’s words, Alon fell silent briefly before speaking.

“......Then someone is definitely trying to prevent Evan from being found.”

“Yes. The first time was ambiguous enough that it could still perhaps be dismissed as coincidence. It was only the first attempt, after all. But not the second.”

“......This is troublesome.”

Alon let out a sigh.

“Then is there no method left?”

“At least for now, there is none. Even if I continue trying to search for him, the moment the other side relocates wherever Evan is, all of my efforts become meaningless.”

At those words, Reinysius quietly stared at Alon after noticing the brief flash of exhaustion that crossed his otherwise expressionless face.

“However—there is still one thing I managed to learn.”

“Something you learned?”

“Yes. More accurately, I should say that I discovered the cause.”

As Reinysius continued speaking—

“As you already know, there are many reasons why the coordinates of the other side world might shift. However, if someone is intentionally interfering with attempts to track Evan, then there is only one possible answer.”

After all, the number of beings capable of properly manipulating the other side world is limited to begin with.

Murmuring that quietly—

“......Monster blood.”

At Alon’s following words—

“Yes. Monster blood is blocking the tracking of Evan.”

Reinysius nodded.