Chapter 609: Hol (4)

What Deus could see after ending the battle with the Karma seat of Salvation was barren land he had never seen before, and Alon.

Alon was standing blankly alone on the empty earth.

“......Lord Alon.”

“......Deus.”

Alon, who turned his gaze at Deus’s call, did not look to be in very good condition.

There was blood on various parts of his body, and the coat he always wore was torn and frayed, as if hinting at a fierce battle.

“......Are you all right?”

At Alon’s question, Deus nodded.

Of course, when seen from the outside, Deus’s condition looked more serious than Alon’s.

Because he was covered in blood from head to toe.

And yet, compared to that terrible state, Deus was fairly all right.

It was true he had taken a great deal of damage, but thanks to becoming half-human, half-sin, wounds of this sort to his body were quickly regenerating even now.

In addition to that—

“Yes. Thanks to Lord Alon’s law, everything went as intended.”

—the Sin artifact Alon had given him was also helping Deus recover.

“.......”

Alon lowered his gaze and looked at the Sin artifact in Deus’s hand.

The ball of thread he had given him at some point—no, now that the thread had disappeared again and it had become a bobbin—was giving off an uncanny light.

“Can you use it completely now?”

“Yes. And though I am still not certain, it seems my emotions are being restored as well.”

“......Your emotions are being restored?”

Alon asked back, sounding a little puzzled.

However, instead of answering that—

“Yes. But for now, I think it would be best to leave this place first.”

Deus said that.

“Ah.”

At Deus’s words, Alon let out a small sound and turned his gaze forward once again.

“......We should.”

In a way, the way he acted, as if hesitating slightly, might have been frustrating, but Deus did not particularly hurry Alon.

He was curious what had happened, but he did not ask about that either.

Instead, he grasped it on his own.

No, there was no need to do even that.

Because he could understand how the situation had played out just by looking.

Deus turned his gaze away from Alon’s back, as Alon turned his body once more, and looked around.

No traces of Peach Blossom Spring could be seen anymore.

The power of the Karma seat of Immortal Cultivation could not be felt either.

Just as Deus had won against the Karma seat of Salvation.

Alon had also won against the Karma seat of Immortal Cultivation.

But apart from having won.

‘She is nowhere to be seen.’

Penia.

She could not be seen.

She, who had always followed Alon around and helped him.

She was nowhere to be seen.

Not even her presence could be felt.

Since what that meant was only one thing.

“.......”

Deus did not add any further words to Alon.

Instead, as if he intended to simply guard that place calmly until Alon moved, he stood there without saying anything.

How much time passed after that?

“......Let’s move.”

“Understood.”

Alon, who had stood blankly in place for a long while with his back to the rising sun, soon began moving toward the Empire together with Deus.

Because he knew that staying still here now would only bring another danger and serve no purpose.

That was why Deus and Alon quietly began walking toward the Empire.

And only after moving on foot for several days while taking the bare minimum of rest was Alon able to arrive at the Empire.

####

Alon and Deus, who arrived at the Empire’s border, received extremely favorable treatment the moment they crossed the border.

Whether it was because of Contanias or because Arculainysis had separately passed word ahead, the Empire’s guards welcomed them intensely after they arrived.

Thanks to that welcome, they were able to rest at an estate near the border.

“......You think Sin is passing emotions to you?”

“Yes.”

Alon was soon able to hear something strange from Deus.

“What does that mean?”

“It is exactly as it sounds. From the moment I became able to use the artifact properly, just as Lord Alon said, Sin has been returning my emotions to me.”

“And because of that, your emotions are returning like before?”

“I do not know whether they will return completely as they were before—but for now, yes. According to Sin, only now can it deliver them—”

“......Can you converse with Sin?”

“No. I am only listening one-sidedly. I do not know whether it is because I am lacking, but it did not seem as though a conversation was possible.”

“So you are merely in the position of receiving?”

“That is correct.”

At Deus’s words.

Alon stroked his chin with somewhat hollow eyes, but—

“Does it seem like it will become a problem?”

“From what I feel, I do not think there will be any major problem in particular.”

At Deus’s following words, Alon silently nodded.

“......For now, let’s watch it. It does not seem as though anything serious will happen yet.”

He said that.

“Understood.”

“Still, that is a relief.”

“A relief, you say?”

“Yes. Because you will not have to lose your emotions.”

That’s a relief, Alon murmured briefly as he looked at Deus.

Deus, too, nodded slightly for a moment.

“Go back and rest. You walked for too long.”

Alon said that to Deus.

At his words, Deus was silent for a moment, then—

“Understood.”

Soon, he slowly rose from his seat.

“Rest well, Lord Alon.”

“Yes.”

The door closed after that small answer.

Alon, after looking blankly at the closed door for a while, turned his gaze and looked out the window.

Unlike when Alon and Deus had arrived earlier, the scenery of the estate now had the falling sunset as its backdrop.

Alon was looking at it silently.

[Your soul has completely left your body.]

At the voice that suddenly came, he turned his gaze.

“......Basiliora.”

Basiliora, which had appeared on the windowsill Alon had been blankly staring at, let out a small sigh.

[Did I not tell you?]

A question containing many things.

Alon answered calmly.

“I am fine.”

[The kind of fellow who is fine walks for several days on purpose to reach a border he could have arrived at immediately in only a few hours, with his soul gone from his body?]

“......Ah.”

Alon’s small sigh.

Seeing him let out that low nonsense, as if only then realizing that fact, Basiliora shook its head.

[Get a grip, Alon.]

“.......”

[You do not think she sacrificed herself because she wanted to see you like this, do you?]

Basiliora spoke firmly.

At that, Alon looked at it.

“......Ha.”

Alon soon let out a hollow laugh.

Of course, Basiliora was right.

She would not have wanted this from Alon.

He knew that too.

“You’re right.”

Right.

But unfortunately, that was not something that went as one intended.

......Not as Penia intended, either.

“......You’re right.”

“.......”

Alon touched his own face.

He should certainly have been feeling sadness, yet his face was expressionless as usual.

As if he could not feel sorrow at all.

That was not all.

The same was true of his condition.

“.......”

He should certainly have been sad.

But paradoxically, he was not sad.

He was feeling that emotion as if he were encountering it through another medium, as if it were one step removed.

He was sad, but he could not grieve.

As if someone would not allow it.

‘......It’s gotten even worse than before.’

Alon recalled when Evan had been left alone.

Back then, Alon’s emotions had been the same as they were now.

Only, if there was one difference, it was that back then, he had still felt his emotions clearly.

The emotion called anger.

The emotion called sadness.

But now?

He was feeling emotions, but they stopped at the level of literally having felt them.

As if preventing him from feeling anything beyond that.

As if restricting his emotions from bursting out past a certain point.

So that he could not grieve.

So that he could not be angry, something was stopping him.

“.......”

That was why, even at this very moment, Alon’s emotional state was strange.

He was trying to feel sadness, but he could not feel it.

And his head, absurdly enough, was calmly grasping the current situation.

That was why, even as he felt anger—

“Basiliora.”

[What is it?]

“Thank you for the comfort, but it seems there is one thing you are mistaken about.”

[......What is it?]

“I do not intend to simply remain sad forever.”

—rather, Alon thought it was good.

[......What does that mean?]

Basiliora’s voice was heard, sounding as if it could not understand for a moment.

“It means exactly what I said. More accurately, I suppose it would be right to say I have no time to be sad.”

[You—]

“Because I intend to save Penia.”

It was not as though, even now, he did not want to collapse where he stood.

He had already lost two precious people.

And that, too, because of his own insufficiency.

But he could not do that.

Alon said that and clenched his fist tightly.

His emotions were twisted.

He could not feel sadness.

He could not feel anger.

Why that was happening, Alon himself did not know either.

Nor did he know whether someone was restricting his emotions.

But if this was a shackle that could not be undone immediately, then rather than feeling self-loathing toward himself, it was right to move forward.

“.......”

Alon recalled Penia’s final moment.

The image of her casually saying goodbye and disappearing beyond the distortion field came vividly to mind.

But what he was concentrating on was not Penia, but the distortion field she had unfolded.

‘That was—definitely magic.’

That distortion field Penia had shown at the final moment had definitely been unfolded through magic.

If so, there was no reason Alon could not do it.

Opening that distortion field and bringing Penia out again should be possible.

‘It’s all right, Lord Alon! True, I was basically half-forced into becoming a cultivator...... but I quite like this power.’

‘It would be a waste to throw this power away, wouldn’t it? So—I’ll come back after I’m able to control myself properly.’

At the same time, Penia’s voice echoed in Alon’s mind.

Her voice, which had spoken as if wanting that power was her own greed.

But Alon knew that the words Penia had spoken then were a lie.

Just as she knew Alon.

Alon also knew her.

‘......Once she became a cultivator, was it impossible to respond with law?’

And Alon was also able to grasp without much difficulty even the reason she had spoken that lie.

“.......”

Her choice had not been wrong.

If law did not apply, then in the end, she would have changed like the Karma seat of Immortal Cultivation.

And Alon would have had to stop her.

That was why she had sealed herself.

But if there was one more thing she had given Alon, it was time.

Yes, time.

As long as there was time, Alon would find a way to return Penia to normal.

Because he had absolutely no intention of giving up.

[......It seems I did not need to say the same words again.]

Had it recognized the look in Alon’s eyes?

Basiliora, which had been looking at him for a while, opened its mouth with a faint laugh.

[I will give you a gift.]

“......A gift?”

[Yes. Check Blackie.]

“......Blackie?”

At Basiliora’s words, Alon opened the pocket at his chest as if bewitched.

Unlike Basiliora’s words, which had hinted that something had happened, Blackie was quietly curled up inside the pocket at his chest.

And the moment Alon felt doubt.

[At the moment her space closed, Blackie created an alter and went into Penia’s imaginary space with her.]

“What......?”

Basiliora said that.

[Kkyuu—!]

And at those words, as if it had been waiting,

Blackie looked at Alon and cried softly.