Chapter 615: Tier (3)

“......You are asking who Lord Alon married?”

“Yes.”

At Rine, who nodded with a stiff face, and Seollang, who did not say anything but whose eyes were shining as if curious, Deus stayed silent for a moment, then asked bluntly.

“Is that important?”

“It is not important. It is not important, but—”

“It is important.”

Unlike Rine, who was stumbling, Seollang answered firmly.

When Rine also nodded firmly right after that, Deus scratched his head.

“I do remember the fact that Lord Alon got ?? (Original source) married.”

“Then......?”

“But unfortunately, I do not remember who he married.”

“......Eck.”

Seollang’s expression turned flatly disappointed.

“It cannot be helped. As you both know, at that time, it was already not a situation where anyone could leisurely talk about marriage or anything like that.”

However, when Deus continued explaining, Rine and Seollang nodded in understanding.

“Well— that is true.”

“Right, I agree.”

And Radan, who had been watching that sight quietly, lightly shrugged.

“If you are that curious about it, can’t you just ask Elivan?”

A light suggestion.

However, Rine and Seollang stared at Radan as if he knew nothing and spoke.

“......Radan, you did regain your memories, right?”

“......? I did.”

“Then you remember that guy’s personality too, don’t you?”

At Seollang’s following words, Radan briefly recalled his memories concerning Elivan and let out an Ah.

“That’s true. He would not answer.”

“There is no way that reckless bastard would answer—”

“Right— in the first place, he does not listen to anyone except his benefactor.”

“......In truth, does he even listen to Brother properly?”

“That is, true.”

“Now that I think about it, did he not hang up that guy named Marquis Kinerio or something because he put a wound on Brother’s cheek?”

“It was Canerio. And he did lower him again after hanging him up, didn’t he? Because Godfather worked hard to tell him not to.”

“......Is there any meaning in lowering him after he had already become a cold corpse?”

Rine and Seollang fell silent at Radan’s words.

But that too lasted only a moment.

“Ahem—”

Soon, Rine cleared her throat and changed the topic.

“In any case, if you do not remember, then that is fine.”

“I am sorry. Still, if I try to say what I can remember, it was roughly held in a simplified form.”

“Simplified......?”

“Yes. I remember hearing that it was done to grant someone’s wish. I do not know more than that, though.”

At Deus’s words, Seollang and Rine’s eyes quietly widened.

However, that too lasted only a moment.

“I understand.”

“Then are we moving on to the main point now?”

At Radan’s words, Rine nodded.

Snap—!

She snapped her fingers.

Along with that, a golden crown poured out from behind Rine and began covering the inside of the room in an instant.

“It seems this is an important conversation.”

At Radan’s reaction, muttering as if he had already experienced this situation several times, Rine nodded again.

“That is right. In many ways.”

“Mm— but if that is the case, should we not talk about it together with Yutia?”

Radan agreed with Seollang’s opinion.

“Agreed. If it is important, it seems Yutia should be here. Though I do not know where she is or what she has been doing lately.”

At that, Rine was silent for a moment.

“No, rather, now is better.”

“......Why?”

“What I am about to say from now on is only a guess, but...... it is also a story about Yutia.”

She said that.

“First, please listen.”

Before the others could say anything, Rine calmly began continuing the story first.

####

Even on the day after the children came to visit, what Alon did did not change.

He woke up early and headed to the library from a very early hour, stuffing magical knowledge into his head.

Like that, several days passed.

Tok—

A coffee cup was placed in front of Alon while he was studying.

“Thank you, Penia.”

Without taking his eyes off the book at all, Alon casually lifted the coffee cup and took a sip, then suddenly felt a strange impression.

It had been a while since he had drunk coffee, but the taste was different from what he knew.

Because of that, Alon wondered about it.

“Does it taste all right?”

At the voice he heard, he soon came to his senses and turned his gaze.

The person standing there was not Penia, but Deus.

“.......”

An awkward silence.

“My apologies.”

Alon murmured as he rubbed both eyes with one hand and set down the coffee cup he had been holding with the other.

“It is all right.”

Deus answered like that, then looked at Alon, who was soaked in fatigue and rubbing around his eyes, and stayed silent for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

“......Did she always brew coffee?”

A small question.

At that, Alon unknowingly fiddled with the coffee cup.

“......Yes. When we were at the Mage Tower, at least.”

At Alon’s affirmation, Deus gave a small nod.

“You must be busy, so I will take my leave.”

“I will drink the coffee well.”

“Yes.”

Soon, he turned and headed out of the library.

As if being considerate of Alon.

And after seeing Deus leave like that, Alon stared blankly at the coffee cup again.

“Hehe— how is it? How is it, Lord Alon? You can feel the aroma right away, can’t you? I am telling you, this is really high-class.”

“Lady Heinkel told me to use only this cup in the library, so the flaw is that I cannot use a cup that perfectly suits this coffee, but— well, it is not as if the taste changes!”

Along with that, what Alon heard beside his ear was Penia’s voice.

“Ugh— seriously, now and back then, I still do not know why anyone drinks this kind of thing. Coffee really tastes terrible, does it not?”

“Haa— here you go again. If you do not even know the taste, stop stealing Lord Alon’s!”

“You are making such a fuss over me sneaking one sip—”

At the same time, what he saw was Evan’s figure.

No, it was the sight of Evan and Penia glaring at each other and growling.

“Shut up and get out already. Can you not see Lord Alon is studying?”

“Wow, what a fuss when I was here for five minutes. Fine, I am going, I am going— and Lord Alon does not like this kind of thing. In the first place, I think he said it was not the coffee taste he wanted? What did he say again...... Did he say it was different from what he used to drink in the old days? Right, Lord Alon?”

Evan asked while looking at Alon.

“Uh.......”

At that, Alon unknowingly let out a low sound.

Certainly, Evan’s words were correct.

The food of this world was similar to the world Alon knew, but the taste was very different.

Even the egg tarts Alon had picked up and eaten several times tasted different from the ones he had eaten in his original world.

Coffee was the same.

The food that had a taste most similar to the original world was—

“Haa, no matter how different the taste is, unlike you, Lord Alon will understand the charm of this coffee.”

“I told you he does not— it is not as if I have only seen Lord Alon for a day or two.”

“That is the same for me now, you know?”

While he was lost in thought, the voices he heard gradually became more heated.

“Both of you, stop—”

At that, Alon stopped the thought he was having and raised his head.

At that moment.

“......ping?”

Alon saw it.

The silent library, with no one in it.

“Uh......?”

Alon, who had blankly let out a sound, stopped just like that.

“Alon?”

A voice came from another side.

At that, Alon hurriedly turned his head, and Heinkel was looking at him.

“......Lady Heinkel?”

“Yes. You suddenly let out a sound by yourself, so I came because I wondered if something had happened...... Is there a problem?”

At Heinkel’s question, Alon slowly turned his gaze again.

What he saw was an empty, silent desk and a coffee cup whose warmth had not yet faded.

“......How about resting a little? I think you have been sitting there longer than usual.”

Heinkel spoke as Alon looked at the coffee cup.

At that, Alon blankly fiddled with the coffee cup again.

Then he looked ahead.

“Understood.”

A voice came after a slight pause.

At that, Heinkel seemed about to say something, then stopped, turned around, and silently went back.

Alon quietly looked at the library scenery for a long while.

Until the coffee had completely cooled.

####

A month passed after that.

The children who had come to meet Alon returned once again to their own places.

Now, only Deus remained in the tower.

Of course, compared to that, the tower was gradually regaining its bustle.

Because the mages who had gone to Divine Land had obtained what they wanted and were slowly returning.

And during that one month, Alon—

“......This is unbelievably fast.”

Surprisingly, was standing at the threshold of the 7th tier.

“I am asking just in case, but it is not that you already had knowledge of the 7th tier, is it?”

At Heinkel, who asked in surprise, Alon shook his head.

“Of course not.”

“I thought so...... Sorry, forget what I just said. I only asked because I was too surprised. Anyway—”

Heinkel looked at Alon.

“Now, I think you will be able to learn 7th-tier magic without too much difficulty. Of course, it will take time. But considering what you have done so far, it should not take that long.”

“That is a relief.”

“And—”

Muttering, “I did not think I would hand this over in just one month,” she lightly waved her finger, and soon placed ten books in front of Alon.

“......What is this?”

“They are 7th-tier spells. More accurately, they are 7th-tier spells I have roughly interpreted. To mages, they are only complicated codes, but you are a True Mage, so I thought it would be faster for you to understand them this way.”

“Ah—”

“Of course, I am not telling you to decipher the code. I am saying you should try to recognize, as a True Mage, roughly under what conditions and standards they activate. I have interpreted that much.”

“......Thank you.”

“......There is nothing to thank me for.”

After finishing her words like that, Heinkel somehow moved her lips for a moment while looking at Alon.

As if there were something she had to say.

But—

“......Anyway, work hard this time too.”

Perhaps she had quickly given up on that intention, because Heinkel turned away without hesitation along with those words.

Alon wondered about that sight for a moment, but soon turned his gaze and looked at the books Heinkel had placed down.

Every one of them was an extremely thick book.

‘She had not been seen recently, so I wondered what she was doing...... Was she doing this?’

Feeling only gratitude toward Heinkel as he looked at the books she had written one by one for him, Alon opened the book at the very top.

Rustle—

The first page opened with that sound.

In familiar handwriting, there was the magical formula for one of the 7th-tier spells, “Burn Icicle,” and a True Mage’s interpretation of it.

As a result of Alon turning a few more pages, there were endless lines of interpretations.

“.......”

Several minutes passed, and when Alon realized, only now, that the entire book was an interpretation of this one spell, he let out a stunned sound at the amount.

But that did not mean he could give up.

“Hoo—”

Without even having time to celebrate the fact that he had entered the beginning of the 7th tier, Alon immediately began reading the book.

And.

“......?”

When Alon had read almost a third of the book, he felt a strange sense of incongruity.

It was not because of the mage’s formula itself.

The formula was extremely difficult and abstruse, but it was not strange.

Instead, what Alon felt was—

A sense of incongruity concerning the formula Heinkel had interpreted.

“......?”

Alon saw this formula for the first time.

But it felt extremely strange.

As if he had seen it somewhere before.

Because of that, Alon blankly looked at the formula.

“......!”

Soon, his eyes widened.

Because he had realized the true identity of this incongruity.

Alon did not understand this uninterpreted formula.

But.

The moment he rearranged the rules of this half-finished interpretation in a way that looked familiar to his eyes, he could understand what this was.

What he saw when he rearranged the rules was—

The formula Elivan had used to convey words to Alon.

“......!”

At last, a strange light flickered in Alon’s eyes.