Chapter 617: Tier (5)

“Lady Heinkel—”

“There is no error in my interpretation.”

At Heinkel’s words, Alon stopped what he had been about to say and silently looked at the notebook.

The notebook still had the word Alon had read a moment ago written in it.

Lord Alon, it said.

“.......”

......In truth, it was a surprisingly common name.

If one went to one of the villages in the territory he ruled right now, there was probably at least one person with a name like that.

But even so, there were three reasons Alon could not take his eyes off it.

The first was that these letters had been discovered in 7th-tier magic.

The second was that what was written in this code was not “Alon,” but “Lord Alon.”

And the third and final reason was because Penia also knew about this code rule.

Because right after he met Elivan, when they came out of Rosario, he had once explained this rule to her.

“.......”

Reinysius’s words came to Alon’s mind.

The information that Penia had moved somewhere.

That information combined inside Alon’s head and created a single conclusion.

“Hoo—”

Alon let out a sigh.

Nothing was certain yet.

Nothing was certain, but—

Even so, for some reason, he could not calm down.

“......Lady Heinkel.”

“......Ah, yes?”

“May we proceed a little further today?”

Alon was burning with zeal.

And Heinkel, seeing that—

“Yes, if that is what you want.”

—nodded without much reaction.

At that, Alon flinched slightly.

“? What is it?”

When Heinkel tilted her head, Alon hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“No, it just feels as though you are strangely calm.”

Only then did Heinkel seem slightly flustered, then deliberately cleared her throat with a hmm-hmm.

“Well, it is not as if I have to be surprised by every single thing just because we discovered something like this, is it?”

“Uh— that is true.”

“And though I have not said it, while organizing the rules, I already had a rough outline.”

She flipped through the book she herself had written.

“Still, from the next book onward, I think the decoding will be a little faster?”

“As expected, you think so as well?”

“The rules that were unclear when I first interpreted it have all been solved too, and if you simply arrange the rules properly, the interpretation will be faster than it is now. Judging by the speed—”

Then Heinkel looked at the sky that was entering twilight.

“—before those Karma Seats you mentioned descend, we might somehow be able to finish all of it.”

She murmured quietly.

####

Several more days passed after that.

At the point when they were decoding the code for the second spell.

“Hoo—”

Alon yawned softly, let out a sigh, and looked toward the window.

A dark night with no light visible at all.

“......Have I stayed awake too long?”

Alon, who had been rubbing near his eyes for some reason as his vision blurred, soon quietly closed the book he was holding and lay down on the bed.

Inside the quiet room.

Alon silently looked at the book placed on top of the desk.

He had already read through one-third of the book he was interpreting.

‘It still makes no sense— how is it this fast......?’

As he looked at the closed book, Heinkel’s voice suddenly passed through his mind.

Her voice, muttering as if she could not believe he had decoded this much in such a short time.

Alon thought blankly.

‘There certainly is a sense of incongruity.’

It had not been like this when he first studied formulas in order to surpass the 6th tier.

Because it had merely been an area he understood a little better.

But after reaching the 7th tier, Alon also began to feel in earnest the sense of incongruity Heinkel had kept mentioning.

“.......”

Basically, a mage’s magic was based on formulas.

Whatever form magic was based on, a basic formula existed, and the principle was to substitute additional formulas into that formula.

In other words, simply put, for a mage, tier could be seen as something determined by how many additional formulas one could open and contain on top of that formula.

‘Of course, that is only in an essential sense. The fact that one has to gain realization does not change.’

But when he thought of it only in that simple way, memorizing the formulas of the 6th tier had not been that difficult for Alon.

The formulas of the 6th tier were basically closer to adding or multiplying onto the formulas he had known until then, and gaining realization regarding manifestation had been more important than the formulas themselves.

But the 7th tier was a little different.

The formulas of the 7th tier basically followed a different track from the formulas of the previous tiers.

First of all, the number of formulas that had to be used had become incomparably larger.

And the basic conditions of the formulas were entirely different from what Alon knew now.

Yet, clearly, even so, Alon was memorizing them well and solving the formulas without issue.

As if it were only natural.

‘......It feels like recalling something I already knew, huh.......’

Alon closed his eyes.

Through one corner of his tired mind, a question passed.

But that question did not last very long.

Instead, only quiet breathing periodically filled the room.

And then.

‘......?’

Alon could see Yutia.

No.

It was not Yutia.

‘......Siyan?’

It was Siyan.

Siyan, who had helped with his training when Alon had gone to the past to avoid the Karma Seat of War before.

But for some reason, as Alon stared blankly at her, feeling that she was Yutia, her voice soon reached his ears.

“Alon, have you memorized some of it?”

“Mm— it is harder than I thought. I have not memorized much.”

His own voice responded to her.

But those words were not spoken by Alon.

It was a voice that came out regardless of his will.

“Really? It is still fine. Memorize it slowly. We have plenty of time.”

Siyan smiled, and then sat herself on Alon’s thigh as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Which part do you not understand?”

Then, at that question, Alon also parted his lips without holding even the slightest doubt.

“Mm— this part.”

“Ah, you mean here. This is—”

Siyan’s words could be heard.

Her figure, teaching him one thing after another with a small smile, entered Alon’s vision.

And then.

“Alon? You are concentrating, right?”

At some point, Siyan suddenly lifted her head and looked up at him— no.

“Of course, Yutia.”

At the sight of Yutia, Alon realized that this was a dream.

A dream endlessly close to reality.

No.

A dream that felt like looking back on a memory.

And the moment he recalled that.

“Really— concentrate, Alon. Teaching you like this is more tiring than you would think.”

With Yutia’s words as she wore a playful smile as the last thing he heard.

“......!”

Alon opened his eyes.

Perhaps morning had already dawned at some point, because sunlight was pouring in through the window.

“.......”

He remained blankly silent for a while, merely recalling the dream he had just had.

####

That day, as always, Alon opened the book.

However, even while he opened the book and solved or memorized the formulas, strangely, inside his head, he kept replaying the dream he had had last night.

‘......A dream, huh.......’

A dream.

It was right to think of it that way.

But even though that should have been the case, Alon could not easily think that what he had seen was a simple dream.

Because even the trivial details had felt far too detailed and realistic.

As if they were Alon’s memories.

“.......”

But of course, Alon had never had such an experience.

The Siyan he had met had maintained polite speech throughout, and she had never revealed herself to be Yutia.

And more than anything, Siyan and Alon were not in a relationship that close.

Though they had been together for almost a month.

So, around the time Alon was tilting his head while recalling the dream he had had.

“Lord Alon.”

“......Hm?”

At the sudden voice, Alon quickly set his thoughts aside and turned his gaze, only to find Deus standing beside him at some point.

“I apologize for interrupting. You kept giving no answer.”

“......Sorry.”

“Not at all.”

“So, what is it?”

“A guest has come to see you.”

Alon tilted his head.

“The children?”

“No.”

“......Then?”

“The King of Asteria has come.”

Alon’s eyes widened faintly.

“If it is the King of Asteria.......”

“What should I do?”

At Deus’s question, Heinkel, who had been looking at the book until a moment ago while using magic to move more than ten pens at once, spoke.

“That works out well. Go.”

“......Is that all right?”

“Yes. You were unable to concentrate this whole time anyway, weren’t you?”

“.......”

When Heinkel hit the mark, Alon put on a slightly embarrassed expression.

But that too lasted only a moment.

“I will be back shortly.”

Receiving Heinkel’s goodwill, Alon rose from his seat.

“......Where is she?”

“She is downstairs right now.”

Even as he began walking, Alon had a question.

‘Why has Kritenia Siyan......?’

Of course, from Alon’s position as well, he had been thinking of meeting Siyan.

Because he had already tried to meet her several times and failed.

Meeting Siyan now was not bad at all.

But what Alon wondered about was the fact that she, who ordinarily would not go out of her way to move, had come to find him personally.

That thought lasted only a moment.

“Oh, you. It has been a while.”

Alon arrived where Siyan was.

She greeted Alon with the same face as always.

“It has been a while.”

When Alon responded, Siyan smiled faintly.

“You do not use honorific speech anymore. I did say you would gradually fix it, but now that it has actually changed, I feel a little disappointed.”

“......If you want, I can again—”

“Of course that was a joke. We stand in the same position, so acting like that would be strange. And more than anything—”

Would it not make us feel a little distant? Siyan giggled, then soon offered Alon a seat.

Alon did not refuse and sat down.

And then.

“Here.”

“......This is.”

“A sweet potato.”

Siyan, truly without fail, handed Alon a sweet potato.

A well-steamed sweet potato inside a basket.

“You have not eaten yet either, have you?”

“......That is true, but.”

“Then let us eat together.”

At Alon’s answer, Siyan lifted one of the two sweet potatoes as if this was just right.

At that, Alon made a strange expression, but likewise picked up a sweet potato.

“Let us talk while eating.”

Siyan smiled at that sight and began peeling the sweet potato.

Then she spoke calmly.

“Ah, now that I think about it, you. Before we talk properly, there is one favor I would like to ask.”

“......What is it?”

“Could I receive some of your seed?”

“Cough—!”

Alon, who had been blankly pushing the sweet potato into his mouth, had no choice but to spit it out exactly like that.