After the "music lesson" ended, Nitocris naturally proposed that the handsome musician she favored so highly remain in the palace.
"Prepare a room for our guest and treat him well," she instructed the maids.
"He is my honored guest, so do your best to meet any requests he may have.
Do not let a visitor who has come from afar complain that Egypt is lacking in hospitality."
The maids' smiles instantly took on a springlike warmth.
Although Nitocris hadn't said anything explicit, they had already filled in the blanks themselves with plenty of extra "requests."
As the Pharaoh's maids, their status was essentially that of her slaves, her private property.
Their bodies and chastity belonged entirely to the Pharaoh, and no one else was permitted to touch them.
But as the Pharaoh's authority had been hollowed out step by step by the ministers, they too had gradually been bought over.
Under such circumstances, the maids simply let themselves go.
At first, they secretly entered into relationships with the ministers who had bribed them.
For those ministers, who in the past had lived under the Pharaoh's rule and revered her as a god, the act of defiling the Pharaoh's maids was an intensely forbidden thrill.
Later on, the maids became even more unrestrained.
Aside from a small number who still upheld loyalty and duty, most of them went so far as to seduce palace guards, visiting guests, and the like, turning the royal palace into utter chaos.
For a long time, Nitocris had felt resentment toward this, yet she had been powerless to change anything.
Now, seeing a handsome visitor like Alaric, it was only natural that their hearts were stirred.
With Nitocris issuing orders to entertain him, the maids were naturally delighted, full of anticipation, even itching to try their luck.
Compared to those aging, potbellied princes and ministers, they of course preferred to sleep with a man who was handsome, strong, and talented.
Under the effects of the confusion spell, they truly had heard the enchanting music Alaric played.
As mentioned before, because ancient Egypt lay in a tropical region, people dressed very lightly, and palace maids especially so.
Beneath their semi-transparent dresses, long slender legs were revealed. From the low necklines of their gowns showed brown skin and full, rounded curves.
Their beautiful black hair was adorned with golden ornaments. For maids, they were indeed very enticing.
However, Alaric's gaze did not linger on them.
Because among them stood a woman far more captivating, Nitocris.
Seemingly unable to withstand Alaric's burning gaze, Nitocris turned her face aside in slight embarrassment.
"You've gone to such trouble teaching an unworthy student like me for so long. You must be tired," she said softly.
"Please rest for a while. I also need to attend to some state affairs. We'll meet again at dinner."
"To dine with the Pharaoh is my honor," Alaric replied.
, at least, that was the name they knew him by: Thoth.
He cast one last deep look at the adorable female Pharaoh, then turned and left, led away by the maids.
The Egyptian palace truly lived up to its reputation for luxury, soft bedding, opulent gold-threaded bed curtains, and fragrant incense oils everywhere.
Alaric refused the maids' eager offers of "attendance."
Ignoring their wounded, disappointed expressions, he dismissed them all.
Such vulgar beauties were not worth his attention.
After closing the door, Alaric was just about to lie down and rest.
Suddenly, he looked toward a corner of the room.
"Who's there?"
Faced with Alaric's question, there was no response.
The room appeared to contain no one other than Alaric himself.
However, Alaric was not the kind of person who could be fooled by surface appearances.
"Heh, think I'm bluffing?" Alaric let out a cold laugh. "Still won't come out? Then don't blame me for being ruthless."
"Vision of the Omniscient Eye!"
"Arcane Sight!"
"Discern Shapechanger!"
"See Invisibility!"
Four spells in rapid succession, covering nearly every possible form of disguise, true invisibility, altered appearance, or even diminished presence.
Under Alaric's magic, none of them should have been able to hide.
One had to know, this was magic cast by a powerful legendary mage.
Even if the hidden being were using Hades's divine artifact, the Helm of Invisibility, it would still have been impossible to conceal itself before Alaric.
And yet, as magical power enveloped the entire room, nothing appeared.
Alaric's magic had failed.
"How could this be?" Alaric raised an eyebrow. "There is a soul present, no mistake about that. So why can't I force it to reveal itself?"
He was completely confident in the existence of the hidden being and did not believe his judgment was wrong.
Having mastered the great art of soul materialization meant that Alaric's understanding of souls had reached a certain level.
As a result, he possessed a keen sensitivity to their presence.
Just moments ago, he had clearly sensed another soul in this room.
That was why he was certain someone was hiding here.
Perhaps because of the other party's powerful concealment ability, Alaric could not precisely determine the soul's exact location or strength.
But he could be sure of one thing, it was not a weak soul.
It carried the aura of the Underworld, yet lacked the stench of the dead, so it could not be some wandering ghost haunting the palace.
So what kind of power could evade his detection magic?
After thinking it through, Alaric arrived at the answer.
Only divine power could bypass his high-priority detection spells.
Which meant the hidden being was either a true god or a demigod.
Moreover, the domain it governed had to be related to concealment or invisibility.
Magic used mana to pry at the laws of reality and produce mysterious effects.
Divine power, on the other hand, directly exercised authority to command those laws.
To achieve the same result, the difference between a mage and a god was like that between a player and a GM.
In terms of priority, magic simply could not compete with divine power.
Of course, this assumed the god's power was being used within its own domain.
For example, flames summoned by evocation spells would naturally be useless against a god of fire.
But if the fire god attempted to use divine power to do something outside the fire domain, such as changing the weather or creating life, then it would no longer be a GM-exclusive privilege, and a powerful mage could contend with it on equal footing.
Since Alaric could not locate the hidden being, he concluded that it must indeed wield the domain of invisibility.
Still, he was not worried.
Even if the other party possessed divine power, Alaric had ways to deal with it.