Chapter 415 : The Second (4)
With Siyan's words, silence descended upon the office.
Alon stared blankly at her.
'…Did I hear that wrong?'
That was the very first thought that came to him.
It wasn't that he had misheard.
But because it was such a completely unexpected statement, by the time Alon was struggling to quell his momentary confusion—
"Did it sound too absurd to you?"
Siyan's voice broke through his thoughts.
"...Pardon?"
"What I said just now. That this world is the second."
"To be honest, yes."
At that, Siyan hummed softly, thought for a moment, then added.
"Well, to be precise, it's closer to conjecture than certainty."
"…A conjecture?"
"Yes, a conjecture."
Alon went blank once again.
Siyan quietly studied his face.
Then, as if slightly amused, she asked,
"—Yet even after hearing that this might be your second life, you don't seem as surprised as I expected? Of course, I did preface it as conjecture."
"…You mean me?"
"Yes."
"I was actually quite—"
He had been about to answer, I was very surprised, but he unconsciously shut his mouth.
'…Huh?'
It was because of the change in his own emotions.
He was certain that when he first heard Siyan say that this life was his second, he had been shocked.
Yet at this very moment.
His emotions had oddly settled down.
As if the fact that he had been surprised earlier were a lie.
Feeling puzzled by that, only briefly—
"And there's no need for such honorifics anymore. Now, you and I are looking at the same place from the same height."
"…Is that so."
"Yes. Is there anything you wish to ask?"
As Siyan calmly continued the conversation, Alon pushed his thoughts aside for the moment and rubbed his face.
At some point, a smile had formed at the corner of Siyan's lips, and her eyes were filled with interest.
Unlike her, Alon's mind was in turmoil.
Something he wanted to ask?
There were countless things.
The problem was—
There were so many that he didn't know what to ask first.
So after remaining silent for a while, Alon forcibly cut off the endless stream of thoughts and spoke.
"…Then I'll speak more casually from now on."
"You're still using polite speech."
"I'll fix that gradually. For now, this is what I'm used to."
Siyan made a slightly uncomfortable expression, but soon nodded.
"So, what do you want to ask?"
After thinking for a moment, Alon opened his mouth.
"This conjecture—that this is the second time—how did you come to it?"
Siyan stared at Alon for a moment, then lightly tapped her chin before answering.
"It hasn't been long. More precisely—"
She paused once to steady her breathing, then finished her sentence.
"When the divine-bloods fell, and the Golden Eye of History awakened."
"Awakened…?"
"Ah, of course, I don't know for certain whether it can be called an awakening. I only phrased it that way for convenience, to help your understanding."
She continued.
"As you know, the Golden Eye of History I possess inherits power through generations, and along with it, fragments of memory."
"I know."
"And as I told you before, I've seen your face many times within those memories."
...
"In truth, until then, I believed that someone from the Palatio family in a previous life simply resembled you. The you in reality and the you in memory felt different."
"Different how…?"
"The you in my memories was rich in emotion. There was always a roguish smile at the corner of your mouth, and you constantly teased me, even though I was the king. Especially after you became the Holy King."
Anyway—Siyan murmured, then continued to the main point.
"So I judged it to be nothing more than the past. Of course, I found it strange when Cardinal Yutia appeared in those memories alongside you, but even then, I didn't conclude that life itself was repeating."
"…Why not?"
"Because you told me that you had been to the past."
"Ah."
Alon let out a low exclamation.
"If you could go to the past once, I thought it might be possible to go again someday. You said that going to the past was an 'accident,' but that your return was 'magic.'"
So I thought you could surely go to the past again at some point—Siyan added, then let out a quiet sigh.
"However, as I said, after the divine-bloods fell, there was room to think about things differently."
She entered the crux of the matter.
"The Golden Eye of History inherits not only power, but also 'memories' from the previous bearer, though they are not always clear. But the newly inherited power and memories after the divine-bloods fell gave me much to ponder."
"By inherited power, you don't mean—"
"Yes. The power used to deal with the divine-blood you were curious about."
As Alon asked with a look of disbelief, Siyan smiled lightly and opened her hand.
And—
Woooooong—!!!
A brilliant golden light burst forth from Siyan's hand.
A bizarre sigil began to be engraved on her palm.
Alon stared blankly at her palm for a moment—
Then he realized that the sunlight pouring into the office had been blocked.
"…?"
With a puzzled expression, he looked out the window.
"…..!"
And he saw it.
Visible beyond the window.
A massive, golden spear blotting out the sun.
"The Spear of Longinus."
And—
"This was one of the clues that made me think this life might be the 'second.'"
Siyan spoke.
She showed Alon the weapon with which she had dealt with the divine-blood.
But only briefly.
"That's as far as I can maintain it for now. I still need practice."
It turned into radiant light and vanished.
Watching the scene quietly, Alon—
"…Ah."
—let out a low sound of realization.
"Well? Do you need an explanation?"
Alon reflexively shook his head.
The moment he saw the Spear of Longinus.
He fully understood why she had called it the first clue.
'The Spear of Longinus.'
Siyan's Golden Eye of History was a power that inherited the past.
Which meant that anything she inherited had to be something from the past.
However, the Spear of Longinus she had summoned—
—or more precisely, the magic circles engraved into that enormous weapon—
Were absolutely not from the past.
They were not lost relics like OOPArts unearthed from forgotten history either.
The engravings on that weapon were magic circles created by mages of the present era.
Magic circles that they had endlessly refined, and would continue to refine.
In other words, to anyone else, it would appear as nothing more than a massive, magnificent weapon.
But Alon could tell.
Because in the end, he was a mage.
"No, I don't think that'll be necessary."
And Siyan, having inherited a mage ancestor herself, had been able to realize that fact as well.
"Hoho~"
Perhaps satisfied with Alon's answer, Siyan let out a soft laugh.
Alon felt no small amount of astonishment toward her.
He knew she was brilliant, and that she had inherited the power of a mage.
But to infer a 'second run' hypothesis from just this—
It was truly astonishing.
She had no concept at all of things like regression or possession that Alon possessed.
And so, Alon asked again.
"...Earlier, you said that the Spear of Longinus was just one of the clues, didn't you?"
At that, Siyan replied—
"That's right. The inheritance of the Golden Eye of History includes not only power, but also 'memories.'"
She answered with a smile.
***
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
'Hmm… no matter how I look at it, the budget's still grim.'
Thanks to Kun delivering the materials far faster than expected, Alexion had begun the territorial expansion project.
However, another problem was giving him a headache.
Because those who wished to form close ties with Palantio had filled the treasury, it wasn't a lack of funds per se.
But that was only when calculating the cost of materials for building the castle.
'…The mages' labor costs are beyond imagination.'
He had already used mages during the auction house construction, so he knew well how expensive they were.
'I never imagined their wages would rise along with material costs. No, more than that—I never expected them to skyrocket to such a ridiculous level. At this rate, we'll have no choice but to pour in time instead and limit the number of mages to an absolute minimum.'
So even while feeling regret, Alexion began drafting estimates.
Of course, he wouldn't be the one using the finished castle.
But even so, he wanted to build the best possible castle at the best value.
Because it was the castle Alon would use.
Alexion and Alon hadn't started off on particularly good terms.
To be more accurate, it was mostly Alexion on his side.
Either way, at the beginning, their relationship hadn't been pleasant.
But as time passed, his feelings changed.
During his time serving under Alon, Alexion had received an incredible amount.
Alon was different from other nobles.
Even though he could have exploited Alexion to the fullest, he never did. Instead, he always considered him and provided appropriate compensation.
And that wasn't all.
Even when proclaiming the Kingdom of Palantio, Alon had still entrusted him with an important post.
Him—a man who had once scraped by in the slums.
Of course, the decisive reason Alexion had been given such a position—
'Wouldn't it be better to hand Evan's headache-inducing problems over to Alexion?'
—had been just a single remark like that.
But unaware of that fact, Alexion had now resolved to become Alon's true loyal subject.
And so, he was racking his brain in earnest.
At that moment.
"Ah, Sir Alexion?"
"What is it?"
His secretary entered.
With a somewhat serious expression.
Sensing that something had gone wrong, Alexion's own expression stiffened as well.
"The Purple Mage Tower Master and the Brown Mage Tower Master have come, saying they wish to help with the construction of Palantio's castle."
"…What?"
He couldn't help but make a dumbfounded face.
Snapping back to his senses, he hurriedly ran to where the two tower masters were.
And there, his expression grew even more absurd.
What he saw was—
"Move aside!"
"You insolent brat with no respect for the elderly!! You move!"
"Respect my ass—I won the bet in the first place! Get lost!"
"Shut it! I'm the one building Palantio's castle!"
"What bullshit is that?! I already called my people here!"
"Hmph! I called mine before we even departed!"
"You damn—this shameless old man...! I'm building the castle!"
"I am!"
"It's me!!"
The sight of the two Mage Tower Masters fighting, each shouting that they would be the one to build Palantio's castle.
"????"
Alexion's brain temporarily shut down, utterly unable to process the situation.