Chapter 328

C328. The Name Called Sloth (1)

The Colony’s Eastern Desert.

Not far from Ashtalon.

“Hoo—”

Eliban was silently observing the galaxy in the night sky.

Still, without moving.

Who knows how much time passed like that.

“What are you doing, Eliban?”

It was only when Yan sat down next to him and spoke that Eliban moved his head.

“I’m just looking at the sky.”

“You really like the night sky, don’t you, Eliban?”

“Does it seem that way?”

“You spend several days a week looking at it alone, don’t you?”

At Yan’s words, Eliban looked at the galaxy in silence before answering.

“Does it seem to you that that means I like it?”

“Hmm… You don’t like it?”

“Truthfully, it’s not that I like it that much.”

The answer surprised Yan, who looked at him strangely.

“…Then, why do you look at it so much?”

He didn’t answer the question.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“What are the other companions doing?”

“They are already getting ready to sleep. We ate dinner a while ago.”

“Is that so?”

Eliban’s change of topic was blatant.

But Yan simply shrugged her shoulders.

It wasn’t the first time he had done that; she was already used to it.

As she followed Eliban and looked at the sky together with him in silence, Yan asked slowly:

“By the way, Eliban.”

“What?”

“About Marquis Palatio… is everything okay?”

“……Suddenly?”

Eliban frowned, bewildered.

Yan nodded.

“There is a lot of talk about him lately. That he created a new territory and things like that.”

“…Ah. You mean the rumor that he wants to found a new kingdom?”

“Yes. Right now the rumor is circulating positively, but if he really steps forward to become king, a lot of blood will undoubtedly run.”

Yan’s words were obvious.

For a new ruler to rise above the sky, corpses and blood are always necessary. History had proven it time and again.

“So?”

“I know you like the Marquis, but I thought that would go against your ‘peace’.”

“Go against… peace.”

Eliban seemed to think deeply.

But he said:

“No.”

“…Huh?”

“Rather, I think it is a good thing.”

He said it without resistance.

Yan was going to retort, but Eliban didn’t give her the chance and continued:

“Do you think I say all this just because I like Marquis Palatio?”

“…If I’m honest, yes.”

She hesitated for an instant, but Yan nodded.

However, Eliban smiled.

“No.”

He answered like that.

“…No?”

“Yes. I like the Marquis, that is true. But this isn’t out of affection… but because it aligns with my goal.”

“That the Marquis wants to become king… aligns with your goal?”

Yan asked without understanding.

She knew it. She knew that Eliban appreciated Marquis Palatio in an almost strange way. But she also knew that when it came to his goal—peace—Eliban was terribly inflexible.

Even if it involved Marquis Palatio, no one imagined that he would yield. His conception of peace was upright, precise…

…and depending on how you looked at it, extremely authoritarian.

Sometimes inhumanly cold.

That was why she was surprised.

Because Eliban’s answer… was sincere.

“…I guess you won’t be able to understand it right now.”

Seeing Yan’s surprised expression, Eliban smiled and stood up slowly.

Then he said:

“But soon you will understand. The meaning of what I just said.”

With cryptic words, he murmured that he was going to sleep and walked toward the camp.

Yan watched his back in silence for a while.

---

More than seven days had passed since Alon Palatio arrived at the magic tower.

In that time, Alon had achieved a lot.

Two things stood out.

The first: Heinkel had taught him a method to analyze Circle magic faster than before.

The second—

[How is it?]

—He had finished analyzing Magic Bolt, one of the spells of Circle 1.

“Wow—”

“……I can’t believe you solved it in a week.”

With Penia admiring him and Alon agreeing, Heinkel shrugged her shoulders.

[Well, saying ‘in a week’ is a bit of an exaggeration. I just organized and finished what you guys had already advanced.]

Heinkel spoke with modesty…

…although her attitude clearly said: “Ahem, ahem, only I could achieve something like this.”

[Although it’s not complete yet. We need to find the seal.]

“Even so, it was fast.”

It was true that she had intervened when Penia and Alon had already found all the Phrases.

But finding the Phrases was an extremely difficult task.

If Alon and Penia had tried alone, it wouldn’t have taken a week… but one or two months.

[Don’t praise me so much. This time it was only faster because I discovered a new method. Circle 2 will still take its time.]

Evan, who was watching from the side, asked:

“Then, my lord Marquis. Will you demonstrate it this time too?”

“Demonstrate it?”

“Yes.”

Alon nodded.

“Even if we don’t have the seal yet, it is convenient to do a demonstration. Why do you ask?”

Evan scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed.

“Ah, well… last time, when you used magic, that thing of light came out, right?”

“…True.”

“And well… I thought about what will come out this time.”

‘I was curious,’ Evan added, and Alon nodded too.

Until now they hadn’t been able to demonstrate anything without all the Phrases and the seal, so he was curious as well.

[What if we do it now? I want to see it too.]

“A demonstration?”

“Me, I want to see too!”

Hearing that, Lime and Sharan reacted immediately.

The zombie state from a while ago, writing non-stop, had disappeared completely.

Barely a week had passed, but they were already far from their solemn image as mages of the tower.

They had the eyes of an exhausted graduate student.

Alon was momentarily perplexed, but then said:

“Alright, let’s go right now.”

“Are we going to the demonstration room?”

“……It will be better to do it outside.”

“Ah, right— the room is under construction.”

“More than because of the construction… if I destroy it again it would be problematic.”

Penia thought for a second and said:

“No, I think they would prefer for you to destroy it. They love seeing new magic.”

“……Really?”

“Of course.”

“Ah, it’s true. Every time I go down to talk to the Information Guild, they ask me daily about new magic.”

Evan trembled remembering it.

Alon then moved to demonstrate Magic Bolt.

---

North of the Kingdom of Ashtalon.

“…What is— this…?”

By order of King Stallian V, Filian Merkilian and his order of knights had gone up north to investigate.

Everyone froze before the horror facing the meadow.

Could it be called a meadow?

Filian couldn’t look away.

The first thing he saw was black and burnt earth.

Upon it, grass that should have been green was stained red.

Destroyed walls, territories turned into crimson ruins.

And then he saw—

People.

Puk.

Puk.

Puk.

A repetitive sound could be heard.

The dull noise of something being stabbed without emotion.

The knights and Filian knew where it came from.

They couldn’t ignore it.

The source was right in front of their eyes.

A man and a woman.

Both with an identical ring on their ring finger.

The man was stabbing the woman’s abdomen with a blunt knife.

Puk—

Puk—

His movements had no emotion. He acted as if he “simply had to do it.”

But, strangely, tears of blood fell from his lifeless eyes.

The woman, meanwhile—

Crunch— crun—

She was biting the man’s neck.

She was also crying blood while she devoured him without expression.

And they weren’t the only ones.

Elsewhere, a child was opening an old man’s back.

In another place, soldiers were stabbing the necks of knights without emotion.

Somewhere else, a child was devouring a young woman’s head.

It was absurd.

Too absurd.

Filian couldn’t process it.

Neither could the knights. Their eyes transmitted information, but their minds couldn’t accept it.

It was like a dream.

A hellish scene completely real… but at the same time unreal.

Filian understood why.

‘There is no… sound.’

The sounds that should exist were missing.

There were no screams.

No clashing of weapons.

No shrieks.

Nothing.

Only the noise of flesh tearing.

That lack of reality robbed them of all firmness.

And when everyone understood it—

“Uweeegh!”

Someone fell to the ground vomiting.

The knights began to tremble with terror.

Filian finally spoke.

“…Subcommander.”

“Yes…”

His face was pale and nauseous, but he answered as best he could.

Filian asked:

“……Is there no doubt?”

“No. This place is Triman.”

Triman.

A territory rich in mines, governed by Count Harvest.

A huge territory with a large population.

“Ha—”

Filian let out an incredulous laugh.

“From the place His Majesty ordered to investigate… how many villages and territories are there until here?”

“…Eight villages and one territory.”

“Then they too…”

The subcommander didn’t answer.

The silence was an affirmation.

Filian lowered his gaze.

The black shadow kept spreading as if devouring the light.

He remembered the King’s words:

‘Filian Merkilian, the three great ones have not returned. Investigate the truth in secret.’

A simple order.

…But impossible in practice.

“Subcommander.”

“Yes.”

“Return immediately to His Majesty and inform him of this. The rest, with me. We will warn the nearby territories.”

“Understood.”

“And tell the King something else.”

Filian hesitated for an instant, but decided.

“Tell him that… it can no longer be hidden.”

Then he began to move quickly.

Meanwhile, the black shadow kept expanding endlessly.

---

“…Shi*t.”

Evan let that out unintentionally and quickly covered his mouth. Sometimes he said those things when he was with Alon or Penia, but not now.

“This is—”

“Impossible—”

Even Selaim and Sharan, who were excited a while ago, were left horrified.

“……That was Magic Bolt?”

Even Alon, the one who had executed it, showed rare emotions on his face.

[Last time it surprised me, but… this is already incredible.]

Heinkel murmured in shock.

[And this was without using the seal, right?]

“Correct.”

[Then tell me, is there any seal related to forms of concentration?]

Heinkel asked as if she had had a sudden idea.

After chatting for a while, Alon said:

“……Tomorrow I will test something like that.”

[You won’t do it now?]

“I would like to, but unfortunately my mana is already—”

[Ah.]

Heinkel nodded, understanding.

“…Was that really Magic Bolt?”

“Hard to believe, but yes.”

“But it changed too much. And now the power depends only on how much mana is injected…”

“I didn’t imagine it would be so versatile.”

“Me neither.”

“I’m curious about how much it could do if we put ALL the mana into it. What level would it reach?”

Sharan, Selaim, and Penia chatted while descending the tower.

When they arrived at the first floor…

Alon felt something strange.

Before going up, the tower was noisy and alive.

But now, the atmosphere was heavy.

Alon looked at the mages.

They all had expressions that were confused, serious, or unable to comprehend.

“Excuse me—”

“Ah, Tower Master—”

“What is happening?”

Selaim called one of the mages, who answered after catching his breath:

“…A message arrived from the Purple Tower. It seems something very serious occurred in Ashtalon.”

“Something serious?”

“Have you heard the rumor? About the north of Ashtalon.”

“About the monsters massacring each other?”

“Yes. And now… they say a black region is going crazy and devouring the terrain.”

The mage explained the reports.

“An invisible black region is corrupting the land.”

Alon quickly understood the situation.

Because according to him—

‘…The Sin of Sloth.’

—that was what happened upon awakening.

“They have sent a request for reinforcements, directed to the entire Union, including the tower.”

When the mage finished—

“…A black region?”

Alon murmured.

“Yes. It is expanding.”

Alon understood.

And said:

“…I fear that tomorrow’s demonstration will have to be delayed.”

He had to leave for Ashtalon immediately.