Chapter 62 - It Was There, Though (3)

It was roughly the fifth day since they had set out for the royal castle. With about two days left until they reached Teria, the capital of Asteria, Alon was studying a list inside the carriage.

'I should deal with the others too, if I can.'

He had compiled the list over the past few days, recording villains from Psychedelia—not petty villains, but people who would each become a serious headache once they started running amok.

'A few of them are gone now, thanks to the Duchess of Altia and the Count of Xenonia conquering the entire underworld.'

Unfortunately, the real danger in Psychedelia lay less in the underworld's own organizations than in the groups rooted there that operated in secret. Those shadowy organizations remained completely unseen at first, then emerged as if by magic and ran wild once the player began acting. They were powerful, and quite a few posed a tremendous threat to his safety.

Still, eliminating so many villains simply because they might threaten his safety was unrealistic. Alon therefore decided to eliminate only the two most dangerous organizations on the list.

'The Proxies and Ghostwail.'

From his experience playing Psychedelia, neither the Proxies nor Ghostwail had been much of a concern from the player's perspective. The Proxies were a small but elite group, and fairly strong, but the player would never encounter them without entering a particular route. Ghostwail was similar: there was no reason to encounter that organization unless the player pursued side quests in the Kingdom of Ashtalon.

Yet Alon had identified these two organizations as his highest priorities because he was now a noble of Asteria rather than the player, and both groups would later plot to overthrow nations.

Of course, he had never seen either organization succeed. By the time they were busy preparing their plans, the Five Great Sins would appear and wipe out the kingdoms themselves, making overthrowing them unnecessary. But in this timeline, with the Five Great Sins removed from the equation, he had no idea what might happen.

... Above all, both the Proxies and Ghostwail assassinated numerous nobles in pursuit of their goals. He was convinced that he had to eliminate them.

'... If I include the Empire, there's the Bone Eater too.'

Alon glanced east, toward the Empire, then shrugged. The allied kingdoms and the Empire were far apart, and the protagonist over there would handle most of what happened in the Empire anyway.

'They definitely said the stories took place at the same time, so once the original story begins, the Empire's protagonist will probably start moving too.'

Sifting through what little remained of his old memories, Alon found himself wondering:

'Was the protagonist over there called... Palian?'

The Empire's protagonist.

To be precise, when Psychedelia's original story began, the events of Calypsophobia—another game made by Psychedelia's developer—would unfold in the Empire.

Put simply, Psychedelia covered events in the allied kingdoms, while Calypsophobia covered events in the vast Empire beside them.

"Hmm..."

Having reached that point, Alon stopped thinking about it. He had quit Calypsophobia after playing only its opening section, so he had no useful information. Besides, he had no need to worry about the Empire.

The Empire and the allied kingdoms were strictly separate to begin with, and all they shared were a handful of items. Everything that happened in the Empire was due to be resolved by Calypsophobia's protagonist, Palian, and his party.

So:

'The Proxies and Ghostwail... How should I deal with those two?'

Alon continued pondering the question in his carriage for some time.

Then, the next day...

"My lord, I can see Teria in the distance. We're almost there."

"Have we arrived a day early?"

"Looks like it. I'm glad we've arrived with time to spare."

At Evan's words, Alon looked out the window at Teria. He had seen it before, but the view remained magnificent: tall, sturdy walls befitting a nation's capital.

After gazing blankly at them, Alon smacked his lips. If he had come merely to do some sightseeing in the capital, he could have enjoyed himself with an easy heart. Unfortunately, that was not why he was here.

'... I hope nothing serious happens.'

As they slowly entered Teria, Alon watched the streets roll past and found himself wishing for that.

Of course, he no longer truly expected it. The monarch had specifically summoned Alon, which all but meant there was particular business to discuss with him. Most likely, it concerned the Sword Faction.

'... Will things go the way I want?'

On his way to the royal castle, Alon had actually come up with a reasonably good scenario.

'If the monarch talks about strengthening royal authority, I could pretend to be somewhat persuaded and reduce the Sword Faction's power a little... Then I could keep the faction going through a sort of tug-of-war with the monarch. That might work...'

Of course, it was merely his own fantasy, devised without anyone's advice or any consideration of the circumstances. Even so, it was a fairly good scenario among the options he could think of at present. Whatever the faction did, it was in no position to make an enemy of the monarch. If things went that way, it would likely give Alon considerable justification for taking a lukewarm approach to faction affairs.

'Whew...'

Watching the royal castle draw closer, he let out a quiet sigh.

####

Late that night, with the moon high overhead, Radan was still awake, waiting in his office. The reason was simple: the Blue Moon's regular meeting was scheduled for tonight.

Although there were still twenty minutes until the meeting began, almost everyone except Deus had already gathered. This was not because anything special had happened. All the Blue Moon's members normally assembled at least thirty minutes before a meeting.

If anything, Deus's absence with only twenty minutes remaining was unusual. But something else was even more unusual.

["I want to get married!"]

["I told you last time, no!"]

["I'm going to!"]

["I said no!"]

Unlike their meetings, which were filled with silence, Yutia and Seollang had already been arguing for over ten minutes, even though the meeting had yet to begin.

["Why not? You have no right to stop me!"]

["It's still not happening!"]

["That's unfair!"]

Seollang insisted that she would get married no matter what, while Yutia desperately tried to stop her. Radan wondered whether, if she wanted it that badly, Seollang should simply marry in secret and tell them afterward.

'... Actually, that might be difficult.'

Given Yutia's personality and her particular brand of fanaticism, no one could predict what she would do afterward. He kept his mouth shut.

Some time passed.

["Rine! Yutia's being so unfair!"]

With about five minutes left until the meeting, Seollang appealed for help, looking deeply aggrieved. Radan turned to Rine, but...

"..."

She was lost in thought, as though she had not even heard Seollang.

Radan shrugged at the sight. Truthfully, he had not expected her to respond to Seollang at all.

But...

["Don't take it that way, Seollang. Yutia has served the Great Moon a little longer than we have."]

Radan looked surprised at Rine's words. He knew perfectly well that she had stayed out of their quarrel at the previous meeting, as though she saw no value in intervening.

["Aww!"]

["See? Just listen to me."]

Honestly, he could not quite understand what serving the Great Moon longer had to do with the topic at hand. Still, seeing Rine display such an unfamiliar attitude, he relaxed.

["Oh, that reminds me, Yutia. There's something I'd like to propose."]

["Hmm? What is it?"]

Yutia was smiling pleasantly, apparently pleased that Rine had taken her side. Rine made her proposal.

["I'd like to start sending report letters myself. What do you think?"]

["Why bother? I already compile and send summaries of everything you're doing."]

["I know, but I have something to report about the Eye of the Stalker."]

["If you tell me about that too—"]

Yutia was still smiling.

But...

["Wouldn't it be better for me to tell him directly, rather than go through you?"]

At Rine's next words, the smile on Yutia's face slowly began to fade.

["I've been doing a perfectly good job with the reports all this time, haven't I?"]

["This concerns the Eye of the Stalker. I'd like to speak to him personally about that. And while I'm at it... give him my own report as well."]

["!"]

["!"]

As Rine gave a faint smile, both Radan and Seollang looked astonished. They had spent more than eight years with her since childhood—nearly nine now—and had never once seen her smile.

Their stunned silence lasted only a moment.

["Heehee!"]

["?"]

["?"]

["?"]

["Oh, excuse me. Something amusing occurred to me just now."]

Rine's faint smile suddenly broadened into a grin wide enough to reveal her fangs. Everyone gaped at her.

'... Does the Great Moon... have some sort of hypnosis artifact?'

Faced with such a drastic change in Rine, Radan could not help thinking that.

After all, starting with Deus, then Seollang and now Rine, all of them had changed so dramatically after meeting the Great Moon. And all of them now revered him almost as much as Yutia did. Radan seriously wondered whether the Great Moon possessed some kind of hypnosis artifact.

While everyone was still reeling from Rine's giddy grin, Deus arrived just as the Blue Moon's regular meeting was due to begin.

["My apologies. I'm a little late."]

["...?"]

He was momentarily bewildered to find every other member wearing a dazed expression.

["I'm sorry, but there's something urgent I need to tell you before the meeting begins."]

As though remembering what he had intended to say, he spoke. The other members abandoned what they had been looking at and turned to him in unison.

["It seems an organization called the Proxies is targeting the Great Moon."]

At those words...

["Hah?"]

["What?"]

["What did you say?"]

["What did you say?"]

Each of their strikingly distinctive eyes began to gleam.