The day after investigating the altar inside the cave with Yutia and returning to the forward base.

Alon heard some rather peculiar stories from Deus.

“…You didn’t engage in battle with the barbarians?”

“No, for some reason, the barbarians were nowhere to be found. Moreover, there were traces suggesting that an Outer God had suddenly appeared.”

“An Outer God appeared?”

“Yes.”

Deus recalled the scene he had witnessed while waiting, wondering if the absence of the barbarians was some kind of trap.

Just like the last time when Ulthultus descended, the sky had turned red for a brief moment.

“But then, at some point, it simply disappeared.”

“…Disappeared?”

“Yes. Just like when you dealt with Ulthultus last time, the red sky remained for a while before returning to normal.”

“…Hmm.”

Alon stroked his chin in thought.

From what Deus described, it seemed that an Outer God had appeared but was subsequently eliminated.

The question was—who did it, and how?

As he pondered for a while, a hypothesis came to Alon’s mind.

‘Could the barbarians have taken care of the Outer God?’

When Ulthultus appeared, he had been revered by the barbarians.

Though he was actually known as a monstrous deity, at that time, he had manifested as a god of the wilds.

However, if the Outer God who appeared in the north this time was not Ulthultus…

It was entirely possible that the barbarians had clashed with it in hostility.

‘Even if the Outer God had not fully manifested due to a lack of time, it still wouldn’t have been easy for the barbarians to defeat it. But if they had Thousand-Year Ice, then it might have been possible.’

Thousand-Year Ice.

A formidable warrior who, upon joining as an ally, would relentlessly talk about the Horizon.

Recalling this individual, Alon nodded, thinking that his hypothesis was quite reasonable.

There was a reason he was called a powerhouse—Thousand-Year Ice was incredibly strong.

Especially with his ability to create and infinitely regenerate Ice Root, a material that was worthless as a weapon to anyone else but became overwhelmingly dangerous when wielded by Thousand-Year Ice.

‘When he joined as an ally and accompanied me through the labyrinth, things became so much easier.’

Since his default attacks were area-of-effect, Thousand-Year Ice had been an invaluable companion during gameplay.

Lost in these thoughts for a moment, Alon soon realized that Deus was still waiting for an answer and replied.

“Thank you for the information.”

“It was nothing. What do you plan to do now, Marquis?”

“Since all my business here is done, I plan to make a stop somewhere before heading back down.”

“I see.”

Deus showed a hint of disappointment.

However, he quickly adjusted his expression and stepped back.

After exchanging brief farewells, Alon stepped outside.

And immediately, he witnessed something unusual.

“Is this how you do it?”

“It’s slightly off, but close enough. Now, you just need to pray three times a day.”

“…Will this really grant me power?”

“You mustn’t doubt it! Praying while harboring doubt is meaningless!”

Reinhardt, awkwardly forming a seal with his hands, and Silli, teaching (?) him.

“…Is that so?”

“Yes! The Lord only grants power to those who fully believe in Him!”

“But the god you’re talking about is actually Marquis Palatio—”

“That’s blasphemous! You must not speak His name so carelessly!”

Silli shouted so loudly that it seemed as if the world trembled, causing Reinhardt to flinch involuntarily.

“But I’ve always called him that…”

“That doesn’t matter anymore! You’ve decided to believe, haven’t you?!”

“I mean, believing and calling Marquis Pal—”

“You’ve decided to believe, haven’t you?”

“I’m just saying that believing is one thing, but Pal—”

“You’ve decided to believe, haven’t you?”

Silli leaned in closer to Reinhardt, her sharp gaze glimmering ominously.

As Alon observed this bizarre scene, his vision was suddenly obstructed by a figure.

It was Marc, the Fifth Sword of Caliban.

“…Right. I’ve decided to believe.”

“Then you shouldn’t be speaking that way, should you?”

Marc, who had stepped out of the barracks as usual, spotted Silli and silently moonwalked back inside without a sound.

Alon couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed by the discreet movement.

‘…Should I grant Reinhardt a little power?’

Thinking that he might actually need to do it, Alon began preparing for departure.

A few hours later.

Alon boarded a carriage to return to Caliban.

When he had first arrived here, he had been accompanied by a large number of people.

But on the way back, only Alon’s party was traveling.

‘Yutia stayed behind to handle some unexpected business for Rosario, and Eliban remained to finish an unfinished dungeon raid… I suppose.’

Eliban, who had looked regretful, and Yutia, who had smiled warmly while waving goodbye.

And then.

“I still have people left to convert! I’ll finish my evangelizing and then follow later!”

Silli, who had enthusiastically declared her determination.

Thinking about this for a moment, Alon soon closed his eyes and entered a state of contemplation.

Thanks to his consistent training since learning how to meditate, Alon could now enter a contemplative state at will with ease.

Familiar with the process, he checked the divinity of Kalannon.

Was it due to Silli’s efforts?

The divinity shone far brighter than before.

Lowering his gaze, Alon spotted one of the many stars connected to Silli.

A very faint one.

But unmistakably, it was a star within the divinity of Kalannon—Reinhardt’s faith.

He had Marced it earlier while Reinhardt was being fervently recruited, thinking of rewarding him for his unexpected efforts.

‘Though, with how faint this is, even if I grant him power, he might not be able to use it properly.’

According to Kalannon, while it was Alon’s role to bestow power, whether it could be used depended on the recipient.

For example, even if Alon granted someone 100 units of divine power, if they did not truly believe in him, they wouldn’t be able to use it.

Even if they did gain the ability to use it, they wouldn’t be able to freely take power from Alon.

From then on, they would have to expend divine power generated by their own faith in Alon.

In other words, once Alon granted power, the recipient had to sustain themselves through their own faith.

‘And a portion of the divine power they generate also gets returned to me.…The more I learn about faith, the more it feels suspiciously like a multi-level Marceting scheme.’

“Ahem—”

Anyway, the point was.

Even if Alon bestowed power, Reinhardt wouldn’t be able to use it unless he truly believed.

After pondering for a moment, he thought,

‘Well, I already decided to give it to him anyway.’

He firmly grasped Reinhardt’s star.

At that moment, as Alon willed it, the divinity of Kalannon began flowing into the star.

But then, a problem arose.

‘Oh no, I gave him too much.’

Since it was his first time transferring power this way,

Alon ended up giving Reinhardt slightly more divine power than he had intended.

Alon let out a sigh.

He couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret.

Reinhardt’s star, once faint, now shone brightly.

Clicking his tongue as he looked at it, Alon also infused divine power into Silli.

Thinking about it, she had been working so hard for him.

Even if it was voluntary, it felt a bit wrong not to reward her in some way.

Besides, although Silli already had an abundance of divine power, he figured he should at least give her a little more than Reinhardt.

At last—

“Hoo—”

As soon as Alon opened his eyes after channeling all the divine power as he intended, Evan spoke up.

“Marquis, are we really heading east instead of going straight back to Caliban?”

“Yes. But we won’t be leaving the northern region, and it won’t take more than a few days.”

As he answered, Alon organized in his mind what he needed to acquire.

After traveling for about two days—

“Wow—Marquis, you have an uncanny knack for finding places like this.”

“Do I?”

“Yes, I have no idea how you even learn about these locations.”

[…Interesting.]

[Meow?]

Alon’s group had arrived at a massive cave, nestled beneath a towering cliff in the oppressive, snow-covered mountains.

###

Although Silli had been making efforts, recently, the faith in Alon among the Eclipse Knights had been naturally declining.

Most of them had seen Alon’s power with their own eyes, and thanks to his proclamation that he would bestow power upon the devout, many had begun to worship him.

Moreover, since there was already a living testament to his power—Silli, who could wield it— their faith had initially strengthened.

However, that faith had started to wane over time.

The reason was simple.

Nothing was changing.

It didn’t help that other knightly orders viewed the Eclipse Knights with suspicion.

But the bigger issue was that, no matter how devoutly they prayed, aside from Silli, none of them were able to manifest any true miracles.

As a result, their belief was gradually eroding.

Even Reinhardt, who was stationed at the northern front with Deus, was no exception.

Or rather, he had struggled to worship Marquis Palatio as a god from the very beginning.

The reason was obvious and undeniable.

Marquis Palatio was still alive.

Of course, Reinhardt had seen it.

He had personally witnessed the Marquis descend as a god.

In fact, he had been one of the very first to see the Marquis awaken as a deity.

At that moment, Reinhardt had felt a sense of awe toward him.

But in the end, it was only awe—it never turned into faith.

After all, he had interacted with the human Marquis Palatio multiple times.

Because of that familiarity, he simply couldn’t bring himself to worship the Marquis as a god.

Moreover, while Reinhardt had a grasp on the residual effects of achieving mastery with the sword,

He couldn’t quite wrap his head around divine power.

No matter how much Silli forced him to pray, he never felt as though divine power was accumulating within him, and with each failed attempt, his faith only weakened further.

Thus—

‘I should never have let myself be tempted.’

There were times when he wanted to punch himself for giving in to Silli’s seductive words:

—If you use divine power, you might be able to defeat my brother.

Oh, and he had also found a comrade in suffering.

Before this campaign, he had only spoken to Marc, the Fifth Sword a handful of times in official settings.

But now, they had formed a strange sense of spiritual kinship.

Because Marc, just like Reinhardt, was also being forced to pray.

Regardless, Reinhardt, who had recently been enduring a rather tormenting daily life, had finally received a lesson on how to use divine power from Silli.

Though, to be precise, it was less of a lesson and more of a brief tip.

“Believe in Him, visualize lightning, and think about how you want to use it. Then it will come forth. If that’s too hard, just believe in Him and visualize lightning—somehow, it’ll work out.”

It wasn’t much of a tip at all.

Frankly, Reinhardt could have easily come up with something just as vague himself.

And, naturally, he failed to use divine power.

But he wasn’t particularly disappointed.

After all, he had never truly believed, so it made sense that he couldn’t wield it.

So when he was deployed to the front lines again, facing the returning barbarians, and Silli urged him to try using divine power again,

Reinhardt merely dismissed it.

Even when hundreds of barbarians charged at him, he drew his sword without any special thoughts— until he suddenly remembered Silli’s words and, just for the sake of experimenting, closed his eyes.

…He had already admitted and accepted that he couldn’t use divine power.

However, despite that, the thought of “what if?” surfaced once more, leading him to try it one last time.

Because if nothing else, his desire to surpass Deus was genuine.

So Reinhardt closed his eyes and visualized Marquis Palatio.

But this time, he took a different approach.

He didn’t picture the usual Marquis Palatio.

Instead, he recalled the figure he had seen in the Lonovellia Forest.

Marquis Palatio, adorned with two horns atop his head, his entire body wreathed in lightning—

A god.

Next, he envisioned lightning.

The massive bolt in his grasp that connected the earth and sky.

And then—

Meteor Sword (流星劍).

As always, he activated the technique without expecting anything,

And at that moment—

“!”

Reinhardt saw it.

Crackle—!

Lightning.

BZZZZZT—!!

The lightning reversed.

A force from the heavens struck downward, trapping hundreds of barbarians within its gravity.

And from the ground,

Dozens—no,

KA-KA-KA-KA-KRACK—!!!!

Hundreds of lightning bolts ravaged the hundreds of barbarians.

And at the end of it all—

As the overwhelming spectacle left both barbarians and allies frozen in stunned silence, Reinhardt’s shocked voice echoed across the battlefield.

“W-what… That actually worked?”

A short distance away, Marc blurted out in disbelief, as if responding to him.

“That actually worked?”

And then, like a chorus,

The Eclipse Knights gasped.

“The Second Sword… just wielded Kalannon’s lightning…?”

But it didn’t stop there.

“What… what was that just now…?”

“That power… wasn’t that the same one? I’ve seen Sir Reinhardt with the Saint of Kalannon lately, so that means—”

“Wait, you’re telling me those Eclipse Knights weren’t just spouting nonsense? I thought it was all a joke—”

“…Ha—”

The lightning Reinhardt had manifested, all because of Alon’s momentary guilt,

“…So if you just sincerely believe, you really can wield lightning?”

Had now spread like a plague across the northern knights.

A plague of faith.