I returned.

Astreion Prime.

I lay sprawled in a room of the Twin-Thunder Palace.

Even if I added up all the time I’d spent here, it would amount to several months, yet it didn’t feel like home.

Looking back, there had never been many places that gave me the feeling of “home.”

The red-light district orphanage went without saying, and neither the training camp nor the academy dormitories were home.

If I had to name a place filled with memories, it would probably be my room on the first floor of the Sub-patriarch Palace.

The time spent there had always been both exciting and comfortable.

“Whew.”

I sat up and opened the bag I had placed on the bedside table.

A brilliant five-colored light illuminated the entire room.

The star-body elixir.

A treasure that might rank higher than the Thunder Elixir sat before me.

They say absorption is best after lightning-technique training, but from Thunder-class onward too much mana is absorbed too quickly and can burden the body instead.

Passing out was no longer an option.

Pop.

I pulled the cork and drank immediately.

“Haaah….”

Sweet and sharp like strong liquor.

The sensation bursting in my mouth and burning like fire truly felt like drinking starlight.

A peculiar ecstasy shook my entire body.

Saaaa.

It was different from when I drank the Thunder Elixir.

Instead of simply seeping into the heart, it spread throughout my body, was absorbed once between bone and muscle, and only then flowed toward the heart.

Compared to my academy days, the difference was like that between a pond and a vast lake.

The stigmata above my right eye flickered once.

【Thundercloud Body: 1,850% ‣ 1,900%】

When I drank the Nebula Elixir before, it rose by 100%, but this time, despite drinking a far greater elixir, it rose only 50%.

Unlike before when control increased alongside magnetism arts training, this time only raw mana quantity had increased.

In other words, the sheer amount of mana alone had grown enough to affect the Thundercloud Body.

【True Energy Guidance: 15% ‣ 20%】

The True Energy Guidance value rose as well.

A helpful boon in which the dreaming Thunderbolt Constellation supplements part of the mana I use.

It increased from 15% to 20%.

“Constellation?”

【“Since your mana has increased, the mana I can give you has also increased.”】

A reply returned, unusually.

I was about to ask several questions related to Hero’s Journey Stage 4.

Knock knock.

“Young Lord Kyrie. His Excellency the Head of House summons you.”

The knock came at just that moment, so I postponed it.

I left the Twin-Thunder Palace and went up to the Head of House’s hall.

“Young Lord Kyrie!”

“Like lightning eternal—greetings!”

“Glory to Astreos!”

“I’ll apply for the mounted patrol this time!”

Something both amusing and strange happened on the way.

New Blue Knights who had just finished their oaths saluted me.

Until recently I had been the “upstart prodigy,” but being treated as a senior and addressed as Young Lord felt odd.

“Don’t come. It’s hard work.”

The bitter part was their appearances.

One had a magic-tool prosthetic eye, another a magic-tool left arm, another wore a leather mask over his mouth like Flammerios—each had some physical defect.

“You guys don’t mean….”

“Yes! We wish to become like you, Young Lord Kyrie!”

“I lost an eye, he lost an arm, and he swore not to speak while the sun is up.”

“It’s not inconvenient. I barely saw with this eye since childhood.”

“Same here. I got this arm stuck wrong while subjugating an ogre and was considering replacing it anyway.”

I nearly collapsed on the spot.

Something stabbed inside my chest.

I couldn’t ask why they had done this.

I had reached this place in five years through a bodily-loss oath myself.

At least it was fortunate they had prior impairments.

Leaving them behind, I climbed the stairs.

“Sister.”

“You’re here.”

I joined Andromeda midway.

Whoooosh!

Up above, the storm and thunder still never ceased.

“I pay respects to the secondary constellation at the axis.”

“We have faithfully carried out the task entrusted by His Excellency Father.”

We cleaned ourselves in the reception chamber and entered the audience hall.

“You’re later than expected. But you achieved more merit than expected, so it’s fine.”

Peleus’s voice was brighter than expected.

Had he expected nothing at all?

For a moment I even wondered if I had been on a purge list.

“I will hear the matter of the Royal Family separately. First, the subjugation and treaty.”

“…We subjugated two Whitebone Lords and signed an export contract for the Starlight Elixir. The cathedral on the Flammerios side is expected to officially certify the Starlight Elixir within a few months….”

Yet his tone sounded too pleased to read his intentions.

I finished the report, focusing entirely on not revealing Hero’s Journey.

“Well done.”

Unexpected or not, there was no grand separate reward.

“Rest comfortably until the next order.”

Now I understood.

Once you commanded armies numbering in the thousands, the scale of money changed.

A handful of gold coins could no longer count as a reward.

Thus rewards and punishments were given in a different form.

“I will entrust research into the Starlight Elixir and mutated-beast essence to the two of you separately from the workshop. Church certification, market expansion, improvement experiments—do as you wish.”

Even so, I hadn’t expected this much.

I struggled to suppress an exclamation.

“We are honored.”

“We scarcely know how to repay this grace.”

Andromeda and I exchanged glances and bowed respectfully.

This was not a hollow reward like allowing us to hold a spoon before food we had already prepared and knew how to cook ourselves.

The Nebula Elixir corresponds to the Thundercloud Elixir, the Starlight Elixir to the White-Thunder Elixir, and the star-body elixir to the Thunder Elixir.

Enough power to raise superhuman soldiers such as knights and Blue Knights.

And he even permitted sales to other great houses.

He had entrusted military action for resource acquisition, requisitions during the process, and diplomacy.

Exaggerating slightly, it could be seen as creating an independent force solely for Andromeda.

I dared to raise my head.

I looked into the eyes beyond the Head of House’s platinum mask.

“You have worked hard.”

He wore an expression entirely unlike the iron-blooded Thunder God I had imagined.

There was nothing to worry about.

The Head of House had made his decision.

The Sub-patriarch was Andromeda.

Whatever the adopted heirs did, whatever I did, that would not change.

【“Shouldn’t you be sad?”】

The dreaming Thunderbolt Constellation displayed text above the stigmata.

No.

It simply confirmed that everything had followed the plan I had set from the beginning.

A few minutes after Andromeda and Kyrie withdrew.

“Your Excellency, entrusting the Starlight Elixir completely to them is too dangerous.”

“If the Papal See finds fault, the succession structure could shake entirely.”

“That operation Kyrie proposed as well. It’s not even a flimsy pretense. We might end up fighting a three-front war with the Royal Family, Rikenta, and the Church.”

Peleus was surrounded by the chamberlain, the chief steward, the head of the Nuveesta collateral house who led counter-intelligence, and countless other aides.

“Enough nagging.”

“Your Excellency!”

“Isn’t it pleasing? The way he uses his head.”

“Are sophistry exploiting legal interpretation truly the virtue of an adopted heir of Astreos?”

“He obtained everything he wanted without directly opposing my words. Clarity does not have to manifest as rebellion.”

“I understand. However….”

The steward trailed off.

“However?”

“It is too irreverent to say as a servant. Forgive me.”

“Complaining that I should wear slippers is far more irreverent. Speak.”

“Entrusting the Starlight Elixir to the two of them—is it to induce competition? Does Your Excellency wish to replace the Sub-patriarch?”

A statement like a bomb.

Silence fell among the aides.

“……”

“……”

“……”

Soon that silence turned into fervent condemnation.

“This madman has spoken unspeakable words! Execute him!”

“I spoke words I should not have! Do not forgive me!”

“How dare we attempt to divine Your Excellency’s will—”

“Isn’t that your job? Don’t say that.”

Peleus leaned back in his chair, smiling as if amused.

“You ask if I wish to replace Andromeda? No. She is doing well enough. But do I think Kyrie must not become Head of House? No. He also has sufficient qualification.”

He lifted a transparent crystal panel.

“There’s no need to cut off the root, is there? Judging from how he raises his head and meets my gaze, he seems full of ambition.”

The aides sighed deeply.

The Head of House displayed Kyrie’s image on the crystal panel.

Training grounds of the Twin-Thunder Palace.

Kyrie met Magnus.

“So you followed me all the way here somehow. What is it?”

“I want to entrust the elixir export business toward the flame house—the twins—to you.”

“What?”

“It makes no sense to do anything in the west while excluding your house. And you’ve handled resource procurement for thousands of years—you’ll do it better.”

A rare crack appeared in Magnus’s ironlike face.

He looked more shocked than when Kyrie had cut off his arm.

What kind of magnanimity is this!

To trust a former enemy this much.

It was incomprehensible spirit.

One who received incomprehensible respect possessed that same incomprehensible clarity.

Like the great Head of House Peleus.

“…Very well. We have done so for millennia. We will continue.”

Magnus bowed politely.

At that moment he completely forgot Trias.

I’ll bind him there so he never returns to the capital. No more collusion between the four collateral houses and the adopted heirs. Don’t feel slighted. I’ll let you live as the ever-prospering ruler of the west.

Had Magnus known Kyrie’s thoughts, he might have fainted.

At the same time—

“What are you looking at?”

“Kyrie.”

“Hm?”

“He’s with Magnus.”

Silvanus of the Security Gold Corps and Scipio of the mounted patrol walked within the main compound.

On their way to the adopted heirs’ regular meeting, they spotted Kyrie and Magnus.

“…The core of the Sacheol blade is moving countless pieces of Sacheol in one direction. Don’t try to control each grain individually—form a flow. Losing a few grains doesn’t matter.”

Magnus was teaching magnetism arts to Kyrie.

“Is he trying to ruin him? Or does he have another idea?”

Silvanus asked.

“……”

Scipio couldn’t answer easily.

Originally, people used only the Authority they were accustomed to.

Superhuman battles were decided in 0.01 seconds.

One Authority practiced a thousand times was stronger than a thousand Authorities practiced once.

Deliberately teaching multiple Authorities to cripple someone was a perfectly viable strategy.

“…Hard to say.”

But Kyrie, standing there?

“I don’t know his thoughts, but I don’t think he’ll break.”

Scipio answered.

Silvanus did not deny it.

“Let’s admit it. That guy Kyrie—his achievements are truly remarkable. He can function as Andromeda’s rival.”

“Whether to induce mutual destruction or truly support him, let’s raise him a bit more first. Even if there’s resentment, let’s set it aside for now.”

Recently, the main agenda of every adopted-heirs meeting had been how to treat Kyrie.

Scipio and Silvanus were beginning to acknowledge him.

“Do you think he’ll betray Andromeda?”

“I doubt it. But I also doubt Andromeda would betray him.”

Dietus and Nikolaos still hated Kyrie.

Ur, Bataos, Sirmynes and others remained neutral.

“It’s something we need to settle clearly. Recently we spread rumors that Kyrie is better suited to be Sub-patriarch. We must decide whether that was to provoke Andromeda into eliminating him, or whether we truly intend to use Kyrie against Andromeda.”

Sirmynes sighed deeply.

“My opinion is….”

Ur opened his mouth.

Chapter 156

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