As a king, Laguna-san seemed to be planning to attend the ceremony as well, so she left after a short chat.
After that, as I was waiting for the ceremony to be held with Lilia-san, the people who had been crowded together a short distance away suddenly split apart.
The crowd that split in two looked like a giant road. Right after that, a loud shout rang out.
[S- She has come! God of Creation-sama!]
As soon as that person shouted, as if in unison, all the people gathering in this place kneeled down and lowered their heads.
Matching our surroundings, Lilia-san and I also got down on our knees, bowing our heads and got into a prayer's position. However, I slightly moved my eyes to see what was going on.
When I saw Chronois-san's appearance in the temple before, I thought it was like a white wave of humans... but this is on a different level.
Shiro-san's invitation rank was definitely black. Hence, she must have brought almost all the Gods with her. This was definitely quite a tremendous sight.
Gracefully walking in the lead was Shiro-san, the God of Creation. The three Supreme Gods lined up behind her, and further behind them, dressed in white vestments, the Gods followed in perfect order.
They were truly like the pinnacle of this world, and those standing before them felt overwhelmed with their presence. Even I, who was used to interacting with Shiro-san to some extent, was overwhelmed by their presence, so the tension must have been even greater for the others.
The fact that next to me, Lillia-san was slightly trembling was proof that they were feeling a lot of pressure.
Shiro-san continued on her way at a steady pace, and on the way, all the Gods except the Supreme Gods stopped. It seems that even the Gods must observe the entry restriction.
After a certain amount of time, Shiro-san stopped, and the people who had been bowing their heads began to stand up, to which Lilia-san and I followed suit.
[...She's amazing. God of Creation-sama, I mean. Her presence is just so... divine...]
[I never thought I'd see her outside of the Festival of Heroes... Praise God for gracing us with her presence...]
Almost as soon as I heard that voice, Shiro-san glanced at me and slightly waved her hand.
Could you stop that!? I'm talking about that reaction as if you've found someone you know! No, I'm certainly someone she knows, but she's just drawing too much attention!
The moment Shiro-san waved our way, all the surrounding eyes immediately turned to us. No, seriously, give me a break... Lilia-san was already ghastly pale, you know? She's going to faint soon, you know?
The buzzing around us gradually became noisier and cold sweat began to run down my back, but luck still hasn't given us up yet.
Before our questions could be put into words, a loud sound rang out from the Central Tower.
When I looked over there, I saw a part of the Central Tower sticking out like a stage, and on top of it came out Kuro and the others... the Six Kings.
Though I say that, Magnawell-san couldn't get on the stage, so he was just sticking out his head near the Central Tower...
[The opening ceremony is going to start soon.]
[...Oi, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be over there?]
I ask Alice, who appeared next to me as if it were a matter of course, and after breathing out a light sigh, she told me why.
[Well, even though I'm reluctant about this... "The one beside you today is a clone". Main body Alice-chan is on the stage over there.]
[Ahh, I see.]
[Yes, I'm one of the organizers, so as expected, I can't just have my clone participate... Well, don't worry! The performance of this newly created "Perfect Clone Alice-chan", which I created by canceling out "1800 of my clones" scattered around the world, so this clone's performance is almost equal with the main body! I'll do my best to protect Kaito-san!]
[...I- I have lots of things I want to tsukkomi about. 1800!? You have that many clones!?]
No, I certainly knew that she had quite a number of clones, like the one in the Hydra Kingdom and the one tending the store but... 1800!?
[Yes, well, most of the Alice-chan clones are disguised. The reason is that the clones are responsible for transmitting the information gathered by my subordinates to the main body, so they were deployed here and there.]
[I- I see... Even so, that's quite a lot, 1800 clones...]
[Ah, no, if it were clones without autonomous thinking or information control abilities, the main body could operate at least "100,000"...]
[...…]
Unnn, this wouldn't do. I just can't measure this guy by my common sense. No matter how stupid she usually is, Alice is still the Six Kings... one of those beings who were beyond human understanding. Even so, 100,000 clones... She's already a one-woman army...
[Well, the reason why I made this body this time was also to conduct "an experiment", but that's a story for another time... It seems like it's starting after all.]
[...Oh?]
When I heard Alice's words and returned my gaze to the stage, Kuro stepped forward and spoke.
[...Everyone, for participating in the Six Kings Festival that we organized today, thank you very much.]
Is she using Loudspeaker Magic? Kuro's voice was loud and echoed throughout the plaza.
[The opening ceremony has now commenced, or so I'd like to say, but before that, on behalf of the Six Kings, I'd like to say a few words of thanks.]
In contrast to her usual cute image, Kuro now has a sense of dignity befitting a King. Thus, her voice seemed strong and imposing.
[This year's Six Kings Festival wasn't prepared by us Six Kings alone, but with the help of many others. It's thanks to everyone lending their strength... there's our Demon Realm, of course, the God Realm.... and Human Realm's Symphonia Kingdom, Archlesia Empire and Hydra Kingdom. It's thanks to everyone's help that this momentous day came to be. Thank you very much.]
I see, Shiro-san and the Kings of the Human Realm were also helping out at the Six Kings Festival...
As I was thinking about this, Alice quietly whispered to me.
[...Shallow Vernal-sama was our sponsor right from the start. In addition to that, we asked for the cooperation of the Human Realm as well. Well, it's the so-called external measures.]
[...Unnn?]
[To be honest, we have enough subordinates under our command and all the supplies we want as long as Shallow Vernal-sama cooperates with us. However, if we kept going like that, the Human Realm would be left out. That's why we asked for their cooperation. The three realms are equal after all.]
[...I see.]
Just as I nodded my head in response to Alice's explanation, Kuro broke off her speech. Slowly looking around the crowd for a moment, she opened her mouth again.
[Well then, before we announce the opening of the festival, we'd like to show everyone a little performance.]
[...A performance?]
[Well, just relax and enjoy the sight.]
Dear Mom, Dad———— After Shiro-san arrived, the opening ceremony seemed to be finally ready. As I watched Kuro speak powerfully on behalf of the Six Kings, I could somehow feel it now———– That the Six Kings Festival is about to begin...