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 Hyra 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…