Published: January 4, 2026
After entrusting various matters to Henry, I returned to the tent.
Inside the tent, Alice was sitting quietly in a composed manner.
"I'm back."
"Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty."
Alice smiled gently as she stood up and handed me a well-wrung towel.
I hadn’t been outside the tent for long and wasn’t tired at all, but without saying a word, I accepted her thoughtful gesture and wiped my face a little.
"Hmm."
"Here."
Alice took back the towel after I was done.
She didn’t ask anything.
It wasn’t that she lacked curiosity; still, Alice said nothing.
Like a devoted wife, she took care of me attentively.
I sat down in my usual spot, and Alice came to sit beside me.
"I’ll be away for a while starting tomorrow."
"…!"
Alice’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at me.
"Where are you going?"
"I’m going to infiltrate enemy territory—"
"Absolutely not!"
Without hearing the end, Alice raised her voice to stop me.
Then, realizing what she’d done, she pressed her hand to her mouth with an embarrassed expression.
"Don’t worry, Henry already admonished me earlier."
"Naturally, it’s far too dangerous."
"But this is the only time."
"What do you mean?"
"Leviathan—Leviathan once took out the leader of Almeria’s rebel army near the Imperial Capital with ultra long-range sniping."
"H-Hmm…"
Alice gave an ambiguous nod, her face saying, "What on earth are you talking about?"
I continued without minding.
"That had an enormous effect, but it was so overwhelming that countermeasures were developed. It can’t be done the same way anymore. If it hadn’t been done back then, we could have taken out the rebel leader with ultra long-range sniping this time without a personal military campaign."
"...But then, what about the next time?"
"That’s exactly it."
I chuckled softly.
Alice, who’s intelligent, immediately understood the essence of what I was trying to say.
"No matter how strong or advanced a technique is, with use comes countermeasures, making it outdated and less effective. Do you know? Once upon a time, a single mage could break down castle walls with a fireball, but now, with countermeasures, hundreds of mages must fire simultaneously to achieve decent results. And in even more ancient times, just having iron weapons meant one could fight like a one-man army."
"...Yes, the same goes for singing."
"Exactly. I don’t know all the details, but given the world you see as a woman like you, I’m sure you’re at that level."
I nodded and said so.
This is true in any field.
Especially in popular disciplines like singing, where many people train diligently, techniques evolve rapidly.
It’s often said that even a master from the past wouldn’t necessarily thrive today.
In some ways that’s true, and in others, it’s not, I think.
If the old masters had stayed with their old techniques, they wouldn’t succeed.
But if they used their talent to learn the ever-evolving modern techniques, they’d still shine, I believe.
I realized I’d drifted off and looked at Alice again.
"It’s frustrating."
Alice looked just as she said—frustrated.
"That’s progress, for all humanity."
"…"
"What’s wrong? You look like a stunned pigeon."
"No, I was just thinking how amazing Your Majesty is. I know many who have said similar things, but they all only think of themselves and say they hate change."
"I see."
I’ve seen those kinds of people often, both after reincarnating as Noah, and in my previous life before reincarnation.
Hearing Alice, I resolved not to become like those people.
Then I continued.
"I’ve now developed a technique called gaze manipulation. It’s extremely powerful now, but eventually, countermeasures will render it ineffective."
"Is that really possible?"
"For example, if it’s known that only I can use this technique, then no matter where I am, if they burn a hundred square meters with tactical-range magic, gaze manipulation won’t matter at all."
"Um…"
"Too complicated? If someone is somewhere in the house but can’t be found, just burn the entire house down."