After visiting some of the main sites, it was getting close to evening.
　Thanks to Mr. Lilliwood's easy-to-follow directions, even I, who don't know much about plants, was able to enjoy the festival. I am very grateful to him for that.

　Now, Lilliwood takes me to the main site of this second day's festival.
　It's a huge flower garden that takes up the entire northern part of the central tower of the city where the festival is held. Colorful flowers were lined up in a row as if drawing a pattern, creating an unmistakable view.

　Mr. Lilliwood says he's "confident" in his work, and in fact, he says it's really wonderful. From one place it looks like a giant rainbow, and from another it looks like a ring of intricate colors.
　There is also a place like a small hill, from which you can find different beauty. Every time I looked at the flower garden, I found something new and different, which made me feel like a jewel box.

　I found myself sitting side by side with Mr. Lilliwood on a hill overlooking the flower gardens, looking down on them and forgetting about the time I spent there.

　The sky was turning reddish brown, and a different kind of melancholy beauty was beginning to emerge, when I spoke to Mr. Lillywood, who was sitting next to me.

'Oh, by the way, Mr. Lillywood. I've been wanting to ask you for a while now, but since we're here, may I ask you now?
'What?　Yeah, that's fine.'

　There was currently no one else in sight on this hill, perhaps because the other participants were shying away from Lillywood-san's presence here. It could be said that it was just the right time to talk alone with him.
　That's why I decided to inquire about something that has been bothering me for a long time...a suspicion I had about Lilliwood-san.

''Well, I'm sorry if I'm mistaken. Liliwood-san........do you have a bad relationship with Alice.......the Phantom King?
...How do you know that?
...right?
....

　I've always wanted to hear it someday. However, because of the content, I never had the opportunity to hear it until now.
　
　To me, Alice is my best friend and my irreplaceable lover at the same time.......that's why I wanted to hear it.

　Hearing my words, Liliwood-san let out a light sigh after being silent for a while.


Well?
''Yes, you're right. Until now, I was afraid of her I was afraid of Chartier. No, afraid might not be the right word, but 'I thought it was creepy' would be the right word.
...Creepy, huh?

　Mr. Lillywood began to talk about the old days in a patter as he gazed at the field of flowers in the dusk.

''She suddenly appeared in front of us one day. As a powerful being, out of the blue.......that in itself is not a problem. If it was a being that Crom Eina brought with her, there was no hesitation for us to accept her as family.''
....
....I had such a strange feeling.'

　I see, Mr. Lillywood was dimly aware of what Alice was holding on to. I just couldn't see it clearly. Maybe that's why he felt Alice was so eerie.

''........Somehow, it was as if I was seeing a different Nanika from us.......Such feelings became clear around the time Chartier came to this world about a thousand years ago.''
What did Alice do to you?
''........The magical world of those days was extremely chaotic. There were many powerful........what we call today, county-grade demons, and each one of them was running amok as they pleased. The strongest existence in the demon world, Crom Aina, had the power to govern the demon world, but she respected each individual's freedom, so as a result, it can be said that it was a much wilder time than today.
....
"But the entire demon world, once chaotic, was transformed by a single being.
You don't think that's Alice, do you?

　Liliwood-san quietly shook her head at my words as I asked her back.

''Among the powerful demon race, Chartier secretly erased the beings she perceived as unnecessary to the world. Too coolly and cleverly for us to notice........when we noticed, she alone took care of more than 70% of those powerful demons....
....
''That's not all. At the same time, she has increased the number of people who are her hands and feet, and in just one thousand years, she has spread her roots in the back of the vast world of magic. And using her information manipulation skills, she created the order in the demon world, creating the class of 'Six Kings' and 'Baronial'.
'What?　Wait, wait, wait. Then the reason why I made up the name of the Sixth King or the Baronial High Demon Clan...''
''Yes, it's Chartier. She told me that the reason she divided the demon race according to power was to make it easier to manage information, minus for her own sake.
''.........What a selfish guy, Chartier is the worst. There's no way to be self-centered--Fugitive!

　There was some idiot who interrupted me to talk about something serious, so I reflexively tapped into my genius.

　Dear Mom and Dad - Lillywood's story was quite shocking. Of course, I know what's going on with Alice, so I'm sure she did it because she needed a lot of information to fulfill her promise to Mr. Iris, but I was still surprised. In other words, it seems that Alice is the one who invented the term six kings or baronial class - the existence that created the prototype of the current magical world.