I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 114 - Why Are You Like This.. (1)
Chapter 114 – Why Are You Like This…? (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“…Contact with the test subjects has been lost?”
“…Yes.”
Inside Duke Komalon’s office,
he asked in a calm tone after hearing the dark elf’s report.
“…And the last report before contact was lost?”
“The last report stated that they had identified Marquis Palladio’s location.”
“So they did not even manage to gauge him.”
“My apologies.”
The dark elf lowered his head deeply.
Duke Komalon also understood perfectly well that this matter was not the fault of the one standing before him.
Even so,
“…Hm.”
he suddenly recalled something the man in the black star-sea robe had said.
The warning to be careful of Marquis Palladio.
“…”
Duke Komalon remained silent for a while with the dark elf standing in front of him with his head bowed.
Then, at last, he broke the silence.
“Well, it is fine. In the first place, they were creatures with little lifespan remaining. I only intended to use them to get a rough measure of his strength.”
“…Will that be all right?”
“Our goal is not to dispose of Marquis Palladio. The reason we tried to deal with him was only because he kept interfering with the great cause. But-”
The tail must never grow larger than the body.
“We cannot abandon the greater cause merely to remove Marquis Palladio. The great cause was delayed because the dragon egg was stolen, but that does not mean the plan itself has collapsed.”
“I will keep it in mind.”
They could not afford further delay simply because of an irritating thorn.
“How much time remains until the ball?”
“Two weeks remain.”
“Have the organizations begin preparing for Outer-God conversion from now. Time it to the ball two weeks from now.”
“I obey.”
The dark elf lowered his head once more,
then disappeared.
Left alone in the office,
Komalon murmured to himself.
“The great cause must be fulfilled. No matter what must be done-”
He continued speaking as if chanting a spell to himself.
“It must be fulfilled. Without fail. Because that is the only-”
Very quietly,
as though drawing in breath,
he reaffirmed it to himself.
“-the only way to save this world.”
When he raised his eyes again,
clear madness could be seen in them.
####
Alon returned to House Palladio about a week after that.
After arriving,
the most important task before him was rest.
Of course,
even at that point he did not neglect his pursuit of magic,
but the rare chance to rest inside the estate was truly sweet for someone who had been dashing about for months.
Still,
he was not able to spend that entire week purely at leisure.
“…This looks harsher than I expected.”
“It does.”
At some point,
Evan had started helping with Alon’s work as well.
At his comment,
Alon gave a nod.
What the two were looking through
was documentation on the present condition of House Palladio’s territory.
“…The financial situation is not bad, but it is not good either.”
“That is true.”
The territory’s financial condition was ordinary.
No,
strictly speaking,
it was closer to bad than ordinary.
“Well, is that not natural? There is not really anywhere for our territory to earn money from in the first place. Even when it was doing well, it was doing well off underworld money. Honestly, is it not the same now?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“The deficits are basically being filled with money coming in through the faction, are they not?”
Evan pointed at one part of the documents with his finger.
“That is… true enough.”
Alon inwardly found the situation very troublesome.
The household finances of the marquisate were barely keeping the territory itself in balance.
Unlike the territory, which was merely so-so,
the finances of House Palladio itself were actually quite abundant.
That was because Alon had received a large number of treasures as rewards while wandering outside the territory.
However,
that was only ever temporary money.
It was not fixed income.
…It looks like I will need to create some sort of stable revenue stream.
He realized he would need to start thinking seriously.
Even if the household’s finances were sound right now,
without fixed income there would inevitably come a time when the bottom showed.
Should I take advantage while money is still flowing in and create some sort of specialty product?
Alon remained in thought for a while,
then closed the thick paper records and asked,
“Did our territory ever have anything like a specialty product?”
“A specialty product?”
“Yes.”
“…Drugs?”
Why is that what comes up here…?
“…All of a sudden?”
“No, I mean, back then the marquisate’s specialty product really was drugs.”
“Was it truly that bad…?”
“There was not anything else, was there…?”
Alon nodded with a strange expression.
Yes.
House Palladio had long been one of Asteria’s hidden backers, with its feet planted deeply in the underworld.
“Is there really nothing else?”
“…I do not think so. There is not really anything around here that could be called a specialty product.”
He spent a moment thinking,
Would it not be a little much if we truly have nothing at all?
Then,
For now, I should handle the other work first.
He decided he would take care of the accumulated work first,
and think about the territory’s development along the way.
Come to think of it, I should answer the letters too.
He began opening and reading the three letters from Yutia that had piled up while he was away.
The first was a light letter of greeting,
containing news about Rine and Seollang.
The second, like the first, contained ordinary greetings,
but also news concerning Radan.
Since Evan had been steadily keeping him informed,
Alon already knew Radan’s recent situation to a degree.
He found some remarkable relic…?
Come to think of it, I have not heard any outside rumors about Radan lately.
That question briefly crossed his mind.
Then,
…Well, in truth, no rumors is good news where a pirate is concerned.
If news about him updated,
it would almost certainly be something like his bounty increasing.
Because of that,
Alon felt a small sense of satisfaction at Radan’s lack of rumors,
and unfolded the final letter as well.
After confirming that it too was simply a greeting letter,
he began writing his reply.
Once he finished,
the letter was about one page long.
However,
…Compared to how often letters have been arriving lately, my replies have been short. Should I write a bit more this time?
Thinking he ought to balance things out a little,
he kept writing longer than usual.
Soon,
he had written about his recent trip into the jungle,
and even about trivial daily matters like what sort of specialty product he should choose for House Palladio.
“Hoo.”
After checking the letter,
which had grown to three pages,
he smiled inwardly in satisfaction.
Then,
after entrusting the letter to Evan,
he turned his eyes toward the window.
Unlike the jungle,
which remained humid through all four seasons,
Asteria was now entering winter,
and the red autumn leaves were beginning to fall one by one.
Before long,
even late autumn had passed.
####
Time passed.
The autumn leaves disappeared,
and the season became full winter.
“It is about time to move.”
“The magic symposium?”
“Yes.”
The moment Siyan made it possible for him to participate in the magic symposium once again,
Alon immediately began preparing to head there.
“But Marquis, are you leaving already? I was under the impression there was still quite a bit of time before the symposium begins. Even if we left later at a relaxed pace, there would still be plenty of time.”
Evan asked that while helping with preparations.
And of course,
his words were correct.
But the real reason Alon wanted to attend this symposium
was to meet Heinkel.
“Leaving early does not create any problem, does it?”
“Well, that is true enough.”
At that answer,
Evan accepted it,
then naturally shifted his gaze to one side and asked,
“Are you taking this black egg as well?”
There was a black egg resting against one wall of the office.
It had not undergone any dramatic change,
but it had grown somewhat larger than before.
Alon thought for a moment,
then nodded.
“We will take it.”
And so,
the two of them immediately set out for the magic symposium.
####
Alon arrived at the Central Tower, where the magic symposium was being held,
about two weeks after leaving the marquisate’s territory.
“Every time I see this place, I can only admire it. It almost feels even more impressive because we arrived in the evening.”
“I feel the same.”
Alon nodded at Evan’s admiration as he looked toward the Central Tower.
In truth,
the tower rising endlessly high into the sky with the blue moon behind it looked even grander than it did during the day.
It was the sort of sight one might only expect to see in some fantasy illustration.
It really does look better at night.
Alon kept his eyes fixed on the tower for some time,
then soon they reached the Central Tower proper.
They left the carriage to one side and went in on foot.
And there,
“Ah, Marquis Palladio?”
he heard a voice naturally calling his name.
Alon looked at the man with a questioning expression,
but only for a moment.
“You may not remember, but we met once at the symposium before. Penia-”
“Ah.”
As if something came back to him,
Alon lowered his chin slightly and searched his memory.
“…Millan, was it?”
“It is an honor that you remembered my name.”
“It is not that grand. In any case, it has been a while.”
“Yes, it has.”
Even while returning Millan’s greeting,
Alon looked around him.
Quite a large number of mages were present,
even though the symposium had not begun yet.
“It does not seem to have started yet, but there are many mages here.”
As if he understood the source of Alon’s question,
Millan explained the reason.
“Ah, that is probably because the tower masters are attending this time.”
“The tower masters?”
“Yes. The Blue Tower Master and the Red Tower Master are participating in this symposium. I heard they will even be giving simple lectures tomorrow.”
Certainly,
if the tower masters were attending the symposium,
it made sense that so many mages had already gathered.
For mages,
lectures by those of high circle were an enormous help.
In effect,
I also came to hear a lecture.
Alon, too, wanted not merely to ask Heinkel about the ring,
but to receive even a little instruction from her.
Between the Babylonia incantations,
self-nature manifestation,
the Belt of the Forgotten,
and the several constraints he kept imposing upon himself,
he had been managing to overcome crises,
but strictly speaking he was still only a mage who had just reached the fourth circle.
“Ah, in any case, congratulations.”
At that moment,
Millan offered congratulations out of nowhere.
“…Congratulations?”
“Yes.”
“What exactly are you congratulating me for?”
When Alon asked with a bewildered expression,
Millan smiled brightly as though he knew everything already.
“There is no need to pretend not to know. By now, nearly all the mages already know.”
“…???”
No, I truly do not know.
Alon stared straight at him with an expressionless face.
But Millan kept smiling and said,
“I already heard the rumor that the Blue Tower Master formally approved your relationship with the vice tower master. Congratulations, Marquis.”
“…What?”
…For the briefest moment,
the eyes of Alon,
who until now had never shown any real change of expression,
widened for the first time,
as if faced with something he genuinely could not understand.