I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 115 - Why Are You Like This.. (2)

Chapter 115 – Why Are You Like This…? (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“…I think you are mistaken about something,” Alon said.

“Pardon? About what…?”

Millan looked bewildered, and Alon felt his head begin to ache.

Honestly, the rumor was so absurd that he did not even know where to begin picking it apart.

Was it the part where Penia supposedly admired Marquis Palladio?

Or the part where Tower Master Selaim Mikardo had personally allowed Vice Tower Master Penia to date him?

No, before that, wasn’t it strange in itself that a tower master would be talking about whether to permit someone’s relationship?

The thought crossed his mind, but he soon accepted it on his own.

Even if they were not related by blood, Selaim Mikardo was essentially the parent of Penia and Pellin.

He was the one who had taught magic to the two siblings when they were orphans.

That meant Selaim might, in fact, interfere in Penia’s relationships.

No, that was not the important part right now.

Alon opened his mouth to correct the facts.

“First… everything about that is a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Yes. Penia Kraisinne does not like me, and I have never once received permission from the Blue Tower Master to date her.”

“Uh… is that so?”

“It is.”

Millan looked uncertain even as Alon nodded firmly.

“But I heard that the Blue Tower Master definitely said exactly that…”

It was not as if the rumor had come from just anyone.

People were saying that the Blue Tower Master himself had approved it.

“If that kind of thing spread, then there must have been some misunderstanding along the way.”

“Is… that what happened?”

“Yes. I did see the Blue Tower Master recently, but we never discussed anything like that. Not even once.”

Something had clearly been misunderstood somewhere.

“Mmm. All right, then.”

Millan finally backed down in the face of Alon’s repeated denial.

“In that case, I should be going. I have something to do.”

“Ah, yes. Then I will see you next time.”

“Right.”

They exchanged brief farewells and parted.

“…What was that? I definitely heard the rumor that way…”

He heard that mutter on the wind, but Alon let it pass.

“It looks like that rumor is still circulating in mage circles,” Evan said, sounding faintly amazed.

“Apparently. …Do baseless rumors not usually die down quickly?”

“Usually they do.”

“…I do not understand why this one keeps flaring up in such a strange way.”

“Still, now that you told him it was a misunderstanding, won’t it start dying down soon?”

“If that were enough, I already explained to the nobles quite a while ago that it was all a misunderstanding.”

Did Penia not bother clearing it up on her end?

The thought made Alon frown.

Given Penia Kraisinne’s personality, if such a rumor had spread, she should have started foaming at the mouth and trying to beat the origin of it to death the moment she heard.

After thinking for a moment, Alon soon shook his head inwardly.

It was unpleasant, but in the end, a rumor was still only a rumor.

There was no way Penia would simply leave it alone forever, so he would eventually be freed from this piece of gossip.

…It was only irritating that he had to keep walking around explaining himself over such a trivial matter.

He could hardly gather a crowd of mages and make some grand announcement just to deny a ridiculous rumor.

It was around the time Alon was thinking that when Evan spoke again.

“…Then could it really be that the Blue Tower Master did something?”

“The Blue Tower Master?”

“Yes. That rumor first came out quite a while ago, so it is strange that it is catching fire again now.”

Evan offered the theory, and Alon recalled the last time he met Selaim Mikardo.

They had not spoken about anything related to that.

Still, he had definitely felt as though Selaim was plotting something.

And the smile on the man’s face had been suspiciously bright.

“…If I meet him this time, I should ask him about it.”

After carefully recalling the conversation they had shared, Alon gave a light shrug.

To be honest, meeting Heinkel was far more important to him at the moment.

So he put the matter aside.

“I will look into that later. For now, let us go up first.”

He promptly headed for the room that had been assigned to him.

####

The library on the thirty-eighth floor of the Central Tower had never had many people in it.

More precisely, mages almost never came there.

The reason was simple.

There was an alternative space.

Every book in this library could also be read in the reading room on the twentieth floor, where clean copies were provided instead of old and deteriorating originals.

In other words, the Central Tower library’s real significance lay in the fact that it was the first library built when the tower itself had first been established.

It was a historical symbol more than a practical research space.

And in that place, there was one woman who had remained for so long that even she could no longer remember the years clearly.

To the mages, Heinkel, called the Primordial Chalice and treated almost like an object of worship, found this situation fairly pleasing.

Before becoming a spirit body and after becoming one, she had never liked noise very much.

That did not mean she disliked people themselves.

She was still a person with a functioning mind and a distinct personality, so there were days when she wanted to see someone.

At times like that, she wandered around the tower watching mages and amusing herself.

If she found one she rather liked, she would subtly lure them into the library, then talk with them and help them here and there.

…Though, truthfully, it was not the act of helping that satisfied her so much as the feeling of superiority she got when those mages looked at her with worship in their eyes after receiving her knowledge.

In any case.

All things considered, she found life in a quiet, empty library, leisurely reading books by herself, to be not bad at all.

“I greet the Primordial Chalice, Heinkel.”

“…Yes.”

At least, that had been true until just a moment ago.

What is this bastard doing here again?!

Looking at the man with his head bowed before her, Heinkel barely managed to swallow the scream that almost burst out of her.

The man in front of her was someone she genuinely did not want to meet.

“…What business brings you to me?”

Heinkel forced an awkward smile.

If anyone who knew her eccentric personality saw this scene, they would either collapse from shock or roar with laughter.

Yet the reason Heinkel had no choice but to treat the man before her kindly was simple.

What in the world is he that he has something like that behind him…!

That thing was behind Marquis Palladio.

Something that should never be perceived.

And yet, at the same time, something that absolutely could not be ignored.

A dreadful existence.

Of course, now that it was their second meeting, or more precisely now that she had calmed down enough to assess the situation, Heinkel had realized that the thing attached to his back was not following him according to his own will.

Even so, the fact that she needed to be polite to Alon had not changed.

That being behind him could erase Heinkel’s very existence this instant without the slightest effort.

And she knew that it held some kind of interest in the man before her.

“I have come because there is a matter on which I wish to ask a favor.”

“…A favor?”

“Yes. In truth, I have been having difficulty using the item Lady Heinkel gave me.”

She wanted to snap back that he had not taken it but stolen it, yet she kept smiling and answered kindly.

“Would you show it to me once?”

“Certainly.”

“Is there something else you want to ask as well?”

“If it is at all possible, I would like to receive some instruction in magic. Would that be possible? I will, of course, pay a price for it.”

Even for Heinkel, who intended to show him as much kindness as possible, that request was difficult to accept.

No matter what anyone said, Heinkel valued her life above all else.

Remaining in one place for a long time with an existence capable of taking that life was extremely uncomfortable.

That was why she said,

“That will be rather difficult.”

“…May I ask why?”

“Because…”

She had been about to explain without hesitation, but she abruptly stopped with her mouth still open.

The eye hidden in the inner space, the one that had been staring only at Alon until just moments before and which only someone like Heinkel could properly perceive,

turned.

And looked at her.

As if it meant to hear what answer she was about to give.

“-”

“?”

Alon tilted his head slightly as he looked at Heinkel, who had suddenly frozen mid-sentence with her mouth open.

But Heinkel, having recognized that eye staring at her from within the inner plane without taking any action at all, broke into a cold sweat and said,

“…No, I may be able to do it.”

“Is… that so?”

“Yes, I can do it. Of course I can.”

“Thank you.”

“N-no, it is nothing. Now that I think about it, it is not a difficult matter at all…”

She hastily changed her answer.

Only then did she feel the eye within the inner space conceal its pressure once more.

Aaaaaaagh!!!! Why… why is this happening to me…!

She wanted to cry.

Meanwhile, Alon, who was watching her wear an awkward smile on the outside while inwardly screaming, thought,

She is much kinder than she was in the game… what is this?

He found it strange how easily she accepted the request.

Could it be that something happened to her in the future? Maybe the game only showed the result, and originally she was meant to be kind?

At least judging by her appearance, aside from the enormous magician’s hat on her head, she looked close enough to a girl.

Yes. With how young and delicate she looks, being that savage really does not suit her.

Just as he concluded that the game must simply have failed to explain whatever later event twisted her personality,

Heinkel quietly whimpered to herself while struggling to suppress tears.

I want to run away. I really do…

####

At the very top floor of the Central Tower, meanwhile,

“So you want me to decipher this?”

“That is right.”

Two men stood there.

One was Parkline Agulers, the Red Tower Master, an eighth-circle mage with red hair and red eyes.

The other was Selaim Mikardo, who held the same rank of tower master.

“And why should I?”

Parkline frowned as he looked at Selaim, who was grinning lazily.

“Because this kind of ancient language interpretation is something only you can do.”

“And why should that give me any reason to grant your request?”

“Because we are close?”

Parkline’s face twisted at once.

“Close my ass! I have no such memory!”

“Still, you are here with me right now.”

“That is because you said you would pay the price for the artifact you borrowed last time!!!”

“Was that so?”

“I would like to strangle you.”

Parkline clenched his fist as though his hand were itching.

Whether he did or not, Selaim remained relaxed.

“In any case, stop being like that and help me out. From your perspective, it is not even especially difficult. You even have a related artifact.”

“Tch.”

“And this time I really will give you the compensation we agreed on.”

Though Parkline looked at him as if he did not like him one bit,

“See that you keep that promise.”

he still turned his gaze toward the parchment.

A low hum spread through the room.

Along with the traces of mana scattering around Parkline, a round artifact, something almost like an eyeball, floated up from his pocket into the air.

It began reading the writing on the parchment as though scanning it, and after a long silence, Parkline slowly opened his mouth.

“…The interpretation is finished.”

“What does it say?”

Selaim’s tone was slightly hurried.

Parkline answered,

“It says, ‘I leave my remains to the half magus who refused compromise to the end and did not forget the incantation’… It does not sound as if some grand secret of magic is written there, despite what you were secretly hoping for.”

Since he knew Selaim had recently been rummaging through ruins in search of a clue to crossing from the eighth circle to the ninth, Parkline turned to him with a faintly mocking smile.

Then he stopped.

Until a moment ago, Selaim had been grinning.

Now he was deeply contemplating something.

“…?”

Parkline was bewildered.

During that time, several memories passed through Selaim’s head.

The sight of Marquis Palladio opening the Hermit’s Hideaway as if it were nothing.

The eye behind him that inspired both fear and curiosity.

The way the marquis entered the hideaway, immediately gathered the items inside, and then spent about a minute staring at the letter beneath them.

And then there was Parkline’s translation of the parchment.

I leave my remains to the half magus who refused compromise to the end and did not forget the incantation…

As Selaim recalled those words, he reached a conclusion in his mind.

…Marquis Palladio is a magus?