I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 120 - Half (2)

Chapter 120 – Half (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Parkline, the Red Tower Master, basically had little interest in rumors.

That was because he found studying antiquity far more enjoyable than taking interest in gossip.

That did not mean rumors failed to reach his ears.

More precisely, among countless rumors, one in particular kept steadily reaching him.

The one claiming that Marquis Palladio and Penia Kraisinne were truly in that sort of relationship, and had even received the official blessing of the Blue Tower Master.

Ordinarily, given Parkline Agulers’s personality, he would not have cared even if he heard the rumor often or even if it later turned out to be true.

Recently, however, Parkline had been paying attention to the rumor about Marquis Palladio and Penia Kraisinne, which he normally would have ignored.

The reason was,

“Hmm hm-♪”

Selaim Mikardo.

“You look awfully cheerful.”

“Do I? Well, if you say so, perhaps I do.”

Selaim was expressing through his whole body that he was in high spirits.

Parkline knew from when that excitement had begun.

Since the rumors related to Marquis Palladio broke.

From that point onward, whenever Parkline saw him briefly before going into a lecture, Selaim was always smiling all over and humming to himself.

…At times he even wriggled his hips, as if he had sold off the dignity of a tower master somewhere.

Parkline did not know the exact reason he was acting that way.

But he could make a guess.

A man like Selaim Mikardo looked very difficult to understand at a glance, yet in truth he was extremely easy to interpret.

Only one factor determined his mood.

Magic.

Whenever he was in a good mood, it was always because some problem concerning magic had been solved.

Whenever he was in a bad mood, it was only because magic was not proceeding the way he wanted.

Everything else?

Selaim did not show much emotion over matters unrelated to magic.

Even if the tower were smashed to pieces in a single day, or if the Blue Tower’s vice tower master became furious and came running to kill him, his emotional expression hardly changed.

So long as no one mocked his magic.

In any case.

Because Parkline knew that what Selaim had been doing lately was trying to find a clue to rise from the eighth circle to the ninth, it was easy for him to predict the reason Selaim was so delighted.

He found a clue for crossing from the eighth circle to the ninth.

And there was a very high probability that clue was Marquis Palladio.

There were three reasons Parkline reached that conclusion.

First, Selaim was fundamentally laissez-faire in everything he did and had no appetite for politics or power. He was mad only for magic, so there was no way he would become this excited merely because Penia was dating the marquis.

Second was the attitude Selaim had been showing Marquis Palladio recently.

He is practically serving him like a lord.

And finally, once one combined the contents of the parchment Parkline had recently translated at Selaim’s urging with the fact that Marquis Palladio used primitive magic,

the deduction was not difficult.

Marquis Palladio possesses the clue Selaim Mikardo needs to reach the ninth circle.

If one took one more step from there, one could even suspect, Could Marquis Palladio be the magus described in that parchment?

By the time Selaim, a man with an overwhelming desire to monopolize any line of inquiry, started visibly lighting up whenever the marquis was mentioned while still trying to hide the secret at all costs, Parkline was already beyond mere suspicion.

He was convinced.

Something definitely existed around Marquis Palladio.

That was the reason Parkline had been paying attention to rumor recently.

Naturally, he too cared about reaching the ninth circle.

No, not merely cared.

He cared a great deal.

And not only that.

Every one of the tower masters desired to reach the ninth circle.

To begin with, each tower master had reached that position because genius had been added to that very spirit of inquiry and desire.

And so,

“…Red Tower Master.”

“It has been a while.”

Parkline came to meet Alon faster than anyone else so that he could get a foot in the door first.

Whatever the man was hiding, there would definitely be something to gain by laying the groundwork early.

“That coat looks warm.”

“…This coat, you mean?”

“Yes.”

“…The weather is rather cold right now, though.”

“I mean it looks hot when it is hot and cold when it is cold. In any case, I would like to give you a gift. Will you accept it?”

“…A gift?”

Parkline naturally pulled a dark gray coat from within his arms.

It resembled the coat Alon usually wore, but the ends of the garment were decorated with black fur.

“It is an artifact coat I made myself. It has subspace magic placed on it, and the coat itself alters the surrounding arrangement according to magical properties, which makes the use of magic more convenient.”

“…That is an excellent coat.”

“Yes. And though it is a weak function, it also has an artifact built into it that keeps the internal temperature constant. What do you think?”

“It is certainly an excellent coat, but… why are you suddenly giving something like this to me?”

Even in front of a gift, the marquis asked with the same expressionless face.

Parkline laughed heartily.

“Well, my daughter has often received help from you, so this is a token of repayment for that.”

“…In that case, I will accept it gratefully.”

“Good. If there is anything else you need, just say so-”

“Thank you for your consideration.”

“Very well. Riyan also asked me to pass along her regards.”

The coat was certainly expensive, but from the perspective of a tower master like him, it was not something he could not make several times over.

That simply meant he could make as many as he wished so long as he spent his own labor.

In other words, Parkline had given Alon a gift very efficiently from a cost-performance standpoint.

At that moment,

“Wait, what are you doing?”

“?”

“?”

Selaim Mikardo, who had disappeared the moment the lecture ended, suddenly appeared.

And he was wearing a plainly anxious expression.

Then,

“Marquis, did this man perhaps say something about introducing you to his daughter?”

“Hah?”

“If so, then there is no need to think. Penia is the correct choice.”

He blurted it out immediately, as though there were no time to think properly.

At that sight, Parkline let out an incredulous laugh.

As an added bonus, he gained an even stronger conviction.

…There really is something about the Marquis.

Naturally, he did not think Selaim said such a thing because he was genuinely worried about Penia.

Parkline took a strange pleasure in having his suspicion confirmed, but even so,

“Watch your words, Selaim. I may truly snap your neck.”

he gave a warning.

To him, the clue to the ninth circle was maddeningly precious, but that was separate from this. Even if he were thrown into a pit of hellfire and buried in the center of magma, he had no intention whatsoever of handing his precious daughter over to that black-hearted bastard.

But separately from that,

“Marquis, I can give you something better. This is the potion I obtained this time because I meant to give it to you-”

“Marquis, come to think of it, there is also something I had not given you yet.”

The moment Selaim cut in first, a strange competition began.

####

For the past few days, Alon had been living through extremely busy days.

To be more precise, his nights, when he should have been meeting Heinkel, had been extremely busy.

The reason was an event being held near the Central Tower that could uniquely raise mana.

In the game, it was a simple event where one solved magical diagrams, and if one’s intelligence stat was high enough, one could gain mana just by clicking with the mouse.

But when Alon went to the Labyrinth of the Lake to carry it out, he was flustered by the fact that the magic involved was much harder than expected.

To explain more precisely, the magic itself was close to basic, and it would be more accurate to say that what one really had to do was solve puzzles inside the labyrinth.

In any case, because of that, for more than four days, Alon went to the labyrinth every night to solve the puzzles without even visiting Heinkel.

During the day, he wandered around inside the tower, separately sketching the puzzles into a notebook and thinking about how to solve them.

…Naturally, under normal circumstances, more than the puzzles, he would have preferred to resolve the rumor that had spread because of Penia’s reckless stunt a few days earlier.

Unfortunately, that too was impossible.

And the reason, absurdly enough, was Penia.

The woman who had clearly been clinging to him as if she had eaten something wrong had lately stopped appearing anywhere in Alon’s sight.

In fact, the one time he saw Penia from far away, he witnessed her let out a strange cry of Ugyaaaaahk-! and then leap out through a window from the eighteenth floor.

Because of that, Alon decided that for the moment, until the symposium ended, he would focus on solving the puzzle.

…At least, until this situation arrived.

“…”

Alon looked ahead.

In front of him, two tower masters were stacking gifts on top of books as if they were performing some strange feat.

…By now, he could not even see past them.

It is not that I dislike gifts…

He blankly raised his gaze and looked at the mountain of gifts that had already grown to nearly his own height.

Every single one of them was good.

Even the coat Parkline had first given him was, for him, a very attractive artifact.

That was all true, and yet,

“Marquis, look at this. What this is, is-”

“Marquis, you see, this artifact is the thing!”

…For some reason, Alon found himself craving a sweet potato.

####

A great many nobles had gathered at the ball held by House Komalon.

They had assembled in the splendidly decorated great hall and were exchanging conversation.

Among them was Duke Edgar, the head of the aristocratic faction, who could be said to possess the greatest power in the present Kingdom of Ashtalon.

“Duke Komalon, it has been a long time.”

“It has indeed been a long time, Duke Edgar.”

He exchanged greetings with Duke Komalon, the host of the ball.

“I always think this when I see you, but you truly do not seem to age. You look exactly as you did before.”

“That is flattering praise to hear.”

“Praise? I mean it sincerely.”

As the leader of a faction, Edgar often spoke words whose truth and falsehood could not easily be distinguished, but at least this particular remark was genuine.

The face of a young man untouched by time.

At least to Duke Edgar’s eyes, Duke Komalon did not look especially different from how he had ten years ago.

Unlike himself, whose wrinkles had deepened, Duke Komalon still maintained the appearance of a man in his mid-twenties.

What sort of trick is he using-?

Edgar was feeling that question anew when,

“Duke Edgar.”

“What is it?”

“Let me say this first. Thank you for gathering here like this.”

Duke Komalon suddenly offered words of thanks.

“Hm…? Well, is there really anything to thank me for?”

“No, I truly thank you.”

“Why?”

Edgar answered in bewilderment.

Ordinarily, for nobles, how many people attended a ball one hosted was effectively a display of that noble’s authority, so showing gratitude was not strange in itself.

In other words, the greeting alone was not strange.

But that was only so long as it happened once.

To keep expressing thanks in this repeated way was strange.

As a subtle suspicion began to bloom, Duke Edgar saw it.

He saw the shape of Duke Komalon’s hand.

The duke had pressed his index and middle fingers together and formed a seal.

Edgar tilted his head.

“Because, thanks to all of you gathering here like this, you have saved me some effort.”

“…What?”

He frowned without meaning to at those words.

And in the next moment,

“Agony.”

At the same instant the duke’s voice uttered the word,

Duke Edgar’s head exploded.

That was not all.

The head of the young noblewoman who had been smiling just moments before.

The knight guarding the backs of the other nobles.

The noble enjoying tea at one side of the ballroom.

…The heads of every living being present at the ball exploded.

And then,

in the middle of the ballroom, now decorated everywhere by blooming red blood,

Duke Komalon casually brushed the blood clinging to his hair aside and walked toward the ballroom doors.

“Begin.”

To the dark elf hidden in the darkness, he announced the beginning.

“Yes.”

The beginning of the great cause.

…The salvation they had waited several hundred years for.

####

Two days later.

The day after Alon completely solved the puzzle inside the labyrinth,

“…An Outer God has descended?”

Alon heard that news from Deus.