I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 131 - Egg (1)
Chapter 131 – Egg (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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“Phew.”
Near Palladio territory, in one of the hidden safehouses, a girl dropped into a seat with a relaxed sigh.
Someone approached her almost at once.
“You’re back, Yuna.”
“Yeah.”
The man was Hidan.
“Is the job going smoothly?”
At his question, Yuna, the golden-haired girl who was still sitting with both legs stretched out as if she were exercising, answered while asking one of her own.
“Silver Moon told me to keep an eye on Alexion, but from what I’ve seen, he doesn’t look like he’ll do anything strange anymore.”
Then she tilted her head.
“What about you?”
“For now, I am moving as Crimson Moon ordered.”
“You must be busy.”
“I am only doing what needs to be done.”
Yuna hummed at that, nodded, and smiled.
“So when is our meeting?”
“The meeting?”
“Yeah. Silver Moon told me to attend this one and give a report about the territory.”
“…Are you really that happy about it?”
“Of course I am.”
Yuna beamed as if she were already looking forward to it.
“I’m getting to take part in a meeting of the higher-ups. And I get to see Crimson Moon and Purple Moon too. I haven’t seen them in so long that I’ve been disappointed about it. I also wanted to watch a high-level meeting at least once.”
Her voice was lively.
Hidan’s expression, on the other hand, became a little strange.
“The atmosphere, huh…”
It was subtle.
“Why are you acting like that?”
Yuna looked puzzled.
Hidan seemed to think for a moment.
“…No, well… it’s nothing. I just… how should I put it. Never mind.”
In the end, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
“Huh? Why did you stop in the middle?”
“…You’ll understand once you attend the meeting yourself.”
Remembering the meetings he had seen, Hidan decided to preserve Yuna’s illusion for just a little longer.
####
Exactly half a year had passed since Alon stopped Duke Komalon.
By this point, Alon’s mana intoxication had improved greatly.
He had recovered enough that he could use magic again the way he used to.
Even so, although he should have been able to start moving toward the border by now, he was still staying put.
More accurately, he could not move.
“Then I look forward to working with you from here on.”
“The same goes for me.”
“No, sir. Ah, and this is a gift.”
“…A gift?”
“Yes. It is a figurine carved by a craftsman from Pombasi territory.”
“…I will accept it.”
The reason was the flood of people that had recently begun pouring in on the marquis.
Alon let out a small sigh as he watched the head of the Sound Oil Merchant Company leave with his waist bent at a right angle, leaving behind a finely carved cat statue.
“Evan.”
“Yes.”
“How many are left now?”
“Congratulations, my lord. After this, your schedule is completely empty.”
“That is fortunate.”
Alon nodded a couple of times and leaned back in his chair.
A month after he told Duke Zenonia that he would not refuse help, Alon had effectively pushed the auction house business to the verge of success.
Of course, success was not a word that should be used carelessly.
Business could go well right up until the moment it crashed into something unexpected and shattered.
Having passed through more than a few miserable startup companies in his previous world, Alon knew that better than anyone.
That was also why he was endlessly conservative when it came to business.
Even so, even Alon had begun to think that at this point they would not only recover their principal but also settle the business successfully.
They had gained too much over the course of roughly one month for it to collapse easily.
…Though most of it had not been something Alon wrested away himself.
It had come to him on its own.
“My lord, the business really is a success.”
“Does it look that way?”
“Yes. Five domains say they’re consigning their finest specialties here for auction. At this point the merchant companies are guaranteed to come. We’ve also signed a lot of agreements.”
“Still, all we have done is succeed in attracting them.”
“Hmm. Even so, the conditions have effectively been assembled already. I would say the territory lacks nothing to rise as a tourism and trade domain.”
Alon nodded at Evan’s words.
He thought much the same.
That was why, while checking the documents once more, he suddenly voiced a question that had risen in his mind.
“Evan.”
“What is it, my lord?”
“I was too busy to think about it until now, but why have so many merchant heads and nearby territories crowded in to this extent?”
Alon knew that Duke Zenonia had exerted some kind of influence.
But even so, was it not strange for nobles and merchant companies to come here of their own accord in such numbers?
“…My lord.”
“What is it?”
“I often think this, but I believe you underestimate yourself more than you realize.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. Most of those nobles clearly came because they want to build a connection with you. A few of them are even from the aristocratic faction or the royalist faction.”
Only then did Alon let out a low sound of realization.
“…So it is a bribe to make me look on them favorably, something like that?”
“Probably. It might even be a subtle signal that they want to join Kalpa.”
“…I see.”
“Surely you had realized that, hadn’t you?”
“…Hmm.”
It was less that he had not known and more that he had simply not been thinking in that direction.
When Alon deliberately did not answer, Evan made a curious face.
“We have spent a long time together, but every now and then, I still find you strange, my lord.”
“What about me?”
“…It always feels as though you are clearly doing something, and yet at the same time as though you are doing nothing at all.”
“I am working right now, am I not?”
“…Not that. How should I put it? You do not seem to pay much attention to things around you… no, that is not quite right either…”
Evan hesitated over how to explain it, then suddenly widened his eyes as if something else had occurred to him.
“I was just about to tell you, actually. A letter came from Rine.”
“A letter?”
“Yes. It looks like a reply to the one you sent before.”
“Come to think of it…”
A month earlier, he had contacted Rine about the dragon egg.
Originally he had planned to wait until his mana was fully restored, go in person, and ask her directly.
But recent changes in the dragon egg had forced him to send a letter first.
“Here it is.”
The topic changed in an instant.
Alon accepted the letter Evan handed him and glanced at the egg.
It had grown slightly larger than before.
And starting last month, it had stopped absorbing Alon’s mana.
That was why he had sent the letter.
He unfolded it and began to read.
The opening was a light exchange of greetings.
The middle section described what she had been doing lately.
After that came news of current events in Lartania.
“Hmm…”
The next page was similar.
And the page after that as well.
“…?”
Only then did Alon look at the total number of pages.
“…Twelve pages?”
“Wow, that’s a lot. I did think the envelope looked a little thick.”
It was a full twelve sheets of letter paper.
A slight sense of guilt rose in Alon’s heart.
I think I barely managed to fill even one page.
…Since he had planned to visit her anyway, he decided to buy her a small gift when he went.
In any case, Alon kept reading.
Only after turning about five pages did he finally find the section about the dragon egg.
And after reading the whole letter…
This might be dangerous.
He looked at the egg.
There was a lot of explanation in the letter, but it could be reduced to about three main points.
First.
Information on dragon eggs was extremely limited.
Second.
Even within that limited information, a dragon egg was exactly what the name suggested, an egg containing a sleeping dragon, and according to ancient records, under certain conditions it could possess power comparable to that of a true dragon.
Third.
However, if it was exposed to human blood while still in the egg and its consciousness was still developing, it absolutely had to be thrown into the sea outside the continent called Pamilon and destroyed.
The reason was simple.
A dragon exposed to blood would be born far stronger than a normal one, but the chance of it becoming maddened by that power and turning extremely violent was overwhelmingly high.
There was also a way to tell.
Eye color.
If the newborn dragon’s eyes were not blue but red, it was already insane.
Alon looked back and forth between the letter and the egg.
Then this really is dangerous, isn’t it?
The reason he had continued supplying mana to the egg until now was because he believed it had never absorbed blood.
In fact, the egg had been quite far from the mage’s corpse.
But if the ritual itself was not allowed to contain blood at all, then the story changed.
As Alon remembered it, the egg in his possession had been exposed to the blood of a mage who died during the ritual Theon conducted.
That was why…
“…Hmm.”
Unlike his expressionless face, his thoughts had grown somewhat grave as he looked at the egg.
Should I throw it away?
He began to think seriously about it.
####
That night.
By the time Alon fell asleep without making a decision about the egg…
Crack.
A faint vibration began to run through the egg that had not moved at all until then.
Its shell started to split.
More precisely, it was not simply breaking.
The black fragments that fell away turned into black slime and were drawn back into the black egg.
It was not ordinary hatching.
It was as if the egg as a whole were changing form.
Then, with a thick grinding sound, what emerged was…
[—–!]
A monster with glowing red eyes and saliva dripping from its mouth.
In keeping with the name dragon egg, it possessed something of a draconic shape.
But its appearance was far too ugly and grotesque to be called a dragon.
The black thing moved as if it had no true body, like fog.
Its shape changed repeatedly.
Even its vaguely dragon-like head did the same.
Pop.
Dozens of eyes were stuck all over the top of that black head.
After sweeping its surroundings with those ominous eyes, it climbed down from its place.
At the same time, a destructive instinct began surging through its mind.
Unlike an ordinary dragon, this creature could grow stronger still by absorbing the blood and flesh of its enemies.
Its name was the Death Shadow Dragon.
Although it had only just been born, its mental state already yearned for destruction and slaughter.
Even so, despite the endless urge to destroy that overflowed through its mind, it restrained that impulse and moved instead.
Toward Alon.
Because no matter what its blood-tainted state might be, the essence of a dragon remained the same.
A dragon was, to some degree, bound by the one who had poured mana into it.
That was why, before it grew larger, it intended to kill Alon, the one who could become a hindrance.
There was no other reason for it to seek him out.
The Death Shadow Dragon approached its sleeping target at once and opened its mouth.
Craack.
Its jaws widened into something impossible for a body no larger than a big dog.
The mouth expanded until it seemed large enough to swallow the whole room.
Its range engulfed the place where Alon lay.
And just as those enormous jaws were about to close…
They stopped.
As if time itself had halted.
At the same moment…
The Death Shadow Dragon shut the mouth it had opened and began trembling violently in place.
The reason was simple.
An eye.
A black eye that was watching the Death Shadow Dragon as it opened its maw toward Alon.