I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 134 - Border Zone (2)
Chapter 134 – Border Zone (2)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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About twenty minutes later, Alon was able to enter beyond the border zone with two guarantors attached to his name.
…It was the first time such a thing had happened since the border had been established.
In any case, after entering the border zone safely and facing the wasteland, Alon saw a strange sight.
It was the sheer number of monster corpses visible on the outer wall.
Of course, the sight itself was not necessarily strange.
The wall existed to prepare for monsters and for any possible incursion from the Empire.
Even so, the reason it still felt odd was that this was the wasteland.
There were monsters in the wasteland, yes, but for them to gather and rush in in numbers like this was unusual.
The number of corpses clearly exceeded several hundred.
It looked as if there might even be several thousand.
On top of that, soldiers on one side were clearing away the corpses in real time.
“My lord.”
At the voice, Alon turned his head.
Kiryana, who was responsible for defending the border, was approaching him.
“I was indebted to you before.”
“…Before?”
“Yes. In the north. If you had not dealt with the Outer God then, I likely would not still be alive here now.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Alon understand what she meant and nod.
“It was nothing. I only did what I had to do.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“You are a remarkably righteous man.”
That was Kiryana’s impression.
Alon paused for a moment.
He could roughly understand why she said it.
He had only gone because he knew things would become difficult if the Outer God descended properly.
But Kiryana had no way of knowing that.
To her, Alon would naturally look like a man who had deliberately gone all the way to the north and dealt with an Outer God to prevent casualties.
Since he had no particularly suitable reply, he ended it with a short, “It was nothing,” and changed the subject.
“By the way, may I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“There are a great many monster corpses here. Has there been a recent attack?”
Kiryana tilted her head.
“Yes. But… did you not know?”
“I did not.”
“Ah. Since you came with those two, I assumed you already knew the circumstances.”
Then she briefly explained the current state of the border.
“…A monster wave?”
“Yes. Every few days, and it has continued for well over two months now. At first it was only a few dozen. Recently the numbers have been growing larger and larger. That is why we brought those two here to repair the gate.”
Only then did Alon begin to understand the situation as a whole.
So that was what they meant by the gate.
He had heard from Yuman the day before why they had come, but Alon did not actually know what this gate was.
Psychedelia had never shown it in the first place.
Naturally, no quest had ever existed in which monsters poured toward the border like this.
The original story had never mentioned such an incident either.
Was this just something that happened before the original story and I never knew about it? Or did something get twisted and create this?
That was when…
“So, Saint Yuman, you should repair the gate. I will stay by Teacher’s side.”
“Cardinal Yutia, should not repairing the gate be the Cardinal’s responsibility?”
“How could that be? Should not the one with purer holy power do it?”
At some point Yutia and Yuman had approached from behind while talking.
Both of them were smiling with their mouths.
Neither was smiling with their eyes.
They really do not get along.
Alon looked at them for a moment and then turned back to Kiryana.
“Then the monsters…”
But Kiryana had already left her spot.
“Then I wish you a safe trip…”
She had already reached the entrance to the border and was giving him a light nod with a relaxed smile, while her aide beside her looked half dead from dealing with Yutia and Yuman.
At that moment, Alon understood.
She did not come here to thank me. She dumped the situation on us and ran.
Quick, he thought.
Just then…
“Cardinal, it would be enough if you simply acted as you normally do. Brother is not someone who would fail to understand that.”
“What exactly do you mean by that?”
“Were you not silent when Brother was being slandered in the kingdom?”
“…As I already said, I had finished making preparations by then.”
“Even so, were you not ultimately absent at the time? You know this as well, Cardinal. Help has its proper time and place.”
Alon realized one thing.
The gently smiling Yuman was even better at provoking people than he had expected.
Yutia’s smile had already stiffened.
Watching that, Alon quietly broke out in a cold sweat.
####
Immediately after that.
Not long after setting out toward the border, Alon separated from Yutia’s and Yuman’s group.
That had been possible only because they allowed it.
As soon as the Allied Army disappeared from view behind the wasteland, Yutia, as though she had anticipated this from the beginning, hinted that he could move separately if he wished.
Strangely enough, Yuman also sent him off with a kind smile and the words, “You must have something you need to do.”
That was how Alon ended up able to move on his own.
“My lord.”
“What is it?”
“When exactly did you become that close to Saint Yuman?”
“I do not know either.”
“…Really?”
“Would I lie?”
If anything, Alon himself understood it the least.
Why exactly was Yuman being so kind?
What kind of misunderstanding was he under?
He only mulled over it briefly.
“…For now, let us go down.”
“Yes.”
Recalling Duke Komalon’s words, Alon started walking south along the border.
####
By the time quite a bit of time had passed after Alon and Evan headed south, the sun had already risen high into the sky.
As he drew close to the place Duke Komalon had told him about, thoughts he had kept pushed down until now began creeping back out.
How much of the duke’s story had been true?
What exactly was waiting in the south?
What kind of place was this, when it had never appeared even once in Psychedelia?
And finally, what of the Five Great Sins?
Various thoughts and emotions rose one after another.
After walking south for a long while, Alon suddenly realized something.
He only told me to go south. He never said how far south.
This border was extremely long from north to south.
Even if the portion connecting the borders was short, it was still a border, and the wasteland spread between them was immense.
He let out a breath and had only just begun wondering how much farther he would have to go when…
[How curious. A mage?]
A voice suddenly spoke inside his head.
It was a clear male voice.
Before Alon could answer…
[If someone has come to a place no one else ever visits, then there is a high chance you came seeking me. I was bored, so this works well. Shall we talk for a moment?]
The voice in his mind said that, and then…
Hummmm.
A magic circle formed beneath Alon’s feet.
“!”
It happened without warning.
But before Alon could react, the magic circle that had activated swallowed him with terrifying speed.
And in the wasteland…
“…My lord?”
…only Evan remained, left behind by himself, staring at the ground where Alon had vanished.
The first thing Alon saw after being summoned by the magic circle was an enormous cavern, so vast that it was unsettling.
And the next thing he saw was…
“!”
A golden eye.
A giant golden eye, large enough to exceed Alon’s height with ease, though its light had faded and gone dull.
Alon stared blankly at that vertical reptilian pupil.
Then he slowly shifted his gaze and saw the rest.
Golden scales.
Yet their brilliance had faded, leaving them looking more brown and dim than radiant.
And wedged between the scales of that colossal body were three gigantic black spears.
The moment he took all of that in, Alon understood what the being before him was.
[Yes. Why have you come to find me, I who am the Golden Dragon Rainisius?]
The high dragon who survived in Psychedelia only as a legend, said to have fought against the Five Great Sins.
The being quietly looked down at Alon.
####
Filian Merkillan had recently, after things began to settle down, officially handed over the position of successor to his younger brother Gillan.
To begin with, he had never intended to inherit the seat.
Freed from that burden, he devoted himself to swordsmanship and magical training.
He spent entire days on practice, and he was enjoying his current life tremendously.
Swordsmanship had always been what he did best.
As for magic, he did not possess overwhelming talent in it, but even so, he enjoyed learning it.
Every time he learned even a little more, it felt as though he had taken one step closer to the person he admired.
That day as well, after training magic as usual until afternoon, Filian headed for the center of town.
The reason was simple.
He wanted to look at the statue of Marquis Palladio standing in the middle of the town.
Of course, like the other nobles, even his younger brother had failed to understand why the statue needed to be built.
Filian, however, had no regrets.
No, he was deeply satisfied with what he had done.
To him, Alon had already become the very image of admiration itself.
That was why Filian, who visited the statue every day, suddenly stopped.
“…Hm?”
“?”
He had run into someone entirely unexpected.
Deus Macalian, whom he had seen at the allied summit before.
He was standing still, looking up at the statue of Marquis Palladio.
Why on earth is he here?
Filian barely had time to wonder before he instinctively shrank back.
No matter how easygoing he might be by nature, the trauma from the summit was still vivid.
As he stood there unable to do anything one way or the other…
“…It has been a while.”
“It has. Sir Deus.”
Filian returned the greeting in a slightly dazed tone.
Even someone as catastrophically poor at socializing as Filian knew one fact.
Deus Macalian disliked him.
“…I heard you were the one who suggested building this statue. Is that true?”
“Yes? Ah, yes, it is.”
Filian nodded as if half entranced.
“Why did you suggest putting up a statue?”
He hesitated for a moment, then answered awkwardly.
“Because the marquis saved the territory.”
“Only that?”
“No, not only that. How should I put it… it is a little embarrassing to say this as an adult, but when I saw him save the territory, I came to admire him.”
He let out an awkward laugh and continued.
“So I was the one who proposed it.”
“I see. So you came to admire him.”
“Embarrassing as it is, yes.”
“No. That is not something to be embarrassed about.”
“…Pardon?”
At some point Deus had moved closer and placed a hand on Filian’s shoulder.
“That is exactly right. The marquis is a man one could admire without ever reaching the limit of admiration. Is he not?”
He asked the question with a faint smile.
And the moment Filian realized that the feeling he had thought too embarrassing to say out loud was being understood, his heart melted at once.
“Exactly…”
“Yes. Speaking of the marquis, what happened in the north comes to mind all over again.”
As though following a perfectly prepared course, Deus naturally brought up the north.
“Oh…”
Filian’s eyes shone more brightly than ever as he began listening to Deus’s story with full attention.
And so, about five hours later…
“…Kulan.”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
“…Where is my brother?”
“He is in the central square.”
“…Still there?”
“Yes. As I reported earlier, he is still talking with Caliburn’s First Sword.”
“…Did you not say five hours ago that they were talking then too?”
“…They still are.”
“Why did you not call them in for dinner?”
“Well…”
“Well?”
“…Both Lord Filian and the First Sword looked as though they were enjoying the conversation so much that I simply could not interrupt them. If anything, they seemed to grow more excited as time passed.”
After hearing Kulan’s report, Gillan found himself both dumbfounded and curious.
What in the world are they even talking about?
And then…
“Even so, they must eat dinner, so bring both of them in.”
“Understood.”
Just as curiosity kills the cat, Gillan made a foolish decision.
I want to know.
An extremely foolish decision.