I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 142 - Inquiry (2)

Chapter 142 – Inquiry (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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After thinking it over for a full day, Alon decided to return to the marquisate first.

In any case, even if he stopped by the marquisate, he could still visit Lartania later on the way to Colony.

“Are you leaving, Teacher?”

“I am.”

The moment he finished preparing to depart, Yutia appeared as if she had been waiting.

Alon answered lightly.

Then he asked in return,

“The Holy Kingdom is not leaving yet?”

“No. Even though that monstrosity has been dealt with, it seems the collapsed wall still needs additional measures.”

Alon nodded while looking at the temporarily repaired wall visible behind her.

Then…

“Ah, Teacher.”

“What is it?”

“Would it be possible for you to give me the item you brought out last time?”

“…By the item I brought out, you mean…”

“The one you took from inside Rikrakkamur. Could I have it?”

Alon paused for a moment at Yutia’s request.

“…I can hand it over, but what do you intend to use it for?”

“I want to purify it.”

“Purify it?”

“Yes. It came from inside a monstrosity. Even if it looks harmless on the outside, I think it would be best if it went through a purification rite inside a cathedral.”

Yutia thought for a moment, then added,

“If you do not particularly want to do that now, you do not have to. But later, you must visit the Holy Kingdom and undergo a purification rite. Objects like this can be dangerous even when they look harmless.”

“Things like that can affect the owner’s state of mind, after all.”

She raised one finger like a teacher giving a lesson.

Seeing that, Alon realized why she wanted the relic and felt a small sense of relief.

Whoever else might ask for it, he at least knew something others did not.

Originally, she had been fated to become one of the Five Great Sins in the future.

Though in truth, there was no real need to tense up over it.

A cast-off relic of the Five Great Sins only displayed its full ability while it remained inside the body of the monstrosity guarding it.

In other words, the moment Alon removed it from Rikrakkamur’s body, it had already lost its value as a relic.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“Take that out for me.”

Evan immediately climbed into the carriage and began searching through something.

“Ah, my lord? It is this one, but… the color has changed since last time.”

“Was it not already changing little by little?”

“Even so, was it ever this dark?”

Soon Evan handed him something.

It was the relic, no longer red but stained black.

Alon recalled an old scene from the game.

The Sin of Pride raging wildly when the player managed to seize a relic from a monstrosity before the sin itself reached it.

It really does look as though it has completely lost its power.

After staring at the discolored relic for a moment, Alon passed it to Yutia.

“Here it is.”

“Thank you, Teacher. I will take it to the Holy Kingdom, carry out the purification rite, and return it to you immediately afterward.”

“If you would do that, I would appreciate it.”

“It is no trouble at all.”

Yutia smiled brightly.

And then…

“…My lord.”

“Yes, Saint Yuman.”

“I will protect you.”

“…Pardon?”

At some point Yuman had drawn near as well.

Nodding firmly, with the face of someone who had received a divine calling, he made the declaration.

Alon quietly stepped back once without making it obvious.

The concern is appreciated, but…

This is starting to feel burdensome.

Thinking that, he hurriedly left.

####

About a week after leaving the border…

“My victory, snake-head.”

[You bastard. You used tricks.]

“What tricks? Your head is just worse than mine.”

On a somewhat chilly evening, Alon and the others had gathered around a campfire they had lit for the night.

Alon cooled a hot sweet potato and pushed it into his mouth while watching Evan and the little serpent, who by now had gotten into the habit of finding a new game and competing at it every night.

Then he lifted his gaze.

“…”

And stared blankly at the stars.

Do they look beautiful to you?

The Observer’s voice echoed in his ears.

For some reason, lately, whenever he looked at the stars, her words naturally surfaced in his thoughts.

Chew.

But he ended the recollection quickly by pushing the rest of the sweet potato into his mouth.

Then he thought about what he had to do next.

The Time Gates… Elivan will handle them somehow, so I probably do not need to worry about that. The first thing I need to do now is deal with the other monstrosities carrying relics, and strengthen my magic for that.

He recalled what the Gold Dragon Rainisius had told him.

More precisely, what Rainisius had said about magic before Alon left that place after receiving his proposal.

Unfortunately, I do not know the mages’ magic in detail. The one thing I do know is that their magecraft… what did he call it? The Six Realms? In any case, it is based on language.

And if there is one other thing I know that might help with a mage’s magic, it is this.

Hand seals.

I do not know what principle they operate on. But I once heard my old friend speak of strengthening magic through the layering of seals. I did not listen very carefully, so I do not remember it well, but he said that if you understand the seals you use in detail, it becomes possible to overlap their effects and properties.

That is about all I know.

That was how the Golden Dragon had finished his explanation.

Hand seals…

In truth, after dealing with Rikrakkamur, Alon had started to think that he needed to study magic more deeply.

Up through Rikrakkamur, he had been able to make plans using the various gimmicks he remembered from the game.

But among the other monstrosities, there were many that had no such gimmicks.

In other words, from here on there would be many more cases where he could not secure overwhelming advantage the way he had this time by using prior knowledge.

That was why Alon needed to do more than rely only on self-manifestation.

He had to study magic itself more deeply and prepare spells that would allow him to handle more situations.

And the first task in that process was hand seals.

He had never properly touched that area before.

While he was thinking that over…

“My lord.”

“Hm?”

Evan handed him another sweet potato.

Apparently the bickering disguised as play with Basiliora had already ended, because he looked thoroughly refreshed.

“Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

[Give me one too.]

“There is no food for losers.”

[Stop spouting nonsense, human. There is no way I, this body, could lose to a human.]

Basiliora rolled around on the ground crying out like it was performing breakdance.

“So.”

“Yes?”

“What was the game this time?”

Seeing it this upset, Alon calmly bit into an ear of corn and asked Evan.

“Marbles.”

“…Marbles?”

“Yes.”

“…The kind where you flick marbles and take the other side’s?”

“Exactly.”

Alon looked down at Basiliora.

[I. This body. Lost to a human. To a human.]

Just because it lost one game of marbles?

That reaction?

For the first time, Alon felt as though he finally understood why Evan and Basiliora could enjoy these games so intensely.

Then, absentmindedly, Alon tried to push another piece of sweet potato into his mouth.

[Squeak?]

At some point Kkamangi had climbed onto his shoulder.

Without thinking, Alon held out the sweet potato he had been eating.

Munch munch.

As if it had been waiting, Kkamangi took a bite.

Watching it make a cute smile with its eyes because it apparently found it delicious, Alon thought to himself,

It no longer grows a mouth from its belly the way it did before.

The last time a mouth suddenly appeared from its belly, it had startled him quite a bit.

[Argh. Ah, wait. Wait, wait. Stop. Ah, stop already.]

Apparently Basiliora’s nonstop screaming had started to annoy Kkamangi, because before long it began tapping Basiliora a few times with its forepaw.

[How miserable. Miserable indeed…]

Basiliora shriveled up.

Before long, the day had fully turned to night.

…It was a cool night.

And after several weeks passed like that…

Alon returned to House Palladio for the first time in nearly two months.

The marquisate seemed to have changed quite a bit during that time.

Accordingly, Alon had a tremendous amount of work piled up.

He had even heard that Radan had stopped by.

But he could not hear any of those reports in detail.

No, he could not hear them at all.

Because…

“I am so sorry.”

Bang.

The moment he arrived at the marquisate, he was forced to face Penia pounding her head against the floor while kneeling before him.

####

Inside the office, where documents were piled up as high as they could go, Alon found himself in an odd mood.

Penia Craisinne sat in front of him, visibly unable to settle.

As though she had really committed a terrible offense, she could not keep her eyes still, and even her body kept twisting this way and that.

“…Did you come alone?”

“N, no… that is… with my younger sibling…”

As her voice trailed off, her head lowered with it.

Watching her move like a broken toy robot, Alon chose to speak first.

“…For now, I would like to hear what exactly you did wrong.”

“Ah. That, well, um…”

Penia carefully looked up at Alon.

But she could not hold eye contact properly and soon lowered her head again.

For some reason, Alon felt as though he had become one of the school delinquents he used to see in his student days.

…No matter how he looked at it, Penia resembled the victim here.

Just as he began to feel oddly wronged…

“So, what happened was…”

Penia began stammering through the explanation.

After listening to her for a while, Alon said,

“…I see.”

Now he understood why she had been prostrating herself like this.

“So if I summarize your story, Heinkel believed that you and I were in that kind of relationship, and said that if you only asked, he would teach you magic. So you deliberately acted as if we were in that sort of relationship at the tower… something like that?”

“That… yes. He kept wandering around in spirit form, so…”

“And you did learn the magic, but since it was only a matter of time until it was exposed anyway, you came to confess.”

“Th, that is right…”

Penia nodded repeatedly while watching his expression.

So that is why it happened.

Only now did Alon understand why the rumor had not died down easily.

And while looking at Penia fidgeting like this, he began to think.

Then what should I do about this now?

To be honest, he did not particularly want to do anything to Penia.

It had been annoying, yes, but it had not actually caused him any real harm.

As he was considering it, he seemed to think of something.

A small smile appeared in his mind, and he spoke.

“All right. Then let us do this.”

“Pardon?”

“Your goal is to learn magic from Heinkel, correct?”

“I, I mean, if I do not learn it, that is fine too, but if I do, I think I would be very happy and delighted and pleased… yes…”

Penia trailed off weakly.

Alon leaned back against his chair and made a proposal.

“Then how about this? There is no need to continue maintaining such an uncomfortable rumor. I will go meet Heinkel in person instead. Would that not be easier for both sides?”

“Ah? Really?”

“Yes.”

Penia’s eyes widened in genuine surprise.

It was such an innocent, sparkling expression that it was hard to believe it came from the same broken personality she normally had.

Then…

“Yes, yes, if you would do that, I would be very happy. The rumor is a little uncomfortable after all.”

She nodded eagerly, clearly thrilled.

“…”

That made Alon feel odd.

The rumor had indeed been uncomfortable.

But seeing her that delighted somehow made him feel as if there were something wrong with him, and that did not leave a good taste in his mouth.

“However, I have a request on my side as well.”

After gathering his feelings, he finally moved to the real point.

“Wh, what kind of request would that be?”

At Penia’s question, Alon smiled and stated his objective.

“I would like some help with magical research.”

“Magical research?”

“Yes. It may be a somewhat unfamiliar area, but would that be possible?”

The timing happened to be perfect.

It will be a great help to the research.

Penia Craisinne was a broken personality.

Even so, her magical skill was absolutely real.

And even at this point, she was surely climbing steadily from the seventh circle toward the eighth.

“If it is truly only something like that… then I will do it.”

Penia agreed with equal intensity.

Both of them thought they had reached a satisfying outcome.

But Penia did not yet know.

What awaited her next, under the name of research, was labor in the Abyss.

She realized that only one week later.

####

At that time, Hidan had come to Deus’s estate in Caliburn to deliver information related to the current Time Gate incident.

But the topic he opened with was not that.

No, it could not have been.

The reason was simple.

“…Purple Moon.”

“Hm. What is it?”

“That…”

He was looking at the huge statue standing in the middle of Deus’s garden outside the window.

And not just any statue.

One similar to the one in Merkillan territory.

No, in truth, practically identical.

When Hidan looked at Deus, Deus wore a completely serious expression as he began.

“So, you see.”

“Yes.”

“I went to Merkillan territory and met Filian.”

“Yes.”

“He was a very good friend. We talked about him for a very long time. Nearly three days straight, in fact.”

“I see.”

“Yes.”

“…And that discussion is connected to that statue?”

At Hidan’s sharp question, Deus shifted his eyes slightly.

“…Filian said he would give me the statue as a gift.”

“You bought it rather than receiving it as a gift, did you not?”

“…Simply taking it for free would have been a little questionable.”

“…Considering that, I have heard you spent a great deal of money on it.”

“Th, that…”

Deus fumbled for a while before finally speaking.

“…It was to secure plausibility.”

“Plausibility?”

“…Yutia said plausibility was necessary. In order to establish some kind of territorial alliance with Merkillan territory…”

“You do not possess a territory.”

With that single line from Hidan, Deus’s plausibility, or rather his logic, was destroyed completely.

“In any case, that is how it is.”

“…I see. So it is that kind of thing.”

“Yes.”

Hidan thought to himself,

Ah. So this is nonsense.

“…I will report this to Crimson Moon.”

At that…

“Would it be possible not to report it?”

“It will leak out soon enough anyway.”

“If you report it, I get three months. If you do not, I get half a year.”

Watching Deus wear the expression of a child who wanted to keep a cherished toy for just three months longer…

Hidan quietly closed his mouth.