I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 147 - Toward Colony (4)
Chapter 147 – Toward Colony (4)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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Kaslot, a territory of the Principality of Luxible.
“Hah. It is just the same as ever.”
One of Caliburn’s Five Swords, Reinhardt, muttered that as he looked over the still-bustling streets of Kaslot.
At once…
“Captain, you need to keep moving.”
“Yeah, yeah. All right.”
A woman nearly two heads shorter than Reinhardt, Elise, vice-captain of Reinhardt’s knight order, Siolan, answered in a cold tone.
“And do not run off again, just in case.”
“I already told you I am not going to run.”
“You said that last time too, and then you ran.”
“That was because of circumstances…”
“In any case, absolutely not this time.”
Though small in stature, she gave off an oppressive presence while firing her words at him in rapid succession.
Reinhardt scratched his head and muttered back,
“Do not worry. No matter how much of a wreck I am, I am not going to come here as part of Caliburn’s diplomatic mission and pull something like that.”
“It is a relief that at least a minimum amount of common sense remains.”
“…What exactly do you think I am?”
“If you run again, I will ask the commander of the Eclipse Knight Order to handle you.”
At those words, Reinhardt’s face twisted immediately.
“That is going too far, is it not?”
“Judging from your reaction, it seems like the correct choice.”
“Haah…”
A heavy sigh escaped him.
Even thinking about that man made his head spin.
“You know it too. Staying around that bastard drives a person insane.”
“…Hmm.”
“Mention a mage and he starts talking about Marquis Palladio. Mention magic and he starts talking about Marquis Palladio. Mention magical tools and he starts talking about Marquis Palladio. Even if all you say is ma, he somehow summons the marquis into the conversation and then spends the next hour praising him.”
“Close your mouth.”
“That is exactly why I am more irritated. That bastard has become even more absurdly strong, to the point that even sparring with him properly is difficult now.”
Reinhardt beat his chest as if he were about to explode from frustration.
Elise watched him for a moment.
Then she nodded.
“It is true. I was surprised when he suddenly began praising Marquis Palladio while we were only talking about a statue.”
“Exactly. I felt like I was going mad myself.”
“That is precisely why I am bringing you. If I put it that way, then you definitely will not run.”
“…You are really too much.”
“In any case, hurry up and come along.”
Elise turned her small body and started walking quickly toward the royal castle.
Looking at her retreating figure, Reinhardt could only shake his head and follow.
“Still, it really is strange. I never expected the king to deal with those masses of corruption and rebuild royal authority.”
“I thought the same. I assumed he was nothing but an empty shell full of ideals. But according to what I heard, he made a deal.”
“A deal?”
“Yes. Thanks to that, Luxible no longer serves the Holy Kingdom Rosaria as its state religion. It now serves a different god.”
A different god.
That made Reinhardt frown.
“…I do not personally pray to gods either, but can a state really change its religion that freely?”
“Rosaria has little interest in Luxible anyway, so it probably does not matter. They will dislike it, though.”
“So what god are they serving now?”
At Reinhardt’s question, Elise fell silent for a moment before answering.
“I believe the name was Kalanon, the Lightning Receiver.”
“The Lightning Receiver Kalanon?”
“Yes. Ah, there it is over there. That statue.”
They were already passing the plaza.
Elise pointed toward the center.
Following her hand, Reinhardt turned his gaze.
There stood a giant statue.
“Huh?”
To Reinhardt, it looked a little familiar.
“That is the god they worship now, apparently.”
“…That is the Lightning Receiver Kalanon?”
“Yes. That is what I heard.”
“…”
Reinhardt stopped walking and stared blankly at the statue.
It was shaped like a man in a dark coat, holding lightning in one hand.
The face itself had not been depicted.
And yet, despite the fact that the face was incomplete…
Reinhardt could not help but think of someone.
No, more than think of him.
If one ignored the missing face, then it was simply that person.
Marquis Palladio.
And the kind of person who would do something like this would be…
“…Elise.”
“What is it?”
“Was the one who made the deal with the Principality of Luxible Deus Macalian?”
It could only have been that man…
“No? Of course not.”
Huh? Not him?
“Then why are you suddenly asking that?”
Ignoring Elise’s puzzled question, Reinhardt could only stare at the statue for a while with an odd expression.
What in the world is this?
####
At that same time…
“The Principality of Luxible changed its state religion?”
“Yes. I heard it changed to the Lightning Receiver Kalanon.”
“…Can a state really change its religion that freely?”
“I do not know the details either, but apparently that is what happened.”
On the first night after reaching the desert and beginning the crossing with a merchant caravan as usual, Alon heard that piece of news from Evan.
“…Still, I have never even heard of a god named the Lightning Receiver Kalanon. What sort of god is it?”
“It is the first time I have heard the name too.”
[Hmm. I believe I may have heard it before.]
“You?”
At Alon’s question, the little serpent nodded.
[Of course, I think I heard it a very long time ago, so I do not remember well. Even so, it is not a completely unfamiliar name.]
“Then that means you do not know after all. Typical snake-head.”
Evan seized the chance and immediately needled Basiliora.
At that…
[You human, you truly are fearless.]
“You are still just a snake.”
[I am a god.]
“Then why can you not beat me?”
[Th, that was only because my luck was terribly bad yesterday.]
Just like that, the subject naturally slid into the strange board game they had played the day before, and the two of them quickly began raising their voices again.
There really are no quiet days lately.
Alon shrugged to himself.
Things had been too quiet in the past.
And compared to that, this kind of noisy absurdity had a little more human warmth to it.
Then…
“Godfather.”
“Hm?”
“I think the Lightning Receiver Kalanon is the native god of the Thunder Serpent tribe.”
“The Thunder Serpent tribe’s?”
“Yes.”
Rine, who was riding in the carriage with them, offered a new piece of information.
“…Then does that mean the Principality of Luxible has come to worship the native god of the Thunder Serpent tribe?”
“Hmm. If we go only by what we have heard, then it would seem so.”
“…That is strange.”
Alon’s expression grew a little odd.
“If you are curious, Godfather, I can look into it in more detail.”
After a brief moment of thought, Alon shook his head.
“No. There is no need to go that far.”
Whatever exact circumstances led Luxible to worship Kalanon, it was not especially important to him.
####
A little later, Rine handed something over.
“Please eat.”
“A sweet potato?”
“Yes. I prepared it in advance, Godfather.”
It was a perfectly roasted sweet potato with only the top part peeled, ready to eat.
“…Thank you.”
“It is nothing.”
Rine smiled, looking pleased.
Alon accepted the sweet potato she handed him.
Outwardly, he remained expressionless.
But inwardly, he felt just the slightest burden.
That was because over the course of the week-long journey, Rine had been taking care of him extremely well.
…Almost excessively well.
From bringing him water to wash with the moment he woke up in the morning, to preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner herself… and whenever there was something he did not know, she appeared instantly to answer it.
That was not all.
If he said he felt hot, she brought out a cooling magic tool.
If sweet potatoes were roasting over the campfire, she somehow brought him one with no burned portion at all.
“…It tastes good.”
“Thank you, Godfather. Hearing praise from you makes me happy.”
Rine smiled again.
And yet, despite the title of Godfather that she used for him…
Alon had the strange feeling that he was being looked after by an older sister.
“Please ask anything of me, Godfather. I will do anything I can to help you.”
“…Thank you.”
“It is nothing. You are my one and only Godfather, after all.”
Alon listened to Rine’s voice, which flowed like music, while chewing the sweet potato.
It was still sweet.
####
A few days later…
While crossing the desert, Alon halted the carriage when he heard an alarmed signal and stepped outside.
“There are a lot of them.”
“There are.”
They had found a bandit group in the desert.
And not a small one either.
“…I suppose a new bandit group formed again?”
“Bandit groups are always something that naturally appear with time.”
“…Even so, that looks bigger than the Bloodsand Bandits.”
Alon cast a glance toward the horizon.
The cloud of sand rising there did not look ordinary.
“…There must be several hundred at least.”
“Seems that way.”
Even if the Bloodsand Bandits are wiped out, it was never realistic to think bandits themselves would disappear from a place like this.
He only had that thought briefly before…
“Why do you not show us, my lord?”
“Ordinarily, should this not be the part where you, the escort, step forward?”
“Come on. How am I supposed to kill all of that by myself?”
“…What is the point of denying your own abilities?”
“Well, I am just that, you know. That.”
Even while thinking What exactly is that supposed to mean, Alon started stepping forward with resignation.
But…
“Godfather. I will deal with them.”
“…You?”
“Yes. Please wait just a moment.”
Rine blocked him and stepped ahead, still wearing her usual smile.
By the time the bandits were close enough to be clearly seen…
She murmured something quietly.
And then…
A giant golden eye appeared above her head like a haloed projection.
Then…
A sharp golden cylinder fired out with a short, intense sound.
That cylinder split into dozens of branches and pierced the charging enemies in an instant.
It took less than a minute.
What remained afterward was a clear horizon where the sand cloud had completely vanished…
And the bandits, all of them impaled on golden rods, turned into something like a grotesque jungle gym.
The merchants and mercenaries who had been tense and expectant just moments earlier were silent in shock.
After calmly retrieving the golden rods, Rine turned back with the same smile she always wore.
“I have dealt with them, Godfather.”
“…Yes. But… that.”
“Yes?”
“…How did you do that?”
Alon, who had witnessed the entire thing together with Evan, asked without thinking.
Of course, he already knew from fighting Kailus beside her that Rine had some combat ability.
But he had not imagined anything like this.
“It is all thanks to the thing you gave me, Godfather.”
“…Something I gave you?”
“Yes.”
“…The Watcher’s Eye?”
“I am still not using it perfectly, so it is a little embarrassing. But I have become somewhat more accustomed to it now, Godfather.”
Alon slowly raised his eyes to the enormous eye floating behind Rine.
That is the Watcher’s Eye?
It looked nothing like what he had expected.
What exactly is that?
A strange fear spread through Alon.
And then, one week later…
At last Alon and his party arrived in Colony.
And the very moment they did…
“Teacher.”
Seollang threw herself at him.
“It has been so long.”
“…It has.”
By the time he managed to answer, Seollang had already wrapped both legs around his waist like a snake and latched onto him.
Then, smiling broadly, she asked,
“You will answer me now, right?”
“…Answer?”
With her face full of happiness…
“It has been two years. Are we getting married now?”
“Ah.”
At Seollang’s utterly pure question, Alon could only let out a tired sound from deep in his chest.