I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 156 - On the Way Back (3)

Chapter 156 – On the Way Back. (3)

===================

Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

===================

In the spirit world.

The dragonkin, which had sealed itself away and remained trapped for centuries that had long since stretched into a thousand years, continued modifying the artifact it meant to give Alon.

And while doing that, it kept thinking about the black thing attached to Alon’s back.

What in the world was it?

When the dragonkin sealed itself away, it had lost most of its power.

The same was true of its name and its abilities.

When it sealed itself, it had cast those things somewhere into this world as well, which only left it weaker still.

Even so, the dragonkin could still see the two eyes behind Alon.

The divinity it had possessed since the age of the forgotten gods made that possible.

A being capable of interfering with the Bronze Mirror.

Unlike the blue thing, the black thing actively interfered whenever the dragonkin tried to put its guesses into words, and it always did so without Alon noticing.

With overwhelming force.

That force made the dragonkin’s skin crawl.

Even though it was in spirit form.

The mere residue of that presence felt as though it could erase the dragonkin itself without effort.

It was a dreadful power unlike anything it had ever felt before.

In truth, even if that thing had not threatened it at all, the dragonkin still would not have been able to infer much.

There simply was not enough to go on.

Even so, it did not feel that the black thing meant to harm the last remaining magus in this world.

No matter how incomprehensible the being was, a certain amount of intent could still be judged from its actions.

No.

If anything, it seemed to be helping him.

In the end the dragonkin let out a long sigh.

Even if it tried to imagine the answer, the information in its possession was still too sparse.

Which was why it could only drift blankly through spirit space and mutter.

What sort of creature was that boy, to walk around with something that monstrous behind him?

####

About two weeks later, as they were just nearing the end of their desert crossing.

Rine spoke first.

She said she would turn back here.

Alon asked whether she was leaving already.

Rine answered yes.

She had finished what she needed to do, and there were now things she had to take care of on her own side.

Alon remarked that she seemed busy.

Rine laughed softly.

Most things were being handled by a reliable secretary, so it was not that she was overwhelmingly busy.

But there were still matters she needed to handle personally.

For example, preparing Godfather’s present.

Alon repeated the words inwardly.

His present.

He felt slightly puzzled, but still answered that he was not asking for anything excessively grand.

That was the truth.

He had felt just a tiny amount of disappointment that no one had remembered his last birthday.

But that was separate from wanting some enormous gift.

What he truly wanted was simply to have the day itself remembered.

Of course, if the present happened to be large, that would be nice too.

Even so.

Rine shook her head and said this was something she personally wanted to give.

A present that would remain in Godfather’s memory.

Alon said that if she felt that strongly, he would not stop her.

But he still told her not to overdo it.

Rine slowly shook her head.

She wanted to build a relationship with him too.

Like Seol Lang.

That made Alon pause.

Why was Seol Lang coming up here?

After considering it for a moment, he answered that to him, both Seol Lang and Rine were essentially family.

Rine asked if that was really so.

Alon answered yes.

And he added that if she was thinking of preparing some large gift because of that, then she did not need to.

Whatever she thought, he truly regarded the two of them equally.

He cared about all of the future Sins as evenly as he could.

Then Rine said there was one thing she wanted in return.

That thing.

When Alon asked what she meant, she explained that she meant the same thing he had done for Seol Lang.

Unlike before, she was asking quite directly now.

Alon hesitated inwardly, but still raised both hands and lightly covered her ears.

Then came a short silence.

At the end of it, Rine smiled and thanked him.

Alon asked whether that satisfied her.

Rine said yes.

Alon answered that if so, that was good.

It was a plain exchange.

Which only made everyone around them more noisy.

Basiliora asked what they were even doing and said it looked completely meaningless.

Maybe, it guessed, some sort of heat control.

Evan immediately mocked the idea and said there was no reason to expect a snake without hands to understand anything.

Basiliora snapped back at once.

Was the human saying he understood, then?

Evan proudly claimed that of course he did.

When Basiliora demanded to know what it meant, Evan answered that he had no idea.

Basiliora stared at him in disbelief.

Had he not just said he knew?

Evan calmly answered that he had lied.

Basiliora’s face clearly said, You bastard.

Watching that comedy as they completely emerged from the desert, Alon let the matter pass.

Not long after that, Rine prepared to leave for real.

She told him she would also come see him on his birthday.

Alon parted ways with her.

After the carriage carrying Alon had gone completely into the distance, Rine turned around.

Then she murmured quietly.

This was not the kind of relationship she wanted with Godfather.

She wanted something deeper than anyone else’s.

Her green eyes gave off a faint glow.

More than anyone else’s.

Then she quietly walked away.

####

About two weeks later, Alon arrived back at House Palladio’s territory.

The instant he saw the territory again, he could not help being startled.

He had been gone barely a month.

And yet the Marquisate looked larger and grander than before.

Evan also stared and remarked that it had changed incredibly fast for a single month.

Was that because of magical construction?

Alon repeated the phrase.

Evan explained that, according to what he had heard, if one had enough money, mages could be employed to raise structures extremely quickly.

Only then did Alon understand how the territory could have changed so drastically in such a short time.

When he entered the house, however, what greeted him was not grandeur.

It was Penia.

And Penia looked as though she had been wrung dry.

When Alon asked if she was all right, she replied in a weak voice that she might be.

Or she might not be.

She looked like someone who had been chewed up and spit out.

So Alon asked whether something had happened.

Penia gave a self-mocking smile.

Then she began to say that a great many things had happened.

Only to abruptly catch herself and insist that absolutely nothing had happened.

Truly nothing.

The more she talked, the flatter and slower her voice became.

For a moment Alon found it all rather strange.

Then he understood the source of her condition.

The research journal.

When he saw its thickness, he asked if she had done all of that.

Penia stared back with resentment and asked if that was not what he told her to do.

Alon looked down at the stack.

It was thick enough to pass for a legal reference book.

Then he clarified that what he had asked for was only a first-order organization.

Penia stared blankly.

Alon continued, saying he had explicitly asked only for the direct mana-arrangement sums according to the sigils.

Penia answered that she assumed the methods of combination were naturally included in that.

Alon replied that they were not.

Penia’s expression went completely hollow, as though she were suddenly asking herself what exactly she had been doing all that time.

At that, Alon felt a little guilty.

He had not literally ordered all of this work.

But that did not change the fact that she had suffered because of it.

So he thought about how he might compensate her.

Then he suddenly remembered the vial.

If she wanted, she could take this.

He handed her a glass bottle.

Penia looked at it with eyes full of fatigue, grievance, and indignation and asked what it was.

Alon answered awkwardly that he had heard it was an excellent catalyst.

He admitted he did not personally know the details.

He was only repeating what Seol Lang’s secretary had told him.

Still, Rine had also judged it to be very valuable.

So he figured it should count as compensation.

Penia took the vial suspiciously.

Then she cautiously let mana flow into it.

And immediately reacted.

She was stunned.

Where had he gotten something like this?

Alon asked what was wrong.

Penia was trembling now.

She said it was absurd.

This was the kind of catalyst one could not obtain even in the Twisting Forest.

With something at this level, she could finish experiments she had been unable to complete before, perhaps not once but several times over.

As she muttered feverishly, the grievance in her face vanished entirely.

Her eyes sparkled instead.

The hardships she had just complained about seemed to have disappeared from her mind on the spot.

Now all she could think about were the magical experiments she would be able to conduct from here on out.

She even began laughing strangely.

Watching her, Alon was reminded once more that she was a mage to the core.

So he asked whether this was enough to count as compensation.

Penia answered with extreme enthusiasm that it was more than enough.

Watching her spin on the spot like a child that had just been handed a kitten, Alon recalled something a servant had mentioned earlier.

Yutia had come to see her.

Had there been any trouble?

It was a light question.

But Penia froze solid.

Then she moved like a machine forcing broken gears to turn and said that of course nothing had happened.

Alon asked whether that was really so.

Penia nodded awkwardly and insisted again that absolutely nothing at all had happened.

Then, with tears even gathering in her eyes, she excused herself and fled.

Watching her leave, Alon could only wonder again what had actually happened.

####

About two weeks after Marquis Palladio’s return.

Filde and Perion, having left the elven lands of Greynif behind, arrived near House Palladio.

Filde was humming cheerfully.

Perion asked if she really was that pleased.

Filde nodded without hesitation.

Naturally she was.

She enjoyed wandering human settlements far more than staying in Greynif.

Perion called that a strange taste.

Filde replied that it was simply curiosity.

She would rather travel the world and study it than shut herself in a room doing only magical research.

Perion dryly pointed out that she usually just wandered around idly and drank.

Filde only laughed and said that was enjoyable too.

Perion looked at her with growing distrust, then asked the question that had clearly been bothering him.

Had Filde ever actually seen the first elf’s soul?

Filde answered no.

Perion pressed the point.

If her Spirit Eyes could see souls, and she had never seen the first elf’s soul, how exactly would she distinguish it from others?

Filde thought about that for a moment.

Then answered lightly that she could not.

Perion stared.

Was she saying she had lied to the queen?

Filde laughed and denied it.

There was still a method.

When Perion asked what method that was, Filde explained.

A soul always fit its body precisely.

So if a soul was inside a body that did not match it, then one could identify the mismatch between body and soul.

Perion followed the logic.

So if they simply confirmed a visible mismatch between soul and body.

That was enough.

Filde raised her bottle again and added that even so, the actual probability was probably below one percent.

She had never once seen such a thing herself.

Perion then asked if that did not make the odds effectively zero.

Filde only answered that he had been the one insisting on his suspicions.

After a moment of silence, Perion realized the truth.

She had simply wanted to come out here in the first place.

Filde answered with a laugh that perhaps that was partly true, but they were still checking, weren’t they?

Perion looked at her with chilled eyes and inwardly wondered how someone like this could be a ninth-rank mage.

Then, not long afterward, they arrived at House Palladio.

Drunk and in a good mood, Filde snapped her fingers.

Elven spirit magic immediately took shape.

A concealed magic circle formed outside the walls of the Marquisate.

Perion let out a low sound of admiration at the sheer scale of it.

Silence fell for a moment.

Then Filde, who had closed her eyes, opened them again with a playful smile.

She had found him.

Projected before the circle was Marquis Palladio, at work inside his office.

Filde said they might as well check now.

Then she lazily opened her Spirit Eyes.

And Perion saw it.

The light smile on Filde’s face vanished in an instant and turned frighteningly rigid.

Then he heard her mutter in shock.

The soul didn’t fit.