Chapter 2 – Becoming the Power Behind the Count’s House (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Three months had passed since Alon rescued Yutia Bloodia, the future engine of mass extinction.

During those three months, he lived his life one day at a time and managed to locate the place where the second Sin was being held.

About a month later, Evan returned with good news.

“As ordered, I rescued the boy from the illegal slave market and sent him to the orphanage Yutia manages.”

Alon, who had been in the study for other business, looked up at him.

“You treated him properly?”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t fight him?”

“Of course not.”

Alon nodded, satisfied with the report from the knight he had now known for over half a year.

Evan hesitated, then asked the same kind of question he always did.

“…May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Why send him to the orphanage after going to all the trouble of finding and rescuing him?

Forgive me for saying it, but that boy didn’t look ordinary either.”

Alon immediately understood what he meant.

Ordinary?

He has talent on the level of a world-ending catastrophe.

The boy he had just rescued from the illegal slave market of the Kingdom of Kalian, the center of the allied kingdoms, was Deus.

Deus Makalian.

Ten years in the future, he would become one of the Five Great Sins: the Sin of Sloth.

Like Wrath, he would make his first appearance by wiping several allied kingdoms, including Asteria, from the face of the continent.

And he would do it in the worst way possible.

Even as a player, Alon had winced at the grotesque description.

There had been people in the Psychedelia community who practically had a breakdown whenever Sloth came up.

And for someone called Sloth, he really does know how to hold a grudge.

That was why Alon had told Evan to treat the boy as well as possible after the rescue.

Realizing Evan was still waiting for an answer, Alon gave him the same half-excuse as before.

“Same reason as last time.

The time simply hasn’t come yet.”

“Time…”

As Evan mulled over the answer, Alon thought:

You really are curious about everything.

In truth, Alon would have preferred a knight who carried out orders without questions.

But he had made his choice half a year ago.

Evan was a side character from Psychedelia.

Not a lead, but an excellent supporting character who showed up repeatedly on certain routes.

More importantly, once a relationship of trust was formed with him, he never betrayed the protagonist.

In a dark fantasy world where betrayal was almost routine, that single trait was invaluable.

“Understood.”

Evan nodded, as if he had grasped something profound, then asked another question.

“When do you intend to see the children you’ve rescued?”

“I don’t particularly intend to.”

“…Wouldn’t it be better to meet them at least once?”

“Hmm.”

Alon knew perfectly well that it would be better to get on good terms with the future Sins, and that meeting them in person was the fastest way to build favor.

The problem was their personalities.

As far as he knew, the Five Great Sins had not suddenly become twisted overnight.

Even in the memory scenes that followed their defeat, it was obvious their temperaments had been horrifying from the start.

In fact, the sort of personalities that would make Satan and Lucifer applaud together at the very bottom of hell.

Granted, the process that turned them into the Five Great Sins was even worse.

Still, even if he’d rescued them before they were completely broken, he had only caught them midway through their descent.

That meant there was a good chance something in them was still fundamentally off.

After a moment’s thought, Alon gave his answer.

“In about five years, maybe they’d be worth meeting.”

Five years should be enough time for Evan to gather enough data on their personalities.

Evan nodded.

At that very moment, the study door banged open.

“Well, if it isn’t Alon.”

At the familiar voice, Alon frowned slightly and let out a sigh.

He knew exactly who it belonged to.

“Why is my illiterate little brother in the study, hmm?”

Alon turned toward the sound and saw a man approaching with a smug smile.

“Your elder brother is speaking.

Where’s your answer?”

It was Tonio, the second son of House Palladio, one half of the count’s infamous pair of wastrel sons.

With a nasty grin on his face, Tonio draped an arm over Alon’s head and pressed down.

The gesture was pure contempt.

“I came to look something up for a moment.”

Even with the faint pain of Tonio openly pushing on his head, Alon answered calmly.

At it again.

This was nothing new.

The eldest and second sons had been tormenting him ever since he woke up in this body, and the original Alon had surely endured the same treatment before that.

But Alon let it pass, because as irritating as the bullying was, he wanted to preserve his peaceful noble life more than he wanted revenge.

If I touch these bastards, my whole plan falls apart from the start.

If they had just been spoiled noble idiots, he would have loved to crush them.

The problem was that they were more than that.

A drug king and a prostitution king are not exactly easy to remove cleanly.

Looking up, Alon met the eyes of the second son glaring down at him with naked mockery.

In the underworld, Tonio was one of the figures running a narcotics cartel grandly named Avalon.

Granted, the organization was only moderately famous within the kingdom, but Alon in his current state was in no position to quietly eliminate someone who commanded dozens of thugs and could resort to assassination whenever he pleased.

Worse, even if he somehow dealt with Tonio, he would immediately have to deal with Leo, the eldest son, who was fighting Tonio for succession and had built his own power in the prostitution trade.

Leo would never ignore a younger brother who beat the second son.

In other words, if Alon reacted properly even once, he would have to take the fight all the way to the end.

“It seems elder brother intends to use the study, so I will take my leave.”

“At least you know your place.”

With a respectful bow to the sneering Tonio, Alon left with Evan and returned to his room.

Soon after, Evan handed him a letter.

“I brought this back in person.”

“From Yutia?”

Ever since rescuing her, Alon had been exchanging letters with Yutia once a month.

The contents were simple: greetings, bits of daily life, minor happenings at the orphanage.

It had been Alon’s idea.

Maybe being pen pals will make her feel closer to me than meeting in person.

Recalling online friends he had once felt closer to than people in real life, Alon opened the letter.

“Hmm…”

There was nothing remarkable in it.

Just Yutia’s usual brief greeting and a few stories about the children at the orphanage.

To summarize, a boy named Hidan was apparently very good at war games, and a girl named Yuna was excellent at tag.

As he read those ordinary lines, Alon wondered what to write back today.

In the end, he decided to tell her honestly about what had happened to him.

Only writing pleasant things would feel artificial.

A little complaining would make him seem more human and easier to approach.

So he wrote about the events of his day and sent the reply back to the orphanage.

It was a peaceful routine.

* * *

At that same time, Yutia was looking at Deus Makalian, a young man with ominous violet eyes so hollow they seemed bottomless.

On the surface, he looked intact.

All his limbs were there.

Though his body bore many traces of abuse, there was no obvious injury that hampered movement.

But that was only outwardly.

Anyone who actually looked at him would know at once that he was broken.

His body was whole, but his eyes, where emotion should have lived, contained only emptiness.

He stared into space like someone whose mind had been torn apart by mental magic.

And yet Yutia smiled brightly as she watched him.

So he bears traces of what did it to him.

The master truly is considerate, letting him take revenge himself.

She understood exactly why Alon had sent Deus here.

“Black goat.”

At that single phrase, the broken shell before her reacted.

The eyes that had been vacant a moment ago filled with hatred, fear, and murderous anger.

Yutia smiled wider.

“You want revenge, don’t you?”

Deus turned to face her.

His eyes were full of hatred, killing intent, and confusion.

Without bothering to explain, Yutia lightly released a trace of mana, the kind her master had bestowed specifically for dealing with “black things.”

“Congratulations.

He chose you.

Which means you’re going to gain power.”

She did not explain any further.

She did not need to.

The second one chosen by her master possessed enough talent to understand with a single demonstration.

“So all you need to do is follow him with absolute loyalty.

Then you’ll be able to take revenge.”

Yutia smiled at him.

A week after Deus entered the orphanage, she received another letter from Alon as usual.

“…I see.”

After reading it, she smiled.

* * *

More than a year passed.

Alon still had not found the third boss he needed to rescue, and it was giving him a headache.

Then he heard unexpected news.

“…That wastrel died?”

The second son of House Palladio was dead.

It was sudden enough that even Alon, who knew the rough outline of the Palladio family episode, had to pause and think.

Tonio Palladio.

The second son, who had been called one of the house’s two great wastrels.

Had died.

And with that, the flow of succession inside House Palladio shifted once again.